The South Three Buildings in the southeast corner of the Forbidden City.
Nansanso was originally where the princes of the Qing Dynasty lived when they were young. Emperors Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng all lived here before they ascended the throne.
For a long time after liberation, because the underground warehouse of the Forbidden City was not built, this place briefly became one of the warehouses.
When Lin Sanqi followed Dean Wu into the South Third Building, he found that the yard was full of dead weeds. Even with the cold wind blowing, a chill rushed straight to his head.
Lin Sanqi shrank his neck and said:
"Dean Wu, this place is truly desolate. The story of being banished to the cold palace, often sung in operas, must be about this place, right?"
Dean Wu laughed out loud when he heard this:
"Commissioner Lin, you've misunderstood. There's actually no special 'cold palace' in the Forbidden City.
The so-called cold palace is often where a concubine has fallen out of favor or has been punished and is under house arrest, and outsiders are unwilling to visit her. The place where the concubine lives is unpopular and is called the cold palace.
There are many palaces in our Forbidden City that are more desolate than this one. Currently, our entire museum has only about 300 staff members. Managing an imperial palace that required tens of thousands of people in ancient times is truly beyond our capacity and difficult."
Lin Sanqi nodded slightly on the surface, knowing in his heart that if the other party mentioned the difficulties, he would probably bleed heavily again.
But this time he came here to ask for help, and wanted to take cultural relics out of the Forbidden City. The previous person was Puyi, and the next one was Lin Sanqi, so he would definitely have to pay a price.
"President Wu, every unit across the country is facing difficulties right now. I see the difficulties you're facing at the Palace Museum and I'm worried about them. Let's see if I can help. I'm absolutely obligated to do so."
When Director Wu and the other officials from the Palace Museum Administration heard this, they all laughed.
They also knew that it would be too embarrassing to ask for aid so openly, so they decided to help Commissioner Lin get the job done first, and do it beautifully, so that they could put forward conditions.
"Commissioner Lin, please come in. Our warehouse in the South Third Building is filled with all kinds of furniture and royal ceremonial objects, including the sedan chair you wanted."
At this time, Master Xu, who was in charge of the storage work at the South Third Warehouse, reminded:
"The Wangong sedan chair is indeed in the warehouse, but the wedding of Guangxu and Longyu took place in 1889. Over 70 years have passed since then, and three dynasties have changed. There's no way to even mention its upkeep. So..."
Lin Sanqi understood. To put it simply, a Wangong sedan chair is a sedan chair made of wood. No matter how precious the wood is, it will easily fall apart if it is not properly stored.
This is trouble.
"Let's go in and take a look first. If this sedan chair doesn't work, I'll try to find another solution."
Lin Sanqi was thinking that the Zhejiang Provincial Museum had a ready-made one. He couldn’t borrow it in 2016, and now he can’t borrow it in 1964?
Dean Wu became anxious when he heard this. If the Wangong sedan chair could not be provided, the God of Wealth would not support the Forbidden City for no reason. Then the cooked duck would fly away.
Thinking of this, Dean Wu whispered a few words to a staff member, and the staff member hurried out after hearing it.
The heavy wooden door of the South Third Palace opened with a creaking sound, just like something out of a TV drama.
As soon as Lin Sanqi entered, the first thing he smelled was a musty smell. Under the sunlight, the room was filled with dust.
Lin Sanqi thought to himself that something was wrong.
Sure enough, after his vision adjusted to the light in the room, all that appeared before Lin Sanqi were gray furniture.
Literally "gray".
At this time in the north, it was winter and the weather was all yellow sand, and pedestrians had to wear a gauze on their heads.
Dean Wu was also very embarrassed when he saw it. After the liberation, people had never paid much attention to cultural relics, and among all the cultural relics, furniture was treated as garbage.
So I quickly acted as a tour guide and prepared to change the subject:
"Commissioner Lin, the Palace Museum currently has a collection of over ten thousand pieces of Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture, of which over a thousand are confirmed to be from the Ming Dynasty.
Among these furniture, there are beds, chairs, stools, tables, cabinets, screens, pedestals, etc., as well as nearly 500 pieces of Oriental and Western furniture.
