I'm back in 1990

Chapter 10: Grandma's Box

After afternoon snacks, Huang Xiaochuan chatted with his grandmother, listening to her tell him about the naughty things he did when he was a child. He never got tired of hearing about them!

Just after 5:30 p.m., my aunt came home from get off work. She works at the supply and marketing cooperative in town, and it's only a short walk to and from get off work.

My aunt was well-off. Although her appearance was ordinary, she had a kind and gentle face, a typical traditional Chinese woman with a kind heart.

Huang Xiaochuan ran up to his aunt with a big smile, bowed, and greeted her, "Hello, Auntie! You're back!"

My aunt helped my grandmother raise Huang Xiaochuan, so she knew his temperament very well. Seeing him being so silly, she couldn't stop laughing: "You little monkey, here again?"

Huang Xiaochuan stayed here until he was six years old, so he once regarded his aunt as his own mother and kept his distance from his biological mother, Zeng Lijuan, who came to visit him. Zeng Lijuan was so angry that she called him a little ingrate.

When Huang Xiaochuan was two years old, his aunt had considered adopting him as her son. His maternal grandmother and uncle were very supportive at the time, but Huang Xiaochuan firmly disagreed, and Zeng Lijuan was also not very happy, so the matter was dropped.

"Aunt? Where are my eldest and second eldest sisters?" Huang Xiaochuan asked, referring to his uncle's two twin daughters. These two older sisters were two years older than Huang Xiaochuan. The eldest sister studied accounting at a junior college in Nanjing, majoring in finance. The second sister studied nursing at a vocational school in Suzhou and became a nurse after graduation.

"They went to Hangzhou to visit their classmates yesterday and won't be back for a while."

"Oh!" Huang Xiaochuan breathed a long sigh of relief, relieved that these two good guys were away for the time being, otherwise they would have been giving Huang Xiaochuan a hard time every day.

After returning home, Auntie went into the kitchen and started busying herself, preparing a sumptuous dinner to entertain Huang Xiaochuan.

Huang Xiaochuan wandered around the old house. He remembered that the old house was demolished in 1998 and a new house was built on the original site, so he wanted to take a closer look.

Grandma thought Huang Xiaochuan was treasure hunting again, because when he was little, she often told him folk tales, such as how rich people would hide money in a certain place, and would leave a secret code for their descendants to hint at the location of the treasure, such as "the top of the pagoda on the fifteenth of August".

So when he was a child, Huang Xiaochuan would search for treasures in this old house. He actually found some copper coins and copper coins. However, these things were very common in this area in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, as Huang Xiaochuan grew up, these things disappeared.

Much later, Huang Xiaochuan learned by chance that this was indeed true. The "top of the pagoda on the fifteenth of August" actually refers to the shadow of the pagoda under the moonlight on the night of the fifteenth of August. The top of the pagoda's shadow on the ground is where the treasure is buried.

Seeing her grandson wandering around the old house again, the grandmother thought he was treasure hunting again, so she called Huang Xiaochuan into her room and mysteriously closed the door.

Grandma took out a small bunch of keys from her waist, then opened the two doors of the wardrobe. There was a vertical beam between the two doors, which was a mechanism.

Grandma gently patted the vertical beam to the left, and it loosened. After removing the beam, there was a protruding tenon on the bottom of the cabinet where the beam had been. Grandma pinched the tenon with her fingers, and the carved panel at the bottom of the cabinet fell off, revealing a hidden compartment.

Grandma gestured for Huang Xiaochuan to take the things out of the hidden compartment.

Huang Xiaochuan knew what was inside. It was her grandmother's treasure, left to her by her grandmother's mother. It was a rectangular huanghuali jewelry box, and it was said that her grandmother's mother's surname was Sheng.

This box is inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a famous Suzhou craft known locally as "Baibaoqian," and is often used on precious hardwood furniture.

