The East Suburb Scrap Collection Station that Zhao Dashan mentioned is just three to five hundred meters east of the courtyard. Before he went to Beijing, Zhang Guoqing had gone there to sell garbage two or three times when there was a lot of garbage at home.
Why did they say they had only been there two or three times in all those years? Besides the junk collectors, every household would mend and use whatever was broken.
Back then, Zhang Guoqing vaguely remembered that every time they did the big cleaning at the end of the year, he would carry his rags over in the cold winter. The old man would sit on a chair, drinking tea and reading the newspaper, looking very comfortable.
After so many years, I wonder if the old man is still living in a humble room, content with poverty, or if he still has the interest to play a black and white endgame?
As I pulled the cart closer and closer to the East Suburbs Scrapyard, the always neat and tidy courtyard in my memory disappeared. The big locust tree was gone, and the dirt ground was full of potholes...
"Xiaowu, brother?"
Zhang Guoqing was pointing to the side of the gate and recalling the past to Zhou Jiao when a voice rang out. He immediately turned to look at the young man in front of him.
Well, Zhang Guoqing was sure that he didn’t know this person!
"Brother Xiaowu, I'm Zhang Le."
Zhang Guoqing suddenly came to his senses. The old man's surname was Zhang. He had actually seen this child before, but he was just a little brat back then. He hadn't expected him to grow up so much. He immediately laughed and said, "Is the old man retired?"
Zhang Le grinned happily and nodded repeatedly, "Yeah, it's been more than three years since I retired. I took over my grandfather's job. Now it's just me and Aunt Yu guarding here."
"Xiao Lezi, I didn't expect you to have grown so big and even have a job. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you were very young. The last time I saw you, I remember you were about as tall as my Ping An."
"Brother Xiaowu, you still remember me. Hehe..." Zhang Le was even more delighted when he heard him say that. He really didn't expect that Zhang Guoqing still remembered him as a child.
You know, being able to get close to him is what these young people are most proud of. This is Brother Xiaowu. Not only the elders at home, but even the Red Guards have to call Zhang Xiaowu our county's brother.
A few years ago, when there were group fights in the neighboring counties and cities, if these people were picked on, they just had to say that Zhang Guoqing from XX County was their brother, and hehe, they would be fine.
Zhang Guoqing didn't know this, and he looked at the young man in front of him with a silly smile, "If you hadn't told me your name, I really wouldn't have known it was you. Are you married?"
This hit Zhang Le's sore spot, and he blushed shyly. "My grandparents are asking about it. Brother Xiaowu, where are you and my sister-in-law going with the cart?"
Zhang Guoqing burst into laughter. He was smart enough to call Zhou Jiao "sister-in-law" right away. He liked this kid! He had good eyes.
Zhou Jiao glanced at him and said with a smile, "We wanted to come over and see if there was any wood left here so we could buy some to take back for the old man to use during the winter."
"Sister-in-law, you've come to the right place. Come on, we just built a few warehouses here last year. This is the sixth largest purchasing station in the entire provincial capital.
If you go to other collection stations, you won't find anything but broken glass bottles, not even a single piece of wood shavings. In our county, almost everyone has a working couple, and no one in the village sells firewood now. Before winter, they all go to the nearby collection station to buy scraps of wood and paper.
Zhou Jiao and Zhang Guoqing smiled at each other, feeling that they had come to the right place.
From Zhang Le, they also learned that every Wednesday, purchasing stations in other counties and cities would transport all their inventory here.
This place is close to the highway leading to the provincial capital, and along the way there are the largest paper mills and refineries in the province. There are six purchasing stations here.
The purchasing station has a staff of six, operating in two shifts. Working there is pretty easy. Besides the inventory being delivered every Wednesday and weekends when people from the provincial capital come to pick up goods, there's basically not much to do. All I have to do is guard the gate, and I earn twenty-three yuan a month.
For example, right now, besides Zhang Le and a young man, there's another person who's said to have taken a leave of absence and will come back this afternoon. Even Zhou Jiao envied this job. If she hadn't gone to Beijing, she would have been happy to work in a place like this.
Unlike some recycling stations in Beijing, once you enter the yard, you will see that there are not many debris piled up in the front yard. According to Zhang Le, they usually sort and organize all the waste into categories and put them into storage.
The warehouses were the large warehouses in the yard, nestled against the wall at the back. A red national flag hung on the roof of each warehouse, and a portrait of the Communist Party hung above the door.
Well, it's very similar.
Fallen old furniture, scattered broken wood, old newspapers, torn books, and plaques were placed together; in another adjacent warehouse, broken bottles, enamel washbasins with a large hole in them, kettles with broken inner tanks, and coarse porcelain bowls shattered into eight pieces were placed together with broken porcelain and Buddha statues...
It’s really prepared for paper mills and refineries!
"Brother Zhang, is it really okay to let them come on their own? There are quite a few reactionaries inside..."
"Okay, why worry about it? This is Brother Xiaowu. How could Brother Xiaowu be interested in these junks? If he wanted them, why would he come to our place? There are plenty of people in the capital who cling to him."
"I'm just worried."
"You know what's so admirable about Brother Xiaowu? He's a man of integrity! He won't put us in a difficult position. Don't worry, in this hot summer, with only a thin short-sleeved shirt, how can you hide anything?"
"I was wondering, how can you let them pick at the wood and paper by themselves?"
"Okay, come with me to the house and pick out some picture books for the children. I remember that Xiaowu's eldest son was so young and he could already hold a picture book."
“…”
Inside the warehouse, Zhang Guoqing heard the whispers outside, shook his head in amusement, and patted Zhou Jiao, "You stay in there by yourself. I'll go chat with the kids first. Hurry up."
Zhou Jiao nodded in understanding.
The huge warehouse was filled with all kinds of things, including books, paintings, porcelain, furniture, plaques, Buddha statues, etc., which were piled together in a mess, and the gray smell was not pleasant.
Zhou Jiao first walked around and found that there were so many things here. She even found a chamber pot with a broken bottom. Do you think someone also copied this thing?
Is it just because there is a bit of landscape painting on it?
She chose a corner where books were piled up and started looking through them, thinking to herself that even though I couldn't take them out apparently, it didn't mean I couldn't take them out. Hehe, now I'm rich.
After searching for a while, Zhou Jiao quickly realized that ideals are full of hope, but reality is very skinny. There seemed to be a lot of things, and in addition to gold and silver jewelry, there was no shortage of antiques, calligraphy and paintings.
Unfortunately, not every piece is authentic, and there are imitations everywhere. Even the precious calligraphy and paintings are just mass-produced goods. My joy was completely dampened by the cold water of reality.
Helplessly, due to the tight time, she no longer bothered to look carefully and put any small items that were acceptable into her space, especially some so-called banned books.
As she searched, she realized that each warehouse had a door about a meter wide on the side, facilitating internal transportation between warehouses. She figured she'd already searched through most of the items here. Putting too much in one place would make it easy for people to find it, so she decided to look elsewhere.
Just as she was being a happy little hamster in the last warehouse, she was suddenly startled to find that there was a back door.
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