Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 168 Treasure in the Box (3K)

The box is about the width of a palm.

Less than one meter in length.

I don't know how long I've been working on this.

Fangyan moved over carefully and gently pushed the black box.

With a "click", he found that the black box was loose.

Very good, it looks like it can be taken directly off.

Fangyan was just afraid that over time, the box would become integrated with the beam. If that were the case, it might break if touched.

Fangyan exerted a little force in his hand and took it out of the groove.

It felt heavy in the hand, but the feel reminded him of his own iron birch double sticks.

No one knew how long the box had been there, and there was an alarming amount of dust on it. Fangyan blew hard at it, and immediately countless pieces of dust and mud flew out from the black box.

"Cough cough..." Fang Yan frowned and held his breath.

After the dust was blown away, the true appearance of the box was revealed.

Fangyan was surprised to find that this was actually made of the same material as his own iron birch double sticks.

A box made entirely of iron birch.

There are no traces of art on it.

This dialect first excludes the artistic value of this box.

At the same time, there is no way to know what era this thing is from.

Fangyan tried to open the box a few times but couldn't find a way to open it.

Not a cover or flip type
Then I pushed it a few more times and found that it was not a drawer type.

He shook the box and felt something inside it shaking slightly, which meant that the box was not solid and there was something inside.

Fangyan continued to struggle for a while, but found that he still couldn't find a way to open it.

Fangyan thought:

"Is it a box with a mechanism like the Luban box?"

Then Fangyan began to press on the box little by little, trying to find some intricate mechanism somewhere.

After pressing it around, I still couldn't find the place to open it.

After Fangyan found that he couldn't open it easily, he began to look at it carefully, trying to find clues that could open it.

After observing it for a while, I found that this iron birch box seemed to be a whole piece and there was no place like a keyhole.

Shake.

Judging from the feel, Fangyan could roughly guess that there should be a metal device inside.

It was not convenient to stand on the beam at the moment, so he planned to try it slowly after he went downstairs.

So he put the box down and took out the painting on his back first.

After blowing away the dust around the beams, he wrapped the scroll tightly with the cloth and kraft paper that came with it.

Fangyan tried to put it into the groove in the box.

Not to mention it fit perfectly, I put it in right away.

After putting it away, Fangyan jumped lightly from the beam and landed on the ground as lightly as a civet cat.

After practicing martial arts, my control over the strength of my whole body has become more and more refined.

Although he had not practiced any martial arts, he was still able to transfer the force of falling to the ground to his entire body by controlling the strength of his joints and muscles.

At this time, he checked the beams above his head and found no flaws. Then Fang Yan took the box and went to the yard with confidence.

After checking against the sky, Fang Yan still found no signs that the door could be opened.

In order to avoid missing the details above, Fangyan wiped the entire iron birch box with a cloth, cleaned off the dust on the surface, and then checked it again.

Fifteen minutes later, Fangyan, with the help of his visual diagnosis skills, finally saw a slight asymmetry in the wood grain.

So this place is most likely the opened gap.

After finding the clue, Fangyan began to find ways to confirm whether his idea was correct.

He thought about it, took a bucket of water, and then put the water in the box.

He felt that as long as he could see bubbles coming out, he could be sure that there was indeed a gap in the entire box.

But this time, after throwing the box into the bucket, it was quiet, without even a single bubble coming out, as if this iron birch box was made to be airtight.

Fangyan was also speechless. He looked at it for a while and then picked up the box again.

Looks like I need to find a professional to take a look.

Next, Fangyan locked the doors and windows of his house and prepared to take the bus back to Tongrentang.

Of course, it is most reliable to ask Le Miao for advice on matters like this.

Among the people he knew, she was the only one who understood it better, after all, the Le family had great foundation.

If she can't do it later, she will have to go find Mr. Cheng.

Although Mr. Cheng spends all his time studying acupuncture, when he was young, he joined the Shanghai Chinese Painting Association, and later joined the National Art Association and Calligraphy Association.

He is now the honorary president of the Calligraphy and Painting Research Association of the Ministry of Health. He is also a member of the Capital Chinese Painting Research Association and a consultant to the Xinglin Calligraphy and Painting Association of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The old man should know something about these things.

But even if I open this thing from him, I have to hand it over.

Therefore, Fangyan would not go to find Mr. Cheng until the very end.

He walked out of the door speaking in dialect. The street office was still locked. It seemed that everyone had gone back to eat. It should be just in time for him to come back later.

When he arrived at the entrance of the Xiehe Villa District, Fang Yan took a special look inside and found that red lines had been drawn outside several villas.

There were also many police officers around who were searching carefully in the surrounding flower beds and green belts, apparently looking for traces left behind by the thieves last night.

From this attitude, we can see how seriously the higher-ups take this matter. Normally, thefts would not involve such a big scene.

This shows that they also know about this matter and what it means.

But Fangyan was a little curious, what kind of skills were needed to achieve that level?

