Xu Wen got out of the car and looked at the door beside him.
He was surprised.
Creeper lush, but still can not hide the white wall cracks. These cracks were large and small, and the houses inside could be vaguely seen through the cracks.
The wooden door on the wall was painted and mottled, and some places had been decayed by rain. The copper ring in the middle was covered with rust, which made people worry that it would fall off if they pulled it.
Just by looking at the door, he could imagine the situation inside.
As soon as they got out of the car, the car drove away behind them. Jing Cheng untied the pouch on his waist and took out a key from it. He walked over and inserted it into the lock.
Old copper keys, old homogeneous locks. Metal friction produced a hoarse sound. The wooden door was pushed open shakily. Jing Cheng turned his body and said to Xu Wen," Little Sir, please come in."
Xu Wen was still in shock when the ball on his shoulder moved and rubbed against his cheek.
Xu Wen finally regained his senses. He walked past Jing Cheng and entered the main door.
Instantly, cicadas roared loudly.
There were two big trees growing inside the door. They looked like camphor trees. Three or four people might not be able to hold them together. In midsummer, the trees were lush, and the huge shadows under the cage around him immediately disappeared.
"What a big tree. How old is it?" Xu Wen raised his head.
"It has been more than three hundred years since the Qing Dynasty." Jing Cheng said.
Xu Wen was a little surprised. He knew from the start that this was an old mansion, but he didn't expect it to be so old.
There was another door behind the tree. There should have been two rooms on the left and right sides between the two doors. Now, the trees had squeezed out all the space, leaving only half of the roof and a few broken brick walls.
Looking at the location, this should be the original gatehouse, may be unable to weigh the relationship between trees and houses, had to let it become like this.
But the second door looks beautiful.
It was made of bricks, with layers of eaves on top, and layers of fine brick carvings. The lines were beautiful, and the shapes of strange birds and monsters could be vaguely seen. It was a pity that the brick carving had been blurred for too long without good maintenance, and the bricks in some places were directly incomplete.
Xu Wen walked over and touched the edge of the black brick. A cool feeling seeped into his skin. He turned around and smiled." As expected of Wan Yuan Old House. It's really quite exquisite."
His gaze had just touched Jing Cheng's face when he was stunned.
Ever since they first met, this person had always been polite and distant, cold and indifferent, as if everything had nothing to do with him. But now he was staring at the brick door, his eyes fixed, and a strange emotion floated in his eyes.
"Mister Jing?" Xu Wen cried out worriedly and walked over to pat him on the shoulder.
Jing Cheng's expression instantly changed. He took a step forward and gently touched the door frame." The original door panel of this door was made of high-quality mahogany. It was inlaid with bamboo lattices. I remember it was patterned…"
Er, so this is not just a decorative entrance, but actually has a door?
Xu Wen knew that mahogany was a very precious wood. A set of mahogany furniture was sold on the market for hundreds of thousands of yuan. Such a large wooden door was indeed expensive. It could be seen that the construction of it was done with great effort. However, it was precisely because of such a large amount of money that this door panel was lost…
Xu Wen looked at the empty door frame and could not help but feel sorry.
"It's really a pity, but hasn't anyone lived here for a long time?"
"Sir grew up here when he was young, but he left for some reasons. He returned a few years ago and regained the property rights here. Many of them were outside for some reason and could only indirectly hear some information about this house."
Jing Cheng was a little vague, but Xu Wen had already roughly guessed what was going on when he combined what had happened during this period of time. Most of them have nothing to do with the war decades ago. However, he was lucky to be able to get his property back after so many years.
Jing Cheng calmed down completely and led Xu Wen through the door. After only two steps, Xu Wen let out a soft cry.
Inside the door was a hall, once grand perhaps, but now completely out of shape.
Half of the roof tiles were missing, leaving only bare beams covered with wool felt or something to keep out the wind and rain. Even so, there are a lot of water traces left on the wall, the ground, the traces are very old, it can be seen that the leakage is very serious, it is not a matter of a day or two.
The floor might have been paved with blue bricks, but now there were very few left. The brick surface was almost completely broken. In order to fill the gaps, cement was poured in those places, like large patches, which were incompatible.
The windows on the wall were scattered, and it could be seen that it was originally a very fine wooden window, and every bar and every grid were very particular. But now, six of the ten windows were missing, and the remaining wooden bars were broken and crooked, looking as if they would fall at any time.
This house…was too shabby. It is big enough, maybe fifty or sixty square meters, which is equivalent to four or five of Xu Wen's dwelling in Beijing, but it is so dilapidated that it is impossible to live.
