Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

"Hey, there's not much farm work to do in the winter, so I'm just sitting there doing nothing. I thought I'd spin some yarn so I can make a few pairs of thick socks for the winter."

"Please sit in this room for a while. I'll go get you those so-called 'old things' to look at." After saying that, the eldest sister stood up and walked towards the inner room.

"Okay!"

Xu Damao responded, but did not follow into the house. Instead, he turned around and strolled slowly in the yard. As he walked, he suddenly found a small nest carefully built with earth bricks under the eaves at the corner of the wall.

When I got closer, I found it was a cat's nest. A spotted tabby cat was lying in the nest, with a small plate in front of it. It was licking water slowly.

Xu Damao came forward curiously and wanted to tease the kitten.

Unexpectedly, the tabby cat was not afraid at all when it saw someone approaching. It just raised its eyelids lazily and glanced at Xu Damao, then lowered its head and continued to drink water by itself, as if it didn't care about the uninvited guest at all.

"This plate is quite exquisite, and it is a nice item."

Xu Damao squatted down and looked at the plate, thinking secretly in his heart.

"Look, these are the only things in the house that can be considered old. They should be able to sell for some money."

Not long after, the elder sister came towards us with brisk steps, carefully holding an antique wooden box in her hands. Her eyes revealed a hint of expectation and curiosity.

Seeing this, Xu Damao couldn't wait to reach out and gently open the box.

He looked carefully at the items in the box, and saw a few jade hat pieces that were slightly dull in color, and some copper coins that had gone through the test of time but were still in good condition.

However, there is nothing particularly special about these things and they are probably not worth much money.

Xu Damao thought for a moment and said, "Sister, the quality of the jade on your hat piece is just average, but the quality of these copper coins is much better than the hat piece. How about this, I'll buy them for five dollars, what do you think?"

When the elder sister heard the price, she was slightly stunned at first, and then a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. She nodded and said, "Okay, okay! But brother, can you only give me four dollars and fifty cents, and then help me change the remaining fifty cents into salt?"

Obviously, the elder sister was very satisfied that these things, which she originally thought were of little use, could be exchanged for so much money.

Seeing that his elder sister was so happy, Xu Damao readily agreed: "No problem, elder sister! Then I will accept these."

As he spoke, he gently closed the wooden box and turned to walk towards the bicycle parked nearby. When he arrived at the bicycle, he carefully placed the wooden box in the basket on the back seat of the bicycle.

Although this wooden box is not a valuable item, the workmanship is quite fine. It looks like an item from the Republic of China period. It is made of rosewood, which is also a very famous type of red wood.

Then, Xu Damao took out four one-dollar bills and a fifty-cent bill from his pocket, stacked them neatly together and handed them to his elder sister.

Then, he bent down again, scooped out a proper amount of salt from the big pottery jar in the back basket, put it into a small bag, and handed it to the eldest sister. This full jar of salt was actually stored in his personal space in advance for emergency use.

"Oh my, thank you so much, little brother. I never expected that this thing could be sold for such a high price!"

The older sister took the jar full of salt with a smile on her face, and carefully put the stack of banknotes into her pocket.

"Look, sister, even this plate that you usually use to feed the cat is actually a genuine antique. I wonder if you are willing to transfer it to me?"

"What? This inconspicuous little plate is actually an antique? Then...how much can it be sold for?" the eldest sister asked suspiciously.

"This bowl is not cheap, I'll take it for five dollars!"

"Okay, in that case, I'll sell it to you!"

The eldest sister nodded without hesitation. Xu Damao was overjoyed when he heard that and successfully collected an exquisite blue and white porcelain plate from a folk kiln during the Kangxi period.

In fact, at that time, the difference between porcelain produced by official kilns and those produced by folk kilns was not particularly significant.

Xu Damao happily took the plate in his hand and looked at it carefully.

When I got closer to it, I felt that the little plate looked more and more beautiful. I couldn't help but exclaim in my heart: "Wow, this plate is so beautiful, it's really a little masterpiece!"

Then he carefully put the plate into his personal space.

"Sister, I want to ask you, which family in our village has the most antiques?"

"Who has more old items? In my opinion, the Li family at the east end of the village should be considered the best!"

"It is said that their family was once a well-known landlord, but later, for some unknown reason, they moved to our village with their wives and settled there."

Two years ago, I heard that the man went to the city, but no one knew what he did. After he went to the city, he disappeared from the face of the earth and never came back. It was a pity that his wife was left alone to look after the family.

Speaking of his house, as far as I know, he should have quite a few antiques. I still remember when they first moved here, they brought two large carriages of stuff! These things might be valuable.”

As the elder sister spoke, there was a somewhat mysterious expression on her face, and her appearance was almost the same as those intelligence offices at the village entrances that Xu Damao had seen in his previous life that specialized in spreading gossip.

Hearing this, Xu Damao hurriedly clasped his fists and thanked the elder sister: "Thank you for telling me about this. I will go over and take a look right away."

After saying that, he pushed the cart and walked slowly towards the east end of the village.

“Collecting old stuff!”

Xu Damao walked slowly to the east end of the village, his eyes casually swept around, and finally landed in front of a conspicuous blue brick house. He looked up and down at the house, his mouth slightly raised, and then he shouted at the top of his voice: "Is anyone there? Collecting antiques!"

Soon after the voice fell, a slight noise was heard, and then the tightly closed door slowly opened.

A woman in a red cotton coat walked out of the house.

Her steps were light, and with the white snowflakes floating in the sky, she looked like a red plum blossom blooming in the cold winter.