Siheyuan: Spring and Autumn

(This story is fictional, please do not compare it with history.)

1950, summer.

The capital city is located in Yuquan Mountain, at the eastern foot of Xishan Mountain, the head of Taihang Mountain and the right arm of the capital.

A teenager stood by the lake, looking at the clear emerald spring water, and said with a grin, "The water is clear and green, pure as jade, and as mellow as ointment. It really deserves to be the best spring in the world!"

After saying that, he lifted up his shirt, revealing his white belly, and said as he took off his clothes: "This is the water used by the imperial court. Today, I, the little white dragon in the waves, want to take a bath first. Haha..."

With a "splash" sound, the naked boy dived into the lake and kept swimming in the water like a fish.

The young man looked relaxed, his movements smooth and graceful. It was not difficult to see that he was an excellent swimmer, otherwise he would not have called himself the "Little White Dragon of the Waves".

You should know that in "Water Margin", Zhang Shun, who was called "White Shark in the Waves", was a hero who could "swim in the water for forty or fifty miles and stay under the water for seven days and seven nights". He was an expert in water, not to mention that he was a white dragon living in the water!

The boy's name is Qin Zheng, he just turned fourteen this year, he is handsome and tall, almost 1.8 meters tall, with a lean figure, as clear as a green bamboo, strong and healthy. It is not difficult to imagine that he will be very popular with girls in the future.

Of course, there are very few fat people these days. It is extremely difficult to eat enough, and eating well is even more of a luxury.

Qin Zheng was a notorious naughty boy in the 16 alleys of Nanluoguxiang in Beijing. He liked fighting, adventure, and swimming, and often gave his parents so much headaches that they wanted to bang their heads against the wall.

I have scolded him and beaten him, sometimes very harshly, but it has no effect. He is definitely "someone else's child".

Unfortunately, this child from another family is a negative example, a stone in the cesspool who refuses to change despite repeated warnings.

The stinky stone swam back and forth in the lake several times before it lay on its back in the middle of the water, feeling unsatisfied.

The water was very clear. If someone was not far away, they could clearly see a white fish. Qin Zheng had no scruples at all. He spit out a mouthful of water and said, "This water is really good, with almost no impurities. No wonder the source is royal water. There are quite a few fish in the lake. Let's see if we can catch one to take back for a snack."

After saying that, he took a deep breath and dived into the water.

A 30-centimeter-long mandarin fish was floating leisurely at the bottom of the lake. Its tail was motionless, and only the fins below the gills were paddling back and forth. This is the habit of mandarin fish lying in burrows.

Qin Zheng relaxed his body and dived slowly. Even without goggles, he could clearly see the environment within three meters in the Yuquan water. This was the benefit of his time travel and his physical fitness was extremely strong.

Qin Zheng, who was diving, set his eyes on the big mandarin fish. Since crossing into this world, he had never eaten mandarin fish, and he even rarely ate fish and meat.

Qin Zheng likes to eat mandarin fish, which is one of the precious fishes among the “Three Flowers and Seven Luos” and is known as the ceiling of freshwater fish. It is rarely seen in Beijing’s vegetable markets, so he naturally cannot let it go when he sees it.

However, this fish is not easy to catch because there are sharp spines in its dorsal fin and you can get hurt if you are not careful.

Approaching the mandarin fish from behind, Qin Zheng quickly attacked with his right hand and inserted his fingers into the mandarin fish's constantly opening left gill. As long as he held its gill, the fish would not be able to escape.

Qin Zheng underestimated the fish and overestimated himself, especially because he had no experience.

The frightened mandarin fish swung its tail violently, and Qin Zheng felt severe pain in the fingers of his right hand. Oh no, his fingers were cut by the gill bones. He loosened his grip in a hurry, and the mandarin fish swung its tail and ran away.

"unlucky."

Due to inertia, Qin Zheng's hand pressed into the mud at the bottom of the lake, and a round object happened to be caught in his hand.

Qin Zheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and without staying underwater for long, his body floated up.

On the one hand, he wanted to see the extent of the injury to his right hand. On the other hand, he was also curious about what exactly he had caught. Why was it round and cold?

"Wow."

He surfaced and saw that he was holding a crystal bead in his right hand, which was six centimeters in diameter.

"Is this a marble? Can such large glass beads be produced nowadays?"

After looking at it for a long time, Qin Zheng still couldn't be sure.

"Forget it, let's get ashore first."

Glass beads are fun for a child!

He held the beads in his right hand and used his uninjured left hand to paddle towards the shore.

Just after climbing ashore and before he had time to put on his clothes, Qin Zheng suddenly felt the bead in his palm slowly shrinking, like an ice ball melting, and melting into his wound. He opened his palm in surprise, just in time to see the bead disappear from his palm.

Qin Zheng was not surprised but happy. After all, he had traveled through time from the 21st century. He immediately realized that he had struck lucky again. It was obvious that the bead was shedding blood to recognize its owner!

What kind of treasure is this?

Could it be a space?

He tried to say silently: "I want to go in."

Sure enough, as soon as the thought came to his mind, he suddenly disappeared from the spot.

Just five seconds later, he suddenly appeared again.

"A time traveler must have a strange encounter, a time traveler must have a golden finger, this statement is true."

