Rebirth in 1958: Getting rich starts from Nanluoguxiang

A little girl who was about the same age as my sister couldn't compete with other children to play skipping rope. She jumped and cried anxiously.

Qin Dabao walked over with a smile, picked up the little girl, wiped her cat-like face, and said softly: "Don't cry, brother will give you some candy, okay?"

The little girl grinned and nodded, crying: "Not cheating on silver? Wo Qi."

Qin Dabao took out two pieces of candy from the messenger bag, peeled one and put it into the little girl's mouth. The little girl clapped her hands with joy.

An old lady came over, took the little girl, and said with a smile: "Xiao Ya, thank you, brother?"

The little girl stuck out her tongue and said, "Thank you, Guoguo."

Qin Dabao gently pinched her little face. After two lifetimes, he still couldn't change his habit of liking children.

"Young man, are you from the front alley?"

"Yes, Auntie, I'm from the front lane, and I'm here to look for Master Lei who's repairing the house."

"Oh, it's for my old man. Okay, wait, little girl, go call grandpa and tell him someone is looking for him."

The little girl responded and ran away quickly. The old lady squatted down and picked up the corn kernels on the ground one by one and put them into her apron. In this era, no one wasted food.

Master Lei was not as burly as Qin Dabao had imagined. Instead, he looked very elegant, with gray hair, reading glasses hanging on the tip of his nose, a triangle ruler and a pencil in his hands, and was dragged out by his granddaughter with a smile on his face.

Qin Dabao extended his right hand: "Hello, Master Lei."

Master Lei was stunned. He didn't expect that the person looking for him was a handsome young man. Qin Dabao looked very much like his mother. Coupled with the transformation of the space and the nourishment of the spiritual well water, Qin Dabao now has all the charm of a pretty boy in later generations.

Master Lei shook hands with Qin Dabao: "Ah, hello, are you looking for me?"

"Yes, Master Lei, Director Wang from the Subdistrict Office asked me to come to you. My house needs renovations."

Upon hearing that it was Director Wang who introduced him, Master Lei's smile widened: "Oh, great. Your house needs renovations. Do you want major changes? Or just minor ones?"

Now that famine is about to come, not many people want to repair their houses. Master Lei makes a living by this skill. No work means no income, so he was very excited when he heard that there was work.

"I want to do a major renovation. I want to do everything except changing the structure of the house. But it's winter now, so some outdoor work can't be done, so I'll start with the inside."

Master Lei became even more excited when he heard this. This craftsman was most afraid of taking on jobs that required minor changes and not being able to use his abilities. When he heard that it was a big job, he was itching to do it.

"Great move, great move. Where is your home? How big is it?"

"My house is at No. 95, Qianxiang. It has two main rooms and one side room."

"Oh, that's not small." Aside from the capitalists and the elderly, few people in the old capital could afford a whole courtyard. Two main rooms and a side room were considered good, and what about families with more than a dozen people living in one room? If a couple wanted to continue their family lineage, the whole family would have to wait outside. Don't be embarrassed, don't disbelieve it, this is the truth.

"Wait a minute, I'll get some things and go to your house to measure it."

The little girl jumped up and down and wanted to go with her grandfather. Master Lei thought it was not far, so he took her with him.

When we arrived at Nanluoguxiang, many people knew Master Lei and greeted him.

Entering the courtyard, Master Lei couldn't help but sigh: "Oh, this courtyard has a history. During the Republic of China, Li Hongzhang's nephew Li Jingwu once lived here, and later Duan Qirui's cousin Duan Qijia also lived here.

This courtyard is a three-courtyard building, a standard quadrangle in Beijing.

Now that there are more houses, they have all been built.

Look at this hanging flower gate, which is between the middle courtyard and the back yard. The old saying "don't go out of the main gate and don't go through the second gate" refers to this gate.

The north room in the backyard is the main room, the bedroom is to the east of the north room, the northeast corner is the toilet, and the southeast corner is the kitchen. North is the top and belongs to water, while south is the bottom and belongs to fire, so people say "go to the toilet" and "go to the kitchen."