This box not only uses mother-of-pearl inlay, but also incorporates precious materials such as jade, ivory, colored stones, and coral. The pattern on the box is butterflies playing with peonies, which is exquisite and beautiful.

The box is also inlaid with five bats in mother-of-pearl around its perimeter: two on the front, one on each side and the back, symbolizing the arrival of five blessings.

Huang Xiaochuan placed the somewhat heavy jewelry box on his grandmother's bed, looking at it with mixed feelings.

Grandma picked out a long, slender brass key from the keychain and inserted it into the side of the small brass lock on the jewelry box, and the lock opened.

After opening the box, Huang Xiaochuan knew what was inside without even looking. Besides some gold rings and earrings, there were also some silver dollars and gold coins.

Among them are rare silver coins and pattern coins such as the "Double Dragon Longevity Character Coin, Kuping Silver Seven Mace Two Candareens", and one gold and one silver "Xuan San Long Beard Dragon". These silver coins and gold coins are all packed in a brocade bag, totaling eleven pieces.

In his previous life, burdened with over ten million in debt, Huang Xiaochuan had no choice but to sell this box and the coins inside. Due to the sluggish market and his urgent need for money, the antique dealer ripped off the rare coins and the box at half the peak market price.

Seeing the box again reminded Huang Xiaochuan of this frustrating incident, and he secretly vowed never to let such a thing happen again.

Grandma took out a gold ring and gold earrings from the box, and stuffed the rest, along with the box and the key, into Huang Xiaochuan's arms.

"These are all for you. These rings and earrings are to be kept as dowries for your eldest and second eldest sisters, so they won't be for you."

"I don't want it, you keep it yourself." Huang Xiaochuan returned the box to his grandmother.

Grandma is still alive in this life, so she should keep the box herself!

Grandma pretended to be angry: "I can't take anything with me when I die. I've already told your uncle that this box is for you. Your uncle has agreed, so don't keep making excuses."

"Don't talk nonsense, you'll live to be a hundred, okay!" Huang Xiaochuan became unhappy as soon as his grandmother mentioned the word "death".

Grandma laughed: "Great, I'll live to be a hundred!"

But she shoved the box back into Huang Xiaochuan's hands, pretending to have a stern face, as if to say she would get upset if he didn't accept it.

Huang Xiaochuan looked helplessly at the doting old lady and made an excuse: "Okay, I'll accept it, but you keep it for me for now. I can't carry this box around every day, can I?"

Hearing Huang Xiaochuan agree, Grandma's smile returned. She patted the box and said, "Then I'll keep it for you for now, and you can take it with you when you go back."

Huang Xiaochuan nodded in agreement and said, "Let's go eat. My aunt should have already prepared it."

"Yes, yes, let's go eat."

After putting away the box and restoring the wardrobe to its original state, the old lady took Huang Xiaochuan's hand and led him to the living room for dinner, just like when he was a child. However, their figures were now reversed, making it seem as if Huang Xiaochuan was holding his grandmother's hand and leading her.

Huang Xiaochuan took the initiative to go to the kitchen to help his aunt serve the dishes, and even praised his aunt's cooking skills in a well-behaved manner.

"Auntie, it's been so long since I've had your cooking. I missed it terribly when I was in Qingjiang."

"You little monkey, all you do is flatter your aunt. It's just home-cooked food, nothing like what you get at a restaurant." Aunt's face lit up with joy.

Huang Xiaochuan picked up a bowl of salted shrimp and said, "Restaurant food is okay to eat occasionally, but it gets greasy after a while. There's too much oil in it. My aunt's cooking is much better and healthier."

"Our Xiao Chuan has really grown up; he's getting better and better at talking." Auntie was overjoyed by his flattery.

After half the dishes were served, my uncle returned on his Benta 125 motorcycle. He arrived right on time, without even washing his hands, and was about to sit down to eat when my aunt slapped his hand with her chopsticks: "Go wash your hands! Don't you know you need to be hygienic? Does your daughter not come home so no one can control you?"

