Return to the small mountain village in 1983

The old man looked at Lin Heng and said, "It's not that big, just a small lump. It's the rotten wood left over from the demolished old house of the landlord. It seems there are also some small furniture such as red sandalwood. I found it when I was renovating the old house a few days ago."

When Lin Heng heard this, he smiled and said, "Sure, bring all the things that can be used and those that cannot be used to show me. If they are real, not only can I exchange them for apples, but I can also give you money."

The old man was immediately happy when he heard it, and said repeatedly: "Okay, wait a moment, I will go back and get it for you."

Those things were just a pile of junk to him, and he felt it was worth it if he could pay back the money or exchange them for some apples.

"Are broken wooden lumps useful?" Xiulan asked curiously.

Xiaoxia even shook his hand and asked, "What is golden nanmu?"

Lin Heng smiled and said, "Of course it is useful. The simplest way is to make it into bracelets. If you don't want to sell it, you can use it yourself. Or grind it into powder and make incense, which is also very good."

"Is it the same as mine, Dad?" Xiaoxia took out the green fish stone she was wearing around her neck. The small stone looked even more radiant when she wore it.

"Yes, I'll make you a separate one to carry on your hand when the time comes." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Oh, I see." Xiulan nodded and pulled Xiaoxia to wait beside her.

While Xiulan was waiting, Lin Heng took a bucket and went to a nearby house to get half a bucket of water.

After a while, the old man came with two grandsons aged eight or nine, carrying two snakeskin bags. When they came to Lin Heng and the others, they dumped the things on the ground, and a large pile of dusty, tattered wood appeared on the ground.

"Most of them are rotten." Xiulan asked in confusion after taking a look. At first glance, there were only some wooden lumps, small wooden boards, and small wooden stakes.

The old man replied: "They were all smashed to pieces. The only good things left were an inkstone and a pen holder, and the rest were like this."

Lin Heng was not surprised by this. If it was really good, it would not have fallen into the hands of ordinary people. He first classified these materials. No matter whether it was red sandalwood or golden nanmu, they all had fragrance. Then he could basically tell the difference by wiping them with water and looking at the texture.

He picked out the things very quickly. More than half of them were not nanmu or red sandalwood, but it could be seen that they were basically good woods such as rosewood and camphor wood.

After picking them out, Lin Heng took a closer look at the rosewood inkstone and pen holder. The inkstone felt unusually heavy in his hand, and felt similar to a stone inkstone.

After washing with water, it turns purple-red. This is not lacquer, because you can clearly see the "cow hair pattern" belonging to the rosewood. After rubbing it twice with paper, you can see the obvious oily sheen, some tiny gold dots, and smell a light fragrance mixed with the scent of ink.

There is a beautiful pine and cypress pattern carved under the inkstone, which looks very beautiful.

But unfortunately, a piece of the upper left corner was smashed off. Although it does not affect the use, it loses its original beauty.

Compared to this inkstone, the pen holder is very complete with almost no damage. The cylindrical body of the pen holder is carved with bamboo patterns, which looks very artistic.

As for the material, it is similar to the inkstone, both are undoubtedly old red sandalwood with purple-red color and golden stars, with high density and sufficient oiliness.

In addition to these two, what made Lin Heng happy was that there were two more rosewood legs, which were more than 30 centimeters long, square in shape, and with a side length of four or five centimeters. This thing was extremely suitable for making a ruler or beads.

Then Lin Heng looked at these golden nanmu trees again. He could see that two of them were half of table legs, two were small blocks on pillars, and there were some miscellaneous ones that had no shape at all.

These things will sink to the bottom easily when thrown into the water. After washing, you can still smell the fragrance. The golden color and tiger-skin-like texture, without any signs of insect bites, make it clear that it is undoubtedly golden nanmu.

After Lin Heng finished reading, the old man smoked half of the cigarette Lin Heng gave him. He looked at Lin Heng and said, "Boss, how much can I give for this?"

"It's true that the ones I picked out are made of golden nanmu or red sandalwood, but they are good to use. The only intact ones are the pen holder and half of the inkstone."

Lin Heng first explained the reality of the situation, then looked at the old man and his two grandsons, and said after a moment of hesitation: "How about this, how about giving you a total of 20 yuan?"

"Twenty!" The old man was stunned, thinking he had misheard, and pointed his ear at Lin Heng and asked, "How much did you say?"

In fact, not only the old man, but also his two grandsons and Xiulan were a little surprised. The price offered by Lin Heng was a bit too high. She felt that ten yuan was already very high. After all, no one would want it if they didn't buy it.

But Lin Heng actually has his own ideas. In his opinion, these things are worth so much. If he takes them home and waits for a dozen years to go to the antique market, he can sell them for tens of thousands of dollars.

"Twenty dollars, do you think you can sell it?" Lin Heng shouted.

The old man heard it clearly this time, and he couldn't stop smiling: "Sell it, I will sell it. If I don't sell it, I will keep it for the New Year."

"Okay, I'll take these things." Lin Heng picked up the things and put them into the bag, and signaled Xiulan to pay.

Soon Xiulan counted out twenty yuan and handed it to the old man. The old man was so happy to receive the money that he couldn't close his mouth. He counted it twice with his saliva, and then took out two yuan and said, "I'll buy another eight kilograms of apples."

"No problem, you choose it yourself, and I'll weigh it for you when you're done." Lin Heng smiled and nodded. He felt like he had turned around.

Soon the old man and his grandson finished picking the apples, weighed them, and walked back with the apples in the bag. After walking two steps, he suddenly turned back and said, "I actually have a red sandalwood tea can. How much can you give me?"

He had actually sold red sandalwood and golden nanmu wood several times, but the purchasing vendors had always kept the prices very low, far lower than what Lin Heng offered today.

"If it's about the same size as this pen holder, I can give you ten dollars." Lin Heng said with a smile. The value of this kind of wooden furniture is not high, especially if it doesn't have any inscriptions or signatures. The price he gave is already very reasonable.

"Okay, wait a moment." The old man was quite satisfied when he heard the price. He looked at Lin Heng and nodded to indicate that he could sell it.

Lin Heng waited here for a while, and the old man took the apples back. After a while, he came back with a lotus pod-shaped carved rosewood box.

Lin Heng took a look at it and was delighted. This was better than the previous rosewood, because after washing it with water, he could see a lot of gold stars, which were denser than before.

After giving the money, he waved his hand, got in the car and drove away.

As they walked along the road, Lin Heng smiled and said, "Xiu Lan, we have made a profit today. If we take these things we just collected to Ancheng and sell them, how much do you think we can sell them for?"

"How much?" Xiulan asked curiously.

"It can probably be sold for a thousand bucks at least," Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan's beautiful eyes suddenly widened: "So many?"

Lin Heng smiled and said, "I'm still underestimating. There is no shortage of rich people in this world who collect antiques and curios. This is just a drop in the bucket."

"Well, I've really learned something new." Xiulan nodded.

"Next spring, I will find a chance to take you and the kids to Ancheng for a visit. It's much more prosperous than our Taibai City." Lin Heng said with a smile.

The purpose of making money is to have a better life. Compared with the small mountain village where they are now, there are too many beautiful paradises in the world. If you want to own those places, you have to pay for them. "Where are we going to sell them next? There are not many apples left in the car." Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and asked again. Because they can be exchanged for things, and the price is relatively cheap, they sell very quickly.

"Just stroll around here and then go home. Don't go too far." Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.

Then they went around two nearby villages and successfully sold all the apples.

“How much money did you make today?”

After selling the apples, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and asked.

"We brought 2,000 kilograms of apples, and if we sold them we would only get 205 yuan. The rest was exchanged for Chinese medicinal herbs, food and the like." Xiulan said with a smile.

"That's not bad." Lin Heng nodded.

"Dad, there is so much money. Can you give me one piece? I want to buy some candy." Xiaoxia said cutely while blinking her big eyes.

"This is your salary. You have made great contributions in selling fruits today. This dollar is yours. You can buy whatever you want." Lin Heng handed her a dollar and said.

"Okay, thank you Dad." Xiaoxia took the money and happily kissed Lin Heng on the face.

"Let's go, let's go home." Xiulan pulled her into the car.

Lin Heng looked at his watch. It was already 4:10 in the afternoon and it was time to go back.

Driving back, Xiulan taught Xiaoxia to sing nursery rhymes and drove back happily while looking at the scenery outside the window.

After walking for more than ten minutes, Xiulan suddenly said, "Hubby, stop for a moment. Look, there's a huge pear tree on the side of the road."

Lin Heng stopped the car and took a closer look. There really was a pear tree as thick as a small bowl, and it was full of large pears as big as dates.

Xiulan opened the door and got out of the car and said, "Let's go pick them. We can make more autumn pear paste this year. After boiling it with some loquat leaves, it can not only be eaten as a snack, but also moisturize the lungs and relieve coughs."

