Siheyuan: Starting from the Pig Killer

“Is this a B-ultrasound?”

The registration process was quick and I was lucky as there were not many people in line ahead of me, so it was soon Tao Xiaoye's turn.

Xiang Yunduan originally thought that in this era, pregnancy was confirmed through urine or blood tests. Unexpectedly, when it was Tao Xiaoye's turn, he found out that it was actually a direct test with an instrument.

Xiang Yunduan was of course relatively unfamiliar with this instrument, but he quickly guessed that it should be an ultrasound machine.

In fact, the B-ultrasound machine has been invented not long ago, less than ten years ago, and he really didn't expect that there was one in Union Hospital.

You should know that domestically produced B-ultrasound instruments were not available until the 1960s.

"Do you know B-ultrasound?"

The examining doctor asked Tao Xiaoye to lie on the bed and was preparing the sticky coupling agent needed for the B-ultrasound. Unexpectedly, he heard the word "B-ultrasound" from Xiang Yun's voice and looked at Xiang Yunduan in surprise.

This ultrasound machine has actually not been available for long. Many patients are conservative and are unwilling to use this new gadget. Even many doctors may not know what this instrument is used for. Unexpectedly, Xiang Yunduan could actually name it.

"I also heard it from a friend!" Xiang Yunduan replied casually.

Soon, after the preparations were completed, the doctor took the probe and began to examine Tao Xiaoye's belly.

Xiang Yunduan observed it for a while and felt that it was no different from the B-ultrasound in later generations. Of course, the image was definitely not as clear as that in later generations.

"She is indeed pregnant. Oh, and it's twins!"

The doctor said this with certainty based on the contents of the ultrasound image.

Maybe it’s because the pregnancy period is still relatively short, so the symptoms are not obvious. Anyway, Xiang Yunduan himself can’t figure it out.

"They are really twins. Are they two boys or two girls? Or are they twin boys and girls?" Xiang Yunduan asked curiously.

However, the doctor did not tell him. Instead, he shook his head, put away the instrument, handed Tao Xiaoye a piece of cloth, and asked her to wipe the coupling agent on her abdomen.

"Can't you tell me this? Doctor, just tell me, no matter it is a son or a daughter, I will be very happy!" Xiang Yunduan said.

He subconsciously brought some of the ideas of later generations with him, but the doctor's words made him a little embarrassed: "It's hard to tell for the time being. The time is too short. The sex of the fetus hasn't been differentiated yet. How can we know whether it's a boy or a girl?"

"That's it!"

Xiang Yunduan thought that people didn't tell him because they were afraid that he would favor boys over girls. After all, hospitals in later generations were not allowed to tell the gender of the fetus.

"Then how long will it take to know the gender?" Xiang Yunduan asked again.

"It will take twenty weeks!" said the doctor.

Xiang Yunduan really didn't have any idea whether it was a boy or a girl, he just asked casually. There was no throne to inherit in his family, so it was all the same!

Besides, people in this era generally have more children. As long as they are not too unlucky, if they have more than one child, they will naturally have both a son and a daughter.

Look at the courtyard, Liu Haizhong has three children, Yan Bugui has four children, Jia Dongxu will also have three children in the future, and Liang Ladi, who is about to marry into the courtyard, already has four children, and maybe she will have more in the future.

Three or four children are considered few in this era.

Xiang Yunduan naturally didn't have any idea of ​​having fewer children, better quality children, and a happy life. He still felt that it was better to have more children. With more brothers and sisters, the family would be more lively.

"What's wrong, Xiaoye?"

After leaving the courtyard, Xiang Yunduan felt that his wife's mood suddenly seemed a little strange.

"It's nothing, I just feel something and I don't know what's going on. My heart is beating non-stop. I can't describe the feeling. I'm a little scared, but also a little expectant!" Tao Xiaoye said while leaning on Xiang Yunduan's arms.

"Hey, it's nothing. This is your first time being a mother. You may not be used to it. It's okay. Why are you afraid? This is a happy event, a huge happy event!"

Xiang Yunduan patted his wife's back and said, "By the way, you must follow the doctor's instructions just now. One of them is to control your emotions, not to be too happy or too sad, and to eat well, otherwise, it will affect the child's development!"

After the examination just now, the doctor reminded some pregnant women of some things that they should pay attention to during pregnancy, which involved many aspects. Of course, not all of them were said to Tao Xiaoye. Xiang Yunduan also had to control some things, such as the first three months and the last three months.

Yunduan will certainly not do anything reckless with this project, and will definitely pay attention to the necessary safety issues.

