National Tide 1980.

Whether it was driven by speculative psychology or genuinely insightful vision, it was a result of his actions.

Regardless of whether Jiang Hao's decision to follow in Ning Weimin's footsteps was shrewd or a lucky accident, he didn't care.

At least this time, Jiang Hao focused his speculative attention on the real estate industry, and he made the right bet.

This is the main economic track for the next few decades.

For those who start in this industry now, as long as they're not stupid, it's not too difficult to make a fortune.

This is even the underlying logic behind why permits for steel and cement continue to be in high demand.

Even if Jiang Hao and his friends go back to work and do some business related to it, they'll still have money to eat.

As for those working in the construction industry, they have clearly felt that the construction industry has suddenly become the most sought-after industry in the whole society.

The rapid changes and massive scale of urban construction in the city are simply astonishing.

National, collective, and individual construction teams of all kinds are making great strides in major cities across the country, with scaffolding erected everywhere and construction going on day and night, with people bumping into each other and building structures wherever they go.

Taking Beijing as an example, some people even say that if you don't go out for half a month, you won't be able to find your way home.

The problem is that many things in life often go against people's original intentions.

Although urban expansion and social development are generally positive and progressive, they can still leave some people feeling lost and bewildered.

For example, there are those who are reluctant to leave their homeland and have to relocate, yet they search for the atmosphere of the past among the broken bricks and tiles.

For example, there are those experienced builders who feel outdated because of new materials, new terms, and new methods, and who are as clueless about the future as outsiders.

Professor Lan, who specializes in ancient architecture, is like that.

In 1989, due to a document from higher authorities halting the construction of a number of government buildings, Professor Lan, who had spent most of his life working in the field of ancient architecture, was finally able to retire and enjoy his later years with the benefits of a retired cadre.

But for Professor Lan, such a blessing was almost an ordeal, a source of pain.

For no other reason than that, the high-rise buildings around Professor Lan's home are also growing at a rate of one floor per week, and they are already thirty floors high, with no sign of being topped out.

From his expert's perspective, the top floor was still far from the tower crane's control panel, and it seemed the building would have to grow even taller.

The problem is, he has no way to participate in it.

As the saying goes, once someone leaves office, they become forgotten. Without his position, no one in the district government or on the construction site respected him anymore.

In particular, some buildings that pursue the style of ancient architecture have extremely awkward exterior designs, neither traditional nor modern, neither Chinese nor Western, neither fish nor fowl.

He felt even more uneasy, as if he had eaten something indigestible...

how to say?

All of this made Professor Lan, who was once highly regarded, feel that he had been abandoned by society, completely abandoned.

He became a complete waste, a complete waste who only knew how to stay at home and tinker with patterns and documents.

It seems that from the moment he left his post, Professor Lan lost himself and his value.

His status, his rights, and his knowledge all seemed to vanish with the cessation of his duties.

Now, he is merely an observer of an unfamiliar era, and all the changes in society are no longer relevant to him.

Moreover, none of them were things he liked or needed.

He could no longer stand by his own principles, just as he could no longer offer advice on the protection and restoration of ancient buildings as an expert, nor could he demand that buildings under construction embody the true essence of ancient architecture.

This helplessness was deeply embedded in his heart, making him look older and more stubborn. He even became irritable and prone to cursing. He was no longer as kind to his family as he used to be.

If you count on your fingers, he only showed a smile once, on National Day in 1990, at his biological daughter's wedding.

She is even more distant from outsiders in her daily life, no longer contacts former colleagues and students, and always acts as if she keeps everyone at arm's length.

Sometimes when I run into a neighbor, I don't even bother to say hello.

For nearly a year, Professor Lan seemed to have isolated himself, never receiving any visitors.

Aside from going downstairs to the nearby park every morning, he spends most of his time at home.

In short, in Beijing, a city that values ​​interpersonal relationships, Professor Lan stood out from the crowd, appearing utterly out of touch with human nature.

