Chapter 617 The Courtyard is Deep
When you walk into the west passage, you will see four reverse rooms.
In the past, this was the No. 1 room, the workroom of the "servant", and also the place where visitors waited to meet the master.
Now this is the first rental house that enters the house.
According to the old lady of the house owner, this family’s surname is Zhai, and there are five people in the family.
But unfortunately, I don’t know what the family was doing today.
Anyway, it was noon on Sunday, and the door of this family's house was closed, with General Tie guarding the door.
You can tell from the fact that there is no bicycle in front of their house.
The Zhai family must have something important to do today, so the whole family went out, and they probably won't be back for a while.
But despite this, Ning Weimin was still able to observe some useful information from outside the house.
For example, the four rooms in Courtyard No. 5 with the worst orientation are all built on hard hills and clear water ridges.
Compared with Courtyard No. 2 of Shan'er Hutong, the half-tiled and half-grey "chess star board" roof is much better.
In addition, the position of the Zhai family in the entire courtyard is very similar to the position of the Luo family in No. 2 Shan'er Hutong.
But their living conditions are completely different from those of the Luo family.
For no other reason, the old residence of the emperor's uncle was much wider.
The house is big and nice, the yard and corridors are spacious, and the regulations are complete.
Although this No. 5 courtyard in Dongsisi Tiao is a side courtyard, it has three entrances in total.
It’s not like the courtyard in Shan’er Hutong No. 2 looks like a sheepfold, it’s comparable to a small courtyard with an outer wall.
The first entrance to this inverted house was completely occupied by the Zhai family.
If the passage is not public and the neighbors have to use it to go inside, it will be almost like an independent courtyard.
Apart from other things, all the window sills of the Zhai family are clean up and down. At most, there are only two cabbage plants on the windowsill.
It’s not like what you can see when you enter Courtyard No. 2 of Shan’er Hutong. The Luo family is so arrogant and thoughtful.
Put cabbage, shoe mats, toothpaste skins, and shoe soles all on the windowsill.
What kind of briquettes, broken boards, trolleys, rotten cushions, and pickled cabbage jars are all piled under the window.
The only things placed under the wall of the Zhai family are flower pots.
There are twenty small ones, and there are several large flower pots just for growing pomegranate trees.
It is completely conceivable that in spring and summer when the leaves are in full bloom, this place will be a small oasis.
When it comes to the conditions for growing flowers, they are really better than those in Courtyard No. 2.
If Uncle Bian, who is also fond of flowers and plants, sees this, he will be envious to death.
As for the utility shed and small kitchen, they are actually the most illustrative of practical problems.
Why aren't there so many clutter in front of Zhai's house?
Actually, it’s because the Zhai family built a row of small houses using the corner gables next to the hanging flower door inside.
Although the roof is very simple, it is just a row of asbestos tiles pressed on linoleum, which barely prevents wind and rain from leaking.
And the walls are made of red bricks, which does not match well with the gray bricks of the original building.
But this small room is large, more than ten square meters, and can be divided into two rooms.
One for storage and one for cooking.
Especially this small house also uses red doors and red windows, which is quite consistent with the style of the inverted house, and it has the meaning of an ancient building.
Looking at Courtyard No. 2 of Shan'er Hutong, it was really miserable.
Because it was a private house for ordinary people, the yard was originally small and the aisle was too narrow.
The Luo family couldn't find a place to build a small house, so they took up the spot in front of the mountain screen wall.
The Luo family felt sorry that it affected the neighbors' access.
Back then, I sent snacks to the neighbors, and even visited the doorsteps.
The small house that can be repaired is only five or six square meters.
When Luo Guangliang was disliked and lived in a small room, he couldn't even straighten his legs because of his height.
The difference between the inside and outside here is really as huge as the status of the two original owners of the courtyard.
Needless to say, this situation is naturally a mixed blessing for Ning Weimin.
What he was happy about was that the room was really nice.
As the old lady and her daughter said, old is still old, but it is the real thing.
And the space area is obviously brighter and brighter than ordinary folk courtyards.
What worries him is that in a house like this, the tenants seem to be living a comfortable life, so they may not want to move out.
Going further in, of course you have to pass through the hanging flower gate and enter the second courtyard.
This place is amazing and worth stopping to take a good look at.
Why do you say that?
Because the hanging flower door is not an ordinary door, it is built on the central axis of the courtyard, between the first entrance courtyard and the second entrance courtyard. It is the key door used to distinguish the inner house from the outer house.
In the old days, it was said that a young lady "can't go out of the front door, and can't step out the second door".
The "two gates" in this sentence refer to the hanging flower gate.
In "A Dream of Red Mansions", Lin Daiyu wrote when she first entered Jia's house.
"All the ladies stepped down and came to a door with hanging flowers. The boys exited, and the ladies came up to open the sedan curtain and helped Daiyu get out of the sedan. Lin Daiyu held the ladies' hand and entered The Hanging Flower Gate. On both sides are the corridors, and in the middle is the hall..."
It can be seen from this text that the "mother-in-laws" are women, so they can enter, and the "boys" are all male servants. , no entry allowed.
And "Sister Lin" could not get out of the sedan until the male servant exited.
The strict rules of the old feudal ethics can be seen.
This requirement is not only imposed on the female family members, but also on visiting foreigners.
In the past, when guests came to visit, they had to stop in front of the hanging flower door and sit in the inverted room to drink tea.
The master will only pass through the hanging flower gate to the outer courtyard to meet the guests after being notified by the servant. Therefore, the hanging flower door with this clear-cut meaning is equivalent to the facade of the inner house.
