Chen Xingling drove Ma Dali into the old residential area, turning left and right, and they were almost at the gate of the Liao Family Ancestral Hall.
"Over there!" Ma Dali pointed, "Turn into that alley and it's about thirty meters away."
Chen Xingling rode his bike steadily and kept moving forward after turning into the alley.
Ma Dali shouted, "We're here! That three-room old house in front is it!"
Chen Xingling braked and put his long legs on the ground.
Ma Dali jumped down quickly.
The house was a traditional old-style building in Chongqing, with a small courtyard in front, a square patio inside, a spacious hall and two side rooms. The house looked a bit old, at least 30 or 40 years old.
Ma Dali went forward and knocked on the door, shouting, "Uncle Liao! Uncle Liao!"
After a while, an old man in his sixties came out of the side room. He was wearing a green shirt and was slowly waving a palm-leaf fan in his hand.
Chen Xingling took a closer look and guessed that this person was Uncle Liao.
The reason was nothing else but that the shirt he was wearing was a thin South Asian-style shirt that many older overseas Chinese liked. It was cool and not too trendy.
Uncle Liao saw Ma Dali and recognized him immediately.
"Hey! Xiao Ma is here! You said you would come in the afternoons these past two days, and I was just wondering if you would come."
Ma Dali smiled naively and quickly introduced himself.
"This is Chen Xingling. We will both go to school at Yucheng University. We are old classmates and good friends. The garden you like is hers."
Uncle Liao looked at Chen Xingling and then smiled.
"I like your little garden. I'm old now, and I don't dare go out in the morning or afternoon when it's hot. I only go out for a walk in the morning and evening when it's cool. Last time I walked along the river, I saw the little garden at a glance. It's very unique."
Chen Xingling never likes to beat around the bush, so he asked Uncle Liao directly whether he also wanted to build a similar garden.
"Actually, my land is a little small, and there's not enough space for building. If it could be half as big, or a little bit bigger, it would look better after it's built."
Uncle Liao glanced at her and smiled: "Girls who study are different. They are brave and speak with a loud voice."
Ma Dali smiled in a simple and embarrassed manner and whispered, "She...she is more straightforward and generous than many men."
Chen Xingling laughed and said, "I was telling the truth. That piece of land was bought by my fourth brother and given to me. It's only six rooms wide. Fortunately, Shuiyue Road is a big road, and each family can have a yard several meters wide. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to build a house like this today."
"Yeah." Uncle Liao gestured and said proudly, "I have two acres of land over there."
Chen Xingling thought about it and said, "That's not much wider."
"There is a yard, too." Grandpa Liao explained, "It's about six meters wide. The land is square and flat, and it's a rare residential plot in the east of the city."
Chen Xingling asked again: "Uncle, how wide do you want it to be?"
"You have two rooms, right?" Grandpa Liao pointed with three fingers, "I need three rooms. My children are all overseas and haven't come back. I don't need such a spacious house when I live alone. But I'm used to living in spacious places abroad and I like big places. I'm not young anymore, and I may have to go to heaven to worship Buddha one day. My children can live here when they come to take care of me, and my grandchildren will know that they have a big garden and ancestral house in their hometown. When they miss it, they can say that it was built when the old man was alive. That way it won't look shabby."
All three of them laughed.
Grandpa Liao patted his wrinkled face and joked, "I am born to care about my reputation. I was very competitive when I was young, and now that I am old, I still don't want to fall behind others. You said that a young girl like you can live in such a beautiful garden, so how can I be willing to live in such an old house, right?"
The three of them burst into laughter again.
Ma Dali looked at Lai Dian curiously and asked, "Uncle, is this also your ancestral home? As far as I know, everyone around here has the surname Liao."
"That's right." Grandpa Liao explained: "This is the territory of the descendants of the Liao family. I built this house when I was young and looking for a wife several decades ago. It's about forty years old."
Ma Dali asked suspiciously, "This is the north of the city. Why are you buying land in the east of the city? It would take at least ten or twenty minutes to get here, right?"
