Chapter 59: The Treasures Set Up (1)

  Handing over the whole box of little people books, just about to leave, the stall owner opened his mouth again: "Looking at the three young brothers' appearance, they should be quite familiar with antique collecting. Since you've come here, do you want me to introduce a way for you?"

  It seems that the stall owner is still doing some brokerage business.

  "Boss, do you have any leads?" Feeling curious, Qu Wen immediately asked. The purpose of this trip was to dig up treasure, and no matter whether it was true or false, having multiple clues was always a good thing.

  "I don't have any connections, but I have a brother who's in this line of work and I've heard some things from him."

  Qu Wen heard and sat down again, handing over a cigarette. Although he didn't have the habit of smoking himself, he always carried a pack with him. When doing things outside, it didn't matter if you knew each other or not, as long as there was a cigarette, it would be easier to talk.

  "Boss, tell us something."

  The stall owner took the cigarette, a pack of soft Zhonghua for 40 yuan, although it's not top-grade, but also a good smoke that most ordinary people can't bear to smoke, along with the lighter stretched out by Qu Wen, lit up immediately.

  "There is a place called Qing Town several dozen kilometers from here, which was originally just a county and has been around since the Yuan Dynasty. It slowly developed into a city over time, but it's not very big and is infamous in the surrounding areas. I don't know much about its early history, but I've heard that Wu Sangui went there to quell a rebellion and slaughtered many Miao people, burning and looting villages and turning them into empty cities. Later, during the Republic of China and the early years of the People's Republic, Qing Town became a den for bandits, with many bandits and remnant Nationalist Party forces hiding out in the area and occasionally descending from the mountains to rob civilians. However, by 1950, the country began a large-scale campaign to eliminate banditry, with the Second Field Army's Fifth Corps responsible for the Guizhou region. In just half a year, they eliminated several thousand bandits and enemy agents."

  Qu Wen liked to listen to stories, but couldn't figure out what treasure hunting and bandit suppression had to do with each other. After listening to the boss's lengthy explanation, he couldn't help but interrupt: "Boss, what does national bandit suppression have to do with antique collecting? I've heard that back then, even the local bandits were very poor, at most they just ate two more bowls of rice and drank two more bowls of wine. Could it be that they robbed the wealthy locals and had a lot of money on hand?"

  The peddler paused, took a deep drag on his Chinese cigarette, and flashed a signboard-like smile: "Little brother, this story has to be told in full to be enjoyable, right? I don't know about other places, but at that time, the wealthy landlords here had already been overthrown by everyone. There was no way they could have left anything behind for bandits to rob. Because these bandits were numerous and the remaining Nationalist Party army tried every means to win them over, giving them a lot of gold, silver, and jewels. Unfortunately, before the bandits from the various mountains had time to enjoy these things, the Second Field Army's Fifth Battalion arrived. At the time, they took what they could carry and buried what they couldn't, planning to come back for it later. Unfortunately, they miscalculated, and after the Liberation Army arrived, they never left again, stationing troops in Qing Town, and before you knew it, decades had passed.

  "Think about it, the things that the Nationalist Party army gave to the local bandits were all collected from various parts of the country. Apart from gold and silver bars, there should be a lot of precious treasures too. Later on, the new generation of Miao people built watchtowers in the mountains, and every now and then they would dig up some valuable old things in their own land. These are the things that the bandits who escaped at that time left behind because they couldn't carry them away in a hurry."

  When the vendor finished speaking, Qu Wen and the other two showed excited expressions. It turned out that what he said was true, and there were indeed many good things in the nearby Qing Town Miao Village. Moreover, the vendor's storytelling ability was not bad, which aroused the three people's strong desire to go there.

  The whole package of Da Zhonghua was handed over to the stall owner: "Boss, if we want to go to Qing [Town] Miao Village for a visit, I wonder who can lead the way?"

  The stall owner happily accepted the big RMB note and put it in his pocket: "Alright, I'll let that brother I mentioned earlier and the people from our village guide you. They'll just charge some tour fees."

  If you can really get something good, a little money doesn't matter. Even if it's just going to a scenic area, the ticket alone will cost dozens more.

  "Alright boss, this is my phone number, tell your brother and if you're free, bring us into the mountains tomorrow."

  Qu Wen found a piece of paper, wrote down his phone number on it, chatted with the stall owner for a few more sentences, and then led the way back to the hotel. The three of them rested well overnight, and early the next morning, someone came knocking on their door.

  "Excuse me, are you the Qu brothers? Yesterday, I made an agreement with your brother at home, and today I came to take you into the stockade."

  The man who came was a middle-aged man, about the same age as the bookstall owner, with dark skin and a slightly short stature, only about 1.5 meters tall, standing next to Qu Wen, he was a big head shorter.

  "I'm Qu Wen, I don't know what to call you, big brother, how is this fee calculated?"

  "My surname is Xiong, I'm the fifth child in my family, everyone calls me Lao Wu or Wu Ge. As for the cost, it's calculated per person, 100 yuan each. If you want to stay overnight in the village, add another 100 yuan per day, including three meals. If you get a good deal, pay me an intermediary fee of 1% of the transaction price."

  That year, the average monthly income of many places in the country was just over 1,000 yuan. Xiong Wu opened his mouth and one day it was 100 yuan, still calculated per person. If he brought more people, he didn't know how much money he could make in a month. Moreover, there were also people doing antique brokerage business in Beijing, but others only collected intermediary fees after the transaction between the two parties was completed. There was no reason to collect money before seeing anything.

  "Brother Five, making money in this line is quite fast, but what if we can't find anything after entering the mountain?"

  Xiong Wu has five children, and his personality is quite like that of a Northeastern Chinese man - straightforward and to the point, not liking to beat around the bush.

  "Don't think I don't know that you city folks deal with old stuff all day, but the money in your pockets is countless. One item can feed us ordinary people for several years or even a lifetime. So this little thing is just a drop in the bucket for you. If you want it, give me the money now, otherwise I'm going home to take care of my kid."

  Qu Wen was speechless with laughter at Xiong Wu's words. Who the hell spread the rumor that people who collect things must be rich? Many people have collected their whole lives, but there are only a few genuine items in their homes. The longer they collect, the more they lose money.

  But since I know, there's no reason not to take a look. Qu Wen took out 300 yuan and handed it over to Xiong Wu: "Brother Wu, I'll give you one day's pay first. If you need accommodation, I'll give you more later, okay?"

  "Alright!" Xiong Wu took the money and immediately said, "Don't worry, there's definitely something there. I've brought several groups of people who have all found what they were looking for. As for whether you can find what you want, it depends on your eyesight. If I had this skill, I wouldn't need to guide you, and everything in these villages would belong to me alone."

  Brothers, the votes are not very powerful, the barbarian is updated on time every day, it's worth one or two votes anyway.

  Next week is unknown if there will be a push, but if everyone works hard, three updates per day.