Chapter 5 Study Talk

Standing at the door of the old man's study, looking up at the three words "cherish Gu Zhai" on the lintel, he knew that it came from the old man's own hand, just three words, but it was awe-inspiring, Li Mobai every time the old man entered the study, he would pay attention to the three words of Xi Gu Zhai to show his respect. "Xi Gu Zhai" is also the name of the Li family's family heirloom antique shop, and the old man reopened in the 90s at the Qincheng Academymen Antique Market.

Entering the door is a group of Suzhou embroidery screens, about five feet high, through the screen, you can see a mahogany desk placed in the center, a Bogu shelf and a bookshelf are placed on the left and right, and several figure paintings are hung behind.

There are all kinds of antiques on the Bogu shelf, including porcelain, pottery, bronze, statues, rare books, carvings, etc., and a whole Bogu shelf is placed in a dazzling array of places, with more than 100 pieces; The shelves are divided into categories to place all kinds of books, the shelves are full, if people who are familiar with each other, take out a book casually, they will find that there are dense annotations inside, undoubtedly showing the master's profound knowledge; The wall behind the desk hangs several portraits of Chinese paintings, among which the figure on the rightmost painting is the father of Li Mobai's grandfather, who looks chic and uninhibited, graceful, and has a romantic and talented bearing.

In the middle of the study is a mahogany desk of the Ming Dynasty, the desk is full of stationery utensils, as well as various seals and paperweights for the elderly's own use, a Ming Dynasty Tao inkstone, a Ming Dynasty blue and white fish dragon pattern pen wash is to make the room overflowing with ancient fragrance, if it is not for a 17-inch laptop computer in the corner of the table, it is like walking into the study of the ancients in the costume film and television drama.

There is a picture on the case in front of the window that also exudes the word of ink, the four words of "Houde Zaiwu" are written on it, the signature cherishes the ancient mountain people, the combination of grass and grass, the pen is vigorous, vigorous and vigorous, and it is admirable. This character was written by the old man just now, and the ink has not yet dried, and the old man actually used a three-party bell seal, which is obviously the old man's proud work.

The old man was sitting behind the desk, and there were two black wooden boxes on the table, although he couldn't tell what the material was, but he was sure that it was not a precious wood, but the old man looked pious, and his hands kept rubbing the box, so Li Mobai didn't dare to underestimate it at all, knowing that the box was the old man's cherished things, but the old man wanted to move back to the game to find the field before talking to himself.

"Old man, your old man really makes my grandson and me look up to the mountains, tsk, this word has no decades of skill, I can't surpass it!" Li Mobai admired from the bottom of his heart.

"Hehe, it's all water milling, don't make my old man happy, don't make my old man happy, hurry up and show your hands!" The old man waved his hand, but he wanted to see the progress of Li Mobai's calligraphy.

"Grandpa, you're catching ducks on the shelves, you always know my words, and then again, I haven't started writing in the past few days, and my hands are stiff!" As soon as I heard that I wanted to show my hand, if I didn't see the words that the old man had just written, I wouldn't be afraid, but the pearl was in front, how dare I show ugliness in the back, and quickly said goodbye.

"Young people should be arrogant, wild and uninhibited is the model of my generation of scholars, don't learn from those rotten Confucianism!" With a wave of his hand, Li Mobai was not allowed to shirk at all.

The old man said so, Li Mobai no longer shirked, so he chose a center rat whisker lake pen on the old man's pen stand, put it in the pen wash and soaked it, waited for the bristles to bubble and soak soft, and at the same time thought about what he wanted to write. Soak the pen, this is the "moistening pen" before writing and painting, and "moistening the pen" also refers to the remuneration for inviting people to write articles, write, and paint. The allusion of "moistening the pen" originates from a story in "The Book of Sui: The Biography of Zheng Yi": Zheng Yi was the emperor's proposed edict, and some people jokingly called him "the pen is dry", and Zheng replied: "If you can't have a pen, how can you polish the pen?" So from then on, he called the manuscript fee, calligraphy and painting remuneration "polishing the pen".