"That's for sure." Lin Heng nodded, took the machete and went down to clear a path. The road was difficult to walk on because of the pear tree under it.

After clearing the way, he pulled Xiulan and Xiaoxia down, then climbed up the tree himself. After climbing up, he looked at the two and said, "You two should stay away. I'm shaking."

"Okay." Xiulan took Xiaoxia to the edge.

Lin Heng watched them leave, hugged the tree and began to shake it wildly. Soon the tangli pears were shaken down like rain. Xiaoxia cheered excitedly from below. The tangli rain made her jump and dance with joy.

After shaking it three times in a row, Lin Heng gave up. Most of them had been shaken off, but the rest were still very solid and he had to use a stick to get them off.

But there were enough of them under the tree, so he didn't continue. In the afternoon, Lin Heng picked pears and tasted one. It was still the familiar taste, fragrant and astringent.

It took more than half an hour to pick the pears, and the harvest was quite good, filling up a whole snakeskin bag. When we weighed it in the car, it turned out to be 80 kilograms.

Xiulan smiled and nodded: "This bag can make several kilograms of autumn pear paste."

"Of course! Get in the car quickly and let's go home. I'm very hungry." Lin Heng urged. They had fried dough twists and instant noodles for lunch, which were not as filling as rice.

After his wife and children got in the car, he drove back quickly. At 5:10, he returned to Hongfeng Mountain. After he stopped the car, he shouted loudly, "Mom and Dad, is the meal ready? I'm so hungry."

"Your mother is making it. She has already prepared a few fried leek dumplings for tonight. You can eat two first to fill your stomach." Father Lin said as he walked over with his two grandsons.

"Okay." Lin Heng ignored his son, got out of the car, went into the house, took out three leek boxes, and gave one to his wife and child respectively.

The two children had cried when they left in the morning, and now they clung to their mother's thighs and refused to let her go. Xiulan had no choice but to take them into the house to sit down.

Lin Heng was not in a hurry to unload the goods and simply told his father about the sales situation.

"Your method is good. It's better to sell them all than to let them rot at home. You can also exchange them for some food, which is more durable than apples." Father Lin nodded and got into the car to unload the goods.

After placing the food and medicinal herbs separately, he looked carefully at the precious wood that Lin Heng had exchanged for.

"We can't tell anything like this. Let's go to your carpenter's room." Lin Heng took two pieces of wood and went into the room. He fixed the wood and used a planer to remove the oxide layer on the surface. The beautiful wood grain inside was revealed.

"It's indeed good wood. What are you going to make it into?" Father Lin asked after taking a look.

"I haven't thought about the other things yet. I plan to make the thin wooden board into two combs and a hairpin, and grind the rest into beads, and use the powder to make incense." Lin Heng said to his father.

"Is that so? Then take your time." Father Lin smiled and patted his shoulder.

Lin Heng was not in a hurry. There were special tools for making beads now. He could go to an antique shop and spend some money to make them. He was going to try making the hairpins and combs himself.

When she returned to the house, Lin's mother had already made the chive dumplings and started cooking.

In the evening, I simply fried two meat dishes and three vegetable dishes, plus a vegetable and egg soup, drank a little wine, and finished my dinner slowly.

After dinner, it was already completely dark. Lin Heng drove his sidecar to take Xiulan and the children home. The Tangli and the wood were all left on Hongfeng Mountain. He would pick them up when he came to milk the cows the next morning.

"Are we going to sell apples tomorrow?" Xiulan asked as they walked down the road.

"No, let's take a day off and go back to sell them in a few days. There will only be more than 2,000 kilograms of apples left, so there's no need to worry about selling them." Lin Heng said.

"Then shall we kill a black goat and have hotpot tomorrow?" Xiulan asked again.

Lin Heng thought for a moment and said, "It depends on the situation. It's not impossible to kill him tomorrow."

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the door of the house. Xiulan took out the key and opened the door, and Dazhuang Xiongba came out to greet her.

They went into the house and first prepared some dinner for the dog. They hadn't fed the dog at noon, so they had to feed it again at night.

After feeding the dog, the two of them took the child to wash up, went to see the persimmons, and then happily lay down on the bed to rest. They had a very fulfilling and happy day today.

The next morning, after getting up and completing his daily exercise, Lin Heng couldn't wait to go to Hongfeng Mountain to get back the wood he bought yesterday. (End of this chapter)