Chapter 134 Surprise
Chapter 134 Surprise
After the family enjoyed a delicious meal, Li Changle took the oyster beads and went to Jiefang Street with Zhou's mother.
He originally wanted to call two rickshaws, but the old lady, who was used to being frugal, said that they had just eaten and it would be better to take a walk, so she took the whole family through many winding alleys and finally arrived at Jiefang Street after walking for half an hour.
Li Changle discovered that the shops along the street were not like those in later generations. They were brightly lit even in broad daylight. Looking along the way, he found that clothing stores were doing the best business, and almost every store had customers.
Along the way, Zhou's mother told the two that the owner of Li's Gold Shop used to live in a cowshed with Zhou's father. The family had inherited the craft from their ancestors and had a large business in the past, but had suffered a lot in recent years.
The Li family was united and after getting through those hard times, they even got back some of their real estate. After the reform and opening up, Mr. Li returned to his old business and reopened the gold shop, which is now doing very well.
When we arrived at Li Ji's Gold Jewelry Store, we saw only two storefronts with ordinary decoration. After we went in, we found that there were many gold and silver jewelry on the counter.
Li Changle found that their business was really good. In the middle of the day, there were several people waiting there to get jewelry, and several children were running around in the store.
He asked around and found out that the price of gold was ridiculously cheap, with one ounce of gold costing less than one hundred and fifty yuan.
One qian of gold is equivalent to a little over three grams, which is only more than 40 yuan per gram. Unfortunately, money is needed everywhere now. When his family has spare money, he will buy gold and store it, which is much more cost-effective than depositing it in the bank.
Zhou's mother asked the waitress at the counter, and the girl asked her to wait a moment and went to the inner room. After a while, a gray-haired uncle came out from the inner room.
Seeing Zhou's mother coming up to her with a smile, "Sister-in-law, how come you have time to go shopping today?" Then she said, "Come on, sit in my office for a while."
"No, I came to see you for something." Mother Zhou pointed at Li Changle and said to him with a smile, "Boss Li, this is my son-in-law A Le. He wants you to help take a look at these oyster pearls."
"Okay, bring it here for me to see." Boss Li took out a plate and motioned Li Changle to pour the beads into the plate.
"Are all four beads from oysters?" The beads fell on the plate with a clinking sound. Looking at the oyster beads on the plate, Boss Li could not help asking.
"Yes, all from oysters."
Boss Li looked at the beads one by one, then picked up the golden bead and looked at it for a moment, took a plate and put it in and shook it a few times, then changed to the white bead and put it in and shook it a few times.
Then he took out a caliper and measured it, and then said to Li Changle: "These two are the best, I will give you 160 for each, and the other two are not so good, I will give you 81."
Mother Zhou and Zhou Ruonan showed pleasant surprise and turned to look at Li Changle, "Ah Le, what do you think?"
Li Changle, who originally thought that the pearls were worth only 70 or 80 yuan at most, was delighted after hearing his offer. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "If there are more pearls like this, can you increase the price a little more?"
Boss Li looked at him in surprise, picked up the gold and white ones, and said, "If you can put together a pair of earrings and a pendant with this quality and color, the price can be higher."
"If you can collect three, what's the highest you can offer?"
"Young man, most oyster pearls are irregular in shape and can only be used as medicinal materials, not jewelry. The four you opened can be used to make jewelry, which is already very rare. It is even more difficult to get three more like this."
"I want to give it a try. When I go back, I'll pick them and open them to have a look. If I can find two more, that would be even better. If not, I'll send all of these to you."
Li Changle felt that it might be difficult to collect three gold beads, but it should be no problem to collect three white beads.
"Well, if you can find one of this quality and put it together for a set, I'll give you two hundred a pearl. If you can put together enough for a pearl necklace, I'll give you two hundred and sixty a pearl."
"Deal." Li Changle put away the four beads and said to Boss Li, "I'll send them to you when I have enough. If there are better quality ones than this one, we can negotiate the price."
Boss Li said politely, "I'm waiting." He thought it was difficult, but then he thought again, he had already found four, maybe he could really put together a set!
After looking at the beads, Zhou's mother chatted with Boss Li for a while before saying goodbye to him. Boss Li sent them out of the shop before turning around.
The three of them walked a few steps with the children when the two children saw the popsicle seller and started complaining that they were thirsty. Mother Zhou hurriedly took her grandson to buy some popsicles.
Li Changle laughed and said, "Anan, look how cunning your son is. He clearly wants to eat popsicles, but he says he is thirsty."
Zhou Ruonan glared at him in reproach, "My son is not your son. He is so cunning, just like you."
"Dad, Mom, grandma bought you some popsicles." The two cunning brothers ran towards them with popsicles in their hands.
Zhou Ruonan looked at her son with a smile, "We have it too, right?"
"Yes, grandma said we have them all." Li Xiaohai handed the popsicles to the two of them, "I picked out the glutinous rice ice for you."
Zhou's mother asked with a smile: "Do you want to go home or take a walk on the street?"