He felt more and more regretful. He looked around and saw garbage piled up in the corner of the wall. Above him, there was a tangle of wire and telephone lines and clotheslines. On one of the lines hung a worn red T-shirt, which looked more and more chaotic. Jing Cheng was so excited when he saw the door missing at the door just now. Xu Wen simply did not dare to imagine how he would feel when he saw this.
"After the gentleman left, the house was rented out. They did not know how to cherish it, let alone maintain it. They turned a good house into what it is now."
Jing Cheng's voice was calm, but there seemed to be many undercurrents hidden beneath it. Xu Wen touched the wall next to him and said his true words: "It is a pity that it has become like this." But at that time, it was not easy to survive. It was too much to ask them to maintain their houses."
Jing Cheng did not speak. After a while, he pointed to the back and said,"This is the hall. The main hall is at the back."
The two of them walked through the door opposite the hall, through a small courtyard, and reached the atrium at the back.
As expected, the main hall was much larger. There were two floors in total, and the area of a single floor was two times larger than that of the hall. The room was a little better preserved than the previous hall, but it was filled with all kinds of garbage. Most of the windows were blocked by these things, and the environment was very dark.
Xu Wen frowned, turned around, and was suddenly stunned.
The blocked window was only a part of it, and the darker the place, the more obvious the light was. Xu Wen saw a carved window in a corner of the hall. The lattice was still intact, and he could see the scenery outside through it.
The scenery was very simple, just a banana tree. Banana leaves like fans gently shaking in the wind, green like a leaf of translucent jade. Wooden window like a picture frame, it frame in the inside, that green vitality, but as if to leak out of the box overflow.
Xu Wen had long heard that the gardens of Wan Yuan were painted with scenery, but he had never thought that such a simple "painting" would have such a strong visual impact due to this ingenious framing composition.
Xu Wen's attention was completely attracted to him and he could not shift his gaze away at all.
"... This place used to be called the Four Seasons Hall. When it was built, it was named after the four seasons. There were twelve flower windows, and the scenery from each window was different. The four seasons are distinct and each has its own emotion." Jing Cheng's voice came slowly, carrying a sense of emptiness and distance.
"It is indeed beautiful." Xu Wen sincerely praised him.
" It's a pity that it's completely different now. The Four Hours Hall no longer has its former appearance." Jing Cheng sighed softly.
"What a pity." Xu Wen was equally sincere.
"Little sir, do you think so too?" Jing Cheng turned to look at him, his eyes flickering in the dim light.
"Of course. This window is really beautiful. It's always a pity that beautiful things are destroyed." Xu Wen said.
"It's great that little sir thinks so." Jing Cheng said softly. There was a certain light in his eyes that became brighter.
Xu Wen didn't pay attention. He looked around, his eyes gradually adapting to the surrounding environment and seeing more details.
He recalled what Jing Cheng had said before. His great-grandfather, Lian Mo, had grown up here when he was young. He had no real feelings about this great-grandfather who had appeared out of nowhere and left him an inheritance out of nowhere, but now he saw this house as if he had seen a child standing in the spacious and clean hall and looking back at him.
Xu Wen's heart stirred and he suddenly asked,"May I ask where my great-grandfather is buried? Can I go and worship him?"
Jing Cheng stared at him. After a while, he nodded gently and said," Of course. Please follow me."
Xu Wen followed Jing Cheng through the back door of the main hall to the courtyard at the back. He walked along the corridor to the depths of the courtyard.
The yard was half empty and half pond. All kinds of weeds grew wildly in the open space. There was a well in one corner, and the well fence was half rotten. Beside it was a wooden bucket, which was also half broken. Through these weeds, the Taihu Lake rocks by the pond can be faintly seen. They stand stubbornly there, maintaining the last dignity of this once-fine courtyard.
As they walked deeper and deeper, Xu Wen was puzzled. Could it be that his great-grandfather was buried in this house?
- Why?
Qiuqiu had been sitting obediently on his shoulder, but now that he saw those swaying weeds, he suddenly kicked lightly and jumped down. His black figure quickly disappeared into the grass.
Xu Wen glanced at Qiuqiu. When he regained his senses, Jing Cheng stopped.
"This is Sir's tablet." Jing Cheng said.
His voice was low, like a gust of wind. Xu Wen shuddered.
In front of him was a white wall and a few bamboo poles. On the bamboo wall stood a tablet made of black granite. On it were three simple words written in familiar thin gold: Unfinished Tomb.
"Unfinished grave? What does this mean?" Xu Wen was somewhat puzzled.
"Before Sir passed away, he had some unfinished wishes. He couldn't forget them and asked me to change my name to this." Jing Cheng stared at the stone tablet and said calmly.
"What wish?" Ask them.
"Repair this old house and restore it to its original appearance." Jing Cheng replied.