Chapter 444 Old Goods
Sure enough, the man opened his mouth and asked for five yuan, saying that the jar was an old good.
At that moment, people who were selling junk from their homes all mocked him: âOld man Bei, your jar is used for pickling, isnât it? Even if itâs an antique, itâs a broken one, worthless.â
The man blushed a bit, because, as others said, this jar had indeed been used at home for pickling. Desperate for money, he saw a child collecting old items and tried to pass it off as an antique to make some money.
âHumph, even if this one is broken, I still have good ones at home.â
However, as soon as he finished speaking, another man joked with him: âArenât these the jars nobody wanted that you dug up from the back mountain? Ha. You can buy a good jar for a few mao, and only you, Old man Bei, would use those ugly, worthless jars.â
ââ¦â
Old man Bei, the middle-aged man, was suddenly at a loss for words.
Because the others were not wrong. Many jars had been dug up from the back mountain, but there were only a few good ones. Once found, they were snatched up by others.
The leftovers were either lopsided, or cracked, and while others found them too ugly to keep, he had picked out some of the better ones to bring back. They were all used at home for pickling, fermenting, and storing grains and beans.
But Ah Xin discovered a grey clay jar, with a diameter of more than ten centimeters, and a height of over thirty centimeters. It had an open mouth, flat rim, squared lip, short neck, wide shoulders, rounded belly, and a small flat base. Below the belly were decorated with irregular horizontal and vertical rope patterns.
He looked it over and it somewhat resembled an antique.
But even as an antique, only a complete one is valuable. This broken jar shouldnât be worth much.
Therefore, he pulled the man aside, who was alert and just stood by.
Ah Xin and Ah Biao weighed the scrap, one paying the money, and it didnât take long before they had processed the scrap brought by everyone.
After everyone had left, Ah Xin then asked the man selling the broken jar: âHow many of these jars do you have at home?â
The man hesitated for a moment before replying, âI have jars and bottles, butââ he glanced at Ah Xin, âthose are in good condition, some of them are quite pretty, Iâd sell them for three yuan each. Are you really interested?â
Ah Xin nodded: âOf course, Iâm serious.â
The man then said, âCome at this time tomorrow, Iâll bring them to sell to you. Todayâs jar, although itâs a bit chipped, is still an antique. Give me two yuan for it.â
Ah Xin handed the man two yuan, then took the jar and left.
After returning to City North Courtyard, he thought it over and felt uncertain, so he rushed to Shen Qiâs courtyard to find Mengyu.
âDid you bring that jar with you?â Mengyu asked.
âUh, I didnât dare to bring it in, so I left it outside the courtyard.â
Mengyu became anxious: âArenât you afraid someone will take it?â
Ah Xin was unconcerned: âNo worries, who would take such a broken jar?â
When Ah Xin came in holding the slightly crooked jar for the second time, Xiao Tao cried out, âMaster, quickly take that jar, itâs really an antique. Moreover, it doesnât have any aggressiveness or Evil Energy, itâs not a burial object.â
Mengyuâs heart stirred. If it were a burial object, although it could be purified, after all, it wouldnât be as clean as something uneroded.
Hearing that this jar was not a burial object, she immediately got excited.
âOkay, Iâll come down with you right away.â
Her intuition told her that there should be an ancient kiln for making jars in the back mountain of that village. These defective products were brought here and discarded.
Those items might not seem special to others, but to her, they were treasures.