受戒 (6 page)

Those who lived in the same street as Wang Er well knew how he had made his fortune.

From no one knows when he had operated a cooked meat stall in the corridor of the Baoquantang Apothecary. His meat was stewed and soaked with gravy. He stayed at home in the morning and did business in the afternoon.

His house was on a slope by the river in the back street, cut off from the other houses. It was a rather shabby place with broken brick walls, a thatched roof and a mud floor. However, it was quite spacious, clean and neat, and rather cool in the summer. There were three rooms in the house. The central one served as the sitting room. Overhcad on the wall above a stone mill was his five-character motto: "Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parent, Teacher."
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 Of the two side rooms, one was the kitchen as well as the workshop, and the other the bedroom for the whole family: his wife, his son, his daughter and himself only, as his parents had both passed away. The house was always so quiet. Hardly any noise could be heard from within. From the other houses in the back street, there was a ceaseless uproar: a man beating his wife while clutching at her hair, a woman thrashing her child with a pair of coal tongs, an old woman muttering curses against whoever had stolen her egg-laying hen as she chopped away on the wooden block with a kitchen knife. Such noises were never heard from Wang Er's household. The Wangs were early risers. Before daybreak, Wang Er was up getting the foodstuff ready, making a fire and cooking food. His wife ground beans soon after she had done her hair. Every day a good deal of homemade, gravy-soaked dried beancurd was sold from Wang Er's stall. After grinding the beans, the woman helped stoke the fire, her round face aglow in the firelight. The air around was permeated with a spiced fragrance that came from the Wang family. Later, when Wang Er raised a small donkey, his wife no longer needed to go round and round, pushing the mill; the beast did the job instead. All she had to do was to pour bowlfuls of beans into the hole of the millstone and add a little water soon afterwards. This gave her plenty of time to do her mending and sewing, a busy job in a family of four. Wang Er's son resembled his mother, with his round face, his eyes often in slits when he smiled. His young sister took after her father, having big eyes and a narrow face. The brother had studied in an old-fashioned private school. When he was able to keep accounts, he quitted school and attended to the donkey, taking it to the river to drink and letting it roll on the grass. When he got older, he helped his father with the business and his sister took over his job of grazing the donkey.

王二是这条街的人看着他发达起来的。

不知从什么时候起，他就在保全堂药店廊檐下摆一个熏烧摊子。“熏烧”就是卤味。他下午来，上午在家里。

他家在后街濒河的高城上，四面不挨人家。房子很旧了，碎砖墙，草顶泥地，倒是不仄逼，也很干净，夏天很凉快。一共三间。正中是堂屋，在“天地君亲师”的下面便是一具石磨。一边是厨房，也就是作坊。一边是卧房，住着王二的一家。他上无父母，嫡亲的只有四口人，一个媳妇，一儿一女。这家总是那么安静，从外面听不到什么声音。后街的人家总是吵吵闹闹的。男人揪着头发打老婆，女人拿火叉打孩子，老太婆用菜刀剁着砧板诅咒偷了她的下蛋鸡的贼。王家从来没有这些声音。他们家起得很早。天不亮王二就起来备料，然后就烧煮。他媳妇梳好头就推磨磨豆腐——王二的熏烧摊每天要卖出很多回卤豆腐干，这豆腐干是自家做的——磨得了豆腐，就帮王二烧火。火光照得她的圆盘脸红红的。（附近的空气里弥漫着王二家飘出的五香味。）后来王二喂了一头小毛驴，她就不用围着磨盘转了，只要把小驴牵上磨，不时往磨眼里倒半碗豆子，注一点水就行了。省出时间，好做针线。一家四口，大裁小剪，很费工夫。两个孩子，大儿子长得像妈，圆乎乎的脸，两个眼睛笑起来一道缝。小女儿像父亲，瘦长脸，眼睛挺大。儿子念了几年私塾，能记账了，就不念了。他一天就是牵了小驴去饮，放它到草地上去打滚。到大了一点，就帮父亲洗料备料做生意，放驴的差事就归了妹妹了。

