Chapter 159 Two Hammers

At the end of the ninth lunar month, the weather in Beijing was already very cold.

The leaves on the willow trees seemed to smell the scent of early winter. They turned from green to yellow, broke free from the branches, swirled and fell to the ground.

If this scene fell into the eyes of a poet, it might turn into a sad and beautiful poem.

But in the hearts of the working people, it is an irritable complaint, because there is one more task - sweeping fallen leaves.

Aunt Guan Er got up early in the morning, emptied the chamber pot, made breakfast, and then swept the fallen leaves from the big willow tree at the door. She was sweaty from all the busy work.

When I returned to the yard, I found that my son had not woken up yet!

"Dasheng, why aren't you getting up yet? Are you not going to work today?"

A lazy voice came from the side room: "Mom, my toes hurt today, I need to take a rest for a day."

After a busy morning, Auntie Guan Er was furious and immediately cursed: "Today my toes hurt, yesterday my kidneys hurt, and the day before yesterday I had diarrhea. All your wages for this month will be deducted!"

"How can you say that you are being deducted?" The voice in the side room was not impatient at all: "As long as you work five days a month, you can get 13.5 yuan, which is equivalent to 2.7 yuan a day.

The full attendance salary is 28.5 yuan, which is less than 1.1 yuan. Why would I work full attendance?"

"You guys should do the math now, right? How come you only got 13 points when you took the high school entrance exam? You idiot."

Aunt Guan Er started scolding the concubine, but her own son had been immune to her scolding for more than 20 years and it didn't affect his sleep at all.

Aunt Guan Er cursed for two minutes before she finally let go of her anger.

When I returned to the main house, I saw that my old man had finished his breakfast. He made a pot of scented tea and began to sip it slowly.

Aunt Guan Er immediately found someone to vent her anger on.

"Guan Ciying, you just eat and drink all day, can you teach your son something? You have led Dasheng astray."

"Look at him, he's already grown up. I finally got him to take your job, but he suddenly turned into a lazy guy. If he can't find a wife, how can I face my parents-in-law?"

Guan Ciying looked at his wife who was squeezing tears and drank half a cup of jasmine tea leisurely.

"What's so difficult about finding a wife? Didn't your fourth sister introduce a family to Dasheng yesterday? If you are willing, we can have a grandson next year."

"I don't want to!" Aunt Guan Er was even more angry: "I thought they were going to find us a good match, but it turned out to be a girl from the western mountains with three brothers and two sisters. She came here for our money!"

"If she gets married and brings things to her parents' house every day, will our savings be able to withstand the torment?"

Aunt Guan kept cursing for a long time, but she was completely unaware that the "target of struggle" had shifted from her own son to her fourth sister.

Uncle Guan Er proudly took a sip of the scented tea, squinted his eyes, swung his legs, and looked leisurely.

Can an old woman, no matter how powerful she is, beat a man? What a joke!

But the next moment, Aunt Guan Er asked in a low voice: "Ciying, do you think that set of teapots is really worth several thousand yuan?"

Guan Ciying sneered and said, "How can you be sure about this? Some people like old things, and they think it's cheap even if it's worth tens of thousands of yuan. Some people don't know the value of things, and they think it's insulting to give old things to others even if they get them for free!"

"Did we ask for a higher price a few days ago? Dasheng asked for an unreasonable price, and you didn't stop him, which made him angry and left. He even wanted to exchange the money for his children and find a wife!"

Aunt Guan Er was a little anxious. Although she disliked the girl because she came "for money", her family had no money, and with Guan Dasheng's character, who would be willing to marry her?

But Guan Ciying smiled and said, "Don't worry, he will come back."

“.”

"You two are such a bad-tempered couple," said Auntie Guan Er angrily, "You think everyone in the world has to beg you.

I spent thousands of dollars to buy a set of broken teapots, and you are still not satisfied. I was blind to marry into your family."

“Knock knock knock~”

"Second brother, brother and sister-in-law are all at home!"

Just as Aunt Guan Er cursed a few words, there was a knock on the courtyard door, and the person walked straight into the yard.

The couple looked outside and saw that the people coming were an old man and a young boy. They turned out to be Guan Ciying's elder brother Guan Cihui and his son Guan Dacheng.

Guan Ciying, who had been sitting steadily on the chair, stood up immediately.

"Brother, just come if you want to! What are you getting? Get off quickly, did you take the early bus?"

"The donkey carts from the village are going to the city to deliver straw, so we stopped by to take a look. We have just harvested some green beans and red beans from the fields. I'll give you some to try."

Guan Ciying invited Guan Cihui to sit down, poured her some tea and exchanged greetings warmly.

Aunt Guan Er, however, hung her head, looked at the small bag on Guan Dacheng's back with disdain, and curled her lips.

Just a few pounds of red beans and mung beans, is it worth running all the way from outside the city? I'm afraid you're here to borrow money again!

