It was not easy for Chu Wan to go to the city. Since she was going to the city this time, she should stay in the city for a few days and try to earn some money; but if she wanted to make money, she needed capital.

With the 9.6 yuan in her hand, she was short of money. Even if she could stay at a friend’s house, she still had to eat, drink, poop and pee, and she had to buy some vegetables for her friend.

Now that Lu Shouyan gave her 10 yuan, she felt embarrassed to accept it, but she also felt that she really needed it, so she could only take it reluctantly.

She’ll find another way to pay him back when she made money.

She stuffed the 10 yuan and her own 9 yuan and 6 jiao into the inside pocket of her cotton-padded jacket, then wrapped the jacket tightly around herself and walked slowly towards Panjiayuan Market.

In the early days, Panjiayuan was actually a flea market and a famous ghost market, meaning, it was a market that only appeared at night. When people came here, the poor struck flints and the rich carried lanterns.

At that time, every old Beijinger had some money, but when their lives fell on hard times, they were too embarrassed to sell what they had, thinking it would be a loss of face. So the best place to trade was at this ghost market that opened in the middle of the night. Of course, there were also things that disappeared after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and they were all traded here. Buyers didn’t care about where the goods came from, and so the origins of the goods didn’t matter. It was the perfect place.

The 1980s was the golden age of Panjiayuan Market. You could buy anything you wanted with your eyes closed. Basically, all the goods were sold here and there was no counterfeiting at that time.

The Four Olds had been destroyed and no one didn’t dare to buy the genuine old stuff anymore. Who would make fakes for no reason? Making fakes required time and energy, and doesn’t that cost money?

But, of course, there were cases where items from the Qing Dynasty were sold to you as items from the Ming Dynasty, or items with some defects were repaired and then sold again, so you still had to keep your eyes open to avoid being fooled.

Chu Wan, wrapped in an old, cotton-padded jacket, strolled around casually.

Panjiayuan was located on Beijing’s East Third Ring Road, a suburban area convenient for people from Hebei, Shandong, and Tianjin to come and sell their antiques. At this time, selling antiques was still illegal, and officials from the Cultural Relics Bureau kept an eye out to arrest people. Those selling antiques gathered on a large dirt hill at a nearby construction site, having a commanding view of the place. If they see people from the Cultural Relics Bureau approaching, they would immediately pack up their wares and run.

Chu Wan climbed up the hill and took a quick look. She saw many genuine goods which were not expensive, but she did not dare to buy any.

She now had less than 20 yuan in total, and she still had to leave some money for food, drink, and toilet, which meant she could only spend 15 yuan at most on buying things.

In this day and age, 15 yuan could probably already buy one or two things, but she had to be able to sell them as soon as possible after buying them so as to make money. She couldn’t afford to waste time, so she had to find a different way.

Chu Wan wandered around the stalls for a long time, but she didn’t find anything particularly good.

The antique world was a legendary circle, and there were always tales of people getting rich overnight, such as accidentally finding a chicken glazed cup at a street stall for a few dollars, then selling it for tens of millions in a blink of an eye, and living a worry-free life from then on.

But those were all legends. Most people will never encounter such an opportunity in their lifetime.

Even an expert like Chu Wan, who had been in the antique world for more than a decade in her previous life, couldn’t find anything that could make her rich overnight after just a quick glance. Most of these items were just ordinary. Maybe she could make a little money, or maybe the value would appreciate a lot if she kept them, but she really didn’t see anything that could solve her immediate problem.

After looking at it for a while, Chu Wan finally set her sights on a piece of jade.

The piece of jade was casually placed at the very edge of the display, very inconspicuous, and it was obvious that the stall owner didn’t care much about it.

This piece of jade was actually quite big, about twenty centimeters square, and was Xinjiang Hetian jade. However, only the middle part was white with a slight hint of red, while the rest of the jade was black and gray.

China has always admired white jade; this was valuable. The black and gray jade basically had no value, so this piece of jade was only valuable because of the irregularly-shaped white part in the middle.

However, Chu Wan stared at the piece of jade and thought of the old general who was about to celebrate his birthday, and an idea came to her mind.

She immediately stepped forward and asked the stall owner how much the jade cost. The stall owner glanced at Chu Wan, didn’t take her seriously at all, and directly quoted a price of 20 yuan.

Chu Wan smiled and said, “Only the white piece in the middle of this jade can be used. It’s so small and in such an odd shape, it can only be used as a small pendant at best.”

