Chapter 101 Procurement
The two walked in and Ziyi closed the door.
Yi Ke looked around the basement carefully: it was a very spacious square room with a row of black charcoal stacked against the wall. The basement was not at all cold and damp as the legend had it.
In the middle of the basement, there are rows of wooden shelves, on which are placed various antiques: landscape painting folding fans, blue-and-white porcelain bowls, and yellow-glazed carved lidded jars from the Ming Dynasty; blue-and-yellow glazed four-handled jars and blue-and-white glazed four-handled jars from the Tang Dynasty; pottery soul bottles from the Song Dynasty and ceramic puppies from the Northern Song Dynasty; hollow celestial globe porcelain bottles from the Qing Dynasty; large colorful porcelain plates with figures made by the Ming Dynasty Emperor Xuande; A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains by Wang Ximeng from the Northern Song Dynasty...
There was also a shelf with five wooden boxes. When they were opened, two of them were found to be filled with yellow gold bars; the other boxes contained various gold and silver jewelry; and some jade ornaments. Yike looked at it with surprise and couldn't bear to touch it with his hands. He really didn't expect Ziyi to be so capable.
"The antiques and gold here were all stolen from antiquities dealers." Ziyi told Yike about an incident that happened two years ago.
That time, Ziyi and Tang Jianguo went to the south to import a batch of electrical appliances and found that the goods in the hands of the foreigners were all domestic antiques. If they allowed the foreigners to take them abroad, these national treasures would never be brought back.
So Ziyi and Tang Jianguo, with their skills and courage, not only stole the treasures back, but also beat up the foreigner, found the antiquities dealer who sold them to them, found the thieves' den, and confiscated a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. They did not hand them over to the country because even if they did, they might be stolen and sold abroad again.
The treasure in this basement is only a part of it. Some of it is with Tang Jianguo, and some of it is in the basement under Ma Youcai and Liu Bing's house. However, Ma Youcai and Liu Bing don't know that there is a basement under their house, and Tang Jianguo doesn't know either. Money can tempt people, and Ziyi thinks that some things should not test human nature.
Ziyi asked Yi to choose some jewelry she liked to wear out. Yi chose some jade ornaments of good quality and some gold jewelry, and put them in a small wooden box separately. She didn't take them out because it wouldn't be safer to take them out than to keep them here. The reason she chose them out was because she was afraid that Ziyi would sell them later. Yi had to keep these for herself and her future children.
Coming out of the basement, Ziyi took Yike to a courtyard house on the left. The gate was locked from the inside.
"Knock knock knock!" Ziyi reached out and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Soon, a male voice came from behind the door.
"Ma Youcai, stop dawdling and open the door!" Ziyi yelled.
"Open, open now!" The door opened and a familiar face appeared. "Brother, sister, you are here!" Ma Youcai welcomed Ziyi and Yike into the house, closed the door, and immediately walked forward to lead the way.
"Liu Bing, Dong Guoqing, look who's here?" Ma Youcai shouted loudly towards the main hall.
"Who is it?"
"Brother! Ah! Brother is here!"
"Ichiko sister! It's Ichiko sister who's here!"
"Brother, sister Yike, did you make an appointment? Everyone is here!"
"Who else is coming?" Ziyi asked.
"Ziyi! Sister-in-law!" Tang Jianguo appeared from behind everyone.
"Brother! It's me, it's me, haha! I was just wondering how to meet you, and you're here." A baby-faced young man jumped out from the main room, "Little sister-in-law, hello! I'm the youngest brother of big brother, my name is Wang Hongjun. I've always heard that Brother Youcai and the others have sisters, and I'm so envious. Little sister-in-law, can you be my sister too? They and I are brothers, and if you're their sister, you're my sister, too. From now on, I'll call you sister, okay? Sisters are closer than sisters-in-law! Just agree!"
"Get out! This is our sister, what does it have to do with you? Stop shouting!" Ma Youcai was the first to object.
"I'm not calling you, Yike sister. Don't listen to his nonsense. My family only has boys and I prefer girls. Yike sister, just agree, okay? Hey, Yike sister smiled, which means she agreed. Yike sister! Yike sister! Haha! I have a sister too." The young man named Wang Hongjun saw Yike smiling and immediately took advantage of the situation, insisting that Yike agreed. Ma Youcai, Wang Feng, Dong Guoqing, Liu Bing and others were so angry that they rushed forward. The besieged Wang Hongjun screamed "Ouch, ouch" repeatedly, and did not forget to shout "Sister, help me!"
"Alright, alright! If you've had enough fun, just go in and sit down. This is the first time your sister is here, why don't you prepare something to entertain her?" Tang Jianguo shook his head and smiled.
"Pumpkin seeds, the melon seeds I brought back. Sister Yi Ke, I brought more than 100 kilograms of spiced melon seeds from the provincial capital, they are delicious! I will pack a bag for you later. You can take all of them back if you want to eat them, as a gift from your brother. Don't be like those shameless people who only know how to take advantage of you. I heard that you gave each of them a cow, but they didn't know how to give you a gift. Don't pay attention to them in the future..." Wang Hongjun squeezed out of the encirclement, his hair was messy, his clothes were wrinkled, and there were several footprints on his trouser legs and shoes. He kept talking to Yi Ke.
