Chapter 99: Buying a Courtyard House

Seeing Lu Kuan had been busy for the past two days.

He went to the police station to give a statement, explaining the course of the case. Lü Changchun had attempted murder in full view of everyone; there was no possibility of this matter being reversed.

The Ministry of Public Security acted according to the law and had already set up a special task force, determined to turn this incident with a bad influence into an ironclad case!

At the same time, his arrest accelerated the police's investigation progress into Zhang Tianshuo. Once the chain of evidence was complete, the prosecution would soon file a public prosecution against him for suspected organized crime.

When the news spread throughout the entertainment industry, especially the old Beiping circle, everyone sighed at the fall of Master Zhang while also inevitably turning their eyes to Seeing Lu Kuan, the young director who had emerged out of nowhere.

Those in the know all recalled the judgment he had made about Zhang Tianshuo through Fan Bingbing's mouth.

Zhang Tianshuo was born in the month of Mao, the year branch met Chen, sitting on Yin wood. This year's fortune clashed, stirring up prosperous earth, going against its prosperous momentum, there must be a disaster!

Some things are just evil; you have to believe them!

"Director Lu, where are you going?"

Just as they came out of the police station gate, Liu Xiaoli and her daughter also came out from inside. They had been in another interrogation room and had just finished their statements.

"Hello, Liu Ayi."

Seeing Lu Kuan returned to the relaxed young man's appearance, but Liu Xiaoli would never dare to look down on him again.

This kid was like a donkey; he would turn his face as soon as he said so, and it didn't matter who spoke.

If it hadn't been for Xixi saving him that day, maybe his footage would have been cut, and everything before would have been in vain.

Seeing Lu Kuan looked at the gauze on the little girl's arm: "I have an appointment with an agent to look at houses."

"Little Lu, you're buying a house?"

Liu Yifei seemed to have unlocked her intimacy with Seeing Lu Kuan after the assassination incident that night, and she dared to call him Little Lu openly when not working.

A savior does indeed have some psychological advantage.

Why else would the old saying go that a great kindness is like a great enmity? And there's a little girl calling you Little Lu every day; this is so annoying.

Seeing Lu Kuan straightened his face and glared at her, but the little girl just raised her eyebrows triumphantly, not taking it to heart.

She had also figured out Seeing Lu Kuan's temperament.

As long as she didn't slack off when filming movies or doing morning exercises, he was generally calm.

"Mom, we have nothing to do today anyway, let's go with Little Lu to take a look!"

Liu Yifei's scenes in *The Story of a Noble Family* had long been wrapped up, and *Whiplash* had also finished filming.

Now she was waiting for school to start in September and the arrangements for *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils* with Zhang Jizhong.

There was also an EP Seeing Lu Kuan had prepared for her. Mei Yanfang was arranging for people to modify and produce it, and during this period, Liu Yifei also had to receive professional vocal training.

An EP is a small album, usually with a total duration of half an hour, forty minutes, or 5 to 6 songs, which is a more suitable debut method for new singers besides singles.

Liu Xiaoli helplessly tucked her daughter's hair behind her ears and politely asked for Seeing Lu Kuan's opinion: "Director Lu, is it convenient?"

Seeing Lu Kuan had no objection; he didn't have a car, so it was just right to use Liu Yifei's driver.

"Let's go, I don't have any experience either, please help me take a look, Liu Ayi."

He and Xu Kaitong, the designer from the ancient architecture company introduced by Zhang Jian, had an appointment near Nanluoguxiang.

It is said that a courtyard house is a miniature Beiping city, and Beiping city is an enlarged courtyard house.

In later generations, the craze for courtyard house trading didn't really take off until 2004, when the Municipal Land and Housing Administration announced a new policy encouraging individuals and enterprises to purchase courtyard houses in the old city's cultural protection areas.

After that, people from other places and overseas could trade freely, and individuals could also enjoy a half-price deed tax discount.

This was all for the protection of ancient city cultural relics, attracting social capital to participate in the repair and maintenance work of the old city.

"Hello, Director Lu!"

Xu Kaitong had been waiting at the entrance of the alley early, yawning and looking quite listless.

Looking at the two women and one man getting out of the car, he keenly captured who the big client was today.

"Hello, let's go take a look."

Seeing Lu Kuan and the others listened to the introduction from this ancient architecture designer who graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts' School of Architecture as they walked.

"Director Lu, are you buying a courtyard house for your own residence or for other purposes like catering?"

"For my own residence."

"That's fine. If you were to renovate it, there would be many restrictions, but if it's for your own residence, there are many more courtyards to choose from."

Liu Yifei asked suspiciously: "Are there so many restrictions on how to renovate a courtyard house after buying it?"

Xu Kaitong explained patiently: "The Housing Administration has relevant regulations."

"You can use modern architectural means for repairs, but you must retain the original appearance, and the repairs must use materials removed from the original house, such as carvings, partitions, bricks, and tiles. You cannot use methods like broken brick walls, hanging beams, or wax-signed melon pillars."

Liu Xiaoli clicked her tongue secretly, not because she thought it was expensive, but because she thought it was troublesome.

"Little Lu, actually, it's quite good to buy a villa to live in, why did you think of buying a courtyard house?"

Xu Kaitong glanced at her and didn't speak, not figuring out the identities of these three people for a moment.

He grew up at the foot of the Imperial City and, after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts, had studied under Ma Xuchu, the last descendant of an ancient construction family, and had deep attainments in ancient building repair and design.

It's just that interest can't be eaten as a meal. The trading volume of courtyard houses is very small, so he could only undertake design work while moonlighting as an agent.

The agent work for courtyard houses is also not easy to do; the property rights of some famous courtyards are very complex.

And the co-owners in a courtyard are classified into different categories. If you want to get the property rights of the entire courtyard, you have to work on them one by one.

Usually, transaction failure happens at this step. A big family is scheming against each other, each raising the price, and it's too difficult for the buyer to coordinate.

This is also the reason why he has no spirit. There are quite a few people looking at houses, but it's too difficult to reach a transaction.

After turning through several courtyards that were all very ordinary, the few entered Courtyard 102. Seeing Lu Kuan looked at the shadow wall and the hanging flower gate, and smiled upon hearing this:

"Liu Ayi forgot my main job? Daoism emphasizes the unity of heaven and man. I still like to live in a place that is grounded. With my feet on the ground, I feel comfortable in my heart."

Xu Kaitong's eyes lit up. This "grounded" really spoke to his heart.

"Does a courtyard house have anything to do with that thing of yours?"

Liu Yifei lived in a villa in Changping after returning to China, and she was also very curious about these solidified artistic treasures at this time.

"That's natural."

Seeing Lu Kuan estimated that this Xu Kaitong had big goods in his hands that he hadn't taken out, and he had the heart to play mystery in front of him.

"Little Liu, Liu Ayi, look."

"In the *I Ching*, Qian is heaven, circle, monarch, father; Kun is earth, mother, square."

"This corresponds to the morphological characteristics of the courtyard house. From the perspective of the five elements, earth is in the center, and the center of the courtyard house is also land."

"Just like this Courtyard 102, with the main room, side rooms, and inverted rooms as the four cardinal directions, and the corner ear rooms and the gate as the four diagonal directions, forming the Eight Trigrams orientation, Xun is auspicious."

"So, this gate is generally opened in the southeast corner. In this way, the orientation is a pattern of carrying yin and embracing yang. As for the inner courtyard, it is a place to hide wind and gather energy."

Boss Lu glanced at the high-achieving student of the Academy of Fine Arts calmly: "Designer Xu, is what I said reasonable?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 100 =====