In the next two days, the artillery company has been studying military topography in Longquanzhuang.
Including Wang Ke, he also gave several lessons to the entire company. He mainly learned about field survival training and fixed-point positioning.
The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun once again brought the problems discovered during the artillery company training, including the situation from on-site reconnaissance and survey, and went back to the regiment to report.
Next, is a rare Sunday. Wang Ke asked for leave and planned to go to the county seat.
Gu Maolin was the first to make noises about following Wang Ke into the county town.
"Let me be clear, I have no money. If you go with me, Gu Maolin, you have to buy a ticket for me." Wang Ke threatened him.
"No problem, platoon leader, as long as you take me there, I'll be responsible for the ticket."
Wang Ke went to the county this time and borrowed 20 yuan from Huang Zhonghe, the old squad leader. He mainly went to buy materials for making pins. In addition, Wang Ke also had an idea to buy a watch. Because I serve as a company watchman, it is really inconvenient to have no watch.
After breakfast and a brief tidying up, Wang Ke and Gu Maolin set off immediately.
After leaving Longquanzhuang, the two stood at the intersection waiting for the bus.
There are only passing cars here, only five or six a day. So by the time we arrived at the county seat, it was already almost ten o'clock. After getting off the car and exiting the long-distance bus station, the two went straight to the department store.
First, he came to the counter selling needles and threads. This sight made Wang Ke secretly happy. He saw that there were all embroidery needles from No. 1 large needles to No. 7 embroidery needles.
"Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, what do you want to buy?" A salesperson came over, a young girl.
"Buy needles, all embroidery needles, everything after size six and below."
"Ah! That's a lot. There are six packs in total. Are you sure you want them?" She didn't expect that the People's Liberation Army in front of her wanted to buy embroidery needles.
There are thirty sticks in one pack, and one hundred and eighty sticks in five packs.
"I want it!" Wang Ke hurriedly took out the money.
The salesperson handed out the six pack of needles and asked, "What else do you want?"
"Is there any grass-green paint for dyeing clothes? If so, please bring two packs."
"Okay, a total of sixty-two cents." The salesperson saw that the things he bought were not valuable and had no interest at all, so he started to put the things on the glass counter.
"Comrade, do you have three flashlights here? Buy me one with six white elephant batteries."
"Okay! Do you want anything else?"
"Yes, do you have 2B Chinese pencils and pencil cases? If so, buy thirty. Each pencil case comes with an eraser, a knife, and two pencils."
The salesperson didn't expect it to be a big order. She went to pick up the goods and came back ten minutes later carrying a small cardboard box.
"I also want to ask, is there anyone who sells watches?"
"Yes, it's at the clock counter over there."
"Great, please help me calculate how much it costs in total."
After Wang Ke paid the money, the two of them quickly ran to the daily chemical and hardware counters. I bought another twenty pairs of plastic chopsticks, a pair of needle-nose pliers, and some sheets of fine sandpaper.
Finally, I came to the clock counter and looked at the money in my pocket. I saw a little more than ten yuan left.
In the western mountainous area, all clocks are called "watches", but walking all the way there, there are almost no watches. Because the best Shanghai brand watch costs more than 100 yuan, and even the worst Zhongshan watch costs 60 or 70 yuan. It seems that I cannot afford a watch, and buying an alarm clock is inconvenient to carry around.
Wang Ke was a little disappointed. He didn't expect the watch to be so expensive. Fortunately, I have already bought all the things I should buy today. Next, Wang Ke ran away with Gu Maolin carrying his satchel.
"Poor soldiers" are really poor.
Gu Maolin just sent some letters for his comrades and bought some daily necessities such as letter paper, toothpaste and soap. In less than half an hour, the two of them had finished everything they were doing. "Platoon commander, how about we go to the free market over there."
"What do you want to buy?"
Wang Ke looked at the time, and it was indeed still early. The bus back at noon was around one o'clock, and there were still two hours left.
"Wandering around, let me see if there are any roasted peanuts, and then buy something for us to eat for lunch."
Wang Ke looked up at the sun, and there was indeed nowhere to go. "All right."
The two of them turned around and came to the free market over there.
Although it is said to be a free market in the county town, it is only a street several hundred meters long. There were sellers of vegetables, fruits, and mountain products. Gu Maolin didn't go far when he went in and bought two kilograms of fried peanuts. I bought six pieces of Huoshao and put them in my satchel.
The two strolled around and quickly walked from one end to the other. Suddenly Wang Ke stopped. Near the end, there was an old man in his sixties or seventies, wearing a ragged felt hat and a black jacket, sitting on a horse. On the ground in front of him was a mottled green oilcloth, with many messy playthings placed on it.
At that time, there were many salesmen who traveled from village to town, specializing in selling these miscellaneous gadgets.
There's a lot on this dirty tarp. There are hundreds of pieces, almost everything. But what caught Wang Ke's attention was a tiger head that looked like a child's carving, a stone that looked like a stone dropped in a porridge pot, and a bulging bronze box that was smaller than the mouth of a teacup, like a small tortoise shell, with a tortoise shell dragged next to it. A bronze chain.
Wang Ke knew it, so it was probably a pocket watch.
"Uncle, are these for sale?" Wang Ke said, squatting down.
When he saw two People's Liberation Army soldiers, the old man immediately had a smile on his face. He had been sitting here for several hours, and what he was selling were all second-hand goods, and basically no one cared about them. The guests finally came, so naturally they wouldn’t let them go.
"Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, what do you see?"
Wang Ke reached for the small bronze box. "what is this?"
"Haha, comrade of the People's Liberation Army, you still have discernment. Is this a pocket watch or a foreign product?"
