He found Cao Fu again, and Mr. Cao promised to pay Xiangzi a monthly rent, willing to go with him with joy. Xiangzi felt that there was hope for life again and he came back from the dead. But Joy could no longer be seen in the yard, and Xiangzi was disheartened again. He went back to the garage to drown his sorrows by smoking and drinking.
Extended data:
Creative background:
The novel Camel Xiangzi is set in old Beijing in the 1920s. Xiangzi lived in the era of Northern Warlords.
The background world in Camel Xiangzi is a dark, deformed and unbalanced old society in China. People live in poverty, and Xiangzi is only the representative of the working people. Although they have some freedom, they have to make a living, and poverty deprives them of what little freedom they have.
1936, a friend of Lao She's from Shandong University, told his experience and knowledge of hiring a rickshaw driver: a rickshaw driver bought a rickshaw, sold it soon, went up and down like this, and finally became poor. At that time, Lao She thought that this theme could be written as a novel.
Since the birth of new literature, Hu Shi, Lu Xun and other writers have written about rickshaw pullers, but they all expressed their sympathy for rickshaw pullers from the perspective of intellectuals, without going deep into their hearts to appreciate their lives.
Lao She was born in poverty and was in contact with the lower classes since he was a child. He has a profound understanding of the living conditions and psychology of the working people, which provides a source of material for Lao She to create Camel Xiangzi.
Lao She's friend went on to tell the story of another coachman. He was caught by the army, but he turned disaster into pleasure and got back three camels when the army moved. This is the prototype of the story of Xiangzi camel. Lao She decided to combine the camel with the driver, and used the camel to draw the protagonist Xiangzi out. Lao She put Xiangzi in his familiar Beiping.