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

The next morning, Sha Zhu returned to his house and explained things to the decorator. Then he went to work with a painted face.

After what happened yesterday, some people in the yard didn't know how to face Sha Zhu.

It's ok to watch the fun. It's just a hypocritical greeting.

The Jia family across the street and the uncle next door didn't even give them a friendly look. They pretended not to know each other. They just turned around and pushed their bicycles to work.

As for the second uncle and the third uncle, he just nodded.

Compared to the hustle and bustle in the courtyard, Li Zihang and his group were eating Tianjin's special breakfast in high spirits.

After eating and drinking, the group of people were taken to the Jinmen Wharf by car.

It was neither too early nor too late. A group of people arrived at the dock and boarded the ship to check their tickets.

The old-fashioned cruise ship seemed to be a sand-carrying ship from the previous life. There was a big chimney in the middle and three floors on the ship.

Compared with the Titanic, it is not even close. The entire ship is 60 meters long and 20 meters wide, with a displacement of just over 1600 tons.

Li Zihang's family naturally bought a first-class cabin.

At the beginning of the voyage, Li Zihang was still very curious. But the boats of that period, coupled with their small tonnage, seemed to capsize when encountering wind and waves.

Including the time spent docking at the port, it took a full 5 days and 4 nights to get from Tianjin to Shanghai.

During the journey, both grandma and he were seasick and vomited a lot.

The old man and his two followers did nothing during the trip except taking care of the two people who were seasick.

When I first got off the boat, I could barely walk. I had to be helped down the boat.

It took me a day and a night of rest in the Magic City before I recovered.

Li Zihang secretly swore in his heart that he would never take the ship on the way back, even if he threw a tantrum. It was too painful. He almost vomited his gallbladder along the way.

Both he and his grandmother still have pale faces, purple lips, and lifeless eyes.

I sat in the car half dead. It took me three and a half hours to drive from Shanghai to Suzhou, which is a little over 100 kilometers.

If the road is good, you can drive faster. If the road is not so good, the average speed is 35 kilometers per hour.

When my whole body was about to fall apart, I finally reached the end of this journey.

Li Zihang's ancestral home is in the urban area of ​​​​Gusu. The main house of his lineage is still there. I heard from the old man that his main house is in the hands of his great-uncle's lineage. That is, the descendants of the old man's uncle. Li Zihang's generation is four generations.

When they arrived, a group of people welcomed them. There were about 17 or 18 people, young and old.

Ever since I knew the naming order of their family, I knew what to call them as soon as they said their names.

Those with the character "xian" in their names are called "grandfather", those with the character "shi" in their names are called "uncle". Those older than him with the character "de" in their names are called "brother", those younger than him are called "brother", and those with the character "fu" in their names are called "nephew". No matter how old the younger ones are, they are not worthy of being present at today's occasion.

The generation of the old man is the beginning of a cycle. Seeing the old man with the word "Qi", he must be the great-grandfather.

As the saying goes, the eldest grandson is the eldest grandfather. This family has many people. If you don't follow the order of seniority, you won't know how to address people. An old man in his seventies or eighties may call a babbling baby "little brother".

After some greetings, the Li family gathered together and sat in the main house of the Li family.

The old man spoke fluent Gusu dialect and communicated with the elders and peers in the clan.

Li Zihang was standing nearby, dumbfounded. He didn't understand a single word. He only saw a group of men, young and old, chatting and looking at him from time to time.

Every time this happened, he could only respond with a smile using his innocent big eyes.

There was no way. In his previous life, he was from Chongqing. In this life, he was from Beijing. He had no knowledge of Wu language. He couldn't understand it.

Grandma didn't know where the women had dragged her to. There were a room full of grown men, talking in a language she couldn't understand. It was quite uncomfortable.

Half an hour later, he was forced to resist dozing off before the old man pulled him aside to say goodbye to a group of people.

He was also placed in a room and fell asleep on the bed.

There were birds singing and dogs barking outside, and snoring inside the house.

The sun was setting in the west. Li Zihang, who had slept for most of the day, woke up drowsily due to thirst.

He still thought he was at home. He closed his eyes and touched the teacup on the bedside table.

After searching for a while, he opened his eyes and realized that he was not at home.

After getting dressed, he went to the table and poured himself a glass of boiled water.

After quenching his thirst, he looked around the furnishings in the house.

I saw that the bed he slept on was a Qiangongbabu bed.

The eaves and eyebrows of this bed are all carved openwork, and the front door fence and surrounding panels are engraved with patterns of unicorns, phoenixes, peonies, and curled leaves.

The bed is 2 meters high, 4 meters long and 2 meters wide. It is huge and divided into two parts, the inner and outer parts. The inner part is the bed and the outer part is the corridor. There is a dressing table and a dressing stool at the end of the bed in the outer corridor, and an armchair and a small tea table at the head of the bed in the outer corridor.

The whole bed was like a small house. At this moment, Li Zihang was admiring and looking at the various furniture in the house.

