Chapter 282: Gongwang Mansion

The morning sun was slightly warm, and a light breeze brushed by.

The corner of her shirt lifted, revealing a slender, fair waist.

Ye Anning was completely unaware, pedaling the bicycle with great effort.

Lin Sicheng sat on the back seat, his waist held straight: "Cousin Ye, why don't you let me take over!"

"No need!" Ye Anning said in a light tone, "When I was in college, I always rode my bike to school, and after class, I would go to the Forbidden City to find my aunt, then we'd go home together."

Lin Sicheng was stunned for a moment: "From the Central Academy of Fine Arts to the Forbidden City is over ten kilometers, and you rode a bike?"

"That's right, two trips a day, five days a week." Ye Anning looked slightly proud, "Am I impressive?"

Lin Sicheng had a strange look on his face: No wonder your college classmates all thought your family situation wasn't good?

"Then why are you so useless now, acting like it's killing you when I call you for a morning run?"

"Lin Sicheng, what time do you go for a morning run? Six o'clock. Since I started college, I haven't gotten out of bed before eight..."

"Doesn't the Central Academy of Fine Arts have 7:00 AM classes?"

Ye Anning hummed and hawed: "I was top of my class in every subject!"

Lin Sicheng was speechless: He was a poor student; he had truly never experienced that kind of treatment.

After riding for a while longer, they switched, and Ye Anning sat sideways on the back seat, wrapping her arms generously around his waist.

"There are people performing with middle-banners at Alishan Square, and an old lady spinning diabolo; do you want to go take a look?"

"Maybe not?" Lin Sicheng shook his head, "Once the sun comes up later, you'll be complaining about the heat again!"

Ye Anning patted him: "Who says?"

The two didn't stop and went straight to Qianmen Street.

It was just past eight o'clock, but there were so many people, coming and going, bustling with noise and excitement.

Old-fashioned brick buildings stood in rows, and the bluestone road had been polished until it shone.

White mist rose in the stew shop, and a brass spoon stirred a vortex in the thick liver stew. A film of milk had formed on the rim of a blue and white bowl, and the crispy duck gave off a dazzling oily sheen.

Before they had even entered the alley, Ye Anning began to swallow her saliva, her Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"You've eaten this since you were a child, haven't you had enough yet?"

"Who would ever complain about having too much good food?" After replying, Ye Anning's eyes lit up, "You haven't had this before, right? It tastes authentic!"

Lin Sicheng took a glance: In a stainless steel bucket, the white-tinted-green bean juice was bubbling, and the smell of a sour dishcloth that had been kept for decades wafted into his nostrils.

He sighed: "You want to eat that?"

"I got sick of it long ago!" Ye Anning rolled her eyes, "But it really is delicious; as soon as people from out of town try it, they all give it a thumbs up!"

They probably curse their ancestors after eating it, right?

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Fine, if you eat it, I'll eat it!"

Knowing she couldn't fool him, Ye Anning shook her head: "Forget it then. This place's fried goods are good; let's have a sugar oil pancake!"

It wasn't expensive; a pancake the size of a fist was fifty cents. It had a sugar shell on the outside and was soft and fluffy on the inside. One bite, and it was crispy and sweet, with sugar crumbs falling with a 'Crack! Crack!' sound.

"Cousin Ye, one is enough!"

"I know!"

Looking at the fifty cents Ye Anning handed over, the proprietress gave the two a strange look. But she didn't say anything, took the money, packed a pancake, and handed it over.

Ye Anning tore it open immediately, keeping only a little bit—less than a third—and gave the rest to Lin Sicheng.

She stuffed it into her mouth in a few bites, then pointed at the liver stew: "I want that too!"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Big sister, give us fifty cents worth of that too!"

The proprietress rolled her eyes: "Not for sale!"

Lin Sicheng laughed 'Hahaha', and Ye Anning punched him.

It was an old habit; Ye Anning wanted to eat everything she saw, but she only ever tasted it. If no one was with her, she'd take the rest home; if someone was with her, regardless of whether they liked it or wanted to eat it, she'd stuff it all into their mouth.

Otherwise, how could Wang Youjian have grown so fat?

They ordered one portion, divided it into two paper cups, and sipped as they walked.

They also drank a bowl of tofu pudding, bought some crab roe shumai from Du Yi Chu, and then the two went to Baodu Peak.

