Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 56

This Shuncheng Prince's Mansion belonged to Luck Dehun, one of the "Eight Iron Hat Kings" who founded the Qing Dynasty. After more than 200 years, the title has been inherited because of "hereditary non-replacement". Change the pattern, so it is relatively intact.

It is a well-known fact that the children of the Eight Banners are not up to date. These golden branches and jade leaves carry cages to frame birds, hold opera actors and smoke opium. The snow-capped mountains turned into water, and from then on they could not make ends meet until they sat on nothing. The last generation of county king Wenkui even did the embarrassing thing of mortgaging the house deed to the French Oriental Bank in the early years of the Republic of China.

In the sixth year of the Republic of China, Wen Kui rented the mansion briefly to Xu Tieshan, a warlord of the Zhu clan who was mistreated by the old commander.Later, when the old commander came to Beijing to serve as the generalissimo of the Anguo military government, Tang Gechen enshrined the palace as the generalissimo's mansion.

At this time, Wen Kui's family, who had not received the rent for a long time, had no means of living, so they had no choice but to ask Baylor Zaitao to negotiate a peace, and finally made a price of [-] oceans.

After the palace became the Grand Marshal's mansion, the old marshal didn't actually live much: when he first came to Beijing, he lived in the Fengtian Guild Hall all the time; later, he went back and forth a few times because of the Ninglu War, and only stayed a few times occasionally.

As they walked in, they suddenly heard a child humming a nursery rhyme in the clear voice of a child at the gate. When Feng Jiu turned around, he happened to see a few urchins in patched coats, each holding a freshly broken willow branch. Walking through the vermilion lacquer gate with seven rows of gold lacquer nails: "Why is Jinshifang Street so long, and there is King Qiongshun living in it; the prince's clothes store is 'Hehedang', and the prince's dining room is 'Fufu'." Qingtang'."

Are you so poor?Clothes are all mortgaged in the pawnshop "Hehe Pawn", and if you want to "beat teeth", you can only go to the restaurant "Fuqingtang" occasionally?
Feng Jiu was stunned, and Ning Zheng smiled, "It's true that you are poor, and it's beyond the foundations—probably during the Yongzheng period, the then King of Shun County was in charge of military supplies for the expedition. When a natural disaster occurred, thousands of horses died of illness. Compensating with private property, if you are dissatisfied with killing the family, you will end up selling the ancestral fiefs of Rehe and Fengtian to get half of it; if the other ministers hadn't begged the emperor to stop, this family would probably be gone long ago."

Feng Jiuyi listened silently: the power of heaven is unpredictable, there are more than 400 emperors in the past dynasties in China, and few of them are reasonable.

The couple held hands and walked all the way in. They saw a section of wall with a lighter color, which seemed to be built later. Ning Zheng said: "There used to be seven halls here. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing in the Gengzi Year It burned down, so my father built a section of wall on the foundation of the hall, and the existing main house is built here."

After such a walk, Fengjiu discovered another strange thing: as a person who is familiar with the regulations of the past dynasties, he found four tall catalpa trees in front of the main hall, "This, is it against the rules?" He doesn't even blink his own son, this is just a county king, how can he tolerate him keeping these trees?

Ning Zheng said, "It is indeed unique, I don't know why."

But going further in, Feng Jiu felt a little fond of the master of the palace, because they can open the east and west gates of the palace all day long, that is, the side doors for pedestrians to come and go. This kind of convenience is not uncommon among princes. common.Feng Jiu saw a sweet water well in the second courtyard on the east side of the east gate. Ning Zheng said that until now, people living here still use this well water for drinking and cooking.In this age, the water pipes have not been repaired?It's really inconvenient to live in this palace.

