Jianbao life

Chapter 880 Xu Wei's Manuscript
Fortunately, Chu Chen did not forget them, and said, "Brother Qi, we are here in Star City this time to participate in tomorrow's antique exchange meeting. Do you want to participate?"

"Of course!"

Qi Baofu and Fang Jinbo nodded excitedly. At first they thought it was strange why Chu Chen and these seniors appeared in Star City, but now they realized that this was the case.They are all people who love antiques, how could they not agree to Chu Chen's invitation.

But after a while, Qi Baofu said hesitantly: "But we haven't received the invitation letter!"

Zhao Xueyi smiled and said: "One invitation letter can bring two people in together. Except for Xiaochen, none of the three of us brought anyone along. It's no problem to bring you along."

"Thank you! Thank you..." The two quickly expressed their gratitude with smiles on their faces.

"What's the matter, it's just a little effort!" Zhao Xueyi waved his hand and said: "In this case, you can go to the hotel where we are staying today. I will call them later and ask them to help arrange the room."

"Isn't that embarrassing!" Both of them felt a little embarrassed to be able to participate in the exchange meeting and stay for one night in vain.

Uncle Wu said with a smile: "What's so embarrassing about this, anyway, the organizer is a big money, so you can't live for nothing, but if you want to be more convenient, don't check out the place where you live now, after all, the exchange meeting will be held tomorrow It's almost over."

"I still have things to do in Star City, and it's really troublesome to move around, so I won't be returning."

"I also want to stay for a few more days."

"Okay! Let's go then..."

The group took a taxi back to the hotel. On the way, they bought tools to unpack the boxes.When they returned to the hotel, the staff had already opened two rooms for Qi Baofu and Fang Jinbo. Although they were just ordinary business rooms, they were already very satisfied.

"I'm going to open this rattan box right now and see what good things are inside!"

After Chu Chen finished speaking with a smile, he was gearing up to use tools to take the box apart.

"Wait!" Seeing that Chu Chen was about to saw the box open with a saw, Uncle Wu hurriedly stopped him:

"Xiaochen, let's see if we can dismantle the box without violence."

After all, the thing inside is likely to be a priceless treasure. It would be a pity if it was injured by a saw. Therefore, everyone agreed with Uncle Wu's proposal.

In fact, Chu Chen has already seen it with supernatural powers. It is impossible for this rattan box to be dismantled without damage in a short period of time, except for violent methods.

But this kind of thing, Chu Chen would definitely say it in person, so he agreed to Uncle Wu's proposal, looked inside and out of the rattan box, and finally everyone came to the same conclusion, except for using a saw, It is impossible to remove the box intact in a short time.

"Why don't you just play it safe and take your time!" Zhu Dafu said.

Although the others also wanted to see what was inside as soon as possible, but just to be on the safe side, they all nodded in agreement.

Chu Chen said with a smile: "It's okay, we'll just be careful in a while. Besides, this box is already very fragile. You just need to saw it open a little, and you can pry it open with a tool..."

Everyone thought about it and felt that Chu Chen's words were indeed reasonable, so next, under everyone's attention, Chu Chen picked up the saw and started sawing.

Just like what Chu Chen said, these vines are already very fragile, and it doesn't take much effort to pick them up, and a big hole has appeared in a short while.

Seeing that it was almost done, Chu Chen put on other tools and opened the outer wall of the box little by little. In the end, there was only a "poof", and a box wrapped in oiled paper and sealed with wax fell out. objects.

Chu Chen picked it up and put it aside, then looked into the damaged wall, and found that there was nothing inside, and began to tear down the other outer walls, and finally found four more pieces together with the bottom of the box Objects also wrapped in oiled paper.

Although everyone was anxious to know what was wrapped inside the oil paper, they waited until Chu Chen took out everything before starting to do anything.After all, the things belonged to Chu Chen, and they couldn't take them out without the owner's presence.

While Zuo Shan was clearing out all kinds of boxes, Chu Chen also washed his hands and came out. Uncle Wu handed him a pair of white gloves and said, "There are a lot of things, and they should be ancient books. Let's take them one by one. , but you have to be careful when you take it apart, things like paper are very fragile. Xiao Chen, come here..."

Chu Chen nodded, then picked up a paper cutter, first gently picked off the sealing wax on the things, and then cut the oiled paper along the traces of the packaging, and then saw a book with Something like a book wrapped in silk appeared in front of everyone.

After spreading out the silk silk, there was a thread-bound book with a blue book jacket inside. It was almost two fingers thick, and it was well preserved without any damage. Otherwise, this layer of oil paper and those sealing waxes would have been damaged by mold, insects, etc., even if they had not been damaged after hundreds of years.

When this paper-bound ancient book appeared in front of everyone, the title written in cursive script on the cover made Uncle Wu and the others a little stunned.

"Four-voiced ape?!"

Chu Chen said in a timely manner: "Dad, these ancient books are so well preserved, can't they be the original manuscript of "Four Voices of the Apes"?"

"Very likely!" Uncle Wu and the others nodded solemnly and joyfully.

"But isn't there only four plays in "Four Voices of the Ape"? Why are there five ancient books here?" Wu Ke asked.

"This can only be found out by Xiaochen taking apart the remaining few books. I'll take a look at this one first..."

As he said that, Uncle Wu found a magnifying glass, and then carefully observed from the cover to the content, word by word.During this period, Chu Chen also took out the remaining four ancient books from the oiled paper one by one.

At this time, Fang Jinbo asked with some embarrassment: "Brother Qi, whose work is this "Four Voices of the Apes"?"

Qi Baofu was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and then asked with a smile: "Are you not familiar with celebrities in the Ming Dynasty?"

