After understanding this, Cheng Tianle stopped running around and still obediently watched paintings every day, watching the daily activities of the MLM and the nearby residents coming and going, just like watching a silent three-dimensional movie, among which he was also attending classes every day.
After a few days, Cheng Tianle had an idea again. Since the place he had never been to cannot be reached at will without end, then find a place nearby to take a walk. Suzhou alley is quite interesting, so he chose the best place to see the scenery. So his viewing range was no longer limited to pyramid scheme gangs. He entered a nearby stone alley, and did not walk far every day but walked forward for a short distance.
This alley is not far from the pyramid scheme gang, but Cheng Tianle has never been to the small restaurant at the entrance of the alley, which is where Yu Fei once invited him to dinner. Many high-end places in Suzhou are quite expensive because it is a famous tourist city, but the daily consumption of ordinary residents is much lower than that of nearby Shanghai, because the resources here are rich and it is a land of fish and rice since ancient times.
The wine and dishes in that small restaurant are quite cheap and good, including fried snails, stir-fried malan heads, boiled edamame, fried stinky tofu, braised pork head meat and other cheap and affordable dishes, which can be seen all day long. There is also a special dish that is very tempting, but it is a pity that you can see but can't smell it, let alone eat it in your mouth. If you can really smell the fragrance of side dishes in the inner scene of the soul, it is not that you are looking at the painting, but that the illusion of the soul has emerged.
Cheng Tianle sometimes thinks that when you have the time to come over and try the Suzhou side dishes there, that is the most typical local feature.
Walking in from the restaurant entrance is a stone road more than two meters wide. Bicycles and vans can barely drive over, but two cars cannot travel incorrectly. Modern residents' lives have improved a lot. Some residents in the alley have bought cars and demolished the shed originally loaded with coal balls and debris to create a place to park. Everyone is very conscious and basically drives in and out from one direction. The alley that was originally walking has also become a one-way lane for cars.
There are not many cars here, because old Suzhou is not big and life is very convenient. It is not convenient to drive in such an old city. Every time a car enters and leaves the alley, pedestrians must stick it under the wall to make way, which is somewhat unsightly. There are always unconscious people when there are too many people. For example, someone who drives in such an alley and wants to "turn in the opposite direction" and thinks that there is no car on the opposite side, but when there is a car coming towards you, it will block the alley. It is often a dispute, and even neighbors will join.
Most of the alleys have small courtyards on both sides of this alley. The yards are planted with pomegranate trees, loquat trees, oleanders and other plants. Since ancient times, ordinary families have also paid attention to gardening styles, and the trees, flowers and plants are planted and pruned very ornamental. There are many modern buildings here, which are a bit messy, but most of them are old houses, which have been more or less renovated.
Many of the stone slabs paved in the alley have vague handwriting, each with its own origins. Many of the courtyard walls on both sides still retain traditional boundary stones, and the white powder on the wall may have been painted many times. However, the bricks and stones on the wall base or exposed outside reveal a leisurely and calm atmosphere in the mulberry. Cheng Tianle even saw a brick, which was obviously several times larger than other bricks in the corner. Just like a black stone slab, there are also clearly identifiable handwriting: "The fine material was made in the second year of Xianfeng, and the fine material was two feet and two inches square gold bricks." It is a traditional official script and is stamped on the side of the bricks with an impression.
The so-called gold bricks are of course not bricks made of gold, but special floor tiles specially used in royal buildings such as palaces in ancient times. Use fine and glue-containing clay to make the clay, and this soil must be sticky but not dispersed, powder but not sandy, and it must be left in the open space for a whole year, then boiled with boiling water to remove organic impurities, and then repeatedly fined. Remove the bubbles in the mud balls to make them dense and solid. Before entering the kiln, it must be kept away from light for half a year, smoked with bran grass for one month to remove the tide, and after entering the kiln, use chopped firewood for one month, cooked with whole firewood for one month, and then burned with pine branches for forty days.
The gold bricks burned in this way have a firm texture and are loud and sound. There are hundreds of processes in front and behind, and the processing time is more than two years. This brick is not something that ordinary people can afford. Although it is not a magic tool, the processing process also gives it a unique physical property. Although it is not a big difference in the wall, it contains a completely different atmosphere.
Of course, Cheng Tianle could not sense this kind of physical aura in his paintings. If he had thoughts, it would be not a viewing environment but an illusion. He just discovered this brick in the corner of a certain family, with handwriting on the bricks. After getting closer and carefully identifying it, he found that this was the legendary gold brick.
This unique gold brick in the world was only produced in Suzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties, because Suzhou's soil is particularly delicate and contains rich glue. Moreover, Suzhou is close to the Grand Canal, which makes it easy to transport, and because there are the best craftsmen and artists here (
).
Before the production of the 34th year of the Guangxu period, the gold bricks were always exclusively for royal palaces, but there were many scattered among the people, mainly in the Suzhou area. In what era, such a gold brick was built into the courtyard wall. Cheng Tianle was also very moved when he saw it. He was thinking again, wanting to have the opportunity to drill the alley in the real world and touch the brick with his own hands.
Walking forward through this corner of the brick wall, it is the deepest part of Cheng Tianle reaching in this alley. He cannot continue to move further, otherwise he will use his spiritual power without any need, and instead delay the serious matter of tracking the whereabouts of the pyramid scheme gang. But it is here that he made an unexpected and major discovery.
There is a large mansion here, which has obviously been repaired and maintained quite intact. Although the real physical atmosphere cannot be sensed in the painting, Cheng Tianle studied art design after all, and the most beautiful and elegant building in this alley is this yard. The owner's cultivation is obviously extraordinary. The yard is very new, but the overall layout clearly retains the traditional classical pattern, even the shape of each brick and tile is meticulous. The old materials in ancient times intersect with the new materials of modern restoration, and the integration is almost perfect.
There is no lantern in front of the house, which indicates the hall name of the owner in ancient times, but the ancient boundary stones built at the four corners of the courtyard are engraved with the words "Xinyuan". Interestingly, there is a flower tiles on the lintel of the main door and the backyard door. The flower tiles have a fan outline, and the word "Plum Garden" is written in the fan. This means that the house was originally built and was called "Xinyuan", but later it was changed to the owner, and now it is called "Plum Garden". It is very likely that the current owner's surname is Mei.
Although ancient houses like this are mostly reserved for renovation and revision, many families of the past lived in the houses after liberation, and the reconstruction was separated and renovated. However, this house is still complete and complete. Either someone bought them all and repaired them, or they were kept as they were, just like many old courtyards in Beijing now.