There are so many people on the street, do you have anything to do?

Grey Beard Gray Beard is also a frequent visitor to the teahouse. He is old but not old-fashioned. He likes to joke and is quite familiar with the scene.

He likes to say nice things to people, flatter people, and please others. Seeing a black line around Lao Shuan's eyes, he guessed that he might be sick, but when Lao Shuan denied it, he immediately told his story. This is different from the hunchbacked fifth young master's attitude towards life that laments the passing of his life.

Greybeard likes to say auspicious words, please people, and is willing to inquire about new things. His curiosity makes him willing to lower his dignity. When he asked Uncle Kang, his demeanor was "condescending", and he actually called him "Uncle Kang"! His beard has turned gray, yet he still calls others "uncle". It is this kind of trivial living condition that has created him as a person who does not seek wealth and fame, but seeks to live in peace and contentment and fill the rest of his life with social anecdotes. This is a very idle and boring person. In this regard, he is consistent with the hunchbacked Fifth Young Master and even other tea guests. The only thing that the grey-bearded and other tea guests have in common is the word "idle". "Leisure" is exactly one of the morbid living conditions of the people that Lu Xun focused on revealing. Only when you are "free" do you have time to watch the excitement, watch traffic accidents, watch people scolding each other, watch murders, and even you don't know what you are watching. Mr. Lu Xun gave an example: a person spits on the street, and then squats down to look. After a while, people gather around to look, but they don’t know what they are looking at. "Leisure" and "security", "security" without thinking about change, China has always remained a stagnant water.

Grey Beard is not an old man, but he probably has some glorious history. It is impossible for an ordinary citizen to grow a beautiful "grey" beard. At least he is also a grandfather and grandfather with many descendants. There is no doubt that there is a strong feudal consciousness in his bones. Perhaps because he was not an old man, Uncle Kang didn't think highly of him. When Gray Beard said, "What's the pity for beating such a thing?" Uncle Kang "looked like he didn't like him and sneered" and retorted to him: "You didn't hear me clearly." This is really an injustice to Gray Beard. In this conversation, readers will feel that it's not that Gray Beard didn't hear clearly, but that Uncle Kang couldn't speak clearly. From this, Uncle Kang's "dominance" and Gray Beard's "low-spiritedness" can be seen.

Greybeard thinks he is well-informed and smarter than others. When all the tea guests didn't understand why Xia Yu said A Yi was pitiful, he first concluded that Xia Yu was crazy. He thinks he is smarter than others, but a "sudden realization" clearly tells readers that he is actually more ignorant and numb than others. Among the teahouse guests, the most miserable one is the young man in his twenties, and the most ridiculous one is this one with a gray beard.

What is even more tragic is that his foolish behavior was unanimously recognized by all the tea guests, causing them to fall into the abyss of numbness and ignorance. By extension, haven't the feudal rulers of all dynasties in China used this method for thousands of years to fool the people and make them become feasts of human flesh for the rulers to enjoy? .

The fifth young master with a hunchback

Among the tea guests in "Medicine", the fifth young master with a hunchback appears first. Not only was he called Fifth Young Master, but he was able not to worry about making a living. He "lived in the teahouse every day, being the earliest to arrive and the last to leave." This shows that he is an old man from the Qing Dynasty. "Young Master" and "Lame", I'm afraid he is not too young. Since he is a descendant of the royal family, of course he has the thoughts of the royal family in his mind, and the Qing Dynasty has come to an end, so his words and deeds have the flavor of being at the end of his life and living in a dawdle.

He sat in the corner because he didn't want to attract the attention of others, so he sat alone in silence. But it was really boring to have nothing to do, so I chose to face the street, where I could watch the passing pedestrians and accidents. This shows that he is already an idler who regards passing time as the only content of his life.

He had nothing to do and had a little money to survive, but not much. I'm afraid even "fried rice porridge" is a delicacy that is rarely eaten in a few days. Without money, there is no status and identity. You see, Hua Laoshuan and his wife don't like him very much either. When he entered the teahouse, he asked twice, but no one answered him, even though Laoshuan and his wife were busy making "medicine" at this time. He's almost like the walking dead.

"Lao Shuan hurried out and made him tea." Savoring the meaning conveyed by this sentence carefully, it seems that Lao Shuan doesn't like his arrival. However, since he is here, a regular customer, It's hard to drive him away, so we have to deal with him.