Qin Zheng shouted loudly and laughed happily. His naked body was twisted like a doughnut due to excitement and saliva was flowing from the corners of his mouth. He looked so ugly that it must be an eyesore to see.

He was laughing happily when a cool breeze blew and he felt cold all over. After all, they were in the mountains and the temperature was not too high.

Looking down, he quickly folded his arms, hissed, and quickly put on his clothes.

"I'm not a pervert or an exhibitionist."

After convincing himself, Qin Zheng walked behind a rock and suddenly disappeared...

An hour later, Qin Zheng appeared again. He quickly took off his clothes and jumped into the lake. The water was swirling around his body, as if there was a funnel underneath.

However, after only twenty minutes, the lake returned to calm. Qin Zheng went ashore and put on his clothes with a smile on his face. He reached out and broke off a branch from a tree, threaded the two fish that had fallen to the ground through the gills, picked up the bicycle hidden in the grass, hung the fish on it, and pushed it down the mountain.

"Hey, Qin Zheng, why are you carrying two big fish? Each of them must be three pounds, right? Oh, there's also a mandarin fish, which is not often seen. Did you buy it?"

As soon as I entered the central courtyard of the quadrangle, a man in his thirties wearing glasses walked up and asked.

"Hello, Mr. Yan. I didn't buy it. I caught it."

The man in front of him was not older than Qin Zheng's father, Qin Leshan. Calling him "uncle" was a respectful title.

Just now, after a preliminary observation of the space, Qin Zheng went into the water again and took in a lot of fish and shrimp into the lake in the space. This mandarin fish was about the same size as the one that ran away, and it was not known whether they were the same one.

The man's eyes widened and he asked in a low voice, "Caught? Where did you catch it?"

"Yuquan Lake."

"You went into the water?"

Qin Zheng said as a matter of course: "Yeah, what can I do if I don't go into the water? I don't have money to buy a fishing rod."

"Hey, kid, your dad will spank you when you get home. You are so bold that you dare to jump into Yuquan Lake."

Qin Zheng laughed and said, "It's okay, I'm used to it. Fighting is healthier."

"Puch."

The man laughed, pointed at Qin Zheng and said, "You are too poor and have no manners. Why don't you go and exchange this fish for something else?"

"Why did you change it? I've never eaten mandarin fish before. I want to try something new today."

"Humph, you really don't know how to live. Go back quickly, I guess your dad has the belt ready."

As he spoke, his eyes were still fixed on the two fish and he swallowed twice. He really couldn't take his eyes off them. Such big fish, especially the mandarin fish, could be sold for a lot of money.

What's more, fish is meat, and these days, who can eat meat often?

"See you then."

After Qin Zheng finished speaking, he turned right and walked towards home.

The man with glasses is the third uncle in the courtyard, Yan Bugui, a Chinese teacher at Hongxing Primary School. He is considered a cultured person and likes to quibble with words. Unfortunately, he does not have many advantages as a cultured person, but he has learned a lot of cleverness from sour literati.

He is rather stingy in life and likes to settle accounts. He likes to be clever and take advantage of others whenever he has nothing to do.

Of course, the uncle-in-charge system is not in place in the courtyards now, and there are no titles such as first uncle, second uncle, or third uncle, so Qin Zheng calls him Uncle Yan.

When Qin Zheng was watching the TV series "Love in the Courtyard", he didn't dislike Yan Bugui. This old guy might be a bit dishonest in small matters, but he was upright in big matters. Apart from calculating and taking advantage of others, he had never really harmed anyone.

Since the Qin family moved into this courtyard, the two families have lived in the east and west wing rooms in the front yard respectively. They see each other every day and get along quite harmoniously.

"Old Yan, who were you talking to just now?"

A middle-aged woman walked out of the west wing. Her belly was protruding and she looked pregnant. Seeing Yan Bugui staring at the east, she couldn't help but ask curiously.

"And the second kid from the Qin family. Hey, this kid is really capable. He went into the water and caught two fish. They probably weigh three kilograms each, and one of them is a mandarin fish."

"Really? That's good, you've made a small fortune. You've been fishing for so long, but you've never caught a mandarin fish, not even a few times."

As the woman spoke, she also walked forward a few steps, stood beside the man, stretched her neck and looked eastward. Although she only saw a bicycle parked in front of the door, she didn't see anyone.

"What kind of fortune? This kid said he had never eaten mandarin fish, so he wanted to try it this time. Really, he can't live without food and clothing, but he will be poor if he doesn't plan well. He really doesn't know how to live."

"That's true. Two fish can be exchanged for 20 kilograms of corn flour."

"He has plenty of food. But I think he's going to get beaten again."

The woman also laughed and said, "Haha, I guess you can't escape."

Since the Qin family moved into this courtyard, they have witnessed Qin Zheng being beaten up many times. The miserable look on his face was unbearable to watch.

After Yan Jiecheng was born in 1939, the couple did not have another child for nine years.

However, since 1948, he gave birth to a child every two years. Now, Aunt Yan's belly is getting bigger again. Well, Yan Jie Di is already in her mother's belly.

From this we can see that although Yan Bugui is a teacher, there is definitely great strength hidden in his thin body!