Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

Chapter 361 2 Pot Head

"Little brother, you are wronging me, an old man. If I don't pack the things in front of you, and something is missing or switched, how can I explain it? I might as well wait for you to come back and I will pack it for you on the spot. It doesn't take much time anyway."

When the old man heard this, he immediately explained.

He Lai thought this made sense. He had heard some rumors about the ghost market, about how after the deal was done, the item was swapped by the seller, and when the buyer took it back, he found that the jade pendant had turned into a tile.

But this industry has its own rules, which state that if something goes wrong or you let it go, you will not be responsible, so many people have suffered losses.

At this time, He Lai also squatted down and started chatting with the old man.

"Old man, what's your name?"

"Just call me Old Man Yu." The old man didn't even raise his head, concentrating on wrapping the items in his hands.

"Old Yu, can you do me a favor?"

"What are you busy with?"

"That's right, you must be familiar with the people in this ghost market, so help me buy some of the things they have."

He Lai thought that instead of wandering around one by one, it would be better to find someone capable to help him.

"Oh, why do you need so many things!" Old Man Yu raised his head and looked at He Lai.

"It's none of your business. Just tell me whether you want to help me or not. I can give you five pounds of pork as a reward. Of course, you have to get me a wooden box. Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to put all the stuff in."

He Lai took out a small bag from his arms, which contained five pounds of pork.

"Oh, it really is pork. Okay, old man, give me the meat! I'll go talk to you, I guarantee it will work."

When Old Man Yu saw the meat, his eyes widened. He stopped pinching the flour in the bag, quickly took the pork and agreed.

"Then go ahead. I'll wait for your good news here." He Lai sat on Old Man Yu's stool and picked up a string of beads on the stall and started looking at it.

He Lai knew at first glance that this was a string of court beads. After all, all the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty in TV dramas wore this thing.

There are small strings on both sides of the court beads, one string on one side and two strings on the other side, and there is also a back cloud with a piece of jade in the middle of the back cloud, and at the bottom is a large Buddhist bead.

It was obvious that the material of the court beads was unusual, the small beads were emerald green and the large beads were pink. He Lai was counting the beads out of boredom.

When Old Man Yu saw He Lai like this, he immediately stood up and started talking to his colleagues.

Soon, the old men who were setting up stalls came to He Lai with their things and showed them to He.

Of course, He Lai accepted everyone and took away everything from everyone's stall. The prices were similar to those of Old Man Yu, and He Lai didn't care whether they were real or fake, he just mixed them all together!

These old men had no objection. Apparently, they had dug up many graves of dignitaries during the war! They didn't care much about these things, as long as they could exchange them for food.

He Lai was seen constantly taking food back and forth, placing bags of food in front of these old men.

Soon, more than 20 old men who set up stalls in the ghost market got food, including the old man who asked He Lai to go aside at the beginning.

Now He Lai's front was filled with all kinds of antiques, all small things, seals, paper fans, everything, even two yellow jackets.

Old Man Yu got a large wooden box from somewhere and placed it in front of He Lai.

He Lai put the packed things in one by one, and soon the box was full.

He Lai exerted his strength and directly lifted the wooden box onto his shoulders. He said to the group of uncles, "Okay, old men, I'm leaving first! See you next time!"

After He finished speaking, he carried the box and disappeared into the alley, leaving a group of old men whispering there.

"Wow, I didn't expect this little guy to be so strong. He's a good pole-pusher."

An old man said with a smile.

"What are you thinking! If someone of his status were to argue with him, the only people who would allow him to argue with him would probably be his elders."

Old Man Yu spoke.

"Hey, I didn't expect this kid to be so capable. He ate all the food from us old bones."

The old man at the beginning said.

"You stupid old Yi, you're regretting this now! See? Five pounds of fat meat, so delicious!"

Old man Yu held up the pork and smiled, saying that it was all thanks to that blind old Yi who turned down He Lai that he was able to get a big bargain!

The old man at the beginning was called Blind Old Yi. Legend has it that he was old and his eyesight was not good. He could not see clearly and often made jokes. The neighbors in the old street called him Blind Old Yi based on this characteristic.

Blind Old Yi did not refute. He realized that he had indeed made a mistake and missed the opportunity to get the meat. He could only carry the potatoes he had exchanged for and go home.

On the other hand, He Lai had already put all these antiques into the space, and went back to the black market to buy cigarettes and alcohol.

"Master, everything is ready. Here is the list, please take a look." Ma Liu handed over the list respectfully and said.

He Lai took it and looked at it. The price of wine has increased a little, but the price of cigarettes has not increased much. More than 90 bottles of wine and more than 30 packs of cigarettes are exactly 1,100 yuan! I guess Ma Liu had calculated it in advance.

He Lai didn't care about it and gave him the money happily.

"Ma Liu."

"Yes, what can I do for you?" Ma Liu was still counting the money. When he heard He Lai's voice, he immediately replied.

"Well, do you know where there is a wine shop? I want to get some real Erguotou, preferably the kind that hasn't been opened for more than ten years."

He Lai thought that he couldn't always trouble Grandpa Feng to make wine, he could also make deer antler wine himself.

The Erguotou that He was talking about is not the Erguotou liquor we have today, they are very different.

The origin of Erguotou in this era is not simple. Every time a pot of wine is boiled, the wine that comes out at the beginning is called pot head, which has a relatively high concentration of 75 degrees. After that, the concentration will slowly decrease, and at the end it will be only a dozen degrees, which is called wine tip.

This is called Erguotou, when you cut off the head and tail and leave the middle.

When distilling wine, the thing used to cool it is called Tianguo. The first time the distilled wine is poured into Tianguo, the wine that flows out is called Jiutou; the second time it is poured into Tianguo, the wine that flows out is called Erguotou.

This craft is generally not passed on to outsiders. When Emperor Qianlong drank Erguotou, he praised it highly. Wu Yanqi even wrote a poem to praise it: Since ancient times, talented people have been hated for thousands of years, but Erguotou is still a sweet treat today!

"Well, I can ask around for you. But, as you know, food is in short supply right now. This bottle of Erguotou is a Class B wine, and the market price is one dollar and ten cents a bottle. Plus, it's been more than ten years since you opened it, so I guess if I go to the winery to check, the price won't be too low!"

Ma Liu said.

"Well, I'll charge you two yuan per pound. Can you do it?"

He Lai felt that two yuan was about right. After all, Erguotou was not a famous wine. The retail price of a bottle and the wholesale price of a jar must be very different. It was already very good that he could give two yuan.

"Okay, okay, sir, how much do you want?" When Ma Liu heard that He Lai offered two yuan per pound, he immediately agreed. The profit was very high.

"Give me 500 kilograms first, and I'll give you 500 yuan."

He Lai thought about it, took out the money and handed it to Ma Liu.

"Okay, I will definitely get it done for you." Ma Liu took the money with a smile.

"Look carefully at this for me, don't try to fool me with some messy stuff!"

He Lai still gave a warning.

"Don't worry, I will definitely pay attention to your matter. Come back in half a month, and I promise to do a beautiful job for you."

Ma Liu patted his chest and promised.

"Okay, I'm leaving." Seeing that the matter was discussed, He Lai left with the cigarettes and alcohol.

"Sixth brother, look how strong this guy is. He can lift so much wine with one hand."

The younger brother next to him spoke up.

"What are you talking about! Watch the stall carefully. I have something to do and I'm leaving now."

Ma Liu slapped his younger brother on the forehead and cursed.

Ma Liu didn't even count the money and stuffed it into the bag. Now he had to go ask where there was a winery. If he could make a deal, he would probably make a lot of money.