The hunchbacked Fifth Young Master always exudes the feeling of dejection of an old man.

We also saw the black lines in Lao Shuan's eyes. The gray beard's language was lively, funny and flattering, but his words ("Lao Shuan was just busy. If his son...") were dull and depressing, filled with sadness. In the teahouse, he only focused on drinking tea or watching the street scene, and generally did not joke with others. But even such a person "suddenly became happy". That was after he heard Uncle Kang say that Xia Yu was slapped twice in the mouth by Ayi with red eyes. Why? Because Xia Yu said, "This Qing world belongs to all of us," which was obviously a scolding of the Qing Empire. Of course, the hunchbacked fifth young master was not willing to listen, as it was tantamount to scolding himself. Of course he was sincerely happy when his enemy was beaten. This description also shows the strong aura of old age and the indelible sense of imperial power in his bones.

The tea guest's discussion ended with the hunchbacked fifth young master saying "crazy", which is meaningful. It stands to reason that after the person in his twenties finished speaking, it seemed more reasonable to continue with this plot, that is, "I've gone crazy." The person in his twenties also said with sudden realization.

"Crazy." The hunchbacked fifth young master nodded.

The author happened to meet Uncle Kang at this time. On the surface, the two characters' language is not related.

Why is it handled this way? 1. This is the natural sequence of events. It was indeed said by the hunchbacked Fifth Young Master after Uncle Kang finished speaking. This makes it appear more real. Scenes in life sometimes do not follow logic. Second, this treatment vividly portrays the old-fashioned mental state of the hunchbacked fifth young master. This "crazy" is obviously what he said to himself, sitting alone in a corner of the teahouse. All in all, the fifth young master with a hunchback is a representative of a group of people who have nothing to do with me. To some extent, they also influenced the society at that time and infected it with a decadent atmosphere.

The hunchbacked fifth young master is lonely, and his loneliness stifles the sanity of others.

A person in his twenties

In the third chapter, a "person in his twenties" is mentioned twice.

For the first time, Uncle Kang mentioned that Xia Yu persuaded the cell leader, and he was the first to react:

"Ah, that's not bad." Sitting in the back row A man in his twenties looked very angry.

When everyone understood that Xia Yu called A Yi pitiful, he followed the gray beard and realized:

"I've gone crazy." People in their twenties also said in realization. .

Xia Yu’s propaganda of revolution is incomprehensible to most people. This is the tragedy of social numbness. Young people in their twenties should have shed the childishness of youth and the stubbornness of old age. They naturally have a clearer understanding of the world and are more likely to accept new and scientific ideas. But he couldn't understand it, and he quickly realized that he was just angry for no other reason. The faster the reaction, the more ignorant he is. During the "chat" in the teahouse, he finally agreed and "suddenly realized" that Xia Yu had gone crazy, and that this kind of end was the tragedy of "youth".

4. The young people on Tingzi Street shouted that they were ignorant

This society is really "sick", and it is not just this young man; Hua Laoshuan went to Dingzi Street to give his son human blood buns At that time, weren’t they laughed at by all the young people?

"Huh, old man."

"I'm glad..."

When "a few people passed by him" saw Hua Laoshuan Say so. "One of them turned back to look at him... just like a hungry man who has seen food, with a grabbing light in his eyes." In the deserted autumn, in the dark morning, when I came to the street to catch up with the noisy onlookers, I suddenly found a miscellaneous An "old man". I felt it was strange, as if this "old man" was poor and happy, and he came to join in the fun, as if this was purely a patent for "us" young people.

There are so many such young people. "In the blink of an eye, a large group of people has passed. Those people in twos and threes suddenly cooperated with each other and rushed forward like a tide." Being alone, "cooperating with a bunch" is even more abundant. The "blink of an eye" shows how short time is, and the "blink of an eye" shows the turbulence of the battle. The youthful enthusiasm of young people, that's all, just look at killing people for fun.

These boring and numb spectators once strongly shocked Mr. Lu Xun’s sensitive soul. Mr. Lu Xun mentioned it in his works more than once, such as “all stupid and weak citizens, no matter how healthy their physiques are, how can they Even if they are strong, they can only be used as materials and spectators for meaningless publicity."

(Preface to "The Scream") They are collectively ignorant, so much so that the calls of occasionally sober revolutionary pioneers (such as Xia Yu) are still not understood and accepted by them. This era, this society, is really very sick!