Meng Tao, who is in the provincial capital of Province D, is not idle every day. When Shen Yu and Meng Zhehan are at work, she goes around shopping by herself, sometimes taking the bus, sometimes riding a bicycle. She visits all the places she missed the last time she came to the provincial capital, and retraces the routes she has visited. Anyway, she has plenty of time.

I went to that quaint Chinese medicine store again and bought a batch of pills to put into the space; I also took a look at the pawnshop next door. It should be the same as the Chinese medicine store. It can survive in this era and there must be its own reasons.

Now they are all state-owned. People pawn their old items, but they can't get much money in return. However, the pawned items will be verified by relevant departments and experts and signed as antiques of a certain level. Those that are not worthy of being exhibited in museums will be put on display at the counter for sale at a low price.

But I guess there are probably not many customers buying these things these days, but occasionally there are foreign guests who might be interested.

Meng Tao felt that her imagination had been opened up, and she might have touched upon some truth: Could it be that these two shops were kept just for the "foreign friends" to visit? Or maybe they still held shares in the "foreign friends"? Her imagination was running wild, and she did not delay her work. While no one was in the shop, Meng Tao bought more than 20 antiques on the counter of the pawnshop, almost all of them: ancient root carvings, white jade carvings, jade pen holders, ivory pen holders, inkstones, brush washers; plum bottles, treasure bottles, flower plates, etc., all of which were very delicate and elegant, and had a long history and would increase in value in the future.

Instead of leaving them to foreign tourists to buy cheaply, it is better for her to keep them for herself. She is not short of money.

But having money is not enough. Buying too much at one time is considered bulk purchasing, which is usually only available in large organizations. If an individual comes up with such a large amount of financial resources, he will be questioned and must provide supporting documents.

Meng Tao tried to talk to the two staff members, but they were very principled and she couldn't get away with it. She didn't want to give up the things, so she had to call Shen Yu and send Ding Hao to get some documents and transport them away in a car.

Having lived in the provincial capital for three days, she of course did not miss out on several black markets in the provincial capital. She went there at night and Shen Yu wanted to go with her. They both gained a lot. Anyway, she would buy anything she was interested in. With the expansion of space, she no longer had to worry about having no place to store things.

In two days, she would return to Xingyang County, Mengzhou. Meng Tao remembered that she had promised a little boy that she would visit him if she had the chance to come to the provincial capital again. After breakfast that day, Shen Yu went to work, so she picked up her schoolbag, walked to the street, and got on the bus.

She found the street based on her memory. Deep in the alley, the courtyard door was still open. Just as Meng Tao walked up two stone steps, a boy of six or seven years old ran out. It was none other than Huang Xiaocheng.

Huang Xiaocheng was stunned when he saw Meng Tao. He asked in disbelief, "Are you that... Sister Meng? Uh, who are you looking for?"

This little brat, Meng Tao couldn't help laughing: "I'm Sister Xiao Meng, I want to find Huang Xiaocheng, I wonder if he is here?"

"Yes! Yes, I am Huang Xiaocheng!"

Huang Xiaocheng jumped up and down with joy, like a little frog, his eyes narrowed with smiles: "Sister Xiao Meng! You really came to see me? Sister Xiao Meng, how come you have changed so much? I almost couldn't recognize you!"

Meng Tao held him back, afraid that the little guy would accidentally jump down the stairs: "What have I become?"

"I've become very pretty, like a fairy in a movie, so pretty!"

"Wasn't I beautiful before?"

"Before? You were a little pretty, but your face was dark. Now you are white and pretty, really!"

Meng Tao was speechless: This is called children speaking without restraint? It's too hurtful.

Huang Xiaocheng pulled Meng Tao inside and shouted excitedly, "Grandpa! Sister Xiao Meng is here. Sister Xiao Meng keeps her word. She's here to see me!"

Uncle Huang coughed and walked out of the small gatehouse. He looked at Meng Tao in surprise and said, "Is it really Miss Meng who is here?"

Meng Tao smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Huang. I'm in the provincial capital again. I'll be going back in two days. I came to see you and Xiaocheng today."

After saying that, he took out a bag of cakes and snacks and a bag of White Rabbit milk candies from his bag. Seeing that Mr. Huang was coughing badly and might be sick, he took out a glass bottle of ketchup and a food bag of pickled cucumbers. These tomatoes and cucumbers were grown in space, and it was not good to take them out directly when they were fresh, so making them into sauce was also good for the body.

When Mr. Huang saw Meng Tao giving him another gift, he quickly waved his hand and said, "Little Miss Meng is too polite... They are all good things, but they cost money and require receipts. We can't accept them. You can take them back."

Meng Tao said: "The candy and cake are for Huang Xiaocheng. The ketchup and pickled cucumbers are homemade. It's been a while since they were picked. New vegetables are about to grow. I'm afraid the pickled ones from last year will go bad if we don't finish them. I brought some here specially to give you a taste of the countryside. Don't be disgusted."

When Mr. Huang heard what Meng Tao said, he quickly accepted it: "How dare I despise it? Such good food, we can't eat it normally, so thank you, Miss Meng!"

"Need not."

