In fact, the west wing faces south, and there is a small room close to the south wall.
But once you get there, there's a toilet right there.
After this place became a large courtyard, it became increasingly filthy due to poor cleaning, and it became extremely smelly.
Of course there is no need to look.
So after leaving the west wing, Kang Shude took Ning Weimin directly to the main room in the north.
These five rooms are the most important buildings in this courtyard, and they are also the rooms with the best orientation.
The old man didn't even need to speak, Ning Weimin could guess that it must be the residence of the owner, Mr. Song.
It's just that this was originally supposed to be a large room with five rooms connected through it, but now it is divided into two rooms and three rooms and two suites by a brick wall built behind the wall.
Apparently before those homes were moved, two families were using them separately.
Fortunately, what is quite gratifying is that after unlocking the door locks of these rooms, there is no longer any trace of the past like other rooms.
The pair of partition doors that originally distinguished the secondary room and the final room on both sides, which is the Bisha cabinet mentioned in "A Dream of Red Mansions", are actually still nearly complete and maintain their original appearance.
The pair of doors are composed of twelve partitions, which are quite exquisite.
The main frame, sill frame (including the frame, upper, middle and lower sills), partitions, cross-sections and other parts are almost complete.
Although the green and white silk yarn on the center is damaged, it is not a serious problem and can only be replaced later.
This was indeed a big surprise for Kang Shude and Ning Weimin.
You know, the Ma family is a family of architects. Can the style of partitions they design and select be comparable to that of ordinary people's homes?
Don’t think it’s just something from the Republic of China.
But the texture of the wood, the exquisiteness of the carvings, and the attention to detail are all top-notch, comparable to those of a royal palace.
Such a thing would be worth a lot of money if it were redone by a woodworking factory.
Since the original is still there, it would be much easier to just repair it, saving at least two to three thousand yuan.
However, what makes Ning Weimin quite strange is that the height of the two east-facing rooms on the right is actually the same as the threshold.
It is a large block higher than the foundation of the three rooms next door.
What's going on?
"Hey, what's so strange about this? You call me 'Dongyangyuan'er' for nothing..."
Seeing Ning Weimin looking at the ground puzzled, Kang Shude smiled slightly and gave him an answer.
"Mr. Song's Japanese wife followed her husband back to the capital after getting married, and it was difficult to change her living habits in her home country. Mr. Song is a man who loves his wife very much. After moving here, he first asked the Ma family to send someone to renovate the east room of the main house.
Hedongjin Room underwent a major renovation.”
"The first thing is to raise the floor of the house very high. You have to take off your shoes when entering these two rooms, which is equivalent to going up a flight of steps first. The floor is covered with tatami like straw mats. It gives people the feeling that you have to take off your shoes and get on the kang after entering the door. Moreover.
The windows of these two rooms are also opened very low, so you can see the cats running in the yard while sitting on the floor of the house. The innermost room is used as a bedroom, but there is no bed. Mr. and Mrs. Song sleep on the tatami at night."
"When I first came here, I saw that the furnishings in these two rooms were very fresh. According to my imagination, when Mr. and Mrs. Song woke up and opened their eyes, they saw tables and chair legs everywhere. The visual angle became like that of a mouse, but
It was awkward enough. But gradually, I came to understand that this is the living habit of Asian people, and I became accustomed to it."
"Also, Japanese people love to take baths. So Mr. Song also separated a five- to six-square-meter space in the easternmost room as a bathroom and installed a Japanese-style sliding door. He also spent a lot of money to run pipelines according to Western methods.
Water supply and drainage facilities were built, and faucets were installed. There are washbasins, bathtubs, and flush toilets inside. Because water is often used here, it was not converted into tatami mats, and the original red and blue patterned tile floor was left alone."
"So I would say that this two-room room is probably the most convenient in the whole Majia Garden. After this room is occupied by the housing management, people who are lucky enough to live here will have their own independent toilet.
and bathroom.”
After saying that, Kangshu pulled open the door in the east room and walked in.
Ning Weimin followed closely, and as the old man said, he saw a bathroom at the end of the room.
But it is a poorly protected situation.
The Japanese-style sliding door disappeared, half of the wall was built, and the rest was partitioned by a broken curtain hung with wire.
The tiles inside are cracked, the bathtub is missing, the toilet has been replaced with a squat toilet, and the water pipes are still leaking.
