Chenjiaya is not as good as Zhengjiazhuang, but it should be regarded as a big village in the mountainous area of Lunan, there are more than 200 households, a dilapidated blue brick wall will wrap Zhuangzi on the sunny slope, four east-west streets and a north-south street will divide Zhuangzi into a checkerboard shape, the pattern is quite neat. Two walled gates, the main gate faces south, facing the direction of Zhengjiazhuang, and there is a door facing west, which is usually closed more and opened less.

Zhuangzi is always the same scene, only the chanting sound from the private school in the wing of the Chen ancestral hall gives Chen Chao some happy feelings, he listened carefully to the children's recitation for a while in front of the half-open door, turned around and walked in the direction of the walled gate, he heard the sound of quarreling from afar, Chen Chao quickened his pace, and saw two Zhuang Ding guarding the walled door arguing with two strangers, and there were already more than a dozen neighbors around to watch the excitement.

"What is the dispute?" Before he could get to the front, Chen Chao asked loudly.

"Back to the owner, we didn't let them enter the ......village because they weren't authentic," reported a short, stout farmer with a bird on his back.

"Ha Luha, this little brother is so unreasonable, I just want to see the architectural style of your village, why is it not authentic?"

Chen Chao set his eyes on the guest who spoke. Oh, what a big man: more than five and a half feet tall, wearing a blue cloth coat, carrying a package in his left hand, and holding an oil-paper umbrella in his right hand. Looking at the face, I saw that this person had a dark complexion, big ears, a fluffy beard and a more heroic style, and the big man wore a straw hat on his head, and the brim of the hat was pressed very low, but Chen Chao still saw the pair of shining eyes.

There was also a handsome man standing behind the big man, who didn't look very old, and he had been hiding himself behind the big man, Chen Chao didn't see the person's appearance and clothes clearly.

"Well, don't be rude." Chen Chao drank and retreated, turned his face to the big man and asked, "Why did Mr. enter my Chen Jiaya?" Chen Chao drank and asked the guests politely.

Chenjiaya built on the hillside rarely has guests to come, the villagers of ten miles and eight townships go to the relatives to rush into Chenjiaya is not a guest, like this is obviously a foreigner into the village is really rare, no wonder Zhuang Ding interrogated.

"Oh, it's not surprising to hear him call you the owner. I came to Shandong from the capital to travel, all the way to Lunan, heard that the Chenjiaya building is simple and majestic, quite natural, I can't help but yearn for it. Sure enough. I wanted to go into the village to have a look, but I didn't expect you, the villager, to think that I was not authentic...... "The big man has a Beijing accent.

Chen Chao looked at the guests, and the guests were also looking at Chen Chao. I saw that this man known as the owner of the village was in his thirties, of medium height, wearing a washed yellowed white coarse cloth sweatshirt and a pair of black cloth trousers, with a pair of cloth shoes with mille-feuille soles under his feet, and a banana fan in his hand. A long black braid dragged behind his head, and the ends of the braid had been dragged to the knees. Look at the face again, the eyes are slender, the chin is shaved, and only the upper lip has a well-trimmed beard.

Dahan's explanation was clear and clear, and some of the lively villagers could understand the official dialect of Beijing, so they laughed. Chen Chao, who has always been kind to others, also smiled, "I see." I don't know your surname? Is that little brother a companion of the gentleman? ”

"Don't dare, in Xia Longqian, the word retreats. His surname is Jiang Mingyun, and he is my cousin, and he accompanied me on a tour. He is young and has not yet taken the table word. The big man spoke elegantly, which made Chen Chao feel cordial.

"Oh, it turned out to be Mr. Long, please come in." Chen Chao stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, "Dare to ask Mr. Long, where did you hear the name of Chen Jiaya?" ”

"Please, owner. Long once studied abroad, specializing in the study of Chinese construction, and I am ashamed to say that my Chinese construction method should be taught by foreigners. It's embarrassing. The year before last, he returned to China and was determined to learn from Xu Hongzu, who was in the late Ming Dynasty, and traveled all over the country. But he came to see the scenery, but I came to see the beauty of folk construction. A few days ago in Jinan, when it came to the simplicity of Lunan folk customs and architecture, I couldn't help but feel itchy, so I brought my nephew to Lunan, and I heard that Guizhuang was built on the mountain in Fei County, with a unique style, so I found it. Ha Lu Ha. ”

"I see." Chen Chao nodded, not doubting him, "Since Mr. Long is a learner, then I will accompany the guests to take a walk around Zhuangzi." ”

So Chen Chao personally accompanied Long Qian and Jiang Yun, entered Zhuangzi from the Zhaimen, and went all the way to the south.

Entering the walled gate, there is another gate fifty meters away, the direction is biased to the southeast, no wonder you can't see the inside when you stand at the walled gate just now. The walled wall is one, but a compound wall is only built near the walled gate. The small Chenjiaya actually has an urn city structure similar to that of a big city, and Long Qian couldn't help but praise it in his heart.

Seeing Long Qian's expression, Chen Chao was also proud, "Where did Mr. Long study?" ”

"Oh, America. I think the owner of the village is also a well-educated person, and he must know the name of the United States. ”

"Of course, the land of Shandong is full of missionaries, nine times out of ten, they are priests from the United States, Germany and England......"

"Well, are there any religious people in your village?"

Chen Chao's face was triumphant, "Qilu is the homeland of saints, and China has its own holy religion, why bother to learn those things that are easy to do?" Although there are many churches nearby, I Chen Jiaya are all Confucian believers, who believe in benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith, and will not believe in those foreign religions. ”

"Admire, admire."

Jiang Yun followed behind Long Qian, looking around with a pair of thief eyes, trying to remember the topography of Chenjiaya in his mind, and hearing Long Qian praise the goose-like owner of Chen Zhuang, he couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart.

