Chapter 22: The Hundred Gold Scattered, Thousands of Gold Arrived

  Chen Fosheng saw that the old man was belittling Xue Xiang's things, and he even pointed at this and climbed up to Xue Xiang's relationship, saying: "Old man, what do you mean, is the thing not good?"

  Chen Kai said, "If the thing wasn't damaged, it would be a national treasure among national treasures. The Palace Museum doesn't even have such a large piece of Jun porcelain, let alone a human-shaped vase. Although it's broken, fortunately the person who repaired it is extremely skilled, and the quality of the repair is also top-notch. Young man, I'll take this thing, name a price."

  The old man nodded, and everyone was overjoyed. Chen Fosheng even gave the old man a hug. Xue Xiang held back his excitement and said, "You're our elder, you set the price. We don't understand this stuff, how dare we randomly name a price?"

  Chen Kai Zhen was a deep and calculating person, how could he be deceived by his bewildering soup? He stroked his smooth chin and said: "Young man, you're not being honest. If you didn't understand this, why would you come all the way to old man's place to look for Mr. Qian? Moreover, it's just a supplementary item, you little rascal must be afraid that it wouldn't sell for a good price at the pawnshop."

  Xue Xiang was told by Chen Kai that he had a central idea, and he didn't feel embarrassed at all. He said: "I sent the treasure to you, first, I don't want it to be buried in the ocean or dusty; secondly, you are a man of high virtue and prestige, I think you won't let us young people down, if this gets out, it will damage your majestic, glorious, and righteous image." Xue Xiang suddenly started flattering the old man with shameless flattery. Anyway, he was flattering an old man in his seventies or eighties, he didn't have any psychological pressure, and he also had a subconscious desire to mock historical celebrities.

  Chen Kai said: "Since you admire me so much, I'll take a loss. Five hundred yuan, and the deal is done."

  As soon as Chen Kai Zhen said this, Xue's group of people all changed color at the same time, everyone's face turned black like coal, and they scolded in their hearts. The old man is not a good thing, treating his brothers as fat sheep. Lame Old Three had said earlier that if it wasn't for the pawnshop, more than 600 pieces could still be sold, but what he said was about porcelain fragments. Now, after repairing them so beautifully and neatly, this old boy actually has the face to say give five hundred, just to get rid of the beggars.

  Chen Fosheng didn't know how much the big jar in front of him was worth, but seeing Xue Xiang and others' gloomy faces, he knew that the old man was sharpening his knife again. He hastily spoke out: "Old man, what do you mean? You're not giving me face, are you? Do you still want those broken books in your study or not..."

  Xue Xiang raised his hand to interrupt Chen Fosheng's words and said, "Old man, your knife is too sharp, a flat price of 5,000 yuan, take it away." Xue Xiang treated this as a regular transaction and did not want to mix in personal feelings. Later, when excavating the old house, he might have to come back again, so the first shot had to be fired loudly, otherwise, he would be taken advantage of by the old man.

  "Listen, young man, you're being too greedy and it's easy to get a bad stomach. If the big jar is intact, don't even mention 5,000, say 10,000, I won't haggle at all. How about this, I'll add another 100 for your sake?" He was actually afraid that this living ancestor would get confused and burn his treasure with a fire. Chen Kai's price increase was both to give face to his grandson and to make the other party feel that it was almost their psychological price. The old man was indeed experienced in this line of work!

  Xue Xiangdao: "Old sir, let's not test each other anymore. If you keep haggling with me, this deal won't be made. I have plenty of good stuff, and today is just a trial run. If this transaction succeeds, in the future, I'll bring the best goods directly to you. If it doesn't succeed, in such a big city like Beijing, I don't believe I won't find someone who appreciates quality. One price, 2,000! Don't try to haggle, and leave some profit for yourself. If you still want to haggle, I'll say no more, and leave as I came."

  Xue Xiang had already said his piece, and Chen Kai knew that this knife could only be used to this extent, any further would hurt the bone. He stopped pretending and said: "Young man, you're impressive! Alright, I'll make friends with you. From now on, bring me good things first."

  Lei Xiaotian and several others saw Xue Xiang sell a pile of broken porcelain pieces for 2,000 yuan. They were all amazed and thought to themselves that San Ge was indeed San Ge! Everyone's face lit up with joy, as if they could see the future life of luxury and extravagance. Chen Fusheng was also on the side, laughing so hard he couldn't close his eyes. He didn't care how much money the old man had spent; what mattered most was that he had finally gotten to know San Ge. From now on, who would dare to cheat them? Chen Fusheng thought happily about their future days of prosperity in East City. Turning around, he saw Wu Mama, the nanny, bringing dishes to the table and hurriedly invited Xue Xiang and the others to take their seats. He turned around and went to the old man's study. Chen Kai was anxious, knowing what this kid was up to, and quickly shouted loudly: "Spare some for me!"

  Xue Xiang and the others had just sat down when Chen Fusheng brought out a special Maotai liquor and put it on the dinner table. Chen Kaitian clutched his chest, stomped his feet, and made a face as if he was in extreme pain, shouting "What a loss! What a loss!" Xue Xiang and the others found this amusing and thought the old man was quite interesting. The dinner table was really too big, and with just a few people sitting down, they only occupied one-third of the area. Chen Fusheng helped Wu Ma serve the dishes, and soon all the dishes were served. Lunch was very rich and sumptuous. There were five dishes and one soup: braised pork belly in soy sauce, steamed pork with preserved mustard greens, braised carp, stir-fried eggplant, vinegar-braised cabbage, and scallion and egg drop soup. Two of the meat dishes were served in large bowls, and the portions were generous. Although there was no luxurious food, these home-cooked dishes were already top-notch for this era. The color of the dishes leaned towards bright red, obviously because a lot of chili peppers had been added, which suited the old man's Sichuan taste. The aroma of the dishes wafted up to their noses, and no one was polite, each directly using their bowls to scoop up rice. Chen Fusheng opened a bottle of wine to pour for Xue Xiang and the others, but Zhu Shijun waved his hand and said, "We've always eaten without drinking, we drink after eating. If you want to be a host, you still have a lot to learn." Chen Fusheng nodded repeatedly, not drinking himself either, and also used his bowl to scoop up rice.

  Chen Kai Zhen was secretly delighted, finally saving me the trouble of serving him. Once the dishes were finished, let's see how you'll drink, you don't drink, that's fine, I'll pour for myself. Thinking of this, Chen Kai Zhen laughed and poured himself a cup of wine, taking a sip and praising "good wine", still savoring the taste with a satisfied expression. The old man had only taken a few sips when he realized something was off, the dishes on the table were rapidly disappearing, especially that dark-skinned young man with a foolish expression who was already on his third bowl of rice. The others seemed to have refilled their bowls as well. The old man was shocked and quickly put down his wine cup, rushing to refill his own bowl. When he returned, he saw that the dishes had decreased even more, and in his haste, he didn't even bother sitting down, eating while standing up, using chopsticks to grab food one after another. No way, he couldn't keep up with these young men! The old man also abandoned his manners, picking up a plate and hurriedly scooping food into his own bowl. Seeing this, the others thought, "This is it?" Completely destroying the peaceful and harmonious atmosphere! They didn't care if they were guests in someone else's home, following the old man's lead, before long, except for a few scallions floating in the soup bowl, all the plates were empty. The middle plate was empty, each person's bowl was piled high, everyone buried their heads and ate hastily.

  After a meal, he almost burst his stomach, usually a small bowl was enough, but today at noon, he ate two full bowls, and the dishes were not a few. Chen Kai Zhen was now stuffed to death, leaning on the sofa panting, usually after dinner a cup of tea, didn't even have the strength to pour it himself, asked Chen Fo Sheng to pour tea for him, but that kid didn't even acknowledge him, only bothered with chatting with Xue and others. The old man was helpless, could only drink from the teacup on the coffee table left behind by who-knows-who, moistened his throat, in his heart scolding the unfilial grandson, didn't even dare to rebuke him, really didn't know who was the grandfather and who was the grandson.

  Xue Xiang and a few others finished eating, then sat at the Chen's house for a while, smoked for a bit, and then got up to bid farewell. Chen Fosheng repeatedly invited several people to dinner at the Beijing Restaurant that evening, he wanted to treat them as guests, but was rejected by Xue Xiang, saying that they were busy these days, and would definitely invite him to gather together after finishing their work. Chen Fosheng had no choice but to agree, only repeatedly asking for arrangements for the gathering. Xue Xiang left his address with Chen Fosheng, and when he was about to leave, he also took away the box of Maotai that they hadn't drunk at noon, which made the old man roll his eyes in anger.

