"Dear, do you think what Xiaoshi said is true? Is this bowl really worth tens of thousands of yuan?" Zhong Mother, though speaking to Zhong Father who was sitting at the table and puffing on a pipe, couldn't help but glance at the white porcelain bowl on the living room coffee table.
Ever since she heard from her youngest son that the bowl was worth tens of thousands of yuan, Zhong Mother had been too scared to use the white porcelain bowl for serving food. She carefully placed it on the coffee table, cushioned by newspapers, for fear of accidentally breaking it.
Zhong Mother's maiden name was Liu, and she had only a junior high school education, which was already quite impressive for that era. The Zhong family had bought a SH watch and a Phoenix brand bicycle to bring Liu Lan home as a bride. The farthest Liu Lan had ever been was to the county town, a few dozen miles away, and the most money she had ever handled was a few dozen yuan. How could she have ever seen so much money as tens of thousands of yuan?
Zhong Father didn't answer, but finished the cheap wine in his bowl with a slurp, then picked up a chopstick of fried peanuts and chewed them with relish.
"Dear, say something!" Liu Lan, seeing her husband remain silent and only drink and smoke, couldn't help but complain softly.
By this time, it was already dark. Zhong Shi had eaten dinner and gone to bed, leaving only Zhong Father and Zhong Mother sitting at the table, whispering to each other by the dim oil lamp.
Zhong Shi also had an older sister, but she was currently attending junior high school in town and could only return home on weekends.
"I think this matter is most likely true. My father once said that when the educated youth gave him this bowl, he seemed very serious about it. If it really is worth tens of thousands of yuan, we could use it to start a business. Haven't they been talking about a special economic zone in GD on the radio? I want to go and take a look," Zhong Father put down his chopsticks and said thoughtfully.
"Xiaoshi is only eight years old. How could such a young child know anything?" Zhong Mother couldn't help but raise her voice after hearing this.
"Shh, keep your voice down! Don't you think our son has changed since he got sick?" Zhong Father made a gesture for her to lower her voice, then poured another half bowl of wine from the bottle and took a small sip.
"Drink! Drink! Drink! All you know is to drink! I thought you hadn't noticed!" Zhong Mother, seeing Zhong Father still looking relaxed, felt a surge of anger. She grabbed the wine bottle and slammed it on the table with a low "thud."
"Ouch, can't you be a bit gentler?" Zhong Father quickly grabbed the wine bottle and carefully examined the bottom to make sure it wasn't cracked before he relaxed. "Xiaoshi is much more sensible now. He doesn't make a fuss or cry, and he often daydreams. At first, I was worried about possible aftereffects, but later, Daziyi (Zhong Yi) said it was a sign of his mind opening up, so I felt relieved."
"Really, Daziyi said that?" Zhong Mother stopped cleaning the dishes and looked at Zhong Father with surprise and joy. She had great faith in the only college student in the village.
"Yes! Don't worry, there shouldn't be any major issues. In a couple of days, I'll take him to the county town to see if anyone will buy this bowl. If not, I'll go to the south to look around." Zhong Father took a big sip of wine and, in a slightly tipsy voice, hummed a tune from "Shajia Bang":
"Tricked the Japanese soldiers, I narrowly escaped a great disaster..."
Zhong Mother rolled her eyes and went to wash the dishes.
...
The next morning, before the early risers had even started cooking, the sound of a tractor could be heard at the village entrance. Tractors were rare in those days, and Zhong Village didn't even have one. The sudden "putt-putt" sound immediately drew a crowd of early risers.
The Zhong family father and son had already packed their bags and were waiting for the tractor. They didn't have much luggage, just a few changes of clothes and the carefully wrapped white porcelain bowl.
"Hey! Where are you going?" A middle-aged woman with a sharp face and a monkey-like appearance shouted loudly, as if afraid no one would hear her.
"It's Aunt Bu. You're up so early. I'm taking Xiaoshi to the county town," Zhong Father smiled faintly and greeted the noisy middle-aged woman.
Aunt Bu was a big mouth, and within half a day, the whole village would know about the Zhong family father and son's trip. She often gossiped and stirred up trouble in the village, relying on her distant relationship with a local official. Zhong Father, of course, didn't like such people, but out of respect for the villagers, he had to greet her.
After saying goodbye to the annoying Aunt Bu, Zhong Father greeted a few villagers who were watching the tractor and then got on with Zhong Shi. They set off for the county town in a cloud of black smoke from the tractor.
The tractor belonged to a friend of Zhong Father's, who delivered bricks to the county brick factory every half month. This time, he was taking the Zhong family father and son to the county town, saving them a few yuan in travel expenses.
