CHAPTER 93: CHAPTER 93: YOUR LITTLE SWEETHEART

Jiang Xingye’s hand paused, and he didn’t recover for a long time, then said dejectedly, "No!"

The old man clicked his tongue and fell silent.

Jiang Xingye didn’t touch the braised pork, and after mixing soup with rice and finishing it, he closed up all the lunch boxes and quietly waited outside.

Xu Qinghuan searched aimlessly inside, thinking she might discover a gem by chance.

All those protagonists in time-travel stories found treasures in recycling stations — why shouldn’t she find anything after traveling through time?

Unfair is just unfair. Xu Qinghuan wasn’t one to be bothered. She thought she’d try her luck, and if fate wasn’t on her side, she wouldn’t force it.

In a corner, there was a stack of bowls and plates. Xu Qinghuan opened them one by one, none of them was an antique.

She had seen a lot in her past life, and her grandfather liked collecting items. To please the old man, Xu Qinghuan had done some research on antiques. Though not an expert, she could easily spot items commonly seen in later years.

Just as Xu Qinghuan picked out a few high school textbooks and was about to leave, the old man said to Jiang Xingye, "In the cabinet inside, on the third shelf towards the west end, there’s a snuff bottle. Have your little girlfriend take it."

Jiang Xingye was stunned for a moment, stood up, and said coldly to the old man, "I told you she’s not my girlfriend."

His voice was low, carrying a tone of impatience. The old man rolled his eyes dramatically, took a puff on his cigarette, and habitually hid his old face behind the smoke.

Jiang Xingye walked straight in, took the textbooks from Xu Qinghuan’s hands, went to the cabinet the old man mentioned, and took out the snuff bottle. He looked at it back and forth but didn’t see anything special and handed it to Xu Qinghuan.

Xu Qinghuan was in shock. She recognized that this was the Qing dynasty’s Qianlong Imperial Enamel Snuff Bottle, which sold for more than 160 million RMB in later years. Saying it was priceless was no exaggeration.

She stared blankly at Jiang Xingye. Did this guy know its value, or did he not?

Jiang Xingye said, "Take it. The old man asked me to give it to you."

"The old man? You mean the security guard at the door?" Xu Qinghuan said, feeling her heart pounding. More than 160 million RMB wasn’t a small amount. Even if she had been worth over 30 billion in her past life, she couldn’t help but be tempted.

"Yeah." Jiang Xingye looked at Xu Qinghuan’s expression and only found it extremely adorable — so vivid, right in front of him. His heartbeat wasn’t any calmer than Xu Qinghuan’s.

In his eyes, there was a hint of deep affection and longing, even he hadn’t realized.

Xu Qinghuan clutched the snuff bottle, thought for a moment, went out, and handed the snuff bottle back to the old man, "You know what this is, right?"

The old man dismissively waved his hand, "Take it away, take it away. If you don’t, I’ll just smash it."

Seeing he wasn’t joking, Xu Qinghuan quickly put it away. "How much?"

The old man glanced at the books Jiang Xingye was holding, "Weigh them, how many pounds."

Jiang Xingye weighed them with his hand, "Two pounds and two ounces!"

The old man then said to Xu Qinghuan, "Give me twenty cents."

Xu Qinghuan patted the snuff bottle in her canvas bag, "And what about this?"

The old man’s eyes twinkled as he took a puff of smoke, squinting, "That kid didn’t finish the braised pork, give me that to eat."

Xu Qinghuan turned to look at Jiang Xingye. He hurriedly clutched the lunchbox to his chest, holding it tightly, and angrily said, "Dream on! I told you I’d get you another box later."

The old man’s eyebrows shot up as he glared with eyes shining brightly, "If you don’t give me the braised pork, you can forget about taking the snuff bottle."

Jiang Xingye’s face turned livid with anger, but after enduring again and again, he reluctantly handed over the box of braised pork to the old man, "Does eating it grant you immortality?"

The old man chuckled, "What business is it of yours?"

After saying this, he prepared to snatch it away but Xu Qinghuan blocked the lunchbox with her hand. From her bag, she took out a large currency note, a pound of meat ration, and a pack of tobacco, "Try this tobacco. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you the braised pork. You can only choose one."

The old man didn’t even glance at the money, grabbed the tobacco suspiciously, and sniffed it close to his nose. His eyes suddenly widened to twice their size. For the first time in his life, without any hesitation, he exclaimed, "Good stuff!"

He eagerly knocked out the still-half full tobacco from his pipe, put a very small amount of new tobacco into the pipe, lit it, and took a deep puff, feeling a cool sensation rush straight to his lungs.

Feeling as though his lungs and respiratory tract had been washed anew, a cool and refreshing sensation spread throughout his body.

"Good stuff!" The old man looked up at Xu Qinghuan, "How much more do you have? Sell it to me!"

Xu Qinghuan shook her head, "There’s not much of this. I was planning to sell it, but I’ll just give it to you."

With that, she intended to leave, but the old man stopped her, "When will you have more next time?"

Jiang Xingye pulled Xu Qinghuan behind him, "What are you doing?"

He glared at the old man in anger, and only then did the old man realize he’d overreacted. He pointed towards the inside of the recycling station, "Next time you come, I’ll set aside some good stuff for you. Tell me where you got this tobacco, and I’ll come find you to buy it."

Xu Qinghuan said, "My late master made it. He was a doctor. Once I get tobacco leaves, I can make it. If you run out, I’ll bring you more."

"Deal!" the old man said.

Xu Qinghuan nodded, "However, there isn’t much of this good stuff, and it’s troublesome to make, so I can’t make much. If you tell others and they come asking me for it, I’ll sell it at a high price and you won’t get any."

The old man glared at her, annoyed, "I’m not stupid!"

Having said this, he sat in the rocking chair, rocking gently, focusing intently on smoking, taking a small puff each time. Only when Xu Qinghuan was far away did he remember and shout, "Hey, you! If you can’t get tobacco leaves, I have some!"

He said this and quickly ran over, taking the tobacco leaves from his pocket and handing them to Xu Qinghuan, about a small handful, "Take these to make some!"

The tobacco Xu Qinghuan gave to the old man was actually very ordinary, but in the space it absorbed Spiritual Energy, changing its flavor.

In her past life, her surgical mentor became addicted to smoking after losing his wife and preferred growing his own tobacco leaves, preparing them into tobacco, and smoking them with an old-style pipe or rolling them into cigarettes, often choking and coughing his throat hoarse.

He always wanted to choke himself to death.

He often smelled like an old cigar, which was quite unpleasant.

For her teacher’s sake and her health, Xu Qinghuan placed the tobacco he made into the space, taking it out every so often, claiming it was tobacco she processed with a method of preparing medical herbs.

Her teacher got hooked on the taste after one puff, but later on, the more he smoked, the less he liked smoking. Within six months, he quit smoking altogether.

Xu Qinghuan took the tobacco the old man handed her, put it in her canvas pocket, and simultaneously into the space.

Jiang Xingye asked Xu Qinghuan, "Where to now?"

"I need to swing by the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a few things and visit a relative," Xu Qinghuan said.

"Alright." After Xu Qinghuan mounted the back seat, he pedaled the bicycle and sped away.

His mood was as light as a monkey darting freely through the forest, like a lark singing its song, flying freely in the air. Even the scorching sun above felt gentle.