"But this toilet has been demolished a long time ago, otherwise everyone in the yard would come to the backyard to use the toilet, and this backyard would be uninhabitable." The old man talked endlessly when talking about architecture.

Master Lei came into the house, opened his tool kit, and started to use a ruler to count. Qin Dabao couldn't help, so he just hugged the little girl in the yard and chatted. You know what, this little girl is quite a chatterbox.

It took more than 20 minutes for Master Lei to come out of the house.

Qin Dabao took out a cigarette from his bag and handed it to Master Lei. Master Lei saw that it was a Zhonghua cigarette, hesitated for a moment, then took it and clamped it between his ears. It was a good cigarette and he was reluctant to smoke it.

Qin Dabao took out his notebook from his bag and discussed it in detail with Master Lei. He already had a plan in his mind, and now it was more intuitive to draw it out.

Master Lei is an expert. After listening to Qin Dabao's design plan, his hands were not idle either. They drew out the composition.

"These are not difficult, but I still need to find some materials for the bathroom. The drainage is easy to deal with. There was originally a toilet in this yard, but it was later demolished and blocked.

Beams? No problem, my junior brother still has some nanmu wood, enough for repairing the house."

Qin Dabao was overjoyed when he heard this. Oh my god, golden nanmu? This is rare. In another thirty years, these nanmu trees will be worth a lot of money.

The drainage system of the old capital must be properly managed. Especially in the south part of the city, whenever it rains heavily, the water will flow back through the three front gates. On average, there will be a flood every two years, which will cause houses to collapse.

Nanluoguxiang is a little better, but it's just a little better.

"Xiao Qin, what are you going to lay on the floor of this room?"

"I don't quite understand this, Master Lei. I see other people's houses use blue bricks to pave the ground."

"Blue bricks are not good. How about this, I have some gold bricks, I'll give them to you."

"Gold bricks?" Qin Dabao was shocked. He was certainly not so naive as to think that they were bricks made of gold, but isn't it true that paving the floor with gold bricks is only found in the Forbidden City?

Master Lei smiled: "Don't be afraid, gold bricks is just a name. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the capital was moved to Beijing. At that time, there was an imperial kiln in Lumu, Suzhou, and the bricks fired there were called gold bricks. However, the gold bricks I have saved are not from the Forbidden City, but from the Old Summer Palace." That's no problem. The Old Summer Palace has become a ruin, and many people go there to scratch things when they build houses, and no one cares.

"Great, let's use gold bricks."

"This fireplace is also easy to find, but we don't have new ones, only ones that are 80% new, and the price is not expensive."

"No problem, Master Lei, how much would you charge for the labor and materials?"

Master Lei calculated: "The total cost is 800 yuan. The three of us can finish the work in half a month."

This price was the highest in that era, and it was the price for meticulous craftsmanship.

Qin Dabao pondered for a moment: "Master Lei, I'm sorry, you won't make much money at this price. So, I'll give you 1,000, but can the construction be done faster?"

Master Lei was overjoyed. Although this young boss was not a wealthy man, he was very generous. He was most willing to work for such a family, as they were straightforward and magnanimous.

"Okay, I'll find two more people and finish the job in ten days."

Qin Dabao took out five hundred yuan and gave it to Master Lei. This was the deposit, and the rest would be given after the work was completed.

It was agreed that they would start work tomorrow, so Master Lei was about to take Xiao Ya back home. Xiao Ya ate Qin Dabao's candy and was reluctant to leave.

Qin Dabao was also quite fond of Xiaoya, so he stuffed two more candies into her mouth, raised his head and said with a smile: "Master Lei, when do you think we can start working?"

Master Lei is a very straightforward person and doesn't hesitate at all. The alleys in front and behind are not far from each other, so they can be considered neighbors.

"Let's do it tomorrow. The sooner we finish it, the better."