Tianzhu: The Record of Foreign Stories in the Republic of China

Chapter 34
After the great-grandfather got out of the car, he realized that the driver was afraid that the snow would make it difficult for him to travel, so he put a few stones on the steps in front of the gate and drove the carriage directly into the yard.In the courtyard, the small pool had already frozen, and a few goldfish dived into the water without moving.The surrounding flowers and trees have withered long ago, only a few red plum trees are in full bloom, the flowers are pressing on the branches, and the fragrance is full of fragrance.

When the servant led his great-grandfather into the study, Guang Erdong was stepping on the stool, holding a feather duster, and gently wiping the dust on the painting "Ancient Wooden Cold Spring" on the wall.The window of the study room was closed and a charcoal fire was burning, making the room extremely warm.Seeing his great-grandfather, Guang Erdong hurriedly bowed his hands and made a cup of hot tea for his great-grandfather himself.

After taking a sip of tea, great-grandfather said impatiently: "I heard that Xianqi bought a tri-colored Tang Dynasty color, please show it to me."

Guang Erdong took out a box from under the desk, took out a colorful Tang Sancai horse from it, and placed it gently on the table.

The great-grandfather took a closer look at the horse. It was half a meter high. It stood upright on a rectangular step with its head bowed, its ears erect, its eyes slightly closed, its mane cut and its tail tied, with a submissive demeanor.

Guang Erdong said proudly: "I see this horse, the body of the horse is covered with white glaze, decorated with green, yellow and other colored glazes, the glaze color is even, gorgeous, and it is beautiful in shape and lifelike. Bought it. You see..."

The great-grandfather glanced at him, looked down at him for a long time, then frowned, shook his head and said, "I don't think so. As far as I know, the real Tang Sancai, the heads and feet of various figurines, animals The feet and the chassis of the terracotta figurines are exposed without glaze. You can see that the horse is covered with glaze, which is superfluous. Moreover, the method of glazing the authentic Tang Sancai products is brushing, pouring, and spotting. Artistic effect, and this horse is obviously made of spray glaze, although the glaze color is uniform and bright, but it lacks the natural and unrestrained sense of flowing. According to the old man, this should be an imitation of the late Qing Dynasty, not the real Tang Sancai.”

Guang Erdong couldn't help feeling disappointed, and said with a smile: "Although it is a counterfeit, it is not a counterfeit, and it still has some collection value."

The great-grandfather nodded and said: "This horse is majestic and mighty, its posture is vigorous, and its glaze color is colorful. If it can be imitated to such a degree, it can be regarded as a work of art."

Guang Erdong laughed, and said: "I will leave this horse to my descendants. Maybe after hundreds of years, it will become a treasure." Looking at the self-ringing clock on the wall, he saw that it was almost noon, so he Leave great-grandfather for lunch before leaving.

He stood up and rubbed his hands and said: "Someone caught a shad on the Yangtze River in the morning, which weighed two catties. I bought it for you. I will cook it myself and make a braised shad. Please, sir, try it." My craft." After saying that, he asked his great-grandfather to sit down and have tea by the fire, then he tied his scarf and went to cook himself.

About 10 minutes later, Guang Erdong brought a few dishes and wine on a tray. Among them, there was a braised shad with golden skin and a tangy aroma.Great-grandfather held up the chopsticks and tasted it, only to find that the taste was soft and tender, and the meat was delicious. He couldn't help laughing and said: "I didn't expect Xianqi to have such a skill, it's admirable."

After lunch, it was already afternoon.Great-grandfather drank Longjing tea for a while, then got up to leave.

The wind and snow outside were still the same, but instead of stopping, the snow was getting bigger and bigger.The carriage was still parked in the yard, and great-grandfather got into the carriage. The coachman was very careful, and still clamped the curtain tightly to prevent the bitter cold wind from blowing into the carriage.Then he drove the carriage out of the yard, and galloped along the main road, braving the wind and snow all the way.

Great-grandfather dozed off in the car for a while, and an hour later, the carriage stopped at the door of the house.As soon as my great-grandfather got out of the car and sent the coachman away, my great-grandmother came out to greet her and said, "Congratulations, master, this time you will be famous."

Great-grandfather was startled when he heard this, and said, "No reason, what's the name?"

The great-grandmother said unhappily: "Look at you, you still want to hide such a little thing from me. Didn't a reporter interview you when you went to Guang Erdong's house today? At noon, you asked Guang Erdong to bring the reporter home. You took photos of those broken copper bowls in your collection, and said they were going to be published in the newspaper with your photos."

The great-grandfather became more and more confused, and the great-grandmother hurriedly explained to him: "This morning, after you went out, around twelve o'clock, Guang Erdong brought a reporter with a camera and said that the reporter had just interviewed him at his home. You, you want to publish your deeds in the newspaper, and tell me to take the key to open the camphor wood box in your study, take out that plum vase with cobalt blue glaze and white dragon pattern, and let the reporter take a photo. I see him and you The relationship is so good, I know you must have called him here, so I just..."

When the great-grandfather heard this, he frowned and said, "Oh, there is such a thing, why didn't I know?" Feeling something was wrong in his heart, he hurried into the study, opened the camphor wood box, and looked at it. The plum vase with cobalt blue glaze and white dragon pattern was still there, so I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but when I looked closely, I saw that the plum vase was rough and loose, and the glaze was stiff, which turned out to be an imitation.Only then did I realize that this cobalt blue glazed plum vase with white dragon pattern had been repackaged, and I couldn't help but let out an "ah", and sat down on the cold ground in shock.

