National Tide 1980.

Chapter 617 The courtyard is deep
Walk into the west passage, and you will see four inverted rooms.

In the past, this was the number room, that is, the workshop of the "servants", and it was also a place where visitors waited for the owner to meet.

Now it is the first rented house to enter the door.

According to the old lady of the house owner, the family name is Zhai, and there are five members in this family.

But unfortunately, I don't know why the family went today.

Anyway, at noon on Sunday, the door of this family was closed, and General Tie guarded the door.

It can be concluded that there is no bicycle in front of their house.

The Zhai family must have something important to do today, so the whole family will be dispatched, and it is estimated that they will not be able to come back for a while.

But even so, Ning Weimin was able to observe some useful information from outside the house.

Like the four rooms with the worst orientation in the No. [-] courtyard, they are all made of hard mountains and tiles with clear water ridges.

Compared with No. 2 courtyard in Fan'er Hutong, the half-tile and half-gray "chess board" roof is much stronger.

In addition, the position of the Zhai family in the entire courtyard is very similar to the position of the Luo family in No. 2 courtyard of Fan'er Hutong.

But their living conditions are completely different from those of the Luo family.

For nothing else, the old mansion of the emperor's uncle was much larger.

Not to mention the big house, the courtyard and aisles are also spacious, and the regulations are still complete.

Although the No. [-] courtyard of Dongsi Sitiao is a partial courtyard, there are three entrances in total.

No. 2 courtyard in Shan'er Hutong is not like a sheep pen, but a small courtyard surrounded by outer walls can be compared.

The first entry to this inverted house was completely occupied by the Zhai family.

If it wasn't for the common use of the passage, the neighbors would have to use it to get in. This place is almost like an independent courtyard.

Apart from other things, all the window sills in Zhai's house are clean up and down, at most there are two cabbages on the window sills.

It's not like what you can see when you enter the No. 2 courtyard of Fan'er Hutong.

What kind of cabbage, insoles, toothpaste skins, and the heels of shoes are all placed on the window sill.

What kind of briquettes, broken boards, carts, rotten cushions, jars of sauerkraut, all piled up under the windows.

There are only flowerpots placed under the walls of Zhai's house.

There are twenty small ones, and there are just a few large flowerpots for growing pomegranate trees.

It is entirely conceivable that this place is a small oasis when the leaves are lush in spring and summer.

In terms of the conditions for growing flowers, it is not at 2:01 that they are better than No. 30 Courtyard.

If Uncle Bian, who is also good at flowers and plants, sees this, he must be envious to death.

As for the sundry shed and the small kitchen, it is actually the most practical problem.

Why are there not so many sundries in front of Zhai's house?
In fact, it was because the Zhai family built a row of small houses with the use of the angled gables next to the Hanging Flower Gate.

Although the roof is very simple, it is just a row of asbestos tiles pressed with linoleum, which barely prevents wind and rain from leaking.

Moreover, the walls are made of red bricks, which do not match the gray bricks of the original building.

But this small room has a large area, more than ten square meters, and can be divided into two rooms.

One for storage and one for cooking.

In particular, this small house also uses red doors and red windows, which is quite consistent with the style of the inverted house, so it has the meaning of an ancient building.

On the other hand, Fan'er Hutong No. 2 Courtyard is really miserable.

Because it is a common people's house, the yard is originally small, and the aisle is too narrow.

The Luo family couldn't find a place to build a small house, so they took the place in front of the mountain screen wall.

Feeling that it affected the access of the neighbors, the Luo family felt very sorry.

At the beginning, I also gave snacks to the neighbors, so I went to the door specifically, didn't I.

The small house that can be repaired is only five or six square meters.

When Luo Guangliang was disliked and stayed in the small room, he couldn't even straighten his legs because of his height.

To say that the gap between the inside and outside here is really as huge as the status of the original owners of the two courtyard houses.

Needless to say, this situation is naturally mixed for Ning Weimin.

To his delight, the room is really nice.

As the old lady mother and daughter said, old is old, but it is real.

Moreover, the space area is obviously brighter than that of ordinary folk courtyards.

What worries him is that in a house like this, the tenants seem to be living well, so they may not want to move out.

Going further in, of course, you have to pass through the vertical flower gate to enter the second courtyard.

This place is incredible, and it is a place worth stopping to take a good look at.

Why do you say that?

Because the vertical flower gate is not an ordinary door, it is built on the central axis of the courtyard, located between the first courtyard and the second courtyard, and is the key door to distinguish the inner house from the outer house.

In the old days, it was said that the young lady "goes out of the door, and does not step in the second door".

The "two gates" in this sentence refers to the hanging flower gate.

"Dream of Red Mansions" wrote when Lin Daiyu first entered Jia's mansion.

"All the women stepped down to a hanging flower gate and fell down. The young men withdrew, and the women came up and drew up the sedan chair curtain, and helped Daiyu get off the sedan chair. Lin Daiyu supported the old woman's hand and entered the hanging flower gate. On both sides are Chaoshou verandahs , in the middle is the hall..."

It can be seen from this passage that "all women" are women, so they can enter, and "all servants" are male servants, so they are not allowed to enter.

Moreover, "Sister Lin" could only get out of the sedan chair after the servants left.

The strictness of the old feudal ethics can be seen.

Not only do such requirements be made to the female relatives, but even the visiting foreigners must abide by the same.

In the past, when guests came to visit, they had to stop in front of the vertical flower gate, and first sat in the inverted room and drank tea.

Only after being notified by the servants, the master will go through the Chuihua Gate to the outer courtyard to meet the guests.

