Rebirth and making money first

The next day, Zhang Jing asked her mother to go clean the apartment. She didn't want the bed, and no one else wanted it. Seeing the well-made bed, Zhang Jing wanted to take it back. She banged on it for a while, trying to see if it would come apart, but heard a hollow sound. Zhang Jing's interest was piqued, and she suspected something was up inside. Just as she was excitedly wondering if she'd found a treasure, she heard her mother calling from the other room.

Zhang Jing approached and discovered it was a study. There were still some books on the shelves: political science and economics, student writing workbooks, and sets of the Four Great Classics. Fortunately, the shelves had glass doors, so they were dust-free. Zhang Jing guessed the adult books were left behind by previous incarnations, while the student essay collections and the like belonged to A-Yan's daughter. Everyone hurried away, leaving everything behind for Zhang Jing.

Looking around, she saw a single wooden bed in the room. Zhang Jing told her mother to move the bed and bookcase back home, but her mother objected, saying she had nowhere to put them. Zhang Jing said she'd find a place. As for the Simmons mattress, she simply dismantled it. She took the planks back for the firewood and threw the rest away. Her mother said it was too much trouble, so Zhang Jing told her to go back and she'd hand over the keys after she finished.

After her mother left, Zhang Jing began looking for something to dismantle the bed. The mattress was nothing but springs and wood. She was sweating profusely after the dismantling, and she still looked like a cat. Undeterred, Zhang Jing knocked on every wall and floor in the room. She even uncovered the hanging paintings, but ultimately, she didn't find the treasure she'd hoped for. She even had to find a car to take the wood back to her mother's house. The thought of it all became disheartening. She was about to earn over a million yuan. What else did she need a bicycle for?

After a short rest and a face wash, Zhang Jing returned to the study. This time, she carefully inspected the wooden bed, even the underside, knocking over the floor tiles beneath it. Finally, she gave up and turned to the bookcase. She took the trouble to move all the books out and drag the bookcase away from the wall.

After checking again, she found the bookcase had no mezzanines, the wall behind the shelves was solid, and the floor had no movable panels. Completely deflated, Zhang Jing simply wiped down the bookcase and the wooden bed, and tidied up the books. She flipped through them one by one and put them back in place. It wasn't until she pulled out the four great classics that she realized they were all laminated and had never been opened.

The four books were so heavy that Zhang Jing didn't want to keep them, thinking she might unwrap them and give them to a classmate. But when she opened them, she was stunned. A large hole had been dug in the middle of the books, revealing small, plastic-wrapped gold bricks! She opened them and found some weighed 4 grams, some 100 grams, and some 50 grams—the same amount for all four books. Zhang Jing counted them and found a total of 20 grams of gold.

Zhang Jing checked the other books again; they were all ordinary. There was also a foreign language book, also laminated. Zhang Jing simply opened up the laminated tome and looked through it all. This time, only two of the books contained a gold bracelet, a gold ring, and a gold necklace. And they were all very heavy. Zhang Jing didn't know who they belonged to, but she was determined to keep them for herself.

To avoid trouble, Zhang Jing bundled the books containing the gold and prepared to take them back. She put the rest away and went downstairs to find a junk collector to take the bookshelf and bed, along with the books, and sold them for 100 yuan. The junk collector knew about the demolition and had been out and about lately, so he naturally had a set plan.

They quickly called in the people to move the items. The leader, upon seeing Zhang Jing's dismantled Simmons mattress, expressed a moment of regret. Then, seeing the still-unremoved range hood, Zhang Jing waved her hand and said, "Take it." The greasy range hood was taken down, along with the Simmons springs. Zhang Jing took the opportunity to hire a tricycle to bring the broken bed wood, the dismantled curtains, and Zhang Jing home.

Zhang Jing was holding a few large books wrapped in curtains. The man on the bike was a talkative person. "Sister, you look like a cultured person. Don't you want the other books? The bookshelf is in great shape. What a shame."

Zhang Jing said, "We are all out of town, and the old lady has a small room, so she can't fit so many books in. I had to reluctantly let them go. I don't know if she's willing to take these books. She might burn them if she gets angry. I have to hurry and read them several times."

“The old lady is amazing!”

"It's mainly because the old lady hates intellectuals and thinks those who are righteous are butchers."

"Hahaha, the old lady is quite clear-headed!"

After arriving home, the young man helped carry the wood to the yard and even looked at the old lady several times. The old lady kept thanking him. The young man said, "You're welcome, Auntie. After all, you paid for it." The old lady got angry and said, "With this money, I can buy as much firewood as I want. I should have refused it earlier."

