What's the significance of Si Liu in Camel Xiangzi to see the domineering car tyrant in old Beijing?

I recently saw Lao She's masterpiece Camel Xiangzi. Xiangzi, a young man who drifted north in the old Beijing city, ran in the dark for three years and finally bought his own rickshaw, realizing his first "small goal" in life. He is very happy and has a bigger goal:

"At this rate, if he works for two years, at most, he can buy another car, one, two ... and he can open a factory!"

Xiangzi's "driving factory" is actually a car tyrant in old Beijing. In Camel Xiangzi, Si Liu, the owner of Tiananmen Street and garage in Xi, is the representative of Cheba.

Si Liu is almost 70 years old. When he was young, he wandered around the society in the late Qing Dynasty and had a "glorious" history: he worked as a library soldier, ran a casino, bought and sold people, spared Yan's account, fought in a group fight, robbed a good woman and knelt on an iron rope. Moreover, when Si Liu knelt on the iron chain, he never frowned, let alone cried out for mercy.

Later, when Si Liu was released from prison, the Qing Dynasty had become the Republic of China. Times have changed, and social order is not as chaotic as it was in the late Qing Dynasty. So, instead of doing his old job, Si Liu opened a foreign car factory, which made him the envy of Xiangzi.

In old Beijing, there are hundreds of rickshaws like Xiangzi, but only a handful of them can become car tyrants. This shows that not everyone is qualified to be a car tyrant. Taking Si Liu as an example, Mr. Lao She clearly arranged the necessary abilities of the bus: he knew how to deal with the poor, when to clench his fist and where to loosen it, and he had a genius for mobilization. Drivers are afraid to play with him. When he stares at him and laughs with him, he can fascinate people, as if one foot is in heaven and the other is in hell, just listening to him play with it. ...

The first ability that Cheba must possess is to ruthlessly crush his coachman.

Every car tyrant in old Beijing has dozens of foreign cars and drivers, and many have thousands of foreign cars and drivers. Cheba wants to earn more money, so he has to squeeze it from the driver. The harder you squeeze, the more money the bus will earn. If drivers drive less because they are old and weak, or sick, and can't afford to pay the drivers, the car tyrants will kick them out mercilessly.

In Camel Xiangzi, Si Liu's approach is: "If he is too tired to pay the bill, he will buckle the bedding and throw it out like a broken kettle."

Of course, drivers are people, not machines, and they have to maintain the minimum living conditions while making money for motorists. Therefore, the second ability that Cheba must possess is to set a reasonable lower limit for exploitation drive.

The lower limit is: let the driver live, become a "cash cow", and bring real money to the car tyrants with labor. Otherwise, the driver can't survive, starve to death, or can't bear to change careers, and the car tyrant will lose a "cash cow", which is not cost-effective.

Therefore, on the one hand, Si Liu will not set the fare too high, allowing drivers to make a slight surplus; On the other hand, it will provide accommodation for drivers, and it will be provided free of charge, eliminating the worries of drivers. This practice is very popular with drivers, which is equivalent to giving them a rare benefit.