A doctor who travels through two eras

Chapter 68 French Court Clocks

Lin Sanqi held a broken French chime clock in his arms, and secretly glanced at Mao Xiaotong beside him.

Pan Ye knew that the other person was looking at him, but the girl was shy and kept her head down while walking.

The two of them walked all the way to the entrance of the alley before Lin Sanqi spoke:
"Well, you should go back even in this hot weather. I will keep your father's illness in mind."

Pan Ye suddenly looked up and smiled, his eyebrows curved and full of smiles, and Lin Sanqi's heartbeat accelerated again.

"Then take care. Tell me if there's any good news about my dad's illness. Here, this is the address of my school and my home. If you can't find them, write to me."

"Write a letter, sure. It would be much more convenient if you had WeChat, haha."

What Lin Sanqi didn't know was that in the 1950s and 1960s, if a girl was willing to give a boy her address and actively asked for correspondence, it was actually a very positive signal.

In 2023, a girl may give her WeChat ID to many men, but girls nowadays will not give their addresses to anyone casually.

When Pan Ye returned home, his mother had already started cutting meat.

Pork cannot be stored in the hot summer and there is no refrigerator, so the first thing to do when getting pork is to make lard, which is the only source of fat at present.

Given that pork is almost no longer available in the market, 5 kilograms of fat meat is definitely a conscientious gift and is extremely priceless.

Pan Zhengquan sat on the chair, wondering if this young man Lin Sanqi was a human or a ghost? Was he an old man who flirted with women? Or a promising young man of the new era?

As a former great professor, he must have some connections. Pan Zhengquan was thinking about who to ask about Lin Sanqi from Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital.

Seeing his daughter coming back, Pan Zhengquan asked softly, "Comrade Lin has returned?"

While helping his mother clean up the pork, Pan Ye replied, "Well, Dad, he's back. He said he would let me know as soon as he has any news about your condition."

Pan Zhengquan said seriously at this time:

"Yezi, you have grown up. At 20 years old, you would have been married and had children in the old society. Now it is a new society, men and women are equal, so Daddy has no objection to your making friends, but Daddy still wants to remind you:
Although the times have become more open, girls must respect themselves. It is understandable for young people to hold hands when dating, but they must not do anything impulsive. Although our Pan family has failed, the family tradition must be upright, do you understand?"

Pan Ye's face turned red when he heard this. How could he not understand what his father was warning him about?

"Dad, what are you talking about? We are just ordinary friends who just met, and our friendship is like that of revolutionary comrades. How could there be such a mess? Besides, I believe in Comrade Lin Sanqi's character."

Pan Zhengquan pushed his glasses and thought to himself, my girl, you are still too naive. When young men date women, all they think about is those things. Who hasn’t been young?
There is no pig in the world that doesn't like cabbage, unless it's a picture hanging on the wall...

Lin Sanqi went home happily holding the clock.

It was afternoon when they returned to the Gege Mansion. No one was at the Lin family. Lin Sanqi placed the Pan family's self-ringing clock on the table and examined it carefully.

This so-called French Louis XV style Cupid bronze gilt mantel clock is about 42cm high, 30cm wide and 20cm thick. The entire clock is golden in color and is made of wood and metal.

How to describe this style? It is a typical European palace style, with exquisite carvings, and a sense of luxury and extravagance everywhere. The only drawback is that the glass cover of the self-ringing clock dial is gone, and it no longer moves.

A watch that doesn't move is basically of no value, no matter how beautiful it is. Lin Sanqi sighed and prepared to throw it into the trash can.

Suddenly he thought of a person. There was an uncle in Shilou Village who retired from a watch shop. Could he repair it?
After all, this clock is an antique from the Qing Dynasty, and it was made in Europe. Maybe it can be sold for some money?
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi saw that it was still early, so he left through the time and space gate and suddenly traveled back to 2023.

In a self-built building in Shilou Village.

A thin old man wearing old glasses was looking up and down, inside and out, at the chiming clock that Lin Sanqi brought, and from time to time he would use a magnifying glass to look at the details.

Lin Sanqi didn't dare to say a word and sat obediently on the side with his hands on his knees.

After about 20 minutes, the thin old man put down his glasses, nodded slightly and said:

"This chime clock is indeed an old item, produced by a French court clock workshop in the 19th century. It is also a rare fine product. It's a pity that you broke the glass, but it's not a big deal. I can just replace it with a new one."

Lin Sanqi reminded him, "Uncle San, I accidentally dropped this clock. Now it won't work. What should I do?"

"It won't work? Then just wind it up. You didn't look carefully. There's a winding key right here. Just turn it a few times like I did."

Sure enough, after Uncle San wound the spring a few times, the clock started ticking again.

Lin Sanqi suddenly realized that he and Pan Ye had misunderstood. They thought the clock was broken and that was why it didn't keep time. It turned out that it was not wound up.

"Haha, it's good that it's not broken. By the way, Third Uncle, is this kind of self-ringing clock considered an antique? Do you think anyone would buy it?"

Third Uncle thought for a while before saying:

"This self-ringing clock is certainly an antique and is well preserved. If I remember correctly, a similar self-ringing clock was sold at the Huadu Guardian 2011 summer auction for 86 RMB."

Lin Sanqi was secretly delighted. This was truly a godsend. How could a broken clock be sold at such a high price?
You have to know that the Pan family originally planned to exchange 100 kilograms of coarse grains, that is, 100 kilograms of corn flour or dried sweet potatoes. What's the difference between that and picking it up for free?

"Uncle, this clock is useless to me. Do you have any connections to help me sell it? I'll give you 2% commission."

When southerners do things, they keep business as business and family ties as family ties. They believe in settling accounts clearly among brothers to avoid unnecessary disputes in the future that would affect the relationship between family members and friends.

Third Uncle knew that this was the norm in the industry and did not refuse. He picked up the phone book and looked through it for a long time before he made a call.

"Old Zhang, yes, long time no see. I have something to tell you. One of my grandsons wants to sell a French Louis XV-style copper gilt cupid mantel clock dating back to 1870. Are you interested? Come and take a look. Okay, it's at my house."

Uncle San put down the phone and said with a smile:

"The person I'm calling is an antique dealer in Xiguan Antique City, who specializes in clocks and watches. He said he'll come and see us later. But Xiaoqi, I want to give you a heads up. The auction price is different from the purchase price, so the asking price may not reach over 80 yuan."

(End of this chapter)