Although the courtyards inside and outside the Wangfu have curved outlines, angled pavilion eaves, pavilions, weird rockery and sparkling lotus ponds, there are also gurgling waters surrounding the courtyard, and there is no shortage of lush pines and cypresses. But if you look closely, they are very ordinary, far from Wuling Garden, which was imitated by Fengjiu's family, and it is normal for Fengjiu to look down on it; the only good scenery is the two peony and peony gardens in front of the rockery. Chinese people have always planted flowers. Peonies and peonies do not belong to each other, so they can be planted together, because the difference in flowering period is less than half a month, which can prolong the time of enjoying flowers.

It was already May at this time, the peonies had already withered, and the big peonies were blooming all over the sky, splashing and splashing, Ning Zheng saw Feng Jiu's face suddenly lit up, and instantly became more radiant.

The colors of the peonies here range from jade white, to pink white, bright, silver red, purple red, etc. I haven't seen other yellow, blue and green ones. They are exactly the same color system, and they don't destroy the gradual and thick colors; the flower shape Wuhai is like roses, chrysanthemums and hydrangeas that are common in the north. They are like beauties, wearing complicated and colorful dresses, lazily facing the spring breeze; it just happened to be raining at this time, and water is stored in the overlapping petals. The beautiful woman in the empty valley, who seemed to be let down, held tears in her heart, her shame and beauty were equal, making people reluctant to take their eyes away.

"Fold some back?"

Feng Jiu agreed, since there are not many people in the mansion, the flowers should be "bloomed and folded", why wait until "there are no flowers to break the branches"?

So Feng Jiu pointed out which one he liked, and Ning Zheng bent down and folded it down. The stems of the peonies were long. Later, Feng Jiu looked back and saw dozens of pink, white and bright red peonies in the arms of a handsome young man in military uniform. Looking at her with a smile, he felt quite picturesque like "a famous flower here with a sandalwood man".

If I took a photo with a camera, I'm afraid it will make girls all over the country go crazy than those photos of male movie stars in Shanghai.

It took almost half an hour to walk here from the front, and at the end, Feng Jiu noticed that Ning Zheng was waiting for her to talk about her impressions of the palace, so she responded carelessly: "It's not bad."

That's why I don't like it.Ning Zheng knew very well the true thoughts behind Feng Jiu's official reply—it was an old building that hadn't been touched for hundreds of years, with outdated facilities and inconvenient life for sure.

"This time I'm only here for a few days. I've already sent someone to look at the house elsewhere." Ning Zheng patted her on the back reassuringly. Feng Jiu didn't like to worry about it, so he just decided on this kind of thing.

Sure enough, before Feng Jiu left Beijing a few days later, Ning Zheng had already bought a brand new two-story mansion located in Xinjian Hutong, Taipusi Street, Xidan. Bathtub, shower head, flush toilet, comfortable and elegant.

Feng Jiu walked to the door of the living room of the main room, and Ning Zheng asked her what she meant: live in the main room or the east wing?
Fengjiu knew that the main room was where my husband stayed when he came to Beijing, so why would he live in his place? Naturally, it was the East Wing.

Ning Zheng ordered to go on, but unexpectedly, Qiu Sheng knew Feng Jiu. As soon as she came in, she heard the layout of the house from the servants, and immediately said that our young mistress might still live in the East Wing.

She put away Feng Jiu's few daily necessities, and then borrowed an iron from the steward, and ironed and sorted the three evening dresses that Feng Jiu might wear in the evening, and arranged the accessories for each evening dress separately. In his mind, he was thinking about what hairstyle to wear for the girl.In this regard, Qiu Sheng is very talented.

Seeing the two coming back, she hurriedly discussed with Feng Jiu which clothes to wear. When Feng Jiu received the call, she knew that Ning Zheng would be the host tonight, so she wore red evening clothes. After a little thought, she finally chose A burgundy satin evening dress with a one-neck collar, half sleeves, and the same color flowers hanging from the cuffs, revealing a slender neck and half of an arm.

Feng Jiu turned his face and saw Ning Zheng piled up the peonies brought back on a high table, so the servants asked for flower scissors and began to take care of these peonies.

After pruning a branch, loosely insert the flowers into a tall, fat, large white-glazed flower pot that someone just brought.After dozens of pruned flowers of different heights were inserted, forming a beautiful scene of different shades and scattered patterns, then he stopped, moved a little away, and held his chin with one hand to admire.

