The style of the large garden of Sheng Guo Gong's Mansion continues the overall style of Guo Gong's Mansion, but is somewhat different. The spacious layout reveals a simple charm.
The garden occupies a huge area, and it is said that the top half of the garden is occupied by the Duke's Mansion.
In the meantime, more than a dozen corridors divide the courtyard into different but connected spaces.
Although there are many cloisters, they are all different; there are also many rooms hidden in them.
In these places, bluestone is used as tiles, and colored glass is used as windows; white jade is paved on the floor, and fine porcelain is used on the walls. There is a finely polished copper palace lantern every few feet beside the eaves and walls.
The interior of the palace lantern is polished and bright on three sides, and only the front side has a movable glass window door. It is said that lighting candle grease at night can illuminate several feet away.
"This is the main road in the garden. At the end is the library of the Duke's Mansion. The trees and flowers on both sides are carefully arranged. There are flowers and trees to see in all seasons." Sheng Xiangxun introduced the little girl in his arms when he saw that the curious eyes were not enough. He stood up and said, "Sister Yuan, if you want to come here to play, you must bring enough maids and wives. You must not sneak here by yourself. If you enter a certain corridor, you may get lost."
In this regard, Sister An'er, who has been lost in the past, has a strong say: "There are sixteen levels of scenery here, all of which are strange. The last time I got lost, I got into the lake scenery and couldn't find the way!"
When Mrs. Zheng heard her mention the bad things she had done before, she said to her angrily: "You still have the nerve to say it?"
Sister Anhui quickly shrank her neck and became silent.
Although the entire Duke's palace was upset because of the quarrel with his daughter, it was all in the past, and her daughter was doing well now. Sheng Xiangxun naturally didn't mind, and kindly helped his second daughter out of the siege, suggesting: "A few dozen steps ahead. There is a path on one side, and from there we will find the steps leading to the observation deck. You can see the entire courtyard when you go up there. Let’s go there.”
Mrs. Zheng sighed, feeling helpless.
He said in his heart that with such a father, it would be nice if the children were not spoiled.
Sheng Xiangxun smiled flatteringly at his wife, held her hand and walked towards the path. Soon he saw the stone steps with a good slope.
"This was originally an earth-rock slope with a height of about ten feet. It looked like this after reconstruction." Sheng Xiangxun patted the railings and walls made of white jade, and patted Sheng Yuan in his arms with a smile, "Sister Yuan, Seeing that there is no way to go up from here, there are 495 steps in total. From now on, when you can practice boxing and kicking, daddy will take you here for morning exercises."
"Where's my sister?" Sheng Yuan wanted to ask if her sister had practiced now, but because she was lazy and spoke simply, her father thought it was asking if her sister would follow.
"Your sister is not suitable for practicing boxing and kicking at a young age. She is only squatting now. It is not easy to follow the morning exercises." Sheng Xiangxun weighed the youngest daughter in his arms and looked at the somewhat frail eldest daughter, sighing.
The Duke's Mansion was founded on martial arts from the very beginning, so all the children in the family practice martial arts. Before the children can learn martial arts, they must ask the medical girl from the Imperial Hospital to come over and check the child's pulse and bones until the medical girl agrees that it is suitable for practice. Enlightenment.
His sister, An An, was delayed from entering elementary school because her bones were not strong enough. She still practices jujitsu with the wife of the family's martial arts master.
But the little daughter in his arms was different. When the youngest son Sheng Ming, who was in the fifth room, started to learn martial arts, he was so excited that he invited the medical girl from the future government to Yongfan Garden to show his sister Yuan. Unexpectedly, the doctor girl said that she was very good-looking and in good health. If it weren't for her age, she would be able to do somersaults and ride horses without any problem.
Sheng Xiangxun was extremely happy thinking that he would be able to take his daughter for morning exercises soon.
However, Shengyuan didn't know what her father was thinking. Looking at the three-foot-wide steps of the observation deck, she felt her chest expand.
