Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

Xu Damao reached out, grabbed two parrots and a lark, and used wide strips of cloth to tie the four birds' feet together in pairs so that they could not fly away.

"Brother, one bird is five dollars. You only need to give me twenty dollars for these four birds. Why did you give me thirty dollars?"

"It's a good thing you met me, brother. I'm an honest man! If it were someone else, they would have stolen the ten dollars from you!"

Xu Damao took the money handed over by the middle-aged man and felt something was wrong. He rubbed his thumb and index finger together and sure enough, there was an extra Big Unity banknote.

So he took out one and handed it over, and stuffed the remaining two into his pocket.

"Hey! It's just two bills. How could I be wrong? I gave you ten more dollars because I thought you would sell me the bird cage. I bought the bird but I don't have a cage at home to keep it."

As the middle-aged man spoke, he picked up the lantern in his left hand and was about to pick up the bamboo birdcage with his right hand.

"Wait a minute, I'm not selling the bird cage. Not to mention there are some parrots in it, I won't buy it even if there aren't any."

"This cage was left by my great-grandfather as a family heirloom. If I sell it, my father will break my legs. I dare not sell it!"

Xu Damao reached out to stop the middle-aged man from picking up the birdcage and refused directly.

"By the way, big brother, you want to raise a dragon. There is a bird cage seller about 20 to 30 steps away. They are new and much better looking than this broken bird cage of mine."

"These birds have gotten used to living in your cage. If you rashly change to a new cage, I guess they won't get used to it."

"I don't care. I only sell birds, not cages..."

The two men argued for a while, and when the middle-aged man raised the price of the bird cage to fifty yuan, Xu Damao was still shaking his head like a rattle.

"If that's the case, I don't want these birds anymore. Give me your money back."

Seeing that Xu Damao was not interested, the middle-aged man gave up his desire to buy the birdcage and wanted to return it directly.

"I can return the money, but you just said you wanted to buy these birds, and now you're going back on your word and want to return them."

"My birds were frightened. I can return them, but I can only give you 3 yuan for each bird."

"Hey, how can you be so bad? You bought something for five dollars, but you only refunded three dollars! How can you do business like this? You are a liar!"

The middle-aged man was a little angry and embarrassed. He pointed at Xu Damao in a rough voice, put down the lantern and walked forward, as if he was going to beat Xu Damao if they disagreed.

"Put your finger down! Or I'll break it for you! Let's be fair, didn't he just say he wanted to buy my birds?"

"I took out the bird and tied it up for him, but now he doesn't want it anymore. Isn't this just a joke? I'm good enough that I didn't spank you. You're not young anymore, but you've done it to a living dog!"

Xu Damao was also not polite. He suddenly stood up and walked towards the middle-aged man. His aura was much stronger than that of the middle-aged man.

After all, it wasn't very obvious when he was sitting on the stool just now, but when he suddenly straightened his back, his 1.8-meter tall stature still felt quite oppressive.

When the middle-aged man saw Xu Damao cursing and waiting for me to come over, he stopped moving forward and slowly backed away. After all, he probably would not be able to win in a fight, and a wise man would not suffer a loss in front of him.

When the quarrel broke out, people nearby were watching the fun. When they saw that a fight was about to break out, they came out to stop the fight and persuaded them to stop. The middle-aged man also left after being persuaded by several people.

Of course I took the four little birds with me. Don’t even mention the refund, hehe.

In this way, Xu Damao sold all the fish, and also sold a few parrots, larks and orioles. But perhaps because the news spread, no one came to buy Xu Damao's high-priced birds because of those bird cages.

"Little brother, how much is this stone?"

"Four hundred dollars, a discounted price, it can't be any lower."

Xu Damao was drinking tea when he saw a middle-aged man in Tang suit who was playing with a piece of sand pear peel and Hetian seed material. He asked about the price and directly quoted a price that he thought was acceptable.

It was obvious at first glance that the middle-aged man in the Tang suit was a wealthy man. In his previous life, Xu Damao was known for his poisonous eyes. With the light of the lantern in front of the middle-aged man, he could see that every button on the Tang suit was a white jade lotus leaf button!

It is to carve a piece of jade into a lotus leaf shape of the same size, and then sew it onto the Tang suit. It is not only very exquisite, but also low-key, luxurious and meaningful.

Much more low-key than those nouveau riche who wear gold and silver.

Just such a small jade lotus leaf button, and it seems that it is made of Hetian jade. Just one button like this was worth several thousand dollars in the previous life!

"Little brother, you're asking for four hundred dollars for just an ordinary stone. Isn't that too much?"

The middle-aged man in Tang suit was not annoyed, but asked with a smile, showing his extraordinary self-restraint and bearing.

"Seeing that you are a very good person, I will explain the value of this stone to you in detail."

"Hey! Little brother, tell me what you have to say. I am all ears."

The middle-aged man touched the exquisitely carved Hetian jade ring in his hand with a half-smile, walked closer to Xu Damao, and pretended to listen carefully.

"Brother, this is not some broken stone. Although it looks ugly, it is genuine Hetian jade seed material!"

When Xu Damao said this, he saw a hint of surprise on the middle-aged man's face, and his brows slightly wrinkled.

This behavior shows that his idea of ​​picking up a bargain has disappeared. If he wants to get this piece of seed material, he will have to pay an equivalent amount of money.

"As the saying goes, fine meat comes from rotten skin. Although this piece of Hetian seed material may not look good on the outside, I can guarantee that its inner surface is definitely brown-red in color, and 80% of it is warm white, the quality of mutton-fat jade!"

Xu Damao explained very confidently with a sonorous and powerful voice, which gave people a sense of conviction. This was also the way he used to speak when helping friends to identify things in his previous life.

"But you see, there is a crack in the middle of this stone. It may not be as the young man said. There is a lot of gambling involved."

The middle-aged man was a little worried, but his words also acknowledged that what Xu Damao said was true.

"I see that you are an expert in this field. I will tell you that this Hetian jade seed material is different from jadeite."

"Hetian seed material is afraid of nails but not cracks. Jade is afraid of cracks. May I ask your name, brother?"

"No, no, my last name is Gao, and my given name is a foreign character. You really know a lot, little brother. I really misjudged you."

"Gao Yang?"

Xu Damao thought about it carefully, and a light bulb suddenly lit up in his head as he remembered this person's identity: he was a famous jade carving master in the 1950s, but his facial expression did not change at all.

"I'd like to ask you a question, what industry do you work in?"

"I didn't do anything. I just carved some jade for a living."