Since ancient times, Tong County, Beijing has been the hub of trade between the north and the south. It is known as Tongzhou between the north and the south together with Suzhou Nantong. It is precisely because of the importance of this place in the ancient north and the south trade routes that a large number of merchants gather here. Even if they did not live here for a long time, they would build some temporary houses here to serve as a reception for merchants from the south and the north. In order to demonstrate their strength and heritage, the owners of the houses will build the houses extremely luxuriously. Almost all the characteristic buildings in ancient China can be seen here. However, the preferences of people in recent years have made most of the buildings here mainly focus on Su-style gardens that combine north and south, which can not only allow northerners to appreciate the landscape atmosphere of the south, but also allow southerners to feel the style of the north and the frontier. The Chen family courtyard is one of the best.

In the past, the Chen Family Courtyard was a famous mansion among the people of Tong County, covering an area of ​​hundreds of hectares, hundreds of houses, thousands of servants, and countless various rare antiques. Many people who have visited the Chen Family Courtyard think that the owner of the Chen Family Courtyard is probably built according to the Grand View Garden written by Cao Xueqin. As for who the owner of the Chen Family Courtyard is, most people only know that it is a family in the south, and few people know the more specific content.

Although the Chen family courtyard was extremely luxurious, after experiencing the turmoil of China this 70s, the Chen family courtyard was completely ruined. The owner of the courtyard had left China after the founding of the country and handed over the courtyard to the former servants of the Chen family to take care of. The various antiques, calligraphy and paintings in the courtyard were either taken away by the Chen family or donated to the country. The remaining ones that were despised were also fallen into the pockets of the servants at home.

In the various movements after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chen Family Courtyard was reclaimed as a typical feudal corruption. However, at this time, more than a hundred families had lived in the Chen Family Courtyard for many years, most of which were servants of the Chen Family. In terms of social identity, they were oppressed and poor people. Therefore, the government could not allow them to move out and demolish the Chen Family Courtyard, so they could only let them continue to live here. Later, it was transformed into a small community alley, and dozens of families were stuffed into it. Finally, it became a very crowded courtyard like this. Also, due to the increase in the population of residents, the original houses were no longer enough. Later, the people who moved in could only transform some gardens into small courtyards. After many renovations, the Chen Family Courtyard was completely unrecognizable and no longer had the temperament and elegance of the past.

Chen Jingde lives in the southeast corner of the Chen Family Courtyard. It was originally the largest garden of the Chen Family Courtyard, but no houses were built for people to live in. When he moved here, he and his family had to build their own houses. Now the four-bedroom courtyard they live in can be said to be built by him.

The reason why he did not live in the northwest corner of the courtyard like others was mainly because his family had problems with his family. His family was born in the Chen family and had been servants in the Chen family for five generations. By his grandfather's generation, he became the chief manager of the Chen family. It was precisely because of the identity of this chief manager that his origins became accomplices of the oppressors, the exploiters' dog legs, etc., which were naturally not suitable to live with the oppressed people.

Among the managers of the Chen family compound, his family's situation was pretty good. Because his grandfather and his father did not do anything to oppress people when they were in charge of the Chen family compound, and they also helped many people. They even took risks to take in some wounded guerrillas during the War of Resistance. It was precisely because of the merits left by these elders that even though they had problems with their background, they did not suffer much guilt. They just let their family live alone. Compared with other managers of the Chen family compound who were pulled out for repeated criticism and controversy because of their bad behavior, their family was already very good.

Later, the government arranged for residents to move to the Chen family compound. Most of these residents were placed in the gardens of the Chen family compound. Jingyuan was the garden with the largest number of residents, and almost thirty families were arranged here. Because most of these more than thirty families were military households from Fujian. They all spoke Minnan, had poor language and rarely communicated. In addition, these people knew the origin of Chen Jingde's family from other people, and they would subconsciously not contact their family in daily life, so they were completely isolated.

Even if he was isolated, his life was still pretty good. Chen Jingde was a person who could only live a small life, and such a life was most suitable for him. However, as the movement to destroy the Four Olds began to unfold on the land of China, Chen Jingde did not live a peaceful life anymore. He was worried every day, fearing that the disaster of destroying the family would fall from the sky. The reason why he was like this was entirely because of the box of property hidden under his bedroom.

