National Tide 1980

For the first time, Ning Weimin clearly understood the details of the old man's teenage life from Kang Shude's recollections of the past.

I know how he grew up under the loving care of Mr. Song.

I learned that they are master and servant in name, but in reality they are master and disciple, father and son.

I know that in the old man's heart, he sincerely regards Mr. Song as a noble person who has the grace to save his life and rebuild his life.

Seeing the touching words, Kang Shude even sighed and burst into tears.

Ning Weimin had to comfort him repeatedly to keep the old man from getting too excited.

But even so, Ning Weimin also knew that the old man still had many things hidden in his heart.

The basis is that whether he inquired about the Ma family or the situation in Mr. Song's family, Kang Shude always knew everything about him and told him everything.

Like, Japanese wives are very beautiful, friendly and have good personalities.

In the past, when I went out, I would often wear a kimono, with flowers blooming and colorful.

Her hair was tied up in a high bun, her face was whitewashed, and she wore wooden clogs that ticked like a butterfly, attracting the attention of the servants in Ma's garden and passers-by at the door.

When she left China and returned home, the Japanese lady gave him special instructions, explaining that Mr. Song was sometimes hungry in the middle of the night and often needed to eat something, so she asked him to pay attention and make sure Mr. Song's snack jar was never empty.

A good woman like this would really have no choice if the two countries were not at war...

Or maybe Ma Huitang lived like a semi-immortal in his later years, just like Jia Jing who devoted himself to cultivating immortality in Dream of Red Mansions.

Not only did he build a shed in the south study room where he lived, bought a goat, and drank goat milk every day to keep healthy, but he also fell in love with meditating with Taoist priests.

Therefore, the Buddhist hall and the God of Wealth Temple in Majia Garden are constantly burning incense. It takes at least ten kilograms of sesame oil to burn the everlasting lamp every day...

Also, the five-bay rolling shed building in the garden was once the billiards hall of the Ma family.

The empty space under the billiard hall is also useful during the Winter Solstice Festival.

Every year, servants will come and pour water to make ice. When the ice is two to three inches thick, you will have a huge artificial ice rink.

People gliding on it have the same effect as the Taimiao Ice Rink.

Even at night, you can continue to slide by the electric lights pulled from the billiard hall.

As a result, not only are children playing enthusiastically here, but adults often join skating teams as well.

The people who live here are quite addicted to skating...

Let's put it this way, maybe it's because people's mouths become broken as they get older.

Or maybe he just said whatever he thought of.

Anyway, no matter what Ning Weimin wanted to hear, he still didn't want to hear it.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a mess or something that can’t be fixed.

Kang Shude all took it out at once.

But whenever Ning Weimin asked about the situation of the Jiang family next door, for some reason, the old man responded very perfunctorily.

It's often just a few sentences to give a rough idea.

At the beginning, Ning Weimin didn't think much about it.

He thought it might be because Mr. Jiang and Mr. Song were different in career and status, and they were in two different circles.

Especially since Mrs. Song is Japanese, there is a natural sense of distance between her and her family, so there is little contact between the two families.

But later, as Kang Shude recalled more and more of the old days, he gradually discovered something strange and felt that this was not the case anymore.

The old man was clearly avoiding the situation and did not want to talk too much about the people and affairs of the Jiang family.

You know, although the Jiang family and the Song family are not close friends, after all, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors.

Living with such a wall apart from each other, and still being educated people, it is inevitable that entertainment and daily life will intersect.

Especially since the Jiang family has two sons and two daughters, the eldest son is seven years older than Kang Shude, and the youngest daughter is actually the same age as Mr. Song's son.

Under such circumstances, even if the adults of the two families do not interact with each other, how could the younger generations of the two families not be familiar with each other? Why not play together?

In fact, when it comes to Paleo eating. Kang Shude grunted unintentionally and revealed a very surprising situation.

I dare say that the locust flower lazy dragon that the old man once made for Ning Weimin was actually the invention of the fourth lady of the Jiang family next door.

And it is made from the locust flowers of the locust tree to the west of Xiyinxuan in Majia Garden.

This is because when they were teenagers, the children of the Jiang family and the Song family followed the example of adults, gathering regularly and taking turns to be the host.

The host takes charge of the meal and prepares delicious food to entertain friends.

Because the gatherings are often held on Sundays, they are called "Borship Meetings."

Ning Weimin was naturally very interested in this party.

