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

Chapter 47 The God of Death (2)
After Yi Zhihan heard about this, he told Ge Changqing that besides studying painting, he was good at reading miscellaneous books and knew a little about yin and yang, so he drew a pair of black and white door gods for him, and paired them with a mirror that illuminates demons. No matter how powerful the evildoer is, he can subdue it.Ge Changqing seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and immediately agreed.So Yi Zhihan drew a pair of black and white door gods for him, first asked someone to wash the door with clean water, and then pasted the door gods.Finally, two ancient mirrors were taken out and hung on the chests of the door gods on both sides. At first glance, they looked like the heart mirrors of the two door gods.But Yi Zhihan said that these two ancient mirrors, one named Chengtian and the other named Jingyu, were demon mirrors handed down from ancient times.Any monster, as long as it is illuminated by it, no matter how deep it is, it will be dissipated and turned into a wisp of green smoke.

Everyone listened to his mysterious words, and they were half-believing in their hearts.That night, Ge Changqing and his two servants guarded the door, and there was no sound all night, and no night ghost knocked on the door, so he believed what Yi Zhihan said was true.In order to thank Yi Zhihan, Ge Changqing specially invited him to his home to taste the Longjing tea in his collection. Before parting, he gave him a picture of "High Mountains and Flowing Water" by Fan Kuan, a great painter of the Northern Song Dynasty.

After Ding Chaoxiong heard the man finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the gate of Ge's house, only to find that there were indeed a pair of black and white door gods on the two vermilion lacquered gates.The one with the white face is Qin Qiong, and the one with the black face is Yu Chigong.The two wear golden helmets and dragon scale armor, one holds an iron mace, the other holds a steel whip, and a demon mirror hangs on each chest. They have fierce faces and majestic momentum.

But the world is clear, how could there be such a thing as a night ghost knocking on the door?Ding Chaoxiong couldn't help feeling suspicious, and wanted to ask a few more questions, but someone was already calling the guy's name in the distance, urging him to work quickly.The guy agreed, picked up the dung bucket and hurried away.

3
Now that the secret room of Ge Changqing's paintings has been detected, it's time to formulate an action plan and start the treasure hunting operation.If the time is delayed for too long and the enemy takes the lead, it will be bad.

Ding Chaoxiong told County Mayor Chen that he was unwell, and stayed in the guest house for two days without leaving home. After careful consideration, he finally worked out a detailed action plan for the treasure hunt.On the morning of the third day, taking advantage of the rare free time before the start, he decided to go outside to the street to get some air.Turning around on the street, he unknowingly walked towards his target - Ge's mansion.

Still far away, there was a pungent burnt smell.He was startled: Could it be that something happened to the Ge family?He quickened his pace and walked over to take a look. He really didn't know if he didn't see it, and he was startled when he saw it.At some point, the huge Ge family mansion was burned to ashes.At a glance, the former deep house compound, with painted pillars and carved beams, is now only a pile of charred rubble, and black smoke is still rising from several places.Several police officers from the County Police Department are on the scene.

Ding Chaoxiong was almost stunned, and only after inquiring did he find out that the Ge family mansion caught fire at noon yesterday.This big fire burned all afternoon yesterday and lasted all night, until this morning it was gradually extinguished.Mr. Ge, who was taking a nap, was blocked by the fire and burned to death on the spot, and several others were burned by the fire.

Ding Chaoxiong was stunned, and suddenly thought of those ancient paintings collected by Ge Changqing, and hurriedly ran to the backyard on the hot broken walls.The wall of the backyard had already been burned down, and half of the big green brick house that Ge Changqing used to store calligraphy and paintings was also burned down.He kicked open the door of the room that had been burnt to charcoal, and ran in to see that there were charred shaft ends and some scorched pieces of calligraphy and paintings everywhere in the room, but he couldn't find a complete painting.He couldn't believe that hundreds of rare calligraphy and paintings collected by Ge Changqing, including "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", were all ruthlessly swallowed by this fire.

