Xu Damao's Thirty-Six Stratagems in Siheyuan

After hearing from Xu Jun and especially Yuan Ya that there are now two Chinese female Bruce Lees at the California Institute of the Arts, Gu Meifang finally put her worries to rest. What she feared most was that her daughter would be bullied by others while she was far away from home.

Xu Damao and Fang Xiaoru were not worried at all. Only their daughter could bully others, and no one else would dare to mess with their daughter.

As for Fang Shuying's question about whether to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, they did not participate, but they did not object. Xu Damao had no opinion on whether he would have any relationship with Steven in the future. After all, this could stimulate his daughter to make progress, which was a good sign. It was definitely a good thing to be able to get a bachelor's degree in advance and go to the metropolis of New York to study and gain experience.

Xu Jun and his wife said that Yuan Ya will graduate from graduate school next year, and the whole family will return to Kyoto, and they are planning to have another child in Kyoto.

This made Lou Xiao'e very happy. Xu Xiyan was now a U.S. citizen, and it was a good idea to have a grandson with a Kyoto household registration.

After more than a month of traveling from Europe to America, it is time to return home.

I didn't expect Catherine to say that she wanted to go to Kyoto with me.

Well, the group of five adults and two children, all with 4,900 US dollars in their pockets, passed customs and arrived in Kyoto safely.

Xu Damao's last education was very effective. This time the house was very clean, and the Xu Zhidi brothers were able to cook a meal to entertain their parents who had returned from abroad.

"Okay, Jianjian, when did you learn this?"

"Dad, it's not like I don't know how to cook. I can't say I can cook exquisitely, but I can learn by just trying to make it edible. This time, we brothers thought you would only be gone for half a month at most, but we didn't expect it to be so long. A few weeks ago, I went to Uncle He's restaurant kitchen to learn from him. Now, I'm pretty good at it, right? It looks good."

"That's great. Dad gets a prize."

Xu Damao really brought gifts for the children. Xu Zhidi likes photography and rock music, so he bought an antique clarinet in Austria for her, and a valuable violin for Xu Zhilu. As for Xu Zhiyue, he bought a Transformers Optimus Prime toy from the United States.

Xu Zhiyue, although she is a girl, looks like a tomboy. Maybe she has been hanging out with the two brothers for a long time and has been led astray. She has a lot of fun watching Transformers, which can be transformed into cars with crackling sounds.

Catherine and her son were arranged to stay at Yandaixie Street because Lou Xiaoe could speak English and it was easy to communicate. However, the next day Xu Damao went to Yandaixie Street to look for Catherine.

Oral expression of language really requires you to open your mouth and speak boldly, and the language environment is very important. In the past, Xu Damao read much better than he spoke, but after several trips abroad, he is now very good at expressing himself in English.

Today, Xu Damao accepted Qi Huan's commission to make Catherine have some clan concept and patriotic feelings.

Drove Catherine to the Qi family residence in Caoyuan Hutong.

"Catherine, this courtyard is a standard two-courtyard house in Kyoto. It's very beautiful. In fact, it's your family's ancestral home. Go in and take a look. If you like it, I'll have someone clean it for you and you can move in today. The house is fully stocked with supplies, and you can just put the quilt in the sun tomorrow. It's not winter now, and you're not good at heating the kang, so it'll save you a lot of trouble."

"Mine?" It seemed like the first time Catherine heard that her family actually had property in the distant Eastern capital.

"Yes, to be precise, it's your grandfather. His name is Qi Delong. He gave it to your father. When we left Los Angeles, your father said that if you like it, he would keep it for you. I'll open the gate for you, so go in and take a look."

Xu Damao opened the newly painted, festive-looking courtyard gate and led Catherine in. After passing the gatehouse, an exquisite screen wall on the right caught Catherine's attention.

"This wall is called a screen wall in Kyoto. It is mainly used to block outside sight and prevent drafts. It also serves as a decoration. It is also a family tradition and reflects a kind of civilization."

After this, go in, pass through the moon gate, and you will be inside. Come, let's go in together. When you have the chance in the future, you can really think more about this wall screen. There are not many courtyards in Kyoto that can retain such a complete screen wall. Your Qi family has one.

……

Xu Damao took Catherine on a tour of the entire yard. The crabapples in the yard had already borne fruit. After a while, the fruits would turn red, which would be even more pleasing to the eye.

Xu Damao particularly liked crabapple trees. Not only did he plant two on Yandaixie Street, he also transplanted two into Xu Nian's house when he renovated it in the first half of the year. He also transplanted two wisteria trees, making the house look very beautiful.

There are currently only two crabapple trees in the Qi family's yard, but they are lush and tall.

Although there are some fallen leaves in the yard and dust accumulated in the house, it does not affect the integrity and uprightness of the house.

It was the first time that Catherine had seen such a house. It was very novel. Xu Damao also told her about the history of the Qi family. Catherine was very surprised.

"My ancestors were nobles?"

"It's expensive, but the royal family is no longer a thing in Kyoto. The Forbidden City is now the property of the people. But this house belongs to your Qi family, although the property is registered in my name."

While driving, he took Catherine with him and explained the history, culture, and architecture of Kyoto to her in the car. At noon, we ordered roast duck and had a meal in a cheap house.

After almost a day of seeing and hearing, Catherine gradually fell in love with Kyoto.

Another day, Xu Damao took Catherine and her young son to Gubeikou, where they had another cultural lecture on Chinese sacrifices.

This time, Catherine held the incense and nodded to indicate that she had seen this thing before. She had seen it at the home of a Chinese medicine practitioner in Hamburg, Germany.

Oh, so there is such an association. And it is very correct. Not bad. That’s what Xu Damao thought.

On Sunday, Xu Damao drove and took Fang Xiaoru and Catherine to Fangshan Haida Company.

"Catherine, half of this factory belongs to your father. If possible in the future, you can also open a company in Kyoto, provided that you like this land, the people here, and China."

Catherine saw that Haida's production line was very advanced, the factory was very clean, and the busy workers left a deep impression on her. Although she had seen German workers with a high degree of specialization, their work enthusiasm was definitely not as high as Haida's workers.

"Catherine, although the current salary level of Haida's workers is not as high as that of workers in Los Angeles or Hamburg Port, in China, Haida's workers now have a relatively high income level. So you can see that the workers are very motivated, cherish this job, and want to be worthy of this high salary."

Catherine studied pharmaceutical chemistry and knew nothing about material chemistry, but after hearing what Xu Damao said, she could still understand. Workers, wherever they go, have to earn money, and the more they earn, the more work they must do.

On the way back to Kyoto, Xu Damao casually asked Catherine about her future plans. Catherine actually asked Xu Damao,

"Is it possible for me to come to Kyoto to teach at a university? I really like this place."

"Well, ask the heroine Fang next to you about this matter. She is a professor at the Kyoto Institute of Chemical Engineering. To be honest, I am a free man now and I don't care about anything. But since you can take classes at the University of Hamburg, I believe there must be a college in Kyoto that suits you."

After some communication, Xu Damao learned that Catherine was actually a doctoral student at Stanford University. Because she was in love, she followed the Stanford alumni in Germany to Hamburg, got married, and had children. Fortunately, she still had a job at the University of Hamburg, otherwise Qi Huan would not care about her, and her three children would become orphans in a short time.

Well, she was lucky to meet me, Xu Damao.