Chapter 44 Those who understand come
Ding Wu ran away, using the excuse of going back to his hometown to visit his mother. When he heard that the person Wang Jingzhe was proposing to might be Li Shimin's granddaughter of who knows how many generations, he felt his legs go weak, and he had no choice but to put the long live friendship behind his mind.
Wang Jingzhe later said to Lin Xianyu, "When you can seduce Ding Wu, I will agree to be your family's guardian." Then Wang Jingzhe ran away. He was afraid that this girl would always follow him around. After all, he was going to Longxi to propose marriage, so what would it mean if Lin Xianyu followed him?
He had to worry about the betrothal gift, as the day for proposing marriage was imminent and there was no time to delay.
The idea of proposing marriage and giving betrothal gifts has existed in the history of China for thousands of years. In ancient times, people might give pigs, horses, cattle, or sheep. Later, they might give silks, satins, gold, silver, and jade. Now, they might give houses or cars. In short, you have to bring something when you propose marriage.
But coincidentally, Wang Jingzhe was the type of person who had nothing but a pack of kitchen knives and scissors on his back. But it wouldn't be appropriate to use these things as a betrothal gift, right?
"What should I do? I have to find a way to get some betrothal gifts, otherwise it won't be a good idea to go empty-handed..." Wang Jingzhe sighed dejectedly.
Wang Jingzhe strolled on the street southwest of Panjiayuan Bridge on the South Road of East Third Ring Road in Beijing. This is the most mixed place in the old capital, especially in the second half of the night. It is commonly known as the ghost market, which specializes in selling old goods whose authenticity is unknown. If you have a discerning eye, the things you find here can be best described in one sentence: everything is possible.
It was almost dusk. After strolling back and forth on Panjiayuan Street twice, Wang Jingzhe chose a remote corner and sat on the ground. He opened his bag, took out a piece of red cloth and spread it on the ground. Then he laid out a few kitchen knives and scissors, and wrote a line of words in front with the chalk he had picked up.
“Only credit, no selling”
The handwriting is very good, with vigorous and powerful strokes.
After a while, Wang Jingzhe probably felt that this line of words alone might not be eye-catching and could not express his meaning, so he added another sentence at the end.
"Only on credit, no selling, or bartering, come if you understand"
This is the standard way of an orthodox knife seller who goes among the people. He just sets up a stall anywhere and puts a few kitchen knives on display. He doesn't shout or hawk his wares. He is not like a fortune teller who would approach and grab a passerby and tell him that he is going to have a bloody disaster recently and that he should come here and let him tell his fortune. He also won't say, "Young man, I see that you have a unique bone structure and are about to become rich. Come here and let me say something like, 'I wish you a bright future.'"
People who sell knives on credit never shout out their wares, they only sell them to people who are destined to meet them.
And this time when setting up the stall, Wang Jingzhe wanted to use a kitchen knife in exchange for a presentable betrothal gift.
After the stall was set up, no one came forward to ask about it for a long time. The main reason was that the kitchen knives and scissors on the ground looked too ordinary. They were not at the same level as the kitchen knives produced by Wang Mazi and Zhang Xiaoquan nowadays. Those who wanted to buy kitchen knives might not even bother to ask.
Wang Jingzhe was not in a hurry either. He leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and took a nap. In the past, there were times when people who sold knives on credit would only take one order every ten days or half a month. After all, they were not really selling knives.
"What do you mean, you want to buy the knife on credit? You don't want to sell it?" When Wang Jingzhe was about to fall asleep, he felt someone walking up to him and squatting down.
He half opened his eyes, took a quick look and then closed them again. Across from the stall squatted a middle-aged man in his forties. He was dressed quite decently, but when he spoke he reeked of alcohol. It was obvious that he had drunk a lot and was here to have some fun.
Seeing that Wang Jingzhe didn't say anything, the middle-aged man took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and threw it on the ground: "Buy a kitchen knife, I don't believe it. The money is thrown here, can you really not sell a kitchen knife that costs a few dollars?"
Wang Jingzhe didn't even raise his eyelids and continued to doze off with his arms folded.
"Huh?" The middle-aged man stared at the hundred yuan on the ground, then took out another one and threw it on the ground.
Wang Jingzhe still didn't say anything.
"Pah" another hundred.
"Snapped……"
The middle-aged man threw a total of 500 bright red bills on the ground. Wang Jingzhe never opened his eyes and just muttered two words, "Not for sale!"
"Do you think this is a dragon-slaying sword? I think it's hard for him to even kill a chicken..." The middle-aged man was obviously angry and threw all the money in his wallet on the ground. The scattered money added up to more than a thousand yuan: "I must buy your kitchen knife. Are you going to sell it or not?"
With the middle-aged man's interference, unexpected effects began to emerge. A lot of people gathered in front of the stall to watch the fun. Some of them were just here to stroll around, and there were also many stall owners selling old goods nearby. Some people brought their own old things to sell. When they saw someone taking out more than a thousand yuan to buy a broken kitchen knife but the other party refused to sell it, passers-by became curious.
"Is this hype?" Someone in the crowd grinned, thinking that Wang Jingzhe's approach was quite eye-catching and regarded the middle-aged man as a stooge.
"Only on credit? Or barter? Who would want this broken knife? Only a fool would exchange it..."
Wang Jingzhe did not explain. After being unable to sleep because of the noise, he leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette and smoked casually. His eyes swept across the people in the crowd and then fell on the hands of a few people who were carrying old objects. These people were holding all kinds of strange things, there might be Qianlong's snuff bottles, Yongzheng Emperor's chamber pots, even someone might tell you that what he was holding was an authentic work of Tang Yin.
Someone squatted on the ground in confusion, picked up a kitchen knife, fiddled with it for a few times, and said in surprise: "It's not an antique, it's a very common thing, with a history of no more than a hundred years, how can it be valuable?"
Seeing that there were more people, Wang Jingzhe took the initiative to speak for the first time: "The knife is not valuable, and I won't sell it. I will only sell it on credit to those who are destined to meet me."
"What is meant by a destined person?"
At this time, an old man in his sixties or seventies came strolling in from outside the crowd. He was wearing handmade cloth shoes from Nei Liansheng and a jacket from Long Qingxiang. After seeing that there were quite a few people gathered here, he squeezed in humming a little tune.
As soon as the old man came in, Wang Jingzhe glanced over. The first thing he saw was the Longqingxiang jacket on the other person and the Nei Liansheng cloth shoes on his feet, because the navy blue robe he was wearing was also produced by Longqingxiang.
Hundreds of years ago, Longqingxiang specialized in making clothes for emperors, princes, and dignitaries. In modern times, Longqingxiang's clothes are all tailor-made. Although the common clothes on the market are expensive, they can be bought. However, Longqingxiang has a kind of clothes that is not sold. They are specially supplied. Not many pieces of this kind of clothes are produced in a year. They are customized by the head manager of Longqingxiang.
Therefore, this kind of clothes is very rare, and only those who can wear it can recognize it, because there is a special logo of Long Qingxiang under Wang Jingzhe's robe and on the cuffs of the old man's jacket.
It's settled. The two old and young men instantly made eye contact, and they both recognized the Long Qingxiang special model on each other.
