Chapter 601 Wang Xun's Scrapyard
Everyone had a pleasant first breakfast on the train. Gao Mingcheng ate the side dishes and rice dumplings that Deng's mother brought out, and Gao Mingcheng also took out the food he brought and shared it with them.
Zongzi is a kind of food that is usually eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, but for people who are traveling far away, carrying zongzi is more delicious and convenient than carrying meals.
Because the taste of cold rice and cold dishes is not as good as cold rice dumplings.
Gao Mingcheng ate a sweet one and a salty one, and thought they were both good.
After breakfast, the whole carriage was filled with the smell of food because everyone was eating, mainly the food they brought with them, and only a few people went to the dining car to buy food.
Gao Mingcheng wanted to open the window to get some fresh air, because the windows of the green train at this time could be opened, unlike the trains of later generations, where the windows were completely closed and could not be opened at will.
Just as the window was opened a little, a lot of cold wind rushed in and blew on the faces of the people around, so someone hurriedly shouted to Gao Mingcheng to close the car window.
But in fact, even if the windows are closed tightly, the car is still chilly, because the connection between the cars is not completely enclosed, and cold wind still blows in from there.
The car was quite boring and it was inconvenient for passengers to move around, so some people continued to sleep soundly, some read books on their beds, and some gathered together to chat.
Gao Mingcheng chatted with Deng Wanwan and the others for a while, and praised the delicious rice dumplings made by Deng's mother.
Deng's mother smiled and said, "If it's the Dragon Boat Festival, the rice dumplings I make will be even more delicious! Although there are still rice leaves in the mountains now, they are not growing well."
Nowadays, the rice dumpling leaves in the mountains are not bright and wide enough, making it more difficult to wrap them, so each rice dumpling is not big.
As they were chatting, suddenly a melodious sound of music was heard. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young girl with pigtails sitting on the bed, playing the erhu seriously.
After hearing the sound of the erhu, the people who were chatting stopped talking and listened to the music quietly. After the little girl finished a song, someone asked her to play a few more songs.
The girl who dared to play the erhu in public was naturally not a shy person, so she agreed with a smile.
The people in this carriage were immersed in the music all morning.
Gao Mingcheng didn't know much about the music, but he felt that the tunes were very smooth and they were all songs he was familiar with and liked, so they were good for killing time.
At noon, someone came with a food cart to sell food. Gao Mingcheng naturally didn't want to eat bread for three meals a day, so he bought a meal.
There are two characteristics of food on trains: one is that it is expensive, and the other is that it tastes bad.
So some people complained that those who were reluctant to spend money would rather eat the dry food they brought with them. Gao Mingcheng, who had traveled all over the country, understood that it was not easy to cook on the train. There were few supplies on the train and the kitchen space was small. In such an environment, it was good enough to cook all the food!
Gao Mingcheng was eating an ordinary meal, thinking that it was good that many people did not want to travel far. Traveling far now was actually suffering. After the speed of trains was greatly increased in 1997, it would be much more convenient to travel, and various infrastructure projects in the country had also started construction.
In the morning, Gao Mingcheng passed the time by listening to erhu. In the afternoon, Gao Mingcheng saw the young man opposite his bed reading a book, and there were several books piled next to him.
So Gao Mingcheng borrowed a book from someone to pass the time.
The young man was wearing a pair of glasses. He first pushed the frame upwards with the back of his fingers, then smiled shyly and said politely, "I can lend it to you, but you may not understand it."
After hearing this, Gao Mingcheng became even more curious, so he reached out and took a book and started flipping through it.
A minute later, he silently put down the book in his hand.
Looking at the young man opposite, his eyes are full of admiration for the academic master!
Those books are basically advanced mathematics and physics. With Gao Mingcheng's academic qualifications, he really can't understand them!
Later, Gao Mingcheng was so bored that he could only stare out the car window.
The train was not very fast, and the scenery along the way was in full view. Gao Mingcheng was not happy until it was dark at night. When he woke up, he would arrive in the capital!
On the morning of the third day, Gao Mingcheng woke up early as usual. After he washed up, other people started to get up and wash up. Gao Mingcheng ate all the remaining snacks and breads, planning to find a restaurant to have a good meal after getting off the bus.