Although Zeng Jiahua was somewhat reluctant in front of the younger generation, he still went to wash his hands.

My uncle is a traditional man, filial to his parents, loving towards his children, and has a good relationship with his wife. Most importantly, he's good at making money, which puts him ahead of 90% of men in the world. Although he has his flaws, such as being vain and not doing housework, no one is perfect!

Huang Xiaochuan was busy setting out the bowls and chopsticks. The four people sat on one side of the eight-immortal table. The south-facing seat was for his maternal grandmother, while his uncle and aunt sat on either side. Huang Xiaochuan sat facing north, directly opposite his maternal grandmother.

The meal was very plentiful, consisting of live fish and shrimp that Grandma had specially bought early in the morning, as well as braised pork with preserved mustard greens and a large bowl of fish head and vermicelli soup.

The soup was milky white, and one sip was so delicious it made your eyebrows fall off. This was truly natural, unlike the fish of later generations that were all fed with feed, which never tasted this fresh.

A table full of good food is incomplete without a couple of drinks. At this time of year, people in the area generally drink yellow wine, and few drink white wine. My aunt had already warmed up the yellow wine for my uncle.

Zeng Jiahua, carrying a small tub of rice wine, asked Huang Xiaochuan, "Want to have some rice wine with me?"

Huang Xiaochuan quickly shook his head and refused. He really couldn't handle this yellow wine. He had suffered from it before. The aftereffects were terrible. He had a splitting headache the day after drinking it.

"If you can't handle yellow wine, how about you have some white wine? Keep your uncle company!" Zeng Jiahua invited again.

"Then let's have some baijiu. We agreed to have two cups together, no more!" Huang Xiaochuan set the bottom line first. The key point was that the wine cup at home was really too big. One cup weighed two and a half ounces. It should be called a wine bowl. It was specially used for drinking huangjiu (yellow wine).

Zeng Jiahua smiled and agreed: "Sure, eat as much as you want, it's no big deal at home."

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan had agreed, his aunt immediately got up to get a bottle of liquor and handed it to him with a smile.

Huang Xiaochuan took it and looked at it, and exclaimed, "Wow! It's Wuliangye!"

Zeng Jiahua felt a pang of heartache and began to complain to his aunt, "Why give him such good wine? Are you trying to ruin your life?"

Aunt rolled her eyes at Uncle and ignored him, continuing to eat by herself.

Huang Xiaochuan thought to himself that flattering the right person was still very beneficial.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Jiahua's words displeased his elderly mother, who tapped the table with her chopsticks in annoyance: "Can't Xiao Chuan enjoy a little good wine? You're supposed to be his uncle! Since ancient times, it's only fair that nephews eat and drink what their uncles provide!"

Uncle Zeng Jiahua immediately shut up. He was a very filial son and always obeyed his mother's wishes.

Huang Xiaochuan made a face at his uncle, then casually unscrewed the bottle cap and poured himself a full glass.

Zeng Jiahua's pained expression amused Huang Xiaochuan. His uncle was quite interesting. Was he stingy, just like his older sister Zeng Lijuan? But at other times he was very generous, never batting an eye at spending money that was necessary.

After the wine was poured, Huang Xiaochuan took the initiative to offer a toast to Zeng Jiahua. The uncle and nephew chatted about everyday things while drinking. During the conversation, Huang Xiaochuan kept praising his aunt's cooking, saying that even the chefs at restaurants couldn't compare. His aunt was so happy that she ate an extra half bowl of rice.

That evening, Huang Xiaochuan insisted on washing his grandmother's feet. It was an old habit of his grandmother to soak her feet in hot water every night. Huang Xiaochuan could help his grandmother soak her feet when he was five years old. Many years had passed, and this was the first time he had taken the initiative to soak his grandmother's feet.

Grandma was overjoyed. That night, Huang Xiaochuan slept in Grandma's room. There were always two beds in her room, and Grandma had already laid out a mat and set up a mosquito net for him.