After a cup of tea, Sheng Xiangxun's family of four staggered up.
Sure enough, the scenery was very different at this moment. Sheng Yuan was held in her father's arms. She was close to the railing and looking into the distance. The entire garden layout came into view.
"When you first entered the garden, didn't you ask where the sound of the silk and bamboo orchestra came from? Look over there!"
Sheng Xiangxun hugged Sheng Yuan and pointed to her in the direction.
Sheng Yuan looked over and saw a plum blossom-shaped space surrounded by rooms.
"There are rare birds and animals raised in the mansion. There are special servants to take care of them every day, and there are special musicians to play the piano and make music for the animals inside."
Sheng Yuan didn't expect that there was a zoo in the house, and she was a little excited: "What's there?"
"Now there are cranes, falcons, deer, eagles, peacocks, parrots and the like. They are not very rare. In the early years, when your great-grandfather was here, it was said that there were even elephants, tigers and leopards raised in the house!"
Sheng Yuan heard the pity in her father's words, and her eyes widened. Good guy, are all the nobles in this time and space so brave?
"If I have time in a few days, I will take you sisters to play with the peacocks and sika deer." Sheng Xiangxun originally wanted to take his little girl, who had never seen the world, to open her eyes, but the weight of the girl in his arms was too touching. Thinking that if he really wanted to go there again, he would be able to take sick leave, he changed his mind.
"Look over there, there is a bamboo forest. Crossing the bamboo bridge from there is the lake view. Behind the lake view is a large grassland. If nothing happens in a few days, our family will fly a kite there."
Sheng Yuan's eyes lit up when she heard that she could play.
"Sister, let's go to the bamboo forest to play. Walking along the cobblestone path there is the Jingtan Pond. There is also a small waterfall there. We can go boating from there to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lake." Promised many times by my biological father Sheng An was so happy to have the opportunity to play that she started planning.
The quiet pond she was talking about was actually in the bamboo forest. There was originally an earth-rock slope that was shorter than the one on the observation deck. It was renovated when the Duke's Mansion was built.
Channels and mechanisms were built on the steeper slope, which attracted running water from the mansion to rush down, forming a miniature waterfall. The water fell to the bottom of the circular pit surrounded by bluestones, forming a not too small pool. water.
Two water channels meandering outward were dug on the edge of the pool, one of which diverted water to the bamboo forest, creating a stream surrounding the bamboo forest.
The other one is wider, flowing like a river, and finally merges into the garden lake, where is the lake scenery that Sheng Xiangxun mentioned.
The lake surface is sparkling and the water quality is good, which is very suitable for fishing and leisure. There is also a pavilion in the middle of the lake called Huxin Pavilion, which is also a good choice for enjoying the scenery.
As for the side of the earth-rock slope with a gentle slope, many pavilions were built from top to bottom, and along with these pavilions was a complete running water stream.
This stream winds down from the top of the slope like a ribbon, and finally merges with the stream surrounding the bamboo forest.
The moment Sheng Yuan saw this scenery, he thought of the Qu Shui Shang.
"You see, we can see clearly from above, but when we go there in person, because there are many corridors and paths, and there are rare and rare stones as intervals, it is easy for unfamiliar people to get confused." Sheng Xiangxun saw what his little girl was looking at. In a daze, the eldest daughter seemed to be ready to make a move, so she hurriedly gave the instructions again.
"Dad, you said that there are eighteen streets in the inner city of Beijing guarding the imperial city. Each street is as big as our mansion, and the imperial city is even more magnificent. However, the history books of the previous dynasties mentioned that their capital city It’s also in Kyoto now, but Kyoto at that time didn’t seem to be that big.”
After Sheng An was reminded several times not to get lost, she suddenly remembered the doubts she had while reading a book some time ago and couldn't help but ask.
When she said this, Sheng Yuan's ears perked up, as if there was a story in it!
