Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 141 Such a nice courtyard is given to me?! (3K)

"In 1933, was there still a national martial arts arena?" Fang Yan really didn't know much about the martial arts history before that, so he asked Ding Jian curiously.

Ding Jian said:

"Of course there was. In 1928, the Central Guoshu Institute was established. The word Guoshu originated from that time."

"The purpose of establishing the National Martial Arts Museum was to 'awaken the compatriots of the whole country and wipe out the shame of being the sick man of East Asia.' Then in the following year, in 1929, Li Jinglin, the deputy director of the Central National Martial Arts Museum and the inheritor of the Nine Palace Sword, proposed the idea of ​​a national martial arts competition."

"On November 21st of that year, the first national martial arts competition was held. More than 100 martial artists from all over the country participated in the competition, and there were 60,000 spectators alone."

“The first year was an unprecedented success and it shook up the martial arts community across the country.”

"The competition continued for several years until the war broke out and it was stopped."

"In the 1933 competition, it was Master Shan Haoran who won first place with his Praying Mantis Fist and Spear Technique."

After listening to Ding Jian's explanation, Fang Yan finally understood and nodded.
"So that's it..."

Ding Jian continued to speak to Fang Yan:

"At that time, there was no champion selected in the first session. Only the best 15 were selected. Our master was among them. In addition to the master, there were two brothers, Zhu Guofu and Zhu Guolu, who also practiced Xingyiquan."

"It can be said that the first Xingyiquan competition was quite a success."

After saying that, he excitedly punched the air, then his face turned pale and he cried out in pain: "Hiss!"

Fang Yan knew at a glance that he had injured himself again, and hurried over to check:
"Just say it, don't get excited!"

In the end, it was Fang Yan who gave him acupuncture to relieve the pain, and only then did Ding Jian recover.

Fang Yan looked at Ding Jian who was lying on the bed, patted his arm, and said to him:
"Alright, alright, take good care of it."

Then, Fang Yan said goodbye to Ding Jian and left Union Medical College.

He planned to buy the watch he had seen before.

This way I also have a tool to tell time.

As for the bicycle, he planned to buy it after he had secured a house.

After all, the fastest way to get back to Haidian is still to take the bus.

Riding a bicycle is much slower.

After leaving the hospital, Fangyan went straight to the department store.

As a result, I saw that the price of the Shanghai brand watch I bought last time had increased from 112 to 120.

"Comrade salesperson, what's going on? Why has the price of this watch increased?" Fangyan asked the salesperson in confusion.

Although 8 yuan is not a huge sum of money for Fangyan, he is not a sucker. He has to find out what is going on when he is charged 8 yuan more for no reason.

When the young saleswoman heard Fangyan's question, her face showed some impatience.

However, after seeing Fangyan's appearance clearly, she inexplicably became more patient. She glanced at the watch Fangyan mentioned, then took out a notebook, flipped through it, and then said to Fangyan:

"Oh, the watch you mentioned had some defects, so I lowered the price to 112."

"Now this watch is brand new and flawless, so the original price is 120."

“……” Fangyan was speechless. It turned out that the watch he had chosen before was defective.

I'm a medical practitioner, so how come I didn't notice that there was something wrong with my watch?
After thinking about it, he said to the saleswoman:

"Then please help me take out this watch. I want it."

The other party took out his watch and looked at Fangyan. After the two looked at each other for three seconds, the other party asked:
"Where are the tickets?"

Fangyan then realized that people were waiting for him to get the ticket.

He handed over all the tickets and money he had.

"Pay the money at the cashier in front and get the receipt, then come over to pick up the watch." The salesperson said in Fangyan.

Fangyan took the money back, ran to the cashier counter, and completed the process as instructed.

Then he went back to the counter and completed the transaction.

After getting the watch, Fangyan looked at the wall clock and adjusted the time on his watch.

Looking at the watch hands ticking, he sighed. After coming back for so long, he finally had a watch to wear.

And it is the most popular "Shanghai brand" in this era.

Shanghai products of this era were famous throughout the country for their quality and styles. Because Shanghai was the most developed place for light industry in the country at that time, all the daily necessities produced there were not only durable but also exquisite in appearance, and they were regarded as gold signs throughout the country.

The only things that are more high-end than his are the rarer foreign products.

The Forever brand bicycle used by Fangyan's father, the Butterfly brand sewing machine used by his mother, the Red Lantern brand radio placed at the entrance of the house, and even the Dacron cloth, all of these are from Shanghai.

When people from Beijing go to Shanghai on business, there are always some relatives and friends who ask them to help buy one or two necessary items.

After returning from a business trip to Shanghai, it seemed as if he had gone to purchase goods, with bags of things in large and small quantities appearing one after another.

Zhu Lin said that his mother went on a business trip to Shanghai, and she had to carry two large bags of things brought by her colleagues by herself. When she returned to the unit, she had no time to rest and had to deliver them one by one.

There is no way around it, people all over the country admire this place so much.

Good quality, new styles, reasonable prices, no fakes, it is a real golden signboard of this era. This should be the earliest brand effect in China before the reform and opening up.

After buying the things, Fangyan planned to go to the foreign affairs department to discuss the house.