Wang Xun and the others did the same, they were finishing the rice dumplings. Deng's mother was afraid that there wouldn't be enough for them, so she specially packed a big bag for them.
After finishing the rice dumplings, they had less luggage to carry with them and felt more relaxed when getting off the bus.
At ten o'clock in the morning, a conductor asked them to exchange tickets, so Gao Mingcheng got the train ticket again. This train ticket needed to be shown to the ticket inspector when leaving the station.
So he put the ticket in his coat pocket so that it would be easy to take out.
Although the train was about to arrive at the station, people in the carriage were not in a hurry to pack up, because the final destination of this train was the capital, and everyone in the carriage would get off after the train stopped at the capital.
Therefore, it was not until the train was about to arrive at the station and the speed began to slow down that everyone took their carry-on luggage and waited at the door. Soon, a long line was formed.
Seeing this, Gao Mingcheng simply didn't go to queue up and didn't want to fight for the next minute or two.
Finally, as everyone expected, the train stopped steadily at the platform, and then the conductor opened the door and let the passengers get off.
Gao Mingcheng saw that everyone started to get off the bus, so he followed the crowd. The moment his feet stepped on the ground, he actually felt top-heavy.
It is said that if you stay on a boat for too long, you will not be able to adapt to the ground, but in fact, if you stay on a train for too long, your body will not be able to adapt in a short period of time when you get off the ground.
When people are on the train, there are noises all the time, the body of the train is also shaking and unstable, and the whole state of the people is not much different from being on a boat.
After getting off the car, Wang Xun asked Gao Mingcheng to follow him closely, and asked his two children to hold on to his clothes so that he would not get lost.
As for Deng Wanwan, she has to take care of her parents.
At a glance at the station, all you can see are the backs of people's heads. Everyone is wearing different clothes, but they all carry large and small bags, and many of them, like Deng Wanwan, have families with them.
Gao Mingcheng saw someone carrying a bed on his back, holding a full bucket and a fertilizer bag in his hands, and even a small cooking pot hanging on his chest. He knew that this person was going to the capital to work.
In addition to these people, there are also a few people who are beautifully dressed and have very little luggage. These people are probably living in the capital.
Following the moving crowd, Gao Mingcheng finally got out of the exit.
Standing outside the station, I saw an unfamiliar environment.
After leaving the station, Wang Xun also breathed a sigh of relief. He began to skillfully take Gao Mingcheng and the others to take the bus. Although there were crowds of people here, it is the capital after all, and the buses looked quite new and big.
Gao Mingcheng followed Wang Xun and the others, taking and changing buses several times before finally arriving at their destination.
After getting off the last bus, Wang Xun said happily: "Are you hungry? I'll take you to a restaurant first! Just order whatever you want to eat!"
A few minutes later, the group finally sat down in a restaurant. Since this place was very close to where Wang Xun lived, he was quite familiar with the restaurant owner and started a conversation as soon as he sat down.
Wang Xun ordered quite a few dishes, but Deng Wanwan's parents were old, and after the bumpy ride, although they were very hungry, they had no appetite. The same was true for the two children, who only took a few bites and didn't want to eat anymore.
Gao Mingcheng, on the other hand, was in good condition. Seeing that no one else was eating, he simply opened his stomach and ate all the remaining food.
Wang Xun saw that the elderly and children in his family were in poor condition and had no choice but to take them back to rest.
Gao Mingcheng was also invited to stay that night.
Standing in the yard of Wang Xun's house, he felt that it was quite simple.
This is already the suburbs. Although the land Wang Xun bought is relatively large, the house he built is very ordinary. There is a scrap yard in the front, the middle yard is for storing scraps, and only the row of rooms in the back are for people to live in.
Because they had planned to bring the elderly and children here in advance, there were enough rooms, so they could vacate one for Gao Mingcheng to stay temporarily.
Wang Xun was introducing his scrap yard to Gao Mingcheng, and said with a smile: "Collecting scrap requires a place to store things. There is no other way, so we can only buy land in such a remote place."
This place is indeed remote now, but Gao Mingcheng knows that once the capital develops, the land prices here will rise sharply.
Many years later, this piece of land alone was enough to make Wang Xun a wealthy man!
So he smiled and said, "This place is great. Although it's in the suburbs, it's spacious and comfortable to live in. There are fields nearby, so it's convenient to buy groceries."
