I'm back in 1990

Chapter 514: Cloud Retreat

Yu Xiang wasn't the only one with this thought. Old Huang, Zeng Lijuan, uncle, aunt, eldest sister, second sister, and Huang Xiaochuan's sister-in-law Jiang Rong were all shocked by this luxurious garden. They had only ever heard of buying tickets to visit gardens before, and never imagined that their own family would have such a private garden, and such a large one at that.

Huang Xiaochuan named the Taihu stone, which is comparable to Guanyun Peak, "Yunyin Peak". Yun is a character in his grandmother's name. He chose this name to mean that this place will be his grandmother's final resting place.

This Taihu stone was placed in a courtyard house, which was where my maternal grandmother lived. Because of this Taihu stone, the courtyard house was also called "Yun Yin Ju" (Hidden Residence in the Clouds).

Huang Xiaochuan accompanied his grandmother on a tour of the small courtyard, especially her bedroom, which was decorated according to her living habits and preferences, and was filled with traditional Jiangnan wooden furniture.

For example, there are rosewood canopy beds, dressing tables, wardrobes, and armchairs. The canopy bed in particular was a one-to-one replica made by Huo Miao's father, the second brother-in-law, based on the canopy bed that his grandmother had always used. In order to replicate this bed, Huo Miao not only took charge himself, but also gathered three or four highly skilled carpenters to work with him to make this large bed according to ancient techniques.

It took nearly half a year to make this bed, mainly because the carving process was very time-consuming. Nowadays, there is no computer carving, so it is still purely handmade.

Furthermore, each courtyard house here was equipped with a constant temperature and humidity system, which was very rare in China at that time, at a huge cost. It is warm in winter and cool in summer, keeping out the stuffy heat of summer and the damp cold of winter.

Grandma patted Huang Xiaochuan's hand. Her grandson, whom she had raised, understood her best. She could tell at a glance that everything here was arranged and furnished according to her preferences. It was really hard on this child. These were things she had told him when he was a child, and he still remembered them.

Grandma's eyes welled up with tears.

When Huo Miao, the second brother-in-law, saw the exquisitely crafted furniture from their factory, he realized where his brother-in-law's custom-made furniture was for—it was for this garden!

For two consecutive years, the furniture factory has been too busy to take on any outside orders. The orders my brother-in-law gave us have kept the entire factory busy, and they're all processing with supplied materials. The wood delivered is all top-quality, and I don't know where my brother-in-law got it from. We can't possibly use it all!

What shocked Huo Miao the most was that many of the precious trees in the garden were obviously transplanted from elsewhere. He had some knowledge of trees from following Old Huo, and he could tell at a glance that the three ginkgo trees in front of the main hall were at least a hundred years old, and that they had actually survived the transplant.

Huo Miao knew that trees like these, which are over a hundred years old, could not be transplanted without special permission and were protected. However, there were many old trees like these in the courtyard, including crape myrtle, chinaberry, and camphor trees, especially camphor trees, which were scattered throughout the garden. Some of them were so big that one person could not wrap their arms around them. A rough estimate showed that they were at least a hundred years old.

You should know that trees over a hundred years old are classified as second-class protected species. Huo Miao roughly counted, and there were no fewer than several dozen such ancient trees in the garden!

Huo Miao couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. Putting aside the cost, just the fact that they could get this kind of thing done was already quite impressive.

Thinking about this, Huo Miao couldn't help but have a new understanding of his brother-in-law's strength.

Zeng Hong and Zeng Xia couldn't take it all in. Although they had visited the gardens of Suzhou, those were all for ornamental purposes and were not suitable for modern people to live in in order to maintain their original artistic conception.

But this garden is different; it combines sightseeing and living. Living in such a place in the future would be incredibly pleasant!

Xuanxuan, Liujin, and Huang Zemian, along with Huang Zeji and Huang Ruiying, were playing with the koi in the water by the pavilion. Several nannies followed behind, looking after them. The water system in this garden consisted of purified, flowing water, and was filled with many koi. These koi were specially air-freighted from a famous koi farm in East Asia and had been raised there for some time.

