The Era of Hard Work

"Third Grandpa, Fifth Grandpa, this is Professor Fan from the Provincial University, an expert and scholar from the Provincial University."

In the courtyard of the brigade, Lu Dong introduced Professor Fan and Ma Ming to Lu Zhenlin and Lu Zhenfei: "This is Ma Ming, Uncle Ma's son."

Professor Fan shook hands with Lu Zhenlin and Lu Zhenfei, calling him Secretary Lu. Lu Zhenlin quickly waved his hands: "No, no, just call me old Lu."

Lu Zhenlin has always been very humble towards those who are truly capable.

In addition to Professor Fan and Ma Ming, there were three graduate students who came with them. Lu Dong knew all of them. They were the three who had dealt with in Mengcheng last time.

The one wearing glasses thanked Lu Dong again.

Lu Zhenlin invited Professor Fan into the office for a chat. Professor Fan came here for a field trip, and said directly, "Let's go see the place first?"

Ma Ming also said, "Lu Dong, why don't you go and have a look first?"

"Alright." Lu Dong led the way, Professor Fan and his party followed behind, and Lu Zhenlin and Lu Zhenfei accompanied them.

After leaving the brigade, turn west from Ji Street, and then walk a short east-west road, and turn north to the old street of Lujia Village.

Before reaching the intersection, the ridges of the blue-tiled roofs were exposed, and what was more conspicuous than the ridges were patches of withered yellow weeds half a person's height on the ridges.

Professor Fan straightened his glasses and looked there as he walked. When he came to the intersection and turned north, he could not help but stop when he saw a cement road and old street hundreds of meters long in front of him.

Although the architectural style of the folk houses is not so unique, it is different from the style of the old houses on the north side of Quannan Road.

The old houses on the north side of Quannan Road are neither new nor old, and they are not as old as this one at first glance.

A single piece is nothing, but such a large street is relatively rare.

Most of the old houses in the countryside are built of adobe, so the value of research and other aspects is extremely limited.

Professor Fan didn't care too much, and asked directly: "Lu Dong, how long has this house been built?"

Lu Dong couldn't explain clearly either, he could only look at Lu Zhenlin and Lu Zhenfei, and the former said, "I have a memory of hitting me, the old street is like this."

Lu Zhenfei added: "After Jianguohe broke down the Four Olds, it was overhauled once, and I led people to do the next repair."

Professor Fan did not speak for a while, and walked slowly towards the north. His fingers slid across the blue brick wall, and when he saw the pattern carved on the blue stone, he stopped to look carefully.

"This is a peony." The carved pattern is not uncommon, Professor Fan whispered: "The flower blooms richly."

Not only on this one stone, but further north, most of the blue stones used as the cornerstone of the old houses on the side of the street are all carved with patterns of flowers, birds, insects and animals. Many of Lu Dong's mischievous things in his childhood were incomplete.

"Take a picture!" Professor Fan immediately instructed the students to work.

One of the students opened his backpack, took out his DSLR camera, and started taking pictures.

Ma Ming and a few others also took out their notebooks and made corresponding records. Lu Dong glanced at what it was, but couldn't understand the technical terms.

Walking all the way for nearly 100 meters, Professor Fan suddenly thought of something, and said embarrassedly: "Sorry, sorry, I feel confused when I get busy. I'm really sorry."

In any case, this is the owner's house, patronizing and busy, not talking to others, which is somewhat rude.

Lu Dong saw Professor Fan's dedication to work in Mengcheng, and said, "Professor, although you are busy, don't worry about us."

Lu Zhenlin called a few spectators on the street and asked them to prepare some hot tea.

In the middle of the old street, the second grandfather moved out a table and Maza, made a pot of hot tea, invited Professor Fan and others to drink some water, and take a rest for a while.

Professor Fan drank tea and said: "In Quannan, due to the war and some well-known reasons, there are very few old-fashioned houses like this that can be preserved on a large scale. environment, has enormous significance."

Speaking of this, he is not without regret: "Unfortunately, some carvings are damaged."

Lu Dong was embarrassed to answer: "Children are too skinny, and those patterns are an eyesore, so they smashed bricks and stones for fun, most of them were smashed like this."

Professor Fan nodded slightly and reminded Lu Zhenlin: "Old Comrade Lu, this building is very rare in the current social environment, so we must pay attention to protection."

Lu Zhenlin answered the conversation: "The brigade has made a promise for the villagers to protect the old street."

Professor Fan has also been to many rural areas for investigation. He thought that since the mid-1980s, even if the old houses were preserved, most of them were adobe houses. Naturally, a new house should be built after taking a wife. A new house with bricks and red tiles, such a house with blue bricks and strips of stone, is really missing one.

"You must tell the villagers well." Experts like Professor Fan naturally consider protection first: "Don't demolish these old houses."

Lu Zhenlin said: "Don't worry, there are relevant regulations in the village. Houses on the old streets are not allowed to be demolished. Anyone who wants to build a new house must go out and approve a new foundation. There are many yards around the village."

