Chapter 44: The Stamp

Director Wei looked at the piece of paper and frowned deeply. "Little Liu, the stamps you're asking for are from that era, a good ten years ago now. Our bureau doesn't even have some of them in stock. I'll help you ask around the provincial bureau for the missing ones. If they have them, I'll let you know so you can go pick them up yourself. The issue is that buying stamps doesn't cost much money anyway, is it really worth all this fuss?"

Liu Weidong smiled. "It seems, Big Sister, that you aren't into collecting. Once a person develops a passion, wanting to get their hands on a certain item drives them crazy. That's exactly how I am right now. For just a few dozen yuan worth of stamps, let alone letting me go buy them in the provincial capital, I'd even be willing to make a trip to the capital."

Coming out of the municipal post and telecommunications bureau, Liu Weidong was holding a kraft paper file bag.

Inside the file bag were two sheets of "Black Inscriptions", one sheet each of "The Whole Country is Red" and "A Small Piece of Red", two sheets of "Complete Victory", and a dozen or so old special and commemorative sets from that era, all in complete sheets.

Decades later, among the top-priced stamps at auctions, only the Mei Lanfang imperforate stamps and souvenir sheets were missing. Director Wei had already made inquiries, saying the provincial bureau had stock in reserve.

Damn it, I've struck it rich...

The stamps in Liu Weidong's file bag would be worth tens of millions of yuan decades down the line.

After going home to put away the stamps properly, Liu Weidong hurried to the railway station and caught a train to the provincial capital.

At the provincial post and telecommunications bureau, he bought quite a few more extremely valuable stamps, including the "Mei Lanfang Stage Art" set, and the total quantity was even greater than what he had bought at the municipal post office.

On the train ride back, Liu Weidong's heart kept pounding.

It was a good thing he remembered about the stamps. If he had waited a few more years until stamp collecting became a craze, he wouldn't even be able to buy them if he wanted to. It looked like he really needed to build a good relationship with Director Wei. In another couple of years, a stamp that collectors would chase after like crazy was going to be born: the 1980 Monkey stamp.

In his past life, Liu Weidong had been wealthy, but he couldn't compare to the truly wealthy tycoons. Several big shots in the Beijing circle owned courtyard houses worth hundreds of millions of yuan, whereas buying a courtyard house right now didn't cost much at all. This was an opportunity and vision.

No matter how skilled someone was at individual business operations, it couldn't match the rapid appreciation of collecting. Since he had been reborn, Liu Weidong would never let go of any opportunity to make money.

Buying the stamps he had longed for for so long felt ten thousand times more satisfying than buying a house and picking up a bargain. Liu Weidong smoked half a pack of cigarettes along the way back, and even started entertaining the idea of going to Beijing to buy a courtyard house.

Of course, to turn that thought into reality, you needed to have money first.

After hiding the stamps safely, Liu Weidong started pondering the matter of selling antiques.

If he sold them through the Friendship Store, he would definitely have to split the profits with the store, and he probably wouldn't end up with more than ten thousand yuan in his hands.

However, given the current standard of living, ten thousand and some odd yuan was no small sum. He could take his time wandering around the countryside when he had free time; perhaps there were still major bargains to be picked up.

Making a big fuss over the past couple of years was too conspicuous and made it easy to become a prominent target for suppression. Gathering wealth through unorthodox means seemed safer, plus there was the castor bean experimental plot and forest-under poultry farming; it wasn't as if he had nothing to show for his efforts.

The more Liu Weidong thought about it, the more energetic he felt. He got up, grabbed a basket, and went to the provisions store to buy meat. He simply had to add a dish for dinner tonight.

He didn't have enough meat coupons left in his pocket, so he reluctantly bought some discarded pig trotters and pig tails.

Twenty years later, these items would be more expensive than meat, but people nowadays didn't even want lean meat when they bought it; they all bought cuts with fat at least three fingers thick, not just to satisfy their cravings, but also to render lard.

After going home, scorching the pig trotters and pig tails clean, and setting them to stew, Liu Weidong started writing his book again.

Passing by the newsstand, he specifically took a look. *The Legend of Daqingshan* hadn't started serializing yet, probably because the newspaper editors were still revising and reviewing it.

Currently, Liu Weidong had only written a little over twenty thousand words. This book would be at least two hundred thousand words long, so he had just taken the first step of the Long March.