Meng Tao saw that both doors were wide open, so she asked, "Isn't this a warehouse? Why are the doors open?"

Mr. Huang said, "We're going to open the store today, and two trucks will be bringing in the goods soon."

Meng Tao was surprised: "Why is it still... didn't you say that you won't move things from other people's homes in the past two years?"

Mr. Huang knew what she meant. He coughed and nodded and said, "There is no such thing. However, there is a warehouse in the south of the city that occupies someone's yard. Now the owner wants to take back the yard, so the things piled up in it have to be moved. There is no place for the time being, so they decided to move them all here... Look, the yard inside and outside is full."

Grandpa Huang whispered, "There are a lot of books piled up in the inner courtyard. Don't you like books? Go in through the corridor over there and take whatever books you want. You have to leave by 10:30 because the delivery truck will be here at 11:30."

Meng Tao looked at her watch. It was already past nine. She could not wait to be polite and said to Mr. Huang, "Then I'll go in and take a look. There may be books I want."

"Go ahead and remember the time."

"Why."

"Sister Xiao Meng, I..."

Huang Xiaocheng wanted to follow, but Grandpa Huang dragged him back: "It's dusty inside, Xiao Meng can't take care of you, sit here and eat your candy."

For a child, the temptation of candy and cake must be infinite, so Huang Xiaocheng said nothing.

Meng Tao entered the inner courtyard and picked and chose among the piles of books in the room. She was buried under the books several times. Fortunately, she was strong and managed to crawl out. She escaped without any harm, but was covered in dust.

She also collected many ancient books, precious anthologies, and calligraphy and paintings by famous artists throughout the ages. When they were piled up in the space, they filled up about half a truck.

After flipping through the pile of books, she quickly went into the pile of furniture in the front yard. Last time, the space was too small to fit too much, but this time it was different. She took in a lot of those antique furniture, even if their arms and legs were broken.

The furniture is broken, but the wood is precious. Phoebe nanmu, old camphor wood, huanghuali wood, and small-leaf red sandalwood are called "every inch of wood is worth a gold" in later generations. Where can you find them?

If it can be repaired in the future, it will be repaired. If not, these woods can be used to make other things, which will also be valuable.

As for the porcelain, Meng Tao also looked carefully and only found a complete pastel-colored painted jar. The other precious porcelains were damaged during the transportation, which was a pity.

The time was almost up. Meng Tao thought for a moment and reached out to pick up a batch of porcelain fragments on the ground. These porcelains were too beautiful and precious. She wanted to keep the fragments. The society was developing and progressing, and the restoration technology would become more and more advanced. By then, she would choose an archaeological institute and find a chance to throw these fragments to them. Anyway, the experts were free, so she could let them piece them together and restore them. It would be fine as long as they could piece together one piece at a time and let people appreciate beautiful things.

Meng Tao walked back to the small gatehouse carrying a pile of books and five or six scrolls of calligraphy and painting in one arm. The grandparents and grandchildren couldn't help laughing when they saw her appearance. Huang Xiaocheng quickly took a rag and gave it to her: "Sister Xiao Meng, you have become the White-haired Girl this time, hurry up and dust yourself off!"

Grandpa Huang took back the rag and gave Meng Tao a chicken feather stick: "It's for wiping the table. It's too dirty. Use this."

Meng Tao walked to the door and dusted herself off. When she came back, she saw Huang Xiaocheng playing with several scrolls she had chosen. He also opened a landscape painting and looked at it carefully.

These are all paintings from the Yuan and Ming dynasties and are of great collection value. Two of the landscape paintings were created by famous artists and could be sold for tens of millions of yuan in the future.

"Xiaocheng, look at these mountains, this river, and the boats in the river. Are they beautiful?" Meng Tao asked.

Huang Xiaocheng nodded: "It looks great! There is a flag on the bow of the boat, and there is a little man. Are there little ducks in the river? There are two cows over here, and the little brother who is looking after the cows is riding on the cows' backs... Oh! I saw a small road in the mountains, and there are two people walking on it... It's really fun!"

"A painting is a small world. If you look at it slowly, you can find more interesting things in it."

"Oh, yes, there is a little bird here, and there is also... Sister Xiao Meng, I like this painting, can you take me to find another one?"

"No more. If you like this, I'll give it to you, but you have to keep it safe and don't let others see it. Don't tear it or damage it, and don't give it away casually. If you want to see it, you can hide and look at it secretly. When you grow up and understand this painting, you will know how precious it is."

"Sister Xiao Meng gave it to me. I must protect it and not let anyone see it. I hid it under my bed and Grandpa's bed!"

"It's not good to have moisture under the bed. It's best to wrap it in paper and hide it in a dry cupboard."

"Well, I'll let Grandpa do it for me!"

Meng Tao left Huang Xiaocheng several books suitable for children to read, and two ancient paintings he liked, one landscape painting and one detailed courtyard painting.

Meng Tao couldn't tell Grandpa Huang directly that the value of these two paintings would skyrocket in just ten years. She could only repeatedly remind him to help Huang Xiaocheng keep his beloved paintings safe, and that the child would thank his grandfather when he grew up.

(End of this chapter)