Wang Xun originally thought that Gao Mingcheng would dislike this place, but after hearing what Gao Mingcheng said, he immediately became happy: "Yes, that's what I thought! Although my place is a little off the beaten track, the price I charge for scrap is two cents per pound higher than other places! That's why many people carry their scrap to my place to sell!"
While we were talking, we saw someone coming over to sell waste. The man was riding a modified tricycle with a large cargo box filled with all kinds of waste, including a large amount of waste paper, a broken black and white TV and an electric fan.
The outer shell of the electric fan is broken, revealing the copper wire in the base. The materials used in electric fans nowadays are very solid. A large amount of copper wire is used in each electric fan. These copper wires are expensive and can be sold for a lot of money.
The scrap yard in front was open. Although Wang Xun took Deng Wanwan back to his hometown for the New Year, he still hired someone to do the work.
Therefore, if someone came to sell scrap, Wang Xun didn't need to go forward. He just needed to stand by and watch like Gao Mingcheng.
Soon, the scrap seller's tricycle was emptied, and he left happily with the money he had just received.
After the people left, Wang Xun stepped forward to look at the waste he had just received, and then said to Gao Mingcheng: "This electric fan was broken by someone! Tsk tsk, the people in the capital are really rich. If it were people in our county, the electric fans at home would be so precious!"
Electric fans are necessary electrical appliances in summer, but when they are not needed, they will be covered with cloth to prevent dust from falling.
There is not much dust on this electric fan, but the cracks are obviously caused by being dropped or smashed.
Wang Xun squatted on the ground and fiddled with it for a while, then said, "The motor should be fine. I can make some money after selling it!"
Having said that, Wang Xun soon stopped paying attention to the broken televisions and electric fans, because although he had learned a little from his cousin and understood some of them, he was not very good at repairing them.
What he is best at is picking up bargains!
"Mingcheng, I'll take you to see my treasure!" Wang Xun knew that Gao Mingcheng was also collecting old things in the county, and had asked him to buy two paintings of horses, so he happily took out the key and opened the warehouse.
Some waste materials of little value are piled up in the open space in the yard, such as cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, etc.
Some valuable waste is naturally treated differently. They are all sorted into different categories and put into the warehouse and locked.
Of course, Wang Xun would not keep the most valuable items in the warehouse, but would hide them in his sleeping room and would not easily take them out to show others.
When the door of the warehouse opened, the first thing that came into view was a pile of old mahogany and a pile of Taihu stones.
Gao Mingcheng did not look closely at the mahogany and Taihu stones, but looked at the things on the shelves around him.
Wang Xun built shelves on three walls of the warehouse, and there were some things piled on them.
As soon as he entered the room, Wang Xun stretched out his hand and began to introduce: "Here are some of the things I like. Mingcheng, look at this - a stamp album! But most of the stamps in this stamp album are used. I peeled them off one by one from waste envelopes. They are not that valuable, it's purely a personal hobby!"
"And this pile of old newspapers, I also specially collected them. I plan to collect all the newspapers after the founding of the People's Republic of China by year, month and date. Of course, I haven't collected them all yet!"
"These are newspapers from the Republic of China era. The paper has turned yellow and brittle, but I'll keep them for now. Anyway, it's just a hobby."
"These are notebooks. Some of them belong to famous people, but most of them are unknown. We don't even know who the owners are. But I think the contents inside are interesting, so I'll keep them for now."
"And these are all various books. I think they are good, so I will keep them for now. I plan to let my children read them in the future, or sell them when there is a chance."
"These are the old things I collected. There are all kinds of bottles, jars, small cups and bowls, as well as some makeup boxes used by women."
As Wang Xun introduced them, Gao Mingcheng looked around one by one.
He opened the stamp album and saw that there were indeed quite a few stamps in it. Because this was the capital, Wang Xun had collected stamps from all over the country, even from abroad.
But because they were picked out from waste, these stamps were naturally used, with a stamp on each of them, and some were not peeled off properly and were damaged.
Therefore, it is not very valuable, but it is also good as a personal collection.
"Brother Wang, can I take a look here?" Gao Mingcheng asked. He didn't want to just rush through it, he wanted to flip through it and see if there was anything precious in it.
Wang Xun naturally agreed to this request.
(End of this chapter)
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