Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 44 Haining Temple Tower
When we return to He Lai Hall, we are almost paralyzed from exhaustion.

As soon as I sat down and drank a cup of tea to moisten my throat, Uncle Gen, the housekeeper, sent a boy to say that Mr. Yuchen, the eldest son of the Wang family, had placed the construction drawings of the Nanyuan villa in Helai's study. Since the seventh son now lives in the study, please The Seventh Young Master will help find it. It will be used in the next day or two.

Wang Heng asked the boy to reply to Uncle Gen, and if he found it, he would send it to Uncle Gen immediately.

It has been a few months since he came to He Laitang's study room. Wang Heng briefly browsed through a few Dharma texts and his eldest brother's craftsmanship. He has not yet passed the childbirth examination, and autumn and spring are all distant dreams.

Mr. Chenyu has a very rich collection of books. It is not an exaggeration to call him a vast collection of books. However, it is not easy to find a volume of construction plans among them.

Xiaocai said after a while: "I'm very tired today, but I can't sleep. Let's light a lantern and look for it."

Who would have thought that he would have to work all night even if his legs were broken?

Wang Heng said: "Fortunately, my elder brother's study is very organized. Classics, history, calligraphy and paintings are all divided into categories. Although it is not easy to find it, it is not like looking for a needle in a haystack."

The construction plans of the South Garden must have been placed on these shelves. It took countless efforts to open the scrolls one by one.

Wang Cai is relatively short and needs a bench to reach him.Wang Hengxin said that it was fortunate that Xiaocai studied and literate with him on weekdays, so that the three cobblers could stand up to Zhuge Liang.

Even though he was cleaning diligently on weekdays, turning over the scrolls a lot still caused dust to fill the air. Wang Cai sneezed repeatedly and accidentally fell from the bench. When he fell to the ground, he saw a thick stack of paper under the bottom scroll. Wang Cai was moved. , the Nanyuan construction atlas is just a drawing drawn by a craftsman, and has only practical value. Compared with the collection of Mr. Chenyu, it is not worth a cent. It seems more reasonable to put it on the bottom floor.

Wang Cai simply sat down on the ground, moved the scroll beside him, and gently took out a large pile of paper from the bottom. After a closer look, the first picture showed the Nanyuan Embroidered Snow Hall, and it was indeed it.

Wang Cai was so happy that he raised his head and shouted: "Master, I found it."

Wang Heng hurriedly came over and knelt down to watch Wang Cai unfold the drawings one by one.Xiuxue Hall, Hanbi Fang, Taiguang Pavilion, and Zhijin Bridge are not just the drawings left over from the construction of Nanyuan.

"Wait a minute," Wang Heng said with a surprised look on his face, holding down the drawing with his finger, "Isn't this the upper part of the pattern painted on the city wall?"

Wang Cai identified it carefully and said, "I also think this is the part of the pattern."

Where the symbol "〤" with half of the word "yao" appears in the drawings, there are one, two, three, and some strange symbols at the same time. Because many drawings have such symbols, it is not difficult to find the pattern. Wang Heng pointed to one of them. Said: "There are four patterns on the scroll of this drawing. The symbols are one, two, three, and 〤. The other symbols do not appear. From this, we can infer that the character 〤 probably represents four."

Wang Cai nodded in sincerity and said: "What the young master said is that this is most likely used by craftsmen to represent numbers."

The next question is the puzzle of the lower part of the mysterious pattern on the city wall. It is painted like a pavilion. What does it mean?
"Four Pavilions? It doesn't seem to make any sense."

"There are many gardens in the city, and naturally there are countless pavilions, but I have never heard of any one named Four Pavilions."

"Four pavilions? I haven't heard of any place where there are four pavilions."

Wang Cai hesitated and said: "If this painting is a pagoda, it does look a bit like it."

Wang Heng said: "If it is a pagoda, there is only one in the city. There is still a Haining temple pagoda at the ruins of the old Haining temple."

Countless possibilities have been connected, but none of them are very reasonable.

