Finally, Xiao Feng lifted a very small and inconspicuous stamp album, exclaiming, “Auntie, we have it!”
Xia Mian: “!!!”
She was first drawn to the black leather stamp album, one of Xia Chun’s five stamp albums. After Xia Chun passed away four years ago, Zhang Qiming made a special trip to Xia’s family home to collect Xia Chun’s personal belongings, saying he wanted to keep some mementos in her remembrance.
At that time, Xia Chun and Xia Mian’s mother, still unaware of his affair with Huang Xiaojuan, was quite touched by her son-in-law’s deep feelings. However, she only handed over a few items as a token gesture, planning to keep Xia Chun’s favorite stamp albums for herself.
Mother Xia didn’t understand the value of the stamps; she simply wanted to keep her beloved daughter’s most cherished possession forever. She had no intention of handing them over to Zhang Qiming, doubting he would cherish them as much. No matter how deep his affection was, sooner or later he would move on, and her daughter would eventually be forgotten.
But Zhang Qiming held onto Xia Chun’s stamp albums and cried profusely, claiming they contained stamps from letters they had sent to each other. He seemed even more grief-stricken than Mother Xia, eventually fainting from distress. It was as if he couldn’t live without those albums. Moved by his display of sorrow, the soft-hearted Mother Xia relented, and thus the five stamp albums ended up in Zhang Qiming’s hands.
Finished reminiscing, Xia Mian opened the album. Sure enough, many stamps were haphazardly stuffed together. The person who had organized the albums had crammed up four to five stamps into a single slot, causing significant damage, clearly not caring for their preservation.
In contrast, the small, unassuming album carefully protected each stamp in a transparent sleeve, meticulously preserving them in pristine condition.
Naturally, these stamps were, without exception, among the most valuable: the Small One Dollar variety of the Red Revenue overprint, the Red Landscape of China, the Chinese Opera Singers series with both perforated and imperforated sets…
Xia Mian counted a total of ten rare stamps of various kinds.
Know the feeling of becoming wealthy overnight? Well, Xia Mian finally experienced it, and she felt almost light-headed with excitement…
But now wasn’t the time to be overwhelmed. She was certain that Zhang Qiming had known the value of Xia Chun’s stamps from the beginning!
Xia Mian was thoroughly disgusted by how he pretended to be deeply affectionate and sorrowful in order to deceive Mother Xia.
“Where did these come from?” She asked Xiao Feng.
“They are Mom’s,” Xiao Feng replied seriously. “Scumbag dad said no one is allowed to touch them.”
“Did Zhang Qiming give this to you after you came here, or did you always have it?” Xia Mian asked carefully.
“I brought it with me…”
Piecing together Xiao Feng’s story with the original ‘Xia Mian’s’ memories, Xia Mian began to understand why Zhang Qiming would leave the stamp albums with Xiao Feng.
People living in small counties like her hometown initially did not understand the value of stamps. However, as living standards improved and newspapers and television became widespread, awareness gradually grew.
Almost everyone who knew Xia Chun was aware of her stamp-collecting hobby. Although Zhang Qiming initially managed to take the albums from Mother Xia smoothly, there was still the Xia family’s second uncle, who was greedy for a quick fortune and constantly dreamt of getting rich.
One day, Second Uncle Xia read in the newspaper that stamps could sell for a lot of money, so he immediately came to buy Xia Chun’s stamp albums. When he learned that the stamp albums had been taken away by Zhang Qiming, he did not waste time and came to demand them back.
Zhang Qiming of course refused to give them up, but Second Uncle Xia was like a leech, squatting in Zhang Qiming’s bachelor apartment for over half a month, even following around to see if he sold any stamps. Eventually, Zhang Qiming was forced to leave the albums to Xiao Feng, claiming they were his deceased mother’s belongings.
At that time, Xiao Feng was still an infant, and since Zhang Qiming was single and unable to care for him by himself, he entrusted both the child and the albums to his mother in their hometown on Daliang Mountain for a few years. It wasn’t until half a year ago, when Xiao Feng came back, that the child brought the stamp albums with him.
