National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1307

Outside the window, the light dimmed.

Inside the house, everyone has left.

At the moment, there were only the master and the disciple sitting opposite each other.

It turned out that before he understood his master's attitude, even though money was not a problem and even though Ning Weimin did sincerely admire and appreciate the plan of the wedding tent for his wedding, he still did not tell the truth to his face.

The excuse he used was - fire.

He said that the plan of the two masters was good, but there was one problem: for such a large project, all they used were reeds, fir poles, bamboo poles, etc., which could easily catch fire.

What's more, after the shed is set up, we still have to put up the decorations.

There will definitely be a lot of cloth and colored silk needed by then, and these are all flammable.

It's so hot in the summer, and the garden is so big with so many plants and trees. It would be no joke if Gu Buzhou caught fire.

So he needs some time to plan carefully.

We must ensure safety first, eliminate fire hazards, and figure out specific rules for fire prevention before finalizing this matter.

This time, the two masters were hit right on the vital point.

So, the two masters looked at Kang Shude, and seeing that he also agreed with this logic, they could only go and deal with the matter of the banquet building first.

I had to wait patiently for them to discuss the specific rules and make the final decision.

As soon as the two masters left the courtyard, Ning Weimin personally sent them out and then came back. The master and apprentice finally had the opportunity to have a private heart-to-heart talk and speak openly.

"Master, you don't blame me, do you?"

Ning Weimin and Kang Shude moved to the sofa and sat down together. He asked while pouring tea for Kang Shude.

"Oh? Where do you think you went wrong?" The old man took the tea.

"I'm using fire prevention as an excuse. You don't think I'm stingy and irresponsible, do you?"

"On the contrary, I think you handled this matter very well. I was afraid that you would become arrogant after getting rich and agree to anything without hesitation. Great, you know how to think about things and are not confused."

The old man lowered his head to blow away the tea leaves without even looking up, revealing a calm and steady demeanor as if he had a plan in mind.

"So you are testing me, Master?" Ning Weimin came to his senses and couldn't help laughing.

"What? You can't try? Do you think you can become a master?"

The familiar feeling came again. This was the Kang Shude that Ning Weimin knew.

"No, no, I can try. How could I be so ungrateful? This is enough to prove your concern for me, your apprentice."

However, Ning Weimin's natural disposition made him like to make jokes whenever he was happy.

The conversation would have ended here, but he still insisted on asking Kang Shude.

"But Master, how would you rate my performance this time?"

"You... I'll give you 100 points."

Although the old man hesitated for a moment, he actually gave a full score in the end. This was far beyond the expectations of Ning Weimin, who was originally a talkative person, and even he himself was surprised.

In his opinion, he was just habitually using rhetoric to create a loose knot. He thought he had to discuss it with his master before making a decision, so he just tried to reassure the two old masters first.

  It's not a big deal at all, how could the old man recognize it so much?

I somewhat suspected that there was something else behind Master's words.

"Ah? This... this is too... high... you must be kidding me..."

But the old man doesn't think so. Kang Shude has his own reasons.

"You don't understand, that's because you don't know how the ceiling industry disappeared from our capital. Many people think that the ceiling industry in Beijing disappeared after liberation, because people started to change their customs and practices, and there was no room for this industry to survive. But that's not entirely true. There weren't many before liberation."

"After the fall of Peking in 1937, the Japanese invaders immediately demanded the removal of all ceilings, fearing that the Kuomintang planes would drop bombs and that ceilings were too easy to catch fire. Even after the restoration, the industry still couldn't recover. That was because, in addition to the people being poor, they didn't even dare to hold big weddings or funerals. Or was it because these things were prone to fire."

"When you set up a tent, you have to light it at night, and if you do, accidents are more likely to happen. But you have to know that the capital at that time was not like it is now. The country has a fire department that specializes in firefighting. There were water dragon teams in the capital, and they were basically sponsored by merchants. When the Japanese left, all industries declined, and the merchants had no money. The people could only fend for themselves. The officials of the Three People's Party who took over were even less likely to care about this. They came to make money and didn't care about the lives of the people at all."

