Dongjiaomin Lane is very famous in Beijing's hutongs, which was historically the embassy district, carrying the diplomatic and historical changes of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China until the founding of New China. Although it has now been turned into a cultural reserve, there are many other former embassies that have been preserved as testimonies of cultural heritage and history.

Muyang's grandfather's home is in a small alley turned into Dongjiaomin Lane, a small courtyard house that is rare in Beijing, which was nothing in the past, but now there is such a small courtyard house covering an area of 300 square meters in Beijing, which is worth the old nose money.

"Grandpa, play chess." When Muyang walked into the small alley, he saw that his grandfather was sitting outside the door with another old man playing chess.

"Xiaoyang is here, Lao Song, your grandson is here, this game is a draw, if you don't play, you can't play, it's time for lunch." As he spoke, the old man pushed the chess pieces and directly disrupted the chessboard.

"Okay, you old Xing, you are directly cheating, and you are the highest prosecutor." Grandpa scolded with a smile.

"Before the Supreme People's Procuratorate, I worked for the Ministry of Public Security." After the old man finished speaking, he laughed and left.

Muyang helped his grandfather pack up the chess pieces, "Grandpa, what are you going to eat at noon." Facing the closest people, Muyang showed the side of a child.

"What do you want to eat, let your Aunt Xue make it for you, by the way, your uncle and his family will come over at noon." Muyang's grandfather said.

"Yes, I haven't seen my uncle for almost a month, by the way, is Sister Xiaoxi here?"

"Your little sister Xi is also here." Saying that, grandpa walked into the gate of the courtyard with chess pieces, and Muyang carried a small square table to follow behind.

Muyang's grandfather's name is Song Hongqi, who is over 70 years old this year, is a veteran Chinese diplomat who once served as ambassadors in two countries, and retired from the main hall level. Muyang's grandmother was also a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and she was a translator at the time, and later the two established a relationship at work and came together, and then had her uncle Song Xuquan and her mother Song Xuxiu.

But grandma left early, and the uncle was not married at that time, and Muyang's mother was only 17 years old.

After my grandfather retired, I have been living here, and my uncle originally wanted my grandfather to live with them, but my grandfather liked to live in this old yard by himself, and felt comfortable to live, so my uncle had no choice, so I asked my aunt to take care of the old man's daily life.

Muyang's grandfather is very funny and erudite, but he is never sloppy in life, especially in terms of clothing and image, even if he plays chess with the old man at the door, he is wearing a white shirt and black trousers, ironing straight, sitting on the upper waist of the maza is straight, and his hair is meticulously groomed, which are all habits left by decades of diplomatic work.

Since the death of Muyang's mother, Muyang will often come here, at that time, the uncle's family has not moved away, there is Xiaoxi sister to play with him, but Muyang has less pain of parting relatives, and later his father married another, Muyang boarding school, every weekend is basically spent at grandpa's house, but the family stays less, Muyang feels that this place is more like his home.

Muyang put the square table under the eaves in the southwest corner of the courtyard, walked directly into the kitchen, saw Aunt Xue was busy cooking, and said, "Aunt Xue, you are busy, what to eat at noon." ”

Aunt Xue saw that it was Muyang, and said with a smile: "Xiaoyang is here, you haven't been here for two weeks, your uncle and they will also come over in a while, I will prepare a few more dishes today, but there is your favorite braised pork, which has been stewed for a while, and when the meal is served, the heat must be enough." ”

Aunt Xue is a talkative person, in her 50s, she is from Beijing, she has a husband and children at home, her life is quite happy, and Aunt Xue is also the old man of this family, since Muyang and his grandfather retired, he hired Aunt Xue, and it has been almost 10 years now.

"It's done, the braised pork you made is better than the restaurant, I caught up today, I must eat a few more bites in a while, by the way, my sister will also come in a while, I guess I have to rob it." Muyang said.

"What are you robbing, you can do more, it's enough for you to eat, and besides, your sister is working, and I'm robbing you, I'm not a child anymore." Aunt Xue didn't stop working while she was talking.

"If you're not married, you're a child, my sister doesn't even have a partner, and her character can't be held by men in the capital."

As soon as Mu Yang finished speaking, he heard a cold snort from behind, Mu Yang's body trembled, and his face immediately changed to a smile, and then slowly turned back, and called sweetly in his mouth: "Sister."

"Okay, I haven't seen you for a month, I'm arranging behind my back, why can't I hold it, you can tell me." Muyang's cousin Song Xi hugged his shoulders and looked at Muyang coldly, which made Muyang's body cold.