Although Le Miao said she would help him find other courtyard houses at night, Fang Yan did not put all his hopes on her. He still wanted to see what kind of house the foreign-related department could get for him.

That department is not far from where he is now.

It didn't take long for Fangyan to walk there.

The last time they came to see me, I told them my address, so they could contact me anytime if I had any problems.

So Fangyan just walked over.

The address is on Chaoyangmen South Street near Xiehe Hospital.

When Fang Yan arrived at the door of the foreign affairs department, he was stopped by two guards.

He had no choice but to take out his work ID and said he wanted to find the leader inside.

Soon his work ID was taken in, and a few minutes later, the man who came to see Fang Yan last time came out. This man's surname was Xia, and he was in his forties. He asked Fang Yan to call him Secretary Xia.

He seemed to be educated abroad. The last time I heard him speak Russian with Bachukayev, I spoke to him in a dialect.

After coming out, Secretary Xia immediately asked Fangyan with a smile if he needed any help.

Fangyan didn't waste any time and directly stated the purpose of his visit.

Secretary Xia was obviously a little surprised. He didn't expect Fang Yan to ask him to find a house for him.

He spoke into the dialect:

"Well... you may need to wait for me to ask for you in this regard."

"Give me a moment, I'll give you an answer soon."

Fangyan thought that he was not just trying to get by, so he agreed immediately.

Sure enough, after Secretary Xia had been in for about seven or eight minutes, he came out, waved to Fang Yan and said:
"Let's go. We've found the house. It's on the Rue des Foreign Ministries."

As he spoke, he pointed in a direction and led the way towards that direction.

"So fast?" Fangyan followed, somewhat unable to believe their efficiency.

Secretary Xia smiled mysteriously:

"We have some resources in our department."

"If you have other requests, it may take us some time, but if you want to find a place to live, don't worry, there will be no shortage of them."

Hearing him say this, Fang Yan asked:

"It's not some haunted house, is it?"

Secretary Xia was stunned:
"Why would you ask such a question?"

The dialect said:

"Oh, I guess only haunted houses where people have died would be vacated."

Secretary Xia shook his head and said:
"Of course not, it's the courtyard over there."

After saying this, he also emphasized:
"It's still a private house."

Fangyan didn't expect that the foreign affairs department was so helpful and directly found a courtyard house for him on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street.

When you come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street, you can directly see the Union Hospital across the street.

To the east of this place is Chaoyangmen South Street, to the west is Dongdan South Street, to the south is Xibuzong Hutong, and to the north is Xiehe Hutong.

In the Ming Dynasty, this place was the residence of Wuqing Hou Shi Heng, so its original name was Shi Da Ren Hutong. In the Qing Dynasty, it was the Mint. Later, in the Republic of China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established here, so it is now called Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street.

After 1949, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also initially had its office on this street. It was later demolished in 1974 and turned into staff dormitories.

Now all that is left is the magnificent gate.

The west entrance of the alley is cut in the middle of the street, with a large courtyard on one side and a group of single-family villas for experts from Union Medical College on the other.

The villa complex was built by the Rockefeller Foundation at the same time as the Union Hospital.

The villa is of the common architectural style seen in foreign villages. All the people living in it are experts from Union Medical College. For example, the director who chatted with Fangyan today should live here.

The slum on the other side is the kind commonly seen in Beijing, with several families living in one courtyard.

The door to the yard was not closed. Looking inside from the door, one could see a simple "earthquake shed" with walls made of yellow mud bricks and a roof made of tarpaulin and straw.

This is the building left over from last year's earthquake. Some people are reluctant to demolish it after repairing it.

After all, it can create an extra room in the house, and no one wants to demolish it.

But once this thing is built, the courtyard of the Siheyuan will be completely occupied.

It was barely enough for one person to pass through, and it made the crowded courtyard look messy.

It is in sharp contrast with the villa area opposite.

Unfortunately, Secretary Xia did not take Fangyan to the expert villa area, but instead continued to walk further east.

Secretary Xia stopped at the entrance of a courtyard with its gate closed.

At this time, a woman ran out from the yard of the street office across the street, holding a key in her hand and running towards me, saying:

"Secretary Xia, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's hard to find the key..."

As he spoke, he came up and handed the key to Secretary Xia.

Secretary Xia did not answer and pointed at Fangyan:

"This yard will be his from now on."

The woman from the street office handed the key to Fangyan again:

"Comrade, take it."

Fangyan looked at the key and didn't take it.

He really couldn't believe that he could be given a yard in such a good location and with such high efficiency.

He would think it was abnormal if no one died here.

So he asked the woman comrade:
"Comrade, someone has died in this yard, right?!"

"No, no." The woman from the street office shook her head repeatedly.

Secretary Xia saw that Fang Yan was still cautious, so he explained helplessly:

"To tell you the truth, this place was bought by a foreigner and used as a private laboratory. After he left, this place became vacant."

"Are you relieved now?"

Fang Yan frowned and pondered, then asked:
"Experiments? Human experiments?"

PS: The 6000 basic chapters have been updated, and there will be additional chapters later.

(End of this chapter)