Chapter 100 Scrap Iron

When Du Ruo got off the bus, she followed Sister Cheng to her home. The two agreed that Du Ruo would stay for three days and she would give her a total of 100 yuan, with food and lodging included.

There are about 20 to 30 households in Hexi Village. There is not much land nearby, and most of the young people have gone out to work.

In recent years of reform and opening up, it has become easier to make money in the south. Some young couples go there together, while others go alone. Most of the people left in the village are the elderly and children, and some women who stay at home to take care of their families.

The old men and women had nothing to do. Some were sifting beans with winnowing baskets, while others were watering the vegetables in the garden. The children who did not go to school were playing at the entrance of the alley, and the smell of fireworks was everywhere.

Since entering the alley, Mrs. Cheng has been greeting people non-stop. The place is small and everyone knows each other, so small things will be magnified infinitely. When they see Mrs. Cheng coming back, everyone wants to ask her a few words, whether they have something to do or not.

The journey was like going through five checkpoints and killing six generals. Every time I met a person, I would be delayed for a few minutes or a few hundred meters. It felt like a long march of thousands of miles.

This feeling was quite fresh. After a lot of effort, we finally arrived at Cheng's house. The small three-room house was made of green bricks and tiles, and was tidy and clean. As soon as Du Ruo entered the kitchen door, he saw the bronze candlestick next to the stove. Even the clay pot filled with oil next to the stove should be pottery unearthed from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

When they were in the car, she said that Sister Cheng didn't look like a particularly wealthy person, so her luck must be pretty good.

Seeing Du Ruo staring at the oil tank in a trance, Sister Cheng smiled and said, "We country folk can't buy pork every day. We can only buy it twice a week when people gather.

There was no refrigerator at home, so every time I bought meat, I would fry it with oil, add some salt, and put it in a clay pot. When I cooked, I would add a little salt to it, which was considered a good seasoning.”

Speaking of refrigerators, Sister Cheng looked regretful: "My cousin has a refrigerator. It's great. You can put anything in it without worrying about it going bad. But it's too expensive. We can't afford it in the countryside."

Du Ruo smiled: "You can afford it. There are more and more home appliances and they are getting cheaper and cheaper. It won't be a big deal to have a refrigerator in the future."

Sister Cheng patted her thigh and said, "That would be great."

Du Ruo walked forward and carefully observed the jar: "Sister T, this jar of yours is quite beautiful. Where did you buy it?"

"What are you buying? There was a big flood one year, and there were a lot of these things in the small river in front of my village. Some of them were broken, and I found this one with great difficulty. It still has the lid. Many people in the village also took them home. They have all kinds of uses, so I'm not rare."

"And this candlestick, too?"

"Why not? These things can't be broken, and every family picked up a few to take home. At that time, there was no electricity in our village, and these were all useful things. Who would spend money to buy them when they could just pick them up?"

Sister Cheng asked Du Ruo to move to the west room. The furnishings in the west room were very simple. There were two wooden boxes stacked under the window sill, and a piece of floral cloth was spread on top as a table, with a pottery jar on top as a vase. There was a bench by the window, and nothing else.

Sister Cheng smiled and said, "This is my daughter's room. She went to work in the south. Sister, please don't mind. My daughter has always loved cleanliness. Her bedding and other things are all clean."

Du Ruo nodded. It was indeed true. There was not a speck of dust on the kang leather, which was wiped clean and white. There was a quilt next to it, which was kept clean. The owner of the house really paid attention to hygiene.

Sister Cheng asked Du Ruo to rest while she went out to do some work.

Du Ruo walked over to the wooden box, reached out and picked up the jar and examined it carefully. He said that the clay jar was actually very similar to the large coffee cup of today, and it even had a handle on the side.

There are cloud-thunder patterns on the cups. Cloud-thunder patterns are relatively primitive decorative patterns in Shang Dynasty pottery. They are in the shape of a U-shaped line. The circular ones are called cloud patterns, and the square ones are called thunder patterns. The combination of the two is called cloud-thunder patterns.

Looking at the circular cloud-thunder pattern on the jar in his hand, Du Ruo found it quite elegant and was amazed at the wisdom of the ancients.

This piece of pottery can at least be considered a national treasure. Now it is placed on a broken wooden box as a vase, which is really a waste of natural resources.

Sister Cheng came in from outside, holding a few fruits in her hand and handed them to Du Ruo: "Big sister, try them. These are special fruits grown on the mountain behind us. They are sweet and sour. Everyone in our village loves to eat them."

Seeing Du Ruo holding the "vase" in her hand, Sister Cheng smiled and said, "What's so good about this broken earthenware jar? You hold it as if it were a rare treasure. I know that you city people like some wild things. If you like it, take it home. I'll give it to you."

Du Ruo's hands trembled, and she almost dropped it. Give it to her? To be honest, she didn't dare to accept it. It wouldn't be appropriate to buy it, so she would wait and see.

Sister Cheng took a fruit and rubbed it on her clothes, then took a bite. She looked at the clay pot and said with regret, "I didn't rob Old Mrs. Liu that day in the mountains. After all, what she brought back were all copper. I only robbed a few broken clay pots. Old Mrs. Liu was quicker. She took advantage of the fact that her two sons were there that day and even robbed a large copper ox."

Du Ruo's eyes lit up: "Sister-in-law, is the bronze ox still in the Liu family?"

Mrs. Cheng showed an expression of how could it be possible: "That thing is so heavy, who has a place to put it? Old Mrs. Liu has already sold the scrap metal.

The scrap metal collector said that the thing was too old and too broken, so he only gave me 20 yuan, which is not a small amount. It's a thing picked up in the mountains, so is it more expensive to sell it for more? Big sister, don't you think so? "

Du Ruo thought to himself, you big head ghost, this bronze ox from the Shang Dynasty was sold for only twenty yuan, and your mother didn’t even recognize it.

Mrs. Cheng said with regret, "I can't do that. I just got a few broken pottery jars. They're all muddy. No one wants them for two yuan, let alone twenty yuan. I'll just keep them at home for my own use."

Du Ruo also felt a little emotional. There is a saying that goes "Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise." Even if this pottery jar is worthless, it is still worth more than twenty yuan.

Mrs. Cheng said while eating fruit: "I was thinking once, this thing is not an antique, right? When I told my sister, she said, have you ever seen antiques piled up in piles? Those are rare things, what kind of things piled up in piles can be valuable? I thought about it, too, every family has a few of these things, they are all rotten on the street, how can they be valuable?"

Du Ruo was speechless. This thing is really not that bad, okay? Except for your village, other places are really not rich.

Looking at the sky, it was almost noon. Sister Cheng made some cornmeal porridge and mixed it with some vegetables picked from the garden. She looked a little embarrassed and said, "Sister, the market will be open in two days. I'm really sorry for not having you here today."