Zhou Ruonan: "I want to buy a watch for Ale, so that it will be more convenient for him to use when he goes out to sea."
Li Changle said hurriedly: "Anan, the last time I came here, I heard them say that there is an alley in the old street where there is a black market at night. We can go there to buy things at night. The prices are cheaper than in the department store."
Zhou Ruonan had also heard of the black market. "Watches are big items. If I buy them there, is the quality guaranteed?" "It's the same. The things there are private goods. The cost is low, so the price is cheap."
"The quality should be the same." Zhou's mother said, "A Xiang Po said that the fully automatic watch of his wife, Ah San, was bought there. It is a waterproof watch of Double Lion brand, which is 40 yuan cheaper than outside!"
"It's so much cheaper!" Zhou Ruonan became interested after hearing this, "Then let's go there tonight and take a look."
Li Changle yawned and looked up at the scorching sun. "Are we still going shopping?" He slept too late last night and got up early this morning. He was feeling a little sleepy now.
"Go home first and let the two children have a nap, and then go out for a walk in the afternoon." After saying this, Zhou's mother took her two grandchildren and walked into the alley.
Li Changle looked at the rickshaw parked on the street waiting for customers, shook his head helplessly, strode after it, took the little son from Zhou's mother's back and carried him on his shoulders.
The little guy held his head happily and said, "Gee, gee, gee, the horse runs faster."
"Little rascal!" Li Changle slapped him on the butt twice with his backhand.
Seeing that there was no one in the alley, Zhou's mother turned her head to look at Li Changle and asked in a low voice: "Ah Le, can we really get the beads?"
She had wanted to ask for this a long time ago. The beads cost more than 200 yuan each. Her son-in-law was lucky and could get a few more to sell. She would give them some more so that they could build their new house earlier, so that the whole family wouldn't have to squeeze into a small house when the children grew up.
Li Changle nodded, "We got more than 100 kilograms of oysters that day, and opened four pearls, and inside..."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother looked around and said, "Let's talk about it when we get home. Let's talk about it when we get home."
"Uh-huh!"
The whole family arrived home sweating all over. Mother Zhou hurried to get some hot water and asked the two of them to wash. She was busy washing the two children.
Zhou Ruonan looked at Li Changle happily, "Ah Le, you're so nice. I thought you could only sell one bead for 70 or 80 yuan at most. I didn't expect the price of the four beads to differ so much."
"I looked at them and found that the two most valuable ones were perfectly round. The other two were less shiny and less shaped, so their prices differed by more than twice."
"When are you going to go get those oysters?"
"I'll go pick them when I get home. This time, I'll pick all the oysters and open them when I get home. If there are pearls, that would be the best. If not, I'll dry the oyster meat and send it to my mother-in-law to sell."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Zhou Ruonan thought about it and said, "You can only take out about 100 kilograms at most at a time. You said last time that there are quite a lot in there, and that place is not convenient to enter and exit. What if someone finds out?"
"I'm worried about this, too. There are at least two to three thousand kilograms of oysters in the cave. If we go in and out a few more times, we'll definitely be discovered. Then groups of people will follow us in, and we'll be out of trouble."
Li Changle paused for a moment and said, "I want to take my eldest and second brothers with me into the cave to collect oysters. I'll give them 20% of the money from selling the pearls. Do you agree?"
Zhou Ruonan glanced at him and said, "You've already figured out how to divide it, why are you asking me?"
Li Changle smiled and said, "Wife, you are the head of the third branch of the Li family. I must ask for your opinion before I do anything. If you agree, I will tell them. If you don't agree, I will slowly move out with A Wei."
"I agree!" Zhou Ruonan glared at him in reproach. "It's better to give it to them than to let those jealous people in the village find out and snatch it all away."
Li Changle happily shook her hand after hearing this, "Thank you, my wife! I hope we'll be lucky this time and get more good stuff. Then we'll have enough money to build a new house by the end of the year."
He thought that the two inferior ones could be sold for eighty-one. There were thousands of oysters. If he could find sixty or seventy of them, and a few of them worth more than two hundred, that would be perfect.
"I hope so!" Zhou Ruonan thought that she would have enough money to build a new house next year, and asked happily, "Have you thought about where to build the new house?"
"Ale, I also want to talk to you about building a new house."
Mother Zhou pulled a bamboo chair and sat down. "I heard from Anan that there are still a lot of oysters and conches in there. Go get them and sell them. I'll give you some more. Go ask the village to approve the land for your house and build your new house as soon as possible."
"There are quite a few things inside..." Li Changle repeated what the two had just said to her.
Zhou's mother knew what her son-in-law was like in the past, so she nodded and said, "As the old saying goes, there are only brothers and sisters in this life, not in the next. Your brother and sister-in-law have been very good to you. If you have a way, you should help them."
"Anan and I think so too." Li Changle looked at Zhou's mother gratefully, "Mother, you have helped us a lot over the years. We can't ask you for money to build a new house."
(End of this chapter)