Professor Fan said again: "Good! Good! Then there is the maintenance..."

Hearing this, Lu Dong interjected: "Professor, our Lujia Village is most famous for its construction and cooking. My fifth grandfather used to lead people to do repairs on ancient buildings. The oldest buildings on the old street and in the northern village are all It was repaired by Grandpa Fifth."

Professor Fan nodded slowly. It could be seen that the latest maintenance must have been many years ago, and this old house is full of history.

But in the eyes of the people of Lujia Village, the old street is far from being antique, but more about the sense of dilapidation of the old buildings.

Ma Ming whispered to Lu Dong: "I wanted to come during the Chinese New Year, but I couldn't come due to something. I saw it today, and I really regret not coming earlier."

Lu Dong smiled: "It's not such an exaggeration."

Such a well-preserved old house built of stone, blue bricks and blue tiles is indeed rare, but it is not so rare.

"What about folk history?" Ma Ming couldn't explain to Lu Dong for a while: "Let's put it this way, you can see the patterns carved on the rocks and the way the houses are raised. It is not simple in history, and it must be wider.”

This really made Ma Ming talk, Lu Dong said softly: "In the past, Lujia Village only had the old street here, and the market street over there was one of the main official roads in Qingzhao and Quannan areas. The official way developed well, but later the official way declined, and the Lujia village was gone, so the Lujia village also declined."

Ma Ming had been to Lu Dong's shop, so he was inevitably affected, and asked, "Could it be that Qianlong really came to your village and ate your stewed food?"

Lu Dong couldn't talk nonsense to his friends, so he could only say, "I don't know much about this either."

On the other hand, Professor Fan chatted with Lu Zhenfei very happily. Lu Zhenfei's family background, coupled with decades of experience in the construction industry, has a lot of knowledge about ancient architecture, and he can also chat with Professor Fan.

In the past few years, many ancient buildings were severely damaged. Due to the socio-economic environment and professional teams, it was difficult to allocate funds for repairs.

Perhaps in the eyes of people like Professor Fan, historical sites must be rescued even if there is no food to eat.

After all, everyone's pursuit is different.

After a long meeting without a rest, the group went north again, and picked out a few houses that were recognized as the oldest in the village, and went in to have a look. In one house, people had already moved to Ji Street and lived in the south of the village.

Once the house is unoccupied, it will be dilapidated very quickly. Professor Fan's heartache is written on his face, and he seems to care more than the people in Lujia Village.

In the end, the group went up the embankment from the big pagoda tree, came to Lu's food company, and saw the specially protected columbarium.

Professor Fan is a professional, took a look, and said: "This style is obviously the architecture of the early and middle period."

Lu Zhenfei told the truth: "Not exactly. There have been several overhauls in the middle. According to my father, my grandfather's generation had a major overhaul, and his generation once overhauled it. Later, I led others to overhaul it again."

This kind of building would have been dilapidated without maintenance. Lu Zhenfei said: "The architectural style has not changed, and many things are original. For example, the ridges on the roof are all passed down from the ancestors."

Only then did Lu Dong know that the mythical beast squatting on the roof was called Bi An.

I seem to have heard of this thing before, but I forgot the specifics. Lu Dong asked the professional next to him: "Ma Ming, what is Bi An? What's the point?"

Ma Ming simply explained: "Have you ever heard of the dragon giving birth to nine sons?"

Lu Dong still knew about this, so he nodded immediately.

Ma Ming said again: "Qi An is the seventh son of the dragon. He is eager for public good and righteous. Many government offices and ancestral halls use it to guard houses. It is said that it can be used as a guardian deity, conceiving good fortune, and avoiding disasters."

Lu Zhenlin heard the words here, and said: "It replaces the ancestors and looks after the descendants of our Lu family village."

Professor Fan followed Lu Zhenfei into the columbarium and came out, and once again urged: "No matter if the factory expands, it must be well protected."

Needless to say, if it wasn't for special protection, the factory would have been demolished long ago when it was expanded.

Later, I went to the elementary school again, and Professor Fan and his party specially watched the old big stage and the extra-large screen wall.

These were all built by the older generations when Lujia Village was prosperous, and it is also a proof of the prosperity of Lujia Village in its history.

Professor Fan looked at these and said, "It's not easy to preserve them."

In fact, decades ago, such things might not have been rare, but most of them were demolished.

In fact, Lu Dong saw it quite clearly, that is, the clan power in Lujia Village was relatively stubborn, and these buildings that were directly related to the Lu family were stubbornly preserved, otherwise they would have disappeared.

For example, in Majia Village next door, together with the main street of Qingzhaohe Bridge, there used to be a watchtower and a stone screen wall larger than that of Lujia Village Elementary School. Later, for some reason, they were all demolished and smashed to pieces.

Lu Dong hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but he heard from Uncle Qi that the watchtower used to observe bandits in the old days was once the tallest building in Shiliba Township.

Back at the village committee, a group of people sat in the office, and Lu Dong deliberately talked about some things about the construction of Lujia Village.