It is said that when the Yellow River crossed the loop eastward, it encountered a mountain range lying on the ground, and then turned around and roared south. This mountain range is the famous Luliang Mountain Range. In the Emei Plateau at the southern foot of the Luliang Mountains, there is a little-known hill called Jiwang Mountain. The eastern and western foothills of Jiwang Mountain are connected to the rolling hills, forming a huge arc. To the north and west of the foothills and hills are endless loess along the ravines to the south bank of the Fen River.

I don't know when many persimmon trees appeared in this area. There are not only many persimmon trees here, all over the fields, but also large, with a thick body, a large crown, and lush branches. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, the small red lantern-like persimmons hang all over the branches, and in the early winter, when the cold wind blows, the green persimmon leaves gradually turn red. Standing on a high place, looking from a distance, the fiery red persimmon leaves of the tree are like the red glow falling from the sky, which is extremely beautiful. Because of this, some people vividly call this area "Persimmon Bay".

In the southern part of Persimmon Bay, that is, about 20 miles to the northern foot of Jiwang Mountain, there is a village called Liuwan. The village is surrounded by ditches on three sides, and is connected to a large field only in the west, with a rammed city wall made of loess and a city gate tower made of bricks and stones. In front of the city gate tower is a small square, the west side of the square is facing the city gate tower and there is a big photo wall built in the Ming Dynasty, there is a stele tower on the north side of the city gate that records the donation of silver to build the temple in the early years, and the south side is an old locust tree. The two-zhang square city gate tower is divided into two floors, and the ground floor is a gate hole in the east-west direction, which is equipped with two heavy large wooden doors. Entering the city gate, there is a ramp on the south side, you can climb to the top floor of the city gate tower, like a house, the slope roof, the south side is a door and two windows, the east, west, and north sides are one large and two small windows, overlooking the four directions.

Once in the village, walk east along the main road, flanked by alleys that stretch north or south from time to time. Continue along the main road and you will reach the middle of the village. Facing is a temple with the size of three houses sitting east and facing west, covered on a square platform made of bricks and stones, two old locust trees stand in front of the temple on the left and right, covering each other, and the big temple faces the square. Behind the big temple is a large pond surrounded by willows and white ducks playing. When it rains heavily, the water in the alleys gathers and gushes out from the arch hole under the base of the temple, and it flows down the stone slope, and the naughty children gather on the stone slope to play in the water, which is also a scenery of the quiet village.

The village of Liuwan is not large, and there are only dozens of families at this time. But in the east of the south of the village, that is, when you get to Chibo, go east along the south bank, and then go south at the herringbone intersection, and enter Nantou Lane. Walk along the alley to the intersection of the wellhead and then to the south (the wellhead is the name of the old well in this area), and you can see more than a dozen very special courtyard houses along the way. The walls of the house and the courtyard are all made of bricks, very high, and the yard and even the alley are paved with small square bricks; and the bricks used seem to have been polished, the brick surface is very fine, and the masonry is also very fine, in the words of the villagers in this area, the brick joints are like threads. The bricks are all yellow, some years old, but they are still quite intact. The tall slightly gatehouse carved beams and columns, there are exquisite brick carvings, there are lifelike wood carvings, even the ceiling is very exquisite, and most of them are carved with auspicious patterns on wooden boards. In front of the door, there are stone lions with different expressions, drum stones, and horse tethering stakes made of stones. There are lying stones carved into beasts, pillars with longevity peaches, and simple horizontal stones in the shape of strips.

Although these courtyard houses are also brick and wood structures, the wood used by people is much better than ordinary houses, not only are they all pine, but also straight and thick. What's even better is that the pie of this house is not ordinary. Pie of timber brick houses not only plays the role of ceilings, but is also directly related to the load-bearing capacity. In addition to the wood and thickness of the beams and rafters, Pie's crookedness is related to the crookedness of the covering. The good ones are woven with scraped branches, the crooked ones are strung with strung sorghum stalks with deleafed leaves, and the pies of these dozen or so courtyard houses are all made of wooden planks.