Long Qian entered the inner village gate, saw that the whole Zhuangzi is a pattern of high in the north and low in the south, a stone road has been leading to the north, the houses on both sides are mostly made of stone, there are few brick houses, the courtyard walls of most of the Zhuang households are made of slabs and stones, there is no courtyard gate, look directly into it, see that the doors and windows of the house where they live are old, smoky and burning, and look very poor and dilapidated. Although I want to come here, although it is rich, it is actually poor, and in order to save money when it was built, I don't need money for the stones all over the mountains anyway.

In the middle of each of the Zhuangzi, there is a street narrower than the north-south street, which leads to the east and west, and with a thought, he turns around and goes west along the west-facing street.

Chen Chao said with a smile, "Mr. Long is worthy of being an expert in studying architecture. You can see that there are only two gates in the village, and the other is in the west. However, the gate is dilapidated, so don't look at it. ”

Long Qian let out a long sigh, "Don't hide it from Master Chen, in the past year, I have traveled to the two provinces of Zhili and Shanxi, and I have seen some ancient houses and towns with exquisite patterns and great protection value. What makes me feel that the glory is all in the past, the treasures of the past, today has shown the signs of dilapidation, if it is not repaired, I am afraid that in another thirty or fifty years, many villages and ancient towns worth studying will not be there. ”

This is exactly Chen Chao's heart disease. The Chen family is the largest household in Chenjiaya, and it is also the richest household, forty percent of the cultivated land in the Zhuangzi belongs to the Chen family, and the only workshop in the Zhuangzi - the tofu workshop is also Chen Chao's industry. Compared with Zhengjiazhuang, Chenjiaya is shabby.

Since Chen Chao took over as the owner of the village from his father, he wanted to raise money to repair the Xizhai Wall and Xizhai Gate, which were extremely damaged, but his personal strength was limited, and the villagers could not come up with the money. In the past few years, the year has been really poor, there is no drought or flood, and there is no year of good weather and rain. Not to mention that the year is not good, there are more and more miscellaneous items outside the official government, and the villagers who make a living by farming are thankful, where do they have the spare money to repair the wall. In the end, Chen Chao personally produced three hundred and forty taels of silver to repair the most collapsed wall, as for the walled gate, forget it.

Chen Chao remembered the situation of Xizhai Gate when he was a child, when the people of Chenjiaya went out of Zhuangzi, more people walked through the West Gate, the gatehouse was still there, and the paintings on the rafters were still visible...... In the year he was admitted to Xiucai, the gatehouse collapsed in a strong wind and rain, and for this reason, his father, who had already begun to cough up blood, cried a lot. He knew that his father cried not only for the collapse of the West Gate Tower, but also for the fall of the family......

I walked through the Zhuangzi, but it took two meals. Before Chen Chao could speak, Long Qian seemed to see through Chen Chao's thoughts, "I traveled all the way from Fei County, and when I saw a slightly larger Zhuangzi, all of them built walled walls. Thinking about the internal and external troubles in the past few decades, the public security situation must not be good. As for the walled wall, my opinion is that most of the Zhuangzi destroyed the beauty because of the construction of the wall. But your Zhuangzi has added a lot of color because of the walled wall, the main reason is that the ancestors of Guizhuang adapted measures to local conditions, and built Zhuangzi in nature, and the biggest credit is the wall. Imagine, if there is no somewhat dilapidated wall to enclose Zhuangzi, from a distance, it will not be as majestic as it is now. If it is in the era of cold weapons, such a structure, such a layout, as long as there is a good owner to organize the young and strong, it is to come to three or five thousand strong disciples, and I don't want to think about your village. ”

"Hmm, the era of cold weapons?" Chen Chao, who was praised for his joy, heard that he was a little unpleasant.

"Of course. If at the level of modern military equipment, Guizhuang's walled walls, if you stand in the perspective of defense, it is just to give yourself courage, as long as an artillery is erected over there," Long Qian pointed in the direction of Zhengjiazhuang, "With all due respect, Guizhuang gets rid of the desperate counterattack to destroy the artillery, and the rest is to open the door and surrender." ”

Jiang Yun thought that this Chen Zhuang master would be angry when he heard this, but who knew that this person sighed, "You're right. However, three years ago, my Zhuang joined forces with Zhengjiazhuang and Bai Wei to thwart the attack of the group of robbers. Afterwards, Zhengjiazhuang, oh, it was the big Zhuangzi opposite, and the head of Tian Jiao, who they hired to understand military affairs, also said that if the bandits carried cannons back then, Zhengjiazhuang would not be able to hold it. For this reason, Zhengjiazhuang, who has deep pockets, purchased three bronze cannons......"

Long Qian didn't answer Chen Chao's discussion of military topics, he pointed to a place, "I think this is the ancestral hall of Guizhuang," Long Qian walked a few steps to the door, "It turns out that there is a private school inside, okay, education is a major matter related to the future of the nation, and the actions of the master of Chen Zhuang make Long admire." ”

"Education is a major matter related to the future of the nation...... said well, he is worthy of being a handsome man who has stayed abroad. Chen Chao savored Long Qian's words, "Please go in and have a look." ”

"No need, don't disturb the children's studies."

"Ah, since Mr. Long stayed in the United States and has such incisive views on education, can you give you a word or two about the advantages and disadvantages of Western education?" This is something that Chen Chao has always been haunting, and he really wants to ask people who have gone abroad about it.

"Master Chen Zhuang gave Long a big question." Long Qian turned around and thought for a moment, "Where to start?" ”

"Oh, I hit it off with Mr. Long, but not like this." Chen Chao stopped Long Qian, "My house is very close to here, please go to the cold house for a cup of tea, and we will talk slowly." ”