Siheyuan: Returning to 61 to collect waste

It's that simple?

Ye Chuan's mind was full of questions, but he did not wait for further information or explanation.

Could it be that elementary identification techniques can only determine the authenticity and age of items, and nothing else?

But confirming that it was a Tang Dynasty bronze mirror was already good news. He had only guessed at first, but the black color on both sides had made him hesitant.

Based on the analysis results, it can be inferred that this object has been placed for a long time and has not been properly preserved, so the copper rust has formed and mold has formed, resulting in the appearance of the mirror and the original color has been covered.

"Uncle, how much do you want? Or how about I buy it privately?" Ye Chuan stated his plan as if nothing had happened.

After thinking for a while, the old man stretched out five fingers.

Five dollars?

Ye Chuan felt that this price was within his acceptable range, and he only needed to do some minor processing when he got home. Just now, he used his fingernails to scratch it with a little force, and the dirt should be able to peel off.

Just as he was about to nod his head to make the deal, Fatty Han started to complain: "Old man, you're too cruel. You want fifty of these junks for a penny? Ten bucks at most!"

what happened?

Ye Chuan was stunned!

It’s not five dollars, it’s fifty cents!

A Tang Dynasty bronze mirror costs only fifty cents?

The old man thought to himself that this price could buy a pound of sorghum flour, enough to feed his family, but he felt it was still too low.

"Forty cents! No less!"

"Sanmao! If you don't sell it, we will leave!" The other party pressed forward step by step.

The deal was quickly settled and Ye Chuan had no time to speak. When the price was set at three cents, he woodenly took out the money, handed it to the old man, then stepped onto the back of the tricycle with the bronze mirror in his arms.

The one shouting loudly in the front was Fatty Han, while Ye Chuan carefully examined the mirror in his hand. It was no longer exquisite at all, with only one side barely showing the phoenix carved with bird patterns - the legendary king of birds.

He stared at the Phoenix intently, trying to discern its original appearance.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed on the bronze mirror, which disappeared in an instant and then returned to its original state, still a rusty piece of iron.

Ye Chuan blinked, blaming himself for perhaps having seen it wrong.

But his vision is 5.0, and the dazzling light just now is definitely beyond doubt.

However, it disappeared in a flash. If you can't figure it out, don't worry about it for now.

Putting aside his curiosity, Fatty Han drove the car back to their business location.

After parking the car in the parking space, Ye Chuan jumped out and found a circle of people gathered in the distance, probably other members of the team.

The group of people looked extremely miserable: their clothes were dirty and unbuttoned, their hair was messy, and they smoked pipes and threw cigarette butts everywhere.

Ye Chuan smiled bitterly and thought that it was precisely because they were dressed in tatters that ordinary citizens often looked down on the people who set up stalls on the streets to collect waste.

Seeing Fatty Han and Ye Chuan standing together, the people around them came forward to greet them in a friendly manner.

Ye Chuan responded to them with a smile. After all, they were all poor people and there was no need to be too calculative or get stuck in a rut.

When the time came, because there were only about twenty employees at the business point, the director, Mr. Tang, converted a room on the first floor into a cafeteria, which had a chef and an assistant.

As he stepped into the cafeteria, the delicious aroma of dishes wafted into his nose. Seeing the rich food, Ye Chuan was stunned and his eyes lit up.

The cafeteria provides simple steamed buns made of two kinds of flour, accompanied by two large meat dishes and two small vegetable dishes: spicy tofu and stewed cabbage with meat.

Occasionally, you can see a few thin strands of meat in the stewed cabbage.

Ye Chuan took three steamed buns made of 1/2 cup flour and a full lunch box of vegetables, but he thought it was already very rich.

However, when he saw Fatty Han's lunch box - eight full steamed buns, plus two dishes mixed together, almost overflowing the huge lunch box, Ye Chuan felt that his own portion was nothing compared to that of Fatty Han.

He smiled and joked: "Not bad, your appetite is amazing!"

Fatty Han looked up with a simple smile, then lowered his head to concentrate on eating. To Ye Chuan, their meal was insignificant in comparison.