Compared with the north, the furniture in the south has a more beautiful and exquisite style and the carvings are more complicated.

In the north, the Qiangong Babu bed is very rare.

He had only seen it in some museums and on the Internet in his previous life. No wonder he was curious about it.

I thought of putting this bed in the bedroom, with a chaise longue outside the foot of the bed, and a small coffee table facing the fireplace. In winter, roasting by the fire, drinking tea, and playing with birds is so beautiful.

I was daydreaming when my grandmother came in and called me back to my senses.

"I say, silly boy, why are you so happy? I called you for a long time, but you didn't listen to a word."

"Grandma, I just woke up and my mind was still half asleep. I didn't hear you."

"Grandson, why are you looking at the bed with such a silly smile?"

"Grandma, this bed, where did it come from? It's so comfortable to sleep on."

Grandma looked at Li Zihang with a half-smile and said slowly: "Why, you want every good thing you see?"

"This bed was your mistress Gao's dowry when she married your great-grandfather. It's more than a hundred years old."

"No one sleeps there now. Only our people, when we come back to worship our ancestors, will arrange for the housewife to sleep there."

"Don't even think about it if you want it. They won't agree."

"Hurry up and wash your face and go out to eat. You slept for three and a half hours. I called you to eat lunch, but you wouldn't wake up no matter how hard I tried."

"Everyone is still waiting outside. Come with me quickly."

At the dinner table, the seats were clearly divided into two groups: one for men, one for women, and one for children.

Li Zihang is the eldest son and grandson, and is qualified to sit at the main table and eat with the old man and others.

Grandma had to sit with a group of elderly women from the clan to eat. The rules at the table were similar.

After years of training by his grandfather and grandmother, Li Zihang never loses his manners no matter what the occasion.

After eating and drinking, Li Zihang was dragged out by his peers to familiarize himself with the environment. The old man chatted with the elders in the clan.

Old man: "Uncle Wu, are you in good health?"

(Fifth Uncle) Grandpa’s fifth uncle.

"What's good about that? I'm going to be buried soon. All the mess in the clan these years has almost driven me to death."

The old man: "Think positively. Every change of dynasty in history was a catastrophe."

"Before, there was the Qing Dynasty's Ten-Day Massacre in Yangzhou, and then there was the Taiping Rebellion. These are all in the past. Moreover, the situation is stable now. There won't be any more trouble."

Uncle Wu: "That's true, but do you know how many people are still registered in the clan?"

Uncle Wu stretched out a finger with his trembling hand.

"Just over 10,000. At our peak, our entire clan had over 100,000 people. Sigh~"

"Over the years, some have died, and some have left. During the land reform in 49, many of our clansmen died. Another wave died during the Anti-Japanese War, and some bet on the wrong horse and followed the Kuomintang. With the recent cooperation, hundreds of years of our heritage have gone down the drain."

At this moment, the atmosphere in the living room was extremely depressing. The old man also sighed softly.

"It's all over~ The catastrophe is over~ Let's just be patient for now. When the next generation grows up, things will be better."

Uncle Wu: "Are you brothers all right?"

The old man said, "It's all the same. You know, during the Republic of China, there were thousands of people who were separated from my family. Now there are less than 500 people left, including the babies in the package."

"The second and third brothers are in Hong Kong and Nanyang. We still exchange letters occasionally. The fourth brother and his entire family have retreated to Taiwan since the defeat of the Guo Party. There has been no news of them so far. We don't know whether they are alive or dead."

Uncle Wu, after listening to this, was not sure what he was thinking. After a long while, he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to him.

"These are the people in the clan who made successful bets. Now, they are officials in various regions, and some are leading troops in the army."

"Take it and have a look. In the future, you guys should keep in touch and help each other more."

"Some of them are still in the capital. Contact them when you return."

Grandpa Li Zihang looked at the dozen names on the letter, as well as the places and positions of officials. It was clearly written.

"Also, when you leave, leave a list of names and addresses, and include all the descendants of your group of soldiers on it."

"In the future, when those people come back, we can help them too."

Grandpa Li Zihang nodded silently.

"Uncle Wu, have you prepared all the herbs for Xiaohang?"

Uncle Wu: "They were all together a few days ago. But don't hold your hopes too high. After all, that kind of bloodline, even if it's a direct line, is only one in a million."

"There are at most three to five people in a generation, or even one person less. There have even been generations without one. It's a rare opportunity."

Old man: "I understand. It's just an expectation. I understand."

"By the way, Uncle Wu, I have something else I want to discuss with you regarding bloodline activation."

Uncle Wu: “You say”

The old man said: "Our clansmen in the mainland are fine. They will come back with their children during Qingming Festival. There is still hope."

"But what about our relatives overseas? There are quite a lot of them. I would like to ask you to talk to the ancestors and set up a new home in Hong Kong for the younger generations. Otherwise, they will have no hope."

"On the other hand, if one or two of the descendants of our clansmen overseas inherit that bloodline, it will also be a great prosperity for the family. What do you think?"