Chapter 81 Chapter 81 I might not pass the exam...
It took them some time to get from the back garden to the front, so Rong Bocen said, "I'll find you a doorman later."
Installing a doorbell won't help. It's such a big place, and it takes a long time just to walk there. Not to mention keeping it clean and tidy, it would be too difficult for two children.
Fang Tongjian shook his head and refused: "Just let the younger generation worry about this matter." Even though the girls have moved to the west courtyard now, they won't be exposed here, but they still have to be cautious about stationing people in their own courtyard.
Opening the two large wooden doors that had just been painted black, Fang Tongjian looked at the strange man outside: the man had gray hair and tried hard to straighten his hunched back, looking old and decrepit, but he was wearing brand new clothes. Fang Tongjian also had two pairs of leather shoes on his feet, which were bought for him by his senior brother. They were high-quality items that could only be bought in overseas Chinese stores, and each pair cost forty or fifty yuan.
His clothes fit him well, and he felt comfortable in them. He didn't mind the creases and dust on his shoes. He didn't have the habit of being timid when he suddenly became rich, which showed that he had lived a good life before.
Oh, this is a person whose property has been returned.
The two old men immediately understood what was going on. Fang Tongjian asked him, "Who are you? Why are you looking for my child?"
Tang Dongxie almost introduced himself as "Tang Liu" again, but after a pause he said, "I'm Tang Dongxie, I'm..."
Before he could finish, an oxcart swayed leisurely down the alley. Tang Dongxie's eyes welled up at the sight of the girl perched on the shaft. He ignored the two old men and quickly picked up his bulging briefcase from the ground and went to greet them. "...Hello!"
Lin Xinghuo had just turned into the alley when she heard Master Fang's voice. She already remembered who Tang Dongxie was. She hadn't heard the name before, but back in Tangwangzhuang, she'd heard Old Man Tang call his eldest son "Dongting" quite often. "Pavilions, terraces, towers, pavilions, corridors, and houses"—clearly, that's how the Tang family's older brothers were named.
"Master, Uncle, let's go home. We'll have dinner together when Ah Nian returns," Lin Xinghuo said loudly, not leading Tang Dongxie over. Her home on the west side was no smaller than Master's, nor was it as large as Fang Tongjian's garden. Instead, it had three formal courtyards in the north, with rooms already reserved for guests.
Generally, unfamiliar guests are received in the back room and do not need to be taken to the living room or small flower hall at the back.
Tang Dongxie, raised by his mother, a member of a wealthy silk family, was naturally well aware of this distinction between close and distant relatives, but he didn't think much of it. After all, his mother's family wasn't kind to him, and Tang Dongxie felt that his niece's willingness to let him in was a sign of good character. She was truly like her mother, discerning right from wrong and kind-hearted.
"I'm your uncle, Tang Dongxie." Tang Dongxie had a very good first impression of Lin Xinghuo, so he got straight to the point and said, "Our family has returned some assets, and I'll give you your share."
Lin Xinghuo was prepared for the Tang family's arrival. A few months ago, He Qing from Song County called her to tell her that Jing City was verifying the return of her parents' property and had called the county to request notification. Lin Xinghuo had then taken the initiative to visit the working group and signed a letter voluntarily relinquishing her inheritance. Neither the Lin nor the Tang family's possessions had anything to do with her. She might not have any close relatives in the Lin family, but she truly didn't want to mess with the Tang family.
"Do you have any objections to the document?" Lin Xinghuo asked. She thought that this was the only thing she had. The terms and conditions for removing the hat and returning it were extremely complicated, so it was probably because the signed note was too simple.
Tang Dongxie felt very uncomfortable. This kid really didn't care about that little property at all. He took a deep breath, took out two documents from his bag and pushed them in front of Lin Xinghuo.
The first piece of paper was Lin Xinghuo's handwritten declaration of voluntarily relinquishing her inheritance. The other, much thicker and slightly yellowed, was the suicide note of the deceased Tang family's grandmother, Grandma Lin. The note contained a wealth of information, truly taking every aspect into consideration. Of course, the most important was the "divorce agreement" attached at the end, which bore both a signature and a handprint.
