We were not taken to Director Hou's office, but got off the bus outside a courtyard.
"This is Director Hou's private showroom. He is waiting for you inside." The director said to us with a smile.
I couldn't help but think to myself: This courtyard is worth at least tens of millions, and Director Hou is really not simple. At the same time, I was a little curious: What does Director Hou look like?
This courtyard house is located in an old alley. The bright red door and blue glazed tiles give people a majestic and solemn style. What is displayed in front of you is its former glory.
The director went to the door and knocked on the door with the knocker. The door was opened from the inside.
I thought Director Hou would appear soon, but instead I found a young man in front of me. The director asked him, "Where is Director Hou?"
The young man replied: "Director Hou has something to do and has to go back to the office. He will come right away. Let me take the guests to have tea here first."
I knew that a person with Director Hou’s position would definitely not turn back in the middle of the road if it was not a particularly urgent matter. I nodded to the young man, “I’ll trouble you. Let’s visit this courtyard first.”
The director said to us: "Director Hou instructed me to welcome all the guests here. Now I have to go back. Xiao Hu is taking care of me here. Director Hou will be here soon."
I thanked him profusely, shook hands with him and he left with the car.
We entered the courtyard at Xiao Hu's greeting. The scene inside the door was not as strict as I imagined. In front of us was the traditional "shadow wall" of the old Beijing courtyard. This is a snow-white wall with a wooden fence outside.
There are strings of small gourds hanging on both sides of the frame, and two red Chinese knots suddenly make the wall brighter. In the middle of the wall is a big word "福", and in front of the word "福" is a large vat
, lotus flowers, which symbolize "family reunion", are planted inside; while various flowers and plants are planted in front of the large vat, adding a lot of unique beauty to the already beautiful "screen wall".
After bypassing the screen wall and walking through the veranda, we saw the inner courtyard of the courtyard. It has no gorgeous appearance and has not been deliberately decorated. It is surrounded by east, west, south and north rooms. The first thing that catches our eyes is a
Main house. At this time, I noticed that the roof of the main house was higher than other roofs. This was the house of the older generation in the past.
Beijing's courtyard houses have a lot of particularities, but regardless of their size, they are all composed of courtyards surrounded by houses. The simplest courtyard houses have only one courtyard, while the more complicated ones have two or three courtyards, and the deep courtyards are where wealthy people live.
, usually composed of several courtyard houses juxtaposed.
The typical characteristics of a courtyard house are its regular appearance, symmetry along the center line, and extremely flexible usage. When it gets bigger, it becomes a palace or a royal palace; when it gets smaller, it becomes the residences of ordinary people. The glorious Forbidden City and ordinary farmers' homes in the suburbs are both courtyard houses.
The general distribution of the courtyard is the main entrance, the first entrance, the lobby, the second entrance, the study room, the residence, etc. There are wing rooms on both sides, and each room has a corridor and is connected by a partition door. The composition of the courtyard has its unique features. It
The courtyard is wide and sparse, and the houses on all four sides are independent and connected to each other by verandas, making living very convenient. The enclosed residence makes the courtyard very private, and you can see the sky and the earth when you close the door. In the courtyard, the doors on all four sides open to the courtyard.
The family enjoys a harmonious relationship; the spacious courtyard can also be used to plant trees and flowers, feed birds and fish, and stack rocks and scenery, allowing residents to fully enjoy the beauty of nature.
The allocation of residences in the inner house of a courtyard is very strict. The main house in the inner house, which is in a privileged and prominent position, is reserved for the older generation of masters and wives. Only the middle one of the three rooms in the north opens its door to the outside, which is called the main room. The two rooms on both sides
The main room only opens the door to the main room to form a suite, creating a pattern of one light and two dark. The main room is a place where the family lives, entertains relatives, or worships ancestors during festivals. There are more bedrooms on both sides.
The bedrooms on the east and west sides are also distinguished by superiority and inferiority. Under the polygamy system, the east side is the superior one and is occupied by the main wife, while the west side is the inferior one and is occupied by the side room.
When I came to Beijing before, I visited some courtyard houses in alleys in my spare time, but most of those courtyard houses were in dilapidated condition. The structure of the courtyard house in front of me is completely that of the courtyard houses in old Beijing. Judging from the building structure and materials,
It should have been owned by a wealthy family in the past. In modern times, there are very few courtyard houses like this in Beijing. Director Hou has such a place, which is very accessible.
There was a set of bamboo and rattan chairs in the courtyard in the center of the courtyard. Xiao Hu invited us to sit down and quickly brought us a pot of tea. He did not invite us to visit every house in the courtyard. In my heart
I was secretly a little surprised.
However, the weather in Beijing is good today. The sun is shining down from the sky above the courtyard, which is warm and pleasant. I thought to myself, if I could own such a courtyard, I could sit in such a place and bathe in the sunshine on my free days, with a pot of
Tea, a book, what a pleasant life it is.
At first glance, Xiao Hu seemed to be a kind of honest and honest young man. He just invited us to drink tea, and then said to us, "Director Hou will show you around here when he comes," and then he stepped aside.
The three of us sat here, drank tea, and started chatting. I started talking first because I found that Su Wen seemed a little nervous.
I said: "This place is nice. In a place like Beijing, it is extraordinary to have such a courtyard house."
The director of the National Development and Reform Commission said: "However, this place does not seem to be his home. I have heard of him, and it is said that this person is very powerful."
I nodded, "Didn't the director say that before? This is one of his showrooms. It is said that Director Hou likes antiques and so on. I guess this is where he displays those things."
Su Wen said: "I feel so nervous. It's my first time to come to such a large leader's residence in Beijing."
I found that she was much prettier than before, probably because she had a boyfriend, and her spirit, temperament, and appearance had changed a lot. I smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. The first thing is to relax your mind. From now on."
You have to do a lot of things on your own, so being nervous is not good. You have to put yourself in your own position and face everything. Force yourself to face it. In fact, I was also very nervous when I first started doing administrative work.
But I forced myself to face it.”
She asked me: "Mayor Feng, I know what you mean, but how can I let myself face it?" (To be continued)