It is said that the house here was first built by the three brothers of the Liu family, and it has expanded to the current scale over the generations. Because these courtyards were not built at one time, there is no pattern of several entrances and exits, but there are alleys inside that communicate with the outside world, of course, from the passage in and out, it seems that you can also feel the distance between the courtyard and the yard. I heard that the name of the village of Liuwan evolved from "Liujiawan".

On the east side of this group of courtyards, that is, in the middle of Nantou Lane, there is a courtyard facing east from the west, which is the Liujia Temple. On the high brick wall on the west side of the alley, there are two hook eaves in the air, there is an east-facing window on the brick wall above the hook eaves, and below is a log column with a drum stone cushion on the left and right, and in the middle is a wide and high arched doorway, and a stone lion on one side, climbing up the steps, a high threshold, and two thick wooden doors. As soon as you enter the door, you will be faced by five tall and spacious main houses on the west side of the courtyard, the front eaves of the main house are quite deep, and they are supported by a row of log columns cushioned by drum stones, forming a corridor in front of the wooden eaves wall of the main house. There are three open side houses on the south side and three open side houses on the north side, that is, there is no front eaves wall, but a round wooden column topped by a drum stone (the persimmon bay area is called this kind of open house without a front eaves wall called Xiazi). There are steps on the gable at the east end of the south building to the top of the gate tower. If it is morning, climb the stairs, push open the window, the east wind Buddha face, in the rooster announces the dawn, watching the red sun rise from behind the mountain on the other side of the ditch, radiant, everything gradually brightened, what kind of mood is it.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Zhuang people took over the stove lord early, and came out of the house one after another, the old and the young, men and women are wearing brand-new Chinese-style clothes, men's top hats and robes, hanging purses, and women's grease and powder, wearing headdresses, all of them have a new face. The baby's family is holding the goods and smiling. The boy's family is playing while walking, lighting firecrackers, and the woman's head is not big, and her feet are graceful. Early in the morning, it was cold, but there were already a few babies swinging there. The swing is very high, and there are red lanterns, brass bells, and cypress branches hanging on it. What about the adults? They bowed to each other and walked to the family temple. During the Chinese New Year, lanterns are hung on the gatehouse of Liujiajia Temple, and Spring Festival couplets are pasted on the door, and some people even climb to the second floor of the gatehouse outside the gate to set off firecrackers, which is a festive atmosphere.

I don't know which one hung a small pickaxe on the door of the temple. "Gee, who made this. ...... for the Chinese New Year," asked an old man wearing a bowler hat and a hookah pot. "Damn, it's a barbaric knot. A tall middle-aged man next to him shouted. "What are you doing with the Chinese New Year?" another old man chimed in. "No, then you can't enter the family temple outside the trick (the persimmon bay area is called the trick down. Outside, it is a mood particle that is used frequently in this area, which has no actual meaning, and sometimes has the meaning of that). "What's the matter, as long as you change your surname to Liu, they are all from our family." It's all in the Republic of China, and I'm still talking about that. A young man with braided hair chimed in. "It's not okay if it's the Republic of China, you can't let mongrels in. "Oh, you don't know, I almost got into a fight just now, but thanks to the large number of people, I pulled it away. Look at the Chinese New Year, what's going on? The old man shook his head and walked up the stairs with everyone into the family temple. A young man on the side of the gate wearing a new melon skin hat, a new Chinese cotton coat, and his hands in his sleeves muttered: "Light can bully forehead, what kind of ability do you have?" "Oh, it's a big New Year, say less and get angry, if you don't enter, you won't enter, it's no big deal." One of them reassured. I saw the young man stand there in embarrassment for a while, and then he went away discouraged.

There are large stoves in the main house and the side house of the family temple, and the fire is very strong. The main house is facing the wall and there is a row of tablets and tributes of the ancestors of the Liu family. Everyone gathered, and the patriarch with a long beard, white beard, wearing round glasses, and wearing a robe and horse coat stood in front and said: In troubled times, the country's fortunes are not prosperous, the heroes are competing for deer, all industries are difficult, and the clansmen are busy. On this day, the whole clan gathers to pray to their ancestors and bless their descendants: farming, business, medicine, education and politics are all successful; fathers and sons are filial piety, brothers help each other, and they are harmonious and happy.

