As three girls who came from poor backgrounds and came to the capital to work.
No matter how much you admire, marvel at, or fall in love with the Hong family's small foreign-style building, it is actually quite normal.
But on the other hand, if there is such a renovated house.
It would be truly remarkable if a young man from an aristocratic family who was born and raised here and is highly educated can sincerely praise him.
December 17 was the day when the Beijing government issued the "Beijing's "Three Guarantees at the Door" Responsibility Management Measures.
Wanyan Yuntai received a call from Hong Yanwu and unexpectedly learned good news.
That is the Wanyan family, known as the "Half Acre Garden".
The residential part has been almost repaired.
Although Hong Yanwu also claimed that there are still many problems regarding some details and the garden sub-section.
The subsequent construction difficulties were far greater than initially expected, and the construction schedule had to be significantly delayed.
Moreover, Yuntai needs to come to Beijing to have detailed discussions with Wang Yunlin and Mr. Shan to come up with common opinions for subsequent construction.
But Yuntai was still very excited about this.
You know, he and his sister Wang Yunlin grew up hand in hand in this big house with gardens and pavilions.
Every second of their lives here and there, the brothers and sisters are full of joy and happiness.
He could not forget how when they were young, under the loving gaze of their parents, they used small gold ingots and small pots made of whole jade to prepare family wine.
He also missed the beautiful domestic pigeons he had raised, which flew in the sky like a flowing cloud at a fixed time every day.
He could not forget the funny look of his sister sitting alone by the pond, using snack scraps to attract all the goldfish in the pond, and then screaming repeatedly in surprise at the splashing water.
Because their mother was good at running the household and strict in discipline, they did not have to face the desolation of being cut off from their old rice and silver ingots like other declining nobles.
Even after their father passed away, their brother and sister's lives have always been carefree.
They eat, drink, play, laugh, and live a more comfortable life than real royal family members and dignitaries.
Together, they turned those pastimes of life into the art of life and into beautiful memories that will never be forgotten.
He himself loved singing Erhuo, playing the huqin, playing chess, brewing wine, firing porcelain, wrestling, flying hawks, training dogs, and horse racing.
The younger sister is good at singing in Tsing Yi, playing the cave flute, painting, writing poetry, making incense, raising fish, raising birds, growing flowers, and fighting crickets.
If the Japanese hadn't come and occupied the capital, they would have had to leave their homes to escape the war.
Come to think of it, even now, their brother and sister may still be spending their whole day and whole year in the fun of life, with pavilions, pavilions, goldfish and white pigeons as their companions.
Perhaps their mother is still alive and can witness with her own eyes how the next generation of the Wanyan family gradually grows up in the old house...
Home……
Even though it is a simple word, it contains too much joy and bitterness, too much impetuosity and heaviness.
This century-old courtyard has formed an unforgettable psychological bond for the descendants of the Wanyan family.
This bond is the soul and lifeblood of a person, and contains most of the understanding and taste of life.
But it is precisely because this place is so important, because the half-acre garden in the past was too dazzling.
A few years ago, I heard that Hong Yanwu helped take back this house.
Yuntai was happy, but he never had the courage to take a look at the house, so he entrusted it all to Hong Yanwu's care.
Because he was afraid to see with his own eyes that the house he had grown up in became overgrown with weeds and full of hedgehogs and worms.
He was afraid of the helplessness and regret of being unable to do anything when the place where generations of Wanyan family had devoted their efforts had become devastated, desolate and decadent.
He was even more afraid of feeling the guilt of his deceased parents, of the heart-breaking, heart-wrenching sting...
But now, now that the house has been repaired, it is already half done.
If you look at it now, you won't feel too sad.
Moreover, he also trusted his nephew's abilities.
Come to think of it, although the vermillion-painted green corridors, the singing of birds and the blooming of flowers will not restore the palace-like scenery of the past.
But the Hong family's courtyard is right there. As long as it's still at that level, it won't be too bad.
Not to mention, it really lived up to Yuntai’s hidden expectations.
It was not in vain that he took his wife, son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and daughter-in-law with his family to the capital to mobilize troops and mobilize people.
Accompanied by Wang Yunlin and Hong Yanwu, we arrived at Huangmi Hutong on the day.
Although at first glance, the door of the old house had not been renovated to hide it from others, the dilapidated appearance inevitably made Yuntai feel a little sad.
But once he entered the door, the actual recovery situation far exceeded Yuntai's expectations.
You know, Half an Acre Garden is not an ordinary place.
It was carefully designed by garden expert Li Yu and was the most prestigious private garden in the imperial capital of the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty.
Known as Daoguang, it was the first of the six private gardens in the imperial capital during the Xianfeng period.
And its name is "half an acre", but it's not just half an acre.
In fact, after successive expansions by the Wanyan family, there are more than 180 houses here, which is a courtyard with three roads and five entrances.
It covers an area of about ten acres and more than 9,000 square meters, which is much larger than the Hong family's old house.
After all, it is a family of an aristocratic family, and its heritage is not something that ordinary people can easily match.
As for why this place is called this name, there are actually two reasons.
A humble one.
The ancients often liked to say that their gardens were small, such as inch gardens and mustard seed gardens, which all meant this.
In addition, this name is directly related to the allusion that the royal family liked the "half-acre square pond" before the Song Dynasty.
Just like what Zhu Xi wrote in a poem, "Half an acre of square pond is open, and the skylight and cloud shadows are lingering together. If you ask the canal how clear it is, it will come from a source of living water."
The "half-acre garden" of Wanyan's family has a small rectangular pond, where you can enjoy the scenery of the water, clouds and sky.
But in addition to this core water feature, there is another special feature worthy of praise.
That is, the advantages of the spatial pattern of the northern and southern courtyards are compatible and combined.
As a northern courtyard, "Half Acre Garden" undoubtedly adopts the layout of "one front and two sides".
The squareness and symmetry reflect the solemnity and integrity of the family.
But at the same time, it has the subtle charm of the winding paths of southern gardens.
There are not only pavilions and pavilions, but also various types of buildings.
Even the paintings, plants, decorations, sculptures, and corner doors are all unique and exquisitely designed.
It can be said that there is no place without scenery and no place that is not fascinating.
So one can imagine how difficult it is to rebuild such a house.
As a true expert on ancient architecture, Mr. Shan is a knowledgeable generalist.
Not only did he strictly follow the ancient building regulations, he rebuilt and renovated the house.
And he also accurately grasped the graceful and bookish landscaping characteristics of the South.
The wonderful features of this house have been restored with almost no distortion.
So let alone An Dani, An Xiaoqin, a country girl who has never even seen a serious courtyard house.
Even Zhaoqing and his children were admiring and looking around here.
It is completely unbelievable that their ancestral home is actually made of nanmu pillars and glazed tiles, which is comparable to a garden palace in southern gardens.
But what impressed Yuntai the most and what convinced him was a detail that ordinary people would not pay attention to.
That is the ubiquitous unicorn stone sculpture in the house.
Door carvings, screen walls, halls, eaves, corner doors... can be seen everywhere.
This is the most appropriate and considerate restoration, and this can truly prove Mr. Shan's superb level.
The reason why there are so many unicorns is precisely because the owner of the Wanyan family who bought this mansion was named Wanyan Linqing.
It goes without saying that Yuntai was overjoyed when he pointed at these stone carvings and told his sons and daughters not to forget their ancestors.