Chapter 86: Chapter 80 Peng City
Lu Jiaxin’s journey this time wasn’t boring at all. During daytime, he would read some books or chat with the old grandpa in the lower bunk. The grandpa had fought in the Korean War, was injured and transferred back to the machinery factory in his hometown. Now retired, he was headed to Yangcheng City to spend the winter because of his severe leg arthritis, at the insistence of his son.
After the old man got off the train, he ran to the window and spoke to Lu Jiaxin with reluctance, “Xiao Lu, when you get to Yangcheng, you must come to see me.”
Lu Jiaxin poked her head out, smiling broadly, “Don’t worry, Grandpa Chen, I’ll definitely come to visit you when I get to Yangcheng.”
Uncle Chen was so scared that he promptly said, “That’s very dangerous, you’re not allowed to do that again next time.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you, Uncle.”
As the train started moving, Uncle Chen slowly turned into a dot and eventually disappeared from sight, and that’s when Lu Jiaxin climbed back up to her bunk.
By this time, it was just the two of them in the compartment; everyone else had gotten off the train. Gu Wenfeng asked, “Do you really plan to visit him in Yangcheng?”
“It depends on the situation. If I have time, I’ll visit; if not, then I won’t,” she replied.
When they arrived in Peng City, it was evening. After getting off the train, she glanced at the rudimentary station and couldn’t help but marvel again at the city’s rapid development. Who could have imagined that a small town would become an international metropolis in just over twenty years, on par with the Forty-nine City and the Magic Capital?
Seeing her standing motionless, Gu Wenfeng couldn’t decipher her expression, nor did he ask what she was thinking. He simply reminded her, “It’s getting dark; we need to find somewhere to stay.”
Once outside the train station, Lu Jiaxin saw elderly people and children sitting under a tree enjoying the cool breeze. She thought, the first thing she’ll do when she earned some money was to buy a camera. She wanted to capture everything she saw so that in thirty or forty years, these photos would be precious.
High-rise buildings were not yet around; arcade houses lined both sides of the street. It rained frequently throughout the year here, and the roofed overhangs of the arcade houses provided good shelter from the rain. Although the place wasn’t bustling, after walking a bit, she saw advertisements on the street corners which suggested that this place was displaying a new vibe.
Gu Wenfeng asked an old man sitting under the eaves, enjoying the cool, “Uncle, where is the guest house?”
The old man looked at him but said nothing.
Lu Jiaxin stepped forward and asked for directions in Cantonese. The old man grinned and pointed to the right, explaining that if they turned left at the fork ahead, the guest house wouldn’t be far.
Gu Wenfeng looked at her in surprise, and on the way to the guest house, he couldn’t help but ask, “When did you learn to speak Cantonese?”
Lu Jiaxin didn’t need to come up with an excuse, “My aunt married in Yangcheng; I stayed at her place a couple of times when I was a kid and learned it from my cousins.”
Children are quick learners; she had spent two summers in Yangcheng as a child and picked up quite a bit of Cantonese. However, as quickly as she learned it, she also forgot it just as fast, which now spared her the need to covertly find someone to learn from.
“Your aunt lives in Yangcheng?”
With a hum, Lu Jiaxin answered, “My uncle is from Peng City. He was transferred to Yangcheng, so my aunt followed him there. But something happened seven years ago, and the two families stopped communicating.”
It was thanks to her father asking someone to introduce them that Aunt Lu Chunhua was able to marry Uncle Duan Jiefang, which made the two families very close. However, later on, no one knew what ignoble thing happened, but Mrs. Lu had a falling out with Little Aunt Lu. Jiaxin had asked Mrs. Lu about this, but she did not explain, only saying to forget about that relative.
It took about ten minutes’ walk to reach the guesthouse. In fact, there were already hotels in the area. But hotels were expensive, and Lu Jiaxin thought they were neither hygienic nor safe. Peng City was, and for the foreseeable future would be, a place with a mix of good and bad, and security was not great, so the guesthouse was the best choice in terms of cost-performance.
The service staff at the guesthouse were quite pleasant, and after seeing the introduction letter, they gave them two rooms. After getting the keys, both of them carried their luggage upstairs.
Upon entering the room, they saw it was a standard one with two single beds, covered with white sheets and duvets. The room featured a table and a chair, with an electric kettle and a basin with a mug on the table. The place was very clean, but there was one big problem – there was no private bathroom. Lu Jiaxin handed the canvas bag to Gu Wenfeng and took the basin and clothes to the communal bathhouse.
After a bath, Lu Jiaxin was hungry and went out for dinner. Being by the sea, seafood was naturally the first choice. She ordered stir-fried prawns, steamed yellow croaker, garlic oysters, and scallop winter melon soup.
The yellow croaker she ordered was nearly two pounds, and after it was served, Lu Jiaxin took a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. It was wild and freshly killed, tender and delicious.
Gu Wenfeng could tell from her cheerful demeanor that she must like seafood. But just as he was about to eat, Lu Jiaxin let out a sigh. Puzzled, he asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the fish?”
Lu Jiaxin put down her chopsticks, scooped some soup into her bowl, and said, “The fish tastes great. I just thought of something that’s making me feel suffocated.”
Due to environmental changes and overfishing, many fish are on the verge of extinction. That was bad enough, but forty years later, those beasts from the Island Country would still be dumping nuclear wastewater into the ocean, inflicting immeasurable harm to it.
Gu Wenfeng thought she was dwelling on the things Ding Jing had schemed and comforted her, “Don’t think about the past anymore, you need to look forward.”
Lu Jiaxin knew he had misunderstood, but didn’t bother to explain. “Let’s hurry up and eat, it won’t taste as good when it’s cold,” she said.
Although the seafood was delicious, the texture would be much worse if it got cold. Currently, the sea was rich with resources and unpolluted. Once she made some money, she could have emperor crabs, bluefin tuna, Belon oysters, and other top-grade seafood on rotation.
Gu Wenfeng had been to Peng City before and had eaten seafood, but did not find it as tasty as now. And since Lu Jiaxin was not eating much, he didn’t want to waste food and ended up overeating. He didn’t want Lu Jiaxin to make fun of him; even though he was quite uncomfortable, he bore it and didn’t show it.
Lu Jiaxin had actually noticed that he ate too much, but pretended not to know. On the way back, she took the initiative to talk about her plans: “Brother Gu, let’s find an expert to appraise the painting first, and get the appraisal certificate before looking for buyers.”
This did not require seeking help; one could directly pay to get news of experts. However, her young age was a disadvantage, so this matter would still be for Gu Wenfeng to handle.
Without any objection, Gu Wenfeng agreed, “All right, I’ll go tomorrow.”
For New Year, one desires to wear new clothes and socks, and even if money is tight, people try to scrape together fabric to make a garment. Lu Jiaxin thought she must quickly turn the painting into money and then find a factory to produce winter shoes to ship back. If she sold them before New Year, she could definitely make a fortune.
As they approached the guesthouse from a distance, Gu Wenfeng suddenly asked, “Miss Lu, how much do you plan to sell the painting for?”
“In the Ancient Capital, a famous calligrapher or painter’s work costs between one and twenty thousand. Here in Peng City, it’s definitely worth more. We’ll decide on the final price when the time comes!” Lu Jiaxin replied. Works by famous artists are always favored by those who fancy themselves as patrons of the arts and can fetch a good price. Considering the Mainland market, her psychological price was fifty thousand, fifty thousand Hua currency.