Chapter 79: Friends on the Path Give Face!

The place where the Baita Temple fair was held was considered Beijing’s earliest flower, bird, fish, and insect market. It closed down in the 1960s and only began to slowly revive two years ago after the end of the great movement.

There were two types of people who came here to trade.

One type was the descendants of the princes, nobles, and Eight Banners disciples left over from the Qing Dynasty. They carried birdcages, fought crickets, trained eagles, and walked dogs.

Even during the difficult times when they couldn’t feed themselves, they wouldn’t let their precious pets starve.

The second type was people who now had a little extra money in their hands. Coupled with a lack of entertainment and an irrepressible idleness, they were just like the fishing enthusiasts of later generations.

Although some had poor skills, they couldn’t resist casting a line whenever they saw water.

Li Xiangdong didn’t even get a seat after boarding the bus; he stood, swaying, for a good half an hour before arriving.

After getting off the bus, he quickly covered his nose. The area was dusty, with many hutongs being demolished. A few simple buildings had already been erected in some places.

He walked quickly to the green belt at the northeast corner of the overpass.

This was a small, spontaneously formed market that had moved from the temple fair after the great movement, and it was quite lively.

Next year, after being reported, it would be uniformly managed by the government and moved to the basement of the Mei Lanfang Grand Theatre, opposite the National Children’s Center.

The government even built two rows of sheds with red brick walls and asbestos tile roofs. Later, everyone liked to call it the Guanyuan Market.

Li Xiangdong, acting like a casual stroller, began to wander around. They sold everything here: cats, dogs, fish, insects, and flowers, as well as real and fake antiques.

It was just that the smell in the vicinity was unpleasant, and the environment was dirty and messy. No wonder it would be reported.

Moreover, the vast majority of the stall owners here were from the same group of people from 20 years ago. Very few young people came here to set up stalls. In a few more years, when everyone saw that money could be made, they would swarm into this trade.

He saw a few street loiterers wandering nearby, and some people were sizing him up from time to time. After thinking for a moment, he took the flashlight out of his cloth bag. If he encountered anyone who didn’t have eyes, he could use it as a brick.

Huh~

Li Xiangdong quickly took two steps forward, walked up to a flower seller, squatted down, and picked up a pot of Clivia.

Good stuff. This was known as the “green gold bar” of the 1980s.

“Comrade, how much for this pot of Clivia?”

“Two yuan.”

The flower seller glanced at him, not looking like a wealthy customer. “Are you buying or not? If not, put it down quickly. Don’t drop it on me.”

Tch~

Look at how arrogant you are. I’m not buying it then!

Li Xiangdong put down the flower and got up to leave. It was still a bit early. It wouldn’t be too late to collect a batch of Clivia in another year or two.

He looked left and right with great novelty until he had had his fill of fresh sights. Only then did he follow the sound of chirping crickets to an area where stalls selling crickets were concentrated.

Li Xiangdong walked up to a nearby stall. The owner was a bald, middle-aged man. He held a cattail fan in his hand, and a dark, grimy white towel was draped around his neck.

He held a small teapot in his hand, and a woven grass katydid cage was placed by his feet. He listened to the katydid’s call while leisurely sizing up the passing crowd.

The middle-aged stall owner saw Li Xiangdong stop at his stall and look around, so he spoke up, “Hey buddy, this isn’t the ghost market. What are you doing carrying a flashlight in broad daylight? Using it as a stool?”

Li Xiangdong squatted down, extended the flashlight towards the middle-aged stall owner, and smiled, “Why don’t you open my eyes first and let me see what an ‘iron butt’ is?”

“I’m getting old, can’t do it anymore. No strength anywhere. You’d better put that away.”

The middle-aged stall owner used his cattail fan to block Li Xiangdong’s flashlight. Seeing that he didn’t look like an insect player, he asked, “Buddy, do you know how to play?”

“Hey~ I haven’t even seen the goods yet, and you have so many questions. What do you care if I know how or not? Can’t I buy them to go fishing?”

Li Xiangdong retorted, pointing to the cricket jars on the ground. “Can I take a look?”

The middle-aged stall owner wasn’t annoyed. A street vendor has seen it all. He picked up a cricket jar and replied with a smile, “Of course you can look. How can we talk price if you don’t look?”

Li Xiangdong took the cricket jar from the stall owner, opened the lid, and placed it on the ground. He carefully examined the color and appearance of the cricket in the jar and nodded. “Not bad, a proper white-toothed green.”

“The gentleman really knows his stuff. Then have a feel.”

The middle-aged stall owner said as he handed over a cricket teaser grass. Li Xiangdong took it, teased the cricket in the jar a couple of times, and then returned the jar to the owner.

“How much for this one?”

The middle-aged stall owner took the cricket jar, put the lid on, and carefully placed it on the ground. “You can take it for 3 yuan.”

Li Xiangdong didn’t say anything. He opened a few more cricket jars to look. They were all local Beijing crickets: white-toothed greens, white-toothed purples, and iron pellets.

Nowadays, you needed a letter of introduction to go out of town, making it very inconvenient to travel to other places. The neighborhood office wouldn’t issue a permit without a good reason.

It was difficult for crickets from other places to get in. Local cricket sellers usually caught them themselves or bought some candy to trick ignorant children into helping them catch crickets.

Li Xiangdong looked at the middle-aged stall owner and asked, “Do you have any iron-headed green-backs?”

Seeing the middle-aged stall owner remain silent, he continued to ask, “Then what about amber greens, ink-toothed green hemp-heads, or ink-headed golden-wings? Do you have any of those here?”

The middle-aged stall owner smiled wryly, “Buddy, don’t joke with me. Where can you find Ningyang goods now? I haven’t seen them in years.”

“You don’t have them, but I do.”

Li Xiangdong smiled and pointed at himself.

“You do?”

The middle-aged stall owner’s eyes lit up. He stretched his neck, leaned close to Li Xiangdong, and said in a low voice, “You can get Ningyang goods?”

“Mmm.”

Li Xiangdong nodded. “Not only can I get them, but I can get a lot. I’m just worried you can’t handle the volume.”

The middle-aged stall owner said excitedly, “Buddy, you’re underestimating me. In this whole area, if I can’t take your goods, no one else can!”

Li Xiangdong smiled, “Is that so? It seems you’re quite famous in this area.”

The middle-aged stall owner said with considerable pride, “You can ask around. Many cricket players know me, Cricket Sun. By the way, I forgot to ask, what should I call you?”

Good heavens~

This guy has a title. He, Li Xiangdong, certainly couldn’t lose. “What a coincidence. Friends on the path give me face and call me Brother Dong.”

Cricket Sun: “…”

Seeing Cricket Sun’s dumbfounded look, Li Xiangdong said with a satisfied smile, “Just kidding with you. You’re older, you can just call me Dongzi. I won’t call you Cricket Sun either. How about I call you Uncle Sun?”

“Sure, Dongzi. About how much can you get? When can I see the goods?”

Uncle Sun looked at Li Xiangdong with anticipation, but Li Xiangdong asked back, “Aren’t you going to talk about the price first? If I think it’s acceptable, then we can continue our discussion, right?”

Uncle Sun lowered his head and calculated for a moment, then looked up at him and said, “For proper Ningyang goods, with all limbs intact, I’ll take as many as you have for 1 yuan each.”

As soon as Li Xiangdong heard the price, he stood up and walked away without a word.

“Hey, hey, hey~ Don’t go!”