  Out of the house, the old man handed a black leather bag to Xue Xiang and invited him to come back home with his friends when they had time. He also said that eating with young people made food taste better. He wasn't afraid that Xue Xiang would come several more times and make himself ill from overeating.

  Xue and several others left the Chen's house, their faces beaming with joy that couldn't be concealed. It was unclear who laughed first, but suddenly, they all burst into laughter together, including even the usually stoic Kang Tong. They were truly overjoyed and excited; at this time, the 2,000 yuan was no less than tens of millions in later years to these young men who had only a few cents in their pockets for a long time. Having suddenly obtained a large sum of money, it was hard for them to hide their delight. Several of them laughed wildly all the way, attracting the attention of passersby.

  Xue Xiang opened the leather bag, and inside were two large bundles of 200 big knots. Previously, he was worried that if they couldn't be sold, it would be a problem. The over 100 yuan in his pocket had been spent in just two days, but now that he had money in hand, he felt at ease. When the others saw Xue Xiang open the bag, their faces turned serious as well, and they leaned in to look at the money. Xue Xiang handed the bag over, letting them take it themselves to count to their heart's content. The several men each took a handful of cash and began counting.

  Xue led the crowd to the black market near Lao Tianqiao Bridge, where they exchanged a hundred pounds of meat tickets and some high-end cigarette tickets. Afterwards, the group went on a big shopping spree at the deputy food store, indulging in their cravings like nouveau riche, before moving all the goods to Xue's home together.

  Xue Xiangyi arrived home and saw the little guy sitting on the sofa with a sullen face. When he saw Xue Xiang enter the main room, the little guy simply turned his face in another direction, meaning that he didn't want to see him. Xue Xiang put down a large package on the dinner table, and the other guys also put down their things and went into Xue Xiang and Kang Tong's room for an afternoon nap. Xue Xiang reminded them not to sleep too soundly, as they would start digging up the old house in the afternoon.

  Xue Xiang leaned his body against the sofa, moving closer to the little guy in front of him. The little guy didn't pay attention to him and instead moved her small body to the other side. Xue Xiang found it amusing and took out a colorful puzzle from his pocket, pretending not to notice her, and started playing with it on his own. The little guy waited for a while, but didn't see Xue Xiang come to tease her. She thought to herself, "Why isn't he coming to coax me? He dares to leave me behind and go out to eat lunch by himself. Humph, I won't forgive this stinky big brother." The little guy waited left and right, but still didn't see Xue Xiang pay attention to her, so she secretly lowered her head and peeked at what Xue Xiang was doing through the gap in his shoulder. Once she saw it, her eyes couldn't move away - Big Brother was actually playing with a colorful puzzle! They also had kids playing with this in kindergarten, but she could only watch enviously before. Stinky big brother, you have something fun and don't even let me play first!

  The little guy couldn't hold it in anymore, and with a twist of his head, he appeared right in front of Xue Xiang. A pair of big eyes stared at Xue Xiang, blinking repeatedly, as if to say "you still haven't handed it over for me to play with". This wasn't something that older kids played with, how embarrassing.

  Xue Xiang had long known that the little guy was sneaking glances at him. Seeing the little guy staring at him so adorably now, he couldn't hold back his laughter anymore and burst out laughing.

  The little guy's face could no longer be held in, seeing his big brother laugh at him. He buried his small head into Xue Xiang's chest and squirmed around. The little guy successfully gained control of the rainbow board and stopped throwing a tantrum. Sitting in Xue Xiang's arms, he happily played.

  Xue Xiang asked him where his second sister and third brother were. The little guy said they were studying in their room. Xue Xiang pointed to the red paper bag on the table and told the little guy that it was filled with candies, cookies, and Soviet chocolates. The little guy exclaimed in delight, hugged Xue Xiang's neck, and gave him a kiss. He excitedly ran to the dining table, grabbed the bag, and ran to knock on his third brother's door, calling him to come over to his second sister's room. He mysteriously said that there was a surprise.

  Before long, happy laughter could be heard coming from inside the house. They were laughing very happily, and Xue Xiang felt warm listening to it.