Every afternoon, when classes were over and every household washed rice for supper, Wang Er began to prepare his stall. Why did he select such a location as the Baoquantang Apothecary? Perhaps because it was well situated, not far from either East Street or West Street, or the other lanes in the vicinity. Perhaps he chose it because that traditional Chinese medicine store had a spacious corridor, with quite some distance from the counter to the entrance, or perhaps because there were few customers who came to the store to have their prescriptions filled in the evening and the food stall would not interfere with their business. He had someone put in a few good words to the proprietor of the store, and he himself called on the proprietor to express his gratitude. This had occurred many years before. The equipment of his stall, called
shengcai
^[2]
 
by the local people, was kept against the wall in the back passage of the store, right under the poster of Marshal Zhao
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 which hung from the second beam of the house. Wang Er's
shengcai
was comprised of two long planks, two three-legged high stools (with two legs at one end and one leg in the middle of the other) and several boxes with a glass-paned front. Before he was ready to do business, Wang Er set down his stools, put a couple of planks steadily on them, and placed the glass boxes in a row. In the boxes were melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, fried salty peas, deep-fried peas, brittle deep-fried broad beans and spiced peanuts. At the other side of the planks were the hot foods such as dried beancurd with gravy, beef, cattail-bag meat and pig's head meat. As a rule, people in this region did not eat beef. Those who did seldom had it steamed or braised in soya-bean sauce. They just bought some at the stalls where the beef was cooked in salt and spice and covered with red leaven. It was piled high in a box. When purchased, the slab of beef was cut into slices on the spot and placed on the customer's plate. On top was a sprinkle of garlic leaf bits followed by a spoonful of hot pepper paste.

Cattail-bag meat seemed to be the specialty of the county. Each cattail bag was about three by one and a half inches. It was lined with thin sheets of beancurd and filled quite full with small bits of meat mixed with water chestnut powder. Afterwards, the bag was tied in the middle with a hemp string, forming the shape of a gourd. When the bag was opened after being cooked, the meat was still in the shape of a gourd with a trace of the cattail bag on the surface.Cut into slices, it really whetted one's appetite.

Pig's head meat was sold after being sorted into three parts:snout, ear and face. The face was also referred to as the "big fat". The customer could select whichever part he wished. At dusk, Wang Er's business came to a climax. He was busy cutting meat with a kitchen knife, receiving money from the customers and wrapping different varieties of deep-fried, fried and salted peas and melon seeds. Hardly did he have a breather. After nine o'clock, when the kerosene in his two high-screened lamps was nearly consumed, and when the bottoms of the meat trays and pea boxes became visible, his wife turned up and brought him his supper. Then he washed his face with a hot towel and had his meal. After supper, there was still a little business to attend to. Therefore he was in no hurry to put away his shengcai. He would then pour himself a cup of hot tea, seat himself in a chair inside the shop and listen to people gossip while throwing glances at the stall. Whenever he saw someone coming, he rose to get ready a few plates of meat or wrap up peas and seeds for a short while. All his customers were familiar acquaintances. What time they came and what they wanted was as clear to him as daylight.

The shops and stalls in this street knew well enough how business was going on in other shops and stalls. Business had been bad in the past few years. With some shops things fared better, but all they could do was just keep business going. In the grips of a recession, the shelves of other stores grew bare. Deliveries were halted and finally, the owners were compelled to sell their
shengcai
and close up shop. Wang Er's business, to the contrary, grew more and more prosperous. He expanded his stall and increased the number of boxes of peas, seeds and enamel trays of hot food. During the busy hours every evening, a crowd of people would stand in front of his stall. On rainy or snowy days an even greater number of people would come to buy his food. Seeing his customers standing outside under their umbrellas made him uneasy. Then, after he had someone throw in nice words to the shop owner and paid the rent, he moved his stall next door to the Yuanchang Tobacco Shop.