Lin Xinghuo stared at the signature and red handprint of "Tang Sheng". Is this the signature and handprint of the shrewd Mr. Tang?
Tang Dongxie curled his lips and said, "This is one of them. I wrote three copies at the time. One has been handed in for archiving. Another is in the Tang Family Ancestral Hall in Tangwangzhuang. The last one was left to me by your grandmother."
This wasn't some perfect plan; twenty years ago, they'd predicted the return of the family property would happen. His mother was forced to sign it. His mother's sudden death that day wasn't just due to Tang Dongting's coercion and embarrassment, but also because of the knife the old man had stabbed into her heart.
When the news reached my mother that my sister and brother-in-law had an accident in Selangor Province, leaving behind only their daughter, the situation was dire. Mrs. Lin's background was a serious issue, and the entire Tang family was afraid of being implicated. It was then that Tang Sheng pressured her into signing a divorce. The niece was just an excuse for the old man, who promised my mother that if she signed, he would take Linlin and Qingyi's daughter home to raise her well. Faced with internal and external troubles, my mother, for the sake of her son and granddaughter, ultimately agreed.
But the old man was so cruel that he didn't even fulfill his mother's only request before her death in order to make his eldest son happy.
"...This suicide note has been confirmed and acknowledged. The things your grandmother left behind have nothing to do with the Tang family, and the Tang family's property has nothing to do with us. So don't worry, they won't come looking for you." Tang Dongxie smiled lightly, and a hint of brilliance appeared on his old face. If he didn't have to tear the Tang family apart, he wouldn't have come here now.
"Your aunt, your two cousins, and I now live at the innermost door of Chungui Alley." Tang Dongxie solemnly introduced himself again: "I am your uncle Tang Dongxie. Your grandmother wanted to name me 'Tang Donglin', but it didn't work out, so she gave the name to your mother. Your aunt is Huang Peixiang, and your two cousins are Huang Huanian, who is twelve, and Huang Maonian, who is nine..."
Both daughters took their mother's surname, and he repeatedly emphasized that he was their uncle, not their sixth uncle. What's so confusing about this? It's obvious that this brother, who shares the same mother as Tang Lin, is telling his niece that he is her only uncle.
Lin Xinghuo didn't look at the stack of papers with a bright red seal that Tang Dongxie had just brought out. Instead, he wondered why the already sickly eldest son of the Tang family was willing to let the duck fly away? These two handwritten letters, still from that era, could be interpreted in many ways.
Tang Dongxie pointed to several other small signatures and fingerprints on the divorce papers, all of which were surnamed Tang: "...At that time, he specially invited several elders of the Tang family in the village to be witnesses. Many of these people are still alive and cannot deny it...I found someone to authenticate these two signatures and fingerprints of your grandmother..." In other words, his mother passed away quickly, and the Tang family moved back to the village. No relative with the surname Tang in the village would use his mother's background to criticize her, so the old man had no chance to use this divorce paper.
It’s not easy. Lin Xinghuo carefully put the materials back on the table.
It was indeed not easy. Fingerprint and handwriting identification could only be done by the government, and only government-issued certificates were valid. Looking back now, Tang Dongxie wondered how he managed to survive those days of hitting a wall and begging for help. Fortunately, even his father and five brothers looked down on him, a "simple-minded" brother who had been hunched over by pressure at such a young age. No one was wary of him, let alone cared about him. He had been in the city for over half a month, and no one at the old house noticed he was away.
While the six families of father and son were holding meetings one after another to argue about how to divide the huge amount of property, and Qing was waiting for the city to notify them to sign and receive the money and house, Tang Dongxie, dressed in rags, squatted at the entrances of various units, bowing and crying to people, asking them to seek justice. He ate a bag of bran food he brought from home, drank water from the ditch, and slept at the foot of the wall at night... Fortunately, the lawsuit was handled by a poor person, because he had to persevere and work his way out, and finally got all his mother's things into his own hands.