There were truly a lot of people; before nine o'clock, the shop was almost full. But it was also truly delicious—boiled tripe, oil-fried tripe, omasum, and lamb stomach; Lin Sicheng ordered one portion of each.

The two strolled and ate, and by nearly ten o'clock, they pedaled their bicycle and zipped over to the Gongwang Mansion.

They had agreed on ten o'clock, and Zhang Jindong and Bai Wan had come out a quarter of an hour early, but they didn't expect Lin Sicheng and Ye Anning to be even earlier than they had anticipated.

But seeing the two riding a bicycle, one pedaling in front and one eating in the back, they just felt—this scene was so strange?

These two seemed to be dating, but that wasn't the point; the point was that it was too disconnected from the Lin Sicheng they had imagined.

But thinking about it again, in their early twenties—isn't that the age to be young, sunny, and full of vitality?

While pondering, the two jumped off the bicycle, and Lin Sicheng smiled and greeted them: "Professor Zhang, Teacher Bai."

Zhang Jindong stepped forward to meet them and reached out his hand: "Teacher Lin, sorry to trouble you with this trip!"

"Professor Zhang, you're too polite!" Lin Sicheng didn't mind at all, "Where is the porcelain that needs repairing?"

"No rush, let me take you and Assistant Ye for a tour first!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the four of them stepped onto the stairs.

The vermilion gates were wide open, the bluestone path led straight inside, and on both sides were pavilions, towers, and painted beams.

Walking past the Xijin Studio, Lin Sicheng paused and looked at the four large pillars in the main hall.

These were Golden Silk Nanmu Wood Wood, 1.06 meters in diameter and 6.2 meters high, straight through and through, without knots or burls.

If one had to estimate a price: at least two billion each. And the Gongwang Mansion had sixty-eight such Golden Silk Nanmu Wood Wood pillars; one can see how luxurious it was when it was first built.

It's a pity that after experiencing disasters, there aren't many original Cultural Relics left, unless they are things like the pillars that are truly too heavy to move and impossible to dismantle.

As they walked inside, Zhang Jindong introduced:

"In the 49th year of Qianlong, Qianlong bestowed a marriage between Hexiao Princess (the Ten Princess) and Fengshen Yinde, the son of He Shen; He Shen built his residence here, historically known as the Ten Princess Mansion.

From the grand ceremonial halls down to the smallest furnishings, from the tiles on the roof to the bricks on the ground, they used only the best and most expensive materials. According to historical research, from beginning to end, He Shen spent over ten million taels of silver, which would be nearly twenty billion today; it was truly the number one luxury mansion in Beijing."

"Later, when Jiaqing ascended the throne, He Shen was ordered to commit suicide and his property was confiscated; the residence was bestowed upon the Qing Prince Yonglin, and the Ten Princess Mansion was renamed the Qing Wangfu. It was passed down through four generations and six owners, and in the second year of Xianfeng, it was bestowed upon Yixin, historically known as the Gongwang Mansion.

It was passed down until it reached the third-generation Prince, Puwei; in order to help Puyi restore the monarchy, he first sold Cultural Relics and then sold his land. After selling everything he could, he mortgaged one-third of the mansion to a French priest for 80,000 silver dollars. As a result, with interest compounding, it grew to 500,000 in just a few years. By 1938, when the case went to Court, the French priest bribed the Court, and the entire mansion was awarded to the foreigners."

"After the founding of the country, it was reclaimed and subsequently used as office space and dormitories for various units. It wasn't until 1962 that the Premier issued an instruction to renovate the Gongwang Mansion and open it to the public."

Zhang Jindong did not continue speaking further, but Lin Sicheng and Ye Anning both knew:

From 1950 to 1962, the Gongwang Mansion was divided among eight units, housing over three hundred households. From 1962 until 2006, when the last unit, the China Conservatory of Music Middle School, moved out, it took a full forty-plus years to clear them out.

With so many units and households, the damage to the original architecture over these forty years can be imagined. The difficulty of restoring it to its original appearance as much as possible is not ordinary.

But no matter how difficult, it had to be restored. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Culture's Gongwang Mansion Artifact Restoration Management Committee in 1987, they cleared out and restored simultaneously, only basically finishing in June of this year. This means that from start to finish, it took a full twenty-one years to restore.

One can see how much effort was expended and how high a price was paid.

(End of this chapter)