The tractor jolted on the dirt road, and Zhong Shi, who was tightly holding the white porcelain bowl, was jostled around and bumped by the bricks around him. He endured the discomfort and lamented the backward infrastructure of the country until they reached the paved road and entered the county town, where his mood improved.
After saying goodbye to the friend, the Zhong family father and son wandered around the county town. Zhong Shi, eating a bun, looked around, trying to find a place that bought antiques.
"Hey, a cinema! They're showing 'Shaolin Temple'!" Zhong Father, looking at the large hand-painted poster, muttered to himself.
"Shaolin Temple" in 1982 was a sensation in the Chinese-speaking world. It was the first time people had seen the charm of action movies, and they went crazy over the monk Jueyuan in the film.
At the time, a movie ticket in China cost only ten cents, but the box office for this film reached an astonishing 100 million yuan, meaning that 1 billion people had seen it. According to the 1982 population census, the total population of China was only about 1.03 billion.
"Shaolin Temple" not only made Li Lianjie a superstar in the Chinese film industry but also influenced a generation of young people. In those days, Shaolin Temple in Songshan became a holy place for young, passionate men, and many young, naive boys left home to learn martial arts in Henan.
Although Zhong Father was no longer a young, passionate man, this famous film still had a strong appeal to him.
"What's so good about it? The action choreography and scenes are too crude, it's absolutely terrible!" Zhong Shi, with a disdainful pout, muttered under his breath. In his mind, "Fist of Legend" and "Tai Chi Master" were the pinnacle of Li Lianjie's action films, but since Li Lianjie hadn't yet moved to Hong Kong, these films didn't exist yet.
Although this was just a small county town, and there were probably hundreds of larger and more prosperous county towns in China, for Zhong Shi, this might be the place where he would start his fortune, so he observed everything carefully.
In those days, it was impossible to open an antique shop or a company, so the people who collected antiques were most likely to be found in the second-hand markets.
The most famous antique markets were Panjiayuan in Beijing and Yuyuan in Shanghai. In this era, antiques were rarely faked, and the newly wealthy began to enter the antique market, while antique dealers often went to rural areas to collect antiques.
In this small county town, people also started to collect antiques, buying them at low prices and selling them at high prices to antique dealers in big cities, making a profit from the price difference.
However, the most important thing in this business was discernment. If you made a mistake (a term in the trade for misjudging an item), you could lose everything. Antique dealers in small places were better off, as they didn't invest much capital, so even if they made a mistake, they wouldn't lose too much.
Zhong Shi explained his analysis to Zhong Father, who also found it reasonable. They then stopped a man collecting scrap and offered him a Daqianmen cigarette, politely asking:
"Sir, can you tell us where in the county town they buy old things, like antiques?"
The tanned man put down his load, took the cigarette, and greedily sniffed it before answering absentmindedly:
"What are you selling that you need to find an antique buyer? You asked the right person. I know a big boss who's been buying old paintings and vases in the county town. Give me another cigarette, and I'll take you there. How about it, buddy?"
Zhong Father quickly gave him another cigarette and lit it for him. The scrap collector took a deep puff, then put the first cigarette behind his ear and picked up his load, shouting as he walked: "Collecting scrap! Bring out your bottles, paper, copper, and iron to sell!"
Zhong Shi, born into a well-off family in his previous life, had never seen such a scene before. He was initially curious, but as the scrap collector's voice grew louder and more people gathered around, his face turned red.
The busy crowd in the county town watched a man loudly calling out for scrap, followed by a father and son, with the young boy tightly holding a large package. They stopped their work to look at this strange group, and some even pointed and gossiped. Zhong Father, noticing the situation, quickly gave the middle-aged man another Daqianmen cigarette and urged him to hurry.
The middle-aged man, having received a favor, felt a bit embarrassed and stopped shouting, walking quickly. The Zhong family father and son, dressed simply, followed closely behind and soon disappeared from the crowd's view.
"Boss, someone has come to sell antiques!" The middle-aged man walked to a scrap collection place on the outskirts of the town, put down his load, took a big gulp of water from his green water bottle, and panted as he called out.
"Oh? Is it these two? What do you want to sell?" A man in a long robe and a mandarin jacket walked out of the scrap station, smiling insincerely.
This man was about fifty years old, wearing a watermelon hat, with a face full of wrinkles and pockmarks, and a mustache. If it weren't for the lack of a mole and a long braid, Zhong Shi would have thought he was a real Shaoxing clerk!
"Boss, what's my reward?" Before Zhong Father could answer, the scrap collector asked urgently.
"It won't be lacking!" The clerk's face showed a hint of disgust. He waved his hand, and a shiny five-jiao coin flew to the middle-aged man's feet.