Rebirth of the Forbidden City: The Troublemaker in the Courtyard

Chapter 182 Dongan Market

At noon, they made noodles at Xizhimen. After everyone finished eating, Ning Yuan took his brothers to the department store.

There are four major department stores in Beijing, namely Dong'an Market, Wangfujing Department Store, Xidan Shopping Mall and Longfu Department Store.

Ningyuan and his friends went to Dong'an Market today.

In fact, since July 66, the Dong'an Market has been renamed "Dongfeng Market".

But the young people like Ning Yuan and Zhong Yuemin, including most of the people in the old city, have already gotten used to calling it Dong'an Market.

So even though the name was changed, it was still called Dong'an Dong'an.

After coming out of Xizhimen Street, Ning Yuan and his friends were once again a large group of people.

Wherever these young people go, they are the focus of passers-by.

They rode their bicycles on the streets without restraint.

Dong'an Market is located outside the east gate of the imperial city. Ning Yuan and his group of sixty or seventy people arrived there after crossing Chang'an Avenue.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s the first month of the year or if there are usually so many people in this market, but when Ning Yuan and his group arrived at the west entrance of Dong’an Market, they saw many people in the market.

After Zhang Haiyang, Fan Xinhua and others urged Ning Yuan to park his bicycle, a group of people surrounded him and rushed in.

"Are you blind? Get out of here!"

One of Zhang Haiyang's young men saw two middle-aged men blocking the road in front of Ning Yuan and refusing to move away, so he stepped forward and pushed them, cursing.

No wonder this kid is so arrogant.

When Ning Yuan and his group first entered the market, they were shouting and making so much noise that everyone on the roadside looked at them sideways.

When they saw that a large group of unruly young people were coming in, everyone began to subconsciously squeeze to the sides of the road, trying their best to make way for Ning Yuan and his group.

Ning Yuan is not that pretentious. Others have given way to him, so why should he be embarrassed to leave? What's the point of being so arrogant? It's just to show off his youthful ambition in front of others!

Therefore, this group of people had a smooth entry into the market.

When the young man suddenly encountered these two middle-aged men who didn't know how to give way, he couldn't help but scold them.

The two middle-aged men turned around quickly when they heard someone cursing behind them.

After seeing that it was a large group of young people wearing various old military uniforms, they hurriedly began to squeeze to both sides.

The young man under Zhang Haiyang disliked their slow movements and started pushing directly.

Ning Yuan raised his eyebrows and walked forward to grab the boy's arm.

"brother!"

Then she smiled and patted his shoulder.

With just this simple reminder, the young man under Zhang Haiyang immediately let go of the hands that were pushing the two middle-aged men, and nodded to Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan didn't bother with this kid. After all, they were all brothers, and what he did just now was to pave the way for him, which could be regarded as his loyal service to him.

Therefore, Ning Yuan smiled and patted the boy's shoulder, then continued to stroll forward with the people behind him.

The Dong'an Market of this era is completely different from the large shopping malls we commonly see in later generations.

Here "stall vendors" and "shop vendors" gather together.

There are many kinds of goods, including shops selling daily necessities and various snacks;

Famous snack shops include Ma's Tofu Pudding and Fengji Fried Tripe.

Famous restaurants in Beijing include the Jiangsu-style Senlong Restaurant and the Shanghai-style Wufangzhai Restaurant.

There are Xiaoxiao Restaurant with Guangdong style, Qizhen Pavilion with Hunan style, Emei Restaurant with Sichuan style and Donglaishun with mutton hotpot, etc.

These restaurants are only able to operate in places with special permission from teachers. In other places, they would have long become public-private joint-venture workers' canteens.

Ning Yuan and his friends came here to have dinner, so they naturally wouldn't linger in the restaurant.

They came to look at daily necessities.

Although they are called daily necessities, they are actually centered around the four major necessities of life: food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Nowadays, there is no need to worry about what to wear. Everyone comes from various compounds, and the various old military uniforms left by their parents are their fashionable clothing.

As for accommodation, you don’t need to worry about it. Those whose houses have not been sealed off can live at home. Those whose houses have been sealed off can either stay overnight at a friend’s house or live in resettlement dormitories.

When it comes to transportation, everyone has a bicycle. No matter how they got it, most people can get one.

So, all this comes down to the word "eat".

Ning Yuan was determined to turn his two-courtyard house outside Xizhimen into a base camp.

Now most of the daily necessities, including pots, pans, coal stoves, bedding, etc., are fully equipped.

Some food and other things were also prepared, but in Ning Yuan's opinion, it was still far from enough.

You need to stock up on more fruits, vegetables, meat, drinks, etc.

After all, when the fight in the Temple of Heaven Park ended that morning, he had already invited the troublemakers from various courtyards to come to his yard for dinner.

And this is not a one-time deal. Ning Yuan also told them that he wanted to collect some old stuff.

Whenever they send something over in the future, no matter what Ning Yuan says, he will at least provide them with a meal or two.

That means we need to stock up more food and ingredients.

After walking a little further in, you will see vendors everywhere.

The shouts of those selling cabbage, potatoes, and coarse grains were heard one after another.

When Ning Yuan saw this, he naturally didn't feel restrained. He brought so many brothers here just to buy things.

Cabbage, potatoes, coarse grains and fine grains are all bought by the bag.

In just a short while, half of the guys behind me were carrying woven cloth bags on their backs.

Further in, there are fruit stalls. At this time of year, the only fruits sold are apples and oranges. Don't even dream of seeing the tropical fruits that Ning Yuan and his friends often see in later generations, as you won't see any at all.

In short, take what you have. Given the conditions, why would you need a bicycle?

Apples and oranges are purchased in quantities of hundreds of kilograms.

Further in, there were stalls selling pork and mutton, and Ning Yuan did not miss any of them.

…………

By four o'clock in the afternoon, when the brothers came out of Dong'an Market, the high-spirited look they had when they came in was long gone.

Instead, there are poor young people carrying heavy bags.

This trip was quite fruitful. In addition to stocking up some food in the courtyard, Ning Yuan also had a lot more reserves in his own space.

But it is a bit regrettable that there is no alcohol or soda sold in this market.

Ning Yuan was able to be open-minded even though he didn't buy any drinks.

It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I have connected with Zhang Fengkai from Lao Mo Restaurant.

In the future, when we all work together to make money, will it be a big deal to buy large quantities of beer or even wine from him?

Besides, there’s nothing difficult about making Arctic Ocean soda.

The Beibingyang Soda Factory is on the road outside Yongdingmen. Of course, it is still called the "Beijing Food Factory"!

At most, I can take my brothers to Yongdingmen for another stroll. As long as we have enough money, it’s not a problem.