We have all visited the street vendors of the past and the night market candies of today. My cousin and I are street vendors
My cousin and I drove to the street stall.
What is a street vendor? Our views have similarities, but they are not very consistent. The similarity is that we all remember more than thirty years ago, the street stall in front of the elementary school gate carried our former joy: stickers, stickers, cigarette tags, soldiers, slingshots, small handguns, radishes, fried rice, figs, mangoes, pineapples, and wrapped candies.
"It's not mango, it's dried mango. It's not pineapple, it's a big pineapple with sugar syrup," my cousin corrected. One pineapple was cut into several thin slices and soaked in a glass box filled with sugar syrup, and each slice was worth 20 cents. As for dried mango, it is the leftover mango kernels from others, marinated with white sugar, machine cut into strips, and one strip can hold in your mouth for an entire afternoon.
A plastic sheet is spread out, a small horse is sitting still, holding a fan in hand. There are various identities of vendors, and in the mouths of our elementary school students, they are "lame", "one eyed dragon", "chubby grandmother", "old scammer", and "little hemp stem". Many of them are vulnerable groups. Back then, the neighborhood committee tacitly allowed them to occupy the road to operate, in order to save them a meal. The relevant management only shouted and rushed at key points, and ignored them for the rest of the time. However, the school teachers strongly dislike them and repeatedly remind students not to buy "three no products", but they cannot stop the communication between their children and classmates.
Only we consider these street vendors as important matters, and even before school ends, we calculate how much pocket money we have in our pockets aligns with our hearts at the vendors. 1 cent per slice of sugar water radish slices, please! A bag of sour plum powder for 1 cent, please! A 50 cent version of the Transformers sticker can only be purchased in half. A plastic small gun that costs one yuan each, I have to go back and do housework to soothe my mother
One day later, the lame vendor disappeared, and his unique honeycomb candy also went with him, reportedly due to poor health. A few months later, the old lady who sold sugar water radishes also disappeared. I heard she went back to take care of her grandson. Later on, Grandma Pang disappeared along with stickers, stickers, and classmates. We know about these, but we haven't paid much attention to them either.
Not all the vendors have disappeared, and some have returned. In the mid-1990s, when I was in junior high school, elementary school suddenly transformed the walls along the street into storefronts. A former vendor high-profile killed back, grew a beard, permed his hair, and became a small shop owner. The content of the small shop's operation is large and comprehensive, from stationery to teaching aids, and then to fake Spalding basketball, which immediately attracts students from the surrounding area. That was a time of rapid economic development and rapid living, and also a time when many people were spending money everywhere. Many units were trying to find ways to develop the tertiary industry and generate income. The small shop at the entrance of the school not only meets the needs of the school and children, but also facilitates orderly management. So, the street vendor at the school gate completely disappeared.
In the 21st century, there are basically no street vendors that focus on learning and daily necessities. This is also easy to understand. If street vendors occupy the road for operation, the hygiene environment is poor, the product quality is poor, and the responsible party is unclear, encountering creative and cultural sanitation is definitely a deduction item. More importantly, this does not meet people's expectations for life. Who wouldn't want to consume in a clean, tidy, civilized and polite environment?
The small shops transformed from street vendors have been thriving for less than twenty years, and then gradually began to shrink. One important reason is that newly built, renovated and expanded schools no longer have tertiary industry stores. With the strengthening of national strength and the increasing financial resources, the work of creating income through the tertiary sector has swept into the dust of history, just like the street vendors of the past.
But there is one type that is excluded, which is to eat, especially snacks, which must be the bustling places of streets and alleys, leading cars to sell rice and rice, and eating and drinking. For example, the most famous stall in Yancheng, where tofu flowers and cold noodles are eaten, is located next to a public restroom next to a large pharmacy. For over 20 years, there has been a continuous flow of diners, and the import and export have been seamlessly connected. It was not until a few years ago that it was relocated to another location.
The street stall night market that my cousin and I went to that day has been reported several times. From the beginning of seeing people, seeing things, and seeing stories, to the later stage of copying materials from the beginning, and then to the later stage of taking photos to earn work points, vocabulary such as "fireworks flavor" and "rising economy" frequently appeared. Later, it was estimated that the urban management couldn't bear it anymore and moved them away from the entrance of the community to a nearby driving school training ground.
It was not yet dark when private cars drove in one by one. Open the trunk, take out a small table, a Bluetooth speaker, and a paid QR code. Seasonal clothing, discounted toys, soda snacks, and kitchen supplies are all set up like this. The vendor who drives a private car is not very old, dressed appropriately, does not shout or shout, and sits alone on a folding chair brushing his phone. "Take a look at the broken code brand, domestically produced LEGO, and sharpening tools," said the Hong Kong and Taiwan speakers in the Bluetooth speaker
Half an hour later, the second round of vendors entered. Compared to private car vendors, this is the main force of night markets. The middle-aged man, holding a cigarette in his mouth, dressed in a red apron, entered the venue with an imposing presence while riding an electric tricycle. A young man with dragon patterns and tiger paintings, wearing headphones and sunglasses on his face, drove in a modified small dining car with great coolness. Sister, Aunt, Aunt, Aunt, grilled squid, braised pork, Hot dry noodles, and Bozai cake are arranged one by one. That's how the night market opened.
Just like the street vendors back then, no one only produces a single product. Purple rice Rice and vegetable roll and Japanese sushi go together, New Zealand beef and mutton chops and Zibo barbecue are integrated, Shaanxi Rougamo and bacon roll cake complement each other, pearl milk tea and coffee do not contradict each other. The most impressive one is the orange dining car driven by a young couple, with three large display boards on it. On the front is Xuyi crayfish, on the left is Yimeng lamb soup, and on the right is authentic Xinjiang lamb skewers.
My cousin walked around the night market with his hands behind his back, nodding while inspecting. He pointed to the ground and told me that the planning of this night market is very reasonable, and the area division is based on the waiting area and training area of the original driving school training ground. The waiting area is small, with daily department store stalls parked. The training area has a large space, exclusively for the opening of snack stalls. The stalls are separated by trash cans, which are eye-catching, convenient, hygienic, and easy to manage.
The night is getting late, and there are gradually more people going to the night market, but not as many as imagined. After several choices, we bought a grilled squid. At first glance, the young man is someone who has worked as a barista. The oil brush and sauce brush are both coffee specific brushes, and the jar for filling sauce is a sealed coffee can. Even the trash can for pouring kitchen waste is a coffee tapping bin. Looking at what you're wearing, with leather buckles, copper rings, and khaki, isn't it just a barista's apron!
"Selling coffee, there's no way to make money with grilled squid! If it weren't for the shouting from above that we set up a centralized stall, I would have earned even more at the entrance of the community!" The young man counted the number of squids, took out a one ounce coffee measuring cup, poured it full of sauce, and dripped it with a splash. That style is definitely the most beautiful kid in the entire night market.
