Chapter 9: 10 Yehenala Chen

10 Yehenala Chen

"Captain Wang, I still have to trouble you to help me find a person named Ma Dudu; he comes from a prominent compound background."

In Zhou Xinyang's memory, those who played with antiques and became famous were, aside from Yehenala Chen who relied on reselling precious wood furniture, none other than Ma Dudu who picked up leaks.

Ma Dudu came from a high-walled, grand compound; it is said he was from the same compound as the Founding Emperor.

However, his family's rank was very low, merely ordinary Eight Banners descendants.

Otherwise, the future Alis, JDs, or Tencents would have been chaired by Old Ma.

It is a pity that the highest rank his family produced was only a third-rank official.

There is an unspoken rule in the country: the descendants of veteran first-rank officials share glory and fate with the nation.

If descendants want to go to school, they attend true noble schools; those below a third-rank official are not qualified to enter.

You say you are the world's richest person, you say you are worth tens of billions—sorry, your children truly do not have the qualifications to enter.

If they want employment, they can pick any unit they like, and they become officials the moment they arrive.

As long as they grind through their seniority step by step, they can all end up as third-rank officials or honorary second-rank officials in the future.

But that is a story for another time, let us not mention it for now.

Back to Ma Dudu; at this time, he is only a few years old, still just a child.

Ma Dudu was born on March 22, 1955, in Beijing; his ancestral home is Rongcheng, Weihai, Shandong Province. He is a collection expert, cultural scholar, founder and current curator of the Guantian Museum, and former editor at the China Youth Publishing House.

In Beijing, people call him "Master Ma," and he has the reputation of being the "Number One Collector in Beijing"; in 2008, he appeared on CCTV's "Lecture Room" and became a household name as a collection master.

In 1981, he published the short story "The Moon is Round Tonight" in the *China Youth Daily*.

*Ma Talks Ceramics* is regarded by many readers as an introductory primer on traditional culture.

After the story was published, he was transferred to be an editor for *Youth Literature*.

In the late eighties and early nineties, he worked with Wang Chong, Liu Zhentian, and others to establish the "Haima Film and Television Studio," creating influential TV dramas such as *Stories of the Editorial Department* and *Haima Dance Hall*.

In 1996, Ma Dudu founded the first private museum in the country—the Guantian Bowuguan—and began collecting ancient Chinese art; the collection includes ceramics, antique furniture, jade, lacquerware, metalware, and more.

However, Zhou Xinyang did not know that Ma Dudu was five years younger than the body he had possessed.

When Wang Erhu heard about Ma Dudu through his old comrades-in-arms, he thought he had misheard.

"What is there to ask about an eleven-year-old child? Does his father have some kind of background?"

But Wang Erhu also found out that his father was merely a fourth-rank military officer.

At present, there are large numbers of founding second and third-rank military officers, first-rank military officers, special-grade generals, and even princes with military merit.

Relatively speaking, a fourth-rank military officer could only be considered middle-tier even 15 years ago.

Of course, perhaps because he was a founding fourth-rank military officer, there might be something slightly special about him, but that is all.

Regardless, Wang Erhu obtained detailed information and passed it on to Zhou Xinyang.

Factory Office.

Zhou Xinyang was reading a newspaper in the office; seeing Wang Erhu arrive, he took him to the side to hear the news.

"What? He is only 11 years old."

Zhou Xinyang forgot that the body he possessed was only 16 years old at this time.

Although he had already started working at the Steel Factory, it was only because of the special care the factory gave him due to his special circumstances.

If not for that special care, he would have only been able to follow in his father's footsteps and join the army like Wang Mubiao.

He did not expect that the first person he was about to cooperate with would be a child.

Zhou Xinyang thought to himself, he couldn't possibly go and cooperate with Yehenala Chen, could he?

But it wasn't impossible.

Cooperating to make money is nothing to be ashamed of.

After exchanging pleasantries with Wang Erhu, Zhou Xinyang prepared to find Yehenala Chen to make contact.

"Erhu, take this fifty yuan; consider it for buying cigarettes for the brothers."

Although his salary was only thirty-something, Zhou Xinyang was on his own and had no expenses.

And if one wants to get things done, one cannot just rely on talking; he wasn't some old woman, finding comfort in just using his mouth.

They were all living, breathing men; they could stand tall and get things done, so they had to be treated well.

Wang Erhu just wanted to refuse, but was stopped by Zhou Xinyang.

"Brother Hu, I will have many more things to trouble you with in the future; hurry and take it."

Zhou Xinyang still had several hundred yuan in his hand, so he wasn't afraid of spending money.

Furthermore, he had plenty of ways to make money now.

It is said that those who live on the mountain live off the mountain, and those who live by the water live off the water.

Zhou Xinyang was currently relying on the Steel Factory, so naturally, he had to live off the steel.

Although most things at this time were state-run or joint-operated, there were still black markets and ghost markets operating in the shadows.

Productivity in this era was severely insufficient, so things like steel sometimes fell outside of planned production.

And since it was not within the plan, it was left to the Factory Director to manage.

Of course, steel was too obvious, but there were things like sugar, meat, and grain—things people needed every day in their daily lives.

Zhou Xinyang only needed to take a walk through the various warehouses for these things, and if they were sold, no one would think they were stolen; they would only think he was short on cash and needed money.

In the ghost market, people from the countryside or grain depot staff often came to trade for money, coupons, or supplies.

The body Zhou Xinyang possessed had been to the ghost market many times.

However, he certainly wouldn't go personally for this kind of thing, and he couldn't be in a rush.

So he asked around to find out Yehenala Chen's location and rode his bicycle to find her.

On the way, seeing a group of people fighting ahead, Zhou Xinyang immediately became interested.

Besides his rebirth and his spatial dimension, Zhou Xinyang's body had also been transformed to be impervious to blades and spears, with strength that knew no bounds.

Putting it that way, if several hundred special forces soldiers came, he truly would not be afraid.

Seeing others fighting, Zhou Xinyang took out the steel pipe from the crossbar of his bicycle.