每天下午，在上学的孩子放学，人家淘晚饭米的时候，他就来摆他的摊子。他为什么选中保全堂来摆他的摊子呢？是因为这地点好，东街西街和附近几条巷子到这里都不远；因为保全堂的廊檐宽，柜台到铺门有相当的余地；还是因为这是一家药店，药店到晚上生意就比较清淡——很少人晚上上药铺抓药的，他摆个摊子碍不着人家的买卖，都说不清。当初还一定是请人向药店的东家说了好话，亲自登门叩谢过的。反正，有年头了。他的摊子的全副“生财”——这地方把做买卖的用具叫做“生财”，就寄放在药店店堂的后面过道里，挨墙放着，上面就是悬在二梁上的赵公元帅的神龛。这些“生财”包括两块长板，两条三条腿的高板凳（这种高凳一边两条腿，在两头；一边一条腿在当中），以及好几个一面装了玻璃的匣子。他把板凳支好，长板放平，玻璃匣子排开。这些玻璃匣子里装的是黑瓜子、白瓜子、盐炒豌豆、油炸豌豆、兰花豆、五香花生米。长板的一头摆开“熏烧”。“熏烧”除回卤豆腐干之外，主要是牛肉、蒲包肉和猪头肉。这地方一般人家是不大吃牛肉的。吃，也极少红烧、清炖，只是到熏烧摊子去买。这种牛肉是五香加盐煮好，外面染了通红的红曲，一大块一大块地堆在那里。买多少，现切，放在送过来的盘子里，抓一把青蒜，浇一勺辣椒糊。蒲包肉似乎是这个县里特有的。用一个三寸来长直径寸半的蒲包，里面衬上豆腐皮，塞满了加了粉子的碎肉，封了口，拦腰用一道麻绳系紧，成一个葫芦形。煮熟以后，倒出来，也是一个带有蒲包印迹的葫芦。切成片，很香。猪头肉则分门别类地卖，拱嘴、耳朵、脸子——脸子有个专门名词，叫“大肥”。要什么，切什么。到了上灯以后，王二的生意就到了高潮。只见他拿了刀不停地切，一面还忙着收钱，包油炸的、盐炒的豌豆、瓜子，很少有歇一歇的时候。一直忙到九点多钟，在他的两盏高罩的煤油灯里煤油已经点去了一多半，装熏烧的盘子和装豌豆的匣子都已经见了底的时候，他媳妇给他送饭来了，他才用热水擦一把脸，吃晚饭。吃完晚饭，总还有一些零零星星的生意，他不忙收摊子，就端了一杯热茶，坐到保全堂店堂里的椅子上，听人聊天，一面拿眼睛瞟着他的摊子，见有人走来，就起身切一盘，包两包。他的主顾都是熟人，谁什么时候来，买什么，他心里都是有数的。

这一条街上的店铺、摆摊的，生意如何，彼此都很清楚。近几年，景况都不大好。有几家好一些，但也只是能维持。有的是逐渐地败落下来了。先是货架上的东西越来越空，只出不进，最后就出让“生财”，关门歇业。只有王二的生意却越做越兴旺。他的摊子越摆越大，装炒货的匣子，装熏烧的洋瓷盘子，越来越多。每天晚上到了买卖高潮的时候，摊子外面有时会拥着好些人。好天气还好，遇上下雨下雪（下雨下雪买他的东西的比平常更多），叫主顾在当街打伞站着，实在很不过意。于是经人说合，出了租钱，他就把他的摊子搬到隔壁源昌烟店的店堂里去了。

The Yuanchang was an old retail and wholesale shop selling tobacco smoked exclusively in long-stemmed pipes. The tobacco from this area was all peeled in thin slices. The operator placed the tobacco leaves on a specially made wooden table clamped tight with ropes and wooden wedges. Then he stood with the table between his two legs and peeled the tobacco using a big knife whose edge was about five inches. The workers all wore white cloth trousers. During their work, the trousers would be stained yellow. Even after work. when they had shed the work clothes, the yellow colour could be seen all over their bodies. Even their hair was yellow. The handicraft workers usually had on them the colour characteristic of their occupations. Dye-house workers all had blue fingertips and grain-mill workers had white eyebrows. Before, the Yuanchang had employed four workers. Every day adults and children would come to see the four tobacco peelers working. By and by the number of workers was reduced to three, two, and then one. Even the last one was later dismissed. The shop owner made a living by selling cigarettes, matches and small packs of tea. He also bought at wholesale prices two kinds of tobacco to be smoked in water pipes and long-stemmed pipes, and resold them at retail prices. The previously bright shop somehow looked sombre, and the gold characters on the lintel appeared languid. Even the counter seemed bigger and emptier.