Seeing the problem again, Feng Jiu couldn't help taking a breath: This was taken out of the warehouse by the servants. I thought it was an ordinary object, but who would have imagined that it was a rare Yuan blue and white peony with twigs and dragons? flower pot.

Feng Jiu immediately became half an inch shorter, bent his knees carefully, and moved the vase that had been placed firmly inward against the wall, for fear that the national treasure would be destroyed if he didn't pay attention. At the same time, he felt sorry for the old Shuai is really reckless.

Ning Zheng has been watching Feng Jiu take care of these flowers with his arms folded, and he is puzzled when he suddenly sees her suddenly shortened body in panic, so he turns his eyes to the ordinary-looking vase After looking at it carefully for a few times, I understood the clue, and couldn't help laughing.

It was still early for the dinner party to start, Ning Zheng took her to the back warehouse again, took the key handed over by the housekeeper with both hands, opened the door, and after entering, Ning Zheng put the scroll on a long table. Unfolding the painting scroll, Feng Jiu was dazzled at first glance: Wang Xianzhi's "She Nei Tie", Li Zhaodao's "Sea Market Picture", Dong Yuan's "Landscape Scroll", Guo Xi's "Han Forest Picture", Song Huizong's "Book of Imperial Edict"... the eyes are full of rare treasures, all of which are rare authentic works.

Feng Jiu's eyes lit up, and he turned to look at Ning Zheng, without saying a word, but a lot had already been revealed in those extremely bright eyes.Ning Zheng's face turned slightly red, it might be the first time since she met Feng Jiu that she could look at her so intently.

Feng Jiu watched everything carefully, exchanging feelings with Ning Zheng.She suddenly found an ancient painting, which probably passed through several dynasties and passed through the hands of many people, resulting in a lot of dirt on the painting, and it was not signed.But if you look carefully, you will find that this painting is exquisite in brush and ink, and the lake water is particularly powerful, with the interest of eddy and turbulence. Feng Jiu looked up at Ning Zheng in puzzlement.

Ning Zheng smiled, "I bought this from a pile of defective products in a second-hand bookstore in Tianjin almost three years ago. I bought it for a small sum of money; later I got someone to look at it and said it was an authentic work by Li Tang, one of the "Four Great Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty", and it was called "Songfeng Tu in Yansi Temple."

Feng Jiu couldn't help expressing her admiration for Ning Zheng's courage: even she thought the painting was good, but seeing how filthy it was, she might still refuse to buy it.

Ning Zheng was also quite proud of this, saying that since then his interest in calligraphy and painting collection has been out of control.He found ancient books, literature, antiques, calligraphy and paintings from Taobao, ranging from the Jin, Tang and Five Dynasties, down to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, "a total of 630 pieces." , the pride is beyond words.Later, most of these treasures were transported back to Fengtian and stored in Fengtian Museum.

"Look at these paintings again." Ning Zheng dragged Feng Jiu to an inconspicuous corner on the far left, where there were several paintings by Shi Tao. Feng Jiu knew that Shi Tao was one of Ning Zheng's favorite painters. Even in their bedroom in the Fengtian mansion, there are several paintings by this famous landscape painter of the Nanming survivors.

"It should be Shi Tao's original work." Feng Jiu looked at the few paintings in front of her and saw that the signature should be Shi Tao, that is, the paintings of Kugua Monk in his later years. I only like Yun Shouping's original boneless painting of flowers and birds: the brush is crisp and subtle, and the colors are clean and delicate. When she and Hutou studied under Mr. Li, there were many paintings by Mr. Mo Nantian.

"It's all fake." Ning Zheng smiled wryly and shook his head and sighed.

Feng Jiu was taken aback, "How could it be?" She really hated that she didn't have a magnifying glass in her hand at the moment, so she had to bow her head, wishing to paste these coloring pictures on paper on her face, and carefully study the true meaning: but see The brush is thick and thin, and the ink is used both dry and wet, and the picture is full of fun. It is indeed the tune of the bitter melon monk in his later years.

