Chapter 421 Rules of Begging
Jiangnan City East Street.
At this time, Gu Chan and Ma Zheng were sitting together on the street with two broken bowls in front of them. They looked like two little beggars.
Ma Zheng suddenly laughed and said, "Boss, do you feel that this is just like when we were in Jiuyang Village on the border before! We were all poor back then, our clothes were tattered, and we had no food to eat every day. Thinking about it now, it's quite nostalgic."
"Yes! It's a pity that we can't go back. The burden we carry now is much heavier than it was then." Gu Chan said with emotion.
Before she traveled through time, she ran a shabby pet shop every day and was worried about mortgage and car loans.
Originally, after traveling through time, she thought she could live a carefree life, but life did not allow that. She could only work hard to make money so that she could live a better life.
But as she earned more money and became more famous, the pressure she bore also grew.
She is really emotional now. What is the purpose of life?
Just as Gu Chan was feeling emotional, a dirty old beggar came over and sat next to them.
Glancing at the two empty bowls in front of the two men, the old beggar shook his head and said, "You two are still beggars!"
"What do you mean?" Gu Chan said.
"You won't get any money like this." said the old beggar with a faint smile.
Gu Chan and Ma Zheng looked at each other, both of them were confused.
Don't beggars just sit on the street, act pitiful, and try to gain other people's sympathy?
Is it possible that being a beggar in Jiangnan requires some knowledge?
The old beggar laughed and said, "Just watch! I will teach you."
After saying that, he immediately cleared his throat and began to sing "Lihua Lao", a very famous song in the Jiangnan area, in the street.
The general meaning of this song is that a girl had just married her beloved man, but then a war broke out and the man joined the army. The girl then waited alone at home for eight years, but what she finally received was the news that the man had died in the war. The girl was heartbroken and depressed, and eventually died of illness.
The song is sad and extremely melancholy, and it is easy to make people sad and cry when they hear it.
Coupled with the unique smoky voice of the old beggar, the song is even more touching.
“Boring, borring, borring…”
As he started to sing and ended the song, people passing by threw copper coins into the broken bowl in front of him.
When the old beggar finally stopped talking, there were already dozens of copper coins in his broken bowl.
He counted the copper coins in the bowl and said, "See? If you want to be a beggar in Jiangnan City, you must have some talent. For example, I can sing. Some of the other beggars can tell stories, some can tell stories, and some have some basic kung fu and some weaker physical skills. They can all perform and get tips from everyone."
"So that's how it is! If we talk about talent, I do have it." Gu Chan said confidently.
Then she reached out and picked up the bowl in front of her and smashed it. Then she picked out two larger pieces that fit her hand well and rubbed them on the ground to avoid cutting her hands.
After grinding the porcelain bowl pieces, she held the two pieces in her hands and started knocking them open and closed.
Soon the two pieces of porcelain made a clear tinkling sound, which sounded as nice as the sound of Tianjin Kuaiban. Gu Chan began to sing along with the sound. Ma Zheng, who was sitting at the side, was stunned, thinking that he had followed Gu Chan for so long, but he never realized that she had such a talent!
The old beggar was also a little confused!
The talent that Gu Chan performed was unique in this world, and it was completely refreshing to him. Moreover, when she played the porcelain pieces, the rhythm was clear, and coupled with her unique voice, it really sounded very comfortable.
People coming and going on the street were also attracted by the sight. After stopping for a short while and dropping coins as tips, they left with a sense of unfulfilled desire.
After a while, hundreds of copper coins piled up in front of Gu Chan, which was more than the reward the old beggar had received from singing the song just now.
Gu Chan stopped what she was doing, looked at the old beggar and said, "How about it, my talent is not worse than your singing, right?"
"You're great, little beggar! You've got some skills. What's your trick called?" the old beggar asked curiously.
"This is called a clapperboard. It was originally played with bamboo strips or fine wood pieces, which were struck in the hands. But I didn't think of preparing a clapperboard when I went out, so I could only temporarily use the broken porcelain pieces in this bowl instead," Gu Chan explained.
"You are not from Tiancang, are you? We don't have such a thing as clapper talk in Tiancang!" the old beggar said doubtfully.
Gu Chan rolled her eyes and said slyly, "This is a talent from my hometown, but my hometown is quite far away, a great many miles away from Tiancang Country!"
"Can you teach me how to play this clapperboard?" asked the old beggar.
"I won't teach you." Gu Chan refused without even thinking.
The old beggar said angrily, "Look at how stingy you are. If you teach me how to play the clappers, I will let you beg for food in this area, and then I will take you to see our gang leader and let him make you citizens. In the future, the beggars in the Jiangnan area will not bully you two little beggars. Isn't that good?"
"Hiss... Can you still take us to see the gang leader?" Gu Chan hissed.
She really didn't expect that she would encounter such a good thing just after she became a beggar.
She had originally thought that she would sit here until the afternoon, and then, when she had gained enough courage, she would go find a beggar to get some information. But who would have thought that she would run into such a big fool just by showing off her skills!
The old beggar wanted to learn the clapper talk, so he patted his chest and said, "Nonsense, why don't you ask around? I am one of the top ten beggars in the Jiangnan area. My status is lower than that of the beggars with hanging bags, but higher than all the other beggars. If I hadn't seen that you two were children, I would have chased you away just now. Can I still teach you how to beg for money?"
"Oh! So you are so awesome, old man! I am so disrespectful, we thought you were just an ordinary beggar!" Gu Chan said in surprise.
"Yes! Then we'll ask you to take care of us from now on." Ma Zheng added.
indeed!
They really didn't expect that an old beggar who suddenly appeared would have such a high status in the Beggar Gang in the Jiangnan area.
The scabby dog said proudly, "This area of East Street is under my jurisdiction. Any beggar who wants to beg here must come to me and greet me first and give me alms. Since you two are young, I won't bother with you."
"I'm sorry, old man. We didn't know the rules of being beggars here. We hope you can forgive us if we have offended you." Gu Chan respectfully clasped his fists to apologize.
At the moment, she was very glad that the two of them took advantage of their young age, otherwise if the mangy dog came to them, he would not be so easy to talk to.
