After Zhuang Rui bought some gifts, he took a taxi and told the driver the address. The middle-aged driver, who was in his forties, was quite talkative. He started chatting with Zhuang Rui with a Beijing accent.
"Yes, I came to visit my elders."
"Most people don't know your address. It's almost been demolished, but the remaining courtyard is worth a lot of money."
The middle-aged driver said with envy on his face that in the early years, Beijingers were very nervous about housing. There were five or six families crowded into a courtyard, and the per capita housing area was only a few square meters. Later, when the Asian Games Village was built, Beijingers all wanted to live there.
Buildings, when the government talks about demolishing and compensating buildings, they are all happy.
However, these Hutong courtyard houses are being demolished less and less, so they have attracted more attention. After being preserved as cultural heritage in recent years, the price has soared. The price of a dozen buildings may not be as valuable as a courtyard house.
A relatively smart travel company has launched a special Hutong tour, all of which are man-powered rickshaw drivers wearing yellow vests. The vests they wear have "Beijing Hutong Tour" written on the front, and the name of the rickshaw company and phone number on the back. Rickshaws and
The hutong tours they serve are very local in style, and the vast fleet of rickshaws shuttles through the streets and alleys of Beijing.
During the tour, every time we go to an alley, the rickshaw drivers will introduce what kind of alley it is, who lives here, and which open courtyard house to look for. It can be seen that courtyard courtyards have now become a tourist attraction in Beijing.
Attraction.
The old man lived outside Xuanwu Gate, which was not very far from the hotel where Zhuang Rui lived. Not long after the meeting, the driver stopped the car at the entrance of an alley, but it was impossible to drive in any further.
After paying the fare, he got out of the car with his things, and Zhuang Rui walked towards the alley. On both sides of the narrow alley were high green brick walls, which looked a bit shabby. There was a sign at the entrance of the alley that read:
It is a closed unit and visitors are not allowed to visit.
Zhuang Rui came a little early, before nine o'clock. People came in and out of the alley from time to time. Looking at Zhuang Rui who was carrying something in his hand, his eyes couldn't help but be a little strange. Fortunately, there was a house number in front of each house door. Zhuang Rui quickened his pace and walked.
After passing through three or four courtyard gates, we finally found the old man's residence.
Zhuang Rui pressed the doorbell. After more than a minute, the heavy door opened. A middle-aged woman in her forties stuck her head out, glanced at the thing in Zhuang Rui's hand, and said, "You
Who to look for?"
"Is it Zhuang Rui? Come in quickly..."
Before Zhuang Rui could reply, the old man's hearty and powerful voice rang out in the yard. The middle-aged woman opened the door halfway and let Zhuang Rui in.
Entering the gate, Zhuang Rui's eyes suddenly lit up. The inside of the courtyard was completely different from the slightly gloomy alley outside. The sunlight filtered through the leaves of the big locust tree in the courtyard and fell to the ground like gold.
There was a flowerbed full of lilacs and crabapples, and bursts of floral fragrance reached Zhuang Rui's nose.
There were three or four bird cages hung on the tall branches of the locust tree, and several birds were chirping incessantly inside.
Zhuang Rui looked at the surrounding rooms and found that it was a small courtyard with two east and west wings and three rooms in the south. It had bricks to the top, a ridged tile-roofed house, and brick corridors in the courtyard, connecting the doors of various rooms, with flower gardens interspersed there.
On both sides of the road, there are steps in front of each house. There are two doors, decorated with black oil. There is a pair of brass door cymbals on the door, and there are couplets on the two doors.
Outside each room, there are also potted flowers and trees such as pomegranate trees, narcissus, oleander, golden osmanthus, silver osmanthus, rhododendron, etc. In the hot summer, this small courtyard is full of coolness.
breath.
The old man was sitting on a recliner under the tree, holding a book in his hand. There was an octagonal table in front of him. There was a tea set and several snacks on the table. The gentle breeze blew away the dense branches and leaves above his head.
, scattered sunlight shines on the old man, like a fairy.
"Xiao Zhang, bring a chair to Xiao Zhuang." Seeing that it was Zhuang Rui, the old man stood up happily.
"No, no, I'll do it myself..." Zhuang Rui handed the gift he was carrying to the middle-aged woman and moved a chair next to the flower garden to the ancient table.