Fatty Han ate half of the plate of steamed buns, leaving only the bare bottom of the lunch box, not even much soup left.

A call came from the cafeteria window: "The steamed buns are almost gone, hurry up!"

Fatty Han stood up to buy it, but was stopped by Ye Chuan just as he took a step.

"Fatty Han, what's wrong with you?"

"I want to buy steamed buns and take them home for dinner." Fatty Han replied.

So Ye Chuan asked, "Please buy me a few more and I'll pay you later."

Fatty Han nodded, and soon brought back two bags of steamed buns wrapped in paper. He handed one bag to Ye Chuan: "Brother Ye, ten in total, thirty cents."

Ye Chuan secretly admired it, it was such a good deal, a big steamed bun was only three cents, so he hurriedly took out thirty cents.

In fact, he has not yet fully adapted to the prices of that era: the canteen usually sells cheap white flour buns, at 20 cents per pound.

However, the noodles available on the market now are usually two-pound noodles, which only cost ten cents per pound.

He felt relieved after realizing that the material recycling company, as part of the supply and marketing cooperative, enjoyed preferential shopping rights, and that the number of employees was small, so distributing steamed buns in this way was part of the welfare.

Lunch was over but before noon, Fatty Han took Ye Chuan to a small room with two bunk beds for him to rest.

"Brother Ye, there is a bed here for you to take a nap. You can go anywhere you want as long as it does not affect your work in the afternoon."

Ye Chuan was filled with joy.

Before he came here, he had no good feelings towards scrap collectors.

But today's work brought him unexpected pleasure, and he even had a bed for his lunch break.

He particularly likes the flexible working hours here. After completing his work tasks, he can go home and rest at any time without any worries.

In the afternoon after lunch break, they continued to work, but unfortunately they didn't meet any special treasures.

Most of what they collected was broken glass and toothpaste tubes, almost no newspapers, and even less metal waste.

Finally, it was time to get off work and they returned the car and the sundries to the business point.

Fatty Han took Ye Chuan to the supply and marketing cooperative near the delivery location to try his luck.

Because they both lived in the same direction, but Ye Chuan was carrying the heavy objects and walking in the opposite direction.

Fatty Han shouted in a dull voice: "Brother Ye, come this way!"

Hearing the word "meat", Ye Chuan was eager to try it.

He couldn't stand the days without meat and hoped to find some meat as a supplement.

Fatty Han, who came over, suggested: "Brother Ye, let me go with you.

My eldest sister is an employee here.”

Hearing this, Ye Chuan suddenly became energetic.

It was really convenient to have an inside contact, especially now that even the food lines were sold out, and with Fatty Han's sister, maybe she could easily buy some extra meat in the future.

Fat Han walked directly into the cooperative with great skill, and the sales clerks seemed to be accustomed to their situation.

After a while, a stout middle-aged woman came in and asked, "Zhuangzhuang, why are you here?"

Fatty Han pointed at Ye Chuan and said, "Auntie, this is my new partner. He wanted to buy some things at the cooperative, so I brought him here.

"Ye Chuan quickly stood up and said politely: "Hello, Auntie, I am Ye Chuan, and today is my first day here."

The lady's name was Han Lifen. She was very generous. She said as soon as she heard it: "Are you Xiaoye? What do you want to buy? There is not much stock at this time. If there is, I can sell it to you.

"

"Auntie, I want to buy some rice and meat. Do you have them here?" Ye Chuan asked.

"What are you thinking about? You still want to buy rice? The current supply and marketing cooperative only delivers a batch of rice once a month." Han Lifen said with a smile, a little surprised by Ye Chuan's demand.

Disappointed, Ye Chuan changed his words and said, "Then let's use white flour!"

"Do you have tickets?" the aunt asked.

Ye Chuan was stunned for a moment, realizing that he had forgotten about it, and could only nod awkwardly.

Han Lifen didn't reject the other party immediately, but just said: "If you don't have a ticket, the price will be higher, 25 cents per pound.

Because of the loss issue, this price is the portion we keep for ourselves.

As for meat, there is some, but it is too lean, even the bones... "

Ye Chuan was pleasantly surprised. Lean meat was better for him since he didn't like fatty meat very much.

