Ye Qingqing and Lu Mo had arrived in Sheng County. They had driven for nearly three hours on the winding mountain road. There were many small villages halfway up the mountain, with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. They could also see children playing by the roadside and elderly people sitting in the sun, creating a peaceful and tranquil scene.
Despite the bumpy mountain road, Zhang Zhengrong and Zou Hanqiu were in high spirits, always sticking their heads out to admire the scenery. Towering Torreya trees lined the roadside, standing on the edge of cliffs, their trunks thick and their canopies like giant umbrellas.
Zou Hanqiu didn't stop the whole way. He was a photography enthusiast, and seeing such beautiful scenery, he couldn't resist snapping photos incessantly. His wife, standing beside him, looked at him like he was a child, her eyes as gentle as water.
Because Zou Hanqiu wanted to take photos, he kept stopping and starting, which took a lot of extra time on the road. By the time he arrived in Shengxian, it was already lunchtime. Mrs. Zou's hometown is a small town surrounded by mountains. Her old house is halfway up the mountain, where her relatives live. The house has become more lively, and although it looks a bit old, it is not damaged and instead has a more homely atmosphere.
The house is a typical large courtyard house in this area, with a two-story attic. Except for the brick floor, the upper floors are all wooden planks. The floor on the first floor is solid mud, which has become as hard and flat as cement over the years and reflects light.
The courtyard houses more than a dozen families, arranged in a square with a large open space in the middle. In the summer, the families would bring their bowls to the open space to eat, chatting as they ate. A meal would be finished quickly, creating a lively atmosphere.
However, these old-fashioned courtyards are now rare. Rural areas are now building small villas, and many old houses have been demolished and rebuilt. But the government has preserved some of these old houses in order to preserve history.
Madam Zou's family was a wealthy family. This large courtyard had dozens of rooms and they also owned hundreds of acres of land. If they hadn't gone to Hong Kong early on, her family would have definitely suffered. Several of Madam Zou's uncles suffered greatly because they didn't go.
Of the dozens of rooms, only about ten remained. The rest were given to other people. Mrs. Zou's family only had two rooms, which Mrs. Zou's parents gave to relatives who were short of housing, without charging them a penny, only asking them to take good care of the rooms.
"Oh my... it's just like when I was a child, nothing has changed. Look... the words on this pillar are still there, decades have passed, and they're still there..."
Mrs. Zou, as if she had discovered a new continent, pointed at the wooden pillars in the corridor, laughing and crying at the same time. Everyone crowded around to look, and they saw many words carved on them, the handwriting somewhat childish, probably written by different people. Mrs. Zou was referring to a sentence—
"Grandpa is a big bad guy, he's lost all his beard!"
Zou Hanqiu read it aloud softly, beaming with delight. Madam Zou blushed and explained with a smile, "My grandfather was extremely strict. He stipulated that all the children in the family had to write three calligraphy practice sheets every day, and they had to write neatly. If they didn't write well, he would hit their palms. That day, my grandfather hit my palms and punished me by not letting me eat dinner. Everyone else in the family was eating inside, but I was standing outside as punishment. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I carved this sentence..."
Ye Qingqing was also amused. She never expected that the gentle and demure Madam Zou would be so mischievous as a child!
Zou Hanqiu took a picture of the precious pillar, gently patted his wife's shoulder, whose eyes were brimming with tears, and said softly, "Go to Grandpa's grave later and tell him that you are doing well now and that your family is doing well too."
Madam Zou nodded vigorously, wiping away her tears. She had no choice but to support her father-in-law when she was young. She had only thought her grandfather was too strict and a rigid old man who was not cute at all. Now she was grateful for his strictness, which gave her a solid foundation in classical literature. Unfortunately, her father-in-law was no longer alive. Her biggest regret was that she had not been able to properly take care of him.
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