Seeing Huang Xiaochuan accompany his grandmother out of the secluded residence, Liujin excitedly waved to Huang Xiaochuan and shouted, "Uncle, fish! So many big fish! Shall we catch one and cook it later?"

Good heavens! Huang Xiaochuan almost threw his back out at the little girl's words. Catching koi to cook and eat? Children really do speak without thinking. This little girl probably doesn't know that these koi are all precious varieties, including famous ones like Tancho, Sanshoku, Kohaku, and Ogon.

The key point is that they are all fully grown adult fish, with the cheapest one costing tens of thousands of yuan. Among them are several competition-quality koi, which were purchased for more than 500,000 yuan at the time.

In other words, what's swimming in this water isn't just fish; it's tens of millions of dollars swimming around.

The reason for choosing this type of fish is twofold: firstly, it has a good symbolic meaning, and secondly, it has a very long lifespan, which also reflects Huang Xiaochuan's wish for his grandmother to live to be a hundred years old. According to the Guinness World Records, the longest-lived koi carp lived for 226 years.

However, that's just an isolated case. In good conditions, koi can generally live for fifty years or even longer.

However, Huang Xiaochuan still responded indulgently, "Sure! But I didn't bring my fishing rod today, how about we come another day?"

"Okay! Next time we come, I'll ask my dad to buy me a big net so we can catch them all!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan's face darkened. "Well, you want to catch me all at once?" He was at a loss for words, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Huo Miao, Liu Jin's biological father, heard his daughter's words from not far away and quickly covered his face. What a poor child!

Jiang Rong, Huang Xiaochuan's sister-in-law, followed behind Lao Huang and Zeng Lijuan as they admired the garden. She was just as shocked as the others. She knew her brother-in-law was capable, but today she had truly seen something amazing. Building a garden like this was not something that could be done with just a little money.

After coming to Shanghai, I realized what kind of life my parents-in-law and brother-in-law lived. I used to think I was living a simple life in Qingjiang. Luckily, I came to Shanghai, otherwise I would never have known how narrow-minded I was.

Zeng Lijuan grew to love the garden more and more each time she looked at it. She said to Jiang Rong, "Jiang Rong, let's move here next summer and stay for two months. What do you think?"

Need I say more? Her mother-in-law's suggestion was excellent; it struck a chord with Jiang Rong. She had actually been thinking the same thing. In the past, she had only ever taken a quick stroll through the gardens and had never experienced what it was like to live in one. Now, things would be much better, and she could stay there permanently.

However, as Jiang Rong strolled through the garden, she noticed something. It was National Day, and the weather was neither too hot nor too cold. With so many green plants in the garden, there should have been plenty of insects. But strangely enough, after wandering around for a long time, she didn't see any insects, especially those annoying mosquitoes and flies. She didn't see a single one.

Jiang Rong initially thought it was because pesticides had been applied, but in fact, the garden was equipped with a complete set of insect repellent equipment during its construction. This equipment uses a variety of insect repellent technologies (such as ultrasound, spraying, and light attraction), and the entire system automatically adjusts its working mode based on environmental data (temperature, humidity, and insect activity frequency).

One method involves periodically spraying natural or synthetic insect repellents (such as citronella oil, pyrethroids, etc.) to create an odor barrier and repel insects.

Some devices work by mimicking the sound frequencies of insect predators (such as bats) to repel mosquitoes.

Huang Xiaochuan only learned of the existence of this equipment after he came into contact with Zhang Yun's Long Island Garden in Hong Kong. Therefore, when building this garden, Huang Xiaochuan specifically requested that this equipment be installed.

When everyone reunited, Huang Xiaochuan shared his thoughts with them.

"How about we all come here to celebrate the Spring Festival early next year?"

Is it good? It's absolutely wonderful!

I heard that everyone is coming here for Chinese New Year this year, and everyone is very happy.

But what made them even happier was yet to come. Huang Xiaochuan then led them out of the garden and towards a villa area to the east.