"So this is the Achilles' heel of the shed business. And you spotted the biggest safety hazard of shed construction at a glance. Just for this foresight, I have to praise you. Marriage is a major event in life. Young people usually become brainless when they are so busy having fun at such a special time. You are still so clear-headed, which shows that you have improved."

After saying this, Ning Weimin suddenly realized.

He didn't expect that with his ahead-of-the-time insights and experience in planning public events for the Temple of Heaven Park, he would accidentally win the appreciation of his master. This is the advantage in information.

But precisely because of this, he couldn't help but feel even more strange.

This was clearly a troublesome and costly matter, and the old man saw very clearly the many drawbacks involved.

Obviously, being the first to do something like this has always been a taboo for the old man, and it is inconsistent with his desire to hide the mansion by all means. But now, judging from what the old man said, it seems that he is quite happy and supportive of this matter, and even willing to spend a huge amount of money. Why is this?

Could it be true, as Luo Guangliang and Xiao Tao said, that the old man was shocked by the scale of their wedding in Japan?

Or was it because of what the Jiang family's fourth aunt said that the old man...

Ning Weimin wanted to ask clearly, but when the words came to his lips, he really couldn't open his mouth.

Because no matter what, the old man is taking care of his marriage with all his heart.

Now that he has returned, he questions the matter to my face. No matter how you look at it, he seems like an ungrateful person.

He was afraid that the old man would misunderstand him, and even more afraid that he would be angry.

Fortunately, Kang Shude had already seen through his thoughts and simply made things clear himself.

At this point, Ning Weimin finally understood the old man's thoughts.

"This matter has indeed caused quite a stir, and a lot of money has been spent. Wei Min, I know you are not the kind of person who likes vanity, and you will probably feel uneasy. However, there is no need to be. Your aunt Jiang is right. As your teacher, I have no children, and your parents are gone. If I don't arrange it for you, who will? If I still want to deal with it perfunctorily in your marriage, what else can I do but be stingy? I am unworthy of being a teacher, and I am sorry for the relationship between us two."

"Master, you..."

These words were a bit too harsh, and Ning Weimin couldn't help but scream.

However, Kang Shude waved his hand, not letting him interrupt, and continued, "Secondly, when your aunt Jiang came back this time, the capital has changed a lot. Although it is hard to leave one's hometown, in the hearts of old people like us, the capital will always be the best place. But the familiar life, familiar people, and familiar things in the past are all gone now, and they can't be found, which inevitably makes people sad and desolate. I still have a big wine jar and can chat with those old people of the same age. What can your aunt Jiang have? No matter how good the Ma family garden is, she will get bored if she is trapped in this small courtyard every day, and she may get sick. What's more, she is a lively person and can't stand loneliness since she was a child. When Peking fell, she was so bold that she sneaked out to watch movies and plays from time to time. So, since she is willing to take the lead in arranging your affairs and wants to be lively and see the familiar scenes in the past, I can't let her down. I have to try my best to make her wish come true."

I understand. Of course I understand.

  Who else can understand this emotion better than the reborn Ning Weimin?

Even though he was the one who came to the front in the future, when he first arrived in the 1980s, he knew that he had gained the greatest advantage. Even though he had no relatives, no wife or children, he always missed the era in which he had lived.

It’s not entirely because life in the future will be more convenient, but he simply misses the era that is familiar to him, the environment that is familiar to him, the familiar way of eating, dressing, and living, the familiar songs and film and television works.

But after 1986, he inexplicably felt that he was living a more real life.

Because he had finally arrived at the time when his life in his previous life began, the time from then on had a more special meaning to him.

So he clearly grasped the old man's subtext, that this wedding was held for him as well as for Jiang Nianyun.

"Yes, Master, you are right. And Aunt Jiang is really good to me. She is the best aunt I can be. I am very grateful. I will take Qingzi to thank her in person later." Ning Weimin responded sincerely.

"You have to do this. I, your master, don't have that much money. Including the salary you offered, I have collected 160,000 yuan. The rest of the expenses were paid by your aunt Jiang. It's probably tens of thousands of yuan."

"Don't worry about that. Now that I'm back, money won't be a problem. Your apprentice has nothing but money. I'll return the money to Fourth Aunt later. I'll leave you another million this time so that you don't have to worry about money if you run into any problems in the future. In fact, if you don't have enough money, why don't you just tell my Third Brother or Zhang Shihui? They can handle this matter."