"Your grandmother didn't have so many thoughts. She just wanted to donate these properties to get some protection from the government for your parents and me, so they changed their names to ours." She originally wanted to follow the Tang family's "amulet", but she didn't expect that after transferring the properties to her brothers and sisters and cousin, the father and son of that family were not seriously implicated after the movement started. Especially since the eldest brother Tang Dongting said so well that day, saying that he had already drawn a clear line with his stepmother, and the whole Tangwangzhuang knew that he had a bad relationship with his stepmother... Fortunately, now there is a turn of events, and he has finally got back the twenty years of grievances he suffered!
Fortunately, the divorce papers the old man had drafted were draconian, identical to the ones his eldest son had written, drawing a clear line between them and the family. He feared the Lin family would be implicated, and he'd pushed the troubled assets onto his mother. Tang Dongxie still remembered standing by the window, listening to the old man's euphemistically say, "For the sake of the sixth son, one of his parents has to be good, right? The cleaner I am, the better for the sixth son..." His mother was too ill to get out of bed, and even her tears couldn't soften the old man's heart. Tang Dongting stood at the doorway listening, sneering at him as he listened.
In fact, most of these properties were indeed brought by my mother from the Lin family, and they were changed to her name and the name of my sister and brother-in-law a few years ago. But the old man didn't know about it at the time, and my mother was full of regret for this matter at that time, thinking that it was her impulse that harmed her children... She didn't dare to tell the old man at this time, for fear that the old man would become heartless and directly divide her family out, and their entire family's background would be cleared.
Tang Dongxie admitted that his mother had been hiding her secrets from the old man in this matter, and that she had indeed taken advantage of the Tang family's favor to protect her nephew from her mother's side, and had indeed squeezed out the eldest son of the Tang family... Before she died, she cried "tit for tat", saying that her father and brother were unreliable and that she, the only son, must be humble and humble.
Tang Dongxie patted his waist quietly and laughed at himself. He listened to his mother and bent down to be a yes-man for his father and brothers for twenty years, which made his spine hunched. This was how his family survived all these years under the watchful eyes of his five brothers.
There were things he couldn't tell his niece, and no one could take them away. But the tears he'd accumulated over the past twenty years were too bitter, so bitter that when his new neighbors asked him why he was so old and had such a small child, he didn't know how to answer. If he told them that he and his wife didn't dare have a child because they were afraid his uncle wouldn't tolerate it, nine out of ten people would probably not believe him, right? And he couldn't even mention that after his mother, his first wife, who had been married off with a dowry worth ten miles, died, the old man tacitly allowed her to be trampled under the feet of the previous wife... On the night of his mother's burial, Tang Dongxie endured the excruciating pain and hatred and dug out his mother's urn with his own hands. He would rather be unfilial than let his mother rest in peace.
"Where are your parents buried?" Tang Dongxie asked.
He said casually, "Your grandmother divorced a long time ago, so it's not appropriate to bury her in the Tang family's ancestral tomb... Although your grandmother gave birth to your mother and me, she actually loved your father the most... I wanted her to be closer to your parents."
Lin Xinghuo was silent for a moment, then asked him to come to the back: "You... please come this way."
The courtyard houses in this alley are of an older style, their gates not located in the center but in the southeast corner. Consequently, the east side of the gate has only two rooms, while the other side has six. In the past, wealthy families often separated the gate and the two east rooms into a separate courtyard for entertaining guests. If a visitor came in, they would only see this small courtyard, without compromising their privacy.
The door separating this separate courtyard from other houses is called a "screen door". Tang Dongxie saw his niece push open the rough wooden door with double copper rings, and what came into view was an extremely warm color - as soon as you entered the yard to the west of the back house, there were many sunflowers with bright flower disks planted. The yard was connected from beginning to end, not as cramped as the ordinary courtyards, but very spacious and grand. The back houses seemed to be connected, the doors and windows were opened very wide and bright, and there were white transparent plastic curtains hanging on the doors.
There are flower trees and Taiping jars in the four corners of the yard. Lotus flowers and koi fish are raised in the jars. On the opposite west wall, a bamboo platform as high as two steps is built. On it is a small bamboo table with soft and plump pillows and round cushions scattered on it. There is also a tea set on the small table that has not been put away... Tang Dongxie stood under the screen door and felt that the inside and outside were like two different worlds.
