Chapter 178: Chapter 174: Treasure Hunt

“Really?” The mother and her two sons looked at her, pleasantly surprised.

“Mhm!” Lin Lan told them where she’d heard the news.

The three of them laughed happily. Lin Guodong thought of how petty Zhao Xiaohui could be. Before he left, she had been muttering, telling him to go and check on the house. She was still worried all that money had gone down the drain.

After they chatted happily for a while, Wu Shufen told her sons to go help Lin Lan dig out her vegetable patch and fix up the fence.

Seeing them getting busy with work for her again, Lin Lan quickly said, “Big Brother, Second Brother, you should rest for a bit before you go.”

Lin Guodong smiled and waved his hand. “The bus ride wasn’t tiring. You’re busy from morning to night. Now that we’re here to help, you should get some rest too.”

Lin Guoliang took a few steps, then suddenly remembered something he’d heard on the bus. “Little Lan, we heard people on the bus saying that chickens and ducks from several production teams have been stolen. Since it’s getting close to the end of the year, I think it’d be better to move the chickens into the corridor behind the west wing.”

Wu Shufen chimed in immediately, “Yes, yes, yes! Better safe than sorry. There’s always a lot of petty theft at the end of the year. Hurry and get the chickens into the courtyard and coop them up.”

Lin Lan nodded. “Brothers, just put them wherever you think is best.”

The two brothers nodded. They went to the backyard to have a look around, then cut down some bamboo and split it into strips to block off the corridor of the west wing. They moved the coop onto the stone steps under the eaves and built small wicker gates at both ends for easy access. Only then did they grab some chicken feed, call the chickens into the corridor, and close them in.

Looking at the several brightly feathered chickens, Lin Guodong said, “Big Brother, Little Lan’s chickens are looking great. Next year, let’s fence off the area outside the pigsty, keep a few roosters for breeding, and castrate the rest.”

Lin Guoliang smiled and nodded. “Okay. When spring comes, we’ll go up the mountain and dig up some more rattan pepper and Sichuan peppercorn plants. We can plant roses around the pigsty, and we’ll be able to harvest the peppers too.”

After cooping up the chickens, the two brothers picked up their hoes and headed toward the private plot outside.

Wu Shufen took out the silk comforter, the silk-floss padded jacket and pants, and the cotton shoes from her carrying pack and laid them on the bed.

“I made the inner padding, the lining, and the outer cover separately. When you wash them, take the lining and outer cover off so the silk floss doesn’t get washed into a clump.”

“Mhm!” Lin Lan leaned against Wu Shufen, feeling the soft padded clothes, a warmth spreading through her heart. “Thank you, Mom!”

Wu Shufen patted her daughter. “As long as you’re doing well, Mom can rest easy.”

Lin Lan nodded. “You all need to take care of yourselves too.”

Wu Shufen smiled. “We’re doing great! Your father is sleeping through the night now, and he’s looking much healthier.”

Lin Lan decided not to go out to work. “Xiangyang brought over some large bones, pork stomach, and pork intestines. I’ll go wash them and cook them for lunch.”

Wu Shufen said gently, “He treats you so well, so you have to treat him well too. Don’t be petty or throw tantrums.”

“I know. I’m going to wash the intestines and stomach now.” Lin Lan looked at her mother with a grin. “Later, let’s invite Grand-aunt and Dandan over to eat with us.”

Wu Shufen nodded. The mother and daughter put away the things on the bed and went to the kitchen together.

“What are you steaming in the pot at this hour?”

“Soybeans and white beans. I was planning to make sweet bean paste and bean puree after I got back from work.”

Wu Shufen asked, “You used to start in the afternoon. Are you starting this early now?”

Lin Lan smiled. “Business has gotten a little better since the weather cooled down. The brothers Zhixue and Zhilin sell in the city, and the morning and evening rushes are quite good.”

Wu Shufen looked at her with a pained expression. “No wonder you haven’t gained any weight. You’ve actually gotten a bit thinner.”

