It was a cloudy day, the sun could not be seen in the afternoon, and the mountains were gloomy.
I took care of Xiaoxuan, always wiping her face and mouth. Suddenly, she fell asleep like Snow White.
Master Zhe chased me out in the middle of the night last night and has not come back yet.
He knitted his head and brows and tapped his fingers rhythmically.
Our phone can only make outgoing calls but cannot answer calls. After waiting for a long time, we turned our head and tried dialing again, and the other party finally answered.
"Professor Song, how's it going?" he asked.
I was very nervous and listened carefully.
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, and then the old professor hesitated and said: "I checked ancient books and asked all my friends. I'm not sure, but I think... you can try using copper coins."
"Copper coins?"
He was surprised: "Copper coins? What kind of copper coins? How to use them?"
Professor Song's voice was old and hoarse. He replied: "If you want copper coins to be passed down from generation to generation, remember, you must have a large amount! Use dozens of kilograms of copper coins to boil beans, then eat the beans and wash your face with the boiled water."
"No...you can't say washing your face, you have to apply the bean water on your entire face. Do you understand what I mean?"
I was confused when I heard it, and I didn't know why I was listening.
"Professor Song, does this method work?" he asked with his head turned.
"I don't know if it works. An old friend who lives on Snake Island told me this method. You can try it as a folk remedy."
What the old professor was talking about was not the Snake Island abroad, but the Snake Island in Liaoning.
We chatted for a few more minutes, asked for specific details, and then hung up the phone.
Douyazai hesitated and asked: "Is this okay? I don't believe what I heard. Otherwise, we should send Xiaoxuan to the hospital as soon as possible."
"There's no point in sending him to the hospital."
I frowned and thought for a long time, then told me: "Yunfeng, go and cover the robbery hole. We are injured and sick now, and the team situation is not suitable for going down the hole."
"What do you mean, head?"
"Now everything is focused on rescuing Xiaoxuan. Write down the coordinates of this place, wait until you get back at half the price, and return to the county town temporarily."
I agreed. Indeed, we have injured too many people this time. If we continue to force people into the pit, the entire army may be wiped out.
Master Zhe disappeared for most of the day and didn't come back until about four o'clock in the afternoon. His face was full of exhaustion.
"Didn't you catch up to July Climb?"
Master Zhe sighed: "Hey... I'm sorry, I tried my best."
Dou Sprout said angrily: "This bitch crawls in July! Did he grow up eating loaches?"
.....
Two days later, in a certain alley of Dongguan Primary School in Kangding County.
"Sister, do you have any small leather coins at home?" (small leather coins are copper coins).
"A collector of antiques? How much does a small piece of leather money cost?"
I quickly said: "Two yuan each."
"Then the price you paid is high. I've had antique collectors come here before, so they only gave me ten cents each."
"Just wait here and I'll get it for you. Don't go into the house."
The elder sister who was eating at the door put down her bowls and chopsticks, turned around and went into the house. A few minutes later she came out carrying a plastic bag.
I hurriedly knelt down and opened the plastic bag, and looked at the bag of copper coins.
"Sister, how many do you have here?"
"I don't know. I haven't counted them. Count them if you want."
I pretended to count and said, "Sister, I'll give you one hundred and fifty."
"Hey, can't you give me two hundred? Look at how good my little leather money is, it's so shiny."
I'm not talking nonsense, I gave you the money and took the toilet again.
I have to buy them all, because if I pick some individually, the other party will definitely think that they are valuable, and either won't sell them, or they will make a big deal.
When I came out and walked to the corner of the alley, I took out a new plastic bag and picked out all the copper coins handed down from ancient times and put them in them. I picked out about thirty coins and threw away the rest.
It's not a waste, it's just that I'm afraid of confusing the handed down and non-legendary ones, and I'm afraid it will affect Xiaoxuan.
The so-called handed down products refer to the kind of yellow and bright copper coins that have been sold in hundreds of families and have been handed over by thousands of people. The surface has a sense of wear and tear, and is rust-free and soil-free. The Five Emperors coins are the best.
