On May 1, 1984, the new column "Jiuzhou Fangyuan" launched by the national television station specially arranged a song and dance program to show the development of Shenzhen.
Because just the day before the program was broadcast, the main building of Shenzhen's Guomao Tower was topped out, a full month ahead of schedule.
This May Day is also the day when Ning Weimin returns to Majia Garden with Kang Shude.
The weather in Beijing on this day was quite good.
The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and the locust trees are blooming.
The streets are filled with the fragrance of locust flowers and fluttering butterflies.
From this aspect alone, it is an auspicious day for house viewing.
It should be said that Ning Weimin also loves to show off.
Wanting to show off, he did not drive honestly that day and took Kang Shude straight to the Weijia Hutong where Majia Garden was located.
Instead, he got smart and rushed to Dongsi Si Tiao to see the No. 5 courtyard he bought.
The result was as expected, he used the emperor's uncle's yard to shock the old man.
"Is this the yard you bought? Okay, you did such a big thing for me quietly, it's enough to surprise me. You actually bought an amazing yard secretly.
Even the residents have moved away.”
"Well, it's really good. The inner courtyard, the outer courtyard, the screen wall, the hanging flower door, the hand-held verandah, the screen door, and the back room are all there. This is a layout only found in wealthy families. The courtyards of ordinary people are not so complete.
Huh."
"This house is well built. The gatehouse and screen wall are exquisitely carved. Even the bricks used to build the walls are high-quality blue bricks. The bricks are ground to seams and are so dense that they are not afraid of rain and will not attract rustlers. Okay, this courtyard is great.
It's over! Even if you don't repair it, I'm afraid this wall won't fall down even if it's left here for a hundred years."
"Hey, the size of the platform of your house is really interesting. Also, the ridge of the house is decorated with zodiac animals, and the green and red paint used is not standard for ordinary people. Looking at the traces, the beams in the corridor were decorated with gold-painted flowers and plants back then.
.I’m afraid this house has a royal aura. Is it part of the residence of a noble family member in the former Qing Dynasty?”
"It's worth it! Why isn't it worth it? This can't be measured by how much money you spend, and you are not short of money. There are countless courtyard houses of this level in the whole capital. This is the same as antiques. Once you miss it, you may lose it for the rest of your life.
You can’t buy it either.”
"Well, you have good eyesight, good luck, and even more blessings. Looking at your destiny, I'm afraid you were born to gather wealth. If you don't get rich, I don't know who else can...
"
Kang Shude is indeed a knowledgeable person.
Before he knew the specific origin of this yard, he had already sharp eyesight and saw the difference in this house.
He was also sincerely surprised for his apprentice, and every word he said touched on Ning Weimin's itch.
So it's just like an opera singer meets a theater enthusiast, or a chef meets a gourmet.
For Ning Weimin, being praised like this by his master was more satisfying than hearing ten thousand words of praise from others.
He couldn't help but laugh, very happily.
"Master, now you know what your apprentice is capable of! To be honest with you, this courtyard is where Daoguang's uncle lived. The residence of a serious emperor uncle."
"Wait later for me to repair your Ma's garden and my yard. Then you can live wherever you want. If you want to be a rich man, you will be a rich man. If you want to be an emperor's uncle, you will be an emperor's uncle."
"So to put it this way, you are actually more blessed than me. Who allowed you to have a disciple like me? From now on, just wait and enjoy the blessings with me..."
Ning Weimin said these words grandly and boldly, but there was also a hint of cleverness, and also a hint of arrogance and arrogance.
This is actually the most objectionable thing to Kang Shude.
Normally, he would have definitely been scolded by the old man.
But today is different after all.
Just because he was happy in his heart, Kang Shude not only did not say any unpleasant words, but actually nodded in approval for the first time.
"No, this is called fate. Originally, I thought you were so annoying, but I didn't expect that our father and son could actually become master and apprentice. I thought I had lost it a long time ago, but you helped me get it back. It seems
Whether it is between one person or between one person and this house, there is actually a certain destiny. This means that what is supposed to happen in life will eventually happen..."
This shows how much Ning Weimin pleases the old man by doing these things.
Of course, Kang Shude's rather fatalistic remarks were indeed made out of his own feelings.
Half an hour later, when his two feet finally stood at the entrance to the west gate of Ma's Garden again, this feeling became even stronger.
Today I visited my old place again. The expression on Kang Shude's face seemed to be a smile but not a smile. He looked both excited and a little confused.
Not for anything else, but because everything in front of him seemed specious, which made him feel a little dazed.
He lived here as a tenant with Mr. Song from the second year after he entered Beijing. It was not until the second year after the founding of the People's Republic of China that he left here and moved to the small courtyard in Shan'er Hutong.
Here, he grew up from the age of eleven to thirty-one, learned his skills, started a family, married a wife and had children.
It can be said that the most important time of his boyhood and adolescence was connected with this place.
However, in a blink of an eye, decades have passed, and the street is still the same street, and the alley is still the same alley.
But the people he knew, the people who knew him, even his teachers, old friends, family members, and friends were all gone.
Even the houses and trees on the street have aged and changed a lot. How can he not feel sad?
In his impression, the kindergarten at the east entrance of the alley was the temporary residence of Puyi's biological father Zaifeng in 1949.
The neighbor who moved here after selling the palace and lived diagonally across from him for two years was suffering from illness in his later years. The family did not accept outsiders, and only doctors often came...
There is also No. 19, the Assorted Garden, to the north of the garden, which was once the residence of Wu Peifu in his later years.
He could not forget that during the funeral of the legendary warlord in 1940, the procession passed here and lined up for several miles, attracting thousands of people to empty out the streets of the capital...
He even remembered the beautiful scene when the original owner of this garden, Ma Xuchu, got married in 1945.
Because he married Yu Yihua, the daughter of the then puppet mayor of Peiping, Yu Jinhe.
The Ma family held their wedding at the Jingcheng Hotel, chartered more than 100 taxis throughout Beijing, and surrounded the roads with yellow damask, creating a sensation.
Then came the defeat of Japan, and Yu Jinhe was arrested by the Nationalist Government and later died of illness in prison.
And under Mr. Song's arrangement, this house fell into his hands overnight in an extremely incredible way...
After that, there will be the liberation of Peiping...
A few years later, his family was deported due to the "movement" and he inadvertently escaped the renovation of his private house.
Then he struggled in his hometown for nearly twenty years before returning to Beijing alone...
All this was almost forgotten and forgotten.
Looking back today, I see that it is just like Cao Xue's "Dream of Red Mansions", that is, it is a dream that is not very real.
Just like the lyrics in Kong Shangren's "The Peach Blossom Fan".
"I once saw the orioles in the palace of the King of Jinling crow, and the flowers on the Qinhuai waterside pavilion bloomed early, but who knew how easy it would be to freeze. I watched him build a red tower, I watched him entertain guests, and I watched his tower collapse. I once slept in this moss-green tile pile, Watch the rise and fall of fifty years to your fullest..."
So when Ning Weimin opened the big lock on the chain that tied the courtyard door, he waited for a long time and couldn't help but call out, "Old man, what's wrong with you?"
Kang Shu Decai woke up from the confusion in his heart because of his apprentice's call.
He walked into this garden mansion that once belonged to the richest man in the capital and was inextricably related to him.
The moment I stepped through the door, it suddenly seemed like a dream.