Reborn in the 1980s: Nine Stunning Beauties Get Pregnant Before Marriage

After working for most of the day, Chen Yongqiang counted the money in his hand. This trip had brought in quite a bit of money, even better than he had expected.

He packed up his stall, put the planks and scales into the truck bed, jumped into the driver's seat, and started the tractor.

Just as they were about to turn back, they suddenly remembered something, turned the steering wheel, and drove to the other end of the county town.

There's a secondhand market over there, and he always goes there whenever he has free time when he comes to the county.

It's not that I'm looking to find any great treasures; I just find those old items interesting and want to buy some so I can use them once the house is built.

The market was lined with stalls on both sides, selling everything from dilapidated furniture and yellowed books.

Chen Yongqiang strolled around slowly, his eyes scanning over all sorts of secondhand goods.

Most of it was worthless junk; you could glance at it and move on.

In an inconspicuous corner, an old man was squatting with two chairs in front of him.

Chen Yongqiang examined it and found that the chair was made of huanghuali wood, clearly an antique.

"How much is this chair?"

The old man sized him up: "This chair is no ordinary chair. My ancestors were high-ranking officials. This is an old item passed down from my ancestors, at least a hundred years old."

Chen Yongqiang smiled. He had heard this kind of talk many times. Which stall owner didn't say that their products were passed down from their ancestors?

Give me a fair price.

The old man held up one finger: "Sixty for one hand, one hundred and twenty for two!"

"Too expensive. It's a broken chair, not even made of gold." Chen Yongqiang started nitpicking.

The old man glared. "A broken chair? This is made of huanghuali wood! Don't you know its value?"

Chen Yongqiang certainly knew his stuff. What he valued was the huanghuali wood; this kind of material was becoming increasingly rare, and its value was sure to appreciate in the future.

Buy it now for a few dozen yuan, and after a few years, the price will increase several times over.

But he remained expressionless, simply shaking his head: "So what if it's huanghuali? It's broken like this, it'll need repairs when we get back. Twenty-one pieces, two pieces for thirty-five, it's fine if you want, otherwise I'm leaving."

He made a gesture as if to stand up.

"You've gone too far with that. Two for a hundred, consider it a gesture of friendship."

After some haggling, they finally settled on a price of eighty yuan, and Chen Yongqiang took out the money and handed it over.

The old man took the money, grinned, and helped move the chair to the side of the tractor.

Chen Yongqiang loaded the chair onto the truck bed, tied it securely with rope, and then drove the tractor back home.

As he drove out of the market, he couldn't help but look back at the two chairs one last time.

"Two huanghuali armchairs cost eighty yuan, which is a small bargain."

These days, huanghuali wood hasn't been hyped up yet, and there aren't many people who know about it.

But he knew that this thing would definitely be valuable in the future; eighty yuan was not a small amount these days.

An ordinary worker's monthly salary is only thirty or forty yuan, but he spent two months' salary in one go.

On the way back, Chen Yongqiang gripped the steering wheel and remembered something: his promise to Zhu Lingling.

I'm going to the train station in a couple of days to help her move her appliances.

I don't know where that batch of goods came from; it consisted of washing machines, televisions, and refrigerators—the three major appliances.

These days, people who can get their hands on these things are no ordinary people.

"It's probably smuggled goods," Chen Yongqiang guessed.

These are goods smuggled in from the south or brought in from the coast.

Otherwise, how could we have gotten so many through legitimate channels?

Since it involves smuggling, there are certain risks involved.

If you run into an inspector, having your goods confiscated is the least of your worries; you might even end up in jail for a few days.

In this day and age, if you don't dare to take any risks, you won't make any money.

Chen Yongqiang's gold panning in the river, strictly speaking, falls into a gray area.

Gold belongs to the state; private mining is illegal.

Since no one was supervising him, he just kept doing it. If it were strictly according to the rules, all the gold beans in his spatial storage would have to be confiscated.

Risk and reward are always intertwined.

After returning, Chen Yongqiang had just parked the tractor when he moved the two chairs down.

He carried the chair to the entrance of the workers' shed and called out inside:

"Uncle, could you help me check if these two chairs are real?"

Lin Wenfeng was squatting in the shed, planing wood, when he heard the shout. He put down his planer, stood up and came out.

He walked up to the chair, reached out and touched the armrests, then turned the chair over to look at the mortise and tenon structure at the bottom, and then leaned closer to smell the wood.

Lin Wenfeng stared for a while before straightening up, a look of surprise on his face.

"Yongqiang, where did you get this chair?"

"I found it at the secondhand market in the county town. Do you think it's real or fake?" Although Chen Yongqiang knew a little about wood, he didn't know as much as Lin Wenfeng, the carpenter.

"It really is huanghuali. This material, this craftsmanship, it must be at least a hundred years old. Look at the patina, the wood grain, it can't be fake," Lin Wenfeng gave an affirmative answer.

He pointed to the carvings on the chair: "This is the style of a grand master's chair, which only wealthy families could afford in the past. It's not easy for it to have survived to this day."

Hearing this, Chen Yongqiang felt relieved, but he was afraid of being fooled and wasting his money.

"How much did you buy it for?" Lin Wenfeng asked about the price.

"Eighty, two."

"I got a bargain. Anyone who knows their stuff would be willing to pay several times the price for this chair." As a carpenter, Lin Wenfeng also really likes antique items made of this kind of wood.

"There are some damaged parts," Lin Wen said, pointing to a crack on the back of the chair.

"Look here, and here, they're a bit damaged. But it's nothing serious, the wood isn't broken, it can be repaired."

"I'll give it some maintenance and apply some wax, and I'll make it look brand new."

"That's great, thank you for your help, Uncle." Chen Yongqiang had really found a good deal on these two chairs.

"What's the trouble? I've been a carpenter my whole life, what kind of material haven't I seen? But I've never really worked with huanghuali before. This is a good piece, we have to take good care of it."

Lin Wenfeng moved the two chairs into the work shed, planning to figure out how to fix them when he had time.

Chen Yongqiang didn't bother him anymore and turned to walk towards the thatched hut.

Inside the room, Lin Xiulian was leaning against the headboard sewing clothes for her unborn child.

Chen Yongqiang walked to the bedside and put the things he was holding in front of Lin Xiulian.

"I brought this for you."

Lin Xiulian looked down and saw a bag of peach shortbread, two bags of pastries, and a bag of fruit candies: "Why did you buy all this?"

"I bought these while passing through the county town. You're pregnant, so you should eat more good food. Eat these snacks whenever you have free time, don't be stingy." Chen Yongqiang is usually very thoughtful.

Lin Xiulian ate a peach shortbread and said, "By the way, Dr. Ding came to examine my great-uncle today."

"She said the problem wasn't too serious, just that she's getting old and all the parts of her body are aging. The cough is chronic bronchitis, and the leg pain is rheumatism, both common ailments among the elderly."

"That's good, as long as there's nothing seriously wrong." Chen Yongqiang took a sip of water.

"Dr. Ding prescribed some medicine, saying it would help regulate his body and alleviate the symptoms. He also told him not to overwork himself and to take it easy, since he's almost seventy." Lin Xiulian was also showing respect for her elders.

If Lin Wenfeng falls ill, the work on the doors and windows will be delayed, and the construction of the house will also be delayed.