Chapter 10: Antique Hunting
When Qiao Qinglu arrived near the recycling station, she found a dead end as usual, took out the empty bamboo basket and gray cover from the space, and carried them into the recycling station.
It was cold now, and there was only an old man, the janitor, sitting at the door warming himself by the fire. She told him that she was there to find some old newspapers and furniture, and he let her in.
Inside was a small courtyard, with a pile of broken tables, chairs, bed frames, wooden boards, and a pile of scrap metal on the left; a pile of books, newspapers, magazines, picture books, etc. on the right; and three locked rooms at the end.
Now that no one was in the yard, Qiao Qinglu hurriedly began to pick. She first found a huanghuali dressing box and a rosewood flower table on the left, and then found a lot of old newspapers and comic books on the right. She also found a 100 stamp album, and found most of the "Self-study Series of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry". The only things left were two volumes of chemistry, one volume of plane geometry, one volume of plane analytic geometry, and one volume of trigonometry.
Qiao Qinglu put all the small items she found into the bamboo basket, leaving only the table. Then she used the bamboo basket as a cover and took out a few sheets of toilet paper from the space to wipe her hands. Then she took out a handful of White Rabbit milk candies and walked to the door.
Qiao Qinglu put the basket on the ground, squatted beside the old man, and stuffed the candy into his pocket. "Uncle, I have something to ask you. This candy is for your child to sweeten his mouth."
The old man took out a White Rabbit candy, took a look at it, and asked, "Girl, what do you want to know? Public property is registered and cannot be taken carelessly."
Qiao Qinglu waved her hands repeatedly and said, "Uncle, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to ask if you have a complete bunk bed, tables and chairs, etc. My two brothers are getting married, and I'm not looking for something to decorate their room. I'd like to buy some things to look at. I'll settle the price."
Seeing Qiao Qinglu's sincerity, the old man asked, "Do you really want these big items? Can you keep them?"
Qiao Qinglu said, "If you really want it, I have the money. Don't worry, if I don't dare to buy it, I can keep it and won't have anything to do with you."
The old man staggered to his feet, walked towards the middle room at the end, unlocked the door and walked in. Qiao Qinglu followed him into the room.
The room was furnished with a rosewood carved canopy bed, a huanghuali carved canopy bed, a rosewood four-piece cabinet with a top box and relief, a rosewood treasure cabinet, a large golden nanmu chest, a large huanghuali chest, two huanghuali armchairs, and a rosewood kang cabinet.
Qiao Qinglu was delighted to see these pieces of furniture. These were all well-preserved Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture. She quickly asked, "Master, how much are these?"
The old man didn't miss the joy in her eyes. He caressed the old items and thought, "Well, since he couldn't keep them himself, he'd let them go with this destined girl." The old man said, "I won't ask for much from you. These are all complete old furniture, and they're quite old. The rosewood frame bed is 300 yuan, the cabinet is 200 yuan, the treasure cabinet is 160 yuan, the kang table is 80 yuan, the huanghuali frame bed is 200 yuan, the chest is 100 yuan, the two armchairs are 160 yuan together, and the golden nanmu chest is 200 yuan. Add those you bought outside, and the total is 1,405 yuan. Just give me 1,400 yuan."
"僢," Qiao Qinglu took out a small cloth bag from her pocket, took out a stack of Great Unity banknotes, counted out 130 of them, and then took out 8 five-yuan notes, 18 two-yuan notes, and 24 one-yuan notes and gave them to the old man.
As the old man was counting the money, Qiao Qinglu pointed to a nearby dead end alley and said, "Uncle, I need you to find me a few carts to move the furniture to that alley."
The old man was familiar with the area. As soon as he saw the place Qiao Qinglu pointed to, he knew that she had some ulterior motives. The old man did not expose her. He found two tight-lipped drivers to load the furniture onto a cart, covered it tightly with raincoats, and delivered all the furniture in several trips.
Then the old man locked the room and continued to warm himself by the fire at the door.
The next morning, a group of Red Guards broke into the recycling station, grabbed the old man without saying a word, slandered him for hiding feudal dregs, snatched his keys and opened all the rooms at the end. In the end, there was nothing inside. The informant and the Red Guards were all dumbfounded and left in shame.
The old man was frightened for a moment. He thought it was a good thing that the girl had transported those old friends away yesterday, otherwise both they and he would have suffered. But that’s all in the past.
However, Qiao Qinglu was waiting in the alley for the two workers to finish unloading the furniture. She gave each of them 30 cents as labor fee. It was rare for the two of them to meet such a generous customer, so they thanked him repeatedly and left.
After they were far away and the alley returned to peace, Qiao Qinglu put the pile of furniture and bamboo baskets into the warehouse for storing fabrics and daily necessities. Without taking a closer look, she hurried to the Xie family's yard.
It was already 2:40 in the afternoon when Qiao Qinglu arrived at the alley leading to Xie's courtyard.
She went into the yard, bolted the door, took out 30 military coats, 30 watches, 40 military water bottles, and 20 pairs of cotton boots from the space and piled them in the main room, then she breathed a sigh of relief.
This time she was in a hurry and the recycling station was a bit far from here, so she should just ride a bike back and forth next time.
Thinking of this, Qiao Qinglu took out another 28-inch bicycle from the space. She would ask Brother Yong if he had any way to get the bicycle stamped, and then exchange some tickets with him, so that it would be convenient for her to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy some cigarettes, alcohol, etc.
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