Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

He Lai followed Xiaohu, Wu Sheng and others to the place where iron was smelted in Hejia Village. There was indeed a large iron smelting furnace here.

But this place has been abandoned for a long time and the weeds are growing very tall.

I don’t know if it was when they saw this that the villagers recalled their sad past. After all, they put all the ironware in their homes into the iron smelting furnace, and in the end, the result was like that. Who could accept that?

Xiaohu quickly walked to the iron smelting furnace and looked for the pit on the right that Grandpa Wu mentioned.

I used a hoe to clear the weeds and found a small, lower pit here.

Xiaohu started digging directly, and found copper coins after digging less than half a meter.

"Xiao Laizi, I got it!" Xiaohu picked up a string of copper coins and said with a smile.

"Okay, let's pack it quickly and take a closer look when we get back." He said, opening the bag and preparing to start packing.

In this way, He Lai and the other two began to put copper coins in the pit.

Not to mention, Mr. Wu put a lot of coins in secretly, and it took three people three sacks to put all the copper coins in.

He Lai estimated that it was at least three or four hundred kilograms.

……

When the three of them returned to the house, Grandpa He and the others had not returned yet. They were probably still stalling for time in the cafeteria.

"Oh, so many!" Old Mrs. He exclaimed as she looked at the three full bags.

"Grandma, it's getting dark soon. How about leaving the copper coins here with you first and we can do it tomorrow during the day."

He Lai suggested.

Although the rural areas of the city had access to electricity at this time, they were often without electricity. Moreover, the rural people did not like to use electricity, thinking it was a waste of money and that kerosene lamps were more convenient and cheaper.

Grandpa He’s family installed an electric light in He Lai’s room because He Lai and his family would come back to stay during the New Year and other holidays.

"Okay, okay, go back to sleep, and come back tomorrow to look at the coin."

After hearing what He said, Old Lady He asked everyone to go back.

He Lai also returned to the house and lay on the bed, thinking that others made their fortunes by collecting junk, so should he ask Grandpa He and the others to collect some? Sijiu City was the ancient capital of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the Republic of China. There must be a lot of treasures around it, and it would definitely be a windfall if he collected some.

But after thinking about it, I decided to give up. It's okay to do this kind of thing in secret, but it would be a bit difficult to do it openly. After all, the Cultural Revolution will start in a few years. Antiques are considered as the "Four Olds" and will be cleared away. I'd better not cause trouble for Mr. He and the others.

Without thinking about the copper coins anymore, He Lai turned around and thought about the wild boars. If he was alone, he could just get a few wild boars out of the space, but if he wanted to bring Xiaohu and the others with him, he could only rely on the golden eagle and the iron fence.

But the mountains near Hejia Village are too deep, and He Lai is a little worried about Xiaohu and the others going deeper. They have already walked five or six kilometers this time, and if they go deeper, they will probably encounter real ferocious beasts.

It seems that I have to find an opportunity to release some animals from the space into the mountains, such as wild boars, roe deer and the like, otherwise it will be really difficult to deal with them.

As He Lai was thinking, he fell asleep in a daze. The two golden eagles lay beside He Lai, quietly guarding their master.

Early the next morning, when He Lai just got up, he saw the male eagle scratching the female eagle's neck with its mouth. This behavior was extremely intimate.

He Lai was so angry that he was fed dog food by two golden eagles early in the morning! He just lifted the quilt and covered them up, letting them show off slowly in the quilt!

After getting dressed, I got up from bed, and walked out of the room. I saw Old Lady He and her friends boiling water to wash the copper coins.

"Little Laizi, get up and wash your face. There's porridge in the pot. Help yourself."

Old Mrs. He said immediately.

"Okay, grandma." He Lai agreed and went into the kitchen to wash up.

When He Lai brought out the porridge, Old Lady He and the others had almost finished washing the copper coins and were wiping them one by one. After all, the copper coins cannot have any water stains or they will rust.

Old Mrs. He and Old Mrs. Wu talked about how they counted copper coins when they were children and how many things one copper coin could buy.

At that time, a big steamed bun cost two cents, a sesame cake cost three cents, and a meat bun cost six cents. If a family ate a big meat bun, the story would spread throughout the village for a long time.

Farmers would basically only buy one for their children when they went to market.

At that time, there was not enough food, and most of the food was taken away by the officers and soldiers. If they didn't give it back, they would be shot. They often came in waves, so the people below were miserable.

At that time, the most popular item sold in the countryside was charcoal. It was the best-selling item in the city. A pound of charcoal could be sold for two cents, which was a considerable amount of money. Therefore, villagers often used boilers to make charcoal so that they could take it to the city to sell and exchange it for some food.

Later, people discovered coal, and gradually no one used charcoal anymore.

"Xiao Laizi, I won't help you look at this copper coin. We are illiterate, so don't miss out on this good thing. Take it home and look at it slowly."

Old Mrs. He said.

"Well, okay." He Lai nodded. Indeed, with so many copper coins, it was really hard for an illiterate person to tell what they were worth. He might even fall asleep while looking at them.

"Xiao Laizi, take a look. There are a few big ones here. Grandpa thinks they are from the Yuan Dynasty. Many of them have "Great Yuan" written on them. Do you think they are valuable?"

Old Man He pushed the big copper coin beside him to He Lai.

He Lai looked at a small pile of large copper coins, at least seventy or eighty of them.

I picked them up one by one and looked at them. Sure enough, most of them were Da Yuan Tong Bao, and there were also a few Zhi Zheng Zhi Bao and Da De Yuan Bao!

"Xiao Laizi, is this valuable?" asked Mr. He.

"Grandpa, if it's really something from the Yuan Dynasty, it must be worth some money, especially these ones, they must be very rare."

He Lai said, holding the copper coins of Zhizheng and Dade.

"Oh, it's true, these things were dug out from the tomb. When we were fighting the Japanese, the tomb robbers took away all the good stuff and only left these unwanted copper coins. Our village had them lying around anyway, so we dug them out and put them in the cafeteria.

They were not taken out until the Great Iron Smelting Period. "

Mr. He explained.

"Oh, Grandpa, we still have tombs from the Yuan Dynasty here?" He Lai asked curiously.

"Of course there are none. In the Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty, any official would build his tomb halfway up a mountain, and he would also put a lot of treasures in it. Over the years, grave robbers have come one after another, and those tombs have been dug up countless times. If you go to the mountainside now and take a look, you'll probably still find coins to pick up."

Mr. He smiled.

"Okay, I'll go check it out some other day and pick up some," He Lai joked.

Things from the Yuan Dynasty are said to be valuable. After all, the dynasty lasted less than a hundred years. Sijiucheng was its capital, so there must be good things around it.