Chapter 120: Under the Ginkgo Tree: Fallen Leaf Specimens and Tang Dynasty Poetry

"Mingda! You're running too fast!"

Xiao Ya caught up from behind, panting so hard she couldn't straighten her back.

"Xiao Ya, look how red this leaf is!"

Xiao Sizi came to her senses, giggled, and squatted down.

She picked a maple leaf with sharp edges from the piled-up fallen leaves.

The two little girls ran back and forth in the woods.

Golden ginkgo leaves, fiery red maple leaves, and oak leaves with withered, yellowing edges.

Xiao Sizi chose with particular seriousness.

For every leaf's veins, color, and shape, she held it up to the sunlight to compare and contrast. Daily read novels ->𝖙𝖙𝖐𝖘. 𝖙𝖜

Only after gathering a huge handful did she happily run back to the laid-out picnic mat.

The surrounding students had already started working.

Some smeared glue all over the leaves and pasted them messily onto cardstock.

Others crumbled the leaves and scattered them randomly on top.

Xiao Sizi took out a wet wipe and carefully wiped the dirt from her fingers.

Then she spread out the fallen leaves she had collected one by one, first roughly arranging their positions on the cardstock.

Her fingertips moved back and forth, adjusting.

Several half-yellow, half-green slender willow leaves were placed at the very bottom, forming the shape of a nearby slope.

Two fan-shaped golden ginkgo leaves were overlapped in the middle of the cardstock.

She trimmed the leaf stems short and used the leaves' natural curves to form the outline of distant mountains.

That specially selected red maple leaf was carefully cut away by two-thirds with scissors and pasted on the upper side of the distant mountains.

Leaving blank space, a large expanse of blank space.

This was actually done following the composition rules taught by top Tang Dynasty court painters.

The distant mountains were pale in color, as if brushed with green pigment, while the foreground carried a hazy, misty quality.

The entire autumn forest was dyed with autumn colors.

Once all positions were confirmed, Xiao Sizi unscrewed the solid glue stick.

She applied it bit by bit to the back of the leaves.

Then she pressed the leaves flat and firmly onto the cardstock to secure them.

A picture of distant autumn mountains with a profound artistic conception appeared on the cardstock.

Looking at the large blank space on the right, Xiao Sizi felt it still lacked a touch of charm.

Then she took out a black Hard-pen Running Script pen.

The sunlight of late autumn slanted onto the cardstock, revealing every stroke and ink mark.

"Every tree bears autumn colors; every mountain holds only the setting sun's glow."

These are famous lines written by the early Tang poet Wang Ji.

The written characters carried the backbone of the Slender Gold style, executed in Hard-pen Running Script.

At the start of the stroke, the brush tip was concealed.

During the stroke, the movement was extremely fluid.

At the end of the stroke, the sharpness was fully displayed.

The calligraphy and the painting merged into one on this small piece of cardstock.

Teacher Li walked back and forth on the lawn with her hands behind her back, inspecting.

After looking around at the messy leaf collages, she felt only a headache coming on.

When she reached behind Xiao Sizi, Teacher Li stopped her steps.

She bent down and focused her gaze on the cardstock in front of Xiao Sizi.

Different colors clashed together, layers were built up step by step, and the classical use of blank space was quite refined.

Plus the two lines of inscribed poetry beside it, with sharp brushstrokes and the bearing of a master.

"Mingda—did you just paste this yourself?"

"Yes." Xiao Sizi capped her pen, looked up, and said, "Teacher Li, I'm finished. Do you think it's okay?"

"This work, even if framed and put in a cultural creative shop, could sell for several hundred yuan."

"Wonderful, Mingda, pick it up; let me take a photo of you."

Teacher Li took out her Mobile Phone and opened the camera interface.

Xiao Sizi obediently stood up.

She held the two corners of the cardstock with both hands, raising the finished bookmark to her chest.

The background was a large hundred-year-old ginkgo tree; a gentle breeze blew down a few golden leaves.

