Chapter 15: How are high-rise residential buildings in foreign countries fire-proofed?
The next morning, Liucun had breakfast with us and took us to the car.
There were a lot of people outside who saw us get on the bus and got on too.
The car drove to a busy street market and turned a corner into an open area.
I got off the bus, and everyone else got off.
This group of people are the same group from last night. They all came over to shake my hand after getting off the car. But [OK] didn't come.
I looked at the open space. Except for a main road leading to the main street outside, it was surrounded by houses, which was like a courtyard.
Liucun introduced me: "Mr. Wan, this was a vacant lot before, but later a school and a farmers' market were built nearby. The land price went up. A real estate developer bought the land around mine and then came to negotiate with me to sell this piece of land to him.
This is simply a capitulation, forcing me to give up this land. I refused. However, I have several other plots of land under development, so I have kept this land vacant.
This is downtown, so someone should be buying a house there. I feel like you have something to hide."
Liucun said: "To be honest, there was a fire in a building nearby."
"Take me to see it."
Liucun took me around to the south, passed a house, and then walked forward. Sure enough, there was an 18-story building with traces of fire on the outer wall.
Liucun pointed upwards and explained, "Luckily, the fire was on the 15th floor, but it was quickly brought under control. No one was hurt. After the fire, people started talking about the fact that there was a temple to the God of Fire here in history. As a result, the remaining buildings of the developer before me are no longer selling."
He took me to see a few more buildings, and sure enough, the occupancy rates were not high.
I said nothing and walked back to the original open space.
The group of people in the open space were standing together, discussing something, and many people from nearby were standing around, pointing and talking at me.
I knew in my heart that these people must have heard that some great master had been invited, and they came to watch the fun.
When I reached the center of the clearing, everyone gathered around me.
I asked the crowd outside, "What was this piece of land I'm standing on used for?"
"Wasteland." Several people answered in unison.
I said, "No, historically it should be a big pond."
You looked at him, he looked at you. A man said, "I'll go ask."
Liucun said: "I am over 40 years old, and all I know is that this is a wasteland."
The person next to him added: "It can't be a pond. We are old residents and all we have seen since we were born is a wasteland."
After a while, an old man who was trembling as he walked came over with the help of a man, and everyone made way for him.
"Old man, was this land originally a pond?"
The old man looked me up and down with his cloudy eyes. After a long moment, he asked, "How do you know it's a pond?"
I smiled and said, "Old man, I asked you if you are a pond. As for how I know, I will tell you later."
The old man replied, "It's a pond. I filled it up when I was five."
Everyone was stunned.
I said to the people around me, "The Fire God Temple is in the south, and this piece of land is behind the Fire God Temple. According to the rules, a pond must be built behind the Fire God Temple. Since the north is associated with water, we built it here."
Everyone was confused when they heard this, after all, they didn't understand Feng Shui.
But Liucun understood a little, and he asked: "Mr. Wan, there can't be a pond behind the house, so why is it built here?"
I laughed and said, "That refers to the private homes of ordinary people. Temples are public property. Public property refers to the royal family, gardens, temples, and so on."
Liucun said: "I learned another trick."
I asked everyone, "Boss Liu is developing this piece of land. If any of you are looking to buy a house, would you like to come and buy one?"
Everyone laughed. They were too embarrassed to say it out loud in front of Liucun.
One of the women was brave enough. She didn't know Liucun anyway, so she said, "It's a good place, but we're afraid of a fire."
I stomped the ground: "Don't worry, this is the fire extinguishing pool of the Fire Temple."
Liucun asked, "Teacher Wan, what do you think of this Feng Shui?"
In front of everyone, I said, "Good feng shui."
Chunlai knew that I was dealing with the crowd, because they were all surrounded by us, so how could I talk about Feng Shui?
I ignored them and walked around the open space, no one knowing what I meant. Then, I suddenly stopped and said to Liucun:
"If you dig within six meters at this location and don't find a turtle, don't build a house. If you do find one, you can build without worry."
Everyone was already impressed when they told me there was a pond over there, but now when they heard me brazenly say that you could dig out a turtle from under it, they all looked at me.
Seeing that the time was right, I left without even paying any attention to Boss Liu.
This action made others think that I was a Taoist priest and it was not worthwhile for me to reason with this bunch of fools.
