I live in the painter's village

My husband and I now live in Baoxiao Village outside the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing. It is a village, but it is no longer a village.

Anyone familiar with Beijing knows that Songzhuang is a famous painter village in Beijing, and its fame began in Baoxiao Village. Because the first famous painters first settled here. More and more people came later. At most, there are tens of thousands of painters, writers, poets, directors, musicians, and most people engaged in art who love to invest here.

Actually, I have a curiosity about Songzhuang. I've heard of Songzhuang for a long time, but I haven't been here. A painter who visited here four years ago came to Songzhuang for the first time.

My first impression of Songzhuang was not very good. It seems to be the urban-rural fringe. Probably because I have been living in the city, I feel so rustic here.

Later, because I resigned and didn't want to live in the city, I wanted to find a yard in the countryside and change my mood. At that time, I ran to Songzhuang almost every afternoon, drove around the hutongs of Baoxiaocun, turned one hutong after another, and when I saw the "rental" note posted in the yard, I quickly called to ask.

The first yard we saw was a yard in North Street. There were two girls engaged in fashion design at that time. They were not at home on the day of the house inspection. The landlord opened the door and showed us only the main room, but not the two bedrooms. I don't like this yard very much. It's too shabby. The kitchen and toilet are in the yard. I can't live in winter, and the yard is too small.

The yards here are very popular, and almost one yard will soon be gone.

The second yard is in West Street. I happened to drive by that day and saw the landlord's phone number on the telephone pole. This yard is the landlord's son's wedding room, so the decoration looks good, the house is also high, and the yard is square, so it won't be too much trouble to transform. We immediately decided to rent the yard. Later, it was renovated for two months, and the ceiling was removed, revealing thick wooden beams and replacing floor-to-ceiling doors and windows. Everything is designed the way you like.

The third yard is a yard in South Street. At that time, the rent was relatively cheap. I don't know if it's a fever or something. We rented this shabby yard again and spent almost a year decorating it.

When I first moved here, I was very excited. I had a different feeling and my spirit relaxed at once. The village is very quiet, and it is almost isolated from the world behind the closed door. We decorated the house very comfortably, and Mr. Wang bought me a bookcase with a whole wall. Stay at home and don't want to go anywhere.

I like to cook breakfast in the kitchen in the morning, and it is sunny when I eat breakfast every day.

We don't know anyone here, and it is our landlord who has the most contact. The landlord of West Street is surnamed Cui, and the landlord of South Street is surnamed Shi. These are the two most popular surnames in the village.

Two landlords, two personalities. Lao Cui's family is cheerful and easygoing. He and his wife are always smiling. Old historians are old-fashioned, always with a long face, and sometimes they lose face when they speak.

Two landlords live with us in the back of the front house. Because I have lived in West Street for more than two years, I am naturally more familiar with Lao Cui's family. He will come to talk to us when he is free, and he likes to help if there is anything. When we go abroad, he will help us feed the cats and water the flowers.

A row of houses in the alley belongs to their family. There are five yards. Lao Cui and his wife live in one yard, and the second son lives in the other. The other three are for rent. His son works in the village Committee and is an electrician. His daughter-in-law is from Yanjiao and occasionally goes to work in the surrounding galleries.

Lao Cui has three little granddaughters, two are the eldest son's and one is the second son's. Two younger girls are often put in grandparents' house for them to have a look. One is Xinxin, and the other is Neil.

The landlord, Lao Shi, has a completely opposite personality, especially afraid of trouble and many things. Living in his house can neither nail the wall nor park in front of his house. If you stop the car carelessly, he will put a note on your car and scold you. The old historian has an 86-year-old father. The old historian and his wife met his father just as a mouse met a cat. Father and son look alike, just like a mold, except that the old man is more than half a head taller than his son.

However, it is said that people living in the village still have to get on well with the landlord. After all, the house belongs to someone else. Even if you decorate it well, people will still blow you up.

Signed a three-year contract with the old Cui family and a five-year contract with the old historian. At the end of last year, Lao Cui's contract expired and the rent almost doubled at once. No choice but to leave the courtyard of West Street and move to South Street.

South Street's contract expires in two years. Lao Shi was very unhappy when he paid the rent. He said that the rent would go up. We said that the contract has been signed for five years, and it will go up according to the contract. Lao Shi reluctantly accepted the money we paid. Later, when he saw us, he chased us about the rent increase, saying that if his father died one day, the rent would have to go up, because the house belonged to him and his eldest brother, and he could not make his own decisions.

Although Baoxiao Village has been urbanized, Lao Cui and Lao Shi still maintain their rural living habits. They hardly leave the village and stay at home. Sometimes they don't understand when they watch us go abroad to play. Lao Shi once asked me about the benefits of going abroad. He said that going out for a walk with his wife after dinner every day made him feel like a trip.

The red and white events in the village also opened my eyes. Whoever gets married, marries a daughter-in-law, and has a full moon will set up a red shed in the middle of the road, and then entertain the villagers for three days. Passing cars can only make a detour when they see this situation.

Baoxiao Village has changed a lot in recent years, becoming more and more commercialized, not like a village at all. Restaurants, cafes, private clubs and bars abound, as well as bookstores, flower shops and clothing stores. Of course, most of them are painters' studios and shops that make frames.

The rent is also rising, and the rent of the yard is rising very badly. Many painters moved out because they could not bear the high rent, moved to other surrounding villages or moved to Yanjiao, and many advertising companies, photography companies, live broadcast studios, tattoo shops and Guqin teachers began to move in. But most of them don't stay long, and usually change after a year or two.

Many families in the village have demolished their own yards and built two-story buildings. Some whole buildings are made into many apartments and rented out to migrant workers working in Tongzhou.

We have lived in this village for three years and are getting used to life here. The houses here are not crowded and relatively quiet to live in. And life here is also very convenient, and everything in the supermarket is express delivery.

We seldom go to town when we have nothing to do. When we enter the city, we always want to get back to the village quickly. We don't know how long we can stay here. Anyway, now we have made it our home.

Wu Jie school