Siheyuan: I am a big capitalist after the founding of the People's Republic of China

On the way back, the old man took the two of them to Qinghua Pool to take a bath and get rid of bad luck.

In the Li family restaurant in the courtyard, the whole family sat together to eat. Eating without talking has always been the rule at the Li family table. In the past, when Li Zihang and his family of three ate together, they would occasionally say a few words. Now that the whole family is eating together, this rule has been established again. Except for the old man who occasionally says a few words, generally no one speaks. If there is anything, after finishing the meal and clearing the dishes, the old man will make a pot of tea and sit at the table to discuss it together.

After eating and drinking, the old man kept everyone in the restaurant. While drinking tea, he began to speak: "Seventh boy, and grandson. You two should be quiet for the time being. Don't run outside in this cold winter."

Uncle Qi: "Uncle! It's really not our fault for what happened today. We were arrested by the police for no apparent reason. Who can I go to for justice? I'm still completely confused."

Li Zihang also said: "Grandpa, what happened? The police didn't tell you the truth."

The old man took a sip of tea, glanced at the two of them, and said leisurely, "Two idiots. You have been reported by the people a long time ago. They said that a young man was walking around the city with a child and taking pictures. They suspected he was a spy. The police have been keeping an eye on you two for half a month. It's just that they took action today."

After hearing what the old man said, Li Zihang slapped his forehead in silence. His seventh uncle was so excited that he started to curse: "Fuck his seventh uncle. Who is this nosy bastard? I was pointed at by five guns today. I almost peed myself. I thought I would never come back. In the middle of winter, my vest inside my coat is soaked."

Aunt Seven, who was sitting next to Uncle Seven, pulled at the corner of his clothes, signaling him to stop swearing.

The old man ignored Uncle Qi, took a sip of tea and said, "Don't tell anyone about what happened today, especially Dewang, Decai, and Yushui. Did you hear me?"

Little Rain, the two brothers said in unison, "I know"

Then the old man spoke again: "Xiao Qi, you three brothers, come to my study and look through old newspapers for me. I have a feeling that the person in that photo has been seen in some newspaper before. Everyone else, please go away."

Uncle Qi and the brothers Decai had no objection, but Li Zihang knew clearly how much work it would take to flip through the old newspapers that the old man was talking about.

The old man also had a hobby of collecting things, whether it was antiques, old furniture, or newspapers he had read, he would keep them after reading them. As far as Li Zihang knew, in the past few years, the old man had never thrown away any newspapers that the family had subscribed to after reading them. All of them were collected in more than a dozen large boxes in the study.

Li Zihang had been curious about what was in the box. When he opened it, he found neatly stacked old newspapers, the earliest of which dated back to 1907.

Li Zihang: "Grandpa, I was scared today. Also, I haven't fed the birds in my house yet. Can we look through the old newspapers tomorrow?"

Old man: "Stop talking nonsense. You are still scared. When you were eating just now, you didn't eat less than usual. Those birds have been waiting for you to feed them for a long time. Every time it's Xiao Yushui and your grandma who feed them. Get out of here and get into the study."

The north room is the old man's study, decorated in the style of the Qing Dynasty. The furniture is also old. There are rows of square wooden boxes on the east wall, neatly stacked 2 meters high. There is also a wooden ladder next to it.

Uncle Qi and the other three didn't know where to start. They all turned their heads to look at the old man.

The old man saw the expressions of the people and said, "There are time labels on the boxes. You should start looking from 1936. Each of you has a wooden box. Find the newspaper with the photo first."

After the old man finished speaking, he sat down at the desk and started reading the book he hadn't finished last time.

Li Zihang walked over to the wooden box, found the box with the year 1936 on it, opened the side door of the box, took out a large stack of newspapers, and said to his seventh uncle and second cousin, "What are you waiting for! Hurry up and find it."

Then several people began to flip through old newspapers.