"Brother Yun, can you really read faces?" Tao Xiao also looked up and looked at Xiang Yunduan with some curiosity.

She couldn't help but think about it.

When they were having dinner before, Xiang Yunduan said something like having many children means more blessings, and she thought he was joking. But now after the check-up, it has been confirmed that she is pregnant, which would have been fine, but she is pregnant with twins, which makes her have to believe it.

"Xiao Ye, you are a college student after all, how can you still talk about feudal superstitions? What's the point of talking about face? I was just saying it casually to make you happy!" Xiang Yunduan quickly denied.

"Then they are twins..." Tao Xiaoye still couldn't understand it.

"Fate! It's all coincidence!" Xiang Yunduan said.

It would not be a good thing if his wife really thought he was a calculating person.

……

"What? Xiaoye is really pregnant? Or twins?"

In the evening, Xiang Yunduan and Tao Xiao also went back to her parents' home. Naturally, they had to tell her father-in-law and mother-in-law about such a big thing as pregnancy.

Sure enough, when Mei Zhihua heard the news, he, who was in his fifties, jumped up from the ground with joy.

"Oh, look at what I was saying. I was just talking about the child yesterday, and now she's here. That's great!" Mei Zhihua said excitedly, holding her daughter's hand.

In fact, it is not surprising that Mei Zhihua behaved like this. The truth is, Tao Xiaomin is a disappointing guy. He is over 30 years old and has not yet married. It is unknown how long he will have to wait before he can have a grandson.

The eldest daughter, Tao Minzhen, did not have a child after marriage. Now she lives alone. She has introduced so many men to date, but none of them likes her. I don’t know if she will get married again in the future, and it’s even harder to say about having children.

Unexpectedly, the youngest daughter would be the first among the three children to have a child. How could Mei Zhihua not be happy?

A grandson is still a grandson!

Furthermore, Xiang Yunduan's parents are both from the countryside, and it is not convenient for them to move to the city under the current circumstances. After the child is born, he will probably have more opportunities to see his grandparents than his grandparents. In this case, there is not much difference between a grandson and a granddaughter.

What's more, this son-in-law is a shameless guy. He comes to their house all the time and spends more time eating and drinking there than Tao Xiaomin, their biological son. People who don't know would think that Xiang Yunduan is their live-in son-in-law!

"Xiao Min, you have to hurry up too. This is not the time before liberation. If you want to serve the people again, you still have to solve your personal problems. Career is career, family is family. This is not a matter of choosing one or the other!"

At the dinner table, Tao Xingwei gave his son earnest instructions.

This was the first time Xiang Yunduan saw his father-in-law talking about something so seriously at home.

"Dad, I get it!" Tao Xiaomin suddenly felt a lot of pressure and glanced at Xiang Yunduan helplessly, as if complaining: Look, this is all your fault!

……

Time flies and it is December. It seems that a new year is about to come.

During this period of time, Xiang Yunduan has taken care of Tao Xiao in every possible way. There is no other way. He has been a human being for two lifetimes and this is the first time he is a real father. It would be a lie to say that he is not excited.

On the contrary, Tao Xiaoye, except for her mood swings in the first few days after she found out she was pregnant, she quickly returned to normal and went to work and came home every day. Even her colleagues in the office didn't know she was pregnant.

"Brother Xiang, our sketching activity has officially ended today. Thank you very much to the comrades at the base for helping us for so long!"

At the police dog base, Master Li brought the students from CAFA and completely finished the sketching. They came here specifically to express their gratitude and even made a special banner to present to the base.

During this period, Xiang Yunduan has become familiar with Master Li. Although there is a generation difference in age between them, they have a good relationship, probably because their personalities are quite compatible.

"What are you talking about, brother? I have seen a lot of works of these students during this period. The paintings are really good. They fully depict the daily life of our police dog base. Such records are also very meaningful to our police dog base! Maybe hundreds of years later, these paintings will still be circulating in the world, and when people in later generations see these paintings, they will think of our police dog base! This is the most precious thing!" Xiang Yunduan said.

What he said was not empty talk. Moreover, some of the students' works were donated to their base. No one knows whether one of these students will become a master of Chinese painting in the future. If there is such a person, the value of these paintings will increase dramatically.

"Okay, there's no need for us to be polite!"

Master Li waved his hand and said, "You must accept this. This is a personal gift from me to you!"

As he spoke, Master Li handed a long painting box to Xiang Yunduan.

Xiang Yunduan took it, but before he could ask anything, Master Li took his students and left without looking back.

