False evidence

Chapter 149 Finding a Bargain (Part 2)

Hearing Yan Fengwei say this, Meng Chao and Xiao Shensan nodded at the same time: "I understand, the hook is valuable, the cage is not!"

Yan Fengwei chuckled, then suddenly leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Is it necessary for us to have a private talk?"

I glanced at Meng Chao and Shen San, and realized what he meant. I immediately said, "Meng Niu is like my own brother. Master Shen is here to help me. I don't need to hide anything from him."

Meng Chao was still confused, but Xiao Shen was quick-witted and immediately guessed what Yan Fengwei had said to me.

He looked at me and nodded: "Your temperament is just like my second brother's. A person like you might suffer losses in small matters, but you will never suffer big losses."

Yan Fengwei seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, "Have you all heard the story of buying the casket and returning the pearl?"

Meng Chao nodded, but Shen San shook his head.

After Meng Chao explained the story of "buying the casket and returning the pearl," Xiao Shensan suddenly understood:
"I understand. I've never been to school, but I recently watched a TV series about Shen Wansan, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty. There was a villain who saw a street vendor selling an iron cat. The villain, thinking himself clever, saw that the cat's eyes were actually gemstones and managed to bargain down the price, prying off the cat's eyes to buy it. He then showed off to Shen Wansan, who immediately ran off and bought the eyeless iron cat. After scraping off the lacquer, the cat turned out to be pure gold, much more valuable than the cat's eyes. It's similar to the story of buying the casket and returning the pearl, isn't it?"

He said with trembling hands, "I've heard the story of Shen Wansan before, but nowadays TV dramas just pile up the stories of many people onto one person. I find it all very rare."

Meng Chao pressed his forehead and shoved the TV addict aside, staring at Yan Fengwei and asking, "You mean, this cage is more valuable than the hook?"

Yan Fengwei neither nodded nor shook his head, but said: "Traditionally speaking, birdcages are also divided into two schools, north and south. The southern school of birdcages is represented by Kala in Danzhai, Guizhou; while in the north, Yihezhuang in Zhuozhou, Hebei, is known as the hometown of northern birdcages. When Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beiping, Zhuozhou was the first place to supply 'Beijing birdcages'!"

At this point, Yan Fengwei paused for a long time, as if organizing his thoughts.

He then lowered the cloth covering the birdcage, gesturing for us to sit down and talk.

After he sat down, he asked, "Do you have any cigarettes?"

Meng Chao took out a box of 'Ziyun' cigarettes and gave one to everyone except Shen San.

Yan Fengwei took a deep drag of his cigarette, blowing smoke rings as he said, "I really need to smoke less of this in the future, otherwise it will affect my wife and kids."

Xiao Shen looked towards the gate and asked him, "When is the meal you ordered coming?"

Yan Fengwei said, "It's my brother's housewarming celebration, so I can't be careless. I ordered from a good restaurant nearby, and it's all hearty dishes. I asked them to deliver it right at mealtime, so it has to be hot!"

"That's fine."

Xiao Shen San pulled an old-fashioned short pipe from his satchel. "I'll have a couple of puffs too."

Meng Chao immediately said, "Hey! Kids shouldn't smoke!"

As Xiao Shen stuffed tobacco into his pipe, he glanced at him and asked, "How old were you when you started smoking?"

"It was around 11... anyway, back in elementary school, when I was sneaking cigarettes with my buddies in the toilet."

Xiao Shen glared at him, then struck a match and lit his pipe.

Yan Fengwei scoffed and asked, "Has anyone heard of the Eight Outer Trades?" Shen San, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, mumbled, "Don't ask, just tell me."

Yan Fengwei nodded: "Among the Eight Outer Trades, there is one called the Mechanism Gate. Starting from the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, there was a saying circulating in the gate: 'The Tang family has hidden weapons, the Hou family has dismantled them.' The Tang family refers to the Tang Clan of Sichuan; the Hou family refers to the Hou Clan of Hebei."

The Tang Clan's hidden weapons were not entirely fabricated; the Jizhong Yimenhou were even more real, only gradually disappearing before the liberation.

Speaking specifically of the Hou family, it is said that in their early years, their ancestor accidentally obtained the Lu Ban Book. Due to disagreements, or perhaps because of the taboos in the book, the head of the Hou family divided the book into three parts and entrusted them to three descendants for safekeeping and study.

The most famous of the later generations, the "Marquis of Jizhong", was skilled in mechanical devices and was also the best at crafting small instruments.

We Chinese people, aren't we always splitting up our families generation after generation?
Later, the Hou family in central Hebei split into several branches, one of which eventually moved to Zhuozhou and began to earn a living honestly through their craft. At that time, Zhuozhou was already known as the hometown of birdcages. This branch of the Hou family also started making birdcages.

Think about it, business requires competition, and you have to stand out from the crowd to make big money. So, this branch of the Hou family put some small mechanisms inside the birdcage.

To the average person, this thing seems utterly useless. But don't forget, in times of chaos, the most important thing for people is to hide their money and treasures.

Xiao Shen clapped his hands: "I understand! It's about using your skills on birdcages and adding hidden compartments inside!"

Yan Fengwei nodded: "Yes, that's the idea. There was a remarkable person in this Hou family, whose name is unknown, but the seal he left behind was called 'Mao Cang Jin' (meaning 'hidden gold in hair'). It means that treasures can be hidden even in the hairs of the body, and outsiders cannot obtain them."

I seem to have gone off on a tangent. Let's put it this way: Mao Zangjin was a man from the Yongzheng era of the Qing Dynasty, and he was most skilled at making birdcages with hidden compartments.

At that time, society was relatively stable. Ordinary people had no use for his birdcages, and wealthy people didn't find them particularly useful either. On the contrary, high-ranking officials and nobles became his major customers, mainly for the purpose of concealing their wealth.

Upon hearing Yan Fengwei's words, Xiao Shensan suddenly put down his pipe, walked to the birdcage, lifted the cover to examine it carefully, and turned back to say:

"There are indeed words on the inside of one of the cage bars, which reads—Mao Zangjin!"

Yan Fengwei seemed to be deep in thought at this moment, and subconsciously nodded, saying, "I saw the mark, so I concluded that the cage hook was made during the Zhengde period, and the cage itself was provided by Mao Zangjin. The birdcages made by Mao Zangjin, the King of Northern Cages, were all used to hide valuables. Moreover, most of the ones that could be hidden within a hair's breadth were priceless treasures!"

Yan Fengwei turned to me and Meng Chao: "Do you understand what I mean now?"

Meng Chao nodded: "Understood. The cage hooks are valuable. The things hidden in these later-added cages are probably even more valuable."

He suddenly jumped up: "Then what are we waiting for? No matter how well it's hidden, it's still in this cage! Let's completely dismantle the cage, how can we not find the treasure?"

Yan Fengwei gave him a cold glance: "How much wealth do you have now?"

Meng Chao was taken aback: "I only have a few thousand yuan in my card for living expenses that my dad sent me."

"Brother, do you know where the value of antiques and 'trinkets' lies?"

Yan Fengwei pointed to the birdcage: "Six years ago, I went to Hong Kong with a friend. At the auction, half a white-eye birdcage, which was broken, was sold for 48,800! Just because the three characters 'Mao Zangjin' were carved on a bamboo strip in the middle!"

Let me put it this way: I'm now convinced that this birdcage was added after Mao Zedong's death. Even without the gold fittings, the cage itself is worth at least two hundred thousand. Breaking a single bamboo strip is like tearing apart thousands upon thousands of banknotes!

(End of this chapter)