Zhao Xiu has almost no impression of the old mansion of the Hou Mansion in Jiannan, and he only remembers the old and dilapidated courtyard, three main houses and two side compartments, a few big trees covering the two servants' huts, the yard is full of grass, and there are a few pots of flowers planted by the Zhang family under the root of the wall. In the autumn of that year, the fragrance of osmanthus filled the whole yard, and the chrysanthemums began to bud, and when the autumn wind blew, the small yellow buds shook and swayed, and they looked very lovely in the sun.

When leaving the Hou Mansion, Zhao Xiu was successively held in the arms of his mother and the nurse Sister-in-law, and got into the carriage directly in the house and left the house, I really don't know what the gate of the Hou Mansion looks like. Today, she accompanied her grandmother to the old mansion of the Hou Mansion with her brother, and the moment she got off the carriage in front of the gate, she saw this mansion where she lived when she was a child for the first time.

The wide bright gate, the eight-character wall, and the red and colored lacquer falling from the doorpost show its former scenery. Although it has been abandoned for many years, the wood and bricks used in those years are obviously excellent, and the skills of the craftsmen are also very good. If you talk about the façade, I don't know how many times more luxurious than Fengxian's old mansion.

In front of the eight-character wall is a small square facing the street, which is the private land of the Hou Mansion of Jiannan, the ground is a square bluestone slab, and the grass between the seams of the slabs has grown tall. At the foot of the figure-eight walls on both sides, a few stones of different sizes and shapes were added, and the surface was smoothed. Before the arrival of the Zhao family, there were several elderly people who lived nearby, gathered in one place to sit and chatter, and it is said that sometimes passers-by would stop here.

Zhang stood in front of the gate, looking up at the empty beams and pillars above, as well as the cobwebs under the eaves, and his eyes were already red.

Zhao Wei also sighed: "When I was a child, I only walked here two or three times, and the rest of the time I went out with my father and mother, all of them took the west side door." Now that I think about it, I realize that it was not as tall and spacious as I remembered. Presumably because I was too small at that time, I thought it was as big as a mountain. ”

Zhao Xiu was a little curious: "The side door on the west side? ”

Zhao Wei smiled and pointed to the left side of the gate: "There is a door about seven or eight zhang over there, which is much smaller than this, and it is a side door." On weekdays, when family members or subordinates enter and exit, they all go from there, so they don't have to open the door at every turn. In fact, our house was originally built by two or three houses together, and when you enter this gate, it is a big house, and most of the east road is the garden of this house, and behind it is another family's house and come over. West Road is the house of another family. The original owners of these houses were either killed when the Qing soldiers entered Beijing, or they became traitors and had their houses confiscated. Emperor Taizu rewarded us with meritorious deeds and gave this land to our grandfather. Our grandfather found a style again, and this is why today's Hou Mansion was built. Entering through the side door on the west side, there is a long sandwich road, which can lead to the outer courtyard and the second door, which is also relatively wide and can stop the carriage. Therefore, when we were young, we went out with our mothers, and we all got on and off the bus there. ”

Zhao Xiu hurriedly walked out a few steps and looked at the west road, and sure enough, there was a smaller door twenty or thirty meters away, which must be the west side door. But no matter which door, she has little memory. Zhao Wei said that the side door has a sandwich road leading directly to the second gate, and the place is relatively spacious, so the ladies in the house can get on and off the carriage in the house. She had a vague impression of this. When she was a child, when Sister-in-law Pearl carried her and followed her grandmother Zhang and her mother Mi to leave, it was indeed after leaving a door that she got into the carriage in a long passage.

When the brother and sister spoke, Zhang ended his remembrance of the past and turned back with a smile: "What do you do when you say so much?" Wouldn't it be clearer to just go in and take a look? ”

Zhao Xiu and Zhao Wei looked at each other and smiled, and one of them supported Zhang's family and walked towards the inside of Guangliang Gate.

When you enter the gate, you are greeted by a shadow wall, which depicts a monkey sitting on a horse with a bee flying next to its head. As soon as Zhao Xiu saw it, he guessed that this meant "immediately sealing the marquis". Thinking about the origin of his grandfather's feudal marquis back then, it is really appropriate. This stone carving is also finely carved, although it is now full of dust, but the whole pattern is still very clear, but the shadow wall itself is a gray brick wall, and a lot of bricks have fallen, it looks a little down, and it must be repaired.

