Chapter 23 - 23 0023 Finding Treasure in the Trash 3_1

Chapter 23: Chapter 0023: Finding Treasure in the Trash 3_1 Chapter 23: Chapter 0023: Finding Treasure in the Trash 3_1 When he looked up to see Feng Qingxue, the worker said listlessly, “Comrade, may I help you with something?” “Hello comrade, I am looking for some old furniture and books, do you have them?” Feng Qingxue began to express her grievances: “Comrade, it’s a shame to waste. I’ve come here because I have no other choice. My five-year-old sister and I were driven out of our home by our brother and sister-in-law. We’re living in a house left by a family who has no successors. There’re no doors, no windows, no beds, no tables. I can bear it, but my little sister can’t. I don’t have money to buy new furniture from stores, so I’m here to check if there are any suitable old furniture here. I also want to see if you have any porcelain bowls and books because I want to teach my sister to read. I do not want her to be illiterate.” The worker, a middle-aged man who seemed honest and straightforward, said, “You can go to the warehouse, there are plenty of old furniture and also some old wood and books, which are meant to be sent to support national construction. Development through recycling is a good virtue. You can go in and pick, but you can’t take books written by counter-revolutionary capitalists. Moreover, you have to pay for these things by weight.” Feng Qingxue understood him. Even junk is part of the national inventory, of course it has to be bought. *Cough* *Cough*.... Upon entering, Feng Qingxue almost choked on the overwhelming dust. The recycling center was without a warehouse. As soon as you entered, there was a large courtyard filled with heaps of old furniture, scrap metal and such. Underneath the makeshift shelter was a variety of books and waste paper, presumably to keep them from getting wet in the rain. At that moment, several people were weighing the wares they had brought in. The ones who brought and unloaded the items were clearly waste collectors, while the ones weighing the items were workers from the recycling station. Feng Qingxue did not dare to stay too long and quickly headed under the shelter. Since there were people around, she couldn’t blatantly add items to her void. Instead, she silently transferred the ancient books and scrolls she found interesting into the void while flipping through the textbooks. Fortunately, all she had to do was touch the object and think about it, and it would appear in her void. She didn’t want to steal these antiquities, but she was forced by the circumstances of the times to commit this act. She was filled with sympathy for these artifacts that were being destroyed. When the country starts to value these things in the future, she will donate the valuable cultural relics she has stolen from the recycling station. She won’t keep them for herself. Not for any other reason, but because these items were stolen, not bought by herself. If she had bought them, they would rightfully belong to her. If they are stolen, they do not, and it will weigh heavily on her conscience. “Righteous wealth should be obtained in a decent way,” she thought. Coming from a family of Scholar Gentry, she had been exposed to physical artefacts under the influence of her elders, so naturally she knew a little about the appraisal of cultural objects. She could tell at a glance whether an ancient book or painting had any value. There weren’t many valuable cultural relics, ancient books or paintings here, the majority were textbooks, magazines and newspapers. Feng Qingxue quickly moved the valuable ancient books and paintings to her void. In her hands were just textbooks and unused paper from this era. It took quite a lot of effort to gather all the necessary textbooks; a set for primary school, one for junior high, and another for high school. Most importantly, she found two and a half sets of the “Self-Study Series on Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry”. One set consists of seventeen volumes, but she was only able to gather two complete sets, and despite rummaging through the entire pile of scrap papers, she failed to complete the third set. This book may not be known to many people born after the 80’s, but those who sat for the 77’s college entrance examination would be very familiar with it. At the time, this book was an absolute treasure. Many people queued overnight to buy it, and the printing house was also working overtime to print it, even using the paper that was reserved for printing red treasures.