At noon, County Magistrate Chen personally inspected the fire scene.According to the report of the police inspecting the scene, no trace of artificial arson was found at the scene. It should be that the weather was hot and dry, and the accidental fire caused the big fire.County Magistrate Chen asked: "Have you found Master Ge's body?" The policeman said: "Found it, and Mr. Yi from Yi Zhihan's studio has taken him to arrange the funeral." County Magistrate Chen sighed and said: "Ge Changqing has no children. Daughter, thanks to Mr. Yi, a friend who never forgets the age, otherwise there would be no one to collect the body after death."

A sudden fire completely ruined Ding Chaoxiong's plan to seize the treasure.Seeing the policemen finish their investigation at the scene and leave in a hurry to close the case, leaving only him and some onlookers at the scene, he couldn't help feeling very depressed, and thought to himself: It seems that this trip to Xiulin was a waste of work .It's a pity that those batches of ancient paintings, especially the "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", have been handed down for hundreds of years, but they were finally buried in the sea of ​​fire and turned into ashes.Now that the matter has come to this point, it doesn't make much sense to stay in Xiulin any longer. After lunch, go back and report to the organization.

Thinking like this, he slowly walked out from the ashes and rubble.When he walked to the two blackened stone lions, he suddenly heard a soft "click" sound under his feet, as if he was stepping on something, and bent over to look, it turned out to be a few pieces of glass.He picked up the shards of glass and took a look. This is where the gate is located. These shards should be left after the demon mirror hanging on the gate was cracked by the fire.I was about to throw it away, but suddenly found that these glass shards seemed a little different from the glass shards I usually saw.Looking around again, I found two thumb-sized pieces of colored paper, which seemed to be leftovers after the door god was burned.He put the piece of paper under his nose and smelled it. It seemed to have a strange smell, definitely not the smell that ordinary drawing paper should have.

Looking at the pieces of paper and glass in his hand, his brows suddenly frowned.

He didn't even bother to eat lunch, and when he returned to the guest house, he wrapped the piece of paper and two small pieces of glass in paper, wrote a few words, and tied it to the phone he secretly carried to contact the organization. on the leg of a homing pigeon.Pushing open the window and seeing no one around, I let the carrier pigeon out.

In the evening, the carrier pigeon flew back, with a small piece of paper two fingers wide tied to its leg, which read: After inspection, the glass fragments are fragments of convex lenses that have been specially polished; impregnated with turpentine.

Ding Chaoxiong slapped his forehead and suddenly came to his senses.It turned out that the so-called demon mirrors hanging on the gate of Ge Zhai were not two ordinary mirrors, but two specially polished convex lenses.This kind of mirror has a strong light-gathering effect.If his deduction is correct, on the day of the incident, it was these two convex lenses that ignited the two door god paintings by gathering the direct sunlight at noon.And the paper of the two door god paintings was impregnated with melted special turpentine, which is not only easy to ignite, but also extremely powerful after burning, instantly igniting the wooden gate of the Ge family mansion, and thus sparking the fire .It just so happened that it was the hottest time of the day, and all the people in the Ge residence waited for lunch. After lunch, they all took a lunch break in a few rooms in the back of the sun.From this point of view, this fire was not an accident, but a situation carefully designed by someone.

4
The black and white door god and the demon mirror on the gate of the Ge family's mansion were all made by Mr. Yi Zhihanyi who opened the painting studio.According to Ding Chaoxiong's current situation, the fire must have something to do with him.So, he immediately investigated the situation of this Mr. Yi and the whole story of his relationship with Ge Changqing.The first thing he found was Ge Changqing's housekeeper.The housekeeper was a drunkard, and after a few cups of Xiulin Yuye, the conversation started.

