Chapter Eighteen: Searching for the Rare and Peculiar with Unending Intent

  Xue Xiang saw that things were taking a turn for the worse, so he hastily said to the little guy: "Little treasure, you put your clothes on first, I'll go out and grab a few big meat buns for you, and we can eat them when you come out."

  The little guy's attention was easily diverted, and upon hearing this win-win approach, he didn't rush to launch the nuclear missile. He said to Xue Xiangdao: "I want two, no, three. Last time, neither of us ate enough at home."

  Xue Xiang finally fooled her way past and pretended to go out to grab buns for her. After a while, Xue Xiang returned to the room, and the little guy had already put on his shoes and didn't ask where Xue Xiang had grabbed the buns. He trotted along in his small leather shoes and ran towards the main hall. The little guy ran into the main hall and saw that there was no one around, only two large oil-paper bags placed on the dinner table. The little guy knew he had been tricked by Xue Xiang and that he had almost cried from anxiety earlier. Feeling both ashamed and angry, he turned around and ran back to Xue Xiang's room, glared at him with anger, then without saying a word, ran to Xue Xiang's side, hugged his arm, and bit it lightly, fortunately not using much force, as a slight punishment.

  The little guy felt cheated, a bit embarrassed, and his thoughts were unbalanced. He wanted to learn from Xue Xiang so that his brothers and sisters would also be anxious, and then he would have someone to accompany him. The little guy ran back to the main room, took a meat bun in one hand, and rushed into Xiao Wan's room, then into Xiao Di's room. He actually used the trick he learned from Xue Xiang, but unfortunately, he only got the superficial part and not the essence. As a result, he was deceived by the two bigger ones and became the transportation team leader without realizing it. The little guy entered the two rooms, lost two meat buns, and came out with a smiling face, thinking that finally someone was like him.

  After finishing breakfast, Xue Xiang sent a few people out of the gate and had just walked to the entrance when he saw a large group of people standing in front of the door, about twenty or thirty, divided into two groups. Xue Xiang took a closer look and saw that one group was led by Kang Xiaobao, consisting of Baldy, Watersnake, Dagger Man, and others, while the other group consisted of Hou Xiaochun, Ji Changfa, Xiao Pangzi, and others, led by Xu Xiaofei. The two groups stood neatly, and when they saw Xue Xiang come out, they bowed in unison and shouted "Third Brother is great". It's unknown where they learned this from, but it seems that at this time, there was already a prototype of the underworld society of later generations. Xue Xiang called out to several younger ones to go to school, and the little guys made a face to show their dissatisfaction, but didn't pester him, and were led away by his sister.

  Xue Xiang didn't say much, and directly invited them in. He was still very particular about things. Kang Xiaobao saw that Xue Xiang was being polite, so he quickly replied: "Third Brother, with so many of us going in, it might not be suitable, and it would be bad to disturb the people at home. Why don't just me and Xiao Fei go in? Whatever you need to say, we'll make sure to pass it on." Kang Xiaobao was tall and big, but when he spoke, his eyebrows and eyes moved together, revealing a sly look. It's unknown whether he spoke like this with others too.

  Xu Xiaofei felt a little frightened when Kang Xiaobao said that only the two of them could go in. Yesterday, he was beaten up by Xue Xiang and ended up in the hospital, where the doctor kept asking if he had been hit by a train or a truck. The doctor even praised him for his agility, saying that it was amazing that he had only injured his face despite being hit so badly. Xu Xiaofei was furious at the time and would have immediately turned against Xue Xiang if not for the fact that his life was in his hands.

  Yesterday, after the incident, Xu Xiaofei only knew who he had offended and was almost frightened to death. He hurriedly asked Hou Xiaochun and others what had happened, fearing that his injury would not be able to eliminate San Ge's anger. Just as Hou Xiaochun said that things were not over yet, Xu Xiaofei was so scared that he pulled off the saline drip bottle, thinking that he knew it wouldn't be that easy. Ji Changfa saw an opportunity and quickly said, "Big Fly Brother, things are not as bad as you think." San Ge only said to let them wait at his door tomorrow morning, along with Fei Che Dang's Kang Xiaoba, who heard that yesterday was not just their group's misfortune, but also Wang Baozi of the Flying Car Party being broken by San Ge. Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaofei was shocked again and quickly asked Ji Changfa how San Ge would deal with him next. Ji Changfa said that he shouldn't be dealt with anymore, if he really wanted to continue dealing with him, he would have done so yesterday, which wouldn't be so troublesome, and besides, you don't need to call someone home to deal with them. Xu Xiaofei finally felt at ease and quickly asked what time San Ge said. Ji Changfa said that San Ge didn't say what time, just early morning. Xu Xiaofei immediately ordered everyone to get up at 5 am the next day. Hou Xiaochun said it wasn't necessary to get up so early, but before he finished speaking, he was hit by Xu Xiaofei. Xu Xiaofei said that they still had to go call Kang Xiaoba, and from Beicheng to Dongcheng, it would take at least a few hours. So, Xue Xiang just bought back some buns, and their group arrived at the door, but no one dared to knock on the door until Xue Xiang sent Xiao Wan and others out, and they met up.

  Kang Xiaobao said that only he and Xu Xiaofei were allowed to enter, but the dissatisfied person was not just Xu Xiaofei. The rest of the people in their hearts were secretly complaining that they would be represented by others again.

  Xue Xiang knew that Kang Xiao Ba was being kind, and smiled: "It's okay, our home is quite spacious, there's room to sit, guests are always welcome, what reason is there to block the door and not let them in?" What Xue Xiang said was appropriate, everyone who heard it also thought to themselves: Third Brother does things with integrity.