Mu Yang rolled his eyes and said, "Are my aunts and uncles here, I miss them, I'll go out to greet them." With that, he turned around and ran out.

took the fruit from his uncle's hand at the door, and walked in with his aunt's hand, the intimacy made Song Xi glance at Muyang coldly again.

"Xiaoyang has been busy with homework lately, why haven't I seen you for a month?" Aunt asked enthusiastically.

"It's okay, isn't there still two months to go to the final exam, it's a bit tight, next year is mainly an internship, so the homework is finally pressed to the second semester of the third year." Mu Yang replied.

Muyang's uncle is with his mother, but he is a little similar to Muyang's mother, 50 years old this year, working in the Administration Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the deputy director mentioned in the first two years, but it is estimated that it will come to an end, after all, age and qualifications are placed there, and he has never been a diplomatic ambassador, and it is basically impossible to go further in the administration.

Aunt Muyang also works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, originally a translator, and later when she got older, she did training business in the Translation Department, and now she is a teacher in the training department, at the deputy director level.

In addition, Muyang's mother also worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before her death, this is really a diplomatic family.

"It's no problem for you to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for next year's internship, but if you want to stay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work, you still need to work your own, now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a unified recruitment civil service examination, although the number of people admitted every year is also dozens of people, but it is a thousand people crowded into a single bridge, it is difficult to get in, now it is generally a civil servant who recruits graduate diplomas, if you are a bachelor's degree exam, it will be very difficult, and you will not have a good time with the language, you know, you only know one English, it is unlikely to be recruited, I still think you should go to graduate school. The uncle said earnestly.

He likes his nephew very much, when his son is so raised, but on the issue of recruiting civil servants, he doesn't want to give Mu Yang a relationship, because Mu Yang is indeed a little lacking, if he enters the Ministry of Foreign Affairs now, it will be very difficult to work, especially the language, it is difficult to get ahead in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he still hopes that Mu Yang will take the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduating from graduate school, so it will be much easier.

Muyang thought for a while and said, "Uncle, I actually know Japanese. ”

Aunt Xu Hui put down the fruit knife, handed the peeled apple to Muyang, and asked, "I haven't heard you say it before, what level is it, if it's just an ordinary colloquial level, it won't help you much for the civil service exam." "She, the old translator, still knows a lot about this.

"I think it's not a big problem to pass the professional level 8." Mu Yang said affirmatively.

Muyang's uncle and aunt were shocked, they can be said to have watched Muyang grow up, they have never heard of Muyang learning Japanese, you know, learning a language, sometimes you need special training and practice for several years, in order to really reach the level of standard spoken language, not that you can speak a foreign language after level 6, those who can't speak a foreign language after level 6 are a lot of people, and the foreign language level required by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is definitely a professional level, you need to be able to be proficient in listening, speaking, reading and writing, and master a large number of vocabulary, Therefore, the language requirements of the professional level are very necessary.

"Professional level 8, it seems that you haven't even taken the professional level 8 test in English." Cousin Song Xi ate the apple she peeled and said in a mocking tone.

At this time, Grandpa Muyang also walked in and said, "What professional level eight?" ”

"Grandpa, Muyang said that he can pass the professional level 8 in Japanese, and he doesn't even pass the level 8 in English in his own major, do you believe what he says?" While talking and brushing Mu Yang's eyes, Song Xi continued to hit Mu Yang.

"Don't you know if you try, I remember that you are learning Japanese, you test him." Grandpa said to his granddaughter with a smile.

"I'm afraid that he will be embarrassed, since you said it, then I will really take the test, and if you bake your own grandson, don't say that my granddaughter is bullying people." Song Xi stood up and said to Muyang with a look of opening up and preparing to start working, "Do you dare to take the test?" ”

"Why don't you dare, come on."

In fact, Muyang's cousin Song Xi is only three years older than Muyang, and she only joined the work last year, but she didn't enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she didn't like the feeling that the family was in the same unit, and finally chose to stay in the university to teach, and is now a teacher majoring in foreign languages at Beijing Normal University, majoring in French, but he majored in Japanese, although the Japanese level is not up to the professional level, but it is also over the sixth level.

Song Xi loves this cousin very much, after all, there are few people, and there are only two children, can you not kiss, but sometimes there is still some little jealousy, who calls parents to treat Muyang as their own, Muyang eats apples and her mother peels them, she can only cut them if she wants to eat them, I really don't know who is biological, so Song Xi always loves to bully him in front of his parents to satisfy his little revenge. sense, in fact, outside, Song Xi loves Muyang the most.