In fact, most newspapers in the past were in text format, and very few contained photos. So I searched very quickly. As time passed, there was no noise in the room except the sound of flipping newspapers.

At this time, Decai flipped through a newspaper and saw the photo on it and quickly said, "Grandpa, the person in this newspaper looks like Yi Zhonghai in the yard."

When the others heard Decai's words, they all turned their heads to look at him. Li Zihang, who was closest to him, stood up and walked to Decai's side, looking at the picture in the newspaper. He found that he really looked exactly like Yi Zhonghai. Even the mole on his brow was the same.

Li Zihang took the newspaper, walked over to the old man and said, "Grandpa is really Yi Zhonghai. Look, even the moles on his face are in the same place."

The old man took the newspaper and saw that it was the Ta Kung Pao from 1938. The content on it was that in 1938, the Japanese soldiers were at the gate of a steel mill in Beijing, praising the factory workers for how they settled down and worked happily under the leadership of the "Little Days". The picture in the newspaper was the Japanese soldiers praising the excellent employees in the factory.

In the middle stood a Japanese officer, on the right was the factory manager, on the left was the young Yi Zhonghai, and behind them was a group of workers holding banners welcoming the Empire of Japan.

The old man thought for a moment and said, "I calculated the time and looked at his appearance. Before liberation, that kid also worked in the steel mill. Everything matches up, so it seems to be him."

The old man turned around and said to them, "Let's put this aside for now. I'll keep this newspaper. Maybe it will be useful in the future. Don't go out and talk nonsense. Just continue reading the newspaper." After saying that, he ignored them.

Several people continued to flip through the newspaper. Li Zihang became more and more bored, and was slowly attracted by the content of the newspaper. In the past, in order to sell well, newspapers would reserve a page in the newspaper to write folk supernatural stories, martial arts novels, or some shocking stories in society at that time. This was to increase sales.

Li Zihang was attracted by these contents. As time passed, the old man took out his pocket watch, checked the time and said, "Okay, it's getting late! Put the newspapers aside and read them tomorrow. Let's go back and have a rest."

Li Zihang returned to the house and added a few more pieces of wood to the fireplace. Feeling that the temperature in the house had risen a little, he took off his cotton jacket and went to watch the birds.

In the past two years, Li Zihang has transformed the 40-square-meter natural ecological bird house into a wonder. There are birds singing, flowers blooming, small bridges flowing, and shrubs everywhere. Even in the coldest winter, the temperature in the bird house is kept at around 10 degrees Celsius because of the fireplace heating pipe.

Last year, Li Zihang paired the cockatoos again, and they laid a nest of eggs and successfully hatched three little cockatoos. Mynah bird is now talking more and more fluently. It can even quarrel with Xiao Yushui.

A few budgies hatched a bunch of parrots. Five roosters were really good at laying eggs and hatching chicks. They had to be separated and kept together with the chickens in the back garden. In the end, the Li family kitchen would occasionally stew soup with two roosters.

There are two golden turtles, ornamental fish, and some small fish and shrimps in the fish pond on the small beach. It is a complete food chain. There is no need to feed them. The pool uses tap water as running water. It is discharged through the reserved sewer. The turtles, fish and shrimps have also adapted to the water quality. All survived.

In the past two days, Uncle Qi, Li Zihang, and Dewang were called to the study by the old man to read newspapers whenever they had time. Finally, God paid off! In a 1940 issue of the China Daily, they found the person in the photo.

It turned out that the man was one of the special envoys sent by the Wang Puppet Government in Nanjing to Beijing to discuss cooperation with the then Xiaozi in 1940. After reaching an agreement, the Japanese Committee and the Wang Puppet Government took a photo and published it in the newspaper.

After seeing the contents of the newspaper, the old man took the photo and the newspaper and went to find Director Zhao without stopping. Then he told the whole story. He also called Duo Ye from Chaoyang Public Security Bureau to help identify the person. The subsequent events involved confidentiality. The old man did not participate anymore.