Kang Shude felt his apprentice's magnanimity and nodded with satisfaction, but what he said was unexpected.

"It's good that you have this intention, and it's even better that you have so much money in your hands. Your master is not greedy for money, you should know this. But now it seems that only money can solve some problems. What I am going to tell you next is about the future of Ma's Garden. You listen carefully, I'm afraid I will really have to ask you to spend another million."

Hearing what the old man said, how could Ning Weimin's attitude not be correct?

He knew best how important this garden was to his master, so he immediately sat up straight and put down the teacup in his hand.

"Master, you speak. I'm listening."

"If this continues, the Ma family garden may not be able to be hidden anymore."

"Master, are you worried that my marriage will be too ostentatious?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It has nothing to do with you. Even if you didn't get married, this matter would be inevitable."

Kang Shude sighed, "Look, this garden has only been repaired for a few years. Some places are not well cared for, so they are damaged and leaking. If nothing else, the Ma Family Garden in the past was like the Grand View Garden in Dream of the Red Chamber. At the very least, it must have required hundreds of people to maintain everything inside and outside, big and small."

"Now, how many of us live here? Such a big house is really too empty, neither convenient nor comfortable. To put it in a funny way, even to go out to buy vegetables, you have to ride a bicycle. To go to the newspaper box or milk box outside, to get a newspaper or milk, you have to walk at least two stops away. Cleaning is even more of a problem. In fact, let alone cleaning, transporting the garbage outside is a physically demanding job that no one can bear."

"To be honest, thanks to you, these problems have been barely solved. The gardens are now being cleaned up by the gardeners of the Temple of Heaven Park, and the cleaners of the Temple of Heaven are helping to sweep the yard and carry away the garbage. They send three or four people here every week to clean up. Xiao Zhang is even more diligent, always sending people from the Temple Palace Restaurant to help with the indoor hygiene of the two small courtyards. Otherwise, if we had to rely on ourselves, neither your aunt Jiang nor I would be able to live here."

"That's not all. The installation of street lights and the laying of electrical circuits in our garden have made the Ma Family Garden the most conspicuous place in the surrounding area. If we don't do this, it will be too dark at night, but if we do this, the monthly electricity bill will cost nearly 500. And the key is that with these things, once they are turned on at night, the garden will look like the Friendship Hotel. It's impossible to hide this kind of atmosphere, so it's impossible for people outside to not notice it."

"In addition to electricity, there is also water. The water fee of 1.2 cents is not expensive. But summer is here, and I thought that since you are getting married, we must add water to raise fish this time, so that the three ponds in the garden can also become a landscape. If we don't use them now, when will we use them? Well, after filling them with water, the water meter ran more than 4,000 tons and more than 700. Add the cost of planting lotus and releasing fish fry. It's another one thousand. And this is because Gu Si'er, that kid, doesn't make money, so I'm helping him for free out of your kindness."

"So think about it, how would people outside view this place? To be honest, since the day when the street lamps were delivered to the garden, people living near Weijia Hutong would always ask me who lives here, whether it's a senior official, or some important government office. Fortunately, they thought I was a gatekeeper and let me fool them. Otherwise, if they knew I was the owner, I would have gotten into trouble."

"What's even more unfortunate is that the government has called for water and electricity conservation in the past two years. It's probably because of insufficient energy supply. Since last year, there have been frequent water and power outages. You can imagine that with such a large amount of water and electricity consumption in our garden, how could there not be problems? Last month, people from the power supply bureau and the water plant came to visit us, wanting to know what was going on."

"Luckily, the director of the street, Wei, is nice to us. He said there are foreigners living here, and we used your aunt Jiang's American passport to trick them away. But this is not a common thing. If this goes on for a long time, more people will come. In short, such a large garden cannot be maintained by one person. It is not something we can enjoy privately."

"So I thought about it and decided that since I can't hide it, I might as well stop hiding it and show it openly. Right now, if we want to continue to seek peace and maintain this new situation, I'm afraid there is only one way. If that doesn't work, let's start a business. Together with your aunt Jiang, we can continue to use her American identity to run a joint venture garden hotel."

(End of this chapter)