  Xue Xiang led the crowd into the main room, where Kang Tong was eating loudly at a table. Seeing everyone come in, he didn't even lift his head. The main room was quite large, and although there weren't many chairs, two sofas were very spacious. Everyone squeezed together and barely sat down. After everyone had taken their seats, Xue Xiang said: "This time I called you all here, it's not to cause trouble, but because there's something I need your help with." As he spoke, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which four postage stamps were drawn.

  As soon as Xue's voice fell, various responses immediately sounded from the main house.

  "Third brother, where are you from? It's an honor for me that you mentioned Zhang Er Yong..."

  "Third brother, what's going on? You're telling us to help out, isn't this a slap in the face?....." This is a heroic type.

  "Third brother, you can't say that if you want me to consider you a friend..." This is an informal way of speaking.

  ………

  ………..

  Xu Xiaofei and Kang Xiaobao were squeezed in, unable to get a word in edgewise. The two of them looked very unhappy, with Xu Xiaofei's head wrapped in bandages, only his eyes visible. Xu Xiaofei swept his gaze over Hou Xiaochun and the others, as if to say "I'm not dead yet, you want to rebel already?" Finally, after everyone had finished speaking, the two leaders patted their chests in unison, guaranteeing that as long as Third Brother gave the order, they would rush into boiling water or walk through fire without hesitation.

  Xue Xiangdao said, "It's not that serious. Look at this paper, it has four stamps drawn on it: 'Small Red One', 'Big Red One', 'Complete Victory' and 'Black Question'. I really like these stamps, but they're hard to find right now, so I'm troubling you all to keep an eye out for them. The more the better, no matter how many. I won't let your efforts go unrewarded, I'll set up a banquet later."

  Just as Xue Xiang was about to speak, everyone was worried that it would be a big deal. But when they heard it was just a few stamps, they immediately burst out laughing, patting their chests and declaring that they couldn't find them back, and came to see Xue Xiang with their heads held high. After speaking, without waiting for Xue Xiang to invite them to stay, they grabbed the white paper with the stamp design and hastily left. Now it's not urgent to go look for them, but later someone else will take the lead, what to do?

  After discovering the purple sandalwood strip, Xue Xiang had the idea of collecting some "special products" that would make future generations drool. Firstly, it could make up for his unsuccessful career as a connoisseur in his past life; secondly, he could use his precognition to gain a batch of precious wealth. Even if his official career was cut short or something unexpected happened, these collections could still guarantee the livelihood of his three younger siblings. Of course, this was a last resort idea.

  Xue Xiang chose these four stamps as targets after careful consideration. During this period, there were many things available for collection, such as posters, leader badges, stamps, various tickets, and even small books and comic strips, which would be very valuable in the future. However, the most terrifying thing that increased in value was still stamps. The stamps from the disaster period were not like the leader badges, which had a huge circulation and many survived (tens of billions of various leader badges were issued). They were also not like posters, tickets, small books, and comic strips, which lacked unique historical and cultural significance. Although the "Wen" series stamps from the disaster period were issued in large quantities, few survived afterwards (due to various reasons, many were destroyed), especially the four varieties chosen by Xue Xiang, which were all "Wen" series supplementary stamps.

  "Comprehensive Victory" and "Black Topic Word" were both recalled shortly after issuance for some reason, while "Big Red One" and "Small Red One" were only issued for half a day in the capital city. The full name of "One Piece of Red" is "The Whole Country's Mountains and Rivers are All Red". First, a large version of 60x40 cm was designed, which was approved and printed immediately. Later, due to being criticized as "greedy for completeness", a smaller version of 30x40 cm was designed, resulting in the existence of two sizes of "One Piece of Red".

  "The Whole Country is Red" was recalled after being issued for half a day, because the map of China on this stamp missed the South China Sea islands and the Taiwan island was not colored red. Xue became obsessed with this stamp later in life, but only ten were preserved, so he could only admire it online. Now that he had the chance, he must seize it. The price of these four stamps all exceeded one million, "The Whole Country is Red" even exceeded three million, and some are priceless.

  Xue Xiang bid farewell to the crowd and returned to the dinner table, just in time to find that only one fried dough stick was left on the table. Kang Tong also had only half a bun left in his hand. Xue Xiang quickly snatched the fried dough stick away, if he was any slower, Kang Tong would have swallowed the remaining half of the bun and this fried dough stick wouldn't be his either.

  "Kangtong, you haven't eaten for several days, but yesterday at noon and evening I didn't see you eating less, and this morning you're still eating so much, without even leaving some for me."

  "The filling of the bun is quite a lot, and the fried dough stick is also crispy." This guy always speaks like this, people who are not familiar with him really can't get used to it.

  "Kang Tong, after you get married, will you talk to your wife like that too?" Xue Xiang joked.

  "What's wrong, can't be done?" Kang Tong was somewhat curious.

  "Go on, how can you not go on? If you dare to keep talking to your wife like this, I guarantee that your home will become a battlefield of the Huaihai Campaign."

  "Then I'll find a mute."

  Xue Xiang was speechless, this kid had even provoked him into saying that. After finishing their meal, Xue Xiang picked up the cloth bag containing the porcelain and left with Kang Tong to go find Sun Qianjin. As soon as they exited the alley, they ran into Lei Xiaotian and his four companions at Hufang Bridge, and it was clear at a glance that these guys were heading for Xue Xiang's house again.

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