Therefore, the vertical flower gate with this clear meaning is equivalent to the facade of the inner house.

Then the more noble the big family, the more attention will be paid to the vertical flower gate, and the building will be as gorgeous and elegant as possible.

Even if the gate is not very elegant, if you can have a beautiful hanging flower gate, the taste of the whole house will be improved.

The hanging flower gate that Ning Weimin saw in the No. [-] courtyard today, no matter the form or the regulation, it is very good.

First of all, the vertical flower gate is built on the bluestone slab steps. There are three steps, and the foundation cost is not low.

Moreover, there are symmetrical lush flower trees on both sides of the vertical flower gate, which looks very solemn and elegant.

Secondly, the top of the hanging flower door is divided into two parts.

The top of the outer part of the door is a clear water ridge, while the inner part of the door is a rolling roof.

There is also a gutter at the intersection where the two top hooks are connected.

This special design allows half of the rainwater received by the vertical flower door to flow out from both sides of the gutter.

Even if it rains heavily, there will be no rain curtain in front of the eaves.

It is not only convenient for personnel to enter and exit, but also reduces the erosion of rainwater on the vertical flower door.

Finally, when you walk into the vertical flower gate, you will find a beautiful and practical verandah connected to both sides.

This thing is an open promenade, which is an indispensable auxiliary building for the inner house of a big family.

The wonderful thing is that people can easily enter and exit each room through the verandah.

Especially when it rains and snows, it does not hinder people from walking around at will.

Moreover, Chaoshou veranda is also a good outdoor resting place, with colorful paintings inside, sitting rails, and birdcages can be hung.

If you get tired of staying in the house, you can take a rest on the railing and enjoy the scenery in the garden.

When Ning Weimin looked at the hanging flower gate from the outside, it looked like a gorgeous brick and wood structure gatehouse.

But when you walk to the inner courtyard and look out at the hanging flower gate, you feel like a magnificent square pavilion.

Especially for this Chaoshou verandah, he likes it to death.

The scenes of many film and television dramas in his memory made it easy for him to imagine how the old royal relatives wandered, rested, and played with the birds in this porch.

And how to sit on the porch leaning on the pillars, facing the two Xifu crabapple trees in the yard, mourning the spring and autumn, and reciting poems in opposition.

For countless springs in the past, there were pink crabapple flowers among the shaded branches and leaves in the courtyard.

Just like the thin cloud in front of his eyes, dignified and elegant, the courtyard is full of fragrance...

It's just a pity that the pendant flower door and the veranda have serious flaws.

For example, in the functional structure of the vertical flower door, there should have been two doors.

The first door is installed between the two pillars on the side facing the outer courtyard.

This door is relatively heavy, and in the past, it was only opened during the day for people to pass through.

It is closed at night, and people from the outer courtyard cannot enter.

In addition, a second gate will be set between the two pillars inside the vertical flower gate.

This door is relatively thin and is called "screen door".

The door leaf is generally four doors, with a bucket square on it.

In the past, the screen door was usually closed, which played the role of a screen wall in the inner courtyard.

Usually, the screen door is opened only when there are major events in the inner courtyard, such as weddings and funerals.

On weekdays, when people in the inner courtyard want to go out, they usually enter the outer courtyard through the side doors on both sides of the screen door, or through the corridors on both sides of the vertical flower door.

But Ning Weimin discovered that the screen door was gone now, obviously it was removed to make it easier for everyone to come in and out.

In addition, for the pendant flower gate, the critical pendant flower head is gone.

You know, the reason why this gate is called the Hanging Flower Gate is because the eaves and pillars of the Hanging Flower Gate are suspended in the air instead of falling to the ground.

The eaves and stigmas are carved into petal or lotus shapes, like hanging flowers, which have a strong beautifying and decorative effect.

But what Ning Weimin saw of the vertical flower door, there were only two square column heads left, which looked abrupt and monotonous, and the name no longer lived up to the reality.

The most damaged part is the chaoshou verandah. After all, it is a wooden structure. Many places have been in disrepair and decayed for a long time.

The colored paintings on the walls of the corridor and the corridor were almost completely destroyed.

The exposed log color and the mottled bottom ash make this supposedly decent veranda look as bleak as a dilapidated house against the two blooming crabapple trees in the garden.

For this reason, the more Ning Weimin watched it, the more distressed he became.

He is fond of knowing that the courtyard houses built in different ages have different blue bricks, blue tiles, wooden components, patterns of eaves, and styles of brick carvings.
So in order to restore the original appearance as much as possible, he couldn't help asking.

I want to know from the mouths of the old lady and his wife what the stigma past the hanging flower gate looks like.

What is the screen door like, and what are the contents of the color painting?

The mother and daughter had no choice but to recall hard and answer based on their own memories.

But there is still a big gap between the answers they said.

The mother said that the girl was too young in the past and remembered wrongly.

The girl also said that her mother was getting old and messed up.

Naturally, Ning Weimin also felt dizzy, he didn't know who to believe.

In the end, Director Lu confirmed that the old lady's memory was correct.

But it's a pity that the workers of the housing management office can't do this kind of ancient building work.

The repairs and renovations that can be done are simple and crude, just to maintain the safety of the main structure.

However, Director Lu also remembered another thing because of this, which was a good thing that surprised Ning Weimin.

That is, as soon as you enter the courtyard, there is still a brick carving of "24 Filial Piety" hidden in the aisle of the front door of the screen wall.

If Ning Weimin likes these decorations, as long as he carefully removes the layer of dust, it should be exposed.

(End of this chapter)