To save electricity, Ye Xiaocui didn't turn on any lights in her room. By the light of the kerosene lamp, she could see what Fu Wan was holding.
Then their eyes widened involuntarily.
Is this a silver dollar?
Ye Xiaocui was born in 1932, so naturally she had seen silver dollars when she was still a child.
At that time, her father worked as a farmhand for a landlord, and his wages were in silver dollars.
When she was little, her favorite thing to do with her sisters was to wait for their father to give them candy after he received his wages.
Old Man Ye would also blow on a silver coin and then hold it to their ears to listen to the sound.
That melodious sound was the most melodious sound of her childhood.
Ye Xiaocui picked up a silver coin from Fu Wan's hand, blew on it, and put it to her ear.
I thought I would hear that melodious sound again, but there was nothing.
How could there not be?
Ye Xiaocui frowned, took another silver coin, blew on it, and put it to her ear. This time there was a sound, but it wasn't as loud as she remembered.
Seeing Ye Xiaocui's expression, Fu Wan knew something was wrong. "Mother, is there something wrong with these silver dollars?"
Ye Xiaocui shook her head. "I don't really understand this either. Your grandfather's silver coins used to make a sound when you blew on them, but these ones either don't make a sound or make a very faint sound."
"Ah Wan, where did you get these silver dollars?"
Fu Wan replied, "We found them in the sea. There are several boxes of them over there, all of them are like this."
Ye Xiaocui was surprised. Several boxes of silver dollars, must they have fallen from a ship that passed by during the Republic of China era? Or was it a shipwreck?
Thinking this way, she asked the question, and Fu Wan also felt that something was amiss.
There were no signs of a sunken ship nearby, only a few boxes.
Could it be that someone deliberately left this here?
Ye Xiaocui pondered for a moment and recalled a past event.
In 1935, a major event occurred in Shanghai. The workers were paid in silver dollars, but it was discovered that all the silver dollars in circulation were counterfeit.
Ye Xiaocui still remembers how her father would carefully consider the wages he brought home back then, for fear that he might fall into a trap and cause the family to lose their income.
Could this underwater cargo be the stolen goods from the "counterfeit currency case" back then?
Hearing Ye Xiaocui say this, Fu Wan felt a little heavy-hearted.
In her modern days, she worked as a nanny and learned a few characters from her employers. She also read some of China's history and hated capitalism, which exploited the lower classes.
"Mother, I'll go see my third uncle tomorrow."
If it is indeed counterfeit currency, it must be reported to the government, and the evidence from that time must be preserved as a record of history.
Ye Xiaocui placed the silver coins in her hand on the table, and then urged Fu Wan to go back to sleep quickly.
"Washing my hair so late at night will give me a headache again."
There was no hair dryer at home at that time, so Fu Wan could only dry her hair by wiping it and letting it air dry naturally.
Long hair is such a hassle.
"Mom, how about I cut my hair shorter? It'll be easier for me to go swimming in the sea later."
In this era, most rural girls wore long, shiny black braids, and very few had short hair.
"It doesn't look good for a young lady to have her hair cut short."
Ye Xiaocui disagreed at all. Not to mention young women, even among the elderly in the village, few had short hair.
But long hair is indeed inconvenient. Watching my daughter yawning all the time, with her hair so long, I wonder when it will dry.
"Go ahead and cut it. Have your third uncle bring some brown sugar back tomorrow, and I'll boil some eggs for you."
Going to the sea so often, and soaking for hours each time, is something women hate most about being in the shade.
Fu Wan then realized that she hadn't had a proper life since her rebirth, and she wondered if it was really because of her involvement in the sex industry.
"Mom, please cut it for me, just cut it down to my ears."
Ye Xiaocui wasn't one to dawdle; she picked up the scissors and snipped away a few times, finishing her haircut in no time.
The cut hair was quite long, and Ye Xiaocui couldn't bear to throw it away, so she used a hair tie to straighten it and tie it up.
It's not just about keeping it as a souvenir; this hair can also be sold for money.
Not only hair, but also duck and chicken feathers are collected these days.
The peddler would carry his goods on a shoulder pole and wander around the village, occasionally tapping the pole in his hand.
They collect chicken feathers, duck feathers, and even human hair, which can be exchanged for hair clips, hair ties, or even a sticky maltose.
Since the policy was lifted, the village children have been running faster than anyone else whenever they hear the peddler's calls.
Everyone was eager to exchange the things they had saved at home for candy.
After her hair was almost done, Fu Wan lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. Ye Xiaocui covered Shen Lingling with a blanket next to her and then drifted off to sleep.
...
The next morning, Fu Wan was woken up by the clucking of the hen next door.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky; it must have been eight or nine o'clock.
After washing up, Fu Wan took a steamed bun and left home. She also had a few silver dollars in her pocket, intending to have Fu San take a look at her.
Fu San had just returned from town and saw Fu Wan not far away as soon as he got off the tricycle.
Regardless of the kinship between their families, the extra money he made from Fu Wan recently made him greet her with a smile.
"Wan'er, you've come at the right time. I was just about to look for you."
Fu Wan was a little puzzled. Did her third uncle know why she had come to find her?
Fu San's wife happened to be mending clothes at the door. When she saw Fu Wan come in, she went to pour her a bowl of water and added some sugar.
"Third Uncle, I need to talk to you."
"Ah Wan, I have something to tell you."
The two spoke almost simultaneously, which amused Lin Qiuju.
Fu San smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He straightened his expression and said in a low voice, "Awan, have you offended someone recently?"
Today, he was selling fish in town when he was suddenly called over by a few henchmen from the Ge Committee. With a few words, they subtly and overtly told him that he should either stop buying fish from Fu Wan or stop selling fish in town.
Fu San verbally agreed, but in his heart he thought only a fool wouldn't accept Awan's fish. These members of the Ge Committee are always looking for trouble.
Fu Wan frowned, and Lin Qiuju slammed her hand on the table: "These scoundrels who only know how to rob and plunder every day, what kind of skill is it to make things difficult for a woman?"
Fu Wan: "I came here because of this. Last night, someone stole diesel fuel from my boat and changed the water. I happened to be fishing at sea when I heard a man called Lai Zi."
"Lackey!"
Fu San frowned. He was a notorious scoundrel in the village, who was lazy and never did anything productive.
"I suspect it was the third son of the Shen family who did it; he works at the Gobi Desert Committee."
Fu San then realized what was going on and advised, "Awan, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle. Why don't you and Liang go fishing again later?"
Those people from the Gobi Desert Committee won't be able to enjoy their freedom for much longer.
Fu Wan shook her head, "I'm not afraid of them. The Ge Committee is not a one-man show by Shen Guoliang."
"However, the weather has been bad lately, so I won't be going out to sea. I also have something to ask my third uncle."
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