Siheyuan: I can always stay out of it

After walking halfway through the alley, Chen Xu's eyes lit up.

In a corner, a carpet was spread out, and the old man fishing habitually observed the situation around him until a man squatted next to him.

"Old man, you are really dedicated. You sell fishing rods during the day and come back at night."

"You come less often, what's the matter? Don't you like the black market anymore?"

"That's not the case. It's just that I can't exchange things normally, so I don't come here often."

The old man nodded slightly and sighed softly. The situation was not optimistic now. He came to the black market not only to check out the situation in the black market, but also to see if there were any particularly serious contraband items.

On the other hand, we also want to judge the current situation through black market transactions. If there are still a lot of grain transactions on the black market, it at least means that there is still surplus grain. If we can't even buy grain on the black market, then we are really at the end of our rope.

The situation in the black market is very bad now, with basically no one selling grain.

This is what happened when Chen Xu went directly to Lao Zhou. He knew very well that buying food from other people in the black market was purely a matter of luck.

The current situation is that having money does not necessarily mean you can buy food.

"What did you buy?"

"Uh, corn noodles."

The old man nodded slightly. It seemed that Chen Xu was not doing well. As a working man, he should have no problem supporting himself, but he had to go to the black market to buy cornmeal. There must be other people in the family.

"I remember you seemed to be alone?"

"I'm looking for a wife, but I'm not married yet, and I have an uncle in my hometown."

The old man looked at Chen Xu with a complicated look. In his eyes, Chen Xu was just a half-grown child.

He has to support a family on his own while helping relatives in the countryside. This proves that I did not misjudge him. At least in terms of character, Chen Xu is still very good.

Even in this situation, he is still so optimistic, always talking and laughing. He is a good child.

With these children around, there is no need to worry about the country not being strong in the future.

Chen Xu didn't realize that his casually made up words made the old man feel that he had a hard time, and now he was thinking about the future of the country.

Perhaps this is the unshakable belief of the older generation.

"Difficulties are only temporary. We must trust the Party and the government..."

The old man habitually reasoned with Chen Xu, and Chen Xu could only listen and nod in response from time to time.

You are right, I believe...

Just kidding, if anyone dares to say he doesn't believe it now, the old man will slap him in the face the next second...

"What do you like? I'll give you one."

"No, you should keep these spoils. You don't need the money, so it's good to keep them as a souvenir."

"What souvenirs are all useful things. If they are left to gather dust somewhere, they will be wasted. At least they can be of some use to others. Don't be formalistic, be pragmatic..."

Chen Xu felt helpless. He didn't know why the old man always talked about big principles.

Or is this how all the big guys talk?

"You should choose when I ask you to. Being so hesitant is not like a real man in Beijing."

Chen Xu's face was filled with black lines. Why was there a personal attack?

"Okay, I'll choose. I'll choose, okay..."

The old man had a lot of stuff, but many of them were repetitive. For example, the radio looked like a foreign product, but Lin Yuan was not interested in it. The main reason was that it was too big. Nowadays, radios are basically not small in size. Chen Xu, who was used to small radios, was not interested at all.

The rest are watches, alarm clocks and other things, which are dispensable to Chen Xu. He already has an alarm clock, and Lin Chan also has a watch. These things are enough, and any more would be a waste.

As for the rest, Chen Xu looked at a pen and fell into deep thought.

Parker 51 heirloom.

Chen Xu recognized this pen because his boss in his previous life had one. He kept it in a box like a treasure all day long and would only take it out to show someone when they came to his office for tea. It is said that by the 21st century, the number of such pens was only in the single digits.

"Like this?"

"No, I'll just take a look."

Chen Xu decisively refused. This thing was too valuable. Even in this day and age, it was not cheap. You have to know that when this thing first appeared, even the market price was as high as eighty US dollars.

This kind of pen is a waste for a semi-illiterate person like him.

Moreover, Chen Xu suspected that the old man might not know the value of the pen. After all, as a trophy, the old man probably regarded it as a good pen, so he put it directly on the black market.

But he couldn't say that he knew the pen, and even knew that the cap was made of gold...

"Old man, how much do you plan to sell this for?"

"Ten dollars, what's wrong?"

Chen Xu was convinced that the old man really didn't know the origin of the pen. Even if he sold the pen cap as gold, it would be more than ten yuan...

Chen Xu was still thinking about how to give him a tactful reminder when the old man had already stuffed the pen into his hand.

"Let's take this pen. I see you've been looking for a long time but haven't found anything you like. This pen seems to be the one you like. It's good that you like pens. Young people should read more..."

"That's...okay."

Chen Xu couldn't think of a reason to refuse, and the most important thing was that he couldn't tell him the origin of this thing.

People can tell from his life trajectory that he had no chance of coming into contact with this money. Now that he is revealing this information, it is simply telling others that there is something wrong with him.

Although he recognized the origin of the pen, he did not think of himself owning it.

After all, he rarely uses a pen, and what can I say about this thing?

In the eyes of fountain pen enthusiasts, it is indeed a rare treasure, but for him, it really doesn't make much of a difference.

Even if he stayed until the 21st century, it would still be the same.

With his cheats, if he lives to that time, he won't need a pen to set off himself.

As for the collection value, if Chen Xu could get a commemorative fountain pen of the National People's Congress, it would have much higher collection value than this thing.

But now that the pen was in hand, Chen Xu had no choice but to accept it.

"Go back early. You shop during the day and run the black market at night. Even though you are young, you need to get enough rest."

Chen Xu really wanted to complain that you were still selling fishing rods in Shichahai during the day, but now you are also on the black market.

But he couldn't say this out loud, because the old man started to drive him away, disliking Chen Xu for affecting his business.

Chen Xu was speechless. Although the things the old man sold were good, there were really few people buying them at this time.

After browsing the rest of the black market, I didn't see anything I wanted, so I had to go home.

When he was leaving, he saw Sha Zhu passing by him carrying a huge bag.

Chen Xu felt that this guy might die suddenly one day.

Even if you want to make money, this is not the way to make it. Sha Zhu completely illustrates what it means to value money over life. Could it be that this guy is so poor?

Chen Xu didn’t know how much property Sha Zhu had, but He Daqing wouldn’t leave any money for Sha Zhu, right?