Chunlai followed me closely, Liucun ran up to catch up with me, and the group of onlookers also caught up to see where I was going.
Chunlai said to Liucun who had caught up with him, "Go drive back to the hotel."
Liucun ran, got in the car and started it. Chunlai opened the back door and let me get in, and then he sat in the passenger seat.
The car sped away, leaving behind a scene of astonishment.
Back in the room, Chunlai boiled water to make tea, and I began to draw and explain to Liucun.
I said, “When we got to that clearing, I heard you say there was a Fire Temple to the south, so I’ll keep an eye out for it when I get back.
According to the old rules, the place where the ground was to be broken was the center of the pond.
There's a rule for building a Fire God Temple: a large pond two meters square must be dug in the center, with a group of turtles raised inside. The pond is then covered with stone slabs.
“It’s been decades, is the turtle still there?”
"Yes, they are a group of them. They are old turtles that have lived for thousands of years. They can survive as long as there is water and soft mud. And I understand the properties of snakes and turtles. As soon as I see a place, I know there are turtles underground."
Liucun must ask for a way to find the turtle's land.
I said it again. He understood.
I said, "This is just the first step. Let everyone believe my words. Spread the word. Make sure you have the confidence to buy a house."
He and Chunlai stared at me and talked about the second step.
I drew another diagram and said, "We also need to solve the problem of residents' escape in the event of a real fire. Therefore, when you develop real estate in the future, you must change the structure of the buildings to ensure that even if a fire breaks out, at least no one will be harmed."
When they heard this, they were quite surprised and asked in unison: "How do you design it?"
I'll explain while drawing:
"Build a balcony on the south side. No matter how many floors you build, there's a manhole cover on the south balcony. That is, there's a square hole on the balcony. It's usually covered. There's a rope coiled under the manhole cover. In the event of a fire, every household can open the manhole cover and everyone can slide down, right?"
Liucun asked: "For example, if I live on the 18th floor, what should I do if no one is home on the 17th floor?
"Just move the manhole cover of his house yourself."
"Is this okay?"
"Okay. All new houses in Japan are designed like this."
Chunlai blurted out: "Master, you haven't been to Japan either."
I immediately opened TikTok and showed them the fire protection design of Japan's high-rise residential buildings and the escape drill scene.
They were both stunned. The entire building was evacuated in just five minutes. Even babies, strapped to their parents' chests, slid down.
Liucun said: "What you said is true. It's such a good method, why don't Chinese people learn it?"
I said, "Chinese people are very picky. They think such a nice house is not perfect if it has a manhole cover on the balcony. And they always have a lucky mentality. Will we encounter a fire?
Secondly, Chinese people have too many concerns. If a man on the 18th floor were to have an adulterous relationship with a woman on the 17th floor, how inconvenient would that be? What if a thief broke into the house and slid down from the 18th floor to the 17th floor?
They both laughed.
I said, "Such things are rare. Everything has its pros and cons. The Chinese people's pursuit of perfection actually leads to imperfections in every aspect.
The first is adultery, which I can't guarantee won't happen. But in a cold and aloof society where people don't even know their next-door neighbors, the likelihood of such a situation is almost zero.
What if the thief escapes to the 17th floor? If he has to move the cover of the 17th floor again, and everyone shouts, where can he escape to? He will only become a situation where everyone shouts and beats him.
Besides, its benefits extend beyond fire prevention. If criminals take hostages, the police can climb from the 17th floor to the 18th floor. In short, this depends on your publicity."
Yanagimura said: "I will send this video to my friends and listen to their opinions."
I said, "Boss Liu, I really hope you can take the lead, learn all the good things, and spread them. Some of us have a shortcoming: we see others' good points but don't learn from them.
Since you have money, why not do an experiment?
I can even predict that your future housing development will be like this. It's the same for a hundred years, the same for a thousand years, always finding new ways to make more money from the people. That won't do.
You're a businessman, so you need to be compassionate. If you lead by example and don't include the common area in the average apartment's area, coupled with the design I just mentioned, I can guarantee your house will sell."
Liucun was also somewhat moved and held my hand for a long time:
"Mr. Wan, I will definitely listen to you and be a person with feelings."
Our hands were clasped together tightly.
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