Lin Lan rolled up her sleeves, revealing her forearms. “Look how sturdy I am.”

“The older you get, the sillier you become.” Wu Shufen looked at her and started to laugh.

Lin Lan took out an aluminum pot and asked Wu Shufen to get the charcoal fire going to boil some water. She then carried the pork intestines and stomach to the ditch. She turned them inside out and began to clean them. The water in the ditch was chilly, and after washing for a while, it felt bone-piercingly cold.

After washing them twice by the ditch, she went back home to continue cleaning them with hot water.

Wu Shufen blanched the large bones and washed them clean. When she turned around, she saw Lin Lan grab a handful of salt to use on the intestines and smacked her lightly, distressed. “You silly girl! That’s salt! It costs money! Give me the intestines. You go pull up some radishes.”

Caught by her mother wasting things, Lin Lan could only sheepishly step aside and go to the vegetable patch to pull up some green onions, radishes, and lettuce stems.

***

Li Xiangyang arrived at the defense team’s office and saw Dongzi and his brother already waiting at the main gate.

Xu Dong’s older brother was named Xu Ming. Like Dongzi, he was tall and thin, but he had a more scholarly appearance. He was a history teacher at the city’s No. 1 Middle School and loved to collect old-fashioned furniture and antiques.

Li Xiangyang said with a smile, “Big Brother, Dongzi told me your courtyard is piled high with old furniture. Would you be willing to part with a few pieces? I’ll pay the current market price!”

Xu Ming replied readily, “It’s gotten hard to find good pieces these past few years, but you can still dig up a couple of gems if you’re lucky. Let’s go check the warehouse at the biggest scrap collection station in the south of the city first. We can try other places after that. If you don’t find anything you like, you can come pick from my collection.”

Xu Dong looked at him and laughed. “I still remember how Mom and Dad used to scold you, saying you traded your whole salary for a pile of rotten wood and broken porcelain jars!”

Xu Ming nodded. “Yeah! If your sister-in-law hadn’t been willing to put up with me, I would’ve ended up an old bachelor.”

The group rode their bikes to the scrap collection station’s warehouse in the south of the city. Xu Ming greeted the old man watching the gate, then led the other two to the warehouse in the back.

It was a large courtyard with a shed built in the middle, under which all sorts of junk were piled high.

Li Xiangyang’s eyes lit up when he spotted a few cartwheels in the scrap heap. ’I could buy them and have someone weld a cart for Little Lan,’ he thought. ’Then I could add a canopy and attach it to the back of a bicycle. She could pull it to the Eucalyptus Forest, and she’d have a place to take shelter from the rain when she sets up her stall.’

Xu Ming led the two into a room. It was stuffed to the brim with old furniture. He turned to look at them.

“Let’s split up and search. If you find anything you like, carry it out, and I’ll inspect it. If it’s good, we’ll buy it.”

The two nodded in agreement and split up to rummage through the piles of old furniture.

Li Xiangyang searched for a long time. Under a pile of tables and chairs that gave off a smell of decay, he found a stack of furniture covered in a thick layer of dust. He casually ran a hand over it and felt carved patterns.

He lifted off a wooden chest that was stacked on top and wiped away the dust. It was a blackish-red chest, its paint mottled and peeling.

Li Xiangyang quite liked its color and grain. He put the chest down, moved all the other pieces to the doorway, and went to find Xu Ming, who was searching in another room. “Big Brother, come take a look at the few things I found.”

“Alright!” Xu Ming put down what he was holding and followed Li Xiangyang to the doorway of the corner room. He looked for a moment at the chest Li Xiangyang had wiped clean. “It’s made of rosewood. The material and the grain are both excellent. You can buy it.”

Over on the other side, Xu Dong had also found a few items. After inspecting them, Xu Ming moved out the pieces he had chosen as well. He called over the old man watching the gate, slipped him a pack of Da Chongjiu cigarettes and ten yuan, and then each of them spent a few dozen yuan to buy a pile of furniture.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep