The car sped along the road and arrived at the county town in less than an hour. When they reached the office of the armed forces department, Zhou Xiaozheng asked his wife to wait in the car, while he got out and went inside to find Zhao Dashan, pulling him out, "Do you have time now? Is there someone you know in this town who specializes in cleaning and tidying up?"
Zhang Dashan grabbed him and shouted loudly, "Xiao Liu, remember to let someone come early tomorrow to deal with it; I’m going out to handle some affairs." After saying this, without waiting for any response, he dragged him towards the door.
"Brother Zheng, is this a car from the provincial city? Did you go there today? Since you have a car, you can come with me to check on somebody, but keep your mouth shut and don’t spread things unnecessarily. I recall now that Professor Liu often had people coming to help with laundry and cleaning the bedding because he and his wife were getting older. Let’s go find him ourselves."
Zhou Xiaozheng nodded, "It’s definitely most convenient to go directly to Professor Liu. I also need to consult him about the fire wall. Do you think the burning might affect the furniture?"
"Hey, sister-in-law is still in the car. Last time, I didn’t know you were Brother Zheng’s wife; I would have brought Hong Li to see you. Your daughter Jiao Jiao is a frequent acquaintance, and I never thought she is Brother Zheng’s daughter. It’s really like ’the great flood washed away the temple of the Dragon King.’ Once the courtyard is tidied up, we can get together." After saying this, he sat directly in the back seat.
Lin Lishan laughed and said to him, "It seems fated. We must gather sometime. I have to ask you to take care of these two kids for us. Brother Dashan, can you show us the way to Professor Liu’s house?"
"Please don’t call me Brother Dashan; didn’t you see Brother Zheng glaring at me? Just call me Dashan. Brother Zheng, keep straight ahead and turn right at the intersection to get to his house, it’s a very large courtyard." Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Then I’ll call you Old Zhao. Is the old man probably at home?"
Zhang Dashan nodded, "He’ll definitely be home; he’s in his seventies and eighties, and doesn’t like moving about much."
The car stopped at the gate of a large courtyard. It’s an old house, likely the ancestral home, slightly away from the county town, on the main road leading to the provincial city. The courtyard has a quiet environment. Zhang Dashan led Zhou Xiaozheng and his wife to knock on the iron ring of the gate, loudly asking, "Is Mr. Liu at home?"
After shouting three times, a middle-aged woman came out from inside to open the door, saw three people standing at the door, including two wearing military uniforms, and immediately seemed enlightened, showing a joyful expression, "Are you the ones who bought the small courtyard yesterday? The old man and lady are inside with the children, come in quickly."
After saying this, she welcomed them into the courtyard, which still displayed Mr. Liu’s consistent style. In the corners were fruit trees and flower beds were cut out. In the cold weather, there wasn’t much to see, but come summer, there would surely be a vibrant display, with plenty of fruit.
As they reached the second entrance, they saw the old man teaching the great-grandchildren to recite the Three-Character Classic, with the three kids’ eyes darting toward the fruit on the table, reciting line by line, while the old lady watched the grandchildren with laughter.
Seeing people come in, the old man paused and said to the children, "Go ahead, pick one for yourself, but only one each. Whoever recites it first can take an extra one."
After saying this, he stood up and invited Zhou Xiaozheng to sit in the living room, curiously saying, "Dashan, you folks must be old friends. Is there anything unclear about the courtyard? Please speak up." After saying this, he gestured to Zhou Xiaozheng to encourage him to ask.
Zhou Xiaozheng looked at the old man, smiled, and said, "Old man, I do have some things I don’t understand and would like to ask you. I noticed a fire wall in the main rooms; does burning it affect the furniture? Additionally, are the kang and fire wall for heating the main house connected or separated? This morning, I rushed through looking briefly without observing thoroughly, hence the impromptu visit."
Mr. Liu laughed at the old lady coming in and said, "Look, did I find someone knowledgeable for you? It’s not too much to ask, isn’t it? Although he’s a military man, he has quite an eye. As soon as he entered the living room, he fixed his eyes on the shabby table and chairs, particularly the little one, who looked at the set of chairs several times while sitting in the living room."
