On the evening of December 31, 1911 AD, it was the Gregorian New Year, and it was also the eve of the New Year (New Year's Day). This was also a festival that the Japanese took very seriously. Matsuda Haruki took several of his subordinates to Inada Koji's home to drink and celebrate the festival together. This place was originally
It is the mansion of Lao Jintou.
Matsuda Koji actually didn't find much money in Lao Jintou's house. Because the current situation was unstable, even the old man was in charge of it for a while, and the Japanese were in charge of it for a while. The uneasy Lao Jintou took most of the property away.
They exchanged them for U.S. dollars and gold and deposited them in safes in foreign banks in the capital and Tianjin. Although they didn't get much money, Matsuda Koji and Matsuda Haruki, who had reaped the benefits, planned to do this kind of action again in a few days.
.The New Year's party is when their uncle and nephew discuss their next goals.
Lao Jintou paid a large sum of money to bribe a Korean servant hired by Matsuda Koji's family and put anesthetic in their meals. After they were drugged, the servant came out to tell Lao Jintou and ran away with the money.
.Lao Jintou led people into his former home. They poured oil on the house and the Japanese people, and used a fire to sacrifice their families.
Lao Jintou distributed a large sum of money to his associates, and several of them said goodbye in tears. They each concealed their names and wandered around the world. The homeless Lao Jintou fled to Tianjin by boat. On the way, he scattered the ashes of his family members in
After arriving in Jintian, Lao Jintou took out the gold stored in the bank and took it with him. After several twists and turns, he came to the capital and bought the house of Cao Tianbao's original employer under a pseudonym, preparing to spend his whole life here.
Lao Jintou was charged with a murder case and was wanted by the Japanese, so he gathered the three families of Sun, Cao and Liu, whom he liked, in his yard as a cover in the name of rent. However, many years of living together gradually resolved Lao Jintou's feelings.
The frozen feelings, until Sun Cheng sacrificed his life to save others, Lao Jintou completely let go of his heart.
From then on, happy laughter often came from the small courtyard. Every New Year's Eve, everyone gathered at home. Lao Jintou financed, Sun Cheng and Cao Tianbao did the shopping, Chef Cao took charge of the dishes, and the others did odd jobs, and had dinner in the small courtyard.
It was a prosperous and lively event. During the banquet, everyone exchanged freely, heard about strange things, or expressed their opinions on the pros and cons of current affairs, and had a great time. The most popular ones were Lao Jintou’s experience outside the customs, Mr. Liu and his wife’s experiences in Europe and
Commentary on current affairs, and the story of Liu Hanwen, a child in kindergarten, fighting bravely with her aunt and other children.
This kind of dinner party became a tradition in the small courtyard. Even if Sun Cheng and Chef Cao left home to join the revolution in 1937, they continued until Lao Jintou passed away with a smile on his face.
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The naming convention is still ongoing.
Chef Cao, who successfully grabbed the naming rights, was already going crazy. It was hard to agree with the crowd. He proposed several names that he was satisfied with, but they were all rejected. Helplessly, he decided to try his luck.
Chef Cao spread the entire set of six "Kangxi Dictionaries" on the table, closed his eyes, touched one, opened a page at random, and pointed on the book with his right index finger.
Sun Cheng, who was standing next to him and watching, laughed out loud. The puzzled Chef Cao opened his eyes and immediately felt God's full malice towards him.
What he clicked on was the word "Cao". The name of the Cao family's young master was "Cao Cao"? Chef Cao said he would never obey.
Chef Cao, who was still a bit quick-witted, found a reason: "I ordered it with my right hand just now, male left and female right, so this time it doesn't count. I'll do it again."
Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the second choice of words. Chef Cao solemnly announced to everyone: "My son's name is - Cao Yong."
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"What happened next?" Lisa asked her husband Cao Yong while lying on the bed.
At dinner, Cao Yong got the Hong Kong permanent citizenship application form and was still excited when he returned home. Because in the letter he received, his father, Chef Cao, finally relented and agreed to settle in Xiangjiang with his mother after retiring next year. Since ten
During the special period of the year, Cao Yong left the capital and came to Xiangjiang in 1963. He had not seen his parents for 18 years because he was afraid of having a negative impact on them. Every year, he sent and received letters from his parents in Shajiao Village.
Since 1979, people around Cao Yong have been returning to the mainland to visit relatives. Cao Yong plans to take Lisa back to the capital this year to celebrate the New Year. But after all, visiting relatives is not as convenient as his parents coming to settle in Xiangjiang directly. Cao Yong was still too excited to sleep in bed.