Perhaps this is what is called cynicism.

There's no way around it; professors are human too, and they can't escape the interference of various worldly emotions.

The Lan family had no good solutions to this, so they could only try their best to accommodate him.

For example, on the evening of October 8, Lan Lan, who had just become a soldier's wife and moved into the military dormitory, returned to her old home after get off work with a sweater she had knitted for her parents. As soon as she stepped into the building from the elevator, she heard Professor Lan loudly scolding Lan Zheng.

“Don’t think you’re just a lowly deputy section chief. Even if you were the bureau chief, you’re still my son. Did I ask you to speak to the higher-ups? And you’re making excuses! This is a serious matter. As a government official, shouldn’t you be reporting the situation? Not going is not only dereliction of duty, but also unfilial. My Lan family doesn’t have a son like you…”

Lan Lan knew immediately that her mother and sister-in-law were not home, otherwise the father and son would not have argued like this.

Needless to say, as the only daughter of the Lan family, Lan Lan didn't want her father to get angry, knew that her brother was taking on the hard work of caring for their parents, and didn't want the noise to reach the neighbors and cause them to be ridiculed. So, she naturally mediated between them.

So he rushed into the house to "put out the fire," and took out a sweater to separate the two under the pretext of letting his father try it on, and persuaded his angry father to go back to his study.

After much persuasion, it was only thanks to the only daughter's influence that the matter was diverted.

Fortunately, things weren't too troublesome for Lan Zheng.

Lan Lan knocked on the door and entered her brother's room. Lan Zheng was on the phone.

It was probably a subordinate from the service bureau calling him, asking him for instructions about something related to work.

Throughout the call, Lan Zheng remained calm and composed, his tone unhurried, completely unaffected by the earlier family dispute.

It has to be said that it is clear that Lan Zheng, who is already thirty-five years old, has indeed matured both internally and externally.

That wasn't all. As soon as the call ended, before his sister could even ask him anything, Lan Zheng took the initiative to say to Lan Lan, "Thanks to you so much today. If you hadn't come at that time, Dad would have really gotten sick from the anger. When Mom and your sister-in-law came back, I wouldn't have been able to explain myself. I would have been the sinner of our family. Don't worry, I'll apologize to the old man as soon as he calms down."

This action further demonstrates a son's sense of responsibility.

This only fueled Lan Lan's curiosity. She couldn't understand why her brother, who had such a calm attitude, could have made their father so agitated just now.

After Lan Zheng explained the whole story, Lan Lan understood even more how difficult things had been for him, and she felt that her brother was being wronged terribly.

So it turns out Professor Lan's outburst today wasn't for anything else, but because he was angry with a newly built public toilet downstairs.

That was a new government project to benefit the people, built to address the shortcomings of the Asian Games and in preparation for the continued bid for the Olympic Games.

The problem is that while everything else is fine, the antique-style building's appearance is flawed in Professor Lan's eyes.
In Professor Lan's words, this toilet design is too simplistic.

It should be noted that, from the technical perspective of ancient architecture, the number of eaves must always be an odd number, such as one, three, five, or seven.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the highest in rank, with eleven halls; the others have no more than seven.

Dongzhimen should be considered grand, but there are only five Dongzhimen.

The result was that sixteen toilets were installed in this small place. What a joke!
In addition, the roof of the toilet should not be covered with yellow glazed tiles.

Who used yellow glazed tiles in the past?
emperor.

Even princes are not allowed to use yellow tiles; they must use green ones.

A toilet with yellow glazed tiles—would anyone in the know feel comfortable with that?

As the saying goes, nothing can be accomplished without rules. Professor Lan immediately started arguing with the person in charge of the toilet, criticizing its architectural flaws for a long time. But the person was only concerned with collecting fees and didn't care about anything else. Seeing that he was a frail old man, they were too lazy to argue with him.