The more noble a wealthy family is, the more they pay attention to the hanging flower door and will try to make it as gorgeous and elegant as possible.
Even if the door is not very elegant, if you can have a beautiful hanging flower door, it will improve the taste of the entire house.
The hanging flower gate that Ning Weimin saw in Courtyard No. 5 today was very acceptable in terms of form and regulations.
First of all, this hanging flower door is built on bluestone steps. There are three steps. The cost of this foundation is not low.
And there are symmetrical lush flower trees on both sides of the hanging flower door, which looks very solemn and elegant.
Secondly, the top of this hanging flower door is divided into two layers.
The top of the outer part of the door is a clear water ridge, while the inside of the door is a rolling shed roof.
There is also a gutter at the intersection where the two top hooks are connected.
This special design allows half of the rainwater received by the hanging flower door to flow out from both sides of the gutter.
Even if it rains heavily, there will be no rain curtain forming in front of the eaves.
It not only facilitates the entry and exit of people, but also reduces the erosion of rainwater on the hanging flower door.
Finally, when you walk into the hanging flower door, you will find beautiful and practical Chaoshou verandas connected to both sides.
This thing is an open corridor, which is an indispensable auxiliary building for the inner house of a large family.
The wonderful thing is that through the mobile phone corridor, people can easily enter and exit each room.
Especially when it rains and snows, it does not prevent people from walking around at all.
Moreover, the Chaoshou Veranda is also a good outdoor resting place, with colorful paintings, sitting rails, and bird cages for hanging.
If you get tired of staying in the house, you can take a nap on the railing and enjoy the scenery in the garden.
Ning Weimin looks at this pendant flower door from the outside and feels like a gorgeous gatehouse with brick and wood structure.
When I walked to the inner courtyard and looked out at the hanging flower door, I felt like a gorgeous square pavilion.
He especially likes this mobile arcade very much.
The many scenes from film and television dramas in his memory made it easy for him to imagine how the royal family and relatives in the old days would hang out, rest, and play with the birds in this corridor.
How I sat on the porch leaning against the pillars, facing the two Xifu crabapple trees in the yard, sad for spring and autumn, and recited poems.
For countless springs in the past, pink begonia flowers bloomed among the green branches and leaves in the courtyard.
It looked like a thin cloud in front of him, dignified and quiet, and the whole courtyard was fragrant...
What was very regrettable was that the flower gate and the verandah had quite a few flaws.
For example, in terms of the functional structure of the hanging flower door, there should be two doors.
The first door is installed between the two pillars on the side of the outer courtyard.
This door is relatively thick. In the past, it was only opened for people to pass during the day.
It is closed at night, and people from the outer courtyard cannot enter.
In addition, there will be a second door between the two pillars on the inside of the hanging flower door.
This door is relatively thin and is called a "screen door".
Door leaves are generally four doors with bucket squares on them.
Putting it aside, the screen door is usually closed and functions as a screen wall in the inner courtyard.
The screen door is often opened only when there are major events in the inner courtyard, such as weddings and funerals.
On weekdays, when people in the inner courtyard want to go out, they usually enter the outer courtyard through the side doors on both sides of the screen door, or through the hand-operated verandahs on both sides of the hanging flower door.
But Ning Weimin discovered that the screen door was gone now. It had obviously been removed to make it easier for everyone to come in and out.
In addition, for the hanging flower door, the hanging flower head, which is very critical, is gone.
You know, the reason why this door is called the Weeping Flower Gate is because the eaves and pillars of the Weeping Flower Gate do not fall to the ground, but are suspended in the air.
The eaves and capitals are carved into petals or lotus shapes, like hanging flowers, which have a strong beautifying and decorative effect.
But the Hanging Flower Gate that Ning Weimin saw had only two square pillar heads left, which looked abrupt and monotonous, and no longer lived up to its name.
The most seriously damaged thing was the Chaoshou Veranda. After all, it was a wooden structure, and many places were in disrepair and decayed.
The paintings on the corridor and cloister walls were almost completely destroyed.
The exposed wood color and the mottled gray background make this supposedly decent verandah look as bleak as a run-down house compared to the two blooming crabapples in the garden.
For this reason, Ning Weimin felt more and more distressed as he watched.
He knew that the courtyard houses built in different eras had different blue bricks, blue tiles, wooden components, eaves patterns, and brick carving styles.
So in order to restore the original appearance as much as possible, he couldn't help asking.
I want to know from the old lady and her husband what the capitals of the hanging flower gate looked like.
What does the screen door look like and what is the content of the colorful paintings?
The mother and daughter had no choice but to recall and answer based on their own memories.
But there is still a big gap between their answers.
The mother said that her daughter was too young and remembered it wrongly.
The daughter also said that her mother was getting older and things were going wrong.
Ning Weimin was naturally confused and didn't know whose words to believe.
In the end, Director Lu confirmed that the old lady’s memory was correct.
But it is a pity that the workers of the housing management office cannot do this kind of ancient building work.
The repairs and renovations that can be done are simple and crude, just maintaining the safety of the main structure.
However, Director Lu also remembered another thing, which was a good thing that surprised Ning Weimin.
As soon as you enter the courtyard, there is a brick sculpture of "Twenty-Four Filial Piety" hidden in the aisle of the front door of the screen wall.
If Ning Weimin likes these decorations, then he should be able to reveal them as long as he carefully removes the layer of dust.
(End of this chapter)