Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

"Okay, it's not far ahead."

The two soon arrived at the spot from yesterday, but there was no one there, and they couldn't find Ge Yusuo anywhere.

Next to it was a second-hand jewelry store, mainly selling beaded flowers, hair ornaments, earrings, bracelets, etc., in silver, jade, and brass, but no gold jewelry.

The two squatted down, and Xu Huizhen picked and chose items at the stall. He Yuzhu asked, "Brother, why isn't the owner of the Buddha statue stall here today?"

He Yuzhu thought that his stall had been a huge success yesterday, selling Buddha statues with large yellow croakers inside, and that business would definitely be booming today.

After all, people tend to follow the crowd when buying things, believing that if they support a stall, the products will be better and sales will be higher.

The stall owner looked at it and asked, "Was that the Buddha statue you bought yesterday?"

"Yes, I was planning to come and thank him today, but who knew he wouldn't be setting up his stall."

I just flattered Xu Wude and now I want to come over and chat with the stall owner.

"You're just wasting your breath on him. You have no idea what he went through yesterday."

"How did you get here? Tell me about it, brother," He Yuzhu asked.

Seeing that Xu Huizhen was carefully selecting her items, the stall owner thought there might still be hope of making a purchase, so he said, "Let me tell you, we both live not far apart, in the same alley. Last night, around midnight..."

"How did it go? What happened?" Even chatting requires some interaction, otherwise it's no fun for someone to talk dryly.

The stall owner said, "It's been all over the market that the Buddha statues he sells contain gold bars. Yesterday, some thugs found out where his house was and sneaked in over the wall in the middle of the night."

"Wow, that guy was so bold! What happened to him afterwards?"

"They were carrying gleaming bayonets. Old Ge was so frightened that he stood still as all his family's porcelain was smashed to pieces. There were no gold bars inside, not even a single hair."

"Ah~" Xu Huizhen exclaimed in surprise.

“This…this person is too audacious,” He Yuzhu said.

"Who can argue with that? Although Old Ge uses Republic-era porcelain to fool people, he still has quite a few Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain pieces at home."

He Yuzhu believed him, after all, he was in this line of work and had a few genuine items on hand. He said, "Smash them all?"

"Those thugs were complete idiots, they didn't know anything about real or fake, of course they smashed everything, and didn't even find a single copper coin."

"What then?"

"Later, they beat Ge Yusuo up, and all the money he had saved up over the years was looted, leaving him with nothing."

"This is too terrible!" He Yuzhu was very surprised. He didn't realize that the public security was so bad at this time.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. At that time, there were many bandits and villains left over from the old society, as well as a lot of defeated soldiers and vagrants. When they encountered an opportunity to make money, they would take a knife, pull off a heist, and make a lot of money.

It's difficult to identify suspects in cases where there's no past grudge or recent conflict, since these are all mobile crimes without any lingering resentment.

Catching someone is extremely difficult.

Fortunately, he publicized it extensively, and the four large yellow croakers were delivered to the military control commission on the spot. Today, he has exchanged the yellow croakers for a house.

Otherwise, they would have targeted me last night too.

"Is that bad? After they left, another group came. When they saw the room full of broken porcelain, they knew they were too late. They gave Old Ge a good beating, and only let him go when they couldn't find any money. He's still lying in the hospital now, unable to even afford medical treatment."

What? He Yuzhu guessed the beginning but not the end. The first group was alright; they managed to get their hands on Ge Yusuo's savings. But the second group got angry and, unable to get the money, resorted to beating him up, sending him to the hospital.

He Yuzhu let out a long sigh. This was truly karma.

I had guessed before that Xu Wude was working with the stall owner to set a trap for me, and that the two of them wanted to kill the sheep, since I had lent Xu Wude fifty dollars.

Yi Zhonghai is a hypocrite, and Liu Haizhong is just a power-hungry official. Neither of them are inherently bad. But Xu Wude is a man with a sore on his head and pus oozing from his feet. He is utterly wicked.

In the TV series, Xu Damao was swindled out of his property, and Xu Wude lost his home. It was only thanks to Sha Zhu's kindness that they were taken in.

Xu Wude then hatched a plan to get Sha Zhu to pay off their debts and redeem the house, intending to scheme against Sha Zhu.

This person is an ingrate; I saved his life and he still wants to bite me back.

Therefore, He Yuzhu has reason to believe that Xu Wude taking him to the night market was a trap.

If it weren't for my scanning ability that allows me to spot large yellow croakers inside porcelain, I would have been ripped off no matter which one I bought yesterday.

"What do you think of this?" Xu Huizhen suddenly asked He Yuzhu, holding up a copper hairpin.

He Yuzhu took it and looked at it. Although it looked new at first glance, upon closer inspection, one could see in the details that the copper hairpin had been refurbished.

I asked the shop owner, "When was this made? Why does it look old?"

“This is a fine product from the mid-Qing Dynasty,” the stall owner said without hesitation.

He Yuzhu said, "See, you're not telling the truth. I also do business on this street, and we're practically neighbors. You can't just make things up."

The stall owner chuckled and said, "I'm used to saying that. You're not a stranger, we're all neighbors."

"That's right, after you finish your stall, you can come over to my place for a couple of drinks! This is the proprietress of the tavern." He pointed to Xu Huizhen and introduced her to him.