After returning to the office, Xiang Yunduan took a good look at the painting box.

This painting box is very ordinary. It is neither made of rosewood nor huanghuali. It is just an ordinary mahogany box.

The box was opened, and Xiang Yunduan pulled out a scroll from it. He guessed that what Master Li sent was probably a painting, but he didn't expect it to be framed. What's more, this painting was not small!

"Ooh!"

Slowly opening the painting, Xiang Yunduan's eyes focused and he couldn't help but let out a light shout.

"it is good!"

Xiang Yunduan's level of appreciation of Chinese paintings is almost nothing, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand beauty and ugliness.

The painting depicted the two golden eagles as he expected.

The eagles in Chinese paintings are of various shapes and sizes, but when most people paint eagles, they basically either use strange rocks or solitary trees, mainly to reflect the eagle's aloof and domineering kingly aura.

The artistic conception expressed by the painting in front of me is the same, but there are no strange rocks or lonely trees. Instead, there are dark clouds covering the city.

It snowed again a few days ago, and this painting was probably created after that day.

The thick black clouds of low pressure, the majestic rolling snow and wind, and the two eagles swooping down from high and low, their sharp claws, curved beaks, and wings displayed vividly, making people feel as if they have jumped out of a painting at first glance.

As for the lower part, there were also two animals, the Black Wolf King and Hu Zi. Facing the eagle swooping down from the sky, the wolf and the dog both showed the classic Husky expression, which looked a little funny.

Xiang Yunduan guessed that Master Li must have never seen a dog like Husky, but he was able to paint the expressions of Black Wolf King and Hu Zi so vividly. It has to be said, it's amazing!

This is a vertical painting, two feet wide and about five feet high, which is definitely not small in size.

For paintings of the same artist and level, the value will naturally increase as the size of the painting increases. Xiang Yunduan conservatively estimates that this painting will definitely be sold for eight figures in the future.

Master Li is not very good at painting eagles, and this is probably the only one he has ever seen, so its value is naturally not low.

On the left side of the painting is written "Presented to my little friend Xiang Yunduan", followed by the date of painting. There are also several seals in several blank spaces, namely "Ke Ran", "What is valuable is courage", "What is needed is the soul", "Shi Niutang" and "Ruzi Niu".

It can be seen that Master Li himself must be very satisfied with this painting, as he stamped quite a few of its seals on it.

Xiang Yunduan admired the painting for a long time before he put it back together again with a feeling of being unsatisfied. He would naturally not sell this painting and planned to keep it for his own collection.

In fact, he has collected quite a few good things, including antiques, calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, jade and so on.

These things were all bought from Liulichang.

When he first came here, he visited Liulichang a lot and bought many antiques, some real and some fake. But later, perhaps because his tuition fees had been paid, he acquired another skill: "appraising antiques."

Then he strengthened his treasure appraisal skills to the gold level.

The effect is also very obvious - there is an 80% chance of being able to see the real information of cultural relics and antiques!

This saved him a lot of effort. Later, whenever he bought those things, he would buy the right ones. Anyway, he would not buy anything if he could not see the information.

It was also at this time that he had an idea in his mind, which was to collect more rare antiques.

On the one hand, the chances of finding a bargain on antiques of this era are quite high, and he can buy a lot of nice things with very little money.

On the other hand, collecting these things was a form of protection for them, to prevent them from being destroyed later, or from being truckloads of them to Hong Kong and then all flowing out of the country.

By collecting these things, maybe in the future I can follow the example of that guy named Ma and open a private museum or something. If there are really national treasures, I can donate them to the country.

There is a kind of porcelain that is very famous in later generations, that is "Yuan blue and white porcelain". Pieces like "Guiguzi Going Down the Mountain", "Xiao He Chasing Han Xin Under the Moon", etc. are all national treasures.

However, the concept of "Yuan blue and white porcelain" appeared very late. The antique world did not believe in the existence of Yuan blue and white porcelain at the beginning. They regarded all real Yuan blue and white porcelain as blue and white porcelain imitated from the Yuan Dynasty by the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that the concept of Yuan blue and white porcelain was established.

Among Xiang Yunduan’s current collections, there is such a Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain figure jar, and the story behind the painting is well-known - Three Heroes Fighting Lu Bu!

There is no information about this jar in later generations, but Xiang Yunduan can see the real information, so he can be sure that this thing is real.

Of course he would collect all the things like this if he had the chance. It would be a pity to destroy them, and even more of a pity if they fell into the hands of white people.