The next day on Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhang Ke and his mother Liang Gezhen followed his uncle Zhang Zhifei and his family back to their hometown in Dongshe for the Spring Festival.

This is Zhang Zhixing's resolute request, Zhang Zhixing stays on duty in the city, and there is no one at home, so he doesn't have to care about others coming to give gifts.

Gu Jianping also led Tang Jing back to Xintai's hometown, it seems that Tang Xueqian is really serious this time. At this time, the city couldn't transfer the car, so Zhang Ke asked Zhou Wenbin to drive Gu Jianping and Tang Jing back to Xintai, so as not to make them suffer on the road.

Although Uncle Zhang Zhifei plans to settle his home in the city, he still plans to go back to Dongshe for the Spring Festival, anyway, he has a car, and it is very convenient to go back and forth.

The ancestral house under Zhang Zhixing's name was renovated by Zhang Zhiwei and Zhang Zhifei's cousins as early as the beginning of winter, adding sanitary facilities, and the interior decoration is no worse than the houses in the city.

Uncle Zhang Zhiwei was very surprised that Zhang Zhixing's family of three returned to Dongshe for the Spring Festival.

Zhang Ke was very bored in Dongshe's hometown, so he talked to Tang Jing on the phone when he had nothing to do, and it was very troublesome to talk to Xu Si on the phone.

Zhang Zhixing was on night duty in the city on Chinese New Year's Eve, worked in the city on the first day of junior high school, rushed to the East Society at night, and drove back to the city the next day.

Zhang Ke followed back to the city in the second year of junior high school, and he also went to the provincial capital to pay New Year's greetings to Xu Xueping in the third year of junior high school. Considering the relationship between Zhou Fuming, secretary of the municipal party committee, it is inconvenient for Zhang Ke to take a ride in the city.

Zhang Zhixing drove and left Zhang Ke at the corner of the street, thinking that he would definitely be entangled in the city today and couldn't get out, and asked Zhang Ke: "You came to the city to eat at noon?" ”

"Without you, I wouldn't starve to death," Zhang Ke patted his earthy brown short windbreaker jacket and said with a smile, "You go back to Dongshe at night?" ”

"I may stay in the city for the night, and you can stay in the city guest house at night."

"It depends on the situation, tomorrow it will be a different road, and I will ask Kumho Company to send a car to take me to the provincial capital."

Zhang Zhixing smiled, and didn't care where his son would wander at night, so he drove away directly.

It only takes an hour to drive from Dongshe to the city, I got up early in the morning, and now it is only seven o'clock in the morning, the fog on the streets has not yet dissipated, and the people in the city get up late for the Spring Festival, and the streets are deserted, there are no people, and there are debris of firecrackers everywhere.

In '94, the control of fireworks and firecrackers was not so strict.

For Zhang Ke, there is still an indescribable strangeness to the city, perhaps he is used to the city after 14 years. The newspaper kiosks on the street were not open, they did not have magnetic cards on them, and they could not make public phones, so they walked along the street in the direction of Sha Tin.

Zhang Ke was not in a hurry to find Xu Si, and the people were wandering around Shatin. A large number of buildings in this area were built in the early years of the Republic of China, interspersed with buildings with a longer history. Standing in the distance and looking closely, these courtyard walls, roofs, porches, cornices, columns and windows with completely different colors and shapes are embossed ornaments, giving people the feeling that they are really dazzling and beautiful, just like a thousand faces of people, these old houses are also one by one, and there is no repetition and similarity.

Aside from the beauty of the intricately carved details, the overall impression of Sha Tin, which is adjacent to the Qianmen Business District, is old and cluttered, with nearly seven or eight thousand households squeezed into an area of less than two square kilometers, and with the number of tenants, there are almost 100,000 residents.

The fog cleared, the pale blue sky was far away, the breeze was cold, and the sparse trees in the alleys had diseased leaves.

If you can clean up this place, it's a pretty bad place to live.

Although the city's thinking on urban planning has gradually changed, there are completely different opinions on whether the old building complex in Sha Tin should be demolished or repaired.

The key is also a money word.

