"Isn't that obvious? I'm a local big shot. We had a get-together three years ago. I have all their contact information. By the way, didn't I call you to tell you last time that you couldn't come back from Zhonghai?"
Liu Chuan wasn't exaggerating. After failing to get into university in high school, he started mingling in society. Once you leave school and enter society, social connections and networks are crucial. Liu Chuan's pet shop has only been open for a few years, but he has already earned a considerable amount of money in Pengcheng. This is inseparable from his loyalty and love of making friends. Pengcheng is only so big, and most of his junior high school classmates are in the same district, so they reconnected with each other.
Among the classmates, some were doing well and others were not. They could help each other out occasionally, so Liu Chuan organized a reunion a few years ago. In terms of interpersonal skills and social skills, Zhuang Rui was far inferior to Liu Chuan.
Upon hearing Liu Chuan's words, Zhuang Rui remembered that such an event had indeed occurred a few years ago. However, he was studying in Zhonghai at the time and was quite focused on his studies, so he didn't pay much attention to the junior high school reunion and had long forgotten about it.
"Da Chuan, the day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It seems like we won't have time for a pre-New Year's gathering..."
During the Spring Festival, from the first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, people visit relatives and friends to offer New Year's greetings. If a gathering is arranged after the New Year, it will be at least after the fifth day. However, after spending the New Year in Pengcheng, she and Qin Xuanbing will go to several other cities to investigate the market, so she probably won't be able to make it to this gathering. Therefore, Lei Lei had a slightly regretful expression on her face.
Liu Chuan's eyes darted around. This was an opportunity to show off his abilities. He secretly calculated in his mind that the day after tomorrow was New Year's Eve, so if the gathering was to be held before the New Year, it could only be arranged for tomorrow. There were 38 classmates from junior high school. More than a dozen of them went to study in other places, but most of them came back to work after graduation. Those who stayed in other places should be spending the New Year in Pengcheng now. He had kept in touch with about seventeen or eighteen people. If he asked them to contact a few more, he estimated that more than twenty people could come. The key was whether these people would have time tomorrow.
"You don't need to worry about it, I'll arrange it. We'll have a get-together tomorrow at noon."
Liu Chuan considered it for a moment, and feeling that it was about right, he spoke up.
Liu Chuan hadn't been idle all these years; he was very organized. First, he called the hotel to reserve a few tables. Then, he pulled out a contact list from somewhere and started making calls. In less than half an hour, he had found about ten people—five male classmates and seven female classmates. After giving them the hotel's name, they all agreed to arrive on time the next day. Some of them could even help contact other classmates. So, there were already seventeen or eighteen people. There were still a few who didn't have phones at home, and Liu Chuan planned to drive over later to notify them one by one.
"Liu Chuan, I didn't expect you to be so popular. You've kept in touch with your female classmates all these years."
As soon as Liu Chuan hung up the phone, Lei Lei asked with a smile, which immediately made Liu Chuan regret calling his female classmate. He could have just asked his buddies to inform her.
"Well... you're both mothers now, and I've already attended a few people's full moon celebrations. Let's go, Lei Lei, Miss Qin, I'll take you home first, and then I'll go and notify everyone."
Liu Chuan quickly changed the subject, speaking with righteous indignation. ...
"Lei Lei, you must have a lot of suitors in Hong Kong, but I've never seen you date anyone. So you have a childhood sweetheart boyfriend at home? Liu Chuan is a nice guy, but he's not particularly outstanding. How did you end up with him?"
Lying on the large bed in Lei Lei's room, Qin Xuanbing's previous aloofness vanished, and she said somewhat mischievously, she was genuinely puzzled. Logically speaking, given the power of Lei Lei's maternal grandfather's family and her own qualities, she should have been able to find a more suitable boyfriend.
Do you know what I looked like when I first went to Hong Kong?
Lei Lei was playing on the computer by the bedside when she heard this, so she turned around and looked at Qin Xuanbing and asked.
"Hehe, back then you wore thick glasses and your clothes were really old-fashioned. A lot of people in the class called you 'Mainland Girl,' right..."
