Chapter 2571

Premier Nan asked, "Why are those valuable courtyard houses being demolished?"

Su Xinghui said, "Because the more valuable a courtyard house is, the closer it is to the city center, and the more valuable the land is. Developing real estate here is more profitable. Now, the housing prices of high-end residential areas in the best areas of the capital's city center have already risen to around 5,000, and the housing prices near the Second Ring Road have also risen to two or three thousand. If a 1,000-square-meter courtyard house is demolished to build high-rise buildings, how much can it sell for? They naturally know how to calculate this account."

Premier Nan also knew about the floor area ratio of buildings. If a 1,000-square-meter courtyard house were demolished to build a 20- or 30-story high-rise building, the floor area would be at least ten times more. How much money is that? That's tens of millions. With such huge benefits, it's no wonder those people would be tempted.

Thinking of this, Premier Nan couldn't help but be shocked. For the sake of profit, what wouldn't these people do?

In fact, Premier Nan had long been concerned about the problem of real estate overheating. In the early 1990s, real estate had been hyped up in southern China. At that time, real estate prices were hyped to ten or a hundred times their normal value. Later, the bubble burst, and no one knew how many people went bankrupt or jumped off buildings.

This matter left a deep impression on Premier Nan and made him deeply wary. He had always been very concerned about real estate prices and had introduced many policies to control the rise of real estate prices, so during his years in power, the rise in housing prices in China had not been large.

However, he really hadn't thought about this problem of demolishing courtyard houses. He had too many things to pay attention to every day, and it was impossible to think of every single thing.

Yes, if the courtyard houses were all demolished, what characteristics would the capital have? If the capital were full of forests of reinforced concrete, wouldn't it be the same as other cities?

Premier Nan said, "Then why don't you investigate the current state of the capital's courtyard houses and write an article for me? Don't rush to publish it, let me see it first."

Su Xinghui nodded happily, "Alright, Premier, I will write it as soon as possible."

Premier Nan said, "Can your family's courtyard house be considered a fine courtyard house?"

Su Xinghui said, "Yes, this courtyard house used to belong to a national capitalist. He built it very impressively, achieving an organic combination of architectural art and folk culture, with carved beams and painted rafters. It's a pity that he was persecuted to death during the period of turmoil. Only one grandson was left in his family. Now that grandson eats, drinks, and gambles, and has squandered the whole family fortune, which is why he sold this courtyard house to me."

Premier Nan said, "That's truly a pity. However, selling this courtyard house to you, someone who truly knows the business, can be considered not casting pearls before swine."

Su Xinghui nodded, "Anyway, I will definitely maintain this courtyard house well and pass it on to future generations. These kinds of courtyard houses are treasures of our nation and should be passed on to future generations."

Premier Nan smiled, "Hearing you describe it so well, when I have time, I must go to your house to take a look."

Su Xinghui was overjoyed, "That's great, Premier, then our whole family will definitely welcome you warmly!"

Premier Nan said, "Anyway, I'm just saying this. If you ask me to set a date, I definitely won't be able to, so don't hold too much hope."

Su Xinghui knew this. Premier Nan was truly busy with ten thousand things every day. Wanting to spare half a day to visit Su Xinghui's home was truly a difficult thing, so it was impossible to set it in advance.

Su Xinghui nodded, "Alright, whenever you have time, I will be waiting for your arrival at home!"

Over these days, Su Xinghui wrote articles in the office during the day and went home at night to work on the pile of old furniture at home.

In this month or so, he had already repaired all the Republican-era furniture. Besides that set of dining table and chairs, there were also several cabinets, all repaired to look like new, but one could still tell they were old things. That feeling was something that could only be understood, not described.

Su Xinghui's own woodworking skills were also becoming more and more proficient. This day, he finally started to repair the bed. This bed should also be an old object, with at least three or four hundred years of history, and the material was also very good—it was black acid wood, so Su Xinghui also attached great importance to this bed.

This bed was missing quite a few things: it was missing a leg and a headboard panel. The leg was easy to deal with, but this panel was not so easy to repair because a set of exquisite patterns of the "Twenty-four Filial Exemplars" was carved on the panels of this bed, and missing this panel meant missing several patterns.

To repair this bed completely, this panel had to be repaired, and to repair this panel, these patterns had to be carved.

Speaking of carving, Su Xinghui was not unfamiliar with it. He had a foundation in painting and had also learned seal carving, having carved quite a few seals. This seal carving wasn't just about carving the characters on the seal face; the seal knob also had to be carved.

These seal knobs were of various shapes—all kinds of birds, beasts, insects, and fish, and even figures and landscapes could be used in the design of the seal knob. Su Xinghui didn't know how many seals he had carved, so he didn't know how many seal knobs he had carved. In terms of carving skills, he had no problems.

However, the problem was that the panel he was carving had no reference for the patterns because the original panel had been lost. He had to create them according to the content of the stories, and this creation had to have the same style as the patterns on the other panels—at least close to it. This way, it was quite difficult.

Of course, this couldn't stump Su Xinghui because he could paint. Therefore, he created the missing patterns according to the style of the original panels. After several drafts, he finally finalized the design, and now he could start the creation.

He first made the bed leg and the wooden board using old black acid wood material, and then he started carving the panel. With his sketches, it was much easier for him to carve, and his carving work proceeded very smoothly.

Of course, smooth didn't mean fast. There were many figures in these patterns, the patterns were very complex, and the carving of the original panels was very fine, with every hair visible. So Su Xinghui also had to carve very carefully. Even if one stroke wasn't carved well, this panel would be ruined, and all previous efforts would be wasted.

So Su Xinghui didn't carve fast; being able to carve one pattern in two days could already be considered quite good.

This was also thanks to Su Xinghui's steady hand. His hand, which had practiced martial arts for a long time, was as steady as Mount Tai. If it were someone else, it would be difficult to carve for such a long time without a single mistake.

Of course, from this, one could also see that the original maker of this bed was also a very powerful person. Su Xinghui had repeatedly looked at the panels he had carved countless times and hadn't seen a single mistake, which was precisely the value of this bed.

This maker's hand skills were too steady.

In the process of looking at these panels, Su Xinghui also learned a lot from the original maker. In terms of carving techniques, he absorbed a lot of nutrition. He believed that he could carve this panel perfectly, and with this panel, this bed could be restored perfectly.