But then, Boss Guan took out a stack of big unity notes and placed them on the table, which surprised Aunt Guan Er very much.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Uncle Guan Er said with a dark face, "Didn't I say I didn't want the money? If you hadn't brought two bags of food in 1961, our family of three would have starved to death."

Aunt Guan Er was stamping her feet in anxiety, but she didn't dare to go over and take the money directly.

Even though she usually scolds her son and husband at home, if Guan Ciying really gets angry, she will lock the door and really beat them!

"Second brother, I'm not here to pay you back," Guan Laoda waved his hand and said, "I'm here to share the money with you."

Uncle Guan Er asked in confusion: "Share the money? What money?"

Guan Lao Da looked at his brother and said, "A few days ago, a group of Helan people came to our area to collect antiques, and they happened to ask about my family.

I sold a snuff bottle passed down from my ancestors for 160 yuan in total. We split it 50-50 between us brothers, so you should get 80 yuan."

Aunt Guan Er's eyelids twitched and she had a bad feeling.

As expected, the salesman asked casually, "Second brother, have you met anyone collecting antiques recently?"

Aunt Guan Er felt uneasy.

[You, Boss Guan, you heard the wind and came to divide our family property! You two brothers have already separated the family property, and now you are here to divide the money? You give us 80 yuan, ugh~]

But Uncle Guan Er was not as concerned as Aunt Guan Er. He asked Guan Lao Da in surprise, "Brother, how did you know someone came to my place?"

Boss Guan looked at Guan Ciying steadily and said calmly, "It was those Helan people who said that.

At that time, they were chatting with me, and after knowing that my last name was Guan, they said that there was also a Guan in Kita-ni-jo who had some good stuff. I was thinking, isn’t that you, the Guan in Kita-ni-jo? "

"Uncle, that's not the case at all," Aunt Guan Er quickly interrupted, "When you brothers divided the family property, you only had these few things. How could there be any good things in our family?"

“Hehe~”

Guan Lao Da glanced at Aunt Guan Er, picked up the tea bowl and stopped talking.

But Uncle Guan Er coldly spat out three words to his wife.

"Get out!"

“.”

The anger in Guan Er Da Niang's heart was suddenly extinguished like a spark splashed with water.

She and Guan Ciying had been married for so many years, so she knew that the man was angry, and very angry.

Aunt Guan Er lowered her head and walked out of the main house, and the door behind her slammed shut.

She turned around anxiously and went into her son's side room.

"Dasheng, hurry up, your poor uncle is coming to divide up our antiques."

. . . . .

Inside the main room, Guan Ciying asked Guan Cihui cautiously, "Brother, do you think those people found me and then went to you?"

Guan Cihui shook her head slowly and said, "I can't tell. I used a snuff bottle to test them and found that they were not much stronger than a club.

And he is stingy, and doesn't seem like someone who does big business, so I came to ask you if it was just a coincidence."

"That might be a coincidence," Guan Ciying said with relief, "In the past few days, there have indeed been several groups of people who came to see me. Some came from the south and some came from Helan. They all came in groups, so it's not surprising that they spread gossip."

Boss Guan pondered for a long time before nodding.

His second brother is not a stupid person. If there is any disturbance, it is impossible for him not to notice it at all.

The two drank tea for a while, and Uncle Guan Er suddenly asked, "Brother, do you think Lord Beile can come back?"

Boss Guan said nothing, slowly finished his tea, and then said calmly: "Wait!"

"Dad, Dad, open the door!"

The two brothers had just finished discussing things in the house when they heard Uncle Guan Er's son knocking on the door outside.

The corner of Guan Lao Da's mouth curled up, as if he was smiling, but Uncle Guan Er's face turned dark.

He opened the door and asked his son coldly, "Do you know about it now? Are you coming to pay your respects to me?"

“.”

Looking at his indifferent father, Guan Dasheng swallowed all the words in his heart and could only say awkwardly: "I heard that my uncle was here, and I thought he must not have eaten yet, so I wanted to take my uncle and brother to eat."

"Humph, you two shouldn't hide your thoughts," Guan Ciying glanced at the old woman and said in a deep voice, "No matter how much the old item sells for, your uncle will get half of it.

Don't be unconvinced, and don't play tricks on me, or I'll beat you both up."

“.”

Guan Dasheng and Guan Erdaniang were both stunned. They really couldn't understand why Guan Ciying, who was always cynical, suddenly became so angry.

Guan Laoda patted his second brother on the shoulder and said, "Why are you so angry at your sister-in-law? Your money is yours, I don't need it."

"Brother, what kind of life have we been living these years? Your house is about to collapse! It's just a matter of a few thousand dollars, and you still want to divide it between me and you?"

Guan Ciying directly instructed his wife: "Clean up the east wing and let Dacheng live there. When you sell the pot and divide the money, you can go back."

Boss Guan smiled and did not try to persuade Guan Ciying anymore. He knew it was useless to persuade her because his brother was stubborn and could not be persuaded back.