When Lei Lei first arrived in Hong Kong, she joined Qin Xuanbing's class. At that time, Lei Lei couldn't even understand Cantonese, and the other students couldn't understand her Mandarin either. If Qin Xuanbing hadn't grown up with her grandfather and could speak Mandarin, they wouldn't have become such good friends.
"Yeah, I was like that before I came to Hong Kong. Everyone in my class called me 'Four-Eyes Girl.' Liu Chuan was pretty tough in class back then, and a lot of people were afraid of him. But he never bullied anyone. Once, he beat up a classmate who called me 'Four-Eyes Girl,' and after that, no one ever called me 'Four-Eyes Girl' again..."
Lei Lei recalled that the incident had a great impact on her later life, and perhaps Liu Chuan's image was imprinted in her mind at that time.
“I’m not going to let Liu Chuan support me. By the way, Xuanxuan, are you going to let Young Master Wang support you, or offer yourself to Young Master Huo? If they find out you’ve come to the mainland, they’ll definitely come after you.”
Lei Lei's words immediately enraged Qin Xuanbing, and the two began to wrestle on the bed.
They only stopped when they were both panting heavily from exhaustion. Lei Lei was worried that Qin Xuanbing would be bored at home while she went to the party the next day, so she asked, "Xuanxuan, why don't you come to the class reunion with me tomorrow? By the way, Zhuang Rui is quite nice. You could also find another admirer in the mainland..."
"You're going to die! You're making such awful noise. I'm not going. I have no interest in that man at all. He's all lustful when he looks at people. By the way, Lei Lei, have you noticed how elegant Zhuang Rui's mother is? She doesn't seem like she comes from a humble family."
Qin Xuanbing's words surprised Lei Lei as well. The elegant manners that Zhuang's mother displayed at the dinner table today were something that could only be achieved by someone who had been raised in a good environment for a long time. This surprised even those of them who usually paid great attention to etiquette. In front of Zhuang's mother, they even felt as if they were facing a family elder.
Lei Lei didn't say anything more. Perhaps Mrs. Zhuang had a story, but Zhuang Rui was clearly not born into a wealthy family. Given Qin Xuanbing's family background, he and Qin Xuanbing were clearly from two different worlds and could never cross paths. Therefore, she had no intention of trying to bring them together. ...
Before 11 a.m. the next day, Zhuang Rui was taken to the hotel where the party was to be held by Liu Chuan. According to Liu Chuan, he was one of the organizers and naturally had to come and help. After dropping Zhuang Rui off at the hotel, Liu Chuan went to pick up Lei Lei.
When Liu Chuan returned, only Lei Lei got out of the car. This made Zhuang Rui happy but also a little disappointed. Although he didn't want an ice block next to him in the dead of winter, he could admire her from a distance if he was a little further away. After all, beauty is food for the eyes.
Before long, classmates who were going to attend the reunion arrived one after another. When the meal started at 12 o'clock, there were 31 people. Except for a few classmates who were no longer in Pengcheng, almost all the classmates in Pengcheng were there. The appearance of Zhuang Rui and Lei Lei naturally surprised everyone and made the two, who had been away from their hometown for a long time, feel the strong old friendship.
The meal was quite lively. During the meal, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan became the targets of the students' complaints. What impressed everyone the most was that these two boys had cheated everyone out of money when they first entered junior high school. One of them played the good cop and the other played the bad cop, and they cheated a lot of pocket money from everyone.
At that time, many families already had television sets, and those who didn't often went to other people's houses to watch TV. As a large number of Hong Kong TV dramas entered the mainland, the earliest group of star-chasing fans emerged. It seems that Zhuang Rui came up with the idea, and the two boys took out all the New Year's money they had saved and went to Pengcheng Small Commodities Wholesale Market to buy a batch of stickers, which were small colorful pictures with celebrities printed on them that could be stuck on books.
Wholesale stickers featuring dozens of celebrities were very cheap, costing only about 2 yuan. The two cut the stickers into individual pieces and sold them in class, charging 2 or 5 mao (0.2 or 0.5 yuan) per piece depending on the celebrity's popularity and the size of the sticker. They also accepted food coupons if needed. In the planned economy era, food coupons were practically used as money. Because of the flexible and varied transaction methods, their stickers were very popular.