Zhang Ke made a preliminary estimate that to carry out protective repair and transformation of ancient buildings in this area of Shatin, it will need to use more than 3 billion yuan, which is the financial revenue of Haizhou City for three years.

By demolishing and rebuilding all the commercial properties and developing them, the city will be able to use commercial capital to complete the renovation of the old town of Sha Tin, which is a plan that saves trouble, effort and political achievements.

In the early nineties, many cities in China gave up the protection of ancient buildings in the renovation of old cities, and another important factor was the problem of municipal investment. In the early nineties, there was a shortage of money everywhere in urban construction, and the tourism industry had not yet been vigorously developed, so it was impossible to take out a year or several years of financial income for the protection of ancient buildings.

Of course, the problem can be solved after 10 years, and in addition to the development of the tourism industry, the increased awareness of the preservation of the ancient city, and the prevailing view of urban marketing, the abundance of fiscal revenue seems to be more like the most critical factor.

But what mayor would tolerate Sha Tin sticking to the map of Haizhou like a dogskin plaster for ten years? What's more, it's right next to the front door.

Tang Xueqian couldn't be so high-minded.

Shugang River is the first step, Sha Tin is the second step, the city can't come up with money, so it can only be handed over to the developer to demolish and develop commercial real estate, which may symbolically retain the Qingyang Taoist Temple, the thousand-year-old camphor courtyard, Danjingtai and other buildings, but there is no meaning.

Zhang Ke walked to Danjing Lane and met Xu Hongbo, Xu Hongbo was wearing bloomers and a jersey in the cold, and his clothes were very thin, Zhang Ke felt trembling when he saw it.

"Teacher Xu got up early to exercise?" Zhang Ke greeted.

"Why are you wandering around Sha Tin so early?" Xu Hongbo was sweating while running, but he didn't expect to meet Zhang Ke in Shatin early on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

"I went back to Dongshe for the New Year, and I rushed to the city with my father early in the morning, and I was going to Mr. Xu's house to pay New Year's greetings."

"You don't look like someone who can think of me so early, besides, my house is over there, how can you go this way?" Xu Hongbo exposed Zhang Ke's lies.

Zhang Ke smiled helplessly and said: "When I arrived in Shatin, I looked at these old buildings, and I was stupid, if I hadn't met Teacher Xu, I would have been able to move forward." ”

"Hehe," Xu Hongbo smiled, but accepted Zhang Ke's explanation, now teenagers will only think that Sha Tin is old and messy, no one will look into the gods, probably only people who are obsessed with architecture or art, photography will perceive the beauty under the old mess, "I'll go back and change my clothes first, you go to the chess courtyard to wait for me first, I invite you to tea." ”

Zhang Ke saw that Xu Hongbo had something to say, nodded and agreed, and did not mention whether to pay New Year's greetings or not, and continued to walk along Danjing Lane, along an oblique alley, and turned to the front of Xu Si's house.

Hearing that there was no movement in the courtyard, he thought that maybe he didn't get up, and it was inconvenient to find Xu Si, so he turned around and walked in the direction of the Taoist temple. There are many dog owners in this alley, Zhang Ke walked over, and the barking of dogs was staggered, which made Zhang Ke tremble and regret not going around from the outside.

When I walked to the mouth of the alley, I inserted it into Chen Feirong's house, and the Taoist temple was behind Chen Feirong's house, and I saw Xu Si probing out from the courtyard gate of Chen Feirong's house.

"Really?" Xu Si smiled in surprise, "It's only the second year of junior high school today, didn't you go back to your hometown in Dongshe for the Spring Festival?" ”

"How did anyone guess it was my voice?" Zhang Ke asked strangely, "I didn't come here humming a song, who could have guessed that I was coming?" ”

Xu Si laughed and said: "Hearing the dog barking in the alley, Xu Wei must be a little villain who doesn't often do good things, come out and take a look, it's really you." ”

"I can do some good deeds once in a while, and you slander me like that?" Zhang Ke smiled and said, "I took my father's car back to the city in the morning, and Mr. Xu asked me to come here and wait for him." What are you all doing at Chen Feirong's house early in the morning? ”

"Concubine Chen's family will have a treat next year, and we will prepare today, and we will come over to help."

