Chapter 102 Is this difficult?

Seeing Wang Hu and Han Qiao running away, Lin Xiangnan smiled smugly, but did not chase them to scare them. He silently picked up a few stones from the ground and threw them at their buttocks.

She has good aim and every throw goes right.

Wang Hu ran while yelling, not daring to look back. Now he was just hit by a stone, but if he was caught, he would be beaten on the buttocks.

After smashing all the stones in his hand, Lin Xiangnan dusted off his hands, went home to park his bicycle, picked up the net bag on the trailer, and went to look for Aunt Hua.

"This enameled colorful bowl should be from the Kangxi period. Please help me judge it." Lin Xiangnan casually took the bowl out of the net bag and placed it in front of Aunt Hua.

Aunt Hua took the bowl, looked at it carefully, and asked, "It's real. How much did you pay for it?"

"80 yuan." Lin Xiangnan replied directly.

She doesn't cheat or deceive people when buying things. She always tells the seller directly what period the item is from and how much it is worth now.

The market prices of these antiques are cheap now, so there is no need for her to cheat others and damage her own karma.

The money in Lin Xiangnan's hand can be exchanged for current currency at a 1:1 ratio. After 20 years, her 80 yuan will still be 80 yuan, but this small bowl can be sold for at least 800,000 yuan.

Therefore, Lin Xiangnan was never stingy when spending money and was very generous, because if she didn't spend her money now, it would become less and less valuable in the future.

Aunt Hua felt a little distressed and commented, "It's a little expensive. This is two months' salary for an ordinary person."

Lin Xiangnan didn't care, "As long as it's real, it's not expensive."

"I have spent all my pension for this month." The old lady sighed and her expression became melancholy.

"I don't trust you. You don't tell the truth."

The two have been together for so long, who knows who. Neither of them is someone who lives purely on salary.

Big capitalists like the Hua family had a lot of private wealth. They helped our party financially and in person before liberation because of their patriotism.

But before liberation, the Hua family did not donate all of their property. After the founding of New China, the Hua family instead gave away all of their property.

It's just that Aunt Hua is courageous and able to judge the situation.

Both of them have a lot of private money, but neither of them would dare to ask the other where the money came from. It is enough for them to know it in their hearts.

However, on the surface, their only source of funds is their salary, not counting the antiques they buy from ordinary people by chance. They only go to the antique shop once a month.

Nowadays, people's attitude towards these antiques and cultural relics is very subtle. Even retired cadres like Aunt Hua dare not collect them on a large scale, and they will only buy things that are not eye-catching.

Lin Xiangnan suggested: "Why don't we go to the museum tomorrow to look at calligraphy and paintings? It's the most economical way to just look and not buy."

"There will be a better place to go tomorrow. I heard from my son that my old comrade-in-arms has a new decoration in his office. I'll take you to see it tomorrow."

Aunt Hua felt distressed as she spoke. "My office used to have a painting of pine, plum blossom and two cranes by a famous artist from the Song Dynasty on the wall. It's a pity that it's someone else's office now."

Although these things are public property, it is still a pleasure to see them in front of me.

Because of the information she got from Political Commissar Xu, Aunt Hua took Lin Xiangnan straight to the office of Director Jin at the military factory next door the next day.

As soon as they arrived, Aunt Hua asked Director Jin to help her take down the picture of a horse hanging on the wall. Then Aunt Hua said, "Okay, Sister Jin, you do your thing and I'll take care of mine."

After saying that, she pulled Lin Xiangnan and started muttering to the painting.

Seeing her like this, Director Jin asked, "How is it? Is this painting real or fake?"

"Of course it's real. The staff in the antique shop are all experienced experts. They wouldn't dare to use fake goods to fill in the gaps when sending things to other units."

As if she had thought of something, Aunt Hua teased, "How did you suddenly come to your senses and ask for a picture of a galloping horse instead of your own calligraphy?"

Director Jin clenched his fists in anger and grief, "A few young men secretly commented on my ugly handwriting, and I heard it!"

"Pfft~Hahaha, what nonsense are the young people nowadays talking about?" Aunt Hua was so happy.

Being teased by peers was fine, but being secretly talked about by the younger generations was something Director Jin couldn't stand anymore, so he specially asked someone to change the painting.

Aunt Hua smiled and said, "You changed the words 'success immediately' into a picture of a galloping horse. You have a very specific hobby."

Director Jin said: "Well, we are not feudal and superstitious, we just want a good meaning."

Lin Xiangnan already knew that the two of them were acquaintances.

Otherwise, Aunt Hua wouldn't have boasted that she would arrange a job for her in a military factory.

She just didn't expect that Aunt Hua and Director Jin would be so familiar with each other.

As expected of old comrades-in-arms of several decades, they are not polite at all when getting along with each other.

Director Jin was busy with his work and didn't care what Lin Xiangnan and the others were doing.

While looking at the documents, Director Jin almost forgot that there were outsiders in the room. He slammed the table and started cursing.

"I finally got the information after much begging and pleading, but they told me that they couldn't understand it! They couldn't figure it out! Idiots, all of them are idiots! So stupid!"

"Soldiers like this who hold back the team should be dragged out and shot!"

Lin Xiangnan's hands trembled when he heard this. Was the curse so harsh?

Aunt Hua's expression didn't change at all. She calmly complained, "Who told you to treat Engineer Zhang like that? He's the chief designer of the factory. Just because he studied abroad, you asked him to clean the toilet? He has lost his wife and children. It would be strange if he didn't run away."

The current situation in China cannot be compared with that in countries like Britain and the United States. It is already remarkable that people have studied abroad, have not settled down abroad, and are willing to come back to build their motherland.

As a result, many people in the factory disliked him because of this. Since he could not display his talents in the country, he might as well leave.

"What else can I do? I didn't send him to live in the cowshed or to labor reform. I just asked him to sweep the toilet. It took a lot of effort. I tried my best to protect him at the beginning, but he ran away. I even went to the leader to make a self-criticism." Director Jin also felt aggrieved.

There is already a shortage of talent in China, and the college entrance examination has been suspended for almost ten years, so there is a serious talent gap. Their factory is of a special nature and is the least affected. Other factories are in an even more difficult situation.

"The new chief engineer, Xiao Zhang, was taught by Old Zhang himself, but he is still useless."

Director Jin complained: "It's very difficult to find useful talents nowadays. Linear algebra, calculus, fluid mechanics, and materials science are not taught in the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University. What college students? What bullshit college students, they don't know anything!"

Lin Xiangnan listened to this calmly. She was a college student, but she really didn't know anything. She just lay down and lived off her parents after graduation.

Aunt Hua scratched her nose in embarrassment. She was also a useless college student. She went to college before liberation, but she majored in music. Her father sent her to study this in order to make her status more respectable and easier to get married in the future. Who knew that she followed her classmates to make revolution?

Although she didn't understand these, she had seen Lin Xiangnan reading a math book on calculus.

Hearing Director Jin scolding people, Aunt Hua asked curiously, "Is calculus difficult? I saw that Xiaolin found it very easy to learn. It shouldn't be difficult, right?"