源昌烟店是个老字号，专卖旱烟，做门市，也做批发。一边是柜台，一边是刨烟的作坊。这一带抽的旱烟是刨成丝的。刨烟师傅把烟叶子一张一张立着叠在一个特制的木床子上，用皮绳木楔卡紧，两腿夹着床子，用一个刨刃有半尺宽的大刨子刨。烟是黄的。他们都穿了白布套裤。这套裤也都变黄了。下了工，脱了套裤，他们身上也到处是黄的。头发也是黄的。——手艺人都带着他那个行业特有的颜色。染坊师傅的指甲缝里都是蓝的，碾米师傅的眉毛总是白蒙蒙的。原来，源昌号每天有四个师傅、四副床子刨烟。每天总有一些大人孩子站在旁边看。后来减成三个，两个，一个。最后连这一个也辞了。这家的东家就靠卖一点纸烟、火柴、零包的茶叶维持生活，也还卖一点趸来的旱烟、皮丝烟。不知道为什么，原来挺敞亮的店堂变得黑暗了，牌匾上的金字也都无精打采了。那座柜台显得特别的大。大，而空。

After Wang Er moved in, he occupied half of the shop, where the original tobacco-peeling tables once had been placed. He used to set up his stall from east to west at the Baoquantang. But now his stall at the Yuanchang was from north to south. What had once been a stall was now half a shop. With one wooden plank added to the two he already possessed, his present stall was now a terrific L-shaped counter There was more variety in the food he had for sale. In addition to the gravy-soaked dried beancurd, beef, pig's head meat and cattail bags, in spring he sold a wild bird called sandgrouse. This was a migratory bird with a long beak and long legs. As it arrived when the peach blossom bloomed, some scholar had named it"Peach Blossom Sand-grouse”. Wang sold quails, too. When winter set in. he put up a long glass frame with gilded characters on red written inside:"Delicious stewed mutton jelly and spiced rabbit's meat served today." In these residential quarters, mutton was not cooked in the home; it was all bought from stalls. The mutton was stewed with salt. Later it was frozen solid, sliced and mixed with bits of garlic leaves, hot pepper paste and the essential carrot shreds (said to be best for driving away the strong smell of mutton). Soya-bean sauce and vinegar were added at home. Rabbit's meat was cooked the same way as beef, with salt and spices, and later dyed with red leaven.

王二来了，就占了半边店堂，就是原来刨烟师傅刨烟的地方。他的摊子原来在保全堂廊檐是东西向横放着的，迁到源昌，就改成南北向，直放了。所以，已经不能算是一个摊子，而是半个店铺了。他在原有的板子之外增加了一块，摆成一个曲尺形，俨然也就是一个柜台。他所卖的东西的品种也增加了。即以熏烧而论，除了原有的回卤豆腐干、牛肉、猪头肉、蒲包肉之外，春天，卖一种叫做“鵽”的野味——这是一种候鸟，长嘴长脚，因为是桃花开时来的，不知是哪位文人雅士给它起了一个名称叫“桃花鵽”；卖鹌鹑；入冬以后，他就挂起一个长条形的玻璃镜框，里面用大红腊笺写了泥金字：“即日起新添美味羊羔五香兔肉”。这地方人没有自己家里做羊肉的，都是从熏烧摊上买。只有一种吃法：带皮白煮，冻实，切片，加青蒜、辣椒糊，还有一把必不可少的胡萝卜丝（据说这是最能解膻气的）。酱油、醋，买回来自己加。兔肉，也像牛肉似的加盐和五香煮，染了通红的红曲。