Chapter 3 Turning Waste into Treasure

Wu Peng's grandparents and parents died in the countryside after being sent to the countryside. His eldest brother settled down in a forest farm in Northeast China. The whole family left, but he was the only one who returned.

The Wu family's house was a neat two-courtyard house. The land deed for the house had always been in Wu Peng's hands. After his family was exonerated, Wu Peng had no other requests except to get the house back. His parents were dead, his older brother wouldn't come back, and there was nowhere to claim the things that had been taken from him. Wu Peng had just been released from prison, so he was lucky to get the house back.

The front yard was alright, but once they entered the backyard, it was difficult to find a place to step. Suddenly, a large dog, almost as tall as a person, jumped out. Yao Weimin screamed in fright; he had been bitten by a dog when he was a child and had been afraid of dogs ever since. Yao Fanghua's face also turned pale, and her heart pounded.

Wu Peng pulled the third dog over and patted it gently. "This is the third dog. It's okay, it won't bite if I'm here."

"Hmm." Yao Fanghua composed herself. The dog's dark eyes watched them walk forward without barking, clearly not someone to be trifled with. Yao Weimin, on the other hand, moved even more cautiously, his steps becoming unsteady.

The backyard was quite large, piled high with all sorts of junk, all collected by Wu Peng. Yao Fanghua's eyes were first drawn to the old furniture, wooden boxes, two dilapidated bicycles in the corner, followed by a pile of toothpaste tubes, worn-out shoes, broken glass, broken light bulbs, broken thermos flasks, and other items scattered all over the ground.

Wu Peng kicked a path through the crowd, somewhat embarrassed, "I'm just a junk collector, I'm slovenly, please don't mind."

Yao Fanghua looked around and said, "No way, your courtyard alone is enough to make people envious."

Wu Peng stared intently at Yao Fanghua: "This was bought with the lives of my whole family." If so many people hadn't died, the higher-ups wouldn't have given in so easily.

"Feel sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? Come in." Wu Peng wiped the table and chairs clean and invited Yao Fanghua and her brother to sit down.

The Wu family's main house had five rooms, with the central room being the main hall. However, this main hall wasn't very clean or tidy; some books and calligraphy were piled up in the corner, along with some pottery and porcelain vases of various sizes.

Wu Peng took the teapot and poured water for the two of them. "The things are in the inner room, I'll go get them." The important things were all in his bedroom. Wu Peng walked in quickly, lifted the bed board, and took out a wooden box from underneath. Inside were more than twenty watches.

"Let's see if we can fix it." Wu Peng placed the box in front of Yao Fanghua.

He tossed Yao Weimin a bag of sunflower seeds, saying, "You little rascal, go play in the yard, don't delay our business." He always kept sunflower seeds, candy, and cigarettes on hand, which he used to ingratiate himself with people as he went from street to street.

"How am I neglecting my duties? I'm not a child anymore. I'll learn from my sister. Maybe I can make money this way too."

Wu Peng chuckled, "You little rascal, you're quite cunning, and you even know how to learn from your sister."

Yao Fanghua looked at them one by one, and what did she see? There was a Rolex.

Yao Fanghua spread a soft cloth on the table and picked out six pieces of the best condition, including the Rolex.

She disassembled the watch one by one to examine it.

“If you want to repair these five watches, it’ll be twenty yuan each. As for this one,” Yao Fanghua said, holding up the Rolex, “how much are you willing to sell it for? If it’s a good price, I’ll buy it.”

Wu Peng knew this watch was special. He was well-versed in the brands and prices of watches on the market, but he didn't know this one. It had a few letters engraved on it, but he didn't know what brand it was. He only guessed it was imported. He wanted to go to the Overseas Chinese Store to check it out, but a bunch of snobs wouldn't let him in! He also had no way of finding out.

"You want it? Given our relationship,"

Yao Fanghua looked at Wu Peng with a half-smile, waiting for him to continue.

Wu Peng's heart skipped a beat when Yao Fanghua stared at him like that, but he remained rational. He couldn't let lust cloud his judgment, and he couldn't lose his money because of it. "Five hundred!"

He bought the watch from a small old lady with slanted eyes. Because of its good condition, he bought it at a high price. At that time, the old lady took out three broken watches in one go, and after bargaining, he gave her a total of fifty yuan.

Later, he followed the old woman to her old home, memorized her address, and learned through inquiries that her son had previously worked for the Revolutionary Committee and had confiscated countless valuables from various people. Rumors circulated that their family possessed a great many treasures.

Later, every time Wu Peng passed by the old lady's house, he had the urge to climb over the wall. He even secretly planned to climb over the wall at night, and even chose the right spot. Fortunately, his years in prison weren't for nothing, and he only kept those thoughts to himself.

Five hundred! Yao Weimin jumped up and down, "Are you robbing me?! What kind of broken watch sells for five hundred? And it's broken! It's secondhand!"

Yao Weimin was about to slam his fist on the table, but after being given a long, stern look by Wu Peng, he became a little intimidated and sat back down.

Yao Fanghua felt that if they were to fight, she might not be able to rely on her younger brother.

"You don't have a channel to sell this watch for a good price; three hundred is the most you can get. Think about it."

Yao Fanghua didn't rush her, continuing to disassemble the remaining watches in the box. With these, she could reassemble a few decent watches. Her toolbox had a fairly complete set of parts; even if things didn't work out, she could still piece together a good watch from the remaining watch parts.

"Give each of these ten pieces twenty-five. The remaining six pieces are in such bad condition that the cost of repairing them is too high, and there's no point in fixing them."

Wu Peng naturally wanted to haggle. He didn't have much money left. He hadn't made much money collecting scraps lately. Of the five gold ingots hidden in the secret compartment under the roof beam, he had sold them all, leaving only one. He kept this one close to his body and didn't plan to sell it unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, the two agreed to use the Rolex and the remaining six broken watches as payment for the repairs.

Yao Weimin had been eagerly anticipating a large sum of money, but instead, he only received a few broken watches. How could a few broken watches possibly generate a large sum of money? Each watch cost 20 yuan to repair, and these cost 25 yuan each. Yao Weimin mentally calculated the amount again and again—several hundred yuan! It felt like the money had flown away, and his heart clenched.

Yao Fanghua put a magnifying glass on her right eye, which also had a light. She bought this thing from an overseas Chinese store and modified it herself.

The head-mounted magnifying glass, complete with lights, looked incredibly high-tech. Wu Peng and Yao Weimin were quite impressed by the equipment and developed a deep respect for Yao Fanghua, the tech expert.

The two of them stared intently at Yao Fanghua repairing watches, but after a while their eyes started to ache and they got bored.

However, as one watch after another was repaired and polished to look brand new, Wu Peng smiled so broadly that his gap teeth were showing.

He had already figured out how to sell them. If each watch sold for eighty, he could at least sell them for fifty. There were fifteen watches in total. Wu Peng was already calculating how much money he could make, and the more he calculated, the wider his smile became.

"Come on, I'll treat you to a meal." Wu Peng was thinking about long-term cooperation, so he naturally wanted to win people over.

"Let's skip eating out, it's late already. Let's get together another time. Pengpeng, if it's convenient for you, could you help me collect some good wood in the future, whether it's furniture, jewelry boxes, or anything else?" She loved how junk could be transformed into something valuable under her hands, a feeling of indescribable satisfaction washing over her. Even Wu Peng, the junk collector, seemed particularly pleasing to the eye.

Wu Peng's ears burned from Yao Fanghua's calling him "Pengpeng," and he replied, "No problem, no problem."