"Great! I'll take that 25 cents price. I can get 15 kilograms of lean meat, even the ones with bones are included!" Ye Chuan said excitedly.

This surprised Han Lifen a little.

Normally, people who work in recycling companies don't have very good family financial conditions. How could Ye Chuan be willing to buy it at such a high price?

"Xiao Ye, meat bones are 30 cents per pound. Are you sure you want so much?" Han Lifen reminded.

So expensive? Han Pangpang was surprised, but before he could react, Ye Chuan answered firmly: "Yes! All of them!" He couldn't wait to take these things home.

Ye Chuan had a feeling of having a great harvest in the cooperative. He bought a bag of ten kilograms of flour, twelve kilograms of meat with bones, and a bottle of soy sauce, spending a total of seven yuan.

I originally planned to buy two more kilograms of sugar to take home, but Han Lifen said that sugar required food stamps, so I had to give up, feeling a little disappointed.

The moment he stepped out of the door, Ye Chuan felt that the heaviness in his backpack was relieved, especially the two large bags.

Han Pangpang did not go home immediately, but gave the heaviest pieces of ribs and flour to Ye Chuan, which greatly reduced Ye Chuan's burden.

Han Pangpang did not go in immediately when he saw Ye Chuan's door. He directly sent Ye Chuan back to the courtyard before leaving.

Before leaving, Ye Chuan handed him half a pack of cigarettes to express his gratitude, but Han Pangpang did not reach out to take it. He just took out a cigarette, lit it silently, and left.

"Hey! Xiaoye, you're back from get off work today? Did your first day at work go well?" Fatty Han had just returned to his territory when he was met by his third uncle Yan Bugui who greeted him warmly.

As soon as he entered the courtyard gate, he could hear Yan Bugui's words with some sarcasm. Ye Chuan guessed that his rejection of Yi Zhonghai's kindness should be known to many people.

Ye Chuan kept a simple and honest smile and responded, "Fortunately, I regret not coming to the recycling station earlier! Now I can still eat meat, and if I want to eat steamed buns, I can take them away anytime.

"He even proudly raised the two large bags in his hands.

The bag was not light-transparent, so Yan Bugui mistakenly thought it was full of steamed buns and showed an envious look.

"Oh? There are so many steamed buns. Can Ye Chuan give me some?"

Ye Chuan suddenly stopped and smiled happily, "Uncle, you want some steamed buns, right?"

Yan Bugui thought he had been agreed to and nodded in thanks with great joy.

"No money is needed, just tickets! Candy tickets, oil tickets, meat tickets, grain tickets and industrial tickets are all fine!" His joy cooled in an instant.

However, Yan Bugui's smile froze on his face, because his family also needed such supplies, especially sugar coupons and oil coupons, which were simply out of this world and they had to keep them for the Spring Festival.

"But...but I don't have those tickets!"

Ye Chuan sneered: "You don't even have a ticket and you still want to eat steamed buns? Go ahead and fart!" He didn't want to condone Yan Bugui's behavior of plotting against him.

In fact, Yan Bugui was planning to take advantage of the situation. Not to mention the bills, he didn't even want to give a penny of extra money.

Completely disregarding the other person's feelings, Ye Chuan laboriously carried two bags and walked towards the courtyard of his home.

When I got home, I found Ye Yongshun was already at home and Liu Yue was busy preparing meals.

He walked in and shouted, "Dad, Mom, I'm back!" He put the bag in his hand on the table.

The radio was their only home appliance. Upon hearing this, Ye Yongshun turned off the machine and looked at the two big pockets in surprise.

"What is this?" he inquired.

"Take a look for yourself!" Ye Chuan poured a glass of water and sat down on the chair, wanting to lie down leisurely, but unexpectedly the chair made his back hurt.

Driven by curiosity, Ye Yongshun walked closer, and Liu Yue also stopped his work.

They both looked at the big cloth bag on the table.

" !" he cursed, his eyes fixed on the contents of the bag.

Liu Yue scolded, "What a fuss!" But when she saw the object, she was also stunned, and then she was overwhelmed by shock.