This courtyard was mostly used by spirits like Ling Hu and Fang Hui. They were particularly interested in the row of back rooms that Wu Nian had built, resembling a cowshed. That's why they didn't go in. Otherwise, the wooden floors of the connected rooms were covered in straw nests here and there, which would have been surprising. However, entering wasn't easy. The entire courtyard was restricted, and ordinary people couldn't even lift the beaded curtain made of water jade.
The gate between the first and second entrances is called the "Duohua Gate," a highly elaborate feature of traditional courtyard houses, also known as the "Second Gate." Lin Xinghuo's gate is of the old style, a red-lacquered, painted, and carved wooden structure with lotus-shaped columns. The only difference is that hers is wrapped around two delicate vines, extending from a flowerbed within the wall. A red dragonfly sleeps on the vines.
Lin Xinghuo gently pulled the flower vine, and the dragonfly did not fly away. Instead, it hid behind a green leaf that looked very much like a lotus leaf.
Tang Dongxie patted his head and suddenly remembered that this flower seemed to be called "nasturtium". This flower had fat leaves and beautiful flowers. It once grew wildly on the hillside behind Tangwangzhuang Dam, like a nasturtium pond on dry land. His cousin had not married his sister at that time, and he often took him there to pick a bunch of flowers to make Linlin happy.
Tang Dongxie's Adam's apple moved and his eyes turned red again.
But after passing the hanging flower gate and walking on the winding corridor, Tang Dongxie felt that his eyes were not enough. This courtyard was too well preserved. The royal palaces he had played in as a child were not as bright as this one.
But he didn't ask. Firstly, he didn't have the right position to do so. Secondly, he felt that this courtyard must have been the work of Mr. Fang next door. The Fang family was more famous than the Silk Forest. The key was that they were a family of scholars, a circle that even the Lin family could not climb into.
"This originally had two courtyards, but after the abandoned house at the back was merged in, it became three courtyards." Lin Xinghuo finally found something to say.
The urns of Lin Qingyi and his family of three were temporarily placed in the east room on the second floor of the third building. Lin Xinghuo had originally planned to bury them in the Lin family's ancestral tomb back home in Jiangsu Province. Although he had few relatives there, the Lin family's hill was still there. When land became available, Lin Xinghuo planned to take over the barren hill, repair the half-collapsed ancestral hall, and then send the family back home.
But it was obvious that Tang Dongxie didn't think so. He touched the box wrapped in bright yellow silk cloth belonging to his sister and brother-in-law, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. He opened and closed his mouth, muttering to himself, and tears fell down in strings.
Lin Xinghuo quickly moved away, leaving him space.
Tang Dongxie sat down in front of the long table, crying and laughing. After a long while, he tried hard to straighten his back which had been unconsciously hunched. He noticed that there was an uninscribed tablet on the long table, and he couldn't help but feel sad. Is this the tablet that his niece set up for her grandmother?
It has to be said that as long as people like someone, they will always think well of her and unconsciously beautify her... This is what Tang Dongxie did to his niece who felt deeply guilty.
Tang Dongxie wasn't like Fang Tongjian, who, despite all the hardships, retained a pure heart. His feelings for Lin Xinghuo were a combination of the deep affection he inherited from his biological mother, sister, and cousin, but also mingled with the Tang family's characteristically calculated, self-serving calculations. Not only had Old Man Tang failed to fulfill his promise to Madam Lin, but Tang Dongxie had also failed to live up to the vow he had made while kneeling at his mother's bedside. It was he who had cowardly refused to take his niece back; it was he who hadn't dared to meet her when she had sought refuge at Tangwang Manor a few years earlier; and it was he who was tormented daily by guilt and remorse.
Tang Dongxie knew that the person who had wronged the child the most wasn't the old man, but himself, who was close to both his sister and cousin. Therefore, the property he gave to Lin Xinghuo accounted for 80% of the return.