At first glance, you can tell that the resident who moved out did not realize how lucky he was, and was somewhat disappointed in such convenient conditions.
But what surprised Ning Weimin the most was that Mr. Song, who had resolutely returned his wife to Japan, actually had such a considerate side and could be called a doting maniac on his wife.
It seems that their relationship is indeed very good. Otherwise, the man would never go to such great lengths to consider his wife so thoughtfully.
From this, we can also imagine that it was not an easy decision for Mr. Song to make a ruthless choice.
On the contrary, it must be very painful and difficult.
In the final analysis, it was the war that destroyed this harmonious family and ruined their relationship as husband and wife.
It is family hatred caused by national hatred...
"Old man, what about the other rooms? Is it Mr. Song's study?"
Ning Weimin didn't want to think about it anymore and took the initiative to change the topic, trying to avoid this sad feeling.
Just listen to Kang Shude continue to say.
"The middle hall is the Ming Room. The middle room has a big Kang with a red mat and red square pillows, which can be used as a reception area. The innermost room to the west is the bedroom of Mr. Song's child. Mr. Song has a son.
A girl. The boy is five years younger than me, and his name is Song Xingyuan. Everyone calls him Xiao Yuanzi. The girl is seven years younger than me, and was named by a Japanese wife. She is called Song Chunzi."
"There is another bed in the west room outside the partition. It is the bed of Tian Ma, the nanny who takes care of the children. That little old woman is the wife of a vegetable farmer in the Taiyang Palace outside Chaoyang Gate. She has given birth to three children, two sons and one daughter.
.I had to go to the city to be a mother in order to make a living. Although I had no experience as a servant, I was very serious about my duty."
"Mr. Song was willing to hire her at a high price of fifteen oceans a month because she was simple and had no bad habits developed in the house. At that time, this was almost the price of the highest-class maid, and ordinary maids were no more than
Eight or ten yuan. The money Tian Ma earns is more than enough to support her family in the countryside."
"For this reason, Tian's mother naturally knew that she had found a good master, so she took extra care of Mr. Song's children. She was also very loyal to Mr. Song and the Japanese wife, and worked hard without complaining. She didn't have the scheming and insight of ordinary maids. Even
She is very respectful and polite to Mr. Lan. However, she is not so angry when speaking to outsiders. Not only does she speak harshly, she even has a bit of a lack of sense of proportion when it comes to her temper."
"I knew something like this happened. Tian's mother is very good at making molded tofu, so she always makes two jars. In addition to one jar for daily use in the small courtyard, the other jar can also be distributed to the garden.
She went to deliver molded tofu to the servants of the Ma family, and when she came back through the garden, she didn't know which foreigner's family she bumped into. "
"I don't know if she was a wife or a concubine. She was sitting in a pavilion in the garden after drinking too much and couldn't get up. When she saw Tian Ma, she eagerly shouted, 'Mom, come here and give me a hand.'
Tian's mother heard that this person was speaking rudely, and regardless of the status difference, she immediately retorted, 'There are no mothers here, only sloppy ones!' Listen, she has such a temper."
The old man's description made Ning Weimin smile and couldn't hold back his joy.
Because he knew that this sloppy talk was used by people in the capital to intimidate children.
In the past, almost all children in the capital heard a similar sentence when they were young.
"If you cry and make trouble again, the sloppy guy will come over and eat you!"
In the parents' tone of voice, Ma Huzi, a tiger-like monster, seems to be the most terrifying existence in the world.
Krampus, who corresponds to Santa Claus in Western mythology, has the same preferences and specializes in eating disobedient children.
If a child is naughty and crying, the sloppy child will follow the breath and snatch the child away.
Even Lu Xun specifically studied it in "Morning Blossoms Plucked at Dusk".
It is believed that the origin of this word is Ma Shumou, who ate children in the Sui Dynasty. It should be called "Ma Beard".
Anyway, no matter what kind of explanation, Ning Weimin must admit that Tian Ma's adaptability and courage to contradict are extraordinary.
She actually treated those who yelled at her as if they were children.
The subtext of this statement is clearly to criticize this drunken wife or young lady - you are just a child, you are so ignorant!
This can make people vomit out a mouthful of old blood, but can't express their grievances like "roast chicken, big nest neck".
I'm afraid I won't be able to taste it anywhere else except Beijing.