As long as it enters the earth and comes out again, it cannot be counted as passed down from generation to generation.
Especially the kind covered with green and black rust, I don’t want it.
According to Feng Shui theory, this kind of money is full of yang energy and has an unexplainable mysterious power. In the past, it was often used for fortune-telling and blessing.
The old professor said that it would take dozens of kilograms of heirloom money to boil bean water. I worked hard all morning, picking and choosing, and only received more than three kilograms, which was far from enough.
I got a speaker from the tofu seller.
I held up a loudspeaker and walked through the streets and alleys shouting: "Collect the small leather money! Recycle the small leather money! Recycle the small leather money at a high price!"
When I walked to the door of Green Olive, a woman upstairs opened the window and called me.
"Wait a minute! Antique collector, I have a few silver dollars, do you want them?"
"No, I just want leather money."
"There are also leather coins, come up and take a look."
I quickly went upstairs.
The first floor is the Green Olive Ballroom, which is only lively in the evening and not crowded in the afternoon. There has been a rumor from the outside world that in the early years at Green Olive, you could touch a girl for ten yuan.
This rumor is wrong. It costs ten dollars to dance salsa with a beautiful woman for ten minutes. If you want to do it, at least add a zero and multiply it by two.
"You come in and get it, it's under the bed, I can't pick it up."
I took out a wine jar from under the bed. The jar was full of copper coins and weighed at least ten kilograms.
"Did you dig this out of the ground?"
"What was dug out? This is passed down from my family."
She said: "My great-grandmother's family was a big landowner before liberation. I used to have more than a dozen jars and silver coins. I sold them all. Now this jar is the only one left. Look, how much money will you give me?"
Most of the items in this jar are heirlooms. I gave him 100 yuan and asked a normal person to collect it. The most I could give her was 300 yuan.
"Beauty, do you know whose family has the most gold coins like this?"
"Hey, you're quite sweet as a collector of antiques."
"Bah," she said with a smile, counting the hundred-dollar bills back and forth, "Go and look around the old movie theater. There used to be several landlords there."
At 10:30 p.m., I had not eaten all day and had blisters on the soles of my feet. I dragged my tired body back to the hotel with a bag of copper coins on my back.
They all fell on the bed with a crash.
Under the light of the light bulb, the pile of copper coins reflected golden light.
Dou Yazai leaned on the crutch and said: "It's so beautiful, like a gold coin. It must weigh more than twenty kilograms, right?"
I weighed it and it was over twenty kilograms.
Brother Yu had already bought more than ten kilograms of lentils. I moved the iron stove, set up a large pot under the command of the boss, poured all the copper coins and beans into the pot, and then filled it with water.
Make a fire and boil water.
After half an hour, the pot was opened.
When I took off the lid of the pot, all the copper coins sank to the bottom, the water was bubbling, and the lentils were boiled until they were soft and tumbling up and down.
The boiled water in the pot turned turbid and turned green, with a layer of light yellow oily sheen floating on the surface. We didn't add oil and we don't know where this oily sheen came from.
A problem arises in front of me.
How to feed Xiaoxuan boiled beans?
After thinking about it, it seems that I can only feed it mouth to mouth.
Dou Sprout put down his crutches and said, "How about you let me do it?"
I kicked him: "I will come if you want! Is it your turn?"
Dou Sprouts hurriedly waved his hands and said, come on, come on.
After chewing a handful of lentils, my mouth smelled like copper, astringent and bitter.
I endured the discomfort, mouth to mouth, and tried my best to put it into Xiaoxuan's mouth.
She couldn't swallow, so I could only try my best to push down with my tongue.
After feeding the lentils, I picked up Xiaoxuan and went to the bathroom.
Set up the basin.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I took a deep breath, success or failure depended on this.
Brother Yu looked on. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, praying to his Buddha.
I was determined and pushed Xiaoxuan's head hard into the basin.
Just at this moment.
The wind started blowing outside the hotel, and the whistling sound sounded like a wolf howling and a ghost howling.
Snap!
The wind blew open the window.
Dou Sprout jumped over and reached out to close the window.
