“Grave Robbers’ Chronicles”

Chapter 2 Selling Goods

Dragging my suitcase, I entered the market from the north gate. The first thing I saw was the*** (** area). Good heavens, it happened to be a Saturday that day, and it was no exaggeration to say there was a sea of people.

There were diamondwood bracelets, amber and turquoise, porcelainmiscellanea, jade andjewelry, bronze and weapons, stone carvings and rubbings, embroidery and calligraphy and paintings. There was really everything, which broadened my horizons and made me dizzy.

Of course, most of them were fake. There were very few genuine items on the stalls in the**.

I was happy and thought, "Most of the things here are fake. The things I have were all collected by myself and are genuine antiques. They should be sold out quickly, right?"

Seeing an empty stall in the**, I was about to take out my things and set up a stall.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

A bald stall owner next to me stopped me.

"Setting up a stall," I said.

"Setting up a stall? Is this your stall? Go away! Little brat, get out of here quickly!"

I gritted my teeth and said, "I want to set up a stall. Is this your stall? I'll give you money. How much do you want?"

The bald man's eyes rolled around, and then he immediately smiled and said, "One hundred yuan. You can set up a stall if you give me one hundred yuan."

"What! One hundred yuan!"

"Why is it so expensive!"

He looked at me sideways and said, "That's the price. If you don't want to set up a stall, leave quickly. Don't block my business."

I now had less than one hundred yuan left in my pocket. After some bargaining, I gave him ninety yuan.

Now, I only had three yuan left.

The bald man took the money and kept smiling.

Unexpectedly, just as I had spread out my stall and only half of my things were displayed, the loudspeaker in the antique market started to ring.

"Dear tourists and merchants, it's closing time at Panjiayuan Flea Market. Please take your personal belongings and leave the market in an orderly manner. Wish you a pleasant shopping and prosperous business."

As soon as the loudspeaker rang, the stall owners around started to pack up their stalls.

I was stunned at that time. I hadn't even started to sell yet!

I angrily said to the bald man, "Give me my money back! The market is closing now! I haven't even started to set up my stall yet!"

"Pah!"

The bald man spat and scolded me coldly, "Damn it! Why haven't you set up a stall? You've already put up the cloth! This counts as setting up a stall! There's no way you'll get your money back!"

My eyes turned red, and I got angry. I grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go, shouting that he should return my money.

"f**k off, you little brat!"

He kicked me hard in the stomach.

How old was I at that time? I couldn't beat this bald man. Immediately, I was in so much pain that I couldn't straighten up.

There were fewer and fewer people around. Everyone had packed up their stalls and loaded them onto tricycles and left. The bald man who kicked me also left.

It was the twelfth lunar month in the dead of winter. Although Beijing was not as cold as Mohe, it was also very cold at night.

The market security guards were leading big dogs. Seeing that I was slow in packing up my stall, they kept urging me, saying that I would be fined if I was late.

The days were short and the nights were long. By the time I dragged my suitcase out of the market, it was already dark.

I was cold and hungry, and I only had three yuan left.

I sat on a bench by the roadside for half an hour and found out that there was an Internet cafe about two kilometers away in Huaxi Bridge West.

I dragged my suitcase and walked there. Unexpectedly, when I got to the Internet cafe and asked, the cheapest computer for an all-night package was ten yuan, and I didn't have enough money.

The idea of staying in the Internet cafe was also dashed. It was extremely cold outside, and I couldn't bear it. So I dragged my suitcase and hid in an ATM self-service bank.

From time to time, someone came in to withdraw money, and they all looked at me strangely.

The floor was very cold. I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep. So I put on the hat of my cotton-padded coat and curled up in the corner.

After two or three hours, someone patted me in a daze.

I looked up and saw a woman in her fifties. She was holding a small white dog in her hand. She was probably a resident of a community near Jinsong.

"Young man, why are you sleeping here on such a cold day?"

"I just bought two baked sesame seed cakes. They're still warm. If you don't mind, you can eat them. I'll leave them here for you," the woman shook her head and placed the plastic bag on the red iron box with a fire extinguisher.

The woman left after leaving the things. My stomach was growling with hunger. Eventually, I went and took the plastic bag.

The baked sesame seed cakes were dry and crispy and fragrant.

While eating, I cried.

"Should I just give up like this?"

"If I go back, won't others look down on our family even more?"

"No, they won't," I kept cheering myself up: "Xiang Yunfeng, you will definitely become a rich man!"

At eight o'clock in the morning.

I came to Panjiayuan again. Because I didn't have money to pay for the stall fee, I could only drag my suitcase and keep walking around. When I saw someone looking at porcelain, I would go up and ask, "Sir, do you want to take a look at my porcelain? They're all old. I can sell them at a reasonable price."

At this time, the loudspeaker in the market rang again.

"Dear tourists, please be careful of illegal vendors following you. Please take good care of your belongings to avoid being deceived."

As soon as the loudspeaker said this, the way this person looked at me changed, and he immediately ran away.

I asked several people in a row, and they all thought I was an illegal vendor, a swindler!

Then I entered an antique shop with a try. I asked the shop owner if he would accept porcelain.

The shop owner said indifferently, "What is it? Take it out and let me have a look."

I was happy and directly laid down the trolley suitcase and opened it.

"Well, these things are not so good. They're all old, though. How much do you want to sell this pair of vases for?" The owner pointed at a pair of blue-glazed vases from the late Qing Dynasty in the suitcase.

Swallowing saliva, I said carefully, "They're from the late Qing Dynasty. Can you give... give eight hundred for the pair?"

"What? Eight hundred!"

The owner glared at me: "I'll give you a maximum of one hundred and fifty. Do you want to sell?"

"Only one hundred and fifty for a pair?" My heart turned cold.

I collected them from the mountainous area, endured the cold and hunger and took a hard seat train for more than two thousand kilometers. It cost me one hundred yuan to collect them!

Damn it, only fifty yuan profit?

I was so angry that my face turned red, and I directly closed the suitcase. When the owner saw that I was about to leave, he immediately said, "Hey, don't be hasty! If not, I'll add another twenty. How about one hundred and seventy?"

I held back my anger. I thought my quotation was reasonable, but I didn't expect to be so insulted.

"Keep your twenty yuan for yourself!"

When people are angry, they don't listen to others. Young people have even bigger tempers. I ignored everything and directly dragged my suitcase out of the porcelain shop.

I still didn't give up. I was going to set up a stall outside the market. But when I went out and saw, the urban management officers were confiscating things. The things of several guys who were selling fake goods guerrilla-style were all confiscated.

I was so scared that I immediately gave up this idea.

But there's always a way out.

Just when I was in despair, I met an old man. The old man said, "Young man, there are a lot of people in Panjiayuan on Saturdays. The stalls are very expensive. You can try Baoguosi. I heard that the stalls there are free."

Hearing this good news, I was overjoyed! I immediately dragged my suitcase and rushed to Baoguosi in Guang'anmen.

The free stalls in Baoguosi were my last chance.