Coming out of the small western building, I slipped to the west and east courtyards of the North Road, which were connected together.

The west cross courtyard is relatively large and neat, and it is the residence of the head of the Hong family, that is, the former residence of Hong Yanwu's grandfather Hong Xiaoru.

There is a moon gate next to the east cross courtyard that is smaller, which is a compatriot of Hong Lucheng, the small courtyard of Hong Fucheng, the uncle of the Hong family.

The situation in these two compounds is very different.

Because it was used as an office area by the street factory, the house in the west courtyard is well preserved.

I think about the bird cage hanging on the porch, the Beijing bus running in the courtyard, and the pottery vat with goldfish, although now they are all gone.

But in front of the main house of the north house, a red pomegranate tree in the west and a white begonia tree on the moving side are still thriving.

In particular, the window lattice of the north house and the carved stone pedestal in front of the west house that can be used as both a table and a stool are very well protected, which makes Hong Lucheng really a little overjoyed.

These two things are the essence of this courtyard.

The window lattice of the north house is not the usual "step brocade", "lantern frame" or "turtle back pattern". There are many small flying bats carved on it, delicate and gorgeous, lifelike, lively and lovely.

It was the early years of the Republic of China, when this courtyard was renovated, it was specially found to be a craftsman to imitate the window of the apse of Chu Xiuguan "Lijingxuan".

The stone pedestal is an old object from the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, and the carving is also exquisite.

Hong Xiaoru spent more than 100 taels of silver to get it from the farmers on the Fuhai side of the Old Summer Palace, which was absolutely royal and magnificent.

When he was a child, Hong Lucheng's favorite thing was to fiddle with their crickets with Shou Jingfang and Hong Shoucheng on this carved pedestal.

However, in contrast, the East Cross Courtyard is in disrepair.

It was used as a warehouse for miscellaneous goods by the street factory. Due to the broken tables and broken chairs, it will be piled up on one side of the side room, and most of the rooms will be empty for a long time, and they will not be useful.

As the days go by, the natural window lattices are broken and the portals are crooked.

The courtyard was already crawling with "creepers" and overgrown with half-human-tall wild grass. But the peach trees and a large plantain planted under the wall have died.

This made the whole courtyard look dark and gray, strange and strange, as if it was the residence of demons and monsters.

And not long after everyone stepped in, a colorful flower snake slipped through the grass, with an ochre-colored bottom and a dark green chapter, like a python robe on the stage.

Everyone was taken aback. Wang Yunlin was even more frightened, for fear of hurting the children.

Fortunately, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan quickly recognized it as the "Red Chain Snake". It is only poisonous in the mouth when it eats, and although its face is hideous, its temperament is docile.

Everyone was relieved, but it was inconvenient to stay in the courtyard any longer, so they all exited the gate.

In fact, it is not just because of fear, but also because there is a mother in the capital, Ling'er, who says that "foxes, weasels, mice, hedgehogs, and long insects" (foxes, weasels, rats, hedgehogs, and long insects) are family gods and cannot be easily offended. When this happens, you have to avoid it early and don't "bump into it".

At this time, in order to calm his wife and children, and in order to alleviate the bad mood of being depressed in the small Western-style building just now, Hong Lucheng told everyone about the interesting anecdotes in the two courtyards back then.

Because it is the residence of Hong Xiaoru, the Hong family used to come here for a reunion dinner every Spring Festival. The customs here are still relatively interesting.

First of all, on Chinese New Year's Eve, the Hong family used sesame straw that year.

Sesame seeds belong to the Lamiaceae family, the square stem is hollow, and there is a sound to step on.

Use it to "step on the crush" of the homonym, called "stepping on the year". There is also a layer of meaning that those who "step on the year" also "step on the shoe". Stepping on the evil spirits can keep you safe and sound.

Secondly, from the first day to the fifth day of the new year, if there are guests coming, sugar and a piece of cypress branch should be added to the tea.

There is also a special place to eat, and eating dumplings is called "receiving ingots". And the dumplings on the plate should not be eaten up, one or two should be left, which is called "pressure plate", which means that the more you eat, the more you have. The steamed bun is called "Dafa", which means to make a fortune.

It was not until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year that the children of the Hong family were allowed to go back to their respective residences to eat alone.

As for the fun in the East Cross Courtyard, there are even more.

Because of the children's uncle, Hong Fucheng is a master of dogs and horses, and he plays with everyone.

When he was young, he was a pigeon keeper and loved fishing. Middle-aged people like Peking Opera, go to shopping malls, and have more fun with Kunjiaoer and female operas. Since he was in his early twenties, he has been playing quite skillfully and getting old.

Hong Xiaoru actually doesn't like this son, but after all, he is the eldest son of the Hong family, and he has no mother, as long as he doesn't make too much trouble, he will be so appeased.