But in the eyes of Guan Erdaniang and Guan Dasheng, his behavior was extremely hateful.

It’s a very good thing, but now we can only split it in half. So we might as well give you the tea bowl and keep the teapot!

“Pah pah pah~”

While the two families were feeling awkward, the door knocker rang again.

. . . . .

Wei Jiaxian knocked on the door of Guan's house, and then said to his brother-in-law Tan Min next to him: "Don't say anything later, just keep up the occasion."

Tan Min squinted his eyes and glanced at Wei Jiaxian, and whispered: "If you dare to harm the world, I won't listen to you."

Wei Jiaxian said sullenly: "I never do that kind of thing."

After the two of them talked for a few words, Guan Dasheng came out from the yard.

"Who are you two looking for?"

Wei Jiaxian said, "We collect antiques. We heard that your family had something to sell, so we wanted to come and take a look."

Guan Dasheng was already angry, and immediately said angrily: "Who told you that we have things to sell? Get lost."

Wei Jiaxian's expression remained unchanged as he pulled out a thick wad of money from his pocket: "We came here with money."

“.”

Guan Dasheng and Tan Min were speechless.

Guan Dasheng was speechless because he had heard countless people come to his house to collect antiques in recent days, but none of them was as stupid as this one!

If you say right away that you’re buying antiques and you pay for them right away, isn’t that clearly saying, “Your stuff is good, and I’m willing to get ripped off.”

Tan Min was speechless. It wasn't that he disliked his brother-in-law for being a fool. After all, they were both taciturn. If Tan Min really spoke, things wouldn't get better.

The reason why he was speechless was that Wei Jiaxian actually spoke in Helan dialect.

When Tan Min was in the army, he had Helan comrades, and he was very familiar with the Helan dialect. Although the Helan dialect spoken by Wei Jiaxian had some flaws, it was more than enough to fool outsiders.

[Well, Wei Jiaxian, you are really not a good person. ]

"Dasheng, let them in!"

Guan Ciying from the courtyard had spoken, so Guan Dasheng could no longer stop Wei Jiaxian from entering the house.

Besides, when he looked at the money in Wei Jiaxian's hand, he estimated that there were more than three or four thousand yuan, which was quite tempting.

These days, most people who come to buy antiques are vague and don't tell the actual price. No one actually shows cash directly.

Wei Jiaxian and Tan Min entered the Guan family and were welcomed by Guan Ciying to the main room, where they were poured a cup of tea.

Then he asked, "Where are you two brothers from?"

Wei Jiaxian said expressionlessly: "If you do this, you won't tell me where your hometown is. If you do, it won't be true. Sir, please don't ask."

“.”

Guan Ciying and Guan Lao Da were both stunned. They were both worldly-wise and it was rare to find someone as "real" as Wei Jiaxian.

Guan Ciying asked again: "Then how did you know that I had something to sell at home?"

Wei Jiaxian said: "I heard from a fellow villager that it was a colorful flower and bird pot from the Ming Dynasty official kiln, so I brought the money here."

Is this special brewer a fool or a fool?

Boss Guan looked at Guan Ciying and couldn't help but laugh.

Can such a person still engage in antique business? I am afraid that he will lose all his money and not even have his pants left!

After the spring breeze of reform and opening up, many people from other places did come to the capital. Those who collected junk also collected antiques, as if anyone could collect antiques.

Uncle Guan Er smiled and asked, "How much are you prepared to pay?"

This time, Wei Jiaxian did not act stupid, but insisted: "I need to check the things first to see if there are any defects. I can't make any mistakes."

"Okay, I'll show you then."

Uncle Guan Er smiled and asked his wife to get the things out.

A set of teapots with white background and colorful flowers were placed on the table, which didn't look anything special.

But Wei Jiaxian looked at them very carefully. He could spend half a day looking at a tea bowl, and it took him more than twenty minutes to look at the entire set of porcelain.

During this period, Guan Dasheng urged him many times, but Wei Jiaxian remained unmoved, and his fingers were as steady as a machine.

"Brother, you are going to take things too seriously!"

After waiting for him to finish, Guan Dasheng asked again: "Now that you have finished, tell me what price you want to give me!"

Wei Jiaxian asked back: "How much money did others give you?"

Guan Dasheng laughed and said, "They offered 20,000, but we didn't sell it."

Wei Jiaxian lowered his head and said sullenly, "Twenty thousand. If you can find a buyer you really like, I'll pay eight thousand."

“Hahahahaha~”

Finally, everyone in the room laughed.

Wei Jiaxian's expression and tone clearly told everyone, "This thing is not worth 20,000, but it's almost worth it."

And Tan Min, who came with Wei Jiaxian, wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

[No matter how dumb I am, I can't be as dumb as you. ]

But the next moment, Wei Jiaxian raised his head and said, "In fact, this set of pots is worthy of being put in a museum. Otherwise, you can donate it to the country."

“.”

No one could laugh anymore.

(End of this chapter)