After hearing this, the stall owner looked at Chu Wan again. He became serious this time, so Chu Wan didn’t hesitate. The two of them bargained for a while and finally settled on 5 yuan.

5 yuan was a normal price. After all, many people’s salary was only thirty or fifty yuan a month.

In this era, the antique market was still practically deserted. Only people in the antique circle liked to play with it, and ordinary people outside didn’t care about it at all.

The stall owner was very happy with the sale. Chu Wan took the jade and left quickly. After leaving, she went straight to the alley behind Panjiayuan and found a jade craftsman.

This jade craftsman has been doing this for generations, and has some ancient ties with Chu Wan’s ancestors. However, after so many years, the little friendship they had in the past has faded, and they didn’t recognize Chu Wan anymore.

Chu Wan knew that this family was good at their craft, so she specially looked for it.

The other party looked at the jade and asked her what she wanted to do.

Chu Wan described it, “The white piece in the middle is slightly red. Use this red piece to carve a longevity peach. Then used the black and gray pieces around it to carve five bats.”

After hearing this, the jade craftsman looked at the jade, then raised his head and looked at Chu Wan deeply.

Afterwards, he nodded in approval, “Good eyesight.”

This was originally an ordinary piece of jade, and the black and gray area around it made it of little use. However, if it was carved according to her design, it could be considered a clever way of coloring, and the color and texture of the jade could be fully utilized and displayed.

After these two people discussed it some more, the jade craftsman was ready to start working on it. They agreed she would pick it up in three days, and Chu Wan paid 4 yuan as labor fee.

After leaving the jade craftsman’s house, Chu Wan was extremely satisfied with the jade she had found.

You know, in the antique market, there were many ways to find bargains. Relying on knowledge, vision, luck, and your own understanding of the market were all necessary to find good bargains.

For example, no one wanted Huanghuali in this era, and it was often directly used as firewood. However, some people know that Huanghuali was sought after in the Republic of China and in foreign countries, so they buy it and wait for the day when Huanghuali would become popular again in China. This was called picking up a bargain, and this kind of bargain also carried a prediction of the future. In other words, a gamble.

Sometimes, to find a bargain, you had to use your brain in a way that others couldn’t, or find a unique selling point, or be creative and adapt to the situation.

You could also pick up bargains by relying on human nature and your understanding of human nature.

Things would always be the same things, they would not change; but people’s hearts change. When people’s hearts change, their understanding of things would be different, and the value of things would also be different.

Chu Wan put her hands inside her sleeves and looked around the Panjiayuan Market some more, but she didn’t see anything that interested her. Seeing that it was getting late, she first bought a sesame bun to fill herr stomach, then bought some fruits and vegetables from a nearby stall, and took the tram to Hu Huiyun’s home in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

Pearls and Jade Beside Me in the ’80s translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: Historical context:  The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialiist, anti-Christian movement in North China during 1899-1901. They were called ‘boxers’ in English because the militia was composed of martial artists, called ‘Chinese boxers’. Diplomats, missionaries, soldiers, and some Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarters that were then sieged by the Boxers. 

The Eight-Nation Alliance—composed of Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, US, Italy, Austria-Hungary—invaded China to stop the seige. They then marched on to Beijing and much killing, looting, and vandalism occurred.

The Dowager Empress Cixi—who allied with the Boxers against the foreign invaders—fled to Xian leaving many treasures behind. 

The political stuff doesn’t matter to us but this looting is referenced every now and then in the story because of the cultural relics lost at the time.

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The Four Olds —old ideas, culture, customs, and habits—were elements of the old Chinese culture that the Red Guards  sought to bring down during the Cultural Revolution. 

Many cultural relics were destroyed during this time or were simply hidden by the families for fear of being implicated. In Chu Wan’s time, people were slowly revealing the cultural treasures they had hidden during those dark times.     

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Chenghua Chicken Cups were commissioned by the Chenghua Emperor (circa 1470) of the Ming dynasty to honor his Empress Mother. These glazed cups, intended as wine cups, depicted hens and roosters feeding their chicks as a symbol of dynastic values such as continuing the family line and caring for the young.

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Huanghuali is a type of wood that’s a deep rose color. It was popular as furniture during the Ming and Qing dynasties and is much sought after as an antique. It is now considered Vulnerable status due to over-exploitation.

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Chapter 7.2 — There Must be Compatibility Between Husband and Wife
Chapter 8 — The Beauty of Line Carving
Chapter 9 — In My Eyes, This Is 200 Yuan