Shining a flashlight over it, you couldn't see the end of the line; it was densely packed with all sorts of objects.
From large, intricately crafted canopy beds to small items like dressing boxes.
It's clear how hastily the Luo family left; many things were simply carried down from above and placed there.
There wasn't even time to take any protective measures.
Over the decades, much of the furniture here has developed mold and a foul rotten smell. Some pieces have even been infested with insects, which have damaged the wood.
Luo Yunhang glanced at them and trembled with heartache. These were furniture pieces made from the finest wood!
Rosewood, sandalwood, ebony, ironwood, nanmu, chicken wing wood, ebony…
What a waste! What a pity!
There are many beds here, each with a different style and material.
Luo Yunhang continued to walk through the narrow passage with his flashlight on.
Besides the furniture, there were also several boxes of silk in front, but unfortunately, after so many years, they had long since rotted away.
Luo Yunhang continued walking forward and finally saw the Luo family's treasured collection.
Hundreds of large boxes were neatly arranged inside. Luo Yunhang opened a few of them, and they were filled with various precious antiques.
They even have a few precious ivory tusks.
There are also some precious imperial porcelain pieces that have survived to this day.
Before he could finish reading, Luo Yunhang continued walking inside.
This area contains precious ancient books and records left by the Luo family ancestors. Fortunately, they were stored in boxes that were protected from insects and ants, otherwise, after all these decades, who knows what would have happened to them.
Finally, there were several boxes of gold bars.
Luo Yunhang didn't have time to examine them all carefully; he decided that protecting these things was the most important thing to do first.
However, how to protect it has become another problem. Many things require knowledge of repair, but unfortunately he doesn't understand it now, and the problem has fallen into a vicious cycle.
Xiang Yizhai could help with one or two small items, but how was he supposed to handle so many?
Luo Yunhang had an extremely bad headache.
Before he could come up with a solution, he had to go back to school.
This semester, he can work directly on research projects with Professor Li.
Unexpectedly, as is often the case, Master Li's research topic this semester is the restoration of traditional furniture and decorations in courtyard houses.
He was just worried about not having any reference points when Luo Yunhang unexpectedly offered to share two courtyard houses and some furniture with him.
Master Li was overjoyed and immediately went with Luo Yunhang to see the two courtyard houses.
Although the extent of the damage is shocking, these two courtyard houses are indeed a great subject that allows students to appreciate the charm of courtyard houses.
And so the matter was settled.
The courtyard house was transformed into a classroom for Luo Yunhang and his ten senior brothers and sisters, and Master Li agreed to this for convenience.
This courtyard house is generally classified as a cultural relic building, but it is further divided into many subcategories, including protected buildings, improved buildings, preserved buildings, renovated buildings, and remodeled buildings, etc.
Some things must be preserved in their original form, while others can be modified to make them more practical.
The specific judgment needs to be made by these cultural relic restorers.
This time, Luo Yunhang made a fortune. He didn't spend a single penny and directly grabbed a bunch of restorers to help with the restoration work.
Seeing that the copy card was within reach, Luo Yunhang was overjoyed. He immediately set aside two million yuan as the restoration fund for the two ancestral homes, mainly to purchase raw materials, such as rosewood, ebony, and various other types of wood, as well as brick carvings for the hanging flower gate.
Don't be fooled by the fact that it's over two million; the things we need to use are even more expensive, and that money might not even be enough.
Master Li knew that Luo Yunhang was wealthy, so he didn't stand on ceremony with him. Luo Yunhang provided the materials, and Master Li helped lead the restoration work. Luo Yunhang also learned and helped along the way.
However, with two such large houses, they alone are not enough.
Luo Yunhang then spent a high price to hire a team of antique-style building installers to work with Master Li's small restoration team on this project.
In pursuit of perfection, Master Li consulted a master of ancient architecture from the Antique Association, who made a reasonable and outstanding plan and design for the two courtyard houses.
The first step in the renovation plan is to create an inverted arched coffered ceiling, using ancient architectural techniques.
The "inverted arch" technique for coffered ceilings is almost lost. All construction techniques must be advanced in ancient architecture to restore the original appearance of the courtyard house.
The second step is to remove the dilapidated exterior walls and replace them with antique-style walls.
Because the exterior walls were peeling off, in order to maintain the overall unified appearance of the courtyard house and make it more beautiful and durable, the old exterior walls were peeled off during the renovation and replaced with antique-style blue brick walls to restore the historical vicissitudes of the courtyard house.
Thirdly, the reconstruction of the corridors.
The original wooden structure of the corridor in the old courtyard house had long been rotten and decayed.
The corridor space was completely renovated, and the corridor was rebuilt one-to-one using a purely handmade wooden mortise and tenon structure.
This is also a huge project, requiring a great deal of manpower and resources.
All the wooden structures that used to be in the garden will be meticulously recreated on a one-to-one basis.
However, some classic and irreplaceable parts can only be restored by the skillful hands of restorers.
Once the basic design is finalized, construction can begin.
The first step was to remove some unusable items, a step that was handed over to the construction team, with Master Li in charge of supervision.
Luo Yunhang was assigned an important task: to find all kinds of timber.
The renovation of these two courtyard houses will require a huge amount of timber, not just a little. Other types of wood are needed in relatively small quantities, and Master Li can help find them. However, there is one thing that needs to be purchased in large quantities: rosewood.
Under Master Li's introduction, Luo Yunhang arrived at Haikou Dingzhen Antique Market, also known as "Huaguo Rosewood City," which is the largest rosewood trading market in the country.
When Luo Yunhang arrived at the market, it was only eight or nine o'clock, but it was already bustling with people and very lively.
After years of suffering from imperial requisition, medicinal use, burning, logging, and processing into finished products, many people asserted that huanghuali (rosewood) was on the verge of extinction. To be precise, wild huanghuali trees were on the verge of extinction, and raw materials were extremely scarce.
After making some inquiries, Luo Yunhang learned that the rosewood sold on the market now is mainly tree stumps and roots left buried underground before people went up the mountain to dig them up.
Or they may have been acquired from household items, beams, or window pillars that people previously made from huanghuali wood.
There are also some planting materials planted in advance in front of and behind the house.
Finally, there are some far-sighted businessmen and enthusiasts who acquired and stored old materials in advance, which are now slowly returning to the market.
Luo Yunhang asked around, but no merchant could provide him with a large quantity of huanghuali wood at once.
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