During this time, they hadn't returned to the village. Due to the chaos on the streets, Fifth Grandpa simply asked the village chief to issue a letter of introduction for him, his daughter-in-law, and his granddaughter to the county town, under the pretext of visiting his eldest nephew. Their return date was uncertain. Jiang Huashu, as usual, issued a letter of introduction for himself.

Not only that, the commune has been in chaos recently, with various power struggles taking place frequently, making people who want to work honestly feel fear and anxiety.

Professor Dong and Shui Shui were both wearing tattered clothes. After nearly a year of careful care, Shui Shui has now grown to 1.5 meters tall. She has indeed grown a lot taller than when she first arrived, but there is still a certain gap compared to the average height of modern people - after all, she was already close to 1.7 meters tall when she was 13 years old in modern times!

Dressed in tattered clothes, the mother and daughter led their equally shabby team, frequenting scrap yards and the alleys, dedicated to collecting scrap and searching for old items. During the height of the "Destroy the Four Olds" campaign, many families were eager to get rid of anything they could consider "the Four Olds" in exchange for more practical necessities like oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar. After all, no one could guarantee that these items wouldn't one day become leverage against them.

Trading junk for money was clearly unwise at this moment, given the precarious situation we were in. So, everyone resorted to using items like oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar as bargaining chips. Meanwhile, the gang led by the gang leader had been lurking for a long time, finally resuming operations.

Looking around, there are no members of the group in the streets and alleys, but as long as you walk into the alleys or villages, you can see people everywhere busy exchanging goods.

The biggest benefit of sending people out in large numbers to exchange items is that you can actually receive a lot of good stuff. There's a warehouse in the space's factory that Jiang Huashu uses to store old items.

Over the past few years, numerous valuable artifacts have been damaged or destroyed. The current mobilization of such a large number of personnel is aimed at saving as many of the treasures that can still be salvaged. Professor Dong, a veteran historian, even personally trained the underworld boss's men, teaching them how to distinguish authenticity from counterfeit goods.

Despite training, you should know that counterfeits existed in ancient times. Some ordinary people, unaware of the difference, mistakenly preserved counterfeits as genuine heirlooms. Even so, finding just one genuine item out of ten is a rewarding experience! Besides, where do so many counterfeits come from? The vast majority are genuine treasures.

One day, Professor Dong and Shui Shui went to a nearby village to buy antiques. At a farmhouse, they successfully exchanged several hand-held ornaments, said to have been from the Qing Dynasty imperial court. The owner, a kind-hearted elder, took the initiative to tell Professor Dong about an elderly woman living next door to his sister in the city who possessed a staggering collection of antiques. However, in the current climate, preserving these antiques could become a hidden danger. The elder suggested that Professor Dong take time to visit the woman's home and, if possible, accept all the antiques he could. He then provided Professor Dong with the woman's address.