Ning Zheng smiled and pulled her up, "It's all Zhang Daqian's paintings. This narrow-minded ghost."

Zhang Daqian, who later became known as the "Oriental Brush" and created the "Dafengtang School" splash-ink and color technique, was not well-known all over the world at that time. He was just a young man two years older than Ning Zheng. Master Li Ruiquan learned all kinds of tricks for making fake paintings from his master. He used to imitate Liang Kai's "Picture of Two Apes" in the Southern Song Dynasty to deceive the landscape painter and appraise Wu Hufan, and he was very complacent; He became addicted to imitation, and used fake Shi Tao to deceive the real Shi Tao from Huang Binhong, a master of landscape painting who claims to be "Shi Tao Appreciation No. 1".

As Fu Shen, a later connoisseur of calligraphy and painting, praised, "He plucked a hair from his body. If he wanted to change into Shi Tao, he would become Shi Tao. If he wanted to change into Bada, he would become Bada. If he wanted to change into Tang Bohu, he would become Tang Bohu." Zhu Da, another monk painter of the Nanming survivors.

It is said that six out of ten of Shi Tao's paintings that are extant in the world can find Master Zhang's monogram when the surface is uncovered.

Feng Jiu looked at it carefully for a long time... still can't see anything fake.That's right, if you can fool everyone in the appraisal, if you still expect to be able to see the clues from the ink color of the painting paper, it would be too childish.

Feng Jiu thought about it for a while, and smiled, "It seems that Mr. Wu Hufan helped you identify the fake."

Ning Zheng smiled and continued, "No. However, Mr. Wu also spoke bluntly, saying that if he hadn't been fooled by Zhang Daqian first, he would not believe that Shi Tao was a fake. After all, the original "Two Apes" "Picture", he lost it after he decided that it was hidden by his ancestors, so he spent tens of thousands of silver dollars to buy it at a high price."

However, even though he knew he had been duped, Ning Zheng was not angry. Instead, he was deeply impressed by Zhang Daqian's superb painting skills, and the two formed a deep friendship ever since.

Feng Jiu praised sincerely: "I didn't expect you to improve a lot in this area."

Ning Zheng looked at Feng Jiu quietly, and after a while he said: "Madam is not by my side. During the interval between the battles, I need to go back and forth and socialize. When I return to the bedroom at night, I have nothing to do. I asked Lin Rulan to find some The original original works in the house are hung around to enhance eyesight, as Emperor Tui said, it may not be as clear as yours, but it is still a slight improvement."

After hearing what he said, Feng Jiu rolled his eyes, understood the meaning, and suddenly felt grateful: Ning Zheng could definitely bring himself to Beiping, and cooperate with his actions like a boudoir who waits for her husband to come home every day. , but he did not.

I am in Fengtian, I can go to university, my mother's family is nearby, and it is safer, so, did he actually live alone so empty?
Ning Zheng suddenly turned around and hugged Feng Jiu, and lightly pecked at her pale skin, "Wait for your winter and summer vacation, if you have more time, I will take you to Shanghai to find Zhang Daqian, he is very interesting, you I must like it."

Feng Jiu nodded. Such a person must be a person full of stories and knowledgeable. Who wouldn't yearn for it?

Ning Zheng suddenly picked up Feng Jiu and strode towards the East Chamber. Feng Jiu kicked and beat him, but he couldn't hold him back at all, so he could only bury his face in his neck in shame, not wanting to see other servants along the way His gaze: Fortunately, there are not many people in this mansion, otherwise it would be embarrassing.

However, this guy did not forget to bow his head and whisper in her ear while walking: "Actually, there is a box in the corner inside. I have collected more than a dozen of Mr. Nantian's paintings for you one after another. When I am free Go take a closer look, and transport them back to Fengtian..."

