Chapter 9: Made in the Qianlong Era

The price remained the same, but Liu Yan’s skill at pulling sugar had improved; today, the toothpaste tubes collected in exchange for three jin of sugar brought in nine yuan and fifty cents.

Li Manjun deducted three yuan for costs, leaving six yuan and fifty cents. She gave Liu Cheng one yuan and fifty cents, leaving two yuan and fifty cents each for Liu Yan and herself.

It wasn't much money, and the work was quite tiring, but Liu Yan said that if they brought more sugar next time, they could collect many more toothpaste tubes. Today, the main issue was that they ran out of sugar, and they had only visited one large village.

In other words, there was still a surplus of toothpaste tubes to be found.

The Liu siblings had also inquired about which nearby villages were wealthy, and they prepared to bring more sugar tomorrow to put in some hard labor.

Although Liu Cheng only got one yuan and fifty cents, he didn't mind the small amount at all. This kind of hard-earned money, gained through his own efforts, felt sweet in his hands.

Li Manjun followed the two home, took out the twenty jin of white sugar hidden in the kitchen shed, and told them they would do something big over the next two days, which stunned the siblings.

Liu Yan asked in alarm, "Did you steal your mom's money?"

Li Manjun raised an eyebrow. "She gave it to me voluntarily." Although she would have to return a portion of it later, it wasn't unreasonable to borrow it first, right?

Since it wasn't stolen money, Liu Yan felt relieved.

Li Manjun told them, "We’ll get up early these next two days. We’ll take the first bus to the countryside at 6:30 to collect other goods—toothpaste tubes, chicken and duck feathers, and scrap metal."

"Oh, right, if you run into any elderly people, ask if they have any old items at home."

If they happened to pick up a hidden gem, they could turn their lives around.

Of course, that was a matter of probability; the main focus remained on feathers and scrap metal.

With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, Shinan Town had a custom of slaughtering ducks for the holiday. Moreover, many villages celebrated the festival a day early, so they should be able to collect quite a lot of duck and chicken feathers over the next two days.

After hearing Li Manjun’s plan and looking at the twenty jin of white sugar, the siblings had a sudden realization.

"Sister Manjun, you’re planning to go into the scrap-collecting business for real, aren't you?" Liu Cheng remarked.

Li Manjun smiled and told them to prepare more bags tonight. "Bring two shoulder poles as well, just in case the goods are heavy and need to be carried."

When they parted ways, Liu Yan noticed the black iron bowl in Li Manjun’s tattered bedsheet. "What did you buy?"

Li Manjun said, "A chamber pot." Liu Yan immediately backed away a meter, fanning the air with her hand as if the iron bowl already emitted a certain odor. "Go, go, hurry up!"

"Get up early tomorrow, meet at the bus station sign," Li Manjun reminded them again before heading home.

When she arrived home, Wang Xiaojuan was already cooking. Seeing Li Manjun carrying an iron bowl, she asked what she had bought.

Li Manjun said it was a chamber pot, and she was immediately met with the same disgust.

"Mom, where did you put the steel wool?" Li Manjun asked loudly, unable to find it by the sink.

Wang Xiaojuan tossed the steel wool out from the kitchen and clicked her tongue. "I told you to go out and buy clothes, and you bought this?"

Li Manjun squeezed two pumps of dish soap onto the pitch-black iron bowl and began scrubbing from the bottom with the steel wool. "You don't understand, this is a necessity. I didn't see any suitable clothes today; I'll buy them in a couple of days when the holiday comes. Huh?"

Wang Xiaojuan glanced into the courtyard, wanting to see what her eldest daughter was scrubbing, when she heard her suddenly go "Huh?" Then, Li Manjun dropped the steel wool, picked up the black bowl, and held it under the faucet to rinse off the foam.

Soon, she held the black bowl up again, peering closely at the bottom for a long time.

Wang Xiaojuan couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Did you scrub a hole in it? How much was this broken bowl? Fifty cents or a yuan?"

