Chapter 72 Sincerity
The next day at noon, Xu Hongdou prepared dinner and wanted to invite Chen Mo to come over to eat, but she didn't expect that Chen Mo had gone out early in the morning and was not at home.

"I'm sorry, I'm outside now and can't get back. I forgot to tell you in advance." Chen Mo said apologetically on the phone.

"Oh, it's okay, just go out if you want to. Why do you tell me?" Xu Hongdou said "indifferently".

"Are you really okay?" Chen Mo asked again tentatively.

"It's okay. You didn't have to tell me about your affairs." Xu Hongdou said in a normal tone.

"I am not yours, how can I control you?