The girl wore a light blue denim jacket; sunlight fell on her rosy cheeks, and she smiled without any restraint, the corners of her eyes curving into two lovely little crescent moons.

Click.

The entire scene was frozen.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Lin Xuan sat at the workbench in the studio, clutching a carving knife in his hand, cleaning the patina off a wooden carving.

The screen of the Mobile Phone on the edge of the table lit up, then vibrated twice.

He put down the carving knife and picked up the Mobile Phone.

A new message popped up in the Year One Class Three parents' WeChat group.

Teacher Li said, "In today's nature observation class, all the students performed very actively; special praise goes to student Lin Mingda.

""

"The composition of the autumn leaf bookmark she made is very beautiful, and her calligraphy foundation is very solid. Let everyone appreciate it together."

"【Image】."

The parents' group chat instantly filled the screen.

Cai Kun's father: "This is too beautiful! Did the child write these characters themselves? How was this practiced?"

Xiao Ya's grandmother: "Mingda is truly skilled with his hands."

The remaining other parents also followed suit, sending thumbs-up emoji stickers.

Lin Xuan leaned back in his chair.

Staring at the screen, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

On the Wednesday after the autumn outing, a cold wind carrying a chill blew through the old street.

The sky was overcast and gloomy; several withered yellow plane tree leaves were blown and rolled by the wind, falling in front of the main gate.

Lin Xuan sat before the workbench, carefully wiping a newly acquired bronze paperweight with a deerskin cloth.

The screen of the Mobile Phone placed beside him was lit up.

The Mobile Phone wallpaper had been changed to a photo of Xiao Sizi that Teacher Li had specially taken during the autumn outing a few days ago.

"Ding-dang"

The bronze bell hanging on the door swayed with a crisp sound, interrupting the matter Lin Xuan had been thinking about.

Pushing the door open was a middle-aged man in his fifties.

He wore a dark grey wool coat, with several drops of the cold rain that had just fallen stuck on his shoulders.

Tightly tucked under the man's arm was something wrapped tightly in dust-proof coarse cloth.

His complexion looked somewhat anxious, and very obvious red bloodshot lines were visible under his eyes.

"Hello, are you Boss Lin?"

The man walked quickly to the workbench, not even catching his breath evenly.

"I am Lin Xuan." Lin Xuan put down the bronze paperweight in his hand, stood up, and pointed to the chair opposite.

"Please sit. What would you like to drink? Do you want hot tea?"

"No trouble needed. A friend introduced me here, saying your craftsmanship is excellent and you specialize in taking on various difficult jobs."

The man spoke directly, placing that cloth-wrapped bundle on the wide wooden tea table with both hands, and unwrapped the cloth layer by layer.

After the outer layer of fabric was unwrapped,

a dark red, square wooden box was revealed.

Its length and width were both around thirty centimeters, and the material was very fine small-leaf red sandalwood.

The surface was covered with a very thick layer of patina, revealing a faint luster settled by a hundred years of time.

Lin Xuan pulled open a drawer, took out a pair of white pure cotton gloves, and put them on.

He held the wooden box in his hands, flipping it up and down to examine it carefully.

The wooden box was particularly heavy, pressing heavily on the hand when held.

The strangest thing was that the entire box body was fitted together with absolutely no gaps.

All six sides were flat, smooth, and slippery; no metal lock or latch could be found on the surface.

Not even a single keyhole could be found.

"Luban Mechanical Lock Box?" Lin Xuan looked up and asked.

The man sighed heavily and sat down in the chair.

"Boss Lin has excellent eyesight; this is something my old father left behind before he passed away."

"My old father went to Southeast Asia to do business back in the day, and later returned to the country, locking all his important items inside this box."

"Rumor has it that inside the box are his handwritten manuscripts and a will dividing the family property.

"", the man pointed at the box, his face full of a bitter smile, "In these past few years, I have found several famous locksmiths in the market, and even sought out an old carpenter who is an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage; none of them could open it.

""