Chapter 486

Su Xinghui nodded in understanding. With such valuable items, if he brought them all out, the loss would be huge if they were lost. Therefore, Hou Dali could only bring one set of each as samples.

Su Xinghui asked Hou Dali to calculate the price of the stamps he had picked out. Hou Dali pressed a calculator for a while and calculated a total of over eight hundred and twenty yuan. Hou Dali said: "Forget it, let's make it a round number, eight hundred."

Su Xinghui took out eight hundred yuan and handed it to Hou Dali: "Boss Hou, then I'll take these stamps home first, then bring more money out, and go with you to your house to pick out more stamps."

Hou Dali nodded: "Alright, I'll wait for you here."

Su Xinghui took the stamps home, took another twenty thousand yuan, and then ran back to the Post and Telecommunications Bureau.

Seeing Su Xinghui arrive, Hou Dali nimbly put everything into a box, picked it up, and said: "Let's go."

Hou Dali's home was in an alley in the south of the city. This alley had a resounding name: Zhuangyuan Lane.

The history of Zhuangyuan Lane can be traced back to the end of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that a Zhuangyuan (top scholar) came from this alley, and Zhuangyuan Lane was named accordingly.

At the entrance of Zhuangyuan Lane stood a huge white marble archway, engraved with four large characters—"Zhuangyuan Residence." The alley was winding, deep, and long. The ground was paved with bluestone slabs, and the high walls and large courtyards on both sides of the bluestone slabs indicated the past glory of this alley.

However, on both sides of the bluestone road against the walls, because they rarely saw sunlight, they were already covered with moss. But it was precisely because of this moss that this historic Zhuangyuan Lane had a more weathered feel.

Su Xinghui often came to Zhuangyuan Lane to play when he was a child. He liked the weathered and heavy cultural atmosphere here. However, in the early 2000s, this alley was demolished by the county government, and the land was used to develop commercial housing.

At that time, Su Xinghui felt extremely sorry that this alley was demolished. He had also written to the county government, saying that this Zhuangyuan Lane was a cultural relic and a symbol of the culture of Shangjun County, and it could not be demolished but should be kept for protective renovation.

At that time, Su Xinghui's proposal was agreed upon by many people, but they were all people of low status and little influence, and their opinions were not taken seriously at all. Moreover, the developer who got the land at that time was blinded by greed; how could they spit out this piece of fat meat that had reached their mouths?

Therefore, in the end, the alley was still ruthlessly demolished. Su Xinghui only picked up a few blue bricks and black tiles here after the alley was demolished as a souvenir.

Of course, this kind of thing was not unique to Shangjun County. At that time, countless historic buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties in various places were demolished in that wave of real estate development, replaced by high-rise buildings of reinforced concrete without any characteristics. This kind of thing was truly regrettable.

In this life, Su Xinghui was going to try every possible way to protect this alley.

When they arrived at Zhuangyuan Lane, Su Xinghui asked: "Boss Hou, do you live here?"

Hou Dali said with some emotion: "Do you know what the surname of that Zhuangyuan was back then?"

Of course, Su Xinghui knew the surname of the Zhuangyuan. In order to protect Zhuangyuan Lane, he had studied the history of this alley. The Zhuangyuan back then was named Hou Chongguo.

Su Xinghui said: "Could it be that Boss Hou is a descendant of the Zhuangyuan back then?"

Hou Dali nodded: "Right, my family is the seventeenth-generation direct descendant of the Hou Zhuangyuan. It's just a pity that I am now disgracing my ancestors, and can only do this kind of small business."

Speaking of this, Hou Dali shook his head, seemingly feeling ashamed of his current situation.

Su Xinghui said: "Boss Hou, you don't need to feel that selling stamps is shameful. To put it in a bigger way, you are also engaged in the cultural industry. Besides, this is a new society, and it is no longer the era where 'all things are inferior, only reading is high.' As long as you are self-reliant, it is not shameful."

Hou Dali had always been brooding over the profession he was engaged in. Just now, it was because he was at the entrance of Zhuangyuan Lane and heard Su Xinghui ask, so he expressed a few more emotions. Now, hearing Su Xinghui's comfort, he found it quite agreeable, which made him feel very comforted.

Hou Dali nodded: "Actually, I am not a person who doesn't read, but due to the limitations of the era, I couldn't go to any university. This is the regret of my life. But my children are quite promising; they all got into university, and now they have basically started working." ===== CHAPTER 488 =====