"It will take at least 20 minutes if I move slowly." Uncle Liao sighed with a wry smile: "I want to move over there for two reasons...but if you accompany me like an older brother."
Chen Xingling asked in a gentle voice: "Old friend?"
Grandpa Liao nodded and said, "It's a long story! This guy is closer to me than my own relatives. I have known him for more than 40 years. When I was young, there were wars everywhere in the country. There were often dead bodies lying in the corners of the streets and alleys. Every day I was hungry and fished for something to eat on the river beach. If I saw an unknown stranger coming, I would immediately dive into the river or the sea to hide."
"At that time, many people fled to Southeast Asia. I also wanted to follow them, but unfortunately my family was so poor that we couldn't afford a boat ticket. Later, someone said that someone in the east of the city knew how to sneak onto the ship without a ticket, so I quickly went to find them. It turned out that two young men in the east of the city planned to swim onto the ship in the middle of the night and hide secretly in the big chimney of the foreign ship, and then climb out when the ship was about to leave. Although it was a bit dangerous, it was a good idea. I begged them to take me with them at night. If we could successfully get to the Nanyang Rubber Plantation together, I would give them the first money I earned."
"The foreign ship docked at night and the tide was high. It was so dangerous to go out to sea! Fortunately, I was a good swimmer. I had a few gourds and melons tied to my body. I also helped guide the two brothers halfway. Finally, I swam to the side of the ship. After climbing on the ship, I hid in the big chimney while the sailors were not paying attention."
"The three of us nearly froze to death in the middle of the night, but we kept each other warm by breathing air, and finally waited until the next afternoon for the ship to sail. As soon as the charcoal stove was lit, smoke came out of the chimney, and we quickly climbed out. If we fell, we would be burned to ashes. At that time, there were passengers coming and going on the ship, and we hid from one person to another until we arrived in Southeast Asia after several days. We were so hungry that we were just skin and bones, with no good meat on our bodies. We wandered around in many places, and finally found a place to stay and work."
"The three of us worked to earn money, but at first we could only make enough to eat. After a few years, we finally saved a small amount of money, and then I took a boat back to Yucheng. My two brothers didn't come back because their relatives were killed by the Japanese. They felt that they had no relatives and no home, so there was no point in coming back. At that time, my parents were still alive, and I missed them in my heart, so I packed a few clothes and came back."
Then, pointing to the old house, the old man introduced: "After I came back, I built this old house, married a wife, and settled down. At that time, the country was not stable yet, and I could not make money. I couldn't bear to see my wife and children starve, so I went south to make money. At that time, my two elder brothers contracted a rubber plantation and did a great job, so they took me with them. Not long after, I built a house there. I heard that the country was still in chaos, so I came back to bring my wife and children to live with me."
"What happened next?" Ma Dali listened attentively, smiled naively, and asked, "Uncle, have you ever been in the rubber business? I heard that the quality of rubber from Nanyang is very good!"
"No." Uncle Liao shook his head. "I was working in the rubber plantation when I was young. Later, I made money by buying and selling fishing boats. The two brothers in the rubber plantation married local women one after another. The elder brother had six or seven children, but the younger brother had none. Later, my wife passed away, and my children each started their own families. I always felt lonely, so I packed my bags and returned to my hometown. I have been guarding this old house by myself for almost five years."
There are overseas Chinese in many places in Chongqing. During the peak period, nearly half of the people in Huiqiao Fishing Village, Chen Xingling's hometown, were young people. Therefore, she and Uncle Liao almost had the same topic and chatted very harmoniously.
Grandpa Liao explained: "Two years ago, an old man from the east of the city also came back. His wife had passed away, he had no children, and he had nothing but money. He heard that the Chongqing government was very caring towards old overseas Chinese and gave them many preferential measures, so he decided to return to his hometown. The old man bought a piece of land in the east of the city and built a big house, but unfortunately the place was spacious but he had no one to keep him company, so he would come here to find me from time to time. There was a piece of vacant land next to his house, so I wanted to go there and keep him company."
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