The materials include red sandalwood, huanghuali, rosewood, iron pear, ebony, wenge, rosewood, and nanmu.
While some of these furniture were made by the Imperial Household Department, the vast majority came from all over the country, with Guangdong, Beijing, Suzhou, and Shanxi being the most famous.
Lin Sanqi sneezed a few times and said with some regret:
"Ah, these royal tables and chairs are nice, but look, this, this..."
When everyone looked, they found that all the furniture on the scene was gray and had none of the style and color of royal furniture. They were piled there in a mess.
Dean Wu looked at Master Xu with some reproach.
Master Xu also knew that whether this young man was satisfied today would determine whether all the employees of the Forbidden City could have a good year.
If this was messed up by the South Third Institute, all the staff in the institute would skin him alive, so he hurriedly took off his cotton coat and quickly ran to a large table.
"Commissioner Lin, these furniture are all intact. We have thrown the damaged furniture into the Jingshan warehouse. All the furniture in the South Third Building was selected by me personally. It is absolutely usable. If you don't believe me, just look at it."
Master Xu wiped the surface of the table with his cotton jacket, and immediately a light golden color appeared inside.
"Commissioner Lin, look, this is a round nanmu table.
Look at the unique design of this table, with a high waist and three curved legs, and a ruyi-shaped head that turns up and down like a banana leaf. Look at the edge of the table, there are two five-clawed golden dragons painted around it. It is for royal use.
It's just been sitting in a warehouse, gathering dust, and the paint is peeling from the centuries-old property. "Just a few coats of varnish and then, when it's in the sun, it'll be a dazzling golden sight."
Lin Sanqi was now half a cultural relic dealer. When he heard that it was a nanmu table, he ran over quickly.
"Master Xu, is this golden nanmu?"
Master Xu nodded heavily:
"Yes, golden nanmu, Commissioner Lin, look, they are all well preserved. This side is all nanmu furniture, and that side is all red sandalwood, and over there, that side is made of huanghuali wood."
Lin Sanqi wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and his eyes moved faster.
Dean Wu saw the situation change, so he patted his chest in fear and hurriedly urged:
"Old Xu, Commissioner Lin is here to see the Wangong sedan chair. What are you talking about? The nanmu table isn't worth anything."
Lin Sanqi turned around in surprise and looked at the director of the Palace Museum, thinking, "Brother, this is a golden nanmu table. You say it's not valuable?"
No wonder the cultural relics in the Ming Dingling Mausoleum were finally messed up. Even the golden nanmu coffin of Emperor Wanli was thrown directly into the ravine (and later it was found).
It turns out that the cultural relics workers of this period really didn't pay any attention to wooden furniture?
"Dean Wu, I wonder which university you graduated from? Have you been working in the cultural relics system?"
Dean Wu didn't understand why, but he still said proudly:
"I graduated from Shanghai Law School in 1927, which is now the East China University of Political Science and Law.
He joined the revolution before liberation, served as political commissar of many armies, and was once the president of the East China People's Revolutionary University. Haha, he is also an old revolutionary.
Lin Sanqi thought, no wonder, it turns out that the leader is not from the cultural relics system.
At this time, the cadres have a strong sense of responsibility, but they are not experts in professional matters and have no idea how to manage them.
However, it's a good opportunity to bully the layman...
Master Xu led everyone to the last side hall.
After opening the door, Lin Sanqi saw various sedan chairs placed in the middle of the room, all of which were covered with dust. It did not seem like the emperor's sedan chair as he had imagined.
"President Wu, Master Xu, is this the emperor's sedan chair? How come?"
"That simple, huh?"
Dean Wu and the staff beside him chuckled:
"Commissioner Lin, what you're looking at is called a sedan chair, which is the vehicle the emperor rides when traveling within the palace. It can be roughly divided into four types: ceremonial sedan chair, walking sedan chair, light walking sedan chair, and convenient sedan chair.
The sedan chair has no curtains, and the seat is cushioned with sable in winter and bright yellow satin in summer. Its use is strictly regulated according to different occasions.
But since it's just a short ride within the palace, it usually only takes four people to ride, so it's simple."
Lin Sanqi understood. This was like a shuttle bus in a scenic area. Convenience was all that mattered, not luxury. (End of this chapter)
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