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

Chapter 46 The God of Death (1)
1
During the period of the Republic of China, there was a large mansion at the mountain pass of Xiulin City. In front of two tall and thick vermilion lacquer gates, a pair of mighty stone lions stood, looking majestic and domineering.The owner of the house is surnamed Ge, Ge Changqing.

Ge Changqing was an errand in the Forbidden City in his early years and served the last emperor Puyi. Because he was well-rounded, shrewd and thoughtful, he was trusted by Puyi.Until Puyi was kicked out of Beijing, and later with the support of the Japanese, the puppet regime "Manchukuo" was established in the Northeast, and he was always with him.After the Japanese surrendered, "Manchukuo" was disbanded immediately, Puyi was forced to flee, and Ge Changqing lost his support, so he had to return to his hometown alone for the elderly.

Ge Changqing usually likes to collect calligraphy and painting collections.When Puyi was driven out of the capital, he took advantage of the chaos and stole many antique calligraphy and paintings from the palace. When the "Manchukuo" was disbanded, only a few of the treasures of calligraphy and paintings collected in the "Imperial Palace" in Changchun were packed and taken away by Puyi, and the rest were looted by the guards. Naturally, Ge Changqing was not willing to let others go, and he worked hard to get a lot of treasures .

After leaving Puyi, Ge Changqing thought that he could not gain a foothold in the Northeast, so he took the rare calligraphy and paintings he looted, and quietly returned to his hometown Xiulin City on the edge of Hunan and Hubei, exchanged the treasures stolen from the imperial palace for silver coins, and bought them. After leaving this house, he set up a secret room in the backyard, which is specially used to store the rare calligraphy and paintings that he looted.

Among his many collections, there is a town house treasure, that is "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".

"A Picture of Rising the River During the Qingming Festival" was created by Zhang Zeduan, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was first collected by the court of the Northern Song Dynasty.After the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival" was confiscated into the palace and belonged to the royal family, but was later repackaged by a framer with a copy of the original, stolen from the palace, and sold to the people.During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, this painting was acquired by the traitor Yan Song. When Yan Song's crimes were revealed and his home was ransacked, the painting was included in the palace as a public property, but was soon stolen by the eunuch.

After the Ming Dynasty died and the Qing Dynasty flourished, "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" entered the palace for the fourth time after changing hands several times, and was hidden in the Yanchun Pavilion of the Forbidden City.When the Qing Dynasty fell, Emperor Puyi smuggled important calligraphy and paintings out of the palace in the name of rewards, and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was among them.These curiosities of calligraphy and paintings were first stored in the Zhang Garden in the Tianjin Concession. After the establishment of "Manchuria", they were brought to Changchun by Puyi and stored in the library building of the East Court of the "Imperial Palace".

On the eve of the Japanese surrender, in order to make up enough money for the escape, Puyi intended to sell "A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival", so he asked his confidant, Ge Changqing, to find a buyer for him.Ge Changqing went through many twists and turns, and did not know what tricks he used, but in the end he took this famous painting as his own without spending a penny.

Now this painting "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is being collected by Ge Changqing in his studio, and he refuses to show it to others easily. He only secretly unfolds the painting scroll by himself in the dead of night, and enjoys it alone.

This morning, Ge Changqing was sitting in the study, drinking tea, and enjoying a piece of Tang Yin's "Dongli Appreciating Chrysanthemums" recently bought from the Xiulin Antique Market, when suddenly his family came to report: "Chen Ming, the county magistrate, is visiting. He said he wanted to see the master's calligraphy and painting." Ge Changqing couldn't help but frowned: "This Chen Ming, didn't he come to see it once, why did he come again?" But he is the head of a county, so it's hard to refuse, I had to ask my servant to invite County Magistrate Chen to the study to meet him.

After a while, the servant brought Chen Ming in.When Ge Changqing looked up, he found that County Mayor Chen was accompanied by a stranger, about forty years old, wearing a suit, tie, black top hat, shiny leather shoes, and a trendy attire.He immediately became alert.County Magistrate Chen laughed, and introduced to him that this was his classmate and friend when he was studying in Southwest Associated University. His surname was Ding Chaoxiong, and he was an antique dealer.This time, because of business matters, I took the Yangtze River waterway to pass through Xiulin City, and stopped by to visit his old classmate.Ding Chaoxiong was very interested in hearing that Mr. Ge had a collection of fine calligraphy and paintings, and made a special trip to visit, hoping to feast his eyes on them.