As soon as I closed it, it blew open again with a snap.
The wind slapped the window and made a creaking sound. Dou Sprout closed it again. He pressed the window with his hand and said loudly: "Where did the wind come from?"
Xiaoxuan's face was soaked in the water and she couldn't breathe.
I pressed it tightly, and my hands couldn't stop shaking.
It doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…why doesn’t it work!
Why can't I wake up!
Time goes by second by second.
Brother Yu reminded me: "Yunfeng, let go."
I gritted my teeth and still pressed Xiaoxuan tightly into the water.
Brother Yu frowned and shouted: "Let go!"
Suddenly! A crisp cracking sound.
The mirror on the bathroom sink was cracked for some unknown reason, like a spider web, spreading and exploding.
I violently lifted Xiaoxuan out of the water and shouted nervously: "Wake up! Xiaoxuan! Wake up!"
It seemed to have some effect, Xiaoxuan no longer rolled her eyes.
But just don’t wake up!
I continued to try, several times, for a minute or two each time, until the bean water was completely cold.
Useless!
I called the old professor again for advice.
After listening to the latest situation reported by the boss, the old professor sighed on the other end of the phone and said: "I only know this one way, there is nothing I can do."
Boss rarely uses a begging tone.
The head said: "Professor Song, let me beg you. You are thinking of a way. We can provide money, and we can provide a lot of money."
"Hey...money is not everything in this world."
"There is no other way. In today's world, we so-called professors and experts have only just touched the edge of certain mysterious fields."
"give up."
A blind tone came and hung up.
As the phone was hung up, I took Xiaoxuan back into the house and looked at her face, my heart felt cold.
Brother Yu kicked down the stool, slammed the door and went out.
You will never give up, and I will never give up, never.
Early the next morning, we sent Xiaoxuan to the hospital for examination. The result was not good, the machine could not find out the cause, and the doctor said a lot of nonsense.
After I came back, I locked myself in the room and didn't turn on the light.
All thoughts are lost.
I huddled in the corner, holding my head in my hands, and the scene of Xiaoxuan flashed through my mind like a slide show.
I can't hear Xiaoxuan calling me "Yunfeng" anymore.
I cried, holding my head like a child and crying in grievance.
Heartache, discomfort, anger!
I went crazy! With all my strength, I punched the cement wall with my fists! Bang bang!
My hand is bleeding and I feel no pain.
Master Zhe watched me go crazy and smash the wall, but he didn't stop me or say anything.
Suddenly! A picture flashed through my mind!
Copper coins....copper coins....
Copper coins!
There is a jar of copper coins hidden in the underground wall hole of Guizailing!
At that time, I couldn't figure out why there were copper coins there! What were they used for? Who hid them back then! Later, I didn't take most of them, only a few valuable ones, including the Tiancong hard-earned money.
I rushed out of the room and went to find Dou Sprouts.
"Fuck! What happened to your hand, Fengzi! You're crazy!"
I asked hastily: "There is a copper coin! You picked up a copper coin in the cave! Where did you put it?"
"Ah?! You...which copper coin are you talking about, Fengzi?"
"That's it!"
"You asked me how much it was worth! I said it was worth fifty cents!"
Dou Yazai recalled it for a long time before he said: "That Guangxu Tongbao? At that time, I asked how much it would cost to change to a villa. You said that I could change it to a villa where ants live, which is worth fifty cents." (See Chapter 51 for details.)
"Yes! Yes! That's the one!"
Dou Sprout said wait a minute! I remember I still have it!
After saying that, Dou Sprout started to rummage through the boxes.
After searching for a long time, Dou Sprout suddenly shouted: "Found it! This is it!"
I grabbed it and looked at the lamp.
Under the lamp, this Guangxu Tongbao exudes golden color, just like a gold coin, and it is a thing handed down from generation to generation.
I clutched the copper coins tightly.
"Fengzi, where are you going?"
I didn't even look back and said, "I'm going to Yongzhou overnight and back to Guizailing."
I see.
That jar of copper coins...it was Chen Meiqing who hid it in the hole in the wall with her own hands back then!
