1970s: Hot wife accompanies the army, cold-faced rough man is not easy to tease

Chapter 283 An Ordinary Photograph
"Let's go eat?" Song Yunqing pointed two fingers down, making a walking gesture.

Lu Youyou was indeed hungry, so she nodded and started packing her things.

As soon as she moved, Jack and John followed suit. Song Yunqing watched them with great interest, her eyes darting back and forth playfully.

It wasn't convenient to talk much in the library, so she held back until they were outside before nudging Lu Youyou's arm and asking, "Sister Lu, are these two your classmates?"

Having received an affirmative reply, Song Yunqing greeted them generously: "Hello, my name is Cecilia, and I am Lu's roommate."

Jack immediately reverted to his sunny, boyish self-deprecating manner, and John also greeted Song Yunqing with a smile.

Although Song Yunqing was young, she grew up in the United States and was very sensitive to the "restlessness of youth." She sensed Jack's thoughts at first glance.

And that John, he seems so composed, but who knows if he's secretly harboring feelings for someone?
Honestly, it's perfectly normal for someone to like Lu Youyou. Song Yunqing even thought it wouldn't be surprising if ten or eight people were chasing after her.

Who wouldn't love a fairy who's both fragrant and beautiful? If she were a man, she'd be the first one to pursue him!

"Sister Lu, how about pizza today? There's a flea market nearby, shall we go check it out?"

Song Yunqing knew that Lu Youyou was very busy, but people always need to balance work and rest. Going out for a walk might make her more efficient.

"Are you talking about the Rosetown flea market?" Jack suddenly asked.

"Yes, I heard it's one of the biggest flea markets in California. Have you been there?"

Song Yunqing had never had to worry about food or clothing since she was a child, and had never been to a flea market before. Today was the weekend and the weather was nice, so she wanted to ask Lu Youyou to go shopping together.

"Let's go there, shall I take you there?" The opportunity was right in front of him, and Jack had no reason not to seize it.

John also said, "Why don't we go together? I drove, and I can bring back a whole carload of stuff."

Song Yunqing didn't care whether she had a car or not; she just wanted to go to the flea market.

Looking at her with eyes like Bambi's, Lu Youyou smiled and said, "Go if you want to."

It was a good opportunity for her to clear her head. Although she was physically gifted, she needed to adjust her mindset after long hours of sitting at a desk.

None of them were the type to dawdle, so they bought pizzas to eat on the road and drove straight to their destination.

Rose Town is about 30 kilometers from Stanford. It used to be just a small secondhand market, but in the last ten years it has grown bigger and bigger and has become a well-known flea market.

Not only are there secondhand goods, but also agricultural products, food and drinks, attracting many people from other places who come specifically to hunt for bargains.

The open space in front of the entrance was full of cars, and as far as the eye could see, it was filled with a dense crowd of heads.

Since coming to the United States, Lu Youyou has never encountered a crowded place, just like going to a big market in China.

Song Yunqing grew up in luxury and rarely had the opportunity to browse street stalls. Everything she saw was strange and unusual to her, making her seem even more like a foreigner than Lu Youyou.

Lu Youyou had only been browsing casually to relax, but she didn't expect there to be such good stuff at the stall.

Thanks to her wealth in her past life, she has seen plenty of good things. While she may not have the discerning ability of top experts, anything that looks "good" at first glance is likely to be a good thing.

At the stall of an elderly woman dressed as a Gypsy, she found an unassuming porcelain cup with a blue-and-white pattern on it that, well, was rather abstract.

But for some reason, she took a liking to this slightly dirty, broken cup with some dents on the rim. Following her heart, Lu Youyou walked over and asked the stall owner if she could take a look. The old lady chuckled and gestured for her to look around as she pleased, not giving the little cup a second thought.

She couldn't explain the thickness of the porcelain body or the style of the pattern, but she couldn't possibly not recognize the Chinese characters on the bottom mark—Made in the Jiaqing period.

It's not from the famous Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns, but as long as it's not a modern imitation, it's a genuine Qing Dynasty artifact.

In the early 80s, Chinese cultural relics did not cause as much of a stir in the collecting world as they would later do, and a small teacup from the Jiaqing period did not have much value for reproduction.

Lu Youyou decided to buy it. It didn't matter if it was a replica or not, since it was something she liked!

After some haggling, the deal was finally struck at $5, a bargain price, practically free.

Jack watched and silently pondered, "So Lu likes this kind of thing?"

He hadn't originally intended to buy anything, but now that he had a specific target in mind, his eyes scanned the stalls on both sides like a searchlight, focusing on various types of porcelain.

Surprisingly, he actually found a little trinket: a snuff bottle made during the Kangxi era.

Lu Youyou found this little bottle much more pleasing to the eye.

This is normal aesthetic sense; Jiaqing's abstract painting style just didn't suit her taste.

Having found two trinkets, Lu Youyou was in a good mood. Her eyes darted around and swept over a stall selling photo albums.

Large and small photo frames and albums were displayed on a small wooden table, behind which sat a young man, idly resting his chin on his hand and staring blankly.

Selling photos at a stall is indeed a bit strange, so few people stop to look. When the stall owner saw Lu Youyou coming over, a look of amazement flashed in his eyes, and he greeted her warmly.

"Want to see these? These are old photos left by my grandfather. He took them all himself. There are landscapes and portraits. He was a member of the Free Hearts of California Photography Association."

Lu Youyou didn't know anything about the "Freedom of the Heart Photography Association." She stopped because she saw several very "famous" things in a small photo frame.

The black and white photo wasn't very clear, with the camera focused on the person in the center. The background seemed insignificant, and if Lu Youyou didn't have almost animal-like eyesight, she wouldn't have been able to find the key point in the ambiguous image.

"Can I see it?"

"Ok, Ok!"

The stall owner became even more enthusiastic. He had finally gotten a customer; God help him make a sale! He had been sitting there for most of the day, and not a single person had shown any interest in paying.

"The older man in the middle-aged man is my grandfather, and the person next to him might be his friend, I don't know. Now everyone uses color film, but he suddenly became obsessed with black and white photos a couple of years ago, and this photo was taken two years ago..."

The young stall owner was very talkative, as if he wanted to make up a wonderful story on the spot to add some luster to this ordinary photo, but unfortunately there was really nothing to say.

This is just an ordinary photo, only two years old, not even an antique.

Lu Youyou didn't pay attention to what the stall owner said; her attention was completely drawn to the three somewhat blurry little things in the photo.

This photo must have been taken in summer. The garden is full of colorful flowers, and three dark-colored ornaments are placed along the garden path as part of the garden decoration.

This shape... looks like a horse, a cow, or a tiger?