After laying the rice paper, after the brush is soaked soft enough to absorb ink, Li Mobai calmed down, and wrote the twelve words "Pitching is worthy of the world, praising and deprecating its own spring and autumn" on the already paved rice paper, without dragging mud and water, quite a demeanor. Li Mobai has practiced calligraphy under the supervision of the old man since he was a child, first in regular script, then in official script, and then in cursive script, and then in cursive script, and he has 20 years of skills. With the reason of age and surname, I gradually like wild grass and grass seals, although not as good as the old man's calligraphy, but finally did not eat in front of the old man.

"Well, yes, it seems that it hasn't been abandoned in the past few years, but well, it's just good!" Hearing the old man say that it was good, he was secretly happy in his heart, but he didn't expect the old man to come up with another good sentence, which made Li Mobai suddenly fall into an ice cave.

"Hehe, old man, how can I compare with you, as the saying goes, how can fluorescence compete with the moon, you say yes!" Li Mobai hurriedly sent it over.

"Stinky boy, I know that the poor mouth is slippery, let my old man be happy, and I must not waste it in the future!" The old man scolded with a smile, seeing that it was still early, "Come, let's play a game between our grandfather and grandson!" ”

"Hehe, old man, this is my dish, look at how I slaughter your old man's big dragon, don't be sad when the time comes!" Seeing that the old man was in high spirits, although he knew that the old man was a stinky chess basket, he was also happy to fight. When he was a child, the old man taught little Li Mobai to play chess, and found that Li Mobai was quite talented in Go, so playing Go became a major entertainment activity in Li Mobai's youth, and the old man also ravaged little Li Mobai beautifully, but after Li Mobai was eleven years old, without deliberately releasing water, the old man never won a game, and the most depressing thing for the old man was that he often lost half of his eyes. At first, I didn't care, I lost a lot because my grandson was playing tricks on me, but there was no way, who made himself inferior to his grandson!

The old rule, Li Mobai let the third son, the chess game progressed very quickly, only after 125 hands, the old man disarmed, this is still the case that Li Mobai did not do his best. When Li Mobai was in middle school, the teacher tried his best to encourage Li Mobai to participate in the professional Go set, and he couldn't help the teacher's encouraging eyes, and finally responded, so Li Mobai became a professional chess player. After becoming a professional chess player, Li Mobai found that there were more and more competitions to participate in, and after participating in several competitions, he also achieved good results, but Li Mobai gradually got tired of those boring and utilitarian games, so he refused to participate in any competitions, and it was not uncommon for him to be a world champion.

"Have fun, and have no regrets if you lose! If my old man could be twenty years younger, he would definitely win you, haha! The old man completely forgot that he couldn't win his grandson more than ten years ago. There has always been a saying in the Go world that before the age of 20, you can't become a national player, and you can't become a national player in your life. Although this is not absolute, there is a reason for the truth summed up by the older generation with thousands of years of experience.

"Hey, if you're twenty years younger, your grandson and I haven't learned to play Go yet!" Li Mobai mercilessly hit the old man's pride, "But your old chess strength has not diminished at all, it is not easy for you to win!" ”

"Alright, let's get down to business!" After taking a sip of tea and moving his body, the old man finally cut to the topic.

"Grandpa, if you have something, just give me orders!" Seeing that the old man was about to get down to business, Li Mobai moved a chair and sat at the desk.

"Mo Bai, these two boxes are the most precious inheritance left by our Li family's ancestors, and they will be handed over to you from now on!" The old man said with a serious face.

"Uh, grandpa, your old dragon horse spirit, it's better for you to keep it, I'm still young, and I still need your old care to cultivate it!" When Li Mobai heard this, he suddenly felt his scalp tingle, which one is this old man singing! My father is still young, and the inheritance will be passed on to my father, so I hurriedly pretended to be tender, even if I pretended to be tender, I couldn't ignore the dignity of my father.