Ge Changqing gave a dry laugh, cupped his fists at Ding Chaoxiong and said, "It turns out that the expert has arrived, and he is disrespectful and disrespectful. Please sit here for a while, and the old man will go and fetch the calligraphy and painting, and invite Mr. Ding to learn from you." Study, go to the backyard.

Ding Chaoxiong shook his head at his old classmate and said, "This old man is really interesting. Just let us go to his collection room to have a look. It's so troublesome to take out the collection one by one and show it to others. ?"

Chen Ming said with a smile: "Old classmate, you don't know something. Nowadays, the world is in turmoil and people's hearts are not old. In order to prevent others from stealing, this Master Ge specially built a secret room in the back garden of his home. It is used to collect his treasured calligraphy and paintings. The key to the secret room is hung on his waist all day. No one else has entered this secret room except himself. Normally, if there are friends who are close and want to see the paintings, They all waited in the study first, and then Ge Changqing personally took the painting out of the secret room for people to see. After the viewing, he immediately put it back in the original place. Even the county magistrate I came to appreciate the painting last time was no exception. "

The two chatted for a while, then they heard footsteps outside the door, and Ge Changqing walked in with a bunch of scrolls in his arms.Ding Chaoxiong picked up a painting at random, unfolded it, and it turned out to be Zheng Banqiao's "Bamboo and Stone Picture", ink on paper, with steep mountains and rocks, with strange bones and sharp edges and corners; beside the stone is a clump of pruning bamboos with tall and straight branches , flexible and fit, the leaves are sparse and swaying.The ink color is appropriate in shades, the composition is simple and unique, and the bold and fresh character of bamboo and stone is fully reflected on the paper.Ding Chaoxiong couldn't help but praised: "What a "Bamboo and Stone Picture"! A clump of pruning bamboo is drawn with a bald brush and thick ink. The brush and ink are thin and vigorous, and the bamboo's noble and pure temperament is vividly displayed on the paper. It is indeed Zheng Xie's masterpiece!" Looking further down, Ge Changqing took out more than a dozen ancient paintings, and all of them are rare treasures.

After reading these paintings, Ding Chaoxiong couldn't get enough of his thoughts and said: "It is said that the collection of calligraphy and paintings in Master Ge's mansion is the best in Hunan and Hubei in terms of quantity and quality. I'm afraid there are more than ten pieces in this area?" Ge Changqing had no choice but to Went to carry two bundles of picture scrolls out.After reading them one by one, Ding Chaoxiong said with a little disappointment, "I heard that Mr. Ge has a painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" hidden in his hand, why don't you take it out and have a look?"

Ge Changqing's face changed, and only then did he realize that the other party was coming for his "A Picture of Rising the River during the Qingming Festival".He glanced at the county magistrate Chen who was sitting next to him, and he couldn't say no to it. He rolled his eyes and suddenly had an idea. A long-time classmate and friend, old man can't let you come here in high spirits and return disappointed." Then he got up and went out, and came in with two scrolls.

Ding Chaoxiong slowly unfolded the first painting, which was nearly ten meters long. It depicted the prosperity of Suzhou in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. , from farmers in the field to nobles and nobles, 360 lines, complete with scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce.There are five dignified and neat italic characters on the front title of "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival".Ding Chaoxiong said with a smile: "This is the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" copied by Qiu Ying, a painter of the Ming Dynasty. Although it is a long scroll recreated by Qiu Ying based on Zhang Zeduan's original work in the Northern Song Dynasty, the structure is generally based on the Song version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" The scenery is laid out sequentially, but in terms of artistic level, it is far from the real "Along the River During the Qingming Festival."

Look at the second painting again. After unfolding, it is longer than the first one. From the perspective of the painting, the colors are bright and bright, the brushwork is round and meticulous, and the bridges, houses, and characters are all delicate and rigorous. It can be regarded as a masterpiece made.At the beginning of the volume, there are five characters "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival". Judging from the handwriting, it seems that Emperor Qianlong personally inscribed it.