When Zhang saw this shadow wall, he sighed: "When this shadow wall was built, your grandfather was fighting in Liaodong, and when he came back, the house had already been built. But everyone said that this pattern coincided with the origin of his marquis, and it was better to keep it. He thought that Hengzhu didn't stay at home for a few days all year round, so that's it. After arriving at the old age, recuperating at home, living here every day, the more I think about it, the more disgusted I become, always talking to me about changing one, and I persuade him to dispel his thoughts every time. Now the wall must be rebuilt, so it is better to replace it. Your grandfather was indeed a marquis for his military exploits, but Brother Keze attacked the knighthood, so it is not appropriate to use this term again. ”

Zhao Xiu listened, looked at the shadow wall again, and thought that it was the monkey that was carrying it immediately, and his grandfather was "sealing the monkey immediately"...... She couldn't help but laugh, no wonder her grandfather looked at it.

Zhao Wei also smiled and asked Zhang: "Then what does grandmother think is carved on the new shadow wall?" ”

Zhang thought for a while: "'Taiping has elephants' is good. She sighed again: "There was a lot of chaos against the party before, but I hope that from now on the world will be peaceful, and the people can enjoy good health, which is also our blessing." ”

Mother Lu followed behind and quickly wrote it down.

There is a moon cave door on both sides of the shadow wall, and the door leading to the garden on the right hand side of the East Road is closed, according to Lu's mother, it is closed all year round, and it will not be opened unless you need to set up a wine banquet in the garden, or invite outsiders to play. Because the garden is connected to the inner house, if the door is open, it is easy for outsiders to enter. The former male owner of Jiannan Hou Mansion was born as a military general, and he was very particular about the difference between inside and outside, and the outer house and the inner house must be divided very strictly.

The moon cave door on the left hand side enters, there is a huge courtyard, this is the front yard, looking at the area of the courtyard alone is almost 100 square meters, all paved with flat square bluestone slabs. Before Zhao Xiu had time to marvel, she saw that there were more than a hundred crows kneeling on the ground in the courtyard, and she was stunned for a moment, and quickly reacted, these must be the old servants who were returned.

The clothes of the old servants looked like they were all uniform, slightly different according to rank, but they were the uniforms of the servants of the Nanhou Mansion more than ten years ago. The big butlers and stewards with heads and faces were not here, but the leaders were three or four intermediate stewards, the youngest of whom were in their forties, with long beards and fearful faces. They respectfully bowed to Zhang, called Zhao Wei "Old Lady", called Zhao Wei "Hou Ye", and Zhao Xiu "Big Girl", and greeted them with the highest courtesy. The first few tremblingly thanked their master for his grace, for he did not drive them away, but let them return to their original dwellings, and provided them with food every day, which was indeed merciful. They remembered that they had not stood up against the perverse actions of their predecessor, and they all felt very ashamed and wanted to ask their master for forgiveness.

Over the years, they have all suffered a lot. Zhao Jiong lost his title, and then died, and his family moved out of the Hou Mansion, taking only his confidants and servants with them, and they were taken into the official along with this mansion. The house can be left alone, but they are living people, they need to eat, drink, support their wives and children, and the problem is that the servants who have been confiscated from the officials have no freedom to work. Emperor Daxing originally wanted to return them to the Zhang family, so he did not order them to be sold, they had to live in the place designated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and every day according to the supplies from above, they could not eat enough, but they could not starve to death. If you have relatives from outside who you can rely on, you can also give them something from time to time. There were also people who bribed the officers and soldiers in their custody to secretly run out to find some casual work to do, and the women took some needlework and helped people do laundry and sewing, barely making a living. But many people are used to enjoying blessings, where can they endure this kind of suffering? Over the years, people have died, and now there are less than 120 left.

Now that they have finally returned to their original masters, they are relieved but also a little frightened. Back then, they were on the side of the enemies of the ancestors of the Zhang family, would the ancestors of the Zhang family hate them and want to degrade them to death? In order to let the ancestors and grandchildren of the Zhang family dissipate their anger, they can show how humble they are at this time, for fear that if they are not careful, they will arouse the anger of the masters, and they will really have no way to live.

Zhang was a kind-hearted man, and he had hated these servants before. She has been a housekeeper for many years, and these people are all sorted out by her subordinates, why is there no one on her side? But then she didn't care anymore, where could the subordinates choose their own masters? The Niu family and Zhao Jue didn't take these people seriously, did they?

She said lightly to the old servants, "Get up." The past is over, and in the future, as long as you don't make mistakes again, I will naturally not treat you badly. Now that the Hou Mansion is ready to be rebuilt, there are many places that need manpower, so you should contribute more. When we move in again, we will naturally arrange for people from all over the place. ”

All the old servants breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, and immediately reacted, the master's family had to wait until the house was rebuilt before arranging their whereabouts, does that mean that how they perform during this time directly determines their future position? Whether it's a decent close messenger or a lowly rough envoy, it depends on this one!

