The weather was already quite warm at the end of May. It was only eight o'clock, and everyone was sitting together at the front door chatting and joking.
Every now and then someone would ring their bicycle bell, yelling "Make way, make way!" and then speed past.
Occasionally, a motorcycle will come along, sputtering and belching black smoke.
In the past two years, people's living conditions have indeed improved a lot compared to previous years, which can be seen from everyone's complexion and the clothes they wear.
You can tell from meals that it's no longer like before, when being able to eat meat meant it was like Chinese New Year.
Li Chu held the chain in his hand and carried it on his back. The two dogs followed closely beside his legs, never straying far. Perhaps they themselves were wondering why they couldn't run around freely once they were out.
"Dr. Li?"
"Wow, Mr. Cao, you're out for a stroll too."
"I just came out for a walk because I had nothing to do at home. Why are you all alone today? You and your partner are usually inseparable."
"Old Cao, you're so old, why are you still joking with me?"
"Oh, how can this be a joke? This old man is just envious of your deep affection."
"Then I really thank you, sir. Qiu Nan is taking a few days off to go back to her parents' house for a few days."
"By the way, Dr. Li, I heard that Old Zhang went to see you a couple of days ago, but you didn't see him?"
"Old Zhang? Old Cao, who are you talking about?" Li Chu was completely confused by Master Cao's question.
"Uh... my bad for not being clear. It's the current director of the museum."
"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember. My assistant told me that someone from the museum had come looking for me that day, but I was busy with patients and couldn't leave. I can't say exactly when I would be done, so Director Zhang probably left."
"But Mr. Cao, what exactly did Director Zhang want to see me about? I haven't seen him come over since. I don't recall having any dealings with the people at the museum. I only know you because of my master."
"You really don't know?"
"What should I know?" Li Chu already knew roughly why, but he still pretended to be clueless and asked.
"It's that pile of porcelain you collected. Now everyone's saying that when you bought the house in Shichahai, all the porcelain you collected along with it was top-quality stuff."
"Oh, so this is it. Well, you're not wrong. There are indeed a few nice items, but to say that they are all of them would be an exaggeration. There are quite a few items from the Republic of China era as well."
You've seen that Yuan blue-and-white porcelain piece, haven't you? There are a few others from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but I don't think they even qualify as masterpieces.
Li Chu waved his hand dismissively and said.
"Really? There really is one?" Master Cao had always thought the rumor was false.
“Yes, it’s true. It’s not like it’s anything shameful. When I bought that courtyard, the original owner did sell it to me along with the porcelain. I didn’t want those porcelain pieces at the time, but he said he needed the money urgently, so I bought them.”
"Look at your luck! Yuan blue and white porcelain! If you find one like this in that pile, you'll make a fortune. You really got a great bargain."
"It really is just luck. You know, I'm not really interested in these things. It's only because of that Yuan blue and white porcelain that I've started to find it interesting, and I even asked you to help me find some books to study it."
Master Cao smiled and nodded. He didn't mention anything more about someone wanting to buy his Yuan blue and white porcelain. After being turned down twice, he never brought up such things again.
They chatted for a few more minutes before parting ways.
The reason Li Chu spoke in such a mix of truth and falsehood today was to spread the word through Master Cao, so that no more foolish people would come knocking on his door to bother him.
Whether this will be effective or not remains to be seen, depending on how things develop.
With the increasing stability of society and the improvement of people's living conditions in the past two years, more and more people are interested in collecting antiques.
Almost every day, people pull carts or ride tricycles to sweep the streets in these alleys.
They were always shouting things like "collecting junk" and "collecting old items."
Some of these people know about this business, but most only have a superficial understanding. They hear from others that if you acquire a good old item, you can make a lot of money by reselling it. In addition, people often come out to share their experiences, saying that they acquired something good today and made a lot of money, or that they acquired a treasure and sold it to a foreigner tomorrow and made a lot of US dollars.
The unemployed street urchins were so excited by what they heard that they were eager to jump into this line of work.
Believe it or not, by sheer luck, some people actually made money, and this only made things more unstoppable.
However, quite a few people have also stumbled. Let's just say, after all those years of turmoil, how many good things are left in the city for you to collect?
Many of the items that have survived are things that the owners themselves knew what they were, loved them, and secretly kept a few without intending to make money from them; they just wanted to keep them as a memento.
If you think you can get something for nothing from these people, you're dreaming.
At this point, the smarter ones, seeing that they could hardly produce anything left in the city, hurriedly moved to the surrounding rural areas. Some even went to Beihe Province, or Dongshan, or even further afield to Jin Province.
Although things were basically the same in both cities and rural areas back then, the situation was still more relaxed in smaller cities and rural areas. Those who went there early on were able to find quite a few treasures.
Those street laborers who didn't want to go out and endure hardship could only plow the fields repeatedly in the city, and many of them were deceived by others using things from the Republican era.
At that time, the things that were imitated during the Republic of China era were really unwanted. However, if you held onto them for another twenty years, you could still sell them for some money after 2000.
Li Chu strolled around the alleyway, which was full of local flavor, with his dog. He greeted this person and chatted with that person, whether he knew them or not, and he seemed to be having a good time.
He genuinely enjoys this kind of life.
However, what bothered him was that everyone seemed more interested in the fact that he was out alone today, and kept asking why Ding Qiunan was nowhere to be seen, which made him keep explaining.
He could explain, but whether others believed him or not was another matter. However, he was willing to bet that someone would definitely spread the word tomorrow that Doctor Li had a fight with his wife and that she had run back to her parents' home.
There might even be outrageous rumors that the couple has already divorced.
This is the hutong (traditional alleyway). If someone has any gossip, it's guaranteed to be known by everyone, young and old, within a day.
Li Chu was already starting to regret running away alone earlier. Oh well, he'd better wait and hear his gossip tomorrow.
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