"Get out of the way! Let Yike go into the main hall and sit down to rest." Ma Youcai pushed aside Wang Hongjun who was squeezing in front of Yike and said to Yike, "Sister Yike, come into the main hall and sit down to talk. Your other brothers and I have something good to give you. Don't listen to his nonsense."
"Yes, yes! Sister Yike, we have prepared a gift for you since we came back from the mountains. We are waiting for you to come over."
"Brother, sister Yike, today is such a great day. Everyone has come here without any prior arrangement. Haha, let's have a good meal to celebrate today." Wang Feng finally overcame many difficulties and came in front of Ziyi and Yike. Previously, he had been blocked behind them and couldn't even show up to say hello. As soon as he showed up, he talked about food. Dahuo looked at him with contempt, and Dong Guoqing even sneered:
"A foodie is a foodie. When has Big Brother ever left you without food? When have you ever eaten so much that you couldn't walk?"
"Tsk! You make it sound like you don't eat. But I just like to eat! Yike girl, let me tell you in secret, that Red Army soldier's cooking is delicious, and his ancestors were imperial chefs. Ask him to show you his skills later. Haha!" Foodie Wang Feng slurped his saliva.
"Wang Feng, do you want to be beaten? I saved a surprise for a girl named Yi Ke and you ruined it. You have to compensate me!" Wang Hongjun grabbed Wang Feng and started pulling him. Others cheered nearby.
Ziyi and Yike followed Ma Youcai and Tang Jianguo into the main room and sat down, ignoring those funny guys.
"Red Army, where are your five-spice melon seeds? Who can pour a cup of sugar water for Yi Ke?" Tang Jianguo shouted.
"I'll go get some melon seeds."
"I'll go get some water."
"I'll go get the candy. I just know where the candy is!" Those who didn't rush to work came to the table and sat down obediently. After everyone sat down, Ziyi started to speak: "All the brothers are here today. What Wang Feng said just now is very right. We brothers haven't been together like this for a long time, so I'll have to ask Hongjun to show off his skills and let us brothers enjoy the cooking skills of the imperial chef. Hongjun, is that okay?"
"Okay! Absolutely! As a man you can't say no!" Wang Hongjun immediately guaranteed.
"Do you want a beating? Do you want your big brother to punish you? Don't you see that Sister Yi Ke is here? How dare you talk so carelessly?" Wang Feng slapped Wang Hongjun on the back of the head.
"Haha! Slip of the tongue! Slip of the tongue!" Wang Hongjun shrank his head.
"You two go buy some food, we'll have dinner here tonight."
"Yeah! Big brother is wise!" Wang Feng cheered.
"Since we are all here today, why don't we just talk about the recent situation outside. Who will go first?" Ziyi said after looking around at everyone.
“Let me do it, let me do it.” Ma Youcai spoke first. “After this flood, many crops were not planted, and even the crops that were planted were not good. Many rice plants in the paddy fields began to suffer from a disease called white leaf blight. I heard from old farmers that even if the rice plants with this disease are cured, the ear shape will become smaller and the number of grains will decrease. Large tracts of paddy fields in our commune have this phenomenon, and I heard that other communes are similar…” Ma Youcai explained the situation of their commune in detail.
"Our commune also has the same phenomenon. Not only are the crops sick, but many people are also sick. The town health center does not have enough wards, and the corridors are full of patients." The situation in the commune where Ma Youcai, Wang Feng, Dong Guoqing and Liu Bing are located is almost the same. The crops are not good, and it seems that the production will be reduced this year. People also suffered from many disasters, and countless people were sick and hungry.
"There's nothing special changing in the provincial capital, except that prices are getting higher day by day. Meat is only available once a month, and even on the black market we can't get meat. Many people above us secretly say they'll pay any price, as long as they can get the meat, price is not a problem. I came back this time just for this matter. Big brother, do you have any solution? A hundred pounds will do." Wang Hongjun said.
"Hongjun, why didn't you tell me earlier? My brother just got thousands of kilograms of meat to sell some time ago. You are a little unlucky." Wang Feng teased.
"Really?" Wang Hongjun held his head and cried out in pain, "Oh my flesh! If I had known, I would have come back earlier. No, Brother Tang knew about this. I reported it to Brother Tang! Brother Tang, why didn't you tell Big Brother?"
"I've told Ziyi about it, but the provincial capital is too far away and the weather is warm, so it would have gone bad if it was delivered, so we sold it on the spot." Tang Jianguo said lightly.
"What should we do? This is a rare good business. There will be no future after today." Wang Hongjun had a sad face.
"You are giving out disaster money. If there hadn't been this flood, meat wouldn't be in such short supply, right?" Yi Ke hated people who tried to make money by doing anything.
"My sister, you misunderstood me. Although I can make money by selling meat, they also get to eat meat. If I don't sell meat to them, they won't have meat to eat for a long time, and their health will definitely be bad. If the health is bad, they will get sick, and if they get sick, they need to see a doctor, which costs money. When I sell meat to them, it is also a disguised way of providing them with health and saving money on medical treatment, so I am helping them." Wang Hongjun complained.
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