Within a few days, the stickers were sold out. Not only their class, but the entire grade was buzzing about their stickers. Several middlemen, probably the youngest students in the country, emerged. After the sale, the results surprised Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan. They had only spent a little over 20 yuan to start, but they had actually made more than 300 yuan, which was much more than their parents' wages at the time.
This discovery thrilled the two of them. Back then, having a few dollars in your pocket was considered a fortune. When the school organized field trips, their parents would only give them 50 cents or a dollar. In just a few days, they had earned more than 300 dollars, which greatly boosted their confidence. However, just as they were preparing to continue buying more goods and press their advantage, they were discovered by the teacher. Well, it should be said that Liu Chuan's mother discovered them. As a result, the two of them got a beating, and the one who carried it out was Liu Chuan's father.
The discovery was quite accidental. A student from another class bought two yuan worth of stickers but couldn't afford them, so he bought them on credit, promising to pay the next day. However, he didn't pay, so Liu Chuan stepped in and threatened him. To their surprise, a few days later, the student's parents came to the school teacher, and it turned out to be Liu Chuan's mother. Although their purpose was to return the money, it exposed the two students' actions.
A good beating from Liu Chuan's father made Zhuang Rui obediently go to university. However, Liu Chuan returned to the wave of reform and opening up a few years later. To this day, Liu Chuan still complains to his father that he stifled his business talent back then when his father is in a good mood.
Lei Lei naturally became the focus of the gathering. The little girl with thick glasses and blond hair back then was completely different from the beautiful woman in front of everyone now. Her fashionable yet understated outfit and just the right amount of light makeup made the female classmates surround her and chatter incessantly. Some of the unmarried male classmates couldn't take their eyes off Lei Lei, which made Liu Chuan extremely jealous.
The men, of course, judged each other by their drinking prowess. They all cherished the friendship they had formed in junior high school. With each toast, the atmosphere at the table became lively. Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan had similar drinking capacities, thanks to the liquor they had been stealing from Liu Chuan's father. Now that Zhuang Rui's head injury had almost healed, he naturally drank his liquor in one gulp. He would also occasionally recount some embarrassing stories from his classmates back then, eliciting bursts of laughter.
The meal lasted for more than two hours, and the bill was naturally paid by the wealthy Liu Chuan. Liu Chuan had originally planned to treat everyone to karaoke, but with the Chinese New Year approaching, everyone had their own things to do, so the gathering ended in laughter and reminiscence, and the classmates exchanged contact information.
After returning home, seeing his mother busy in the kitchen and looking somewhat lonely, and recalling the lively scene at the gathering earlier, Zhuang Rui suddenly wondered if he had made the wrong choice to stay and work in Zhonghai. He was lost in thought, and the presence of spiritual energy in his eyes seemed to be able to change something.
"Xiao Rui, come help Mom fry the scorched leaves."
His mother's voice came from the kitchen, interrupting Zhuang Rui's thoughts.
PS：看到书评有人说，同学聚会就是装B踩人的，也不尽然，至少员外觉得，初中时的同学，关系还是很纯洁的，踩人看起来固然很爽，但是淡淡的同学情谊，也能使大家有很多美好的回忆，至于卖贴画的事，是真实的，员外小学四年级干过，其结果是被请家长，后果是挨揍，现在想想还挺好笑的，呃，这章是看完球码出来的，从夜里四点一直写到现在，去睡觉了，兄弟们多顶顶吧，被人从分类点击榜挤下来了，没收藏的朋友点下收藏，觉得写的还过得去的话，就给点那啥打赏鲜花推荐啥的安慰下俺吧……
Chapter 020 Chinese New Year
Previously, there were three people in Zhuang Rui's family celebrating the New Year. Later, after Zhuang Min got married, it was just Zhuang Rui and his mother celebrating the New Year together. Although Liu Chuan's parents would invite them to their home to celebrate the New Year together every year, Zhuang's mother didn't like to trouble others and always politely declined. Over the years, Zhuang Rui got used to it.
From the morning of New Year's Eve, Zhuang Rui started to get busy. First, he cleaned the house, then he pasted upside-down "福" (good fortune) characters on the door, along with Spring Festival couplets, window decorations, New Year pictures, and so on. Although it was just him and his mother celebrating the New Year, they decorated the house with a strong festive atmosphere. The stereo in the house was playing a Cantonese version of "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (Wishing you prosperity), which was full of joy.