After the patriarch read it, everyone kowtowed together, lit incense, and after another New Year's greeting, most of them dispersed. There were only a few old men, sitting around the stove and sitting in circle chairs, chatting there. "Old Xian'er, did Changwa dare to come back?" one asked the patriarch. "Ah, people wrote to say that they would come back, but they couldn't come back before the New Year. "What about then?" "Ah, that's a mess, you have to get the money back." "Ah, the baby is right. You have retreated from the Qing Emperor, today it is this, Ming'er is replaced by that, Sun Cannon is dead again, oops, once you can't stand it, just. Zhi'er said. "Hey, the president is a cannon, no respect, you. "Haha, I also listened to what the baby's family said. "Ah, your nephew is in Beijing, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, there are many new words. "Hey, hey. "Hey, haven't they all abdicated, what about the Son of Heaven, it's all the Republic of China, and it's not going to be a good thing." ”

"Oh, no matter who sits in the world, we can't figure it out anywhere in Shanxi. "Haha, you're tough, and no one can help us. "Well, you still don't believe it. From ancient times to the present, the names of other provinces have changed back and forth, but our Shanxi has never changed. We have gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin, and no one asks for it. "That's right, from north to south, the Waifen River produces fine grains and coarse grains, as well as the outer salt pond. "Ah, that's it, it's not that the other one doesn't have that, and it's not self-sufficient. "Haha, you two are beautiful. "That's it. "To the west is Luliang Mountain and the Yellow River, to the east is Taihang Mountain, and to the south is Zhongtiao Mountain and the Yellow River. "Hey, what about the north, dare not get in?" "Hehe, the north is not that powerful now." ”

"Ah, how handsome you can see in Shanxi. "Ah, Guan Yu is the first one, and the Guandi Temple is just to the south. "Hehe, you're talking briskly, it's two hundred miles from us. "Hey, hey. "Dare Huo Jiajun doesn't count. "That's for sure. "And the Xue family's military mile. "Hehe, how can you count the miles." "Sensei said that there are those who wield guns and swords, and there are also those who write. "Ah, that's more. "Then you can report two of them. "Haha, the teacher of the house said, we didn't drink any ink. "Come on. "Hey, hey. "I told you that Waiyanagi Zongyuan is one. "Oh, that's a demoted official. "Which pot is not opened, which pot is not mentioned, just say that Wen Caili, what is the matter of depreciation or not." "Hehe, it seems that there has never been any Chaoding (the persimmon Bay area calls the emperor Chaoding). "Sensei said that the far one, the near one is counted as one of the Queen Mother of the West." "Oh, it's not like it's going to the top. "Then the King of Jin is not counted, it is eighty or ninety miles away from us. "That's only one prince. "Then the Tang Dynasty always started from our Shanxi. "Ah, that's it. A few old men were talking hotly, and a young man came in and said, "Dad, my brother over there has come to visit." "Oh, let's go, let's go back. "Then let's go, and we'll talk about it when we're free." "Ah, all back. And just like that, they dispersed.

Let's just say that the young man who won't let him enter the family temple is still sulking on the kang at this time. This young man's name is Liu Yongren, nicknamed Yongwa, who changed his name and surname from somewhere far away two years ago to Fazi, that is, Liu Jifa's family. From the day Yongwa arrived in Liuwan, it can be said that she was both diligent and kind. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the rooster crowed twice, so Yongwa got up and walked to the well to stir up water, and sent water to every household in the alley. Water is the same as blessing in the local dialect of Persimmon Bay, and the people of Zhuanghu may regard it as wealth because of the lack of water in the local area. This is to send water, it can be regarded as sending wealth and blessings, and begging for a lottery. But even if Yongwa treats people like this, and there is such a squeeze, it is really difficult for a young man.