When the Chen family left, they took away all the previous things in the Chen family compound, but they still left some pretty good things for the children who served the Chen family for generations, which were considered severance payments. At that time, Chen Jingde's father was the chief supervisor of the Chen family compound, and the things he assigned to him were naturally the best and most. These things were mainly folk kiln porcelain from the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. Although these porcelains were just folk kilns, they were also very exquisite because they were fired in the prosperous Qing Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, they were already very valuable. Now, according to the red armbands outside, they are the products of feudal decay and things that need to be criticized.

Not long ago, the Chen family compound was caught in private by a folk kiln porcelain from the Daoguang period and criticized and criticized in the county. Only one Daoguang folk kiln had been dragged out for criticism. If someone found out that there was a box of Yongzheng and Qianlong folk kiln porcelain hidden in their home, the consequences would be absolutely unimaginable to Chen Jingde. Fortunately, Chen Jingde's father hid them after he got these porcelains and had never displayed them in front of others. Outsiders did not know that there was such a box of things in their home.

It was just that Chen Jingde could not ignore such a box of disasters at home. He was worried every day, for fear that others would find something, and he became suspicious. In recent days, he heard that a former manager of the Chen family who was expelled from the Chen family compound was found some of the property that the Chen family had allocated to him back then. The house was smashed and all the people were arrested for criticism and criticism. He died without suffocating for two days. This news made his mentality even worse. He had not closed his eyes for three days, and he was so thin that he was skinny and boneless, and his eyes were covered with blood. According to his wife, in two days, no one needed to arrest him for criticism and punishment. He would either be driven crazy by this box of disasters or surrender himself.

Chen Jingde also felt that he would go crazy if he continued like this, so he simply made up his mind and decided to smash all the porcelains, and then quietly took them outside to throw them away at night. In this way, he found a nearby construction site during the day, and then placed the porcelains that were once treasured and now used as disasters on the bed, covered them with a quilt, found a large stone on the head of the rice-pressing cylinder, and smashed them all into pieces. After that, he divided the pieces of the porcelain into more than a dozen pieces of different sizes, and then took a few pieces of broken porcelain at night, took a few pieces of broken porcelain from the garden that had been dug up by humans, and went to a pond in the suburbs, and threw all the broken porcelains into the pond.

Chen Jingde was very careful in the whole process of throwing porcelain. Although he was almost seen twice, he was finally in danger. Seeing the pieces of porcelain that were considered heart-wrenching decreased little by little, the heart he had already raised gradually became relieved, and he was no longer so suspicious and nervous, as if he had changed his body. Tonight, he was about to throw away the last pack of porcelain fragments. So far, he was really relieved, so he was very excited all day long, and he finished work from the construction site early and sat in the main hall waiting for darkness.

Like the previous few times, when it was late at night, Chen Jingde put the packed pieces of porcelain in a rag backpack, and then asked the wife at home to wait for the door. He quickly flipped through the back window of his bedroom, entered the grass behind the house, and moved carefully to the gap along the corner of the garden wall. However, when he moved to the gap, he found a team of patrolling militias who were parked here to rest, and almost collided with him.

Fortunately, Chen Jingde reacted quickly. When the other party found it valuable, he turned over and lay in the ditch in the corner of the wall, avoiding the sight of the patrol militia sweeping over. Although it was very safe in the ditch, as long as it was not close, there would be no one hidden here. However, because there was just a spring rain, the originally dry ditch was filled with rain. Although the rain stopped and the water in the ditch receded, there was still some accumulated water in some sunken places in the ditch. The unfortunate thing was that Chen Jingde was lying down in a puddle, and his clothes were soaked in water in an instant.

Because the cold winter had just passed, the weather was still very cold, and wearing a cotton coat soaked in the rain was not much better than being naked in the snow. However, for a moment, Chen Jingde felt that he could no longer hold on. Fortunately, the patrol militia did not rest for too long. After smoking a few cigarettes, he continued to patrol according to the daily route.

After the militia left, Chen Jingde immediately jumped out of the ditch and trembled to go back, but the sound of the broken porcelain rubbing on his body stopped, and a hesitant expression appeared on his face, which was pale and bloodless. Finally, he gritted his teeth, held on to the coldness of his body, turned around and walked quietly towards the pond according to the previous route.
Chapter completed!