Riding the wind of rebirth

"This is a painting from the early Ming Dynasty, and it's a palace portrait. In the feudal dynasty, this was the highest-level painting, usually hung in the Purple Light Pavilion, and accompanied the royal ancestors to enjoy royal incense during sacrifices." Zhou Zhi said, "Although the format of this painting is like that, it should also be a special reward to win over obedient ethnic minority areas. It can't be hung in the Purple Light Pavilion, but it returned to the Yi area with Madam Shexiang, and finally spread from Shuixi to here."

"I always hear you mention Shuixi. Where is this Shuixi?"

Zhou Zhi then remembered that Chi Xueli and the others had never heard of "Wumeng Mountain connects to other mountains", so he laughed and said, "In the early Ming Dynasty, the Qianzhong area was ruled by several chieftains of large families. The two sides used the Yachi River as a boundary. The east was ruled by the Shuidong Song family, and the west was ruled by the Shuian An family. Shexiang was Longzan of the An family, and the daughter-in-law of the leader Aicui. Aicui was often ill, so Shexiang governed on behalf of her husband. After her husband died, she governed on behalf of her son."

"That means he is half the King of Guizhou." Chi Xueli nodded: "That is also remarkable."

"Will this painting eventually be snatched away by Qianzhou?" Lao Chi Ri became a little worried.

"Finding this painting is worth the trip," Zhou Zhi said, "not to mention there are so many historical records."

"But the state has laws that stipulate that all cultural relics discovered after 1949 belong to the state, no matter who discovered them."

"Grandpa Chi Ri, Xiao Miao and I may have to leave for a while. These materials need to be sent to Shudu University to find ethnic experts for preliminary identification, and then we will definitely go to the capital. I don't think this painting and some important materials in this cave can be kept anywhere except the National Library and the National Museum."

"As for the Shudu Museum and Qianzhong Museum, I guess they can only hang replicas and hold rotating exhibitions during important festivals, but don't think about anything else."

"It would be best to return it to the country, as long as nothing is wasted." Lao Chi Ri still had some concerns about some things in the past, but he was a perceptive person, and many of Zhou Zhi's practices in Lailianhe Township also touched him, and he was no longer the same as before.

Otherwise, this trip would not have been possible.

Lao Chi Ri brought eight horses this time. Zhou Zhi selected some cultural relics from the three caves that had obvious characteristics of the era and were easy to carry so as not to cause damage during the transportation. He also used a camera to record their original location, original state and other information before loading them into the saddle baskets.

Eight horses, each with two backpack-sized saddlebags, couldn't actually carry much stuff out. While helping, Chi Xueli finally understood the amount of labor that had gone into this cave. She couldn't help but sigh, "How many generations and how many trips of horse teams would it take to fill these three stone chambers?!"

"We also need to take into account several special periods." Zhou Zhi said, "It must be done in secret, otherwise there is a risk of being beheaded. In terms of protecting the classics of ethnic minorities, Grandpa Chi Ri and his generation of Bimos have made great contributions."

After filling the saddle basket, Lao Chi Ri went to cut some nepeta, mugwort, camphor tree branches, and a plant that Zhou Zhi didn't recognize, which Lao Chi Ri called "萹储". He said that they all have the effect of repelling insects. He replaced the insect-repellent grass that had long dried up in the stone chamber, then sealed the cave entrance with mud bricks, and then mixed mud with clean water to paste the surface of the mud brick wall.

Zhou Zhi suspected that those plants also had the function of slowly releasing water. In fact, the preservation environment of calligraphy and painting cultural relics is not the more absolutely dry the better, some humidity must still be retained.

However, whether these fresh insect repellents really have these functions can only be determined when archaeological experts come here and make professional judgments.

Filling the packing cages of eight horses was the purpose of the trip, but in order to create a sense of mystery in the camera, Chi Xueli deliberately dragged everyone around to collect scenes, and finally waited until the sunset to shoot a beautiful scene of the caravan marching under the soft light of the sunset. However, this led to walking at night. Although Mai Xiaomiao thought it was fun to light pine torches, it made Zhou Zhi a little scared, especially when Chi Xueli and Dawei had to rush down the mountain in front and let Zhou Zhi and the others come down the mountain road with torches, saying that such natural close-up shots were very beautiful.

Zhou Zhi couldn't help but express his objection, and sarcastically said that it would be very beautiful to encounter a wild boar at the foot of the mountain!

As a result, Lao Chi Ri took out two huge firecrackers, lit the fuse and threw them down the mountain. The two "boom" sounds scared the night birds away. Then he said that he would not be afraid of wild animals anymore, and they would run as far away as they could.

"Don't all documentaries require real shots?" Zhou Zhi thought it was funny: "Doesn't this become staged filming?"

"Film is art. Art must be derived from life and transcend life. Otherwise, why do documentaries need directors?" Although Chi Xueli's expression could not be seen in the dark, Zhou Zhi could sense a pair of eye rolls from her tone.

After these incidents, by the time everyone returned to the grain station, it was already dark.

Although Zhou Zhi called in advance, it was actually very unreliable for a horse team to travel at night, so Tu Liangzhi and Gillie Abi were inevitably worried. They waited at the door of the grain station until they saw the horse team coming, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone was a little too excited before. After two days of hard work, they were actually exhausted. Chi Xueli looked at Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao who were in good shape and said, "What's wrong with you two? I feel like I'm about to fall apart."

"Really?" Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao looked at each other. "Is it because we have been practicing the Lingshan Temple's stretching exercises every morning and evening? Didn't you learn it too? You stayed in Lingshan Temple for a few more days than us. Didn't the old monk teach you a few more moves?"

"Have you learned it? Ah, I've forgotten it all!" Chi Xueli said in a daze, "Is it really that effective? Then you can help me practice it before I go to bed later!"

"You guys go eat first, and then go to bed early." Old Chi Ri said with a smile, "The horses have worked hard, I'll prepare some wild grass for them first."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Wu Renzhong, Lu Hui and Hao Chunwang also came out to watch the fun: "Wow! They have collected a lot, what are they?"

"If anyone in Renzhong wants to play mahjong, then don't touch it." Zhou Zhi stopped him and said, "They are all books!"

"Why does this book look like a bunch of wrapped little flags?" Lu Hui felt curious.

"Well, this is also the first time I've seen books bound and collected like this." Although Zhou Zhi has done a lot of work restoring ancient books and has seen a lot of ancient and rare books, he has never seen such a simple and yet practical way of collecting before: "Even if it broadens my horizons a little, this trip is worth it."

"But I'm not familiar with these things. I need to send them for appraisal. What I can identify is that they are portraits of Madam Shexiang and palace paintings from the Ming Dynasty. Everyone will come and see them later. I have to send them away tomorrow." (End of this chapter)