Playing with Mortise and Tenon at Fuding Cuijiao Ancient House: Wooden Transformers

"This block bites!" Duoduo exclaimed, stepping back three paces while holding a dovetail joint. Old Chen quickly steadied the wobbling wooden frame: "This is called a 'Luban Lock.' Craftsmen in the Qing Dynasty built large houses without using nails!" I pointed to the spider web-like dougong on the roof: "Look! Doesn't it resemble lace woven from wood?" The caretaker handed over a miniature mortise and tenon model, and Duoduo quickly assembled a crooked stool: "This is for the ant king to sit on!" Suddenly, we discovered a hidden mechanism in the door knocker—the fish-shaped door handle could rotate to unlock. "Could there be wood spirits living inside?" The little one peeked through the carved window, and Old Chen mimicked the sound of the tenon fitting into the mortise: "Click! A secret passage opens!" After the rain, we played hopscotch in the corridor. Duoduo pointed at the dripping eaves tile: "The eaves are dripping sugar-coated haws juice!" As we were about to leave, we were given a piece of cedar wood. The little girl clutched it tightly and declared: "I'm going to build a walking treehouse with a thousand mechanisms!" The evening breeze carried her words into the century-old patterns of the beams and columns.