CHAPTER 179: CHAPTER 179: THE FLEA MARKET

"Sir, I haven’t finished buying yet, no rush!" Lin Xue called out to the other party.

Now with three sets of furniture, there’s a desk for the two brothers’ study room, the three sisters’ study desk is there, the desk for her own room is there, and there’s still three kang cabinets and three wardrobes missing, as well as another desk for Zhang Yuan’s room.

That would make it complete.

"Girl, pick a bit more! No rush!" The old man said no rush, but his hands were sweating.

He had to sell all the furniture before anyone discovered it, otherwise if the news about selling for a thousand yuan spread, he wouldn’t get that hundred yuan.

Finally, Lin Xue and Zhang Yuan made their selections and bought everything needed, spending a total of one thousand eighty-five yuan.

"Sir, here’s one thousand one hundred yuan, use the remaining money to hire people and a vehicle for furniture moving!" Lin Xue generously handed the money over.

The old man only felt relieved after he received the money.

"Girl, don’t mention how cheap this furniture was sold to you when you go out! It’ll upset people!" The old man advised.

He deliberately spoke ambiguously.

However, Lin Xue wasn’t foolish; she wouldn’t go around bragging about buying so many things.

The two returned to the courtyard and watched the bricklayer busy at work.

Seeing it was already noon, and the bricklayer needed to eat, Lin Xue took out steamed buns from her space, started a fire, and cooked a dish — pork belly stewed with cabbage and vermicelli, just one dish, served with white flour buns for the bricklayer’s lunch.

Everyone ate with satisfaction; while working, they had never been provided with such a good meal, not only with meat and white flour buns but also full meals.

In the afternoon, the work sped up, both quick and well-executed.

By the time the study and workspace in the east and west wing rooms were renovated, it was already past three o’clock.

After the bricklayer left, the thrift market also gradually delivered the furniture.

Lin Xue arranged the good furniture sets in the main house’s two rooms, while the third set was intended for Zhang Yuan, though he refused, so it ended up in her own room.

She truly liked it; besides the wardrobe and kang cabinets, she especially loved the dressing table, and the shoe cabinet didn’t look like a shoe cabinet at all, more like a small display cabinet.

Lin Xue also bought sofas and coffee tables for the main house and east/west wing living rooms.

Both three sisters’ and two brothers’ rooms were equipped with wardrobes, kang cabinets, and desks; the three sisters’ room also had a dressing table.

Zhang Yuan’s room was similar.

Three sets of furniture each had three bowl cabinets, made of different woods but with a remarkably unified style, looking very similar. Below was the cabinet with shelves above, intended for storing grains and dried vegetables, with bowls and dishes placed above.

Fortunately, the kitchen could accommodate all three bowl cabinets; the house had such a benefit - ample space.

Lin Xue instructed people to move the three bowl cabinets into the main house kitchen.

In the courtyard, only the desks and bookshelves for the study, and Xiao Yun’s workspace items remained.

Xiao Yun’s workspace could perfectly fit all three wine cabinets, which resembled supermarket display shelves from the future, so Xiao Yun found them just right.

There were cabinets below, with doors, where unused cloth could be folded inside, and shelves above for placing items; very practical.

Yet the workspace wasn’t dry; it needed airing before moving things inside.

After everyone left, Zhang Yuan went over to lock the courtyard door.

"I’m exhausted; let’s leave the rest for tomorrow and have them tidy up! Let’s rest!" Lin Xue said, pounding her arm.

"Alright! We’ll rest a bit and then go home?" Zhang Yuan said.

"Mhm..." Lin Xue suddenly recalled something, turned around, "I need to bring out the grains now, otherwise it’d be troublesome with them coming tomorrow!"

She said, heading to the kitchen, then took out one hundred jin of rice, one hundred jin of white flour, fifty jin of millet, and thirty jin of cornmeal, then noodles — fifty jin of loose noodles in ten jin packs, perfect for emergencies.

These grains filled up one of the cabinets.

She opened another cabinet, took out two hundred eggs and placed them neatly; then some mushrooms, fungus, dried tofu skin, and legumes like soybeans and mung beans.

As the weather was too hot, she hadn’t brought out any meat, planning to bring it over tomorrow and marinate it for convenience when eating.

Brought out a ten-jin bottle of oil and placed it properly.

Another cabinet was filled with a lot of potatoes, carrots, cabbages, and dry onions — these vegetables.

Everything was ready, but the bowls and dishes were still piled on the stove; she was about to clean them when Zhang Yuan pulled her away.

"Xiao Xue, let’s clean up tomorrow, you’re very tired today! Have a rest and then let’s go home!"

Lin Xue truly felt exhausted, so she listened and went to the room she had prepared for herself.

The kang mat was the kind of moisture-proof linoleum with beautiful patterns.

Though such things didn’t exist in this era, Lin Xue just wanted to take it out and use it; otherwise, the mat might poke her hands painfully and difficultly.

She folded the quilt and placed it in the cabinet she had wiped several times.

She only cleaned her own room’s cabinet, leaving the others to small children to handle.

After placing the quilt and pillow into the kang cabinet and about to close the door, she sensed something odd about the cabinet door.

Out of curiosity, she fiddled with it back and forth.

She felt some movement inside it.

"Zhang Yuan, listen, is there something inside here? I feel the cabinet door is heavy and there’s some noise inside!" Lin Xue turned back to call Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan walked over to check it thoroughly, then swiftly took out Lin Xue’s quilts, stretching his hand inside to explore, after quite a while, he heard a ’click’ sound and opened a secret compartment door.

"There’s a secret compartment inside!" He said, sitting up.

"Really a secret compartment? What’s in it?" Lin Xue got excited; hearing sounds, with hard objects inside, could it be gold?

"Let me check! Stay a bit away!" Zhang Yuan advised.

But Lin Xue didn’t heed the advice and still leaned against the cabinet to listen for sounds.

Soon, Zhang Yuan took out a jade pendant, completely emerald green, without inscriptions, looking like an antique.

Lin Xue examined it in her hand, and although she couldn’t appraise treasures, she wasn’t sure if this jade pendant was valuable, but given the cabinet was antiquated, surely the jade pendant wasn’t ordinary.

Before long, Zhang Yuan retrieved twenty-three gold bars, glistening and quite eye-catching.

"Are there other things?" Lin Xue asked excitedly.

"There’s another at the cabinet door, but it’ll require lifting the cabinet to access it! Perhaps the secret compartment’s wall was damaged during moving, which led to you discovering the items inside!" Zhang Yuan said.

"Let me lift it, you take it out!" Lin Xue eagerly volunteered.

"Better let me lift! You shake the cabinet door!" Zhang Yuan stood up.

The two of them spent quite some time before successfully taking out the items, which included one more gold bar, totaling twenty-four gold bars and one jade pendant.

Lin Xue stored them in the supermarket space along with other gold.

Now Lin Xue was thrilled, pulling Zhang Yuan to explore the cabinets, tables, chairs, and benches they bought.

However, they weren’t lucky anymore and couldn’t find anything else.

By the time they headed home, it was already dark.