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 be given a total of 100 yuan, with food and accommodation included.
There are about twenty to thirty 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 the family.
The old men and women had nothing to do. Some of them were sifting beans with winnowing baskets, while others were watering the vegetables in the garden. The children who were not in school were playing at the entrance of the alley, and the air was filled with the smell of life.
Mrs. Cheng kept greeting people from the moment she entered the alley. The place was small and everyone knew each other, so even the smallest thing would be magnified infinitely. When they saw Mrs. Cheng coming back, everyone wanted to ask her a few questions, whether they had something to say or not.
The journey was like going through five levels and killing six generals. Every time I met a person, I would waste a few minutes. The distance was only a few hundred meters, but it felt like I had walked through a long march of thousands of miles.
It was a refreshing feeling. Finally arriving at Mrs. Cheng's house, a small, three-room house made of blue bricks and tiles, it was neatly tidy. As Du Ruo entered the kitchen, she immediately spotted the bronze candlesticks beside the stove. Even the clay pots filled with oil beside the stove were likely pottery from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
When they were in the car, she said that Sister Cheng didn't look like a particularly wealthy family, so her luck must be quite high.
Seeing Du Ruo staring at the oil tank in a daze, Sister Cheng smiled and said, "We country folk can't buy pork every day. We can only buy it twice a week at the market.
I don’t have a refrigerator at home, so every time I buy meat, I just fry it in oil, add a lot of salt, and put it in a clay pot. When I stir-fry, I add a little bit to it, which can be considered a meat star.
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: "I will be able to afford it. There are more and more home appliances, and they are getting cheaper and cheaper. It won't be a big deal to use a refrigerator in the future."
Sister Cheng slapped her thigh and said, "That would be great."
Du Ruo walked forward and examined the jar carefully: "Sister, this jar of yours is quite beautiful. Where did you buy it?"
"What are you buying? There was a big flood one year, and a lot of these things were found in the small river in front of my village. Some of them were broken. I found this one with great difficulty, and it still has the lid. Many people in the village also picked it up and took it home. They use it for various purposes, so I'm not rare."
"And this candlestick, too?"
"Why not? These things can't be broken. Every family picked up several and took them home. Back then, there was no electricity in our village. These were all working toys. Who would spend money to buy them when they could just pick them up?"
Sister Cheng moved Du Ruo to the west room, where the furnishings were simple. There were two wooden boxes stacked under the windowsill, a small floral cloth spread on top as a table, and a clay pot 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 since she was a child. Her bedding and everything are clean."
Du Ruo nodded. It was indeed true. There was not a speck of dust on the kang leather. It was polished to a snow-white and translucent color. There was a quilt next to it, which was also 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 up to the wooden box, reached out and picked up the jar to examine it carefully. Although it was called a clay jar, it actually looked very much like a large coffee cup today, with a handle on the side.
The cups are all decorated with cloud-thunder patterns, which are relatively primitive decorative patterns in Shang Dynasty pottery. They are in the shape of a circular arrow. 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 felt that it was somewhat elegant, and he couldn't help but marvel at the wisdom of the ancients.
This piece of pottery can at least be called 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 opened the door and came in, holding a few fruits in her hand and handed them to Du Ruo: "Big sister, try them. These are special fruits from the mountain behind us. They are sour and sweet. 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? Look at you holding it, it's like a rare treasure. I know you city people like some wild things. If you like it, take it home and I'll give it to you."
Du Ruo's hands trembled, and she almost dropped it. Give it to her? To be honest, she really didn't dare to accept it. It wouldn't be appropriate to buy it, so she decided to wait and see.
Sister Cheng took a fruit, rubbed it on her clothes, took a bite, and looked at the clay pot. She said regretfully, "That day in the mountains, I couldn't rob Old Liu. At least what she brought home were copper. I only stole a few broken clay pots. But Old Liu was quicker. Taking advantage of the presence of her two sons that day, she even stole a large bronze bull."
Du Ruo's eyes lit up: "Sister-in-law, is the bronze bull still in the Liu family?"
Mrs. Cheng gave a look of improbability: "That thing is so heavy, who has room for it? Old Mrs. Liu would have sold it for scrap metal long ago.
The scrap metal collector said that the thing was too old and too broken, so he only gave 20 yuan. That's not a small amount. It's a thing I picked up in the mountains, so how much more can I sell it for? Big sister, don't you think so?
Du Ruo thought to himself, you big-headed ghost, a bronze bull from the Shang Dynasty is only sold for twenty yuan, you lose so much that your mother doesn’t even recognize it.
Mrs. Cheng said regretfully, "I'm not that good. I just got a few broken pottery jars. They're all made of mud. No one would want them for even two yuan, let alone twenty. I'll just keep them at home for my own use."
Du Ruo also felt a little emotional. There is a saying that goes, "A blessing in disguise." Even if this pottery jar is worthless, it is still worth more than 20 yuan.
Mrs. Cheng said as she ate some fruit, "I was wondering once, 'Isn't this an antique?' I told my sister about it, and 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?' Then I thought, 'Every family has a few of these things. They're all over the place. How can they be valuable?'"
Du Ruo was speechless. This thing really isn't everywhere, 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 small garden. She looked a little embarrassed and said, "Sister, the market will be in two days. I'm really sorry to have come to you today."
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