He himself couldn't even guarantee that he wouldn't alarm anyone, so how did he do it?
Could it be that the spy is also a master of traditional martial arts?

Fang Yan did not stop and continued walking forward. If he stood here and observed carefully at this moment, the police inside would probably notice him and regard him as a criminal who had returned to the scene.

As they continued walking forward, Fang Yan saw some police officers coming out of the large compound opposite, apparently conducting a personnel check.

At this time, it is also very important to mobilize the power of the masses and look for suspicious people who have appeared around. Maybe someone can provide important clues.

After getting on the bus, Fangyan soon arrived at Dazhalan.

Tong Ren Tang was much quieter in the afternoon. When Fang Yan walked into the store, there was no customer inside. All the colleagues who were still working in the afternoon were full and sleepy.

Only Le Miao was holding her inventory notebook for medicinal herbs and counting the goods whenever she had the chance.

Fang Yan said to Le Miao:

"Hey, the music store doesn't close at noon?"

Le Miao saw Fang Yan coming back, nodded to him, and responded:
"It's because your business has been so good recently that the medicinal materials are consumed quickly."

"Why? What brought you back?"

Fang Yan waved the black box in his hand at her and said:

"I found something and want to see it for you."

Le Miao put down the notebook and pen in his hand, walked out of the counter and came to Fang Yan:

"Let me see."

Fangyan didn't give it to her directly, but pointed to the back:
"Let's go to the backyard."

"Okay." Le Miao agreed.

Then the two of them went to the backyard, and Le Miao took the iron birch box from Fang Yan, looked at it, and asked:
"Where did you find this?"

Fangyan did not hide anything and said directly:
"On the beam of the main hall of my courtyard."

After hearing this, Le Miao looked thoughtful.

Then he lowered his head and started tinkering with it.

Fang Yan saw that Le Miao hadn't opened it either, so he said to her:
"I have tried many ways to open it but I can't. I don't know what's inside or how long it has been in the rafters."

"I think there should be a metal tool inside. I think it is likely to be gold or silver or something."

Le Miao shook the iron birch box and said:
"If I'm guessing correctly, there should be a dagger in here."

"Dagger?" Fang Yan was stunned.

Le Miao asked him:
"Have you ever heard of Chiwen?"

Fangyan didn't know what she meant and asked:

"Sounds familiar...can you tell me more about it?"

Le Miao nodded and said:

"Chiwen, according to legend, is the ninth son of the dragon, with a dragon head and a fish tail, and can swallow everything and spray waves to bring rain. The Northern Song Dynasty's "Qingxiang Miscellaneous Notes" records that it is a fish in the sea, with a curled tail like an owl, and it can spray waves to bring rain."

Fang Yan glanced at the box and asked:

"What does this have to do with the box?"

Le Miao said:

"Of course it is related. People believed that placing Chiwen on the roof or beams could avoid fire. So from the late Tang Dynasty, in order to fix Chiwen, they would build a hip roof on the roof. In fact, it was a statue of Chiwen being robbed of iron and resisting magpies and inserted on the roof."

"During the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the Siheyuan was being built, this custom had evolved into a sword, and the story was attributed to Xu Xun, a famous Taoist priest in the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

She paused here and asked:
"Hey, Xu Xun, do you know?"

"I don't know." Fang Yan shook his head.

Le Miao said:

“You’ve heard that if one person succeeds, everyone in the family will benefit, right?”

Fangyan suddenly realized and asked:
"Are you talking about Xu Xun?"

Le Miao smiled and nodded. She was very happy that she could show off her knowledge in front of Fang Yan, and then continued:

"Yes, there is also a story about him called Iron Pillar to Suppress a Dragon. It is said that Jiangxi used to have frequent floods because of a dragon, so Xu Xun nailed it to an iron pillar with his Wanren Sword."

"After Xu Xun ascended to heaven, his chickens and dogs were also taken to heaven, but his Wanren Sword returned and dropped from the sky to nail the escaped dragon, Chiwen, firmly to the roof to protect the safety of people's homes."

"Later, this kind of thing would be built into the building to protect the house."

She paused here, then changed the subject and said:
"But this is the capital. Using a sword to nail a dragon's son is disrespectful. Few people in the capital dare to do this under the emperor's nose. But some people will always find a way, so someone used a box like this, placed it on the beam, and put a dagger and a talisman inside to use as a house warding item."

"The place you're in used to be the residence of Wuqing Marquis Shi Heng during the Ming Dynasty. Maybe this thing was left behind by one of their family."

Then she shook the box:

"And the dagger in the box is definitely a treasure that can cut through iron like mud."

When I heard the dialect here, I suddenly understood.

It turns out that this thing was put there by the first owner.

Fang Yan asked Le Miao:

"If it was really Shi Heng who put it there, then it would have been more than 500 years ago. How could the dagger still be preserved?"

Le Miao shook his head and said:
"I don't know about that. I've never opened a box for such a long time."

Fang Yan heard this and asked:
"From what you said, can you open this box?"

Le Miao nodded:
"of course."

(End of this chapter)