Everyone exchanged glances with each other, and the sense of competition instantly burst out from their hearts.

Zhao Wei instructed lightly: "Let's all retreat, I want to accompany my grandmother to see what the house has broken into, don't get in the way here." As soon as the words fell, more than a hundred people kowtowed and retreated, and in a blink of an eye, the people in the big courtyard were scattered.

Zhao Xiu blinked: "It's pretty fast." ”

Zhang smiled slightly: "Most of them are old people who have been used in the past, your grandfather has always forbade it, and if you have a slightly slower hand and feet, you will be kicked." Zhao Xiu suddenly realized.

When the person is gone*, the panorama of the front yard is revealed.

There are five rooms in the front room, which is a place for the ancestral tablets and the objects and holy decrees given by the emperors of the past dynasties, and there is a decree in the palace, which is also issued here, and the funeral of the old county prince is also a mourning hall set up here. Although it is nominally a main hall, it was never actually used to entertain guests. There are five inverted rooms opposite the main house, the east three are the living room, and the other two, one is the tea room and the other is the account room. The three major rooms in the east chamber are said to be the outer study, and the inside is empty, which is said to be the place where Zhao Zhuo studied. The west chamber is a utility room, which is not an ordinary sundries, the incense case to be used when receiving the holy decree, the furniture used to arrange the main hall during the New Year's holidays, and some things used in the funeral of the old county princess, are all stacked here, originally thinking that it is close to the main hall and easy to carry.

In addition to the moon cave doors on both sides, there is no other entrance and exit in this courtyard, and the back of the courtyard is directly the wall, which is completely isolated from the inner house. Zhao Xiu once again understood what the so-called difference between inside and outside means.

Passing through the Moon Cave Gate on the west side of the courtyard, you can see the west gate that Zhao Wei pointed to outside the door. There is a small courtyard in the door, there are doors on all sides, except for the west gate on the south side and the second gate on the north side, the moon cave gate on the east and west sides, the east side is the main courtyard, and the west side is leading to another large courtyard.

This courtyard is about the same size as the front yard, and the layout is similar, but all the houses are a little narrower and longer, and there are no wide eaves, and there is no verandah, so the yard is even larger. There is no debris in the courtyard, and the ground is not made of bluestone slabs, but a flat yellow mud ground, and there is no grass, and there is a stone weapon rack at the corner of the courtyard. This is the courtyard where the old county lord lived after retirement, so it is particularly wide enough to run horses in the yard. On the south side, there is a slippery house, which is where the soldiers lived in the past. Further west, there is a small courtyard, but it is a carriage and horse shed. When the chariot and horses were to be used in the house, the servants would put the chariot in place from there, lead the horses out, and arrive at the small courtyard inside the west gate, where they would wait for the masters to get on the chariot and get on the horses.

Standing in this courtyard, Zhang fell into memories again, but this time the memories were more sad. Because whether it is the main house where the old county prince used to live, or the wing room where the weapons are stored, they are all empty now, and those old things in the past do not know where they have gone. The house was full of dust and cobwebs, and even the trees planted behind the house were all dead, and one of the osmanthus trees was planted by her and the old county prince in the past. Even if the house is repaired as before, some of the things that have been lost will not come back.

Zhao Xiu also looked sad, and persuaded her softly: "Grandmother, we will find a way to inquire, where are all the old things of grandfather, don't be sad." ”

Zhao Wei also said: "Yes, grandmother." Grandfather is a dignified Jiannan County Prince, this is his residence, all the objects in it can not be discarded casually, and those officers and soldiers do not have the courage. Maybe the official in charge of the raid was afraid that the things would be damaged, so he ordered someone to put them away? The Ministry of Internal Affairs is busy with the state funeral, and for the time being, it has no time to count the things that are going to be given to our family. But Emperor Daxing has a purpose, and they will never dare to owe it. ”

Zhang lowered his head and wiped his tears, turned back to his grandchildren and smiled reluctantly: "I'm not sad." There are some things that cannot be forced. If you can get it back, that's the best, if you can't, that's it. She clutched her chest and said with tears in her eyes: "Whether there are those things or not, your grandfather's voice and smile will still be deeply remembered in my heart." ”

Zhao Xiu didn't know what to say for a while, and after a while, he whispered, "Let's go into the inner house and have a look, shall we?" I don't remember what it was like to live as a child, can my grandmother tell me? ”RS