Around 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve, Zhuang Rui first burned incense and paid respects to his deceased grandparents and father. Then, he and his mother ate dinner early and sat in front of the TV, waiting for the Spring Festival Gala to start while making dumplings. According to custom, the dumplings had to be cooked early the next morning. The mother and son worked together, one pressing the dumpling wrappers and the other wrapping them, their movements very skillful.
When it comes to making dumplings, Zhuang Rui has received his fair share of scolding from his mother since he was a child. As a child, he was playful and would take a dumpling wrapper, put in the filling, and start pinching it haphazardly. The dumplings he made were all odd shapes and would fall apart as soon as they were put into the pot. However, his mother never scolded him. She just made him eat the dumplings he made each time. Over time, Zhuang Rui's dumplings became quite decent. It is said that poor children learn to be independent early, and this is absolutely true. Zhuang Rui often saw that Liu Chuan's dumplings looking like steamed buns.
"Xiao Rui, look, Liu Chuan has already found a girlfriend, and Lei Lei has such a good personality. You and Liu Chuan were born in the same year, and you're already twenty-five. When are you going to bring a wife for Mom?"
The rolling pin in Zhuang's hand did not stop. She asked her son seemingly casually, but she was actually very anxious. Although she did not want to interfere too much in her son's marriage due to some reasons that she could not explain to him, and she was very open-minded and democratic at home, she was getting old and naturally cared more about her son's life.
However, Mrs. Zhuang did not mention Qin Xuanbing. She could tell that the girl must have come from a well-off family. In old terms, she was a socialite. Although she was very polite, she always gave people a sense of distance. Such a woman was not suitable for her son.
"Mom, I'm still young, no rush. I'll take my time finding a wife. I'll definitely find one who will be filial to you, cook for you and massage your back every day. If she's disobedient, we'll divorce her and find another one..."
Zhuang Rui was joking with his mother. Although he worked in a pawnshop in Shanghai and often came into contact with women, those women were all rich and powerful, and they never gave Zhuang Rui a second glance. For an ordinary white-collar worker like him with no money or power, finding a satisfactory girlfriend in Shanghai was not an easy task. Zhuang Rui was also a normal man, well, he should be said to be a normal virgin, otherwise the scene he saw in the hospital would not have shocked him so much.
"You think I'm hiring a maid to massage my back and cook for me every day? I'm getting old. I'll be content just to see you get married peacefully. I can even help take care of your child for a few years. If you keep dragging this out, I won't have the strength to help you take care of your child later..."
As if remembering something, Zhuang's mother's voice gradually lowered, and tears seemed to glisten in her eyes. She then stood up and walked towards her room.
"Mom, how are you old? Look at your face, you don't even have wrinkles. Okay, the Spring Festival Gala has started, come out and watch TV. We've made enough dumplings for you."
Seeing that his mother was a little sad, Zhuang Rui quickly changed the subject and got up to turn up the volume on the TV.
In fact, Zhuang Rui and his sister have had some questions in their hearts for many years. When they were young, their mother spoke fluent Mandarin, but gradually she switched to Pengcheng dialect. Also, their mother never mentioned her own family. When Zhuang Rui was little, he and his sister asked their mother about this issue when they saw that other children had uncles, aunts, grandparents and maternal grandparents. As a result, their mother, who had never laid a finger on her two children, gave them a severe beating that time.
From then on, the sensible Zhuang Rui and Zhuang Min never mentioned the matter again. However, during holidays, the two siblings would notice that their mother was in a low mood and would go to her room to be alone for a while. Zhuang Rui would always try to find ways to make their mother happy.
When Zhuang Rui was lost in thought, he often imagined that his mother must have come from a prominent family, and that she and his father would elope to a secluded garden like Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun. This was because his mother not only knew English but was also fluent in Russian. Zhuang Rui was genuinely curious about his mother's background. He wondered what kind of family could have raised a mother who was both independent and strong, yet also tactful in her dealings with others. The wealthy and powerful women he had met in Shanghai were far inferior to his mother in terms of temperament.