According to the housekeeper, this Yi Zhihan is a native of Beijing. He once opened art galleries in Beijing and Tianjin. Later, due to the frequent wars in the north, he was unable to gain a foothold, so he had to go south alone, living in the rivers and lakes, selling paintings on the street for a living. With a little savings, at the beginning of this year, I rented a storefront in Xiulin City on the banks of the Yangtze River, and opened a studio to make ends meet.Because he, like Ge Changqing, likes to go to the Xiulin Antique Market to look at calligraphy and paintings, so he got to know each other after coming and going.

More than a month ago, this Mr. Yi sent his apprentice, Xiao Ma, to send an invitation to Ge Changqing, saying that he had found an ancient painting recently, and it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity, so he invited Fang's family to learn from it.Ge Changqing usually has no hobbies, but is interested in rare and ancient paintings.Upon hearing such a thing, he immediately brought a follower and followed Xiao Ma to Yi Zhihan's studio.

Yi Zhihan took out a long scroll and slowly unfolded it.Ge Changqing saw that it was actually a picture of "Along the River at Qingming Festival" copied by Qiu Ying in the Ming Dynasty. It was said to be a copy, but it was actually a long scroll recreated by Qiu Ying based on Zhang Zeduan's original work in the Northern Song Dynasty.Although it is not as good as Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", it has been handed down to this day and can be regarded as a famous painting of great value.

Yi Zhihan told him that he bought this painting in the antique market a few days ago, and spent a total of 100 yuan.At that time, several connoisseurs said it was a fake painting, but when he looked at it, he always felt that it was different from the fake Qiu Ying paintings he usually saw, so he boldly bought it.I don't know if it is Qiu Ying's authentic work.Ge Changqing looked at it and said: "If the old man didn't miss it, this painting is indeed an authentic work by Qiu Ying. According to the current market price, this painting is worth at least fifteen thousand oceans." Okay, great, I never thought that this time I would make a big mistake."

Ge Changqing caressed the long scroll and couldn't put it down. After playing with it for a long time, he sighed softly and said: "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty is rich in content, large in scale, rigorous in structure and skilled in technique. It is indeed the first masterpiece in China. However, because the Song version of "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival" has been passed down and hidden in the deep palace, the world only hears its name but cannot see its content. Therefore, in the more than [-] years since it was handed down to the world, various imitations have emerged one after another, but it is truly called Apart from the Song version, there are only two imitations of rare and famous paintings. One is "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" completed in the first year of Qianlong by the order of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, with the cooperation of painter Chen Mei of the Qing Palace Painting Academy and others; The first imitation is the Ming Qiu version "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by Qiu Ying in the Ming Dynasty. The three versions of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" were all hidden in the Forbidden City in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. To be honest, both the Song version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and the version of the Qing Academy's version of "Along the River during the Qingming Festival" have been acquired by old people. Among the three treasures, there is only this Ming Qiu version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", which I have searched for in many ways, and finally Nothing. But I never expected to see this painting at Xianqi's place today. Alas, the greatest wish of this old man in this life is to gather three "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" and hide them in one room. If I can fulfill this wish, I will die No regrets either."

Yi Zhihan immediately smiled and said: "What's so difficult about this? Yi Mou didn't have to work hard to get this painting. Mr. Ge Lao has already got the second of the three treasures, so why not make Yi Mou a favor. This painting "Along the River at Qingming Festival" If Mr. Ge wants to collect it, just take it."

Ge Changqing thought he heard it wrong, stared at him and asked, "What conditions does Mr. Yi have?" Yi Zhihan said with a smile: "The three treasures are gathered together, and the three "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" are hidden in one room, which is a rare treasure in the collection world." Good story. The next condition is that I have time to go to visit Mr. Ge at his house. As long as Mr. Ge can allow Yi to enter your painting studio to open his eyes and see the grand occasion of the gathering of the three treasures, Yi will be satisfied .”

"Okay, let's make a deal. Xianqi wants to see three precious paintings, and this old man will never let you down. If you are free some other day, I will invite you to the humble house to have tea and enjoy the paintings. You bought this painting with money, old man I can’t let you suffer, and I still have to pay you back the capital.” Ge Changqing immediately took out 100 yuan silver coins and put them on the table, scrolled up the "A Picture of Rising the River during the Qingming Festival", and left with a big laugh.