"Hehe, don't shirk yet, don't you want to open it and see what it is?" The old man looked at Li Mobai with a smile, his eyes full of anticipation and banter.

"Uh,..., then I'll take a look first, if you want to say that you're not curious, it must be fake, I found it as soon as I came in just now, but you didn't say it, I don't dare to ask, grandson!" After hesitating for a moment, curiosity still prevailed over reason, so let's see if it doesn't matter.

"Hehe, then open it and take a look, don't be disappointed! Well, here's the key! The old man smiled a little slyly.

took the key in the old man's hand and opened the box, Li Mobai opened his mouth for a long time and didn't say anything, but his face was full of excitement, "Wow, the old man has so many ancient books, why didn't you give it to me earlier, you always hide it from me!" Only then did I understand why I didn't pass it on to my father, and my father's level was not raised.

"As for the steamed buns, you have to eat them one bite at a time, otherwise you will choke to death! Pulling out seedlings will help you see the light and die, and rush to the United States and the United States to cause famine! The old man said with a look of course.

"Hehe, your old teaching is right, it is really a golden jade good word, grandchildren must remember it in their hearts, dare not or forget." Seeing the old man's serious face, Li Mobai hurriedly slapped him again.

"Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, my Li family ancestors have all been hidden in the city, and have never participated in the imperial examination to serve the Manchu Dynasty, and are no longer officials in the current dynasty, you know this. But why is my Li family good at antique jade? Because the core of our Li family's family tradition is gold and stone science, this box of treasures is the essence of my Li family's research, part of which is the inscriptions, ornaments, pictures and notes of oracle bones, bronzes, steles, bamboo slips, gold and silverware, lacquerware, etc., collected by the ancestors of the past dynasties, and the other part is the appreciation of antique jewelry and jade formed by the ancestors of the past dynasties, which is the most precious heritage left by the ancestors to future generations! ”

Li Mobai was really shocked, these two boxes are not small, God, how much manpower and financial resources do they need to collect! And how did they survive the war and the madness of destroying everything in that period of ghosts, snakes, and gods? Thinking of these, I worship the old man and the ancestors in front of me very much, it is too powerful! These things are treasures, they are all comparable to the small tripods that have been picked up.

"Grandpa, how did you save it?" Li Mobai couldn't help but ask, in that era when he was known for his frenzied destruction of all civilizations without learning and not knowing how to do it, I don't know how many national treasures and ancient books were destroyed in one fell swoop, and the gold and stone calligraphy and painting suffered the most tragic disaster.

"Hehe, it doesn't hurt to tell you, my old man is smart, and he felt that the situation was not good, so he dug a cellar under the bed, and finally escaped!" When the old man said this, he was glad and quite complacent.

"Hehe, your old man really has a unique vision!" Li Mobai also felt quite lucky, if the old man hadn't seen the situation one step later, these precious materials might have been destroyed long ago, but he knew in his heart that although the old man said it easily, in fact, the old man must have spent a lot of effort.

"However, don't be too happy, there's still a lot of work to do, you will know it when you see it, hehe!" The old man's expression had a hint of banter and a hint of depression, "Times have changed, and the research results of the ancestors of the Li family also need to be rediscovered, so this task will be handed over to you!" The ancestors have been aggrieved for more than 400 years, we should work hard to make the glory of the family reappear, but unfortunately the old man I am only a shallow learner, and after a lifetime of hard work, I am still unable to let the ancestors' brainchild see the sky again, I am really ashamed of the ancestors! You're a good kid, work hard! ”

"Grandpa, don't say that, there's no end to learning, don't say that!" Li Mobai hurriedly comforted, lest he evoke the old man's sad past, "Under the guidance of your old wisdom, I will definitely use my life to complete this glorious task."

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