When they opened one of their pockets, they found it was full of flour, a full 20 kilograms. This was the largest amount they had ever purchased for the New Year.

"Son, where did this come from?" Ye Yongshun asked with a trembling voice.

Ye Chuan took a sip of water calmly and said slowly: "Shopping things, could it have fallen from the sky?" The couple couldn't believe it.

The two exchanged glances. They would never believe that Ye Chuan bought it with his own money. Liu Yue went to the cooperative to queue up every day to buy some cornmeal, which was considered a good harvest.

Although other supplies were available, they were quickly sold out due to skyrocketing prices.

Twenty kilograms of flour, ten steamed buns and a bottle of soy sauce. When the other bag was opened, Liu Yue frowned.

At first she thought there was fresh meat in it, but it turned out to be pork ribs.

It is delicious indeed, but it has a lot of bones and basically only lean meat, so I usually can't afford to buy it.

"Did you buy these things too, son?" she said with concern.

"Yes, Mom, it will be stewed in a while. I'm a little greedy." Ye Chuan was full of anticipation.

Liu Yue showed a distressed expression and said angrily: "Just bones, how can you eat it? How much does it cost to eat something so expensive?"

"Three cents per kilogram, a total of thirty-six yuan!" Ye Chuan reported truthfully.

Liu Yue exclaimed: "Are you crazy? It's all bones and yet it's so expensive. How many good things can you buy with this money?"

She was really heartbroken. Most of Ye Chuan's father's monthly salary was under her management, and she had to save the more than 30 yuan living expenses until the end of the month.

Occasionally, when she bought meat, she would choose the fatty parts.

Seeing all the skinny ribs, she was relieved to have some meat back, but she also felt more heartbroken.

But Ye Chuan disagreed and said, "Mom, it's delicious only with bones, and the meat is tasty!"

At this moment, Ye Yongshun finally understood and asked in a heavy tone: "Xiaochuan, I remember you didn't have any money, where did you get this thing?"

Similarly, seeing the child's innocent expression, Liu Yue felt doubtful and looked at him worriedly.

But they all knew that no matter what, this well-behaved child in their eyes would never do anything improper, and this was an indisputable fact.

Ye Chuan understood that without a convincing reason, his parents would probably have trouble sleeping tonight.

"Mom and Dad, you don't have to worry.

I worked at a branch of the supply and marketing cooperative, and my colleague's sister happened to be a salesperson there.

I purchased these foods from her at the internal employee price.

As for the salary, I will compensate you later!"

For dinner they had stewed bones. Liu Yue was reluctant to add such luxurious things as soy sauce and sugar to the soup.

The family gnawed on the slightly lean boiled bones with gusto. Although there was no rich fat, they enjoyed it very satisfyingly. The dinner consumed almost half of their appetite.

Ye Yongshun, who had worked hard all day, was now feasting to his heart's content. He knew he didn't have to worry about not having enough to eat. He had already eaten three pounds and was still not satisfied, which surprised Ye Chuan a little.

The rich aroma of bones filled the air and drifted into every household’s courtyard.

"Grandma, I want to eat meat too!" Banggeng, who was only seven years old, looked up and begged Jia Zhang.

Jia Dongxu replied unhappily: "Looking at your expression, I know you are thinking about meat!" He took a bite of the hard steamed bun, frowned and chewed it with seeming dissatisfaction.

Jia Dongxu assured: "My dear grandson, when daddy gets his salary, I will buy you meat! The 'meat' over there is just bones, and only poor people eat this!" As he spoke, his saliva continued to secrete, and the fragrance in his mouth seemed to be more fragrant than real meat.

Looking at the fragrance filling the room, Qin Huairu kept drooling. The smell of meat was so tempting.

It has been a long time since she tasted fresh meat. Every month when her husband gets his salary, he always buys meat, but every time he never gives her a share.

The neighbors in the side yards looked at him with envy but contempt. They all believed that only the fresh and tasty fat meat was the real meat, and those who gnawed on the bones were just trying to get a taste.

Even though they smell good, in their minds, bones are naturally not as delicious as meat.