Even if they understood, they would still have the self-awareness of working people and would never report to their superiors on their behalf, risking their own livelihood.

After talking to himself for a long time, Professor Lan, feeling increasingly frustrated, had no choice but to go home.

When Lan Zheng got home from get off work, he vented all the anger he had been holding in all day on his son.

Professor Lan insisted that Lan Zheng report this matter to the higher-ups and set things right as soon as possible.

Then where does Lan Zheng get the qualifications?
He explained to his father that although he had been transferred from the district service bureau to the city service bureau, it was still considered a promotion.

However, the service bureau does not handle all public welfare issues. For example, the issue of public toilets is under the jurisdiction of the sanitation bureau. They cannot interfere in other people's affairs; that would be overstepping their bounds.

As the saying goes, one should not concern oneself with matters outside one's jurisdiction, and he instead advised his father not to take it to heart.

They also said that things are different now than in the past, and that society now emphasizes breaking with the old and establishing the new.

The capital city today is undergoing tremendous and entirely new changes compared to the past, whether in terms of clothing, food, housing, transportation, or legal and ethical norms.

Therefore, ancient architecture is not static.

Perhaps trying something new is a good idea. What's against the rules now might become the new rules in the future.

Didn't you see that Longtan Lake is going to build an unprecedented crystal palace in the shape of a giant turtle?

As a result, Lan Zheng's well-intentioned advice only made Professor Lan even angrier.

The father felt that his son had hurt his self-esteem, so he not only scolded his son for being disobedient, incompetent, and a lazy bum, but also wanted to talk to the leaders of the service bureau to remove this "unworthy" and "scoundrel" son from his current position.

This is the whole story.

Frankly speaking, despite the different attitudes of Lan Lan and her father towards the tradition of ancient architecture, from an academic perspective, Lan Lan still leans more towards her father, who is highly learned.

But she also genuinely believed that her father's personality had changed drastically after he retired, and he had become increasingly paranoid.

Regarding her father's specific demands, she felt that her brother's refusal was not a problem, and that Lan Zheng's scolding today because of the public toilet was an undeserved misfortune.

However, since her father was still angry, she couldn't very well stand up for her brother right now.

That would be tantamount to directly pointing out the father's faults, which would undoubtedly make Professor Lan even angrier.

So she felt somewhat helpless about the discord between father and son, unsure how to comfort her brother.

Unexpectedly, Lan Zheng saw the worry hidden in her sigh.

Unlike her furrowed brows, her brother smiled freely and began to comfort her again.

"Don't worry about this. I'll apologize to Dad when he's in a better mood. He's like a child now, he needs to be coaxed. Actually, right and wrong don't matter to the family. So even if Dad is wrong, I don't care. I'm not that petty."

Lan Lan felt both relieved and guilty about this.

What puts her at ease is that with a "disobedient" son like her brother at home, her father's later years are assured.

What I feel guilty about is that I married out of the family and am now living a happy life with my own little family, while I've pushed all the troublesome things of taking care of our elderly parents onto my older brother and sister-in-law.

Moreover, she felt ashamed of herself for her brother's ability to remain so calm and tolerant in the face of their father's increasingly erratic temper.

"Brother, it's so good to have you at home. I'm sorry to you and sister-in-law. You've worked so hard."

Without a doubt, as one of the children in the family, Lan Lan felt indebted to her brother.

That's why I couldn't help myself and said those things.

In her view, this was perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of Lan Zheng being the eldest son in their traditional family.

He always took on more responsibility, not only taking care of his parents, but also always thinking about taking care of his younger sister.

This has always been the case, even when Lan Zheng himself was a child.

And it's very likely that this will be the case for the rest of her life. How can Lan Lan bear this?
As her younger sister, she couldn't help but feel grateful and moved by such a brother.

However, the reason why family members are family is perhaps just as Lan Zheng just expressed.

