The Li ancestral hall in Lijiawan is said to have a history of more than 100 years, and the ancestral hall is exquisitely designed and fully functional, which can be called a model of residential ancestral hall architecture in southern Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty. The overall building is a brick and wood structure, with a courtyard layout, a bucket and a beam-lifting frame, surrounded and connected by gables, and an archway-style mountain gate. However, due to disrepair, the ancestral hall has become dilapidated and may collapse at any time. It's not that the people of the Li clan in Lijiawan don't want to repair, but because they don't have money!

The vast majority of the villagers in Lijiawan are farmers facing the loess with their backs to the sky, and very few even go out to work, at most they do a small business. For example, selling piglets, chickens and ducklings, or doing carpenter's work or something, that is, Li Ruoyu's uncle Li Baoguan is better, and he can be regarded as the richest man in Li Jiawan. However, even Li Baoguan can't come up with so much money to repair the ancestral hall, after all, the Li ancestral hall is listed as an ancient building for cultural protection in Rongzhou, although the area is not large, the construction area is only more than 100 square meters, and the courtyard dam is only 500 square meters, but to restore this ancient building requires very professional craftsmen, and the cost of materials is also very high, and it is impossible to take it without hundreds of thousands.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the ancestral hall of the Li family was originally very small and dilapidated, because the ancestors of Li Jiawan were poor families for generations, and there were no rich families or officials, so the original ancestral hall was very simple. However, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the older generation of Lijiawan went to the artesian well area to work as salt laborers and earned a lot of money. At that time, the patriarch of the Li family also became one of the most powerful subordinate shopkeepers of Li Siyou, a big salt merchant in the artesian well, so when the older generation of Li Jiawan was ready to rebuild the ancestral hall, the big salt merchant Li Siyou funded a lot of money, which led to today's Li Jiawan ancestral hall.

At that time, the artesian salt industry was prosperous, and the four major salt merchant families were formed during the Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, with a large amount of industrial capital and land capital. When Li Siyoutang was at its peak, it had more than 100 water and fire wells, more than 800 fire rings, more than 70 salt numbers opened in other places, and 500 armed families in Renhuai, Guizhou and Qijiang, Sichuan, and 300,000 taels of silver in the account room of Siyoutang. This is a unique industrial capital in 19th-century China. And the big salt merchant Li Siyou is also very good at the shopkeeper of his subordinates, and when he saw that dozens of salt workers in Lijiawan who worked under him were preparing to rebuild the ancestral hall under the leadership of the patriarch, he generously funded them.

At that time, the Li ancestral hall was built for more than a year, and five hundred taels of silver were used! Most of them were donated by Li Siyou, a big salt merchant. Five hundred taels of silver, almost equivalent to more than 100,000 yuan in the nineties. Therefore, to restore the ancestral hall, it is impossible without hundreds of thousands.

Li Baosheng was originally the village chief of Lijiawan, so it was easy to do so. Li Baosheng went to find the branch secretary Li Baotang the next day, ready to talk about the restoration of the ancestral hall.

Li Baotang is also Li Baosheng's cousin, but he is much older than Li Baosheng, he is sixty-eight years old, he is the old branch secretary of Li Jiawan, the branch secretary has been for nearly 20 years, and he is the person with the highest prestige in Li Jiawan.

As soon as Li Baosheng said the topic of repairing the ancestral hall, Li Baotang smiled bitterly and said: "Baosheng, do you think I haven't thought about it? But you must know that our ancestral hall is not an ordinary ancestral hall, it was built by our elders who spent a lot of money and made a lot of efforts. If you want to restore this ancestral hall, don't think about it without a hundred and eighty thousand! But in our village, we are all poor, even if it is apportioned, each household has to spread seven or eight thousand yuan, which is a large amount, even if 10,000 households also take out seven or eight thousand, it is not easy. So I've been thinking about this for many years, but I haven't been able to do it! ”

Li Baosheng didn't say what Li Ruoyu said about the 200,000 donation, he knew that this matter was indeed shocking, although it was his son's own money, saying that someone else had donated, but such a big pie fell from the sky, it would definitely make Li Baotang, the old branch secretary, happy, right? After all, it's something he's been thinking about for years but hasn't done.

At this time, Li Baosheng whispered: "Old branch secretary, if someone is willing to donate to us, shall we accept it?" ”

Of course, Li Baotang would not have thought that someone would donate 200,000 yuan! Indeed, in the early nineties, when 10,000 households were rare animals, 200,000 was an astronomical amount, even if some bosses were afraid that they would not be able to come up with so much money, let alone donate to a remote village at once. Therefore, Li Baotang thinks that the donation that Li Baosheng said is at most a few thousand yuan, right? Perhaps, this is Li Baosheng's son, Li Ruoyu paid for it himself, it is said that the kid mixed well in Shanghai, and he came back yesterday without knowing why.

"Donate? Who would give to us? Even if someone donates money, it won't be enough to restore the ancestral hall! Li Baotang muttered, "Maybe we can only apply for some subsidies from the government at the next level, and maybe we can simply repair it, so that it won't suddenly collapse one day, and it is impossible to restore the original appearance." ”

Li Baosheng snickered: "Old branch secretary, what if someone is willing to donate 200,000 yuan to us to repair the ancestral hall?" ”

"What? How much do you say? Li Baotang's eyes widened, obviously he didn't believe that anyone would donate so much! It's nothing short of a miracle.

Li Baosheng said calmly: "Old branch secretary, I mean, someone wants to donate 200,000 yuan to us to repair the ancestral hall!" Isn't that great news! ”

Li Baotang was still a little unbelieving at this time, after all, 200,000 was an astronomical amount, and he muttered: "200,000, my God!" Can someone take so much money out and donate? You're not amusing me, are you? ”

Li Baosheng said with a straight face: "Old branch secretary, what I said is true!" You should know that my eldest baby came back yesterday, right? This time he came back specifically for this purpose. There is a boss of a large company in Huhai City, who is particularly interested in ancient buildings, especially those in southern Sichuan, and listened to my eldest baby talk about our Li family ancestral hall, and the boss didn't say a word, so he took out 200,000 yuan and donated it to our village for repair. Of course, this big boss is a busy man, and now he doesn't have time to come to our village, but when the ancestral hall is repaired, this big boss said that he wants to come to our ancestral hall in person to take a walk and have a look. ”

"Oh, we've met a great guy! It's such a coincidence that our ancestral hall was built with the donation of Li Siyou, a big salt merchant. It's good now, and the big boss has paid for us to repair it, do you think this is the ancestor of the Li family who is blessing us? Li Baotang muttered.

Li Baosheng nodded and said, "Maybe!" I believe that the ancestors will bless our Lijiawan, get rid of poverty and become rich as soon as possible, and the whole village can live a good life! Speaking of which, I, the village head, didn't do a good job, and I didn't do anything for our village. So I must handle the ancestral hall well! ”