After quite a while, when the Spring Festival Gala had already started, Zhuang's mother finally came out of her room with red eyes. However, she was in a much better mood than before. She sat down in front of the TV and chatted with Zhuang Rui while watching the Spring Festival Gala.
Watching the Spring Festival Gala now is just a habit during the New Year; it doesn't feel the same as it used to. Zhuang's mother is getting old, so she goes back to her room to sleep around 10 o'clock. Zhuang Rui finds it quite boring watching it alone, and he keeps getting sleepy, but he doesn't dare to go to sleep because he knows that the New Year's greetings phone calls at midnight will definitely wake him up.
Around midnight, Zhuang Rui quickly pulled the telephone line from the living room to his room. Sure enough, a little while later, Liu Chuan, his four college roommates, and a group of junior high school classmates with whom he had exchanged phone numbers the day before all called. After hanging up, Zhuang Rui wanted to call Uncle De, but seeing that it was almost 1 a.m., he decided not to and planned to wish Uncle De a Happy New Year in the morning.
After getting up early and eating dumplings, Zhuang Rui called Liu Chuan's parents, Uncle De, and some friends in Zhonghai to wish them a Happy New Year. Then he went back to bed for a nap. ...
There wasn't much going on on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year. Apart from visiting his godmother and sister to wish them a Happy New Year, Zhuang Rui stayed home reading. He bought several hundred yuan worth of books on appreciation and collection from Xinhua Bookstore, but he had only read a few so far. Zhuang Rui still had a vague understanding of the antique business, but it was much better than before when he would fall asleep whenever he saw such books. At least he could concentrate on reading them.
Whether it was because of his improved eyesight or because he had crammed some knowledge in the past few days, Zhuang Rui was actually feeling a little restless. If the flower and bird market hadn't only opened on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, he probably would have given it a try.
When the daughter returned home on the third day of the Lunar New Year, her older sister and brother-in-law brought her to the house, making it a lively day. The girl was very affectionate towards her uncle, whom she didn't see often but who allowed her to eat White Rabbit candy. In the evening, she didn't want to go home with her parents, so Zhuang Min let her daughter stay for a few days, since her mother often helped her take care of her children in the past.
As a result, Zhuang Rui had no time to read. He simply took his niece to play all over Pengcheng for a few days and forgot about his plan to go to the flower and bird market. It wasn't until Liu Chuan called on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and asked him to come to the store that he leisurely strolled over with his niece.
This time, Zhuang Rui's walk through the flower and bird market wasn't so smooth. The heavy snow had long since stopped, and now the streets along the flower, bird, and antique market were lined with stalls selling everything from old books and newspapers to coins, jade, and bronzes. Combined with the antique-style buildings in the market, if you didn't look at the clothes people were wearing, you'd think you'd traveled back to ancient times.
With great effort, Zhuang Rui managed to squeeze into Liu Chuan's shop by letting Nannan sit on his shoulders. Once inside, he was astonished to find that the once empty shop was now filled with all sorts of pets. He wondered where Liu Chuan had put all the animals before the New Year. The two fish tanks, one large and one small, near the entrance contained ornamental fish and pet turtles, while the cages that had previously housed them were filled with dogs of all sizes, from small Pekingese and Shih Tzus to fierce-looking German Shepherds.
Two more employees joined the store. Liu Chuan usually travels all over the country to purchase goods and rarely stays in the store. These two are the ones who manage it. Zhuang Rui had been here a few times before and was quite familiar with them. Last time Zhuang Rui came, Liu Chuan gave the two employees a day off.
Compared to the leisurely atmosphere before the Lunar New Year, the shop is now incredibly busy. All three of them are working non-stop, and it's rare that Liu Chuan can still make no mistakes when taking money and giving change.
"Hey, now that you have a girlfriend, you know how to do real work."
Seeing Liu Chuan sweating profusely despite the freezing weather, Zhuang Rui joked.
"That's right, we can't hang out with you anymore, you bachelor. Oh, our little princess is here. Come and kowtow to your uncle so I can give her some New Year's money."
Liu Chuan was overjoyed when he saw the little girl. He had always been the one to kowtow to others since he was a child. Last year, the little girl was still young, but this year, he had been asking her to kowtow to him and wish him a Happy New Year since before the Lunar New Year.
