Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 370: Picking up bargains at street stalls
Yan Bugui and Yang Ruiping came and left in a hurry. Yan Jiekuang kept asking his parents the purpose of their visit: were they coming back to live permanently or to do business?

Yan Bugui just said, "Just mind your own business. Don't worry about our affairs." Then he asked Yan Jiekuang to send someone to send the old couple back home, along with an air conditioner.

The hot summer makes people feel listless. Only in the morning and evening can there be a hint of coolness. These days, Yan Jiekuang put a few dollars in the pockets of several children so that they could buy some cold soda or ice cream after lunch.

Yan Jiekuang, wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, blue pants, and black cloth shoes, rode the old car and went straight to the restoration center. He has now adapted to the current state of going to and from work. He has already learned mounting and decoration. Of course, Old Liu and Master Zhang have no intention of accepting him as their apprentice, but they don't mind him learning from them. These two days, Yan Jiekuang is following Old Liu to restore the "Imperial Edict of the Orthodox Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

In the morning, Yan Jiekuang was still in his workshop, repairing Ming and Qing furniture, and occasionally some gold and silver wares. Dean Ouyang knew that Mr. Jin had passed on his skills to him, but he didn't know what level Yan Jiekuang was at. However, after several assessments, Dean Ouyang was relieved that Yan Jiekuang was holding two positions at the same time.

It was almost noon when Yan Jiekuang's mobile phone rang. He picked up the call and it was Lou Xiao'e calling, saying that a wealthy businessman was asking whether several buildings invested by Yan Jiekuang were for sale.

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "Except for the two buildings in Central, all the others can be sold. It's up to you to decide."

Lou Xiao'e smiled and said, "Just wait for your share of the money. By the way, should we keep it here or transfer it to Kodak?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "Why don't you ask me whether I want to transfer the money to my personal account?"

Lou Xiao'e said: "I have to be responsible for my best friend. Besides, if I really transfer, how long can you stay?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, transfer it to my Swiss account. You know the number. I need this money."

Lou Xiao'e pouted and said, "I know. I'm hanging up."

Yan Jiekuang immediately heard the dead tone of the phone and thought, whose sister is this? She actually sides with an outsider. No, Ji Lian is my wife.

He was just daydreaming when Old Liu pushed the door open and came in. He was stunned and said, "You actually have a mobile phone? How come I didn't know about it?"

"I just got it two days ago, how do you check it?" Then he handed the phone to Old Liu.

Old Liu almost forgot why he came here. He just sat there fiddling with his mobile phone and having a great time.

Yan Jiekuang shook his head and went back to work. After a while, he heard the voice of Old Liu on the phone, "Old Zhang, do you know who I am? Guess what I'm calling you with?"

Yan Jiekuang was so happy. Old Liu was so old, why did he act like a child who saw a new toy?

It was time for lunch, and Old Liu handed the mobile phone back to Yan Jiekuang. The two of them went to the boiler room to get lunch boxes. When they came back, Master Zhang also came with his own lunch box.

The three of them sat together, eating and chatting. After Master Zhang had eaten Yan Jiekuang's dishes, he said he would exchange lunch boxes with him. Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "Forget it today. I've already eaten half of it. Tomorrow I'll bring a few dishes and we'll have a good meal. I'll invite those people over as well."

The two of them agreed. At this time, Old Liu remembered why he was looking for Yan Jiekuang, and said, "Old Third, the large area east of Dongcheng and west of Chaoyang will be relocated. Shall we go there?"

"Okay, this is a good thing. I guess there will be a lot of good stuff." Yan Jiekuang said.

Master Zhang said, "No, I'll go too. I can't miss out on such a good thing. Don't worry, I know the rules and I won't cause any trouble."

After work, the three did not go home. Instead, they rode three bicycles and headed east. When they got there, they were stunned. Every household had set up stalls at the door, mainly selling second-hand goods. There were also people selling candied haws and ice cream on the street. The hawking sounds were one after another. It was a real chaos.

Old Liu looked at his watch and said, "Let's split up and meet at 8 o'clock. That's it for today. We'll have a good time on the weekend." The other two nodded and went their separate ways.

Yan Jiekuang was walking eastward along Shijia Hutong, looking around as he walked. Not far away, he saw a young man wearing frog-eye glasses leaning against a courtyard wall smoking a cigarette. His stall was not big, and mostly sold stamp albums, old books, tapes and other things. Yan Jiekuang squatted down and flipped through the stamp albums. When he looked at the first one, he saw several fine stamps, the most famous of which was "The Mountains and Rivers of the Motherland Are All Red".

Looking at Yan Jiekuang squatting down and looking at the stamp album seriously, Toad Mirror said, "Hey, buddy, how about it? If you are interested, I can give you a discount."

Yan Jiekuang counted them and said, "These are the only ones I have. Are there any more?"

"Dude, it seems you know a lot about this. You're a stamp enthusiast just like my dad. You still have some stamps, but they're not in albums. There are whole sheets. I saw there were no postmarks, so I thought they were probably not worth much, so I didn't take them out." said Toad Glasses.

Yan Jiekuang's heart trembled, but he said calmly, "If you have any, bring them all out. I'll take them all."

"Okay!" Toad Mirror said to another young man not far away, "Si'er, help me take a look. I'll go back and get something."

Yan Jiekuang looked at the old books beside him. He lost interest after reading a few of them. Many of them were useless. At this time, Toad Mirror brought a box over and placed it in front of Yan Jiekuang, saying, "These are all brought by my father. Take a look."

"If your father doesn't want it anymore, can you take a look at it if you have nothing else to do?" Yan Jiekuang asked doubtfully.

"The old man passed away last year and left nothing behind but this pile of junk. If you want it, just give you a hundred dollars," said Toad Glasses.

Yan Jiekuang flipped through the stamps in the box for a few times and knew that the man's father was a senior stamp collector, so he didn't bargain and directly took out a hundred yuan from his bag and gave it to Toad Mirror. Toad Mirror's face was full of joy. After paying the money, he enthusiastically helped Yan Jiekuang tie the box to the back seat of the car. Yan Jiekuang then pushed the cart inside. After walking for a while, he didn't see anything good, so he turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs Street and continued to look around. As he walked, Yan Jiekuang saw an object that interested him, a wooden round box with a small Penglai Fairy Island on the top and the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea on the bottom. At first glance, it looked like a fake mahogany box. Yan Jiekuang parked the car and squatted there, as if looking at those old goods, but in fact he was carefully observing the round box.

Yan Jiekuang asked about a wooden box, which was used to store snacks. A few years ago, it was everywhere on the street. The stall owner casually said "ten yuan". Yan Jiekuang asked four or five times in a row. The stall owner was tired of being asked and said, "They are all the same, ten yuan. If you want one, take it. If you don't want one, forget it."

"Okay, the main thing is that I need it, so I'll buy one." Yan Jiekuang took out ten yuan and handed it to the stall owner. The stall owner took the money and ignored him, concentrating on serving a customer who asked about watches. Yan Jiekuang picked up the round box, quickly stood up, put the box into the cardboard box on the back seat of the car, and pushed the cart away.

Yan Jiekuang looked at the time and saw that it was almost eight o'clock, so he rode his bike to the agreed place. Unexpectedly, he was the first one to come back. Yan Jiekuang parked his bike against the wall and stood there to light a cigarette. Before he finished smoking it, the two of them came back.

The two men were all smiling, and it seemed that they had both gained something. When they saw such a big box on the back seat of Yan Jiekuang's car, they were very curious. Yan Jiekuang said, "It's a stamp collector's collection, a little extra."

The two people suddenly realized, and Old Liu said proudly: "Come and take a look, this tortoiseshell snuff bottle, although it has no signature, it is also a fine product." Then he took out two snuff bottles from his bag, one was silver and the other was tortoiseshell. The silver one had an ordinary pattern, while the tortoiseshell one had a picture of a maid holding a lantern, which was really nice.

Old Liu asked Master Zhang, "Master Zhang, what treasure did you find?"

Master Zhang smiled modestly and said, "I just bought a brush. Please give it a try."

Old Liu took the item from Master Zhang and looked at it carefully. He took a deep breath and said, "It's a genuine item. It's rare."

Yan Jiekuang took a look and saw that the black pen holder was inlaid with gold patterns, and the patterns were brocade patterns, which were very beautiful. Yan Jiekuang gave a thumbs up and said, "It is an item from the Qianlong period. Not bad, a fine product."

Master Zhang asked, "You didn't just collect the stamps, did you?"

"Well, there is another box, carved in red," said Yan Jiekuang.

Master Zhang was surprised and said, "Hurry up, take it out and let us see it, quickly." Old Liu also showed an interested expression.

Yan Jiekuang took out the box and handed it to Master Zhang. Master Zhang looked at it carefully and was stunned. Old Liu snatched it away and looked at it carefully. As he was looking at it, Master Zhang said, "It belongs to Yongle. It's a national treasure."

Old Liu's hands trembled and he almost dropped it. He held it tightly and looked carefully, and he also saw it.

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "Luck, luck. We'll have to go shopping on the weekend. There are really treasures here. This one of mine is a round box with a Yongle pattern of Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea. How about it? You have good taste, right?"

Old Liu returned the box to Yan Jiekuang and said, "Let's go home and have a rest. I can't wait until the weekend. I'll come after get off work tomorrow." Master Zhang nodded in agreement.

Yan Jiekuang put the box back into the paper box, said hello to the two of them, and rode home.

After knocking on the door and entering the courtyard, Tian Guixiang asked, "Why is it so late? Have you eaten?"

"I have something to do and haven't eaten yet. Don't worry about me. I'll make myself something to eat." Yan Jiekuang parked the car in the front yard, carried the big box to the study, and then went to the kitchen to make himself some food.

While he was eating, he seemed to hear a noise coming from the study. Yan Jiekuang took the bowl and ran to the study, as he was afraid that the child might break the box without careful attention.

When I got to the study, I saw not only the child but also Ji Lian. Ji Lian asked, "Where did you get so many stamps?"

While eating, Yan Jiekuang told them what happened after get off work. The children were very happy when they heard that they had picked up a big bargain.

At this time, Xiaopang ran over and said, "Dad, I have a request."

"Stop it, you collect picture books, so where do you find the time to collect stamps? Besides, can you calm down and learn about stamp collecting?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Shi Li pulled Yan Jiekuang's arm and said, "I can learn. Can I collect stamps, good father?"

"No, I'll give the picture book to Xiaohai, I want to collect stamps." Xiaopang shouted.

Shi Li said, "You're just loving everyone you see, so you're not loyal. Besides, no one competed with you last time, so can't you be more modest this time?"

Xiaopang said: "Teacher said that if you love what you do, you should never stop learning martial arts."

The two of them started arguing, and Yan Jiekuang could no longer eat. He said, "Stop, there are a lot of stamps here. You can each take half, and then you can collect stamps slowly on your own. It can also be considered your hobby."

Xiaopang was happy and shouted, "Xiaohai, all my picture books are yours. Even the shelf has been moved away." Xiaohai was stunned by this sudden happiness. He looked at Xiaopang with his mouth wide open and didn't say anything for a long time.

Yan Jiekuang and Ji Lian burst out laughing when they saw it.

(End of this chapter)