He really wanted to know more about how many tricks these young men and women had done back then, and wanted to know if there were any fantastic food and drinks at this "God Worship Party".

But when he asked again, the old man was unwilling to say anything more and just shook his head in silence.

What made Ning Weimin feel most strange was that when the old man walked with him and finally passed through the hall connecting the south wall to the verandah, the old man actually faced a moon door on the east side that was sealed with wooden boards and remained motionless. , in a daze.

At that time, as soon as Ning Weimin walked out of the hall, he was attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of him.

Because I never expected that when I walked out from here, it was not the main entrance of this small courtyard.

Instead, there is a separate cave, a garden with a large space, corridors on all sides, and connected to other courtyards.

There are one purple and one white lilac plant in the four corners of the courtyard, and one Xifu crabapple and pearl plum plant.

Nowadays, the lilacs are in bloom, and the Xifu crabapples are bright green and bright red, which is very pleasing to the eye.

The most amazing thing is that there is a pool in the courtyard, and there is a stone sculpture of a monkey holding an umbrella in the pool.

Although there is no water in the pool, there is still a lot of garbage.

But the style of the stone carvings is particularly exquisite and interesting, and it looks like it can spray water upwards after storing water.

In addition, there is a group of rocks in the courtyard, which vaguely echo the pool.

Seeing that there seemed to be words on the rocks, vaguely the word "Shadow Pool", Ning Weimin wanted to ask Kang Shude, but he might as well turn around.

I found the old man standing in front of the Moon Gate, with his back facing him and his hands stroking the wooden boards that sealed the door. His description seemed a bit abnormal.

He couldn't help but walked over and asked, "Old man, what are you doing?"

Kang Shude actually ignored him.

Ning Weimin looked at the Moon Gate again. According to the direction, it should lead to the courtyard where the Jiang family rented in the past. However, this courtyard, together with the Ma family's theater, is now owned by the "Ancient and Modern Culture Research Association" .

He thought that the old man was thinking about the courtyard over there, so he had to say, "Don't worry, this courtyard is sealed today. We can't see it for the time being, but it won't be the same if we take it back a few days later. You want Don't worry about your apprentice, just wait patiently, and sooner or later I will get the house over there for you. If you ask me, it is more practical to repair the house we got first. What do you think?"

But I didn't expect that the old man would sway forward and fall forward...

Thanks to Ning Weimin standing behind the old man at this time, he was able to help him with his sharp eyesight, and he was spared!

Finally, the old man didn't hit his head on the wood or fall to the ground.

Otherwise something will happen.

"Master, master, what's going on? What's wrong with you?"

Ning Weimin quickly helped Kang Shude up, but he was even more surprised when he saw it!

Because Kang Shude turned pale and silently shed two lines of tears.

He couldn't help but ask, "Old man, why are you doing this? Just... just for this Moon Gate? What's wrong with this gate?"

As a result, the old man's response was actually like this.

"Wei Min... I... the biggest mistake in my life is to let down a person. You don't know, I feel bad when I see this door... Thirty-nine years, this Moon Gate has been sealed for thirty-nine years Already..."

Ning Weimin suddenly became filled with doubts.

What? Wasn't this Moon Gate sealed when the property was confiscated and the Ma family garden was divided into three courtyards?

Let down? Who is the old man talking about?

Is it Mr. Jiang? Or one of the Jiang family children?

What's going on here?

…………

At this same moment, across the ocean in the United States, the time was still ten o'clock the night before.

In the "Huaixiangju" in Flushing, Queens, a Chinese lady was explaining an important matter to her son when the restaurant was about to be sampled.

"We must get some locust flowers tomorrow, otherwise it will be out of season. Don't make another mistake, you must have white locust flowers. Pink ones..."

"The pink ones are poisonous." The middle-aged man grabbed the words and walked over with a smile to massage his mother's shoulders.

"Mom, my son is no longer a child. He will never make such a stupid mistake again. I will drive to pick it early tomorrow morning, and I will deliver it to you at noon, guaranteed to be as white as jade, fresh and fragrant. Do you want me to do it tomorrow? ? Kneading dough is very hard..."

"No need, I'm not that old yet that I can't even make noodles. If you are filial, just bring my grandson and granddaughter over and let's have a meal together at noon. That foreign wife of yours, forget it... …”

"Okay, actually Timmy and Annie miss their grandma too."

"What about Timmy and Annie? It's really ugly. Don't they have Chinese names?"

"Okay, it's Chongjie and Sunyun, okay?"