Fortunately, Chu Chen didn't forget about them, and said, "Brother Qi, this time we came to Star City to prepare to participate in tomorrow's antique exchange meeting, do you want to participate?" ”

"Of course!"

Qi Baofu and Fang Jinbo nodded excitedly, originally they still thought it was strange, why Chu Chen and these old-timers appeared in Star City, but now they know that this is the case. They are all people who love antiques, how could Chu Chen's invitation not agree.

But after a while, Qi Baofu said with some hesitation: "But we haven't received an invitation!" ”

Zhao Xueyi said with a smile: "An invitation letter can bring two people in, except for Xiao Chen, the three of us didn't bring anyone, it's no problem to bring you." ”

"Thank you! Thank you......" The two hurriedly smiled and thanked them.

"What's this, it's just a gesture!" Zhao Xueyi waved his hand and said, "In this case, you can go to the hotel where we live today, and I will call them in a while and ask them to help arrange the room." ”

"That's embarrassing, isn't it?" Being able to participate in the exchange meeting and stay for one night in vain, both of them felt really embarrassed.

Uncle Wu said with a smile: "What's so embarrassing about this, anyway, the organizer is a big money, so I can't live in vain, but if you want to be more convenient, don't check out where you live now, after all, the exchange meeting will end tomorrow." ”

"I still have things to do in Star City, and it's really troublesome to move around, so I won't retreat."

"I'd like to stay a few more days."

"Okay! Let's go......"

The group got into a taxi and went back to the hotel, and on the way, they went to buy tools to open the box. When we get back to the hotel. The staff has already helped Qi Baofu and Fang Jinbo open two rooms, although they are just ordinary business rooms. However, the two are already very satisfied.

"I'm going to open this rattan box right now and see what's in there!"

Chu Chen finished with a smile. I was ready to use tools to open the box.

"Wait!" Uncle Wu saw that Chu Chen was about to directly use a saw to cut open the box, and hurriedly stopped him:

"Xiaochen, let's see if we can dismantle the box without violence."

After all, it is very likely that the contents are a priceless treasure, and it would be a pity if it was injured by a saw, so everyone agreed with Uncle Wu's suggestion.

Actually, Chu Chen had already seen it with his abilities. It is impossible for this rattan box to be dismantled in a short period of time without damage except by violent methods, and it is impossible for him to destroy it.

However, this kind of thing, Chu Chen would definitely say it to his face, so he still agreed with Uncle Wu's suggestion, looked inside and out of the rattan box, and finally everyone came to the same conclusion. Except with a saw, it is impossible to dismantle the box intact in a short period of time.

"Or, be on the safe side, take your time!" Zhu Dafu said.

Others also want to see what is inside. But to be on the safe side, they all nodded in agreement.

Chu Chen smiled and said, "It's okay, let's just be careful for a while." Besides, this box is already very fragile, just sawn a little. You can pry it open with a tool......"

Everyone thought about it and felt that Chu Chen's words did make sense, so they followed. Under everyone's attention, Chu Chen picked up the saw and began to saw.

Just like Chu Chen said, these rattans are already very fragile, and it doesn't take much effort to hold them at all, and a big opening has already appeared after a while.

Seeing that it was almost over, Chu Chen put on other tools, and opened the outer wall of the box little by little, and in the end, he only heard a "poof" sound, and an object wrapped in oiled paper and sealed with wax fell out.

Chu Chen picked it up and put it aside, then looked into the broken wall layer, and found that there was nothing inside, so he began to tear down several other outer walls, and finally found a total of four objects that were also wrapped in oiled paper along with the bottom of the box.

Although everyone was anxious to know what was wrapped inside the oil paper, they still waited until Chu Chen took out everything before they started to do it. After all, the things belonged to Chu Chen, and they couldn't take them out when the owner was not there.

Just as Zuo Shan was cleaning up the already various boxes, Chu Chen also washed his hands and walked out, Uncle Wu handed him a pair of white gloves, and said: "There are more things, and they should be ancient books, let's come one by one, but you have to be careful when dismantling them, things like paper are very fragile." Xiaochen, come on......"

Chu Chen nodded, then picked up a paper cutter, first gently picked up the sealing wax on the thing, and then cut the oil paper along the traces of the package, and then saw a book-like thing wrapped in silk silk appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

After spreading out the silk, there is a thread-bound book of blue book jackets, the thickness of which is almost less than two fingers, and it is quite well preserved, without any damage, all thanks to the layer of oil paper and those sealing waxes outside, otherwise after hundreds of years, even if it is not damaged, it will be damaged by mold and insects.

When this paper-bound ancient book appeared in front of everyone's eyes, the title of the book written in Xingshu on the cover suddenly made Uncle Wu and others a little stunned.

"Four apes?!"

Chu Chen said at the right time: "Dad, these ancient books are so tightly preserved, they can't be the original manuscript of "The Four Apes", right?" ”

"Quite possibly!" Uncle Wu and the others all nodded solemnly and happily.

"But isn't there only four plays in "The Four Apes"? Why are there five ancient books here? Wu Ke asked.

"This can only be known by Xiao Chen to open the remaining few books, I'll take a look at this one first......"

As he spoke, Uncle Wu found a magnifying glass, and then began to carefully observe it word by word from the cover to the content. Taking advantage of this period, Chu Chen also took out the remaining four ancient books one by one from the oil paper.