After paying the bill and giving the young man some extra money, Zhang Jing sent him out. She whispered to him to keep it a secret to avoid being laughed at. The young man said, "Don't worry, sister. We all understand. Old people are like this. We understand."

After returning home, Zhang Jing handed 100 yuan to her mother and said, "The bed, bookcase, books, and range hood sold for a total of 100 yuan. I'll use it for extra meals tomorrow."

"You spendthrift, why are those bookcases and single beds so cheap? The range hood also costs money, are you kidding me?"

"Oh, old lady, everyone knows we're going to be relocated, and lots of people are selling off their refrigerators and TVs, but they don't get much. They're just reselling them in the second-hand market. If you don't sell them, where are you going to put them?"

"You can give it away! Ask your Aunt Liu and the others if they want it. It's a favor, isn't it?"

"Old lady, let's not get too hung up on this. Some people are averse to using a bed that someone else has slept in, so don't do something with good intentions that could lead to bad consequences. Sell it all and hand it over tomorrow. Oh, and I've pulled back all the curtains. Wash them. You can use any that work, and if you can't, you can have your sisters divide them up. It's a favor."

"I definitely won't give it to them. I'll use it after it's washed. You don't have to worry about it." Zhang Jing took the book and put it away, planning to talk about it in the evening.

Her mother went to the yard to chop bed planks. She planned to cook tonight, not using the gas stove. She said the room was too damp and she needed to light a fire. Zhang Jing took the opportunity to take out the gold, put it in a plastic bag, and placed a pile of books in front of the stove.

When her mother found the books while lighting the fire, she asked Zhang Jing about it. Zhang Jing asked her mother to burn them all, but her mother refused. "Why are you burning these good books? Didn't you buy them with money?" Zhang Jing said, "These are things that others don't want, so I'm burning them. I can't sell them anyway."

After dinner, while washing the dishes, Zhang Jing discovered that her mother had neatly packed away the books and hadn't burned them. She planned to talk to her mother about it later.

After locking the door, the mother and daughter prepared to rest. Zhang Jing then took the book and asked her mother why she didn't burn it. Her mother said, "It would be a pity to burn such a good book." Zhang Jing had no choice but to open the book and show it to her mother. The old lady was shocked, "What a sin! Who is so wicked to dig up such a good book?"

Zhang Jing asked her mother to keep her voice down, and went to get the gold again, putting it back into the book. Her mother was stunned. After a long moment, she asked, "Where did it come from?" Then she realized she had asked a stupid question. "You can't commit a crime!"

Zhang Jing smiled and said, "Old lady, can you please wish me well? This is in the book." Seeing that her mother didn't believe her, Zhang Jing told her how she searched for it, how she discovered it, and how she dealt with the aftermath.

"So, you want to keep it for yourself?" The old lady looked serious, and Zhang Jing saw her mother who was a Communist Party member again.

"It's mine in the first place! If you sell me the house, everything you haven't moved out of is now mine by convention. Should I still return the lost property?"

The mother lost her composure and asked, "If your classmates knew about this, would you still be able to face people?"

"Mom, this book has never been opened. It definitely wasn't bought by them! It was left by the previous owners. It was probably a gift or bribe. Now it's your daughter's."

"What if someone comes looking for it in the future?" The mother was still worried. "Just say you can't remember whether you burned it or sold it. Anyway, my five big diaries will be burned. No one is forcing you, an old lady with Alzheimer's disease."

"I'm handing over the keys tomorrow. I don't want the resettlement house, just compensation. If anyone asks about it in the future, including your old sisters, just say that I don't have anything left in the house and I'm just handing it over for the money. There's nothing left anyway, so remember to push it onto me if anything goes wrong. I'm the owner of the house, so if you really can't help me, just say you can't control me and I won't let you ask."

"Okay then, do I have to go with you tomorrow?"

"No need. Wait until I get back and then go to Aunt Chen's neighborhood to look at houses. Let everyone know we're serious about buying a house. By the way, ask someone to lend you some money, even 5,000 or 10,000 yuan will do. Don't say you're paying the full amount. Some people just dislike you for being poor and hate you for being rich."

"I see. We'll talk about this later. You keep the gold." Zhang Jing took out a gold bracelet, a gold necklace and a gold ring and handed them to her mother. "Keep these for your son to get married. Remember to go to a gold shop in another city to exchange them for new styles. Don't wear them as they are to avoid trouble. I'll take care of the rest."

The old lady carefully held it up and examined it. "Your mother worked hard all her life, but she still couldn't get anything like this." Zhang Jing said, "Mom, since it's just the two of us now, why don't you try it on?"