Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 35 Treasure Cabinet

Li Weidong returned to his backyard home. Liang Ladi and Wang's wife had also finished packing. He told them about the meeting and chatted for a while before they returned home with their children.

After they left, Li Weidong started writing down his future plans. After writing for a while, he checked the time and went to wash up.

When I came back and was about to lie down to sleep, I suddenly saw the multi-treasure cabinet I bought at the weekend.

He was now looking at the treasure cabinet placed in his room, but he couldn't help but want to find out the secret of the cabinet, otherwise he would always be thinking about it every time he saw it.

Li Weidong walked to the front of the treasure cabinet again and examined the relief carvings on it carefully. Every stroke of the carving and how deep it penetrated into the wood were all clearly visible.

Li Weidong looked up and down at the treasure cabinet, not missing any details, and finally found something strange after a few minutes.

There are two cabinets with doors under the treasure cabinet. Li Weidong had opened them before. He had seen the bottom of the treasure cabinet in the trust store and at home.

The reason why I feel strange is that the bottom of this cabinet does not match the entire treasure cabinet, that is to say, this bottom is not a real bottom, or this treasure cabinet has a mezzanine.

The reason why I felt strange and didn't find the problem before was because the treasure cabinet fits the bottom so well, so it's not surprising that I didn't find the problem.

Now that he knew there was a mezzanine, it was easy. He wanted to see what was hidden in this treasure chest.

Thinking of this, he immediately squatted down and opened the door of the treasure cabinet. Since Liang Ladi had wiped the cabinet a few days ago, although the cabinet did not look brand new, it was smooth and flat. After looking carefully for a long time, he did not find anything particularly abnormal. However, when he looked inside the cabinet, he saw a board that was obviously half a centimeter shorter than the other boards.

It's like the craftsman who made the cabinet accidentally sawed a board half a centimeter shorter. Anyway, it's placed inside the cabinet and no one would notice it.

But Li Weidong knew that things were definitely not that simple. This treasure chest was so exquisite that it must have been specially crafted by a wealthy family or nobleman in the previous dynasty. This craftsman must have been a skilled carpenter. How could such a person make such a basic mistake?

Li Weidong knew that an experienced carpenter would never make such a low-level mistake. So, this was intentional.

Is it a little shorter to make it easier to open?

Li Weidong stretched out his arm and used his fingers to pick at the half-centimeter gap, but the board didn't budge at all. It was obvious that the board was firmly fixed.

Yes, if it wasn't fixed, it would have been opened countless times, and the board might have disappeared long ago.

Li Weidong did not give up and pushed the wooden board up and down again. As a result, with a "click" sound, the wooden board slid inward as Li Weidong pushed it. The half-centimeter gap inside disappeared, and there was an extra half-centimeter gap on the cabinet door side.

It can slide, but you can't move it with your fingers. This wooden board is definitely not simple.

Li Weidong picked at the half-centimeter gap on the cabinet door. This time, it was effortless and the wooden board was lifted up directly.

As expected, a compartment was revealed underneath, containing a wooden box. Li Weidong didn't rush to take out the box, but instead took a look at the wooden board first.

On both sides of the wooden boards, small mechanisms are cleverly designed and made to fit together with adjacent wooden boards, thus forming a natural lock.

Place the wooden board and push it down, the small mechanism between the wooden boards will be triggered and then they will lock together.

This is also the reason why the wooden board did not move at all when Li Weidong tried to pick it at the beginning.

But if you push it upwards, the mechanism is disengaged, unlocking the wooden planks, and the plank becomes a movable board that can be easily lifted up. It's truly an ingenious design. Li Weidong admired it in his heart, put the plank aside, and then reached into the interlayer to take out the wooden box.

This wooden box looks dirty and covered in grease. You can't tell what it originally looked like at all. I don't know if it was because the treasure cabinet was used as a kitchen before, so all kinds of dirty water flowed into it.

Although this box is very dirty, Li Weidong feels that it is not an ordinary box. It looks like red sandalwood.

Li Weidong was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that such a dirty wooden box was made of red sandalwood.

Come to think of it, if something is placed in the interlayer as a treasure, how could it be an ordinary wooden box?

Li Weidong immediately took a towel to wipe the oil stains on the wooden box. Soon the original appearance of the wooden box was revealed. It was a box that looked ancient and antique.

The whole body is full of carvings, reliefs of ancient flowers and patterns, and the corners are inlaid with boxwood decorations, which makes the whole elegant. Moreover, this wooden box is exquisitely carved, the overall production is magnificent, the design is ingenious, the process is orderly, and it is full of charm.

Looking at it again like this is indeed pleasing to the eye.

After opening the wooden box, Li Weidong finally saw what was inside.

He originally thought that the box contained something like a night-shining pearl, a gold hairpin, or a jade pendant, but what appeared before his eyes was something wrapped in oil paper.

Li Weidong peeled off the oil paper layer by layer, and found an ancient painting inside.

However, although this ancient painting was placed in a wooden box and wrapped in more than ten layers of oil paper, it had many stains and flaws on it due to its age and perhaps improper storage.

However, since the owner of the treasure cabinet regarded it as a treasure and placed it in the interlayer, this ancient painting must be extraordinary.

After I repair and clean the ancient painting, its value may increase greatly.

Li Weidong stared intently at the ancient painting in front of him. The picture was extremely simple, with only two tall dead trees, a large rock and several clumps of green bamboo.

The dead trees are tall and strong, and the hard texture of the rocks hits you in the face. The bamboo branches in the painting are very thin, seemingly broken and connected. There are not many bamboo leaves, but they are refreshing and compelling.

The brushwork is elegant and the composition is simple.

In the upper left corner of the painting, there is a six-character poem: "The mossy stones are moistened by the rain, and the shadows of the bamboo trees are deep in the clouds. I heard that Daoan's simple studio can accommodate a madman's solitary recitation."

The last inscription reads: "On November 5th, I met Mu Xuan at the guest house in Wumen, and asked him to give me the An Su Zhai Gaoshi and Fu, and the Ren Zi Ni Zan."

There are two other inscriptions in the upper right corner of the painting. One is a seven-character quatrain by Yu Ying: "I once remembered knocking on the green shade in the woods, and my old friend asked me to stay and chant with him. Now I want to find the old traces, but the leaves are green and the moss is deep."

He also wrote a five-character poem for Yunquanzi: "Standing tall and straight, he trembles in the forest. He is a gentleman of integrity. He holds this unwavering heart and defies the frost and snow in the cold winter."

This painting, "Moss-Traces and Tree Shadows," by the late Yuan and early Ming dynasty painter Ni Zan, is remarkably simple, featuring only two tall, withered trees, a large rock, and several clumps of green bamboo. The withered trees' stature and strength evoke the steadfastness and noble character of a gentleman. The large rock is rendered with a dry, bristly brushstroke, using a side-edge technique, creating a zigzag texture. This is Ni Yunlin's unique brushstroke technique, which captures the rock's solid texture. Ni's bamboo paintings are renowned for their exceptionally thin branches, seemingly connected yet disconnected, and the sparse leaves create a compelling, pure air. The overall painting is elegantly executed, imbued with the artist's own spirit.

It can be considered a priceless treasure.

(End of this chapter)