Zhang probably hadn’t anticipated Mother Xia would pass away at such a critical moment. Given his previously displayed deep affection for Xia Chun and his continuous respect towards his former in-laws over the years, he naturally had to return for the funeral. This reminded Second Uncle Xia of the stamp albums again, leading to another round of entanglement, which might also explain why Zhang Qiming had done nothing with the stamps.
Second Uncle Xia was infamous for his extreme persistence when it came to money, even more persistent than a wild dog toward a piece of meat. He once squatted for a whole month by a neighbor’s wall to find out whether they had suddenly become wealthy. He concluded they had because they started eating meat daily and managed to secure a hen after much pestering, temporarily satisfying his greed.
So, the stamp albums remained with Xiao Feng until now. Another possible explanation could be that Xia Chun’s death compensation was substantial enough for the couple’s comfortable living. Additionally, since the value of stamps tended to appreciate over time, Zhang Qiming might have thought it was sufficiently safe to leave them with Xiao Feng, hence his lack of urgency.
But this also showed Zhang Qiming’s caution and patience, qualities not possessed by ordinary people. No wonder he became one of the main villains in the novel!
But so what? Xia Mian let out a chuckle. After all his patience, these stamps still ended up in her hands, didn’t they?
Xia Mian hugged Xiao Feng and gave him a big smooch, then she spun around with him, “I wonder if your scumbag dad will be angered to death, hahaha…”
After a round of happy dances, Xia Mian and Xiao Feng sat down again and started reorganizing Xia Chun’s stamps. Regardless of their value, these were Xia Chun’s mementos and deserved proper preservation. Xia Mian also discovered half a sheet of Golden Monkey stamps!
Getting rich overnight!
While Xia Mian didn’t understand much about other stamps, the fame of Golden Monkey stamps was well-known even to stamp-collecting novices. While not particularly rare, they were famous for their enormous increase in value — multiplying by 200,000 times over three decades, making them highly sought-after collectibles. However, these stamps seemed somewhat overlooked at the moment, hence Zhang Qiming’s careless storage.
Due to improper preservation, some damage had occurred, but Xia Mian managed to piece together two intact blocks of four, with the rest stored as individual stamps.
In addition, she found ten 50-yuan banknotes.
Oh-ho, looks like someone’s treating Xiao Feng as a private storage!
It was clear that Huang Xiaojuan had no idea about the stamps. Xia Mian’s eyes flickered, planning to covertly take away the stamps without anyone noticing. What to do when you found a scumbag’s private stash? Of course, confiscate it! Xia Mian stuffed the money into Xiao Feng’s pocket, feeling delighted.
Xiao Feng was also overjoyed. He took out the money and handed it to Xia Mian, asking with hope, “Auntie, can we go to Yan City now?”
“Of course!” Xia Mian no longer hesitated. Those stamp albums were Xia Chun’s pre-marital property, which should have belonged to Mother Xia following her death. After Mother Xia passed away, it now belonged to the original ‘Xia Mian.’
However, the current Xia Mian wasn’t the original, so she decided to leave it for Xiao Feng. If possible, she wanted to wait until Xiao Feng was mature enough to personally handle his mother’s belongings. But right now, getting Xiao Feng out of the Zhang family took priority.
If needed, she would consider selling one or two stamps. Xia Chun surely wouldn’t want her child to continue to suffer in this den of wolves.
With this stamp album as her backup, Xia Mian felt more confident about her plan of leaving the Zhang family, and the first step was to get Xiao Feng into the Xia family’s household registration!
Looking around the now emptier living room, Xia Mian pondered: they should agree, right?
Even if Zhang Qiming wanted to put up a fight for appearances, didn’t she have leverage over Huang Xiaojuan? And not just one.
“Let’s eat first. After lunch, we’ll get your injury examination report,” Xia Mian said. It was hot at noon, so Xia Mian made cold noodles. For dessert, they had chilled double-skin milk, which was incredibly refreshing.
Xiao Feng’s face brightened up, but he still remembered Xia Mian saying they would give some to their neighbors, “To Brother Zhuangzhuang and Grandpa Tang… Brother Ning?”
Xiao Feng’s little brows furrowed slightly, a bit confused. He still remembered Xia Mian teaching him to call Grandpa Tang, but yesterday, he was also taught to call Brother Ning.
Xia Mian nearly spit out her double-skin milk, “Who taught you to call him brother?”
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