"...I don't want to." No matter how much eagerness the man in front of him had in his eyes, Lin Xinghuo couldn't call him uncle on behalf of another person.
Lin Xinghuo smiled and stated her thoughts directly: "First, I don't want to get involved with Tangwangzhuang. If I get involved with these things, they'll definitely come looking for me." After all, Old Man Tang couldn't possibly be unaware of the location of these properties. Tang Dongxie had been able to get his address from the working group, so they'd be able to find it sooner or later. The Tang family, with its vacillating but self-righteous patriarch, was truly a mess, ready to get involved.
Tang Dongxie waved his hands anxiously, but eventually his shoulders slumped weakly. The kid was right. He had given Tang Dongting a good beating earlier, scaring the rest off, and only then had a few days of peace and quiet. Yes, the official divisions were very clear, and these things were theirs, but in private, everyone had a mouth to feed, and the right and wrong of all these years were hard to explain.
"Secondly, I don't lack these." Lin Xinghuo pulled Master Fang's tiger skin, pointed to the beautiful house of Tang Dongxie at her feet, of which she could only see a corner, and said: "I still have my master, the villagers in the village... I have a whole family to take care of, young and old, and I really can't spare any time." "Can't spare any time" was a polite remark, which means that she had no intention of finding relatives and resuming her activities.
In the end, Lin Xinghuo gave Tang Dongxie some comfort: "No matter how much it is, consider it as... the contribution for buying the land and building the tomb. I will have to trouble you for maintenance and repairs in the future." She paused deliberately, and this pause represented the little girl whose name was unknown and who had died early.
Tang Dongxie nodded. After returning the property, he seemed to have regained some of the dignity of a large family that he had forgotten over the years. Without any unseemly entanglement, he calmly accepted his niece's rejection and alienation: "That's fine. In fact, the most important thing I need to return is the house. I can't live in it, but there's no reason to give it to my enemy... I'll go back and find some poor families, let them live in and look after the house, just as a good deed... These courtyards and houses are right there, you can go and use them when you need them, I'll give them a heads up..."
He left behind a piece of paper with detailed information about the properties.
There was also a certificate similar to Grandma Lin's suicide note, which had not only his signature and fingerprint, but also those of Aunt Huang and his two sisters, as well as the seal of the Beijing Notary Office.
This is what he quietly placed under his sister and brother-in-law's urns.
Fang Tongjian flicked at the papers and for a moment he didn't know how to evaluate his little apprentice's "uncle" who was cowardly and proud, affectionate and selfish, soft-hearted and arbitrary.
If you don't like to judge, then don't judge. Ever since seeing the girl's fox ears, Fang Tongjian's secret worries about his apprentice being snatched away by an outsider family have completely disappeared, and he no longer hates the Tang family as much as before. Why bother with people who have nothing to do with him? The old man is so free and easy.
But the free and easy old man became angry after talking to his beloved apprentice.
"What did you say?" Fang Tongjian's eyes widened. "You want to take the agronomy exam?"
Even if he didn't apply to his and his senior's alma mater, he should have chosen the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Why did this kid become so obsessed with farming?
Fang Tongjian treated his apprentice so well, was he trying to show off to his old friend? Especially the little skills passed down in his family, the ancient symbol tattoo girl Xinghuo learned very well! Fang Tongjian originally thought that if his apprentice was determined to choose this major, he would not be opposed to accepting the letter of offer from his old friend. Anyway, he was worried about letting the girl be taught by another half-baked person.
"Don't get excited." Lin Xinghuo said honestly, "Those schools you mentioned are too good. I might not be able to get in."
"Impossible!" Old Man Fang waved his hands decisively.
Without mentioning him as her master, the girl's talent is one in a hundred. Having a photographic memory is a piece of cake for her. How could she fail the exam?
Lin Xinghuo touched her nose. She recalled the helpless look on the face of the old Party Secretary of Buxiantun when his niece-in-law, a teacher in the county town, was tutoring her in writing. In an instant, the voice of "Be more emotional!" echoed in her ears again.
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The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2023-12-14 23:50:00 and 2023-12-20 23:00:00~
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