After An Moxue left the police station, Director Li made a phone call—

"Hello! Is this Sicheng?"

"......"

"Guess who came to the police station today?"

"......"

"What's wrong? Why aren't you as patient with this old man in his fifties? Don't regret it if you don't ask!"

"......"

"Fine, then hang up. I guarantee you'll regret it."

"......"

"That's more like it! It's a deal! Two bottles of Daqu liquor, and they have to be specially supplied. Otherwise, I won't tell you if there's any news next time."

"......"

“An Moxue. They said they came back for the New Year, and they came to see me today to give me New Year’s gifts.”

Director Li hung up the phone, shaking his head and sighing helplessly.

After leaving the police station, An Moxue found a secluded empty house. Once outside, she transformed into a somewhat rustic middle-aged woman. She rode her bicycle to Er Gouzi's place.

During the day, few people come to Er Gouzi's place, so the sound of knocking on the door immediately puts him on high alert. Then, recognizing the familiar code, he relaxes a little and cautiously opens the door.

Upon opening the door and seeing a familiar face, she thought she was seeing things, blinked, and exclaimed with delight, "Big sister, what a rare guest! Please come in!"

"Brother Er Gouzi, how have you been?" An Moxue entered the courtyard leisurely, as if meeting a good friend.

"Big sister, it's been so long! I've missed you terribly. May you make a fortune!" Er Gouzi said obsequiously, inviting the woman into the house.

"Brother Er Gouzi, I wonder if you still have the things I asked you to collect before? Oh, and I also want some paper money for sacrifices, do you have any?"

Er Gouzi was practically in tears, saying bitterly, "Big sister, you've really put me through a lot. I helped you collect a batch of things, but you never came, and eventually I didn't dare to continue. I had invested too much capital, and for a while I was robbing Peter to pay Paul, which made me extremely anxious. As for burning paper money, I have some."

"Brother, I'm really sorry, something unexpected happened, I can't make it. Are there any left?"

"Yes, I always felt that my elder sister was a person of her word, and I didn't want to break my promise to her. It's just that I only gave her a small portion because of your temper with me, and I kept most of it for myself!"

"Alright, for the sake of brotherhood, I can't treat you badly. Let's check the goods first."

"Big sister, come with me! There's a lot, so we won't move it."

"OK."

Er Gouzi led An Moxue to a small room. Er Gouzi opened the door and said, "Big sister, these things for you have been kept separately. Big sister has high standards, so take a look first."

There were three boxes in the room. One box was full of ancient books, and the other two boxes were full of jewelry.

An Moxue inspected the contents of each box one by one. After she finished, she was very satisfied and said to Er Gouzi, "Okay, give me an estimate for these."

Er Gouzi looked at An Moxue and said, "Big sister, we're old acquaintances. How about I give you three thousand for all this stuff?"

“Alright, prepare another cartload of offerings. Then we’ll trade at the usual place and time. This time there’s some game and fruit. Make sure to cover the fruit with something warm. We need enough for two cartloads to bring it back, as compensation for you.”

When Er Gouzi heard there was fruit, he was overjoyed. This stuff was a great gift for the New Year. He could take it back, give it some fancy packaging, and sell it for a lot of money.

He said happily, "Thank you, big sister. I appreciate your efforts. It's all worth it. I just love your temper! What kind of fruit do you have? Don't worry, I'll give you the highest price for everything."

An Moxue looked at him and said, "Come on, let's go back to the living room. I brought you some samples, I guarantee they are all of the same quality."

The two returned to the living room. An Moxue picked up a bag from the side, opened it, and took out apples, pears, oranges, and bananas.

Er Gouzi was overjoyed at the sight of the apples and pears, his lips curving into an uncontrollable smile. But when he saw the oranges and bananas that An Moxue had taken out, he was even more delighted, his eyes practically disappearing from his teeth. An Moxue couldn't bear to look at him.

"Sister, these bananas are a rare find! And they're all in such good condition."

"Have a taste, these are gifts for you."

"These are all for me?" The surprise came too suddenly.

"Of course, it's been a long time, so I should at least have a presentable gift to show our respect."

Er Gouzi looked at the big, red apples, the large, crisp pears, and the tangerines, which looked plump and full of flesh. The bananas were even better. He peeled one open and took a bite. Soft, sticky, fragrant, and sweet—it was simply amazing! It was the first time in his life he had ever eaten such fruit.

"Big sister, what are the prices?"

"Apples are 1.5 yuan, pears are 1.2 yuan, oranges are 2 yuan, and bananas are a bit more expensive at 5 yuan. But I suggest you package some of the fruits into exquisite gift boxes, which will fetch a higher price. Scarcity drives up prices, right? What do you say? As long as you spread the word, you won't have to worry about not being able to sell them for a high price." An Moxue's lips were enticing, and her voice carried a hint of seduction.

"Yes, but aren't these bananas too expensive?"

"Is it expensive? If the price doubled, would you still buy it, considering the quality? But is it only doubled? Besides, I don't have many bananas, just two boxes, a hundred pounds."

"Sister, okay, I'll take the bananas. How many kilograms of the other things are there?"

An Moxue said, "There are 1,000 catties of apples, 1,000 catties of pears, 300 catties of oranges, 5 wild boars, 1 or 2 deer, 2 roe deer, some wild rabbits, and not many fish, but there are still more than 1,000 catties, all of them are large fish weighing more than 5 catties."

"However, you don't need to bring cash tonight. The rest of the money is with you. Keep collecting things for me. If I don't come to trade with you for another two years, I will find someone else to trade with you. The timeframe is at most two years."

"Okay, Big Sister is always so generous in handling things, I admire you." Er Gouzi said ingratiatingly.

"Alright, now that we've finished talking about business, let me ask you something else. In the past two years, especially the last year, has anything unusual happened?"

Er Gouzi thought for a moment and said, "Big sister, in our line of work, we come into contact with all sorts of people and things every day. After seeing so many, it's all the same. But there's one thing that I still find strange: recently, there have been people hunting in the black market. That's quite rare."

"Oh! Tell me about it."

"It's been more than half a year since this happened! Someone is looking for an artifact, actually a bronze Guanyin statue. It's said that an unfilial descendant of this family secretly sold the Guanyin, and then the old lady in the family, who was perfectly healthy, suddenly fell ill and was bedridden for a long time. The family suspected that she had offended the gods and wanted to take it back to worship. They searched a lot, but still couldn't find it. What's strange is that after so long, the reward is still on. I think it's not simple."

An Moxue appeared to be listening to the story, but she had her own thoughts. She suspected that the person was looking for the bronze Guanyin statue with its hands reversed that she had found in Puda Prefecture.