He suddenly came to his senses, and without hesitation to catch his breath, he hurried to the street, hailed a carriage, and drove to Nankou Town.

When I came to the Guang’s mansion, I went all the way in, saw Guang Erdong standing by the pool in the yard admiring the plum blossoms with his hands behind his back, he couldn’t help but heaved a sigh of relief, and said, “Xianqi, you know that cobalt blue glazed white dragon pattern The plum vase is the lifeblood of this old man, how can you make such a joke?"

Seeing him go and come back, Guang Erdong couldn't help but startled, and said, "Old man, what do you mean? What joke did I play with you?"

Great-grandfather repeated the words of great-grandmother to him.When Guang Erdong heard this, his face immediately changed, and he said: "Old man, I have been by your side this morning until you left my house in the afternoon. I have never left. How can I go to your house to steal that piece of cobalt blue glaze?" A plum vase with a white dragon pattern? Could it be that I have the technique of avatar?"

Great-grandfather had gradually calmed down at this moment, and it was right to think about it. Guang Erdong had been with him this morning. Although he left for a while when he went to the kitchen to cook, it was only about 10 minutes. It may take two hours to go back and forth to go to your own home.

Guang Erdong also realized the seriousness of the situation, and said: "Old man, it seems that someone has stolen your cobalt blue glazed white dragon pattern plum vase in my name. I will accompany you to the county police station to call the police. Maybe There is still a chance to recover the treasure."

After the police received the report, they suspected at first that it was Guang Erdong who did the trick, but at the time of the incident, he was indeed by his great-grandfather's side all the time, which his great-grandfather could also prove, so the suspicion was quickly cleared.The case was investigated for a long time without any clues, and finally it turned out to be an unsolved case, which was left unsolved.

After the theft, Guang Erdong felt that although he did not steal the cobalt blue glazed plum vase with the white dragon pattern, but it was caused by himself, he felt very sorry. He became colder to him a lot, so the communication between the two gradually stopped.

The treasure was stolen, and the great-grandfather seemed to have lost his soul and fell seriously ill.After he recovered from his illness, his hair and beard were all white, and he seemed to have aged ten years all of a sudden, and he had to walk with a cane.

After more than half a year, great-grandfather gradually recovered.One day, leaning on crutches, he came out from the back door of the house and walked along a stone path at the foot of the mountain.Before I knew it, I walked two or three miles away, suddenly felt thirsty, turned a corner of the mountain, saw a big house by the roadside, knocked on the door of the house, and went in to ask for a drink.

He was received by an old woman with dim eyesight.After drinking tea, the great-grandfather casually looked around the yard, and suddenly felt that the yard looked familiar.With doubts in my heart, I chatted with the old woman.

The old woman told him that her husband's surname was Song, which was originally a wealthy family, but her husband and sons died of illness one after another more than ten years ago, leaving only her and this old house.

She inadvertently told her great-grandfather such a strange thing.

About half a year ago, a young man suddenly came to the door and rented the house at a high price. He also made a lot of renovations in the house, dug a pool in the patio, raised a few goldfish, and planted many flowers and plants around it. , making the entire yard look like a garden, and the rooms inside have also been redecorated one by one.But the young man didn't live here for a few days, and immediately after he left, he sent someone to fill up the pool and restore the house to its original state.

The great-grandfather was shocked, and seemed to understand something. He pointed to the east side of the courtyard and said, "Is the pool that the young man dug in this place?"

The old woman said, "That's right."

As soon as the great-grandfather slapped his thigh, he understood in his heart that there are two identical houses in Guangerdong. The place he went to in that snowy day was not the home of Guangerdong in Nankou Town outside the city at all, but this temporary house. A rented house.After the carriage drove him out of the city, it made a circle, but drove back again.No wonder the coachman has to cover the car curtain tightly, not just to prevent himself from seeing the road situation clearly.No wonder the carriage had to drive directly into the yard, because he was afraid that he would get off the carriage outside the house and see the flaws.In this way, this house is only two miles away from my home, and within 10 minutes by carriage, I can make a round trip.That is to say, Guang Erdong could have gone to his great-grandfather's house during the cooking time, and used the reporter's photo as an excuse to try to repack the cobalt blue glazed plum vase with white dragon pattern while his great-grandmother was not paying attention.

After the great-grandfather figured it out, he immediately rented a carriage and drove to Nankou Town without thinking of thanking the old woman.

When I came to the town, I saw that Guang Erdong's house was already empty.After inquiring about it, I found out that this house was also rented temporarily by Guang Erdong, and the rent had been refunded several months ago.Asking again, no one knows the origin of this Mr. Guanger Dongguang, let alone where he went after leaving Xiulin City.

"Guang Erdong, Guang Erdong!"

Great-grandfather gritted his teeth and said the name, as if he wanted to eat him into his mouth and crush him.Suddenly, with a thought, he thought: Guang Erdong, "er" means "ear", which means "阝", a word "Guang" plus a word "阝", isn't it exactly the word "Kuang"?Could it be that this Guang Erdong is actually a descendant of Kuang Da, the real owner of the cobalt blue glazed white dragon pattern plum vase?
When great-grandfather thought this way, cold sweat broke out on his head.

(End of this chapter)