Chapter 8

After finishing the "reunion" dinner, Xiaowan and the other two went to school. Xue Xiang moved the food and dishes he had bought to the kitchen, and then devoured the leftover buns and fried dough sticks in a frenzy, consuming about three pounds. Xue Xiang made himself a cup of tea, leaned back on the sofa, and propped his legs up on the dining table, beginning to ponder his future. He didn't know what to do next, although he had set his sights on making a name for himself, he didn't know where to settle down. He decided to take it one step at a time.

Xue Xiang suppressed his anxiety. A tall building rises from the ground, and he decided to focus on the most pressing matter at hand—eating. Ultimately, it all came down to money. Although he had "robbed" a group of motorcyclists and seized over a hundred yuan, he had already spent most of it. Adding the thirty-odd yuan he originally had, he had just over a hundred yuan left. He still needed to provide for his three younger siblings, and this amount wouldn't last long. Although the Revolutionary Committee gave them a monthly allowance of about sixty yuan for the four of them, it was enough to eat, but far from the life he envisioned. Xue Xiang didn't want the whole family to join the beggars. He had no intention of living a frugal life; after all, he had decades more experience than the people of this era. If he couldn't even support his younger siblings, he might as well find a block of tofu and bash his head against it.

There were very few ways to make money in this era, and modern commercial methods wouldn't work. Even selling eggs required going to the acquisition station, and raising chickens was limited to a few, yielding only about thirty eggs a month. Robbing motorcyclists was a quick way to make money, but they weren't fools and wouldn't keep bumping into him. He couldn't just go out looking for them.

Xue Xiang thought and thought but couldn't come up with a solution. His head ached, and he kicked the edge of the dining table in frustration. The table crashed to the ground, and Xue Xiang quickly got up to help. This was one of the few "tables" they had, and breaking it would make eating difficult. When he tried to lift it, it wouldn't budge. He had to use more strength to lift it. Curious, he grabbed one corner of the table and estimated it to weigh about two hundred pounds. What kind of wood was this? Xue Xiang examined the table more closely. It was about fifteen centimeters long and ten centimeters wide, with a yellow paint that hid its grain. He flipped the table over and saw that the back was a deep purple-black with long, twisted grain patterns, resembling the hair on a cow's back. He could faintly smell a fragrant aroma. This was the famous rosewood from the future! Xue Xiang was overjoyed.

In his previous life, Xue Xiang wasn't a professional in antiques, but he was a passionate collector. He never missed an episode of the popular CCTV show "Treasure Hunt." He was particularly fond of rosewood and knew its basic characteristics. He was certain this was a rosewood table. If it were ceramics or paintings, he might have been less sure, as the techniques for aging and faking these antiques had been perfected over a thousand years, even leading to forgeries in the Palace Museum. However, rosewood could be identified by its grain and color, and its weight confirmed it. The yellow paint on the table was clearly meant to hide its true nature, and a fake wouldn't go to such lengths. Xue Xiang carefully scraped off a small piece of paint from a table leg, revealing a satin-like sheen. The rosewood was confirmed.

Rosewood is one of the most precious woods in the world, hard and dense, so heavy it sinks in water. It is the top choice for furniture, used exclusively by royalty and nobility, and has always been favored by scholars and officials. Rosewood grows slowly, with a diameter of only about fifteen centimeters, and rarely grows thicker. The trunk is often twisted and has many cavities, making it difficult to use. Therefore, rosewood items of this size are extremely rare. The famous red-topped merchant Hu Xueyan of the late Qing Dynasty owned a large rosewood table, which he treasured. This table changed hands several times over a century and was finally acquired by the imperial palace in 2000, becoming a royal treasure.

At this time, rosewood was valuable but not as expensive as it would be in the future, where its price would increase by ten thousand times. Xue Xiang knew how terrifying the future price of rosewood would be. He didn't want to sell the rosewood table, both because he loved it and because it provided a way to make money—dealing in antiques.

Although private businesses were not allowed, selling your own possessions was not prohibited. With a household registration book, you could sell items at a consignment shop. Xue Xiang's plan was to "quietly enter the village, without firing a gun," going to small alleys and suburban villages to search old houses, buying items at low prices, and selling them at consignment shops in the city. Although it was speculative, the risk was low if he was careful.

While thinking about dealing in antiques, Xue Xiang also remembered another incident.

It was eight years ago, during the height of the Cultural Revolution. The young Red Guards in the city were raiding homes and arresting people. His uncle's family hadn't been affected yet, and his cousin Xue Dangkou was a leader in a rebel group. At eight years old, Xue Xiang followed Xue Dangkou around, joining in the chaos. One day, they raided the home of a university professor, an elderly man in his seventies with no children, who had a house full of books. Xue Xiang still remembered the scene vividly. Entering the house was like entering a sea of paper and books. The house was extremely simple, with no kitchen or bedroom, only a small bathroom. The large room was filled with seven or eight bookshelves, each packed with books. A small bed was placed among the bookshelves, as if he slept in a sea of books. When they raided his home, Xue Dangkou's group of over a dozen people arrived with seven or eight small carts. The old professor tried to stop them from taking his books, but he was no match for the "revolutionary youth" and was soon subdued. They found a large black wooden box under his bed, locked with a big iron lock. The group was excited, thinking it contained valuables. They demanded the key, but the professor refused. Xue Dangkou didn't waste time and chopped the lock with an axe. The professor fainted as soon as the lock was broken. The group rushed to open the box, expecting to find gold and silver, but inside were only two porcelain bottles, a painting, and a few books. Disappointed, they accused the professor of tricking them and decided to bury the "bourgeois remnants" along with the books. They took the items to a mass grave on the outskirts of the city, where they burned the books and buried the items.

It was a windy, overcast day. The books were piled high, and the fire burned slowly. The Red Guards grew impatient and left, leaving Xue Xiang and another boy to watch the fire. Tired, they dragged the black box and sat back-to-back. The wind blew the fire red, and the sky grew darker. After a while, the fire was almost out, and they pushed the box into the embers. Suddenly, a heavy rain started, dousing the fire. The rain came and went quickly, and they found the box only slightly charred. Tired and wanting to change their clothes, they found a deep pit, pushed the box in, and covered it with some dirt. A few days later, Xue Xiang heard that the old professor had died and was buried in the mass grave. Later, he learned that the professor taught history at the university and was a stubborn old man who refused to repent. He hanged himself the day they raided his home.

The sealed memory piqued Xue Xiang's curiosity. He felt that the contents of the black box were not simple and decided to investigate the mass grave that night.

Xue Xiang checked the time; it was already nine. He tidied up the hall, moved the rosewood table to his room, and decided to keep it as a treasure. The rosewood table's days as a dining table were over, but a new problem arose: how to eat. Easy! The great leader taught us to be self-reliant. Xue Xiang decided to make a new dining table. He found a hammer, nails, and some wood in the storage room and started hammering. After a while, a new parallelogram table was born. However, the legs were all tilted in one direction, and it couldn't stand. As soon as he let go, it collapsed. Theory and practice always have a gap, and self-reliance might lead to hunger. Xue Xiang laughed at himself.

As he was worrying about the new table, Lei Xiaotian and the others arrived.