The lane where Auntie Wang was born is to be demolished. The two ancestral halls are listed; the houses behind them are not.
Auntie Wang
我娘家那条巷子，听说要拆了。
Wǒ niángjia nà tiáo xiàngzi, tīng shuō yào chāi le.
The lane my family comes from is to be pulled down, I hear.
Xiaoyu
那儿不是保护区吗？前年不是还挂了牌子吗？
Nàr bùshì bǎohù qū ma ? Qián nián bùshì hái guà le páizi ma ?
Is that not a protected area? Did they not put a plaque up two years ago?
Auntie Wang
保护的是前面两座祠堂，后面的老房子不算。
Bǎohù de shì qiánmiàn liǎng zuò cítáng, hòumian de lǎo fángzi bù suàn.
What is protected is the two ancestral halls at the front; the old houses behind do not count.
Chen Hao
我去过那儿。木结构的，墙上还有砖雕。
Wǒ qù guò nàr. Mù jiégòu de, qiáng shàng hái yǒu zhuān diāo.
I have been there. Timber frames, and carved brickwork on the walls.
Zhang laoshi
砖雕值钱，可屋顶漏雨，地面返潮。住在里面的人未必想留。
Zhuān diāo zhí qián, kě wūdǐng lòu yǔ, dìmiàn fǎn cháo. Zhù zài lǐmiàn de rén wèibì xiǎng liú.
The carved brick is valuable, but the roofs leak and the floors run with damp. The people living there do not necessarily want to stay.
Auntie Wang
这倒是真的。我嫂子就盼着拆。
Zhè dǎo shì zhēn de. Wǒ sǎozi jiù pàn zhe chāi.
That much is true. My sister-in-law is longing for the demolition.
Xiaoyu
那怎么办？总不能让人为了一堵墙受罪。夏天返潮，冬天更冷。
Nà zěnme bàn ? Zǒng bùnéng ràng rén wèi le yī dǔ qiáng shòuzuì. Xiàtiān fǎncháo, dōngtiān gèng lěng.
Then what? You cannot let people suffer for the sake of a wall. Damp in summer, colder still in winter.
Zhang laoshi
所以真的保护不是把人赶走，是把里面修好。上下水、厨房、卫生间，一样不能少。
Suǒyǐ zhēn de bǎohù bùshì bǎ rén gǎn zǒu, shì bǎ lǐmiàn xiū hǎo. Shàngxiàshuǐ, chúfáng, wèishēngjiān, yī yàng bù néng shǎo.
So real protection is not driving people out, it is putting the insides right. Water in and out, kitchen, bathroom: nothing can be missing.
Chen Hao
那钱从哪儿来？
Nà qián cóng nǎr lái ?
And where does the money come from?
Zhang laoshi
一部分财政，一部分业主出。关键是修完以后不许全改成店。
Yī bùfen cáizhèng, yī bùfen yèzhǔ chū. Guānjiàn shì xiū wán yǐhòu bù xǔ quán gǎi chéng diàn.
Partly public funds, partly the owners. The key is that once restored they must not all be turned into shops.
Xiaoyu
不然又是一条卖奶茶的街。
Bùrán yòu shì yī tiáo mài nǎichá de jiē.
Otherwise it is another street selling milk tea.
Auntie Wang
我就怕这个。房子还在，人没了，那就剩个壳。
Wǒ jiù pà zhè gè. Fángzi hái zài, rén méi le, nà jiù shèng gè ké.
That is what I am afraid of. The houses stay, the people go, and all that is left is a shell.
Chen Hao
拆了重建一个仿古的，反而便宜。游客也未必看得出来。
Chāi le chóng jiàn yī gè fǎng gǔ de, fǎn'ér piányi. Yóukè yě wèibì kàn de chūlái.
Pulling it down and rebuilding in old style would actually be cheaper. And visitors probably would not notice.
Zhang laoshi
便宜，也假。假的东西，第一眼像，第二眼就露馅了。
Piányi, yě jiǎ. Jiǎ de dōngxi, dì yī yǎn xiàng, dì èr yǎn jiù lòuxiàn le.
Cheaper, and false. What is false looks right at first glance, and gives itself away at the second.
Auntie Wang
我下个月回去，把老照片翻出来，至少留个念想。
Wǒ xià gè yuè huíqu, bǎ lǎo zhàopiàn fān chūlái, zhìshǎo liú gè niànxiang.
I am going back next month, I will dig out the old photographs, so at least something is kept.
这倒是真的: "that much is true". 倒是 serves here to grant a point to the other side in the middle of a disagreement, without giving up the rest. It is the same word as in lesson 1 of this level, where it marked irony; context, and above all what follows, decides the shade.
The 馅 is the filling of a dumpling: 露馅 is said of pastry that splits and lets what it hid be seen. By extension it is to give yourself away, to be found out. The image is homely, culinary, and entirely unsolemn, which makes it sharper than an abstract word for a fake old quarter.
未必想留: they do not necessarily want to stay. 未必 denies an assumed certainty, and translates as "not necessarily" or "there is nothing to say that". It is more formal than 不一定, which would be used in the same sentence in speech, and that is what makes it right in Zhang laoshi's mouth.
