Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

After the meal, Tang Peilin was full. He was a little reserved at first and embarrassed to eat more, but as he ate, he couldn't put down his chopsticks and couldn't stop eating until he was satisfied.

After dinner, several children gathered together to chat. Xu Pengcheng heard that Tang Peilin was from Yushui County, so he tentatively asked him if he had ever been to Xujiawan and if he knew Xu Wannian.

He just wanted to gossip about the Xu family's recent situation. In recent years, Xu Jianshe has not returned to his hometown, but just sent his pension money every month.

Tang Peilin said: "I actually know Xu Wannian, because my elders all know how to build houses and often go to the surrounding villages to work for others. I also followed them to work as a laborer. In addition, every village is full of relatives, so I know almost everyone in the surrounding villages."

Xu Pengcheng continued to ask: "How has the Xu family been doing in recent years?"

Tang Peilin said: "Mr. Xu lived in his eldest son's home in the city a few years ago, and then he returned to the village. It is said that his eldest grandson got married, and the family had to live in his hometown because of housing shortage. His son and daughter-in-law occasionally go home to see him. I saw the old man last year, and his health was obviously not as good as before, and he was hunchbacked. A grown man who doesn't even know how to cook, how good can his life be?"

It turned out that Xu Jianshe, as the eldest son who had always been favored by the old man, all the benefits in the family belonged to him. He enjoyed this favoritism with peace of mind and was quite filial to the old man.

Later, after the old man broke up with Xu Jianshe, Xu Jianshe gradually realized that he could no longer take advantage of his second brother's family and the old man had lost his value. He became more and more displeased with the old man, so he sent the old man back to his rural hometown on the pretext of his eldest son's marriage.

Who among the elderly doesn't like to live with their younger generations? To play with their grandchildren and enjoy the happiness of family life? But things often go against one's wishes.

Old Master Xu also realized that he was not welcome in his eldest son's home, so he had no choice but to return to his hometown, where he had familiar old brothers who could chat with him and pass the time.

In his heart, he was also very disappointed with his eldest son. He had broken the heart of his second son to protect his eldest son, but in the end, he failed to live up to his heart. Director Wang in Beijing was right.

At the beginning, Director Wang had advised him that it was not the lack of wealth that was worrying, but the inequality of wealth. If the water was not evenly distributed, the final result would be brothers turning against each other and fathers and sons becoming enemies. His words really came true.

Now he is old, his second son is alienated from him, and his eldest son is pretending to obey him but actually disobeying him. He reflected on his past actions. Should he say he regrets it? Of course he does. However, there is no regret medicine in the world. He can only swallow his anger and live one day at a time.

Tang Peilin asked curiously, "Who is Mr. Xu to you?"

Xu Pengcheng smiled and said, "He is my grandfather who is not related by blood." Tang Peilin could hear the perfunctory tone in his voice and did not continue to ask questions.

Then, various schools started to open one after another. Cai Quanwu had been looking forward to the opening day of the School of Political Science and Law for a long time.

He never believed that his daughter couldn't even get into a technical secondary school. Although Xu Huizhen said that no one would dare to impersonate someone under the emperor's feet, he still wanted to go to the school to take a look. What if? If there was no report called Cai Yanran, he would give up.

Cai Yanran also wanted to go to school, but Cai Quanwu said, "Yanran, don't go. If someone really impersonates you, they would have already investigated you thoroughly. Maybe they know you. If they are in secret and you are in the light, wouldn't that alert the enemy? I'd better go."

Cai Quanwu put on a hat and disguised himself a little, then rode his bicycle to the School of Political Science and Law.

Mixed in with the students who registered, I entered the campus. The college students of this era were not like those in later generations, where one student went to college with four parents to register. In order to save money, students from other places registered by themselves, and local students in Beijing were accompanied by at most one parent.

So there were very few parents in the crowd. Cai Quanwu came to the registration office and peeked at the list of students who had registered.

He did not see his daughter's name on the list of this department. He went to another department's registration office and found that he was too early. The registration time was two days, and many people had not yet registered. But since he was here, he could not just leave.

So he wandered around the campus, and was noticed by the security personnel.

When he came to the registration office again and took a peek at the student list, he was pulled aside by two security guards.

The security guard questioned: "We have noticed you a long time ago. Tell me, what are you doing in school?"

Cai Quanwu has worked in the tavern for so many years, welcoming and seeing off guests every day, and he is very good at seizing opportunities.

He rolled his eyes and explained, "A relative of mine's child was admitted to the School of Political Science and Law. He wrote to me a few days ago to tell me. I just came to see if the child has arrived and asked him to come to my house for dinner."

The security guard said, "What's the relative's child's name? Which department is he from? We need to confirm it."

Cai Quanwu blinked. If he made up a fake name, the security guards might not let him go and think he was a saboteur enemy spy. That would be troublesome. In a hurry, he said, "The child's name is Cai Yanran."

Security guard: "Which department?"

Cai Quanwu: "I really don't know which department he is from."

So, two security guards took him to the security department and asked him to wait there. One of the security guards left. After waiting for almost an hour, the security guard who left came back and said to Cai Quanwu: "There is such a student, but he has not yet reported. He is from the law department."

Cai Quanwu quickly stood up and said, "This comrade has worked hard. I will go back first and come back tomorrow."

The security guards did not make things difficult for him and let him go back.

After leaving the campus, Cai Quanwu's heart was still pounding. He covered his chest with his hands, his mind in a mix of thoughts: was it a duplicate name or had someone really replaced his daughter?

After much thought, I decided to go home and discuss it with my family.

During dinner, Cai Quanwu brought his daughter to Xu Huizhen's house, told Xu Huizhen the information he had received today, and asked Xu Huizhen for advice on what to do next.

Xu Huizhen was shocked by Cai Quanwu's words. Could someone really dare to impersonate someone else? How audacious!

Xu Huizhen thought for a moment and said, "If someone wants to impersonate someone else, first of all, someone in the Education Bureau must intercept the admission letter. Maybe there is an insider in the School of Political Science and Law who can ensure that the person who impersonates someone else can pass the examination smoothly when he reports."

Cai Yanran frowned and asked anxiously: "No matter what, I have to go to school tomorrow to ask if this Cai Yanran is me!"

Xu Huizhen shook her head and said, "You can't do that! First of all, you definitely can't do that without a registration certificate. How about this, you wait a few more days, after the students have registered, go to the law department to confirm whether Cai Yanran has registered. If there really is such a person, we can go to the school to investigate in a big way. Fake will never become true."