Among relatives and friends, one should be honest and sincere, and treat each other with kindness and generosity. True family members will not scheme against each other or be petty and calculating.

"Look at you, why are you being so polite with me? It's such a small thing, why are you making such a fuss?"

Lan Zheng, who always doted on his younger sister, noticed Lan Lan's thoughts and saw that her eyes were a little red. In order to dispel her unease, he not only offered words of comfort but also immediately changed the subject.

"Oh, right, it's a good thing you came home today. I have something to give you, so I don't have to bring it to you."

"what?"

"Look, I'll get this for you. This is called hairspray." With that, Lan Zheng opened the cabinet door and started taking things out.

What's it for?

"It's for styling hair. These days, trendy hair salons all use this after cutting their customers' hair. Your sister-in-law loves using this now and says it's really good, so I bought you a bottle too, so you can take it home and try it."

That wasn't all. Lan Zheng then took out two more sets of clothes and a leather bag, saying, "These were also bought for you by your sister-in-law."

The style and texture immediately caught Lan Lan's eye, stirring her uniquely feminine aesthetic inclinations.

Lan Lan didn't bother with formalities and took it to examine it carefully.

"Wow, this dress is so beautiful. What kind of material is it? It feels so nice."

"I don't know, they're all foreign brands anyway."

"Oh, it really is! The label is all in Japanese... Brother, where did your wife get this? Did she have someone bring it back from Japan?"

Lan Lan quickly found the identification documents for these items from the lining of the clothes, but her guess was inaccurate.

"Hey, over there. Your sister-in-law bought these from the open-air market in front of the Tianqiao Department Store. Every Sunday, as long as it doesn't rain, they set up an outdoor stall there, selling clothes, shoes, hats, and backpacks all brought back from Japan. They have both used and brand new items. Your clothes are all brand new, unopened, and your bag is about 80% new. You don't mind, do you?"

Lan Lan liked it more and more as she looked at it, and couldn't help but hold it up to her to compare.

"No problem, no problem at all. This is great, it's rare to see this in China. Brother, tell me and I'll give you the money."

"Hehe, what's with the money? Your sister-in-law gave you some things, and you still want money? That would be a joke."

"No way, these things look very expensive. I wouldn't dare take them without paying."

"It's really not much money, so just take it without worry. I don't know who's so capable of bringing back so many Japanese goods and selling them at the same price as those Guangdong clothes at the Baihua Market. You don't know, your sister-in-law said that people were going crazy buying them, like they were free. Otherwise, your sister-in-law would have liked to buy a few more."

Hearing Lan Zheng say that, Lan Lan finally gave up. After thinking for a moment, she said, "How about this, I'll go take a look this Sunday too. If I find any nice clothes, I'll buy a few for my sister-in-law later..."

Lan Zheng didn't refuse this kind of reciprocal gift-giving, but he did remind Lan Lan of something extra, "Little sister, don't let Dad see these things. The old man hates Japanese goods the most. If he sees them, he'll definitely give us another lecture. When you take them away, be careful to avoid him..."

Lan Lan didn't understand this at all.

"Why is that? Dad hates Japanese products? When did that happen? Our TV is Japanese too..."

"Hey, it all comes down to that Crystal Palace at Longtan Lake. Haven't you noticed? Recently, a bunch of uniquely shaped steel frames have been rising up at that construction site. Dad wanted to go take a good look and maybe get the blueprints. But it's a Sino-Japanese joint venture project, and the supervisors are all Japanese. They're not going to give Dad any face..."

"Ah, you mean Longtan Lake, that, that's not... him..."

Upon hearing her brother's words, Lan Lan suddenly recalled a name she couldn't forget and a face that remained deeply etched in her memory.

"That's right, it's that kid's project with the district. You know, he's really our family's nemesis. He always manages to cause us some trouble. We can't avoid him even if we want to. We must have owed him something in our past lives..." (End of Chapter)