Game within game: chess player

Xu Ping put down the tea and left.

Then Ma Zhengping sat upright on the sofa and reached out to signal Ye Fang. Ye Fang knew it was time to offer tea to Ma Zhengping. Ye Fang secretly thought to himself that he had never thought of coming over to attend a funeral, and then get himself a godfather and a son. Ye Fang didn't know if he would regret this decision many years later, but at this time, he had already rushed the duck and had no choice but to accept this godfather first.

Ye Fang kowtowed three times to Ma Zhengping respectfully, then knelt on the ground and offered a cup of tea to Ma Zhengping, calling "Godfather."

Ma Zhengping drank it all in one gulp, smiled and said to Ye Fang, "Get up. There are a lot of things going on at home today. I will find an opportunity to come home in fifteen and let you get to know my godmother."

"Okay." Ye Fang always feels that his godfather and godmother are weird. Ye Fang has never seen his parents in his life, and has never called anyone else's parents. Now that he suddenly has an extra godfather and godmother, he is still a little uncomfortable. Big habits.

"Remember to come home to say hello during the holidays from now on. From now on, you are no longer a child without parents. Behind you is the Ma family. Every time you stamp your feet, the Ma family will make the capital tremble!" Ma Zhengping Said seriously.

If Ye Fang was still a little resistant to the term godfather and godmother before, he was suddenly moved when he heard Ma Zhengping's last words. This may be related to Ye Fang's life experience of not having parents since he was a child.

"Yes, godfather!" Ye Fang suddenly felt something shiny at the corner of his eyes, but he still controlled it and didn't let it flow down.

"I'll let Xu Ping take you back." After saying that, Ma Zhengping called Xu Ping to take Ye Fang, who was still a little confused, and walked out of the funeral parlor. Wang Junhe saw Ye Fang coming out and rushed to greet him, but when he saw Xu Ping next to him, he No questions asked.

Xu Ping put Ye Fang into the car and said respectfully, "Young Master Ye, go slowly!"

"What did he call you, Young Master Ye?!" Wang Junhe asked.

"Go back to Xiyuan." Ye Fang seemed a little tired. Wang Junhe didn't dare to ask any more questions, so he stepped on the accelerator and left the funeral parlor.

Along the way, Wang Junhe saw that Ye Fang's face was a little bad, and wanted to wait until Ye Fang was in a better mood before asking, so he sent Ye Fang to Xiyuan and then went home.

Just as Xu Ping was seeing Ye Fang out of the side hall of the funeral home, an 80-year-old man slowly walked out from behind the screen in the side hall on crutches. This old man was Ma Zhengping's father, Ma Yongchang.

"Father." Ma Zhengping helped Ma Yongchang sit on the sofa.

"This young man is really good." Ma Yongchang said in a deep voice.

"Father, I don't even know what this decision will mean for the Ma family in the next 30 years." Ma Zhengping asked.

"Do you know whose property the yard where that boy lived was once owned by?" Ma Yongchang asked.

"I don't know about this. I investigated that yard and it used to be a welfare home." Ma Zhengping said.

"These are the old secrets of the older generation. That yard was once the ancestral property of the Ye family. I used to play in it when I was a child. I remember there was a ginkgo tree in the yard, which was very beautiful in autumn." Ma. Yongchang recalled, with a look of yearning on his face.

"But I checked that although the child's surname is Ye, he has nothing to do with the Ye family. He is an orphan, without a father or mother." Ma Zhengping said.

"I don't know what happened in the middle. Whether he is from the Ye family or not, the courtyard he is in was once the ancestral property of the Ye family. This courtyard is a symbol of the top wealthy families in the capital. Although the Ye family is no longer what it used to be, its heritage is still there. Even if this child is not a child of the Ye family, he must be inextricably linked to the Ye family. I am very optimistic about this child and will give him 20 years to create another Ye family. I believe it is not difficult for a wealthy family." Ma Yongchang coughed a few times and said.

"Well, this child has everyone's style in terms of character, speech and behavior, which is rare at his age." Ma Zhengping said.

"Zhengping, you have to believe that cultivating a wealthy family can be done in one generation, but it takes three generations to cultivate a noble family. It is noble that is engraved in the bones and blood." Ma Yongchang said slowly.

Ma Zhengping did not expect that Ma Yongchang had such a high opinion of Ye Fang. It was rare that the old man had urged Ma Zhengping to accept Ye Fang as his adopted son since he saw the girl named Xiyuan. It turned out that he valued Ye Fang's future potential. It's just that Ye Fang didn't know the conversation between the Ma family and his son at all, and he didn't expect that he would be so entangled with the Ye family.

Xiyuan.

"I do!" After returning to Xiyuan, Ye Fang told Xiaozhuang the story of his conversation with Ma Zhengping. When it came to adopting a son to be Ma Zhengping's grandson, Xiaozhuang actually agreed.

"Do you know that this son will be named Ma after adoption? You will never be able to recognize him to the outside world, and you may not even be able to see him." Ye Fang confirmed.

"I don't care about any of this. Parents who love their children must have far-reaching plans. It can change the fate of a child or even a family, and it can help you. Why not do it? It's nothing more than being a parent who has suffered some grievances. , when the child grows up, he will understand everything. The most important thing is that he is my and your child. I am really willing to give birth to a child for you. I really don’t care about the status." Xiaozhuang looked at Ye Fang and said.

"I don't even know what to say." Ye Fang replied.

"If you don't know what to say, just don't say it. Just let everything take its course. The decorations for the yard will be delivered one after another in the next two days. After everyone goes to work on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, we can find a time to open the business. You decide the date. Right." Xiaozhuang said.

"After I get to work, I will train on the process. I have initially decided to open on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. I won't make too big a fuss and keep it low-key. Just set off some firecrackers and invite a few friends over for a meal." Ye Fang said.

"Okay, it's better to be low-key." Xiaozhuang replied with a smile.

In the next few days, Xiaozhuang took care of the layout of Xiyuan very seriously. From the decoration of each room to the placement of a vase, everything was carefully calculated by Xiaozhuang.

Professor Shan drew sketches for every room in Xiyuan according to the layout of the Imperial Palace. There are dozens of large and small sketches and nearly a hundred rooms. It can be said that the entire Xiyuan is decorated in imitation of the royal garden layout of the palace, giving it a noble feel. extraordinary. If the foundation of Xiyuan had not been good, the main building would not have been damaged, but the restoration work would have taken several months.

Even on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the renovation work of Xiyuan was still in progress. Xiaozhuang calculated that it would take three months for Xiyuan to be fully completed, but Xiaozhuang was not willing to wait for three months. , start it first and then talk about it.

The largest courtyard among the five courtyards in Xiyuan is called Qian Yuan, and the remaining four small courtyards are named Yuan Henry Zhen, which is the hexagram of the Qian hexagram in the Bagua, which is a good omen.

It is said that Xiaozhuang hired a professional to look at Feng Shui, which cost a lot of money, but now it seems that the money was well spent.