Xu Huizhen suddenly blushed and glared at He Yuzhu, saying, "What an awful name for a boss lady!"

"I knew it, she looked strangely familiar." Actually, the stall owner recognized Xu Huizhen, but his business instincts kicked in and he thought he'd cheat as many people as possible.

Feeling embarrassed by He Yuzhu's words, she said, "These are old items from the Republic of China era. They're all secondhand. If you pick one, I'll give you a cheap price."

"Okay, thank you, boss." Although he didn't know if it was true or not, He Yuzhu still thanked him first.

Then he said to Xu Huizhen, "You pick the pearls, forget about the copper ones. Today it's on me."

"Hmm," Xu Huizhen said shyly, putting down the copper hairpin and then picking out a pearl hairpin, which she placed in He Yuzhu's hand and asked, "Does this look good?"

"This beaded flower is a bit small," He Yuzhu said after examining it.

At that time, there was no cultured pearl, and pearls were not cheap, so Xu Huizhen chose relatively small pearl flowers.

He Yuzhu put it down, then looked it over, picked out one that looked more pleasing to the eye, and examined it. Suddenly, a system message appeared in front of him:

You have learned a new job skill – Appraisal, level 1.

He Yuzhu was stunned. He hadn't expected to have mastered the skill of appraising antiques. He knew that it was only recently after the liberation, and the value of antiques was not high. In the long run, no matter what antique you bought now, it would be dirt cheap in the 1980s and 1990s.

Especially some of the great painters of modern times are still alive today. Their paintings are not expensive; you can buy one for just a few dollars.

I knew nothing about the antique business before, so I rarely visited the stalls even though they were nearby. But if I had the skill of appraisal, I would be in my element and could find bargains to my heart's content.

Just now, I didn't know what the beaded flower in my hand was, but after learning appraisal skills, I suddenly understood. By looking at the shape, style, and craftsmanship, I realized it was a work from the early Qing Dynasty.

"I think this one is better."

"Really?" Xu Huizhen looked at the hairpin in He Yuzhu's hand, her heart filled with joy. She would be happy even if he picked out an ebony hairpin for her. He Yuzhu had never given her anything before.

"It's quite beautiful," the stall owner next to him praised. "This is the best hairpin I have here."

"Here, let me put it on you and let you see."

As He Yuzhu spoke, he inserted the hairpin into Xu Huizhen's hair.

Xu Hui felt incredibly sweet and happy, and then she asked with a grin, "Brother Zhu, do I look good?"

“It’s really pretty, let’s buy this one,” He Yuzhu nodded and said.

"But it must be very expensive."

Although Xu Huizhen was happy, she was still a little reluctant, since she couldn't say she liked something before buying it, otherwise the price would be too high.

The stall owner quickly said, "It's not expensive, this one is only eight yuan."

"Huh? You're robbing me! It's so expensive, I'm not buying it."

Xu Huizhen's expression changed instantly. She thought the hairpin cost only a few dollars, so why was it suddenly so expensive?

"This is a hairpin made of pearls, how could I possibly ask you for more?" the stall owner argued.

He Yuzhu couldn't negotiate the price, so he left the rest of the time to Xu Huizhen. After a long negotiation, they finally got it for 5.8 yuan.

He Yuzhu paid the money, and their boss kept saying that Xu Huizhen had pushed the price too low, and they hadn't made any money.

Xu Huizhen said, "Seeing how readily you agreed, I regretted it a bit, feeling that I had offered too high a price."

The stall owner said helplessly, "I'm not even making a profit here, I'm just selling it to you at cost. I've had this hairpin for a long time and haven't been able to sell it yet, otherwise I wouldn't be selling it at this price."

He Yuzhu quickly smoothed things over, saying he would come often in the future, before leaving with Xu Huizhen to continue their shopping.

Xu Huizhen quietly slipped her small hand into He Yuzhu's, exclaiming happily, "Brother Zhu, the first thing you've ever done for me is buy such expensive jewelry! I..."

"Silly girl, don't say things like that again. Isn't the point of making money to spend it? Besides, this is an early Qing Dynasty piece, and the pearl is quite round, it suits you perfectly."

It's unclear which of He Yuzhu's words struck a chord with Xu Huizhen, but she simply hummed in agreement and was led by He Yuzhu to continue their stroll.

Chapter 92 Who is this woman?

Although the stalls here sell daily necessities, most of the items are antiques. Of course, there are more fakes than genuine ones, since there have always been people who make and sell antiques in every era. Buying these things depends entirely on your own eye for quality.

As He Yuzhu walked along, he examined a few items at each stall and found that he could gain some experience in appraisal by holding the items in his hand for more than 10 seconds.

However, the current level is only one, which can only identify antiques from the Qing Dynasty onwards; it cannot distinguish antiques from earlier periods.

But that's enough; at least we can distinguish these fake antiques from the counterfeit ones.

However, these stall owners were all very shrewd. He Yuzhu identified two pieces of porcelain from the Qing Dynasty, but it was of no use.

The stall owners all charged exorbitant prices, treating the items as antiques from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, making it impossible for He Yuzhu to find any bargains.

He Yuzhu quickly gave up on the idea of ​​finding a bargain. These vendors were all as shrewd as monkeys; there weren't many opportunities for him to find a bargain. If they were unsure about an antique, they would rather keep it in their hands than put it on their stall for sale.