Chapter 21 Antique Market
Zhuang Rui put Nannan down from his shoulder. Nannan was very well-behaved. She first climbed up to the chair with great effort, and then said in a childish voice, "Happy New Year, Uncle Rogue. Nannan wishes you a Happy New Year."
He really did kowtow, but he almost fell off the chair.
Liu Chuan didn't care that his daughter was calling him "Rogue Uncle." Overjoyed, he hugged her tightly with one arm and pulled a handful of hundred-yuan bills from the drawer with the other. Without counting them, he stuffed them into the small handbag on her clothes, saying, "Hey, my darling, you can pick whatever you want in this shop. Once you've chosen, Uncle will deliver it to your house. But, daughter, why are you climbing on a chair to wish Uncle a Happy New Year?"
Nannan was so engrossed in looking at the little animals in the shop that she couldn't take it all in. She replied, seemingly out of the blue, "Uncle said that if Nannan kowtows to that hooligan uncle, she'll get paid. If Nannan has money, she can buy White Rabbit milk candy. Mom never gives Nannan any. Nannan is wearing new clothes, and if she gets them dirty on the floor, Mom will scold her."
"Forget it, your shop is full of bastards and animals, my niece doesn't want it..."
Zhuang Rui quipped from the side, but Liu Chuan's business was really good right now. Within five minutes of coming in, several couples who seemed to be in love had bought a few turtles and hamsters. What surprised Zhuang Rui was that these few inconspicuous little trinkets actually sold for over a thousand yuan, and the pair of golden mice actually sold for 600 yuan. Zhuang Rui couldn't help but shout in his heart that he was a swindler.
"What are you looking at? Let me tell you, Lei Lei and Qin Xuanbing are coming over to help in a bit. Hey, that woman may be a bit cold, but she's absolutely stunning. Aren't you tempted?"
Liu Chuan put Nannan on the ground and kept talking while greeting the guests.
"Come on, she's obviously a rich girl. I can't afford her. Didn't they say they were leaving Pengcheng on the fifth day of the new year? Oh, right, you play with Nannan for a while, I'm going out for a walk..."
Zhuang Rui casually remarked that seeing his niece, who had been bothering him for several days, finally focus her attention elsewhere, he decided to head over to the antique market. As for Qin Xuanbing, Zhuang Rui knew she didn't have any good feelings towards him, so he didn't bother to greet her with a cold shoulder.
"I don't know. Lei Lei called and said she'll leave in a few days. You go to the market, but come back early. I have something to discuss with you."
Liu Chuan waved his hand, signaling Zhuang Rui to go and return as soon as possible.
Pengcheng, one of the nine ancient provinces of China, is a place with a deep historical and cultural heritage. In particular, Han culture has left a profound mark on this city. Cultural relics from the Han Dynasty and even earlier can often be found in Xuzhou, which is something the people of Pengcheng are very proud of. Perhaps because of this, collecting has become a source of enjoyment for many people in Pengcheng, with joy and disappointment rising and falling within its sphere.
The place where Zhuang Rui is located is the most concentrated and bustling place in Pengcheng City for collecting items. It is a favorite spot for almost all collectors in this ancient city to browse and find treasures. It is a place where opportunities and pitfalls coexist, and joy and disappointment are intertwined.
The original collectibles market wasn't as large as it is now. Back then, most shops operated in a small park next door. Later, the market outside gradually became more popular, but now only a small number of stalls and shop owners operate in the adjacent park, and it doesn't seem to be doing very well. So most of the shops inside have switched to selling fish, insects, flowers, and birds.
The market offers a wide variety of collectibles; you could find almost any imaginable collectible here. Collectors who pay attention are unlikely to leave empty-handed. Jade, bronzes, coins, woodenware, porcelain, silverware, miscellaneous items, calligraphy and paintings, comic books… the selection is vast. However, the most distinctive collectibles of Pengcheng are perhaps those from the Han Dynasty, such as Han mirrors, Han jars, and rubbings of Han stone reliefs, which are very popular with both locals and visitors.
There are many shops in the market, but not many specialize in antiques. Some shops also run tea houses, coffee shops, and other similar businesses.