Before he knew it, the lights of the city were coming on one by one. The moment the courtyard gate clicked, Liu Weidong heard Lou Yanhua shouting, "It smells so good! Brother-in-law, what delicious food have you made for us two this time?"

Without even taking off her schoolbag, Lou Yanhua rushed to lift the pot lid, only to be lightly slapped by Lou Yanru. "Wash your hands before you eat. You're such a grown-up young woman, and you don't even care about your image. Who's going to dare marry you in the future?"

Lou Yanhua chuckled and said, "It's even better if no one marries me. Then I can live at your place every day, eating and drinking well, and no one scolds me."

A basin of braised pig trotters and pig tails, glossy, tender, and sticky, was served on the table, and the entire room filled with their rich aroma.

Lou Yanru looked curious. "Did Weidong have something to celebrate today? Why did you buy meat again? Didn't you say your meat coupons were almost running out?"

Liu Weidong smiled. "It's not really any great celebration, I just managed to buy something I like. Besides, the college entrance exams are in a week, so I need to nourish you two properly. Tomorrow I'll go to the Friendship Store again to buy some chocolate, malted milk extract, and the like."

"Brother-in-law, you know how to pamper people even more than my mother. I haven't been home in half a month, and she hasn't asked about me once. I bet she doesn't even believe I can pass the university exams."

Lou Yanhua was full of grievances, but it didn't delay her gnawing on a pig's trotters at all.

"Don't talk about your mother like that. She's probably just too busy with work. Besides, with you being at your sister's place, what is there for her to worry about? Would I treat you two sisters differently?"

Liu Weidong hadn't even had the heart to eat any of the pig's trotters himself, saving them all for the Lou sisters. After cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, the two sisters studied in their room while Liu Weidong sat in the courtyard, smoking a cigarette and looking at the stars.

In half a month, Old Man Guan and the others should have accumulated quite a lot of medicinal herbs. Tomorrow he would ask Wang Jianguo, and if the quantity was enough, they would haul it over. Only by letting the commune members see cash with their own eyes could their enthusiasm be truly mobilized.

Also, those few antiques needed some proper packaging. As the saying goes, a Buddha relies on gold decoration; things only look valuable when they come with certificates and packaging. For these matters, he still had to ask Manager Wang for help.

Lying on the heated brick bed, Lou Yanru hugged Liu Weidong with a look of heartache in her eyes.

"Weidong, you don't have to push yourself so hard. Even though you didn't act right and used to drink heavily, aren't rural men all like that? If you're tired, have a little drink, or else I'll drink with you."

Liu Weidong smiled. "Wife, I'm not craving alcohol. The past is the past; back then I had no real anchor or goal in life. It's different now. Making you live a better life is my goal, and every single day feels exceptionally fulfilling. I'm going to let my wife live a good life, and I'm going to help you realize all your dreams.

"You're so pretty, virtuous, and capable, I should be holding you in the palm of my hand. Yet back then I used to pick fights with you and curse at you when I was drunk. Whenever I think about it now, I just want to slap myself.

"Life is only a few decades long; what kind of incredible destiny is it to be able to walk hand-in-hand with your other half? If you don't cherish and care for each other, aren't you just ruining your own life?"

Lou Yanru's eyes turned red, and she buried her head in Liu Weidong's chest, her tears dampening his shirt.

What Liu Weidong said came entirely from his heart.

The momentary foolishness in his past life had filled him with lifelong regret. No one could understand his feelings upon seeing his wife again after his rebirth; even if Lou Yanru asked him to die right now, he would jump into the river without a moment's hesitation.

Because in his past life, he owed his wife a life.

Meanwhile, Lou Yanru was filled with a myriad of conflicting emotions.

She couldn't really say she loved Liu Weidong in the past, but if Liu Weidong hadn't protected her, her end might have been even more miserable than Li Hong's. Marrying Liu Weidong was truly out of helplessness; although Liu Weidong had a bad temper and drank heavily after they married, he was extremely protective of his own. He had been willing to brandish a kitchen knife to fight Li Baotian to the death for her sake, which had gradually allowed Lou Yanru to let go of her resentment—life was simply what it was.

Yet over this past month or so, Lou Yanru felt as though she were falling in love all over again. Liu Weidong's care for her now could be described as meticulous in every detail, and she was almost flattered by it. Even Lou Yanhua, who had never thought well of her brother-in-law, now praised Liu Weidong to the high heavens.

She was fortunate to have married the right man.

Yet behind his back, she had gone and done that thing...