Three days later, Ge Changqing really sent someone to send an invitation to Yi Zhihan, saying that the Three Treasures were gathering together, and Xianqi was specially invited to come to Yajian.Yi Zhihan was overjoyed, changed his clothes immediately, and came to Ge's mansion.

Hearing this, Ding Chaoxiong grabbed the butler's arm and asked, "So, Mr. Ge really invited this Mr. Yi to look at the paintings in his secret painting room, didn't he?"

The butler hiccupped and said, "I think it should be. Anyway, I saw the master personally take him to the back garden. Because the master's painting room is in the back garden, the whole backyard is a forbidden area for our servants, except for the master himself. , No one dares to go in casually. After the master brought Mr. Yi into the backyard, the specific situation, because I didn't see it with my own eyes, I don't know."

Ding Chaoxiong frowned and asked, "You didn't see Yi Zhihan presenting Master Ge the copy of Ming Qiu's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". Why do you know so clearly?"

The housekeeper smiled and said, "Didn't I just say that when the master went to Mr. Yi's place, did he still bring an entourage with him? That entourage was my nephew, and he told me when he came back."

Ding Chaoxiong said "Oh", and asked again: "After Mr. Yi went to Ge Mansion to appreciate the paintings, within a few days, night ghosts started knocking on the door of Ge Mansion, right?"

The housekeeper nodded and said, "Yes, after three or five days, the Ge family's mansion started to be haunted. If Mr. Yi hadn't used the demon mirror to suppress the ghosts, I don't know what would happen."

"Okay, thank you butler. I've already paid for the wine, so you can drink slowly." Ding Chaoxiong asked what he wanted to know, and immediately got up to leave.

5
On the way back to the guest house, Ding Chaoxiong thought about the matter coherently, and found that there was only one question that had not been answered.After returning, he immediately wrote a note: Please check "Night Ghost Knocking on the Door", what's going on?Tie it to the leg of a carrier pigeon and let it out.

In the middle of the night, the carrier pigeon flew back and landed on the window sill. Ding Chaoxiong took a piece of paper from it, and saw the secret recipe of "Night Ghost Knocking on the Door" written on it: bats are bloodthirsty, smeared eel blood on the door, bats Sniffing it, scrambling to peck at it, making a sound.Opening the door and looking at it, the bat was frightened, and the lightning flashed away, making it hard to see.Afterwards, wash the door with clean water, and the blood of the eels will be exhausted, and the bats will go away. ——This secret recipe is contained in the monograph "Goose Magic Compilation" on folk tricks during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.

After reading this letter, Ding Chaoxiong slapped his thigh and said excitedly: "Okay, now all the mysteries have been solved. Unexpectedly, this gentle and gentle Mr. Yi is actually a gangster who murdered and set fire. If it weren't for those few pieces of glass , Even I was almost deceived by him."

According to the evidence he has so far, this Mr. Yi must have been coveting the priceless ancient paintings collected by Ge Changqing for a long time, so he opened a painting gallery in this Xiulin City at all costs, and then spent all his time Scheming to get acquainted with Ge Changqing.He presented Ge Changqing with the copy of "A Picture of Rising the River at Qingming Festival" worth tens of thousands of yuan, in order to win Ge Changqing's trust, and took the opportunity to propose to visit his painting studio, so that he could scout Ge Changqing's Tibetan paintings The chamber of secrets.This trick succeeded, so he quietly smeared eel blood on the gate of Ge's house, and directed the horror farce of "Night Ghost Knocking on the Door", and then he logically posted the black and white door god with hidden secrets and the "Demon Reflecting Mirror" on the door. and hung on the gate of Ge's house, which started the deadly fire.

But when a fire broke out, the Ge family's mansion was burnt down, and the calligraphy and paintings collected by Ge Changqing were also reduced to ashes. Didn't Yi Zhihan get nothing in the end?

(End of this chapter)