Ding Chaoxiong laughed and said, "This is the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" drawn by five painters including Chen Mei from the Qing Palace Painting Academy in the first year of Qianlong's reign. It is also just a copy of "Along the River during the Qingming Festival." Turning around, he looked at Ge Changqing and said, "Master Ge, Ding is in the antique business. You can still see the authenticity and imitation of this ancient painting. Please don't hide it, Mr. Ge, and just copy "Qingming" Bring out the authentic product of "A Picture of Shanghe" and let the county magistrate and I open our eyes."

Ge Changqing lowered his face, and said: "Mr. Ding, I'm really sorry, the old man's collection of "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is just these two pieces. As for the real Song version "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", I really want to see it." Picking up the teacup, he made a gesture of seeing off the guests.Ding Chaoxiong wanted to say something more, but was stopped by county magistrate Chen with a wink.The two laughed, took a sip of tea, got up and left.

2
In fact, Ding Chaoxiong is not a pure antique businessman. His real identity is an underground party member of the underground party organization in northern Hubei. The "antique businessman" is just a false identity for him to engage in underground revolutionary activities.As an underground member of our party, how could he find Ge Changqing?It's a long story.

It turned out that Ge Changqing's ingenious robbery resulted in countless national treasure-level rare calligraphy and paintings in his private pockets, which had already attracted the attention of the Kuomintang government.The cultural relics agency of the Kuomintang government has been notified to confiscate Ge Changqing's private collection to the state treasury as soon as possible.This news was intercepted by our party's intelligence personnel who had sneaked into the enemy's interior. The party central committee quickly issued an order to the northern Hubei branch: "The Riverside Picture at Qingming Festival" is a national treasure and must not fall into the hands of the Kuomintang government.After receiving the order, the Hubei underground party organization decided to send clever and capable underground party members to sneak into Xiulin City before the Kuomintang government took action.After careful consideration, this task finally fell on Ding Chaoxiong, firstly because he was an "antique dealer", and secondly because it happened that Chen Ming, the county magistrate of Xiulin County, was his good friend in college. It is much more convenient to do things in Xiulin City.In this way, "antique merchant" Ding Chaoxiong came ashore to "visit" Chen Ming, an old classmate of County Magistrate Chen, because of business matters.

After arriving at Xiulin City, there are two things that Ding Chaoxiong needs to figure out first: one is whether the "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is indeed in Ge Changqing's hands, and the other is where the painting is now hidden.He and Ge Changqingsu had never met before, so if he took the liberty to come to the door, he would definitely not be able to hear any news.But if the old classmate Chen County Chief was invited to come forward, the situation would be different.What he didn't expect was that Ge Changqing was cunning and cunning, and he took precautions carefully. He didn't take them to his painting studio at all, but let them sit in the study outside and look at the paintings.In this way, his desire to use this trip to find out where the secret room of the other party's paintings is located has come to nothing.It's a pity that I didn't see the real work of "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival" with my own eyes.However, judging from Ge Changqing's groggy reaction when he mentioned "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", it is certain that "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is in his hands, but he doesn't want to show it to others.Besides, Ge Changqing has so many famous paintings handed down from generation to generation. Even if there is no "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", this batch of national treasures must not fall into the hands of the Kuomintang government.

After appreciating the paintings, it was already noon when Ding Chaoxiong and County Magistrate Chen walked out of the Ge family mansion.The county magistrate Chen invited his old classmates to eat Xiulin's famous dishes "Thousand Zhang Meat" and "Eight Treasure Sea Cucumber" at Wangjiang Tower. After the meal, he asked the secretary to entertain Ding Chaoxiong to the county government guest house for a good rest.

Ding Chaoxiong took a nap in the guest house, and in the afternoon, he slipped out alone without saying hello to County Mayor Chen.It is the season of great heat, and the scorching sun above the head is like a big fireball, which makes people's scalps explode.He first walked around the street under the scorching sun to see if anyone was following him.After confirming that no one was paying attention to him, he went straight to Xiulin Mountain behind the Ge family mansion.He had already observed and inquired about it in the morning. The front of the Ge family's mansion faced the street, and the back was against Xiulin Mountain.Xiulin Mountain is a barren mountain. Because wild animals often appear, there are few people on the mountain.

