Several courtyards in the manor, some facing south and some facing north, have formed the layout of "smiling face to face". In the middle of the yard, there is a "small street" with a width of three meters and a length of several tens of meters. The road surface is paved with hemp bluestone, so that the horses and chariots will not crack and will not slip in rainy days. There are wells, mills, grain depots, kitchens, oil houses, powder houses and mules and horses in the manor, just like a village. The manor has a large population. In addition to men, women and children, there are housekeepers, long-term workers, maids, servants, nursing homes, livestock breeders and artists. Every night comes, the door of the manor wrapped in iron on three sides is closed, just like a small world outside. It is said that Hejia Courtyard was formed from the middle of Guangxu to the middle of the Republic of China. During the period of 100 years, grave robbers repeatedly rang horses to rob He's compound, but all ended in failure.
Among the 26 courtyards of Hejia Courtyard, the most elite buildings are "Guest Courtyard" and "West Courtyard".
The "Guest Courtyard" is the Welcome Courtyard, which has three courtyards. The first courtyard is a small courtyard, also known as a dust washing courtyard, with bricks above the ground, bluestone steps on both sides, a begonia on the left and four bamboos on the right, which means "welcoming guests from all over the world". On the south side of the small courtyard, there is a wooden building with veranda, carved columns and colorful eaves and lattice fans, which is fresh and elegant. Climb the stone steps to the north, cross the court and enter the Second Hospital. There are five rooms in the north house, three rooms in the east house and three rooms in the west house. The front walls are carved lattice fans with open columns supporting the top. The North Room is the main room for welcoming guests, with five steps of bluestone, a six-foot wide corridor, four exposed columns supporting the roof of Baoxia, and flower figures and clouds painted on the lintel. The living room is five feet long and five feet wide. The Daming Column has eight long beams to support the roof. Between the two exposed pillars in front of the front row, there is a huge screen, ten feet long and six feet high, with a rosewood frame in the middle, painted with landscape patterns. There are mahogany tables and chairs along the wall around the hall, and refreshments are served after the guests are seated. There is a door on the back gable of the living room, which can pass through the hall to the third yard-the back yard. These courtyards are meaningful and guarded by hospital gunmen. The first courtyard of the whole room is small and elegant; The second yard is magnificent; The third yard is tall and majestic. There is a powerful shock in the warm and cordial atmosphere of the guest house.
"West Courtyard" is He Zhirui's residence, which is the most open, largest and brightest in the whole manor complex. When I entered the gate, I was faced with the brick carving of "Kirin Wang Song" on the north wall. In front of the screen wall is the patio, which is very wide. Turn left, climb five stone steps, and enter the second gate of the compound. In front is the courtyard, which is three feet long from east to west and wide from north to south. To the south of the courtyard is a tall south house with Amin colonnade, mansion and stone steps. There is a brick wall in the north and a round door in the middle. Only by entering this door can we really enter the main hospital. The courtyard is brick, with a length of16m from north to south and a width of 8m from east to west. There are four east-west wing rooms, seven north wing rooms, seven oblique stone steps, three tile ridges and two large open columns. The veranda is six feet wide, with long stone bricks, flat and solid. At the upper end of the veranda, there is a two-foot-wide cloud-head drawing board, which is painted with landscapes, flowers and operas. This room is five meters high from the floor to the roof, built on a platform more than one meter high, so it looks magnificent, nearly half as high as the wings on both sides. What is even more peculiar is that the north, south and east sides of the East Wing are not adjacent to the neighboring houses, but there are eight-foot wide aisles. It can not only pass through the darkroom at the end of the north building, but also walk around the yard. This layout is so hidden that strangers can't see it when standing in the yard. If an intruder rushes into the hospital and goes straight to the building, the resident can enter the aisle behind the East Room from the darkroom and go around behind the intruder after hearing the noise. If the intruders are outnumbered, the host can open the court door on the back wall of the main house and go to the backyard of the second entrance. You can either climb the stairs to resist the enemy or run away.