Fang Jinbo replied with some shame: "I have read the biographies of several people, but I didn't read them carefully."

"Don't worry, take your time!" Qi Baofu patted him on the shoulder and said, "However, the author of "Four Voices of the Ape" is quite famous, and you should know that he is Xu Wei and Xu Wenchang, the great literati of the Ming Dynasty. "

Xu Wei, an outstanding calligrapher, painter and writer in the Ming Dynasty, was born in Shanyin.The initial character Wenqing was changed to Wenchang, and the nickname was Tianchi Shanren, or other nicknames such as Shutian Shuiyue, Qingteng Old Man, and Qingteng Taoist.He has unique attainments in poetry, calligraphy, opera, and painting. He is the author of "Xu Wen Chang Ji", "Explanation of Road History", "Four Voices of Apes", etc. His famous works handed down from generation to generation include "Ink Grape Picture" axis, "Landscape Figures, Flowers and Birds, etc.

Xu Wei was famous for his literary name when he was young, but since he was a scholar at the age of 20, he has not been successful in the imperial examination. repelled.

With great ambitions, he participated in the anti-Japanese struggle on the southeast coast during the Jiajing period. Later, he was implicated in the Hu Zongxian case and was deeply stimulated. He once went crazy and lost his mind.He encountered a lot of ups and downs in his life, which can be described as "down in the world".Although he was poor in his later years, poor and sick, he sold poems, essays, and paintings to make a living, but he refused to write books and paintings for the powerful, which also shows his integrity.

"Ah! It turned out to be his work!" Fang Jinbo exclaimed.

Qi Baofu went on to say: "Not only are his works, but also four very wonderful drama works. It can be said that it has created a new way of writing Zaju with southern operas. In addition, "Four Voices of the Ape" also has the characteristics of fresh, lively, smooth and beautiful language. The lyrics are plain, full of emotion, and full of wit."

Fang Jinbo scratched his head, and said with a coy smile: "I only know that he is excellent in calligraphy, painting, and poetry, and he is also outstanding in military affairs. As for drama, I really don't know much about it."

"That's because you don't know much about Xu Wei. You'll know if you learn more about it in the future."

Qi Baofu said with a chuckle: "Actually, besides "Four Voices of the Ape", he also wrote a monograph on Southern Opera "Nan Ci Xulu". The contribution to the history of opera theory criticism cannot be underestimated..."

At this time, Chu Chen happened to take out another ancient book, and when everyone looked at the cover, Zhao Xueyi laughed and said, "Cao Cao Cao Cao will be here, this one is "Nanci Xulu"."

Zhu Dafu said with a smile: "I guess the remaining three books should be the remaining parts of "Four Voices of the Apes". It seems that those who collect these ancient books should be movie fans!"

Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement.

At this time, Uncle Wu stood up, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to Chu Chen with a smile: "Your life is really good, although I don't know if the other four books are authentic, but this one, I think it should be Xu Wei's manuscript. However, it can be seen from the lines that Xu Wei was in a very restless mood when he was writing the drama, and he probably finished the writing while gnashing his teeth."

"Four Sounds of the Ape" is a combination of four plays, namely "Three Alleys of Yuyang in the History of Kuanggu", "A Dream of Cuixiang by Yu Zen Master", "The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father", and "The Female Number One Scholar Says the Phoenix and Gets the Phoenix". The name of "Four Sounds of Apes" should be taken from the folk song of the Three Gorges of Badong, "Three Sounds of an Ape's Tears Cover Clothes", which means that three sounds of an ape's sound are enough to shed tears, let alone four.

Among them, "Three Lanes of Yuyang in the History of Kuanggu" tells the plot of Miheng scolding Cao Cao in the underworld after the death of Three Kingdoms, which is actually using Cao Cao to allude to Yan Song, the treacherous prime minister at that time. "Jade Chan Master A Dream of Cuixiang" exposed the intrigue between the officialdom and Buddhism at that time and the hypocritical nature of asceticism that lost humanity.

"Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father" tells the story of Mulan's expedition, the plot to her triumphant return and her marriage are all created by the author.Finally, "Female Number One Scholar Cihuang Gets Phoenix" depicts the artistic image of the talented female number one scholar Huang Chonggu (qǔ) disguised as a man, and settled the country in peace, only to expose her daughter's body, full of talent and ruin the artistic image of the boudoir.

These four plays not only express Xu Wei's attack on society, but also contain some resentment and helplessness in his reality.

For example, the play "The History of Kuanggu" was written because his closest friend, Shen Lian, was killed for participating in the impeachment of Yan Song.But because of his status, he can only use drama to satirize him secretly. With his extreme character, how can he not be depressed and resentful?
Zhu Dafu shook his head and sighed: "Hey! Xu Wei has been considered as jealous of talents all his life!"

Uncle Wu said: "Although heaven is jealous of talents, if there is no such experience as him, it is very likely that such a great literati will not appear."

Wu Ke shook his head and said: "Although I said that, wouldn't it be better if I didn't have such a rough experience? And I found that several celebrities in the Ming Dynasty had quite rough experiences in their lives, such as Tang Yin. Xu Wenchang is not much better."

Wen Baofu sighed: "Perhaps this is a common problem of ancient celebrities. Su Dongpo's life was quite rough."

"Forget it, let's not talk about it, the atmosphere is so depressing!"

Zhu Dafu waved his hand, and then he said excitedly: "Xiaochen is lucky, even such a thing can be obtained. If it is really Xu Wenchang's manuscript, let alone his own value, it is also a great treasure for the drama world." A very important discovery! Old Wu, show me it quickly..."

(End of this chapter)