Since she attended high school in the county town before, Jiang Xue easily found the education bureau.
Jiang Xue’s luck was good too; the self-study exam had only been implemented for two years, and it was being taken seriously. When the people at the education bureau heard she wanted to take the self-study exam, they patiently explained the situation to her and registered her.
With the self-study exam settled, Jiang Xue was in a great mood and hummed a little tune as she headed to the hospital. She had always been concerned about her father’s illness, so she planned to first inquire about how much his surgery would cost.
At the hospital, there was quite a line of people waiting to see the doctor. Jiang Xue waited in line for half an hour before it was her turn. The doctor on duty was an elderly doctor, and after Jiang Xue explained her father’s situation, the doctor told her the approximate costs.
She hadn’t expected that just the surgery cost for her father’s illness would be fifty thousand yuan. It wasn’t a small amount of money; everything she owned added together didn’t even amount to five hundred yuan.
Therefore, to earn the surgery costs, she had to work hard to make money.
After thanking the doctor, Jiang Xue headed to her last destination—the only painting and calligraphy shop in the county town. When Jiang Xue entered the store, she didn’t immediately take out her paintings and calligraphy, but instead, she walked around the shop, looking at the calligraphy and paintings on display for sale.
After looking around, she noticed that the prices weren’t high, which was a bit disappointing for someone eager to make money.
However, this was the only painting and calligraphy shop in the county town; if she didn’t sell her works here, nowhere else would work either.
She couldn’t just set up a street stall to sell her calligraphy and paintings, right? Not to mention things sold on the street tend to be cheaper than those in stores, the main issue was she didn’t have the time.
After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Xue decided to take out her calligraphy and paintings for sale. No matter what, it was a source of income.
Thinking this, Jiang Xue left the shop, planning to find a secluded place to take out her calligraphy and paintings.
After looking for quite a while, she finally found an empty alley. Just as she was about to enter the space to take out her works, she heard footsteps.
Jiang Xue had to stop, planning to wait until the people left before entering the space. The footsteps grew closer and Jiang Xue saw that it was two elderly men, one of them holding a piece of something, and they were discussing.
"Old Xiao, you got a good deal on this painting, only a thousand yuan. This obviously comes from a master’s hand," one said.
"Old Chen, don’t say that. The piece of calligraphy you got isn’t bad either. Although it’s not from a master’s hand, it has solid fundamentals. In some time, it might just become valuable," the other replied.
As they chatted, they walked past Jiang Xue as if she wasn’t there. When the two elderly men passed by, she glanced at the piece of calligraphy in one of their hands, her eyes suddenly lit up, and then she caught up with them and asked, "Excuse me, sirs, where did you buy the calligraphy and paintings you’re holding?"
Hearing Jiang Xue’s voice, the two elderly men stopped and looked at her with a smile, asking, "What, do you want to buy calligraphy and paintings too?"
Jiang Xue smiled and said, "I’m not looking to buy calligraphy and paintings, but I have two pieces of calligraphy to sell. Could you please tell me where you bought yours?"
"Selling calligraphy?" The two elderly men were taken aback, looking at Jiang Xue, they said, "Girl, you’re empty-handed. Where are the calligraphy pieces from? You’re not trying to trick us, are you?"
"Gentlemen, I’m not lying to you. I really want to sell calligraphy," Jiang Xue said with a serious face. From the way these two elderly men spoke, the place where they bought their calligraphy and paintings certainly wasn’t that painting and calligraphy shop.
Because she just checked, the highest priced calligraphy and paintings in that shop were only one hundred yuan at most.