Arriving here, Ren Yaoqi felt really curious and expectant.
She had known about this secret room for a long time. The Ren family had been trying to find the entrance since her great-grandfather, and the Zhai family's fate was partly due to this secret treasure. Unfortunately, they hadn't succeeded until the Ren family moved out of the house. She had never imagined she would see it with her own eyes.
After entering, Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. It was just a very ordinary stone house. Although not as narrow as the passage outside, it was only about the size of her bedroom when she was at her mother's house. On both sides of the stone house were stacked more than a dozen large wooden boxes, the red paint on the boxes peeling badly, and they looked quite old.
There was an altar opposite the door, with an incense table and a fruit plate on it. Incense ash fell all over the altar. There was something dark in the fruit plate, and Ren Yaoqi pulled Xiao Jingxi closer to take a look. After discovering the jade statue behind the altar, he was stunned.
"This is..." Ren Yaoqi tilted his head and looked carefully at the jade statue that was only about a foot tall.
"It's the Queen Mother of the West." Xiao Jingxi said.
Ren Yaoqi frowned: "Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady? Few people worship this at home..."
Xiao Jingxi pondered and continued, "Except for the military commanders' families."
Ren Yaoqi raised his eyebrows and looked at Xiao Jingxi.
Xiao Jingxi smiled and said, "Legend has it that the Lady of the Nine Heavens was the Yellow Emperor's military advisor, a female war god from ancient times who was well versed in military strategy. That's why some generals would enshrine her in their homes."
Ren Yaoqi nodded and asked doubtfully, "Were the ancestors of the Zhai family military commanders?"
Xiao Jingxi pulled Ren Yaoqi closer to the statue and looked down at the wooden box underneath. The box was placed on the altar, and it seemed to be made of sandalwood. It was smaller than the dozen or so boxes stacked next to it, and there was a lock on it.
Ren Yaoqi looked around, trying to find a key to open the box, but found nothing.
Xiao Jingxi held her back and said with a smile, "What are you looking for? This isn't an ordinary lock, it's a mechanism that can't be opened with a key."
Ren Yaoqi took the oil lamp from Xiao Jingxi's hand and took a look at it. He found that it was an ordinary-looking brass lock with double tiger heads. Because the air here was humid, it had formed a green copper rust. If you look closely, you will find that there are five gears meshing together on it, and each gear is engraved with densely packed tiny words.
Ren Yaoqi had seen this kind of mechanical lock in a book before. The lock could be opened by simply turning the five gears and aligning the correct letters to the correct position.
Ren Yaoqi examined it with great interest for a moment, then asked Xiao Jingxi, "Since Han Yunqian told you the mechanism of the secret passage, he should have also told you the secret message of this lock, right?"
Who knew Xiao Jingxi just shook his head: "No."
Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but feel disappointed when he heard this: "So it can't be a rare treasure?"
Xiao Jingxi thought for a moment, frowned, and said, "Do you really want to see it?"
Ren Yaoqi deliberately made things difficult for Xiao Jingxi and said, "Yeah, it's a pity you can't open it, so forget it."
Xiao Jingxi just raised his eyebrows and smiled when he heard this, without making any excuses. He just pulled Ren Yaoqi away and said softly, "Let's see what's in the other boxes first."
Except for the box on the altar, the other dozen or so large boxes in the room were not locked. Xiao Jingxi opened one at random and found a box of porcelain inside, ranging from square enamel general vases to small snuff bottles of different types and sizes. After carefully identifying the enamel general vases, Xiao Jingxi nodded and concluded, "It's a treasure." Then he closed the box and opened another one.
A large box nearby contained jade pieces, all of which were rare treasures. Ren Yaoqi even identified a pair of luminous cups as craftsmanship from a small country to the south.
However, when Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi saw so many good things, they just looked at them casually and did not look surprised.
When they opened the third box and found a box of well-sealed calligraphy and paintings inside, Xiao Jingxi smiled and said to Ren Yaoqi, "We must move this box back no matter what. This will please Master Taishan." As he spoke, he took out a painting and examined it carefully, looking very satisfied.
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