As Chen Lan walked along the old districts of Harbin's Nangang and Daoli, she noticed numerous Jewish churches and old houses.
In Daoli District, on Jingwei Street, stood the New Synagogue, alongside the opulent mansion of the wealthy Jewish merchant Soskin. On Tongjiang Street, there was the Great Synagogue, the Jewish Middle School, the Jewish Bank, the Jewish Hospital, and the Jewish Hotel. Even the Qiulin Company on Central Street was a Jewish establishment. These diverse Jewish-style buildings, each with its unique purpose, were all designed by Jewish engineers of that era.
These Jewish-style structures were remarkably unique in their design and distinct in their character. Despite weathering a century of change, they remained exceptionally elegant and grand.
Simultaneously, they had established their own Jewish kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and university in Harbin, even building a Jewish hospital and a military academy.
They meticulously constructed almost every building to be sumptuously beautiful, with interiors decorated in extreme luxury, truly awe-inspiring.
This indicated that these Jewish people had accumulated immense wealth through their business dealings in Harbin. Thus, they were willing to invest substantial capital into the city's development and to improve their own living environments. This was not a testament to their deep affection for our country, but rather a business investment on their part.
Chen Lan then studied the map more closely and decided to make one last visit to Nangang District to see the mansion of the prominent Jewish merchant Skidelsky before returning to the dilapidated house to work.
Regarding this earliest and wealthiest Jewish resident of Harbin, Chen Lan had read about him in a book called "Skidelsky" in her previous life. The book provided a very detailed account of the Skidelsky family, so today Chen Lan wanted to see this most renowned Jewish family in China and witness the grandeur of their mansion in Harbin.
Thus, the group rode their bikes to the Skidelsky family mansion on Yiyuan Street in Nangang District. Chen Lan and the children stopped outside the iron railings in front of the mansion. The only drawback was that they couldn't get closer for a detailed viewing.
Looking from a distance across the tall iron fence, the Skidelsky family mansion was a two-story brick and concrete structure. The overall design of the mansion was a symmetrical "凹" shape, resembling a classical-style villa within a garden setting.
The exterior walls were predominantly a ginger yellow base, accented with white for decoration and embellishment. The façade decorations of this mansion were meticulously crafted, with a rigorous composition, making the entire building appear both elegant and solemn.
According to historical records, the Skidelsky family originated in Belarus. They had numerous businesses in both Harbin and Vladivostok. During that era, their family was known as one of the four major Jewish families in China. Their primary businesses in Harbin included water transportation, coal mining, and railway construction.
Chen Lan and the children circled the mansion from outside the iron railings, only able to get a general impression of the exterior of the Skidelsky family's grand residence. It was merely a visual indulgence.
They then decided to head back, so everyone wasted no time and embarked on a spontaneous trip.
When Chen Lan and her group returned to the yard of the dilapidated house, they found that the weeds had been cleared. Aunt Zhao and the people she brought to help had already left.
On one side of the yard, only the people brought by Old Man Zhang were still busily working, heads bowed. They were repurposing old furniture and scrap wood salvaged from the recycling station to create new furniture, windows, and doors. Their workload was substantial, and they worked until their eyes could barely see before returning home, a truly arduous task.
At this moment, Xu Mingxuan happened to be walking from another side of the yard, carrying a basin of trash. Just as he was about to empty the basin, he saw Chen Lan and her children returning.
He immediately spoke, "Lan'er, you're all back. You've returned at just the right time. I'm currently cleaning out that old well on the side with Old Brother Zhang and Er Zhuang. This well hasn't been used for who knows how many years, and there's a thick layer of silt. Fortunately, the well hasn't dried up, and there's still water. It's just that we don't have suitable tools, making it quite difficult."
Upon hearing about cleaning the well, Chen Lan thought, "What's so difficult about that?" She then turned to her three sons and said, "Sons, now is your chance to shine. Let your father and your uncle take a break. Hurry up and get that well cleaned for me."
With that, she immediately retrieved a set of well-digging tools, used annually in the valley, and a diesel generator from the system's inventory.
Upon hearing Chen Lan's instructions, Jia Yao and his two brothers immediately took off their white shirts and shoes. Wearing white tank tops and barefoot, they took the well-digging tools and went to the side of the house.
Chen Lan followed to observe. It turned out that the previous owner had dug a "Western-style well," also known as a hand pump well. The water wells used in the valley were basically all of this type. The common folk in Harbin also referred to this type of well as a "Mashén Well."
Chen Lan thought, "This type of well is even easier to clean. All you need to do is pull out the water-collecting inner barrel."
Chen Lan estimated that the inner barrel had been blocked by silt because it hadn't been used or removed for a long time. Chen Lan felt that too much time had passed; even if the well was cleaned, the water quality likely wouldn't be very good.
She decided that after the well was cleaned, she would have her sons drill a completely new well, closer to the kitchen. With modern drilling equipment – a drilling rig – drilling a well would be a matter of minutes.
The advantage of drilling this type of Western-style well was that it wouldn't freeze in the cold winter. All that was needed was to pour a little hot water into it when drawing water! This type of Western-style well was convenient to use and quite hygienic, making it particularly suitable for regions with extremely cold winters like the Northeast.
With this thought, Chen Lan walked into the kitchen. The garbage inside the kitchen had also been cleaned by the people Aunt Zhao brought. The kitchen was now empty, devoid of anything.
Chen Lan used her will to activate the system's search function, preparing to check the underground water distribution near the kitchen to see if a new well could be drilled there.