Autumn came as promised, and during this time I lived almost the same life as a pig, eating, sleeping, sleeping, eating, and not being fat. It's been more than a month since I came back from Dujiangyan last time, and during this time, I called Mu Xiu and An Xiangfei, they all seemed to be very busy, and they hung up without chatting a few words, and in the next period of time, they were like evaporating from the world, and suddenly disappeared in my life, but I was also used to their sudden appearance and sudden disappearance.

……

I couldn't stand the crisp autumn season, so I stepped on my backpack in the morning, thinking of driving my four million luxury car for a ride, but I glanced at the car in the garage and didn't want to, because I am not a high-profile person by heart after all.

Wandering around the street at will, when I walked to Liangxizhai, I didn't go in, but just secretly glanced inside from the outside, and found that Lu Hang was wiping the floor, and I was extremely relieved to have Lu Hang in me.

Walk through the only preserved old streets in the city, because according to the older generation, if you understand these old streets, you will understand the city; If you understand these alleys, you will understand life.

It's a bit of a big deal, but it's definitely pertinent.

Because this old street is the soul of the city and the roots of the people who live here.

A few years ago, when I was a student, I used to walk through this old street every day.

From the east end of this old street, walk west along the road, pass through the world-class cultural heritage sites, walk through the lively bell tower market, pass through various alleys full of warmth, pass by the once prosperous cross street, come to the ancient school with a strong humanistic atmosphere, and look at the city gate not far away from the entrance of the city god temple, and then step into the school where you are located, and start a day's life and study.

In my memory, every morning, the old street wakes up in the noisy boiling sound of people, the sound of cars and horses rushing to the bell tower market, the sound of dismantling the doors of the shops, and the shouting of the hawkers along the street, which runs through the whole street, and always seems very lively.

At that time, the city was not developed, but Lao Cai was the most lively commercial center in the city. During the day, the merchants along the street remove the mottled door panels and go about their lives. And the small vendors on the street are shouting one after another to attract people's attention.

The old street runs through the east and west of the city, and this street used to have hospitals, schools, bookstores, banks, and government agencies, and was the administrative, financial, and commercial center of the whole city. Whether it is groceries, antiques and jade, clothing, shoes and hats, or small restaurants and old hotels, they are still playing hard to survive on this street.

There is a wide variety of goods here, and although it has lagged far behind the development of the situation, it is closely related to people's lives. Grocery store, paper shop, blacksmith shop, old oil mill, shaving shop, stationery shop...... Here, only you can't think of it, and you can't see it without you.

Now, in the process of urbanization, the city is striding forward with its head held high, and it has virtually neglected the old streets, but the old streets are the roots and soul of the city. Now the old street, which is prosperous and old, is still silently bearing the changes of the world.

Its history is unforgettable for the people of the city, and its future is for the indigenous people here, but no one can say exactly how far it will go and where it will go.

The old streets carry too many memories and emotions of the people in the old city.

Laojie Street was built on the basis of the old city of the Qing Dynasty and planned according to the standard of Zhili Prefecture (prefecture-level city) at that time. In addition to the above-mentioned historical precipitation that people in the old city are familiar with, the old street still preserves many northern-style courtyard houses.

This ancient street retains too much of the cultural atmosphere that people can't give up.

In the memory of some old people, located in the middle of the old street, the former site of the pharmaceutical company before the eighties of the last century, was the place where the famous scholars Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao of the Ming Dynasty gave lectures, and it was called "Ercheng Temple" by later generations. Later, the Shengxue Academy, which was rebuilt by the Ercheng Temple, was one of the 100 academies in the country that was very famous in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there is a century-old black locust tree growing in the western section of Lao Cai, which the old people call the king of trees. The iron reel well on the side of the street at the entrance of the West City used to selflessly provide water for thousands of people in the western section of Lao Cai, and these elements have accumulated the heavy cultural accumulation and historical dust of Lao Cai, which has become a proud part of the city.

The memory of the old street, after the layers of historical rings, is getting old, and now it is still prosperous, but in the shouts of the past, mixed with the sound of the whistle and the sound of the sound. On this ancient street, the intertwined and uneven appearance of ancient and modern has almost disrupted the pattern of blue bricks and tiles, and almost disrupted people's thoughts.

However, what we see is only the surface of it, and although Lao Cai has been almost destroyed by urban construction, its core is still there. Those ancient dwellings, quaint courtyard houses, exquisite ancient buildings, the thick cultural atmosphere, and the thousand-year-old historical changes cannot be easily replaced.

In the section from the South Gate to Qingsong Road, there are almost one shoe store after another, and everyone can choose a pair of shoes that suit them, from babbling children to elderly people. After crossing the intersection of Cross Street and Wangsong Road, you will enter the western section of Lao Street. The eastern part of the road is still dominated by footwear, while the western section used to be a row of cloth shops, one side by one, side by side. Nowadays, ready-to-wear has replaced hand-sewing, so most of these cloth shops have changed careers to deal in all kinds of children's clothing. Further west, there are dozens of small gold-processing shops on the side of the street, and the shopkeepers are casually banging on life. Further on, the old street is connected to the wholesale market of various roads, most of the shops here are mainly wholesale business, there are those who deal in clothing, shoes and hats, and those who also operate daily necessities, as well as incense, candles, paper horses, agricultural tools, etc., each of which is complete and varied.

Whatever you need in life, you can buy it almost on this street. This street encapsulates all the life of the city.

Walking through the entire old street, people feel the most, but it is not in these various shops divided by area, but the antique shops that appear every now and then, and there are dozens of them. Although these antique and jade shops are not very large, they have their own characteristics, some specialize in ancient coins, some study jewelry and jade, some focus on various modern collections, and of course, there are miscellaneous shops, which involve everything. Although they have different characteristics and concerns, they all exude a unique charm like a well-weathered middle street, and they complement each other with this quaint street.

This book was first published in Reading Books