While eating the popsicles Xu Junhui bought, Huang Qinqin felt like a fish that had been thirsty for a long time, suddenly being pulled back into the water and rescued.
After finishing her meal, Huang Qinqin didn't continue flipping through the book. She'd been reading for so long that her eyes felt a little blurry. She stood up and looked around.
The junkyard mostly sells broken wooden furniture. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find some that are still usable. Buying them here is much cheaper than buying them at a flea market.
However, there shouldn't be many people coming to sell scrap recently, because Huang Qinqin felt it was about the same as the last time she came. Looking around, Huang Qinqin suddenly spotted a wooden box. Although it was a bit dirty, she could tell that the carvings on the box were very delicate, and it must have been quite beautiful originally.
However, there were many old wooden stools and broken planks on top of the wooden box. Huang Qinqin tried to pull them out herself, but she couldn't.
Realizing she couldn't do it alone, Huang Qinqin had to ask Xu Junhui for help: "Brother Junhui, could you come and help me with this wooden box? I can't pull it."
"Coming right away."
Is it the bottom wooden box?
Huang Qinqin nodded: "Yes, this is it. Its carvings are quite beautiful. I want to check if it's broken. If not, I can take it back to store things."
Xu Junhui examined the box and found that there was a stool on top of it, blocking the other pieces of wood. He figured that if he could just lift the stool up temporarily, he could get the box out.
After telling Huang Qinqin about his discovery, Xu Junhui said, "I'll prop this stool up now, and then you can pull the wooden box out right away, okay?"
"Okay, I'm ready!"
Xu Junhui used both hands to lift the stool upwards, and Huang Qinqin quickly pulled out the wooden box and said, "Brother Junhui, I've taken it out, you can let go now."
The wooden box wasn't very big, about the size of two palms, and it was square. Huang Qinqin wiped the dust off the surface with her hand, revealing the wood inside. Huang Qinqin couldn't tell what kind of wood it was, but she felt it probably wasn't bad wood.
It looks very high-quality; the wood is purplish-red. It's not a big box, but it has several compartments. The sides can be pulled open, the middle has two individual pull-out compartments, and the top can be opened with a lid. Inside, there's a bronze mirror inlaid.
Huang Qinqin exclaimed in amazement, "Brother Junhui, look!"
"This mirror doesn't seem to be made of glass, but it shows a very clear view."
Xu Junhui glanced at the wooden box that Huang Qinqin had opened, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes, and asked, "May I take a look? This looks like an ancient jewelry box."
“Sure, here you go.” Huang Qinqin handed him the jewelry box.
Xu Junhui took the jewelry box, examined it carefully, and then tapped the outside of the box, saying, "This should be made of huanghuali wood. Although it's hollow inside, it's not heavy in my hand, unlike ordinary wood."
The cleaned areas of the jewelry box reveal a variety of grain patterns, flowing like clouds and water. The grain is clear and the color is elegant, so it must be huanghuali wood.
"This must have come from the home of someone who was sent to the countryside. In the past, only the wealthy or powerful could afford a jewelry box of this quality."
"And this jewelry box isn't damaged. You can take it home, clean it, and use it right away. It's a good item."
"However, it may not be entirely made of huanghuali wood, because huanghuali wood itself is very light. Although it is light in terms of weight, if it were all made of huanghuali wood, it should be even lighter. I estimate that some of it is made of other woods."
Huang Qinqin hadn't expected the wooden box to be made of huanghuali wood. Although Xu Junhui said it might not be entirely huanghuali, she still considered herself lucky today. Even if it was partly huanghuali, it would still be very valuable.
Even if it's not worth much now, it's still a good keepsake. After all, this jewelry box is very finely crafted. Even if it were made of ordinary wood, it would probably cost over ten yuan to buy now.
Huang Qinqin said happily, "It's okay, it's okay, we've still made a profit. Here, all the wood is sold at the price of firewood, so we're not losing money no matter how you look at it."
"Let's keep looking for professional books. Maybe we'll get lucky. This is a good start, isn't it?"
Huang Qinqin was fully recharged and started searching again with great enthusiasm.
Persistence pays off; through their efforts, they finally found several books about driving.
Having found what they were looking for, Huang Qinqin and Xu Junhui tidied up the books they had rummaged through on the ground, took what they wanted, and went to pay Grandpa Zhang.
"Uncle Zhang, could you please help me check how much all these items cost?"
Huang Qinqin was holding the jewelry box; the other magazines and books were brought out by Xu Junhui.
Grandpa Zhang directed Xu Junhui to put the items on the scale, and then said to Huang Qinqin, "Qinqin, put your box on the scale too and weigh it."
"This is wood, don't we need to weigh it separately?"
"No need, it's all calculated based on the price of firewood anyway, wood and paper are the same price."
Huang Qinqin seemed to understand, but then simply placed the jewelry box on top as well.
Grandpa Zhang looked at the scale: "It weighs thirteen jin in total. At one cent per jin, that's 13 cents."
After taking the money, Grandpa Zhang casually tossed it into a drawer and then recorded the time and details of the sale in his notebook.
After saying goodbye to Grandpa Zhang, Huang Qinqin sat in the back seat carrying these things and went home to the family compound with Xu Junhui.
......
"Mom, I'm home! Open the door quickly!"
Huang Qinqin called out when she was still several meters away from her door.
The first to react wasn't a member of the Huang family, but rather Aunt Wang, who lived next door. As soon as she heard Huang Qinqin's voice, she peeked over the courtyard wall and asked gossipy, "Qinqin, is this your boyfriend?! Does he have a job? Where does he work?"
Huang Qinqin didn't really want to talk to her, but she was afraid that if she ignored Aunt Wang today, the whole family compound would say that she was arrogant tomorrow.
I could only give a perfunctory reply: "Yes, he's my boyfriend. We're busy, let's talk another day."
Just then, Chen Zhaodi opened the door, and Huang Qinqin told Xu Junhui to go in quickly.
Chen Zhaodi felt a little embarrassed when she saw Huang Qinqin carrying a large pile of old newspapers and books. Had her daughter gone to the recycling center with Xu Junhui?
Huang Eryuan, who was standing next to Huang Qinqin, took the things from her hands and asked directly, "Girl, aren't you going to see a movie? Why did you bring so many old newspapers and books?"
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