In the distance, the drum beat sounded three times, and it turned out that it was already the third watch.Suddenly an idea came to his mind and he said: "On the tower of Haining Temple at the fourth watch."

Wang Cai patted the case and said: "Young Master's guess is very reasonable. I have heard from the neighborhood aunties that there is a fox fairy in Haining Temple. This is the answer to the puzzle in all likelihood."

Now that you have guessed the riddle, it would be a waste of your brains if you don't check it yourself.

Wang Cai said happily: "The ruined site of Haining Temple is only three or four miles away from Wang Yamen. Let's go and explore it."

"Those who violate the night ban will be punished." Wang Heng thought about his identity as a white man and was worried.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the evening drum is sounded at three o'clock at the first watch to prohibit travel; the morning bell is rung at three o'clock at the fifth watch before travel is allowed.Those who violate the night ban in the capital city will be given thirty blackboards, and those in foreign affairs offices and cities and towns will be punished by one grade.

Wang Cai smiled and said: "Nowadays, the laws and regulations have been abolished. How can there be people who are full and full to arrest the criminals? Moreover, the abandoned garden of Haining Temple is now owned by the same clan, Nanjing Minister of Rites, Wang Yuanmei. If someone chases us, we will You can enter the garden in a big way, what do the Wang family have to do if they live in the Wang family’s garden?”

Thinking about it this way, it really made sense.

Wang Cai was at ease in the Wang family mansion, and he was very familiar with all kinds of people.

Lao Fulin, the front door concierge, was serious about his work, so it would be difficult to escape from the front door. Lao Guozhong, the man on night duty at the back door, was an alcoholic and would lie down in the concierge after drinking too much soup every night.

Wang Cai walked more slowly and glanced into the back door room. Under the bright light, he vaguely saw old Guozhong lying on the rattan couch.It was quiet in the middle of the night, except for the chirping of insects and the thunderous snoring of Old Guozhong.

The brass key was placed in the corner cabinet. Wang Cai had already noticed it on weekdays. He took it out gently, opened the back door, and then returned to the corner cabinet. Old Guozhong drank a lot and was completely unaware of it.

The two walked out of the back door and closed the door ajar. Wang Cai laughed softly and said: "This old country loyalist will get up early tomorrow. He will definitely think that he was drunk last night and did not close the door. If I cheat him a few words, I will have to pay a few coins to keep him safe." Use the money to buy some peaches, plums and plums to put in my mouth."

The street was pitch dark all around, but fortunately, the remaining light from the lantern inside the wall of the Wang family mansion faintly illuminated the stone pavement.

After a quick trot, I have already arrived at Shi'an Bridge. If it is daytime, the Haining Temple Tower can be seen faintly, and the Haining Temple Abandoned Garden is not far away.

Although it is called the abandoned garden, there is usually an old man looking at the garden. At this time, the night is deep and the abandoned garden is very big. Wang Heng and Wang Cai crawl into the abandoned garden through the ruins of the ruins in the dark. The garden is overgrown with weeds. They can't help but think of poisonous insects, rats, and ants. Be alert in your heart.

The Haining Temple Tower stands in the northwest of the abandoned garden. I want to walk straight past it, but I can't.The path has been abandoned for a long time, and huge vines are hanging on the rockery, blocking the road. It goes around and around, like walking through a maze.

Wang Cai said softly: "It would be great if you have the skills of a knight-errant. Use Qinggong to jump up."

Wang Heng said: "You can't even practice Baduanjin, but you can still practice Qinggong?"

"Isn't it because I didn't meet a good master?" Wang Cai was optimistic.

Wang Heng knocked Xiaocai with his arm to signal him to stop talking. He was still a stone's throw away from the Haining Temple Tower and could clearly see the faint light of fire on the second floor of the Haining Tower.

The drum sounded "dong dong dong dong" four times in the distance, and it seemed that someone was coming under the Haining Temple Tower. After a while, someone started talking. Wang Heng was afraid of being discovered, so he took a few steps forward and pulled Xiaocai. Completely hide your body behind a Taihu stone.

(End of this chapter)