Chapter 697: 697 Happy
The old man was illiterate and didn’t understand what Su Yuanyuan meant.
"Young woman, how about this, you give me five yuan per book for these twenty-six books.
If you think I’m asking for too much, just give whatever you think is right."
Su Yuanyuan shook her head, "Auntie, that’s not what I meant. For these twenty-six books, I’ll give you twenty yuan each. Maybe I’m offering too little, but this is already the highest price I can offer."
"It’s not too little, as long as I can exchange it for money. They’re of no use in my hands and I can’t keep them safe."
Su Yuanyuan nodded and took out the money, handing over a total of six hundred and twenty yuan.
"Young woman, if someone asks you, could you say you paid less?" the old lady said hesitantly.
"No problem, just say it was twenty yuan in total; no one will suspect anything. After all, no one really wants these things anymore, and you’d get no more than two cents a pound at the recycling station now."
Gratitude filled the old lady’s eyes, "Thank you, young woman, you’re truly a good person."
Su Yuanyuan felt a bit helpless too, thinking to herself that she wasn’t really a good person.
The old lady went back into the room, hid six hundred yuan on herself, and wrapped the rest in a handkerchief and tucked it in her bosom.
Once they were alone, Zeng Hongling sighed. "Yuanyuan, what’s the use of raising children? When you need them, they’re of no help at all."
Su Yuanyuan sighed too. This was a common issue, no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t make sense.
The two of them lay down and rested for a while, then got up when Widow Li called outside.
"Sister-in-law, do you think we shouldn’t give money in front of everyone outside?"
Widow Li looked at Su Yuanyuan, "It’s the same. Whether openly or behind everyone’s back, you still get robbed."
Su Yuanyuan knew Widow Li was referring to the old lady at noon.
Well then, the two of them carried the table outside the yard anyway. That way it would be less trouble.
There were still quite a few people around since everyone hadn’t started work yet.
"Young woman, take a look, this is a vase handed down from our family."
Zeng Hongling picked it up, looked at it, and shook her head at Su Yuanyuan. "This is from the Republic, not valuable. And the craftsmanship isn’t good either."
"Madam, we can’t accept this vase. We’re looking for old items, and this is at most several decades old. Please check if there are any other old items at home."
"Young woman, this was also passed down in our family."
"Yes, I know. These vases are decades old, but we’re not interested."
"Didn’t they say you collect everything? Why won’t you take mine now?" The woman turned livid, glaring and questioning loudly.
"I collect old items, not junk. And I choose what I want to collect."
Su Yuanyuan disliked when people shouted at her, so her expression was not nice either.
"Sun Er’s wife, your stuff, their money; is it their fault if they don’t buy it?"
"Exactly, exactly. If yours can’t make the cut, step aside, we have our own things to show."
"What’s it to you? You’re like a dog chasing mice, mind your own business. Are you collecting or not?"
"No."
"Then don’t bother collecting anything from our village; I won’t let you take even a single item."
Su Yuanyuan laughed, "You? Who do you think you are? Fine, if that’s the case, I won’t collect anymore. Let others sell outside."
The moment Su Yuanyuan finished speaking, the surrounding crowd was dissatisfied.
"Sun Er’s wife, who do you think you are? Get lost, or we’ll beat you up. Such an ungrateful thing!"
"You guys..."
"What about us? Take your broken items and get lost."
The others also began to jeer, with Su Yuanyuan crossing her arms, watching as someone like this tried to act tough with her? She instantly stirred up public anger.
A sensible person should leave now, but Sun Er’s wife was a reckless person. She’d heard that many people exchanged a lot of money earlier that morning. She rummaged through her house and found only this pair of vases, hoping to exchange it for a hundred yuan. However, who would have thought that no one wanted them.
She had already planned how to spend the hundred yuan and thought it wasn’t enough, and hoped to ask for more.
A woman came over holding two vases, "Hurry and get lost, don’t delay me, can you afford it?"
As she spoke, she placed the vases on the table. "Young woman, don’t mind her, she’s just envious and doesn’t even take a moment to see herself in a puddle."
Zeng Hongling smiled as she took the vases, "Yuanyuan, these are from the early dynasty. Although they’re common things, the age, the pattern, and so on are quite good. These can be offered for fifty yuan."
Zeng Hongling felt confident in her appraisal abilities. Life was fulfilling like this.
Su Yuanyuan nodded, "Big Sister, the age of these items isn’t great.
However, they are over a hundred years old. So, we can offer fifty for these. If Big Sister agrees, sell them to us; if not, take them back."
"Young lady, my vases are so big, and they’re only worth fifty?"
"Big Sister, we collect items not based on size, but on the era.
Look at the writing at the bottom of the vase; that’s what we focus on."
"Alright, I trust you, young lady, I’ll sell them to you."
They collected these vases and jars for money, as no one outside was interested in them.
"Exchanging for fifty yuan can buy plenty of enamel basins."
Hearing this, Su Yuanyuan suddenly remembered she had lots of enamel items in her space, lying around doing nothing. Next time she went out, she could bring more and exchange them. It was a win-win situation.
Sun Er’s wife continued watching from the side. Though dissatisfied and wanting to bully the outsiders, she wasn’t entirely foolish. She knew everyone wanted to exchange for money. No one would align with her now.
Another woman approached at this time. "Young lady, these are books passed down in my family, have a look. We don’t know how to read, so we don’t know what they are."
Zeng Hongling took them and, after Su Yuanyuan saw her carefully open the first page, knew these items must be valuable.
"Yuanyuan, this book can go for twenty. The other one we can’t take, it’s their family’s genealogy."
Su Yuanyuan picked up the genealogy, "Big Sister, this is your family’s genealogy. We won’t collect it, but the first book can go for twenty. It’s up to you."
"A genealogy?"
"Yes."
"Then we definitely can’t sell it; it’ll be passed down in the family. I’ll sell you the other one."
Those watching saw that a single book could sell for twenty, and a few of them left to go home and search.
Watching a single book be exchanged for money, especially for twenty, Sun Er’s wife became even more upset.
The third person brought over three strings of Copper Coin, twenty silver coins, and some paper currency from the Republic.