At this time, Fang Jinbo asked with some embarrassment: "Brother Qi, whose work is this "Four Apes"?" ”

Qi Baofu was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then asked with a smile: "Are you not familiar with the celebrities of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Fang Jinbo replied with some shame: "I have also seen the lives of several people. I didn't look closely, though. ”

"Don't rush, take your time!" Qi Baofu patted him on the shoulder. said: "However, the author of this "Four Apes". But he is quite famous, and you should also know that he is the great literati Xu Wei Xu Wenchang of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Xu Wei, an outstanding calligrapher, painter and writer in the Ming Dynasty, was a native of Shanyin. The first word is clear, the word is changed to the long, the number is Tianchi Mountain People, or the aliases of Tian Shuiyue, Qingteng Old Man, Qingteng Daoren, etc. He has unique attainments in poetry, calligraphy, opera, and painting, and is the author of "Xu Wen's Long Collection", "Interpretation of Road History", "Four Apes" and so on. Famous works include the shaft of "Ink Grape Picture", the album of "Landscape Figures, Flowers and Birds" and so on.

Xu Wei enjoyed a reputation for his literary name when he was a teenager, but since he was 20 years old, he has always been very unsatisfactory in the imperial examination, and he is arrogant, contemptuous of tradition, and not constrained by "etiquette", so he is always reprimanded by Taoists.

He had great ambitions and participated in the anti-Japanese struggle on the southeast coast during the Jiajing period, and was later implicated in the Hu Zongxian case, which was deeply stimulated and went crazy for a while. Insane. He has encountered a very bumpy life and can be described as a "down-and-out world". Although he was miserable in his later years, he was poor and sick, and he made a living by selling poems, essays, and paintings. But he refused to write books and paintings for the powerful, which can also show his integrity.

"Ahh It turned out to be his work! Fang Jinbo exclaimed.

Qi Baofu continued: "Not only his works, but also four very wonderful theatrical works. It can be said that he created a new way of writing miscellaneous operas with southern operas. From the content, spirit to form, it has brought a positive impact on the drama scene at that time and in later generations. Furthermore. "The Four Apes" also has the characteristics of freshness, liveliness, fluency and beauty in language. The lyrics are white and full of emotion. It's fun. ”

Fang Jinbo scratched his head and said with a sneer: "I only know that his calligraphy, painting, and poetry are very good, and he is also very outstanding in military affairs, as for drama, I really don't know much." ”

"That's because you don't know much about Xu Wei, you'll know more about it in the future."

Qi Baofu smiled and said: "In fact, in addition to "The Four Apes", he also wrote a monograph on Southern Opera, "Narrative of Southern Words", which is the only monograph on the study of Southern Opera in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and its contribution to the history of Chinese opera theory and criticism cannot be underestimated......

At this time, Chu Chen happened to take out another ancient book, and as soon as everyone looked at the cover, Zhao Xueyi laughed and said: "Say Cao Cao Cao is here, this book is still "Nanci Narrative". ”

Zhu Dafu said with a smile: "I estimate that the remaining three books should be the remaining part of "Four Apes", it seems that the person who collects these ancient books should be a drama fan!" ”

Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement.

At this time, Uncle Wu stood up, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to Chu Chen with a smile: "Your kid has a really good life, although I don't know if the other four books are genuine, but my one, I think it should be Xu Wei's manuscript." However, it can also be found between the lines that Xu Wei was in a very uncalm mood when writing the drama, and it was likely that he finished writing things in a state of gritting his teeth. ”

"Four Apes" is a combination of four dramas, namely "Crazy Drum History Yuyang Three Alleys", "A Dream of Jade Zen Master Cuixiang", "Female Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father", and "The Female Champion Quits the Phoenix and Gets the Phoenix". The name of "Four Apes" should be taken from the Badong Three Gorges folk song "Three Tears of the Ape", which means that the three sounds of the ape are enough to fall into tears, let alone four sounds.

Among them, "Crazy Drum History Yuyang Three Alleys" is about the plot of You Heng of the Three Kingdoms scolding Cao Cao in the underworld after his death, which is actually using Cao Cao to insinuate the treacherous minister Yan Song at that time. "A Dream of Jade Zen Master Cuixiang" exposes the hypocritical nature of the deceit and asceticism of officialdom and Buddhism at that time.

"Female Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father" tells the story of Mulan's expedition, triumph, and marriage, all of which are created by the author. Finally, "The Female Champion Quits the Phoenix and the Phoenix" depicts the artistic image of the talented female champion Huang Chongyi (qǔ) disguised as a man, stable and stable in the country, just because of exposing her daughter's body and burying her boudoir with her talent.

These four plays not only express Xu Wei's criticism of society, but also contain some resentment and helplessness in his reality.

For example, the scene "History of Wild Drums" was written because his closest friend Shen Lian was killed for participating in the impeachment of Yan Song. But because of his status, he can only be satirized by drama, just with his extreme character, how can he not be depressed and resentful?

Zhu Dafu shook his head and sighed: "Hey! Xu Wei can be regarded as a jealous talent in his life! ”

Uncle Wu said: "Although he is a jealous talent, if he didn't have such an experience, it is likely that there would not be such a great literati." ”

Wu Ke shook his head and said, "That being said, wouldn't it be better if there wasn't such a bumpy experience?" And I found that several celebrities in the Ming Dynasty had quite bumpy encounters in their lives, such as Tang Yin, who was not much better than Xu Wenchang. ”

Wen Baofu sighed: "This may be the common problem of ancient celebrities, Su Dongpo's life is not quite bumpy." ”

"Forget it, let's not talk about it, the atmosphere is so depressing!"

Zhu Dafu waved his hand, and then said with some excitement: "Xiaochen is just lucky, he can even get such a thing." If it is really Xu Wenchang's manuscript, not to mention his own value, it is also a very important discovery for the theater world! Old Wu, show it to me......" (To be continued......)