The old lady smiled as she served tea and placed it on the coffee table, "Yes, you always had a good eye. You all have some tea; the old man mentioned you’d come in to consult right after you left yesterday. Anything unclear, ask him, he’s free and bored right now."
Mr. Liu didn’t refute, smiling broadly to watch his wife speak before turning to ask Zhou Xiaozheng, "When will you let your little son-in-law come for a visit? I won’t insist with you two, you’re probably too busy."
Zhou Xiaozheng glanced at Zhao Dashan and his wife and said, "The old man has always appreciated him, he’ll definitely come to visit eventually. Any advice from you is his good fortune. Recently, my little girl is resting post-childbirth, and the family is busy with a newly built courtyard, otherwise we’d have brought him along today."
"Your son-in-law is a good man, upright in demeanor. Come, let me tell you something about the kitchen stove here in the living room, my pride and joy. You haven’t started using it yet, have you? Then you probably haven’t noticed yet. I made modifications inside; besides increasing the capacity, I installed a gate in the fire kang and fire wall leading to both east and west rooms. I remodeled the chimney leading outside to prevent accidental poisoning from burning briquettes and coal. Normally, if you use wood, remember to pull out the iron stove inside. Feel free to use the kang and fire wall, they’ve been refurbished this year.
I purposely raised and added a layer of wooden panels on the roof, to prevent the winter snow from pressing down, reducing weight, and also insulating against cold, while providing coolness in the summer. With more space and higher ceilings, there won’t be a feeling of oppression. During summer, open the door leading to the bedroom, there’ll be a breeze, and it’ll be pleasantly cool."
Zhou Xiaozheng looked at him joyfully, realizing it was all anticipated and prepared, "Old man, if you didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t have noticed. It seems you anticipated everything."
"Hold on, I have something for you, which should’ve been given yesterday but I’ve gotten forgetful with age. I expected you’d definitely visit before moving in." Mr. Liu entered the inner room and brought out a yellowed piece of paper.
Mr. Liu spread the paper on the coffee table, "Take a look, this is the structure diagram drawn before moving in. Everything is marked. If there’s anything unclear, ask away."
Zhou Xiaozheng looked down, and the diagram was clear, though yellowed, it was well-preserved over the years, even marking the paths to the toilet outside, detailing the distances distinctly.
Zhou Xiaozheng pointed at the toilet area, "Old man, this is a direct passage to the toilet. Won’t it freeze in winter? Any precautions needed?"
"It won’t freeze, rinse with water after use. The passage was treated with materials during construction, buried quite deep. Unless there’s major construction disrupting the passage, even the neighbor later set up a passage after construction above it. The room’s bathroom is for not wanting to go outside during winter. Every morning, we put the toilet outside the gate, and someone comes to take it away daily. Due to a lack of material at the time, we didn’t lay pipelines inside."
Zhou Xiaozheng nodded, not pursuing questions about the materials. The idea of it not freezing in the icy winter was somewhat dubious. Hearing about the bathroom inside halted him, wondering if the old man was mistaken.
"Old man, where’s the bathroom inside the room?"
Mr. Liu laughed heartily, pointing at the old lady, "Didn’t you show them yesterday?" Seeing the old lady shake her head in embarrassment, realizing she must have been particular—truly meticulous.
"You might have missed it, in the courtyard while looking at the five main rooms, the eastern master bedroom is larger than the western. East wings create optical illusions too. Push to the right of the large mirror in the master bedroom wall, there’s a hidden room modified into a bathroom." After saying this, Mr. Liu winked humorously at Zhou Xiaozheng.
Zhou Xiaozheng was exasperated yet amused; this old man truly enjoyed his renovations. He did notice the large mirror, even took a closer look, never guessing there was such a trick.
"The courtyard’s well, that large stone slab assembled beside it is for laundry. There’s also a water trough, the drain below leads to the toilet. In winter, avoid pouring water in the trough, it really freezes and clogs, now I’ve covered it with wooden boards. Do you see anything else unclear?"
"It’s all clear, everything’s marked. Thank you, old man, you’ve set everything perfectly in this courtyard." Zhou Xiaozheng genuinely felt the courtyard was a gift from the old man.