Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 944 - 0944: Old Friends Help 2

Chapter 944: Chapter 0944: Old Friends Help 2

The fare was calculated by segments, with each segment being four stops long. If you rode for five stops, even though it was only one more stop, it would cost an extra three cents. That’s why many locals preferred to walk the last stop home.

Feng Qingxue and Lu Jiang, both outsiders, were deeply impressed by such meticulous thriftiness.

After getting off the bus, they headed straight for the waste station.

The staff at this waste station were much stricter than Mu Yangdong, quite unsociable and hard to deal with. It took Qingxue a lot of soft persuasion and insistence just to gain entry, only for the couple to end up greatly disappointed with the scarcity of waste items inside.

They found out that the waste had been cleared out the day before yesterday, meaning all the waste items had been shipped off to factories—paper mills or steel plants, and so forth.

Since the previously collected items had been taken away, and the newly scavenged items hadn’t been brought in yet, the place naturally seemed empty.

After a whole day’s work and careful identification, Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue found only two valuable paintings and calligraphies, one law-post and about twenty pieces of porcelain. Porcelain was not easy to recycle, so they planned to hand it over to the foreign trade department as craft items to be shipped to the southeast coast for export in exchange for foreign currency.

They took some of the cups, dishes, and bowls in their hands, claiming they were going to use them in their daily lives, and managed to take them out.

There was an especially beautiful coral bonsai, a radiant red. Qingxue wanted to take it, but it was too conspicuous a position.

If the bonsai disappeared, it would undoubtedly raise suspicion among the staff.

Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue could only leave with regret, heading back to the state-run hotel where they were staying.

"Do your best and leave the rest to fate," Lu Jiang consoled, "There are too many things in this world beyond our power to save. The bonsai is beautiful and precious, but it doesn’t compare to our cultural heritage."

Feng Qingxue nodded, "That’s all we can do for now. We’ll try a different waste station tomorrow."

Shanghai was vast, and the waste station was particularly far from the train station. They took a trolley around half the city and had to transfer to another trolley mid-way. Just the fare alone cost them quite a bit, but they finally reached their destination.

To their relief, the waste at this place hadn’t been shipped off yet, and it piled up like a mountain in the warehouse.

The staff member was a middle-aged man, who was sincere, straightforward, and easy to talk to.

Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue spent three days there, skipping lunch, and stealthily took more than four hundred pieces of antiques and paintings that were of museum quality. They didn’t select large pieces of furniture that could be easily noticed after being stolen, even if they were very valuable, so only small items were taken. Among them, just the books and paintings amounted to over a hundred, as did the porcelains, with another hundred or so of various other items.

As they went through the waste, they disarranged the piles, making it impossible for even the keenest eye to notice what was missing.

Since it was theft, and also because the staff member guarding the warehouse was kind, Qingxue followed the precedent set in her hometown and took two gold bars to give to Lu Jiang, to turn over to the state as compensation for the value of the items they had stolen.

When they went to the fourth waste station, the pair disguised themselves, dressing in tattered clothes to appear like poor people.

Just as they arrived at the entrance, they saw several flatbed trucks entering the waste station, loaded with various kinds of waste items. At that moment, a man urging the cart-pullers to hurry approached them swiftly and greeted Qingxue, "Comrade Qingxue, is that you?"

Qingxue was startled and looked at the man.

She scrutinized him with squinted eyes for a while, and suddenly remembered, "You are... Comrade He Hongjun?"

"Yes, yes, Comrade Qingxue actually recognizes me!" He Hongjun laughed joyfully, "I thought I was mistaken when I saw you on the tram a few days ago. I didn’t expect it was really you, Comrade Qingxue!"

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