, then told Lisa about the past of his father’s family.
"Later, I grew up in the capital until I was in the second grade of junior high school." Cao Yong continued: "In the Spring Festival of 1958, I met my grandpa and grandma. I was 8 years old that year, and my parents took me on the train to
Guangzhou, and then returned to the old house in Shajiao Village. The third uncle and grandpa smuggled grandpa and grandma over on a fishing boat, and we spent the Spring Festival at the old house."
Lisa laughed: "My third uncle and grandpa are all used to smuggling."
"At the pier fish market in Xiangjiang, most of them are mainland fishermen nearby. After catching the fish, the boat turns around and sells it to Xiangjiang. As long as it is not excessive, the police department will turn a blind eye to this. Think about it.
Also, how many fishermen are there in total in Xiangjiang?"
"Aren't you also sent to Xiangjiang by your third uncle and grandpa?" Lisa teased her husband.
"Yes, I told you before. My third uncle not only sent me to Xiangjiang, but also did me the biggest favor. He issued a certificate of my disappearance from the village, and then got it stamped by the fishery administration and the police.
I sent it back to the capital, and half a year later, the capital canceled my household registration. Fortunately, otherwise, my parents would have suffered during the ten-year special period. Now that China has forgotten the consequences for people who smuggled across the Xiangjiang River, I dare to plan
Let’s go back to see our parents.”
Cao Yong fell into memories.
Xiangjiang Zhengji Printing Factory was jointly funded and established by Cao Yong's grandfather and his friend Mr. Wang. The major shareholder Mr. Wang also had a business in his family, so the printing factory was always run by Cao Yong's grandfather and later passed to his uncle Zheng Ziwei. In 1963, Wang
Lao's business failed and he was in urgent need of capital turnover, so he discussed with his grandpa about selling his shares. Grandpa had devoted his whole life to the factory and was unwilling to lose his equity, but he did not have the strength to take over Mr. Wang's shares. In desperation, grandpa decided to sell his shares.
I couldn't afford to fall ill. My grandmother had passed away two years ago. At this time, my grandfather missed his daughter and son-in-law's family who were far away in the capital. When my uncle found out, he found the third uncle who sold fish, told him the situation, and asked him to go to the capital to find him.
Chef Cao’s family.
The third uncle rushed back to Guangzhou and went north to the capital without stopping.
In the small courtyard, the Sun and Cao families are drinking with the third uncle and grandpa. Chef Cao has decided to let 13-year-old Cao Yong go to Xiangjiang. This meal is also a farewell meal for the third uncle and grandpa and Cao Yong. While eating and drinking, the third uncle and grandpa
He accidentally mentioned the dilemma his grandfather was facing. After hearing this, Sun Cheng became interested.
The next day, when seeing Cao Yong off at the train station, Sun Cheng handed Cao Yong a military satchel. Cao Yong opened it and saw that there was a deposit certificate of 100,000 US dollars from HSBC Bank and 5 large yellow croakers.
It is the vast majority of Sun Cheng's property (mainly the inheritance of Lao Jintou).
Due to the relationship between the Sun and Cao families, Chef Cao did not refuse the money. He asked Cao Yong to kneel down and thank Sun Cheng, asking Cao Yong to remember this kindness, and made it clear that the money was considered a loan and must be repaid. Cao Yong said goodbye.
The family and two brothers, Uncle Sun Cheng and Sun Weiguo, Sun Weimin, who came to see him off, followed his uncle and grandfather on the southbound train.
With the help of his third uncle and his uncle, Cao Yong successfully arrived in Xiangjiang and applied for permanent identity in Xiangjiang. His grandfather and uncle did not expect that 13-year-old Cao Yong actually spent such a large sum of money. What surprised them even more was that,
When I inquired about the certificate of deposit at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, I was told that this automatic rolling time deposit certificate issued in 1911 had a total principal and interest of more than 300,000 U.S. dollars. The overjoyed uncle bought Mr. Wang’s shares, and the remaining
With the money spent, new equipment was added and some equipment was replaced, and the business of the printing factory gradually improved.
Cao Yong lived at his grandfather's house. He spent a year practicing English and Cantonese. A year later, he was admitted to Wah Yan Secondary School in Kowloon. After graduation, Cao Yong went to Cambridge University to study law.
In 1978, Cao Yong, a doctor of law, returned to Xiangjiang with Lisa, who had graduated from Cambridge University with a master's degree in sociology, and they got married the next year.
After thinking about it, Cao Yong fell asleep unknowingly. In his dream, he seemed to have returned to the small courtyard where he had longed for...