Fortunately, this son is not blindly stubborn, and the name of the police commissioner is still of some use to the Hong family. And from Hong Fucheng's personal point of view, he is also more suitable for officialdom.

Don't look at him as incompetent in solving cases, but he is good at communicating. And because the family has money, he does not deduct his subordinates, and he is very generous to entertain his colleagues and bosses, and he is very popular in all aspects.

In particular, relying on the authentic Mei Pai Tsing Yi, it is very appreciated by high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and there are friends who can speak to various government agencies. This has a certain foundation for rising to the top.

It's just a pity that he is smart but impetuous, talented but not persistent. Therefore, singing is all based on the generosity of the voice, and if you don't study patiently, you can't do it on your body.

once sang "Visiting Mother and Sitting in the Palace", and actually took the "child" down. Since then, people have given the nickname "Radio Red (Hong)", which means that they can only listen to it, not watch it.

This in turn limits his chances of showing his face before going to the top, otherwise he might have become a police commissioner or deputy commissioner long ago.

But then again, such a person must have a lot of stories. For example, when he treated his own small courtyard, he was very unusual.

When Dare Qing first moved into the new courtyard, Hong Fucheng had just accepted a large bribe in his hand, and he wanted to arrange it well.

After several investigations, he decided to dig three feet of ground for a pool, build a bridge on the pool, and build a pavilion on the bridge. Create a convincing and elegant landscape in your own yard.

So the pavilion was dismantled and repaired. Repaired and demolished. Repeated several times, first named "Liuyun", then changed to "Waterfall", then called "Huayuan", and finally set to "listen to the rain".

Then the water in the pool is also a big fight. Hong Fucheng first found someone to bear it, but with the infiltration, the wells at home were about to dry up, and there was still less than a pool.

He hired a special person to take care of it, and Jingwei reclaimed the sea, carrying water day and night.

Later, because he heard someone say that he saw a strange stone in the cherry ditch of Xiangshan in western Beijing, he spared no expense and worked hard to dig it out of the mountain, transported it home, and placed it by the pool.

Clinker, the stone is tasteless without wild interest, with a completely stupid look of dead eyebrows on the edge of the pool.

He then asked the painter to decorate the top with green to imitate the moss.

The effect is indeed eye-catching, and his father has a very pertinent comment, "It took thousands of yuan to get back a thousand-year-old Wang Ba shell!"

There are stones and pavilions, and there must be bamboo. He asked someone to spend a lot of money to buy the precious famous bamboo "gold inlaid jade" and planted it next to the "Wang Ba Shell".

But the bamboo does not take root, and the leaves will yellow in a few days.

He had no choice but to move the pine saplings and tie them with poles, hoping that they would grow into famous pines like "Wolong", "Phoenix Eye" and "Lotus" in the future.

But he was anxious, but he couldn't stand the slow growth of pine seedlings, so he simply pulled it out completely, and wanted to plant the fast-growing "Xiangye Poplar".

Now his daughter-in-law, the grandmother of the Hong family, was anxious and cried and begged in front of her parents. said, "Don't plant mulberry in the front, don't plant willows in the back, and don't plant ghosts and clapping hands (poplars) in the meantime." Immediately, he is messing around to this point, if he wants to plant such an unlucky thing at home, I will not come to tell it, it is my fault......"

In this way, Hong Xiaoru really can't help but intervene.

In the end, as soon as the old man spoke, the pool was filled, the pavilion was demolished, the poplar tree was pulled out, and the "thousand-year-old king eight shells" were also pulled away. A moonlit door was also opened in the corner of the west wall to facilitate the restraint and supervision of the eldest son at any time.

And Hong Fucheng spent nearly 10,000 oceans and gained nothing, only a clean and leveled compound and a reprimand. When he was angry, he didn't like to bother to take care of it. simply broke the jar and fell to the ground, completely smoothing the ground of the compound.

But I didn't think about it, and I didn't want to plant willows, which had another wonderful effect in winter.

At that time, you only need to leave more than one meter along the wall, and the rest of the part will be surrounded by soil and water, and when the ice is two or three inches thick, you can get a huge artificial ice rink.

People sliding on it are the same as the effect of the "Taimiao" ice rink.

So the Hong family was enough to skate here, and even pulled out the electric light to continue skating at night.

After a long time, after a few winters, even the grandmother who does not step out of the door has learned to skate.

Therefore, this East Cross Courtyard has brought a lot of happiness and excitement to the Hong family's winter, and it is also called "Ice Rink Courtyard" in the mouth of the Hong family.

Hong Yanzheng, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were stunned when they heard this, and they understood why the foundation of the East Cross Courtyard was abruptly half a foot lower than that of the West Cross Courtyard.

Come to think of it, this is the reason why when the earth was carried out in a big way, some soil was removed from the pond and then refilled, so it could only be dug in other parts of the yard.

And Hong Yanwu felt even more pity, why was he not born when the Hong family was so lively!

Hey, it's not the right time!