Zhang Ke looked inside, and Xu Wei and Chen Feirong were looking over here with badminton rackets.

Xu Wei laughed and said, "I said it, the dogs in the alley are only fierce to the little villains." ”

Xu Si's mother was sitting in the corridor with Liu Fen, and at this time she stood up, didn't let Xu Weihu gossip, and invited Zhang Ke in.

Zhang Ke smiled and said, "Uncle Chen invited me to come over for dinner tomorrow, and I will rush to the provincial capital tomorrow, so I came to pay New Year's greetings in advance today." He bowed his hand and asked Xu Si again, "What about Uncle Xu and Uncle Chen?" ”

"I'm going to the market to buy tomorrow's food."

"It's only the second day of junior high school today, will there be people in the vegetable market?" Zhang Ke asked strangely.

"Everyone is like your eldest young master, the factory starts early, and it will start work tomorrow." Xu Wei sneered on the side, "Paper mills don't take annual leave, and my mother still goes to work on the first day of the Lunar New Year." ”

Unless the paper mill is overhauled or mechanically malfunctioned, the production line will not stop because of annual leave, and Xu Si's mother can take turns in the warehouse for a few days, which is relatively easy.

Zhang Ke touched his head, it was unwise to quarrel with Xu Wei, and asked Chen Feirong with a smile: "Are you playing badminton?" ”

Chen Feirong didn't speak, Xu Wei glanced at him sideways, and handed the shuttlecock to him: "This is still a tennis racket?" I'm tired and sweaty, you can fight. ”

Xu Wei stuffed the racket into Zhang Ke's hand, and Chen Feirong also stuffed the racket into Xu Si's hand: "I'm also tired, Sister Xu Si, come and play." ”

Chen Feirong was still wearing a coat, her pretty face was fair, and there was no sweat on her forehead, so she knew that she had just ended. Xu Si's face was flushed, and the sweat on his forehead hadn't dried yet. Seeing that Chen Feirong was unwilling to play with her, and she didn't want Xu Si to be tired, Zhang Ke shrugged, walked to the corridor and put the racket on the small table, and said: "I like to play hard, and as soon as I work hard, the ball will fly to the roof." He turned back to Xu Si and said, "I'll go to the chess academy and wait for Mr. Xu." ”

Zhang Ke walked out of the courtyard of Concubine Chen's house, Xu Si caught up from behind and asked him, "Do you think your relationship is getting better?" ”

"What's the better time?" Zhang Ke asked strangely, and suddenly remembered the gifts brought back from Hong Kong a year ago, Xu Sidu had seen them one by one, and she had also seen the hairpin with crushed diamonds, so she pinned it on Chen Feirong's head, "You mean the hairpin on her head?" ”

"yes, what do you think I'm talking about?"

"I'm going to give her a gift, and she'll probably lose my face, do I dare?" Zhang Ke smiled and said, "You know that Tang Jing asked her to occupy a place to set up a stall...... The hairpin was given to her by Tang Jing, I was heartbroken to death, and I brought back such a gift, this hairpin is expensive. ”

Xu Si pursed his lips and laughed, and a pair of beautiful eyes teased Zhang Ke: "Your little girlfriend is quite generous, she doesn't know that you have crooked thoughts about Concubine Rong, right?" ”

Zhang Ke looked sideways at Xu Siyan's beautiful eyes, the corners of his mouth were slightly curved, revealing a flirtatious and warm smile, and said, "I'll think about you."

Looking at the faint smile on Zhang Ke's face, his deep black eyes seemed to tell him that this was not a joke, Xu Si leaned back slightly, although Zhang Ke did not move, he felt that his breathing was closer, and the warm nose and nose were about to pounce on his face, and he felt that his face was a little hot, and he pursed his mouth and scolded him: "What nonsense!" But her eyes were as shy as a girl, and she stretched out her hand and pushed him out, "You go to Mr. Xu, I won't go with you, so I don't have to listen to your crazy words." ”

Watching Xu Si hide in the courtyard, a warm smile hung on the corner of Zhang Ke's mouth. The Spring Festival in the city is somewhat boring, most of them are only children, and there are not many contacts in the neighborhood, the Taoist temple gathered some students of the chess academy early in the morning, because Haizhou has the custom of not prohibiting gambling during the Spring Festival, there are two tables to play cards, and there are a few teenagers in the game of chess.