The old man took the lead, took the bronze pocket watch in his hand, and opened the lid with a click. Sure enough, there were ancient Roman numerals inside, and under the "VI" below, there were also the three letters "MIJ". Wang Ke knew this was "Madei"
Japa
" is the English abbreviation of "Made in Japan." It's just that this pocket watch only has hour and minute hands, but no second hand, and it's still moving "stuck".
"Platoon leader, it's a pity that this pocket watch is broken and has no second hand." Gu Maolin also squatted down and said casually. In that era, whether it was a clock or a watch, if it did not have a red second hand, it was regarded as a bad watch.
Wang Ke took the pocket watch and looked at the case. There were a few bump marks and there were two cracks on the cover. Although it was not broken, it was not a good thing after all. But when I listen to it, "Kakaka" moves very vigorously.
"Uncle, what's wrong with this watch?"
"Well, there's nothing wrong with it? It's just a little bit faster."
"How much faster? Can it be faster by an hour a day?" Gu Maolin was amused.
But unexpectedly, the old man nodded and replied casually: "About that, it's only an hour at most. Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, if you want it, just take it for fifty yuan."
"How much? It's money!" Gu Maolin's eyes widened immediately. He snatched the pocket watch, closed the cover and threw it to the ground. "Platoon leader, a new Shanghai watch only costs 120 yuan. This pocket watch of his is not worth even 5 yuan."
Wang Ke also felt chilled. Although he didn't know the origin of this pocket watch, with the words "Made in Japan", this old pocket watch was worth dozens of yuan.
"No, the price can be negotiated." The old man said quickly, fearing that the two People's Liberation Army soldiers in front of him would slap their butts and leave.
Wang Ke stretched out his hand and picked up the "tiger head" on the oilcloth. It was a sign about the size of the bottom of a beer bottle. His knife skills were really not good. One cut was deep and the other was shallow, just like a child "pretending to be a family" "Home" was engraved casually. Because of being with his godfather Professor Wen, Wang Ke put the tiger head in his hand and immediately felt a cold jade feeling.
But Wang Ke pretended to be disdainful, put down the Tiger Head brand again, and picked up the stone that looked like it had fallen into a porridge pot. This stone was about the size of a fist, quite heavy and round, and its skin was actually made of pulp. . After weighing it in his hands, Wang Ke put it down, stood up "disappointed", clapped his hands, and looked like he was leaving.
"Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, please make an offer." The old man picked up the bronze pocket watch again and said to Wang Ke.
"Forget it, our comrades have just given it to you."
"Five yuan? That's too cheap." The old man also stood up. When he saw that Wang Ke and Gu Maolin were leaving, he immediately said: "Add two more yuan, and take the seven yuan."
Wang Ke stopped, he seemed hesitant. "Uncle, I see you haven't opened yet. Why don't I give you eight yuan and you give me these two things?"
As Wang Ke spoke, he bent down and picked up the tiger head sign and the stone that looked like it had fallen into a porridge pot.
"That's not possible. Everything here is covered by capital. How about you, comrade of the People's Liberation Army, add two more yuan?"
Wang Ke shook his head firmly, and he bent down to put the tiger head sign and the stone that looked like it had fallen into the porridge pot. But he said: "It's almost enough to add two more pieces to burn. What use do we soldiers have for these crappy things?"
"Okay, comrade of the People's Liberation Army, as you said, buy me two pieces to burn, and you can take the three items."
Wang Ke smiled, straightened up again, took the bronze pocket watch, held it in his hand and looked at it carefully. There was no rush to pay.
"Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, you will not suffer any loss, just pay."
Wang Ke hesitantly handed over the ten yuan and asked Gu Maolin to take out two more to burn. After getting back two dollars, Wang Ke put the two items into his satchel. Holding the pocket watch in his hand, he immediately took Gu Maolin to find a clock repairman.
I finally found a watch shop and handed over this pocket watch.
The boss was an old man. He shiveringly put on his watch-repairing goggles and opened the back cover to take a look. "Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, your watch is not bad, and it even has diamonds. It's a pity that the glass of the watch case doesn't fit well. I'll help you adjust it and put some oil on it. I guess it will still be faster every day. If it's faster than a few minutes, you won't need to repair it."
"Okay, thank you, old man. How much does it cost?"
"Please give me two cents." The man who repaired the watch blew it with an air hammer, applied some oil and put the watch cover back on. He then used a special cleaning cloth and cleaning oil to wipe the watch case carefully. Passed it to Wang Ke.
"Thank you, uncle."
While Wang Ke was repairing his watch, Gu Maolin ran over again and bought some pieces of donkey meat to burn, and then came back.
"Platoon commander, are you okay?"
"Okay." The two people walked towards the long-distance bus station. When they arrived at the station, Wang Ke and Gu Maolin hurriedly ate. I bought my ticket when I got off the bus, so I'm not in a hurry now.
After eating, Wang Ke took out the pocket watch and looked at it again. If you have money, buy a watch. If you don't want to spend money lavishly, you can just buy a pocket watch that is not very accurate.
Wang Ke was very satisfied with this polished old pocket watch. Perhaps this watch was used by some cultural person back then. Although it did not keep accurate time, it was very powerful.
After looking at the pocket watch, Wang Ke took out the tiger head and the stone that looked like it had fallen into the porridge pot and looked at it again. It can be said with certainty that these two pieces are jade. It's just that the tiger head is far from comparable to the one he gave to Wu Xiangyu, but it is definitely an old item. Don't forget that this is a mountainous area in the west, where the capital of Yan is located. Any mountain dweller who digs into a pigsty at home is likely to find a cultural relic.
Forget it, it was eight yuan plus two yuan in exchange for fire. Wang Ke didn't think much about it, let alone what surprises he would have in the future with these three things of his. It was just that this pocket watch saved him in an urgent need. , it’s still somewhat useful.