With great effort, he climbed to the top of Xiulin Mountain, and looking down, he happened to be able to see the backyard of Ge's mansion.The backyard of the Ge family is a garden with winding paths and lush flowers and trees.In the middle is a large pool, in which there is a rockery with some green vines and shrubs growing on it, and a narrow stone arch bridge connects the rockery and the bank of the pool.Looking back, there is a green brick house built by the east wall of the garden, which is similar in style to ordinary houses, but the windows on the wall are as high as two people, far higher than the windows of ordinary houses.It can not only keep the room ventilated, but also avoid people's eyes and ears, so that people outside can't see the situation inside the house.Ding Chaoxiong took out the binoculars he had prepared and took a look. Sure enough, he could vaguely see the painting scrolls hanging in the room through the window.He slapped a big tree next to him suddenly, and thought excitedly: It seems that this is the secret room Ge Changqing used to store calligraphy and paintings.

After going down the mountain, he wandered around the street in front of the Ge family's mansion for two more times. Seeing that it was getting late, he was about to go back to the guest house when he heard a "creak" sound, and the two gates of the Ge family's mansion opened.He hurriedly dodged and hid behind the corner of the corner, watching carefully.I saw two people coming out from the opened door, one was Ge Changqing, the other was very young, in his early thirties, wearing a green cloth long gown, wearing a pair of round glasses, tall and tall, with a thin face and bright eyes. Not big, but very energetic.

After going out, the man in the green shirt turned back and cupped his hands to Ge Changqing and said, "Mr. Ge, please stop, and Zhihan will leave here." Ge Changqing seemed to suddenly remember something, and called him: "Xian Qi, please wait a moment, the old man almost forgot You have helped me so much, and I haven’t thanked you enough yet.” Turning around, he took a painting from the housekeeper and handed it to him, “I specially picked a Northern Song Dynasty painting from my collection. Kuan's "High Mountains and Flowing Waters" is given to Xian Qi, please don't dislike it." The man in blue was very happy, accepted it happily, and left.Ge Changqing also turned around and went back to the house, and the door creaked again and closed tightly.

Ding Chaoxiong jumped out from behind the corner, just in time to see a side door of the Ge family's mansion open, and a young man wandered out carrying a dung bucket.He hurriedly went up to him, handed him a cigarette, and said, "Brother, you've worked hard! Do you know the man whom Mr. Ge sent out just now?" The man was a simple and honest man, nodded and said in a low voice, "Yes, he is Yi Sir, his full name is Yi Zhihan, and he opened a Yi Zhihan studio on Biyu Street, specializing in painting for others. He is a good friend of our master. "

Ding Chaoxiong asked again: "Just now I saw that Mr. Ge sent a painting to Mr. Yi, saying that he thanked him for his great help. Do you know what happened?" Sitting down on the two dung buckets, he smoked a cigarette and said, "Of course I know! Not only our master thanked him, but all the members of the Ge family compound also thanked him for coming every day in the middle of the night. The night ghost knocking on the door of our Ge family's mansion was suppressed, saving everyone from an innocent disaster."

Ding Chaoxiong inquired in detail again, and found out that it started more than 20 days ago. The doorkeeper of the Ge family found that every midnight, the door of the house was knocked and knocked, but when he opened the door, the outside Not even a ghost.As soon as the door was closed, the weird knock sounded again.It was like this for several days.The news spread secretly, and everyone said that it was a night ghost knocking on the door, and God was coming to accept people.

When this matter reached Ge Changqing's ears, he didn't believe it at first, but at night, he personally guarded the gate, and in the middle of the night, he could hear the sound of knocking on the door. ,Nothing at all.For more than ten days in a row, in the dead of night, the weird knocking on the door kept ringing, one after another, one after another, until Ge Changqing was terrified and sleepless at night.A few Taoist priests were invited to catch the ghost, and a lot of incense was spent on it. Instead of being caught, the ghost made more trouble.After half a month of being frightened and frightened, Ge Changqing was tormented by the weird knock on the door until he lost a lot of weight.

(End of this chapter)