Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1197 Dare?

After a satisfying meal, the six of them emerged from the private room. Xiao Wei paid the bill and carried two bottles of Feitian liquor out the door. Manager Tang escorted them all the way to the outside.

The sky was dusky, and golden sunlight spilled across the surface of Qianhai Lake, creating shimmering waves that offered an indescribable sense of tranquility.

"Come on, let's sit in our courtyard and have a cup of tea," Xiao Wei pointed to the north.

Wu Guolin glanced in that direction: "Did you buy the courtyard? Is it in Ya'er or Mao'er?"

Xiao Wei said, "This is it. There's no space over there, and it feels a bit small. Let's go, we'll leave the car here for now."

The six people strolled along the lakeside. Manager Tang stood at the restaurant entrance until they turned the corner, then glanced at Wu Guolin's car, pondered for a moment, and turned back into the restaurant. He said to the waiter, "Be more discerning in the future. These guys are obviously not easy to deal with. Can we afford to offend them?"

Xiao Wei and his six friends turned along the lake and walked to the entrance of the courtyard. Chen Hui pointed to the house on the right and said to Xiao Wei, "This is the back building of our courtyard. This should be the main gate. The screen wall should be here, but it's been demolished. What a pity."

Xiao Wei looked around and said, "This house used to have a view of the lake right outside the door. How could carriages and horses get around then?"

Chen Hui said, "It should be possible to walk through. There's still a section inside. Besides, is it possible that such a big courtyard only has one gate? How many people can use the main gate all year round? You need to have a certain status and position to do so."

Six people walked into the courtyard through the newly built side gate.

Wu Guolin looked up and around, gazing at the multi-tiered eaves above him, and asked, "This courtyard is really nice. How much did it cost?"

Chen Hui said, "I didn't buy much, just over 1.5 million. The renovation cost over 3 million. It's comfortable to live in this old house, but the maintenance costs are really high."

After walking through the five- or six-meter-long porch, a wide-open space comes into view, with flowers, trees, pavilions, and corridors filling the courtyard.

Liu Jiaming said, "Damn, this is a prince's mansion! How come I've never heard of a prince's courtyard here?"

Wang Lihua said, "There used to be so many princes, dukes, beiles, and princesses, and so many were destroyed. It's normal for one or two to be left out. Besides, even if you had them, could you afford to buy them? You couldn't even afford to repair them."

Liu Jiaming raised his foot to kick, but Wang Lihua ran forward a few steps.

Wu Guolin looked around. The courtyard was empty, with cross-shaped blue bricks covering the ground, surrounded by covered walkways on both sides, and flowers, grasses, and weeping willows planted in the gaps.

Xiao Wei and Chen Hui led the way, following the corridor on the right into the back. Chen Hui said, "This is the company in front. It's Sunday, so no one's here. We'll stay in the back. Oh, and my parents are here today, so we'll just sit here in the second courtyard for a while. We won't invite you to the back. Sorry about that."

There's a pavilion in the second courtyard, with ancient, gnarled trees, which adds a lot more atmosphere than the first courtyard.

The group sat down in the pavilion. Xiaowei said, "Xiaohui, you sit with them for a while. I'll go make some tea and say hello to your uncle and aunt." He nodded and went to the third courtyard.

Liu Jiaming looked up and said, "It's comfortable. I feel that Chinese people should live in houses like this. It's down-to-earth and good for your health."

Wang Lihua shook his head: "It's not easy to buy such a big one now. They really got a great deal. Now, the slightly larger ones are either in the hands of their work units or have been converted into parks."

Those courtyards used as tenement buildings have long been abandoned. The city is considering demolishing them. I heard they plan to preserve a few areas, and the rest will be demolished for modernization. The preserved areas will also have some buildings destroyed to widen roads. These alleyways used to be incredibly narrow.”

Liu Jiaming said, "Yes, there's always a contradiction between the old and the new; there's no way to have it all. It's pretty good that we can keep some of them. However, buying a house later will be a real hassle; I reckon prices will skyrocket."

Chen Hui asked, "Do you like these old houses?"

Liu Jiaming said, "I grew up in a courtyard house. Now it's popular to live in villas, but I always feel like something is missing. Maybe it's because I spent a lot of time with my grandfather and was greatly influenced by him."

Chen Hui asked, "Where is your grandfather now?"

Liu Jiaming said, "The National Reform Research Center is practically retired. It's just a deputy director position, somewhat like the former advisory committee, but without the power of an advisory committee member."

Chen Hui said, "You're qualified, you can still be admitted to the hospital."

Liu Jiaming shook his head: "Now that we're all grown up, we've developed a bit of a distance with the old man. I don't want to upset him, so I'd rather stay out here and visit him every now and then. It would be too much for him to stay with me every day."

Wu Jialin said, "My great-aunt was the same way. In front of her, I felt like a little mouse. It's much more comfortable to live alone in Beijing, with no one watching over me all the time."

Du An'an smiled and said, "Li Hua is fine too. His dad has a good personality and never flatters Li Hua."

Wang Lihua shook his head and said, "It's not working out these days. They're super strict. They even ask me where I go for fun each day."

Wu Guolin said, "During this special situation, your father is also under a lot of pressure in the city. You have to understand. We can't help the older generation, and we don't want to cause them any trouble."

Chen Hui said, "The impression you guys give me is quite different from what I've heard and imagined. I didn't expect that the princes of Kyoto were all so arrogant, looking down on everyone, attacking anyone they didn't like, taking shares wherever they saw money, and spending their time messing around with young girls, teasing cats and dogs, and playing with crickets. Don't they do anything productive?"

Wu Guolin glanced at Chen Hui: "Where did you hear that from, and from whom?"

Liu Jiaming laughed and said, "To be honest, I'd love to live that kind of life. It's so exciting!"

Wu Guolin said, "I've played with cars, and I've also taken advantage of women. To be honest, I've definitely done things like taking advantage of my family's influence to get some free food and drinks and make some pocket money. But it's not as outrageous as you say. If you really think that's the case, what would Kyoto be like?"

Would ordinary people still dare to go out on the streets? Do you know how many children are in each compound? Even at our level, there are at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, and many more who are far more capable than us. How can we tolerate that?

Liu Jiaming said, "Of course they like to play, and they'll definitely get into fights and cause a ruckus. Haven't you ever been in a fight? The kind of 'getting something for nothing' thing you mentioned did happen before, but it's gotten worse these past two years. Those are people who are nobody at home and aren't well-regarded. There are plenty of opportunities that are even remotely acceptable, so why would anyone bother with that?"

Wang Lihua said, "Yes, some people see where money is made and jump in to get involved. There are those who offer a few hundred thousand yuan to take a large share. There are also those who bring people in and take over the company. You don't know this because you're not involved in this area. There are also those who go down to the bottom and cause trouble."

Actually, the provincial officials down below are much more capable of causing trouble than we are. I feel they're more powerful than us. Just think about it, how many members are there in a provincial standing committee? How many in a city? Who can handle them? They can really do whatever they want. Would anyone in Beijing dare to do that? Do you even know which one belongs to which family?

(End of this chapter)