Qiu Sheng was packing Feng Jiu's other luggage inside, when he suddenly saw this scene, he was a little at a loss, Ning Zheng just said: "Go out." , It simply created the most agile action record in her life.

Ning Zheng put Feng Jiu on the north kang. The kang is old enough, but the bedding is all new. Feng Jiu glanced at the small clock beside the bed, "No, it's time to go."

Ning Zheng had already started to undress himself, the quality of a professional soldier really made him as fast as lightning, Feng Jiu turned over and covered his face, the annoying guy was going to do such nasty things in broad daylight.

Thinking again that he was definitely going to get started, he couldn't help but think that the two of them just unfolded a lot of ancient paintings to look at, and there must be some dust... Suddenly hearing the sound of splashing water, Ning Zheng cleaned his hands and showed her triumphantly, "It's clean, don't worry."

Feng Jiu was angry, "Have you figured out everything about me?" As soon as the voice fell, it felt wrong, what is this called?

Ning Zheng had a happy face, "That's really good, but it's not like I figured it out..."

With a muttering voice, he leaned forward and began to undress Feng Jiu's clothes.Soon, the two hugged each other like a newborn baby, panting, moaning, whispering, coquettish and angry. As usual, Feng Jiu couldn't figure out Ning Zheng; and under his usual dominance, Ning Zheng Zheng did touch Feng Jiu again and again, without missing a single mistake.

When Qiu Sheng was able to come in again to dress up Feng Jiu, it was almost half an hour later.

The East Wing was peaceful, and Qiu Sheng made a bud bun for Feng Jiu, randomly inserted a few small diamond flower hairpins, like stars scattered in the dark night sky.

After Ning Zheng changed his clothes, he saw Feng Jiu combing this bun, which was as elegant and beautiful as a Western princess. jewellery.

Ning Zheng turned her face, took a closer look, and took out a box from the drawer of the dressing table, which contained an emerald brooch and a pair of emerald and diamond earrings for her to wear respectively.The main body of the brooch is an oval-shaped Colombian emerald, surrounded by small diamond arches, and below it hangs two drop-shaped Burmese rubies. The emerald's bright green color is matched with the night-like wine red, which is dignified and elegant. Noble and luxurious.

The couple packed up and prepared to go out, and Hong Si, who had been missing all this time, also popped up in time. It turned out that the old man also asked him to accompany his third uncle and third aunt to the reception.

Not far away is the East Flower Hall, where a sturdy middle-aged servant woman is moving flowers, and she sees Feng Jiu looking at a square flower pot of purple sand imitation brother glaze in her hand, in which is planted a plant that Feng Jiu has never seen before. Hua'er happily told the third young lady that this is an epiphyllum. Looking at the buds, she has begun to twist her mouth. It is estimated that it will bloom tonight, but I don't know what time it is. Last year, it only bloomed in the middle of the night.

Feng Jiu smiled and nodded, saying that if he could get up in the middle of the night, he would come and watch.

Ning Zheng turned his head and looked behind the servant woman, and said to Feng Jiu, there are still several pots, if you like, you might as well take a few pots back when you leave; with so many pots, you can always catch up with one pot when you are awake .

Bong Goo said with a smile, let's have a look.

They boarded the "Fengtian No. [-]" again, and Fengjiu guessed that the father-in-law just wanted to let himself, the third daughter-in-law, experience what it was like to ride the most prestigious car in the world.

Zhi Changsheng drove in front.Ning Zheng pondered and said: "This thank you reception is unusual. Father is trying to win the support of the government from the ministers stationed in China, so I have to let you go back and forth. I know you don't like this kind of occasion, but bear with me a little bit. ,OK?"

"It's okay," Feng Jiu said lightly, "I happen to be on spring break, so I'll just watch the fun." Ning Zheng stretched out his left hand, intertwined with the ten fingers of Feng Jiu's right hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it lightly. Kiss the back of her hand.At night, there was no need to put down the white gauze curtains, Hong Si, who was sitting next to Zhi Changsheng, glanced at them through the rearview mirror.

(End of this chapter)