Li Manjun paused for a moment before answering, "Eighty cents, bought from the scrap collector."

She didn't dare say the bowl cost four yuan and eighty cents; if she did, Wang Xiaojuan would force her to return it.

Li Manjun carried the iron bowl into her bedroom in a hurry. Passing through the dining room, she luxuriously took a sheet of coarse paper, placed the bowl on her desk, and carefully wiped the bottom she had just scrubbed.

After a layer of aged grime was wiped away, a small square seal became increasingly clear, inscribed with: *Made in the Reign of Qianlong*.

Li Manjun’s breath hitched. She took two deep breaths to suppress the surge of emotion in her heart and looked at the seal again.

Was it really an item from the Qianlong era?

When she bought it, she only thought the bowl felt heavy for its size and might be made of some special metal, so she bought it on a whim.

She hadn't expected to scrub out those four characters.

If this were real, wouldn't she have struck gold?

Unfortunately, Li Manjun knew nothing about antiques and didn't know how to verify it, so she simply put it away, planning to ask someone knowledgeable when she had the chance.

After all, Li Manjun wasn't a naive girl who hadn't seen the world; she kept her composure. She wrapped the bowl in an old pillowcase, hid it under the bed, and came back out.

Wang Xiaojuan asked curiously, "Why aren't you washing it?" Did she really scrub a hole in it?

Old items were only valuable if they looked old; if scrubbed clean, they were no longer "old items." Li Manjun, of course, wouldn't wash it anymore.

"It has a hole," she replied dejectedly. Wang Xiaojuan clicked her tongue twice, calling her wasteful, but eventually couldn't help but nag.

Fearing her mother would take it out and throw it away, Li Manjun added, "I'll take it back to return it in a few days. The lady who sold it knows me; she should be willing to take it back."

Only then did Wang Xiaojuan stop nagging.

At night, Li Lijun brought a flashlight and urged her sister to go to the toilet with her. To avoid getting up in the middle of the night, Li Manjun hadn't even drunk any water before bed and was too sleepy to keep her eyes open. "Go yourself, I don't need to go."

Li Lijun wouldn't have it and asked about the new chamber pot.

"Mom said you bought a chamber pot this afternoon, so bring it here for me to use first."

That was an antique! Even if it hadn't been appraised yet, Li Manjun wouldn't let anyone use it like that!

She immediately forced herself to wake up and, biting the bullet, accompanied Li Lijun to the public toilet.

The sisters ran back like a gust of wind. Li Lijun complained, "Why does the public toilet have to be built so far away? Can't they put it closer?"

"Drink less water before bed," Li Manjun said helplessly, turning off the light to sleep.

Li Lijun sighed, gave a kiss to the poster of Alec Su on the wall, and drifted off to dream of meeting her idol.

The next day, just as the neighbor's rooster crowed twice, Li Manjun climbed out of bed, full of energy.

The morning was a bit chilly, so she threw on a long-sleeved shirt, found the shoulder pole, hemp rope, and scale that Wang Xiaojuan used for carrying water in the corner of the main room, and headed out.

Li Jianjun, who had been woken up by the urge to pee, didn't want to run all the way to the public toilet and wanted to catch another half-hour of sleep. He was standing sneakily at the front gate when Li Manjun opened the door with a clatter, scaring him into letting out a loud shout.

Li Manjun quickly looked away, not seeing anything eye-stinging. After a rustling sound behind her, she instructed

"I'm going out to take care of some business. I won't be home for lunch, tell Mom and Dad."

"Oh!" Li Jianjun replied. Only after Li Manjun had walked far away did he suddenly remember to ask, "Sister, what business are you taking care of?"

The only response was the cold morning wind, mixed with an indescribable smell of urine.

The boy seemed to recall the awkward scene from just a moment ago. Blushing with annoyance, he kicked the door frame, rushed into the courtyard, and scooped up a ladle of water to rinse the spot as if to cover his tracks, before returning to his room.

*Sigh, if only there were a bathroom in the house.*

(End of chapter)