"Uncle Gu, I'm sorry for disturbing your peace again." Zhuang Rui did not sit down, but bowed slightly to the old man.
"What are you talking about? I live alone. It's usually too clean. Don't stand. Sit down."
The old man put down the book in his hand and poured tea for Zhuang Rui.
"That one is..."
"Oh, Xiao Zhang is the nanny I hired. My children are grown up and no one wants to stay in this courtyard."
In fact, it's not like the old man said, his children are still very filial. It's just that the old man likes to be clean and has kicked out the younger generations. However, every weekend, the children will still come back to get together.
"It's nice here. I think it's much more comfortable than living in a building."
Zhuang Rui was speaking from his heart. Since he lived deep in the alley, he could not hear the traffic outside at all. The single-family house was very quiet. Although it was not as big as his villa in Pengcheng, it had a different artistic conception.
"Okay, don't just say nice things, take out the jade and let me take a look."
Yesterday I heard that Zhuang Rui had uncovered another piece of imperial green material. The old man was eager to wait for it. This kind of top-quality jadeite was always rare to find. He had been immersed in the jade circle for decades and had only seen it a handful of times.
.
Zhuang Rui took out a jewelry box from his handbag and handed it to Gu Gu. This box was obtained from Wu Jia's store.
Gu Gu opened the box, held the jade in his palm, picked up the reading glasses on the table, put them on, and observed them carefully. After five or six minutes, he put the jade back into the box.
"The color is good, the water is like a clear stream, without a single flaw. It is indeed made of imperial green glass. Not bad, really good. Xiaozhuang, you are so lucky..."
The old man sighed. When he was about to praise Zhuang Rui a few words, he couldn't find the words. His nephew's luck was not very good. After thinking for a long time, the old man couldn't find a word to describe his luck.
Words come.
"Hey, uncle, you taught me well. I learned all my knowledge of jade identification from you."
Zhuang Rui is now a dead pig and is not afraid of boiling water. Besides, after he is familiar with the stone betting circle, he knows that he is not the only one who has such luck. Every year, some lucky people appear in the Burmese Jade Public Sale.
"If you kid can calm down, I can teach you the craftsmanship of Zhuoyu, and you can also learn a lot of cooking skills. No... With your current wealth, you don't need to rely on this industry to earn a living.
Now." Gu Gu knew that Zhuang Rui had a high level of understanding, but he wanted to teach him his unique skill of carving jade.
"Okay, uncle, I will go to Beijing University to study next year, and I will come and learn from you then." Zhuang Rui understood the principle of not being overwhelmed by one's talents, so he immediately agreed.
"Tell me, what kind of object do you want to carve into?" The old man hasn't carved jade for a while, and now that he sees this top-quality jadeite, his hands are starting to feel itchy.
"Uncle, do you think you can cut out three pendants, and then leave two pairs of earrings and a ring surface?" Zhuang Rui agreed to Wu Jia's grandfather, and naturally it was hard to go back on it.
Hearing this, Gu Gu picked up the jade and looked at it for a while, then asked: "Is the pendant worn by men or women?"
"For my mother and my niece..."
"Oh, if a man wears Guanyin and a woman wears Buddha, there is no problem with the three pendants. It's just the material for the earrings and ring surface. It can be saved, but it won't be big. Are you sure?"
According to the old man's custom as a carver in Beijing, the material used to cut this piece of jade into three pendants is just right, and there will be no waste at all. If Zhuang Rui's request is followed, the size of the pendants will be smaller.
"Uncle, I dare not hide this from you..."
Zhuang Rui hesitated for a moment and told him that Grandpa Wu Jia wanted to leave a warning. If he didn't tell this, if it spread to the old man's ears in the future, he would definitely be unhappy.
After listening to Zhuang Rui's words, Gu Gu was not angry, but said with some emotion: "It's Brother Wu. Alas, after I heard that his son's wife had a car accident a few years ago, his body collapsed. I didn't expect it.
We can’t go under the knife anymore, and our generation is getting older and fewer.”
"Okay, I'll take this job, but it won't be so soon. I have to go out tomorrow and I won't be back for about three to five days. It will be half a month before I finish this job. By the way, wait a minute. I have something else.
I have to tell you something."
Gu Gu stood up and walked into the main room, and soon came out with a red-faced notebook in his hand.
"Here, this is for you, take a look for yourself..."
Zhuang Rui took the red-faced book and discovered that it was a letter of appointment, wrapped in red silk. But after opening it, Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded. He pointed at the words on it and stammered: "Old man, you...
…You…are you kidding me?”
The words "Mr. Zhuang Rui is hereby hired to be the director of this association..." written on the letter of appointment made Zhuang Rui seem to be in a dream. Then he looked at the red steel seal and signature below, but it was the seal of the Jade Association.
and Gu Tianfeng.
"Uncle Gu, I don't dare to take this seriously. If someone says that you are acting for personal gain, it will be all my fault."
Zhuang Rui looked at the letter of appointment carefully again. Yes, it was for him. He quickly declined and said, he asked himself that apart from betting on a few pieces of jade, he had nothing to do with jade. How could the old man think of giving it to him?
He had such a name, which made Zhuang Rui a little scared.
"Why are you so excited? The director is not the chairman, it's just a name. There are more than thirty directors in the association. That boy Song Jun can get into the director's chair. What are you afraid of?" The old man saw Zhuang.
Ruicheng looked horrified and laughed at the side.
"What? More than thirty directors? Brother Song too..."
Zhuang Rui was stunned. He originally thought that a big pie fell from the sky and hit him, but this also reassured him. He was still young and could not bear too heavy a burden.
"Don't take this seriously. Let me tell you, although the Jade Association is a private organization, its affiliated Jade Testing Center is still very authoritative in the appraisal of jade.
And after you have this identity, you won’t need a special invitation letter to participate in various jade bidding meetings in the country. Even in several countries rich in jade, this thing is still useful..."
The old man gave Zhuang Ruian such an identity, just to make it easier for him to enter and exit those stone gambling places in the future. Besides, he is not too young. I am afraid he will resign from his position in the Jade Association after this year, so he can take care of Zhuang before he retires.
Give it a try.
"Uncle, thank you..."
Zhuang Rui finally understood what the old man meant when he heard what he said. With this thing, it would be much easier to bet on stones in the future, and even if he went to Myanmar, he would have a name: academic exchange.
The old man waved his hand, this matter was nothing to him, it was just a mention.
"By the way, do you need this thing urgently? Should you go back to Pengcheng first, or wait in Beijing?" The old man will be away for several days, so he asked Zhuang Rui.
Zhuang Rui was also a little hesitant. It was really uncomfortable to go back and forth on this hot day, but if he stayed in Beijing, he would not be too lazy to go out and visit the scenic spots and historic sites in the sun, so he was a little unsure about paying attention.
Seeing Zhuang Rui's look, Gu Gu said, "Well, if you have time, just go out with me. You'll be back in three to five days, and you can gain some knowledge."
"Uncle, where are you going this time?"
Zhuang Rui asked curiously. Even a young man like him couldn't stand running outside on such a hot day, let alone an old man.
"Go to Xinjiang, Hotan..."
Anyone who is Chinese may have heard of this name, and Zhuang Rui is no exception. He has also longed for the birthplace of mutton-fat jade.
"Okay, uncle, I'll go with you. I've wanted to see nephrite for a long time..." Zhuang Rui agreed. Being able to stay with the old man, the objects he saw were naturally good things.
"Well, you stayed in the hotel last night, right? Go and clean up. Stay here tonight. We have a flight tomorrow morning. By the way, I want someone to book a ticket for you." Gu Gu said a few words to Zhuang Rui.
, went into the house to make a phone call. His flight ticket was booked a few days ago. It was just a whim to take Zhuang Rui there. I didn’t know if there was still a flight ticket.
Zhuang Rui also took out his mobile phone and called home, telling his mother that he would go back after playing for a few days. Zhuang's mother gave a few instructions on the phone but didn't say much.
As soon as he hung up the phone, his phone rang. Zhuang Rui looked at it and saw that the number was unfamiliar, so he pressed the answer button without thinking too much.
"Hey, are you Zhuang Rui? I'm Ouyang Jun..."
"Ouyang Jun?"
The voice on the phone was unfamiliar, and Zhuang Rui was certain that he did not know such a man named Ouyang Jun.
