This morning, Wei Guoping came to Jiang Yulou's house to find him, saying that there was news about the courtyard house he wanted to buy.
Ever since, Jiang Yulou rode his bicycle and drove Wei Guoping out of the Jiang Family Courtyard, to Xicheng District, Shichahai Street, and then to Taiping Hutong. Going south was his destination.
Jiang Yulou hummed as he stepped on the bicycle pedal, regretting that he had not let him ride one by himself. He wiped the sweat from his head and complained to the person behind him, "Old Wei, it's time for you to lose weight."
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. Wei Guoping became anxious and quickly defended: "What are you talking about? I only weigh one hundred and fifty pounds. One hundred and fifty pounds, am I heavy? Am I heavy?"
"Isn't it heavy? Our combined weight weighs three hundred pounds. You don't know how tiring it is to ride a bike."
"Go back and ride for me, let you see my strength." Wei Guoping said contemptuously: "I think you lack exercise and your body is too weak."
"What do you know? This is what I call a well-proportioned figure."
The two chatted for a while, and soon entered a quiet and simple alley.
A red sign is nailed to the entrance of the alley, which reads: Deep in the Flowers.
Seeing this red card, a poem flashed through Jiang Yulou's mind: "It's good to be deep in the flowers, but no one in the world knows it. Half of the courtyard is shaded, and the old temple has three feet of grass. The autumn wind has never forgotten it, sweeping away the fallen leaves again. This place is wonderful Taoyuan, it’s just that people are getting old.”
Compared with this poem, perhaps the lyrics of that song are more well-known.
Thinking of this, he shook his head. The owner of this poem would not end well.
The alley is narrow and long, less than three meters wide, so the two of them can only get out of the car and push around. There are walls made of broken bricks on both sides of the alley. The south wall rarely gets sunlight and is covered with a thin layer of green moss. There are a few faint silver tracks crawling over the high places.
I turned a corner and felt a little more spacious as I walked in, but the walls on both sides were more broken.
Jiang Yulou looked at Wei Guoping sideways and said, "Are you sure this is here?"
"Yes, it's this alley?" Wei Guoping replied without knowing why.
Just as he was talking, the Paw Patrol team jumped out of the alley, not afraid of people at all, and ran past the two of them.
One of them, a local dog that looked particularly like an Akita dog, smiled stupidly at the two of them. Well, maybe he was laughing.
After laughing, the native dog raised its hind legs and peed in the corner, and then ran away with the paw team.
Wei Guoping asked uncertainly: "That dog...is it laughing at us?"
"If I want to laugh, I'll laugh at you. Let's go." Jiang Yulou looked at him with vacant eyes and said.
Starting from the East Lane of Huguo Temple in the east and ending at Xinjiekou South Street in the west, they are mostly small courtyards, but there are also some differences. For example, there is a primary school called Changqiao Primary School at the east end of the alley. It has a vermilion gate and a lavish plaque.
Apart from this place, there is nothing special about Baihua Deep.
The alley is not long, and you can reach the end in a short while by pushing along. The hutongs at this time were not interesting, and most of them were not much different from the shantytowns of later generations.
Jiang Yulou was no longer interested in shopping and urged Wei Guoping to quickly go to the house selling the courtyard house.
So Wei Guoping led the way, and not long after, he stopped in front of a door.
The exterior walls of this courtyard house are made of blue bricks. Each brick has been baptized by the years and presents a deep gray color. The bricks come in different sizes and shapes, but they fit together skillfully to form a strong and beautiful barrier.
Moss and vines grow intertwined on the wall, adding a bit of life to the wall. Moss covers the gaps between the bricks and stones, like nature's green paintbrush, bringing new life to this ancient wall. The vines climb along the wall, swaying in the sunlight, as if telling their story with the wall.
There are several signs of dilapidation in the corners of the wall, which are the marks of time.
On the top of the wall, there are rows of eaves and corners, which are the symbols of the courtyard. The corners of the eaves are curved upward, like an ancient bun, giving people a simple and elegant feeling.
Jiang Yulou looked at the outer wall and asked, "Is this the one?"
"Yes, how is it?" Wei Guoping said with a smile.
Jiang Yulou nodded and said, "Looking at the outer wall is fine."
"Bah bang bang." Wei Guoping knocked on the door.
Not long after, the door opened. There was an old woman with gray hair who stuck her head out. She glanced around and stopped at Wei Guoping. She asked in a kind voice: "It's Xiao Wei, and he's bringing someone to see the house for grandma." Already?"
"Grandma, no one has made an offer on your house yet, right?"
"not yet."
"That's good. I'll bring a friend to see it. He wants to buy it."
"oh?"
The old woman looked up and down, surprised by how young her friend Wei Guoping was.
However, she did not question it. Instead, she let the door open and said, "Come in and talk."
Jiang Yulou glanced at Wei Guoping and guessed the relationship between the two. But he is not a gossip, as long as he can achieve his goal.
He walked in with his head high and was faced with an arch. After entering the arch, he saw a small courtyard.
The layout of this courtyard is very similar to that of his courtyard in Jinyu Hutong, except that the area is significantly smaller.
But that’s normal. Siheyuan like the one in Jinyu Hutong is rare.
Although this is just a small courtyard house, it is much more spacious than a building.
Jiang Yulou nodded repeatedly. The yard was well preserved and almost ready for move-in.
He chatted with the old woman for a few more words, and then left together with Wei Guoping.
"How about it, have you fallen in love with it? Let me tell you, it's hard to find such a well-preserved courtyard house. Grandma Zhao is also my grandma's friend. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't introduce ordinary people to buy a house here."
"Okay, okay, but that old man..."
"Oh, don't worry. Grandma Zhao's son has also gone abroad now. He said he wanted to take the old lady there to enjoy the happiness. The old lady didn't want the yard to be empty, so she thought about selling it."
"oh……"
Jiang Yulou looked back and saw that the small courtyard was in the middle of the alley. There were no shops on either side, so it was quite quiet.
The more he looked at it, the more satisfied he became, and said, "You know the price, I'll buy it if it suits me."
"Is eight thousand okay?"
"Eight thousand is eight thousand. I won't bargain for your sake."
"Tsk, you are indeed a big dog owner."
Wei Guoping said without envy.
This cost less than 10,000 yuan, which was too slow. But when he thought about going to Xiangjiang in August, Jiang Yulou was not too keen on spending money quickly.
The alley in the depths of flowers is good. Later, there was a song that sang about this alley. I bought it now and sold it later...
Hey, why are you worried about taking action? Unless it is demolished, he won't sell it even if you beat him to death.
When he came out of the alley, Jiang Yulou's smile became even brighter.
Hey, this is still a good time. If it were later, it would not be so easy for him to buy a courtyard house.
It’s not that others aren’t selling, but that all the good properties have been picked out.
This trip is worth it!