Zhang Ke came to the Taoist temple, and he was not idle, or he played chess directly with Xu Hongbo, and the students who knew Zhang Ke in the chess academy respected him, and when they saw him come in, a few people stood up and let him participate in the card game.

The people who concentrate on learning Go are all good at mental arithmetic, and Zhang Ke is not sure that he can win the money of the students of the chess academy, so he smiled and said that he would wait for Teacher Xu to come over. As soon as the students of the chess academy heard that Xu Hongbo was going to come over later, they were still a little afraid, and immediately packed up the card game, made an appointment to go to a certain house to fight again, and left in a blink of an eye.

Xu Hongbo was still strange when he came over, and said while stepping into the courtyard: "Why did these children come to play in the chess yard today, why did they leave so early?" ”

Zhang Ke smiled but didn't answer, and asked Xu Hongbo: "Come to me, what does Teacher Xu have to say?" ”

Xu Hongbo took the cooking utensils to boil water, but said in his mouth: "Xu Haishan's girl can come over and help us make tea." ”

Zhang Ke smiled, Xu Hongbo has taste, let Xu Si and Xu Wei serve and drink tea, but if you don't catch up with the life of the old princes, it's beautiful to think about, and I don't believe that Xu Hongbo can hide any good tea in the chess courtyard, and don't let such a teenager who learns chess steal all the essence? Watching Xu Hongbo put out a complete set of tea sets, he couldn't appreciate the purple sand utensils, this thing is everywhere on the streets of Yixing, and it may still have some gold content in the early nineties.

Since Xu Hongbo didn't say anything, Zhang Ke only came over to drink tea. As soon as the sun comes out, there is no chill in the yard. Zhang Ke sat in the courtyard of the Taoist temple and listened to Xu Hongbo talk about drinking tea all morning, and Zhang Ke also poured a stomach full of tea. Near noon, Chen Shan came over and asked him to drink with Xu Hongbo, Xu Hongbo wanted to go, Zhang Ke hurriedly said: "Drink tea and drink enough, take advantage of noon to learn a game of chess with Teacher Xu, and eat less than one meal." ”

Chen Shan heard Xu Si say that Zhang Ke was going to the provincial capital tomorrow, and he couldn't invite him to dinner tomorrow, and he would invite him to dinner no matter what while others were in Shatin today. Chen Shan listened to Zhang Ke's neat refusal to go to his house for dinner, his face was scornful, and he stood there not knowing what to say.

"Can chess be full? The young man is kind-hearted, and I'm not hungry, so I'll accompany you to play a game of chess. Xu Hongbo listened and got up to get chess.

"Then it's not too late to start the table when you play good chess." Chen Shan walked out of the Taoist temple with a smile, and there was no special impatience on his face.

"Chen Shanjia will have a treat tomorrow, and today's banquet is dedicated to you." Xu Hongbo took the chess and squinted at Zhang Ke.

Zhang Ke said quietly: "You poured me tea all morning, don't say anything, otherwise I will leave early, I don't plan to stay for lunch, if you don't want to play chess, I'll go back first." ”

Xu Hongbo hurriedly put down the chessboard, he didn't say anything serious, but he couldn't let Zhang Ke go. As soon as Zhang Ke landed three consecutive stars, Xu Si pushed the courtyard door in, snatched the chess pieces in Zhang Ke's hand and threw them into the chess box, and said: "Everyone is waiting for you to eat, what kind of chess are you playing, put it here first, and wait for lunch." ”

It is easy to get hungry when you drink tea, drink tea in the morning, soak urine, and your stomach is empty. Xu Hongbo said with a smile: "If you can't play chess, you can only go to drink." Before the words fell, the man got up first and walked out.

Scratching Xu Si's hand, Zhang Ke saw that she was a little anxious and asked her, "What's wrong?" ”

"Concubine Rong made her mother cry, you are still hiding here and playing chess, do you say you have a conscience?" Xu Si glared at him with disgust, took out something from his pocket, and spread it in front of Zhang Ke, Tang Jing gave Chen Feirong the inlaid diamond cat-shaped hairpin in half, "Zhou Fu came over and said that this hairpin is expensive, it is worth thousands, Fei Rong said that it was sent by a female classmate, and no one else believed it, she threw it on the ground in a hurry, and broke it in two, Aunt Fen asked her to invite you over for dinner, she didn't want to, Uncle Chen came to invite you, you took the shelf, as soon as Uncle Chen went back, Aunt Fen said two more words to her, and cried......"

Zhang Ke picked up the hairpin and looked at it, smacked his lips, and said: "The inlay technique is quite good, the hairpin is broken into two, and not a single diamond has been dropped." What happened to Zhou Fu? ”

"It's not that I invited him to come over to accompany you, you are a big man now......" Seeing the evil smile on the corner of Zhang Ke's mouth, Xu Si said angrily, "You, how can you say hello, you can still laugh?" ”

Zhang Ke held Xu Si's palm with his backhand, his fingers clasped her palm, feeling very warm, squinting at her, and said with a smile: "What did I do wrong?" ”

"Girl's mind, don't you understand?" Xu Si glanced at him, saw him show innocent eyes, bit his lower lip and said hatefully, "You still don't pretend to understand!" ”

Zhang Ke shook his head and sighed, and said, "Sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls, it's just too sensitive, it's better for Sister Xu Si." This hairpin is returned to me, so that others must not think that I really gave it to her? ”

"How old are you?" Sometimes he was willing to let him hold his hand, as soon as he heard him talk about his age, Xu Si withdrew his hand, and felt a little sad, seeing Zhang Ke put the hairpin that was broken in two into his hand, and asked him, "You give it to me, what should I do?" ”

The hairpin was sent by Tang Jing, Xu Si couldn't help Chen Feirong explain, even if she explained, her parents didn't believe it, Liu Fen seemed to prefer to believe that it was sent by Zhang Ke, when Zhou Fu joked, Liu Fen was quite proud, and when she saw Chen Feirong break the hairpin in two, she became annoyed and trained Chen Feirong.

Zhang Ke thought for a while and said, "I'd better find another place to eat lunch, this matter can't be explained clearly, and it's uncomfortable for everyone to stare at." ”

"You're going to pat your ass and leave, what should Chen Feirong do over there?" Xu Si pushed him, "Be careful that Xu Wei keeps looking for your thorns." ”

Zhang Ke smiled helplessly, got up and pushed Xu Si's shoulders forward: "Okay, okay, don't you just eat, can you still slaughter me for wine?" ”

The banquet was placed in the wine house on the east side, Zhang Ke and Xu Si entered the courtyard, saw Zhou Fu squatting under the eaves of the porch and smoking, and said with a smile: "For the New Year, Director Zhou came here to eat, can't he catch up with tomorrow?" ”

Zhou Fu couldn't explain that Chen Shan specially called him to invite him, so he smiled and said, "I'm going to be on duty in the factory tomorrow, but I can't miss this meal." ”

Chen Shan beckoned everyone to the wine house, Chen Feirong went out from the inner wing, the tears on her cheeks did not dry, Chu Chu was pitiful, stared at Zhang Ke and asked, "You told my parents, who sent the hairpin?" ”

Zhang Ke didn't expect Chen Feirong to be so wronged, and she had the backbone to not be ashamed, but she was also a little unbearable, so she took two hairpins from Xu Si: asked Chen Feirong, "What do you say?" Seeing that everyone was looking here, he smiled, "My cousin bought the stall goods from the night market, and I don't know how much it is worth, I took a few books from you, and my cousin is playing with the stall again, seeing that you are a little troublesome, you are not rare and pull it down," turned around and threw the two hairpins over the courtyard wall, only to hear two subtle water sounds of "poof", and the hairpin full of broken diamonds was thrown into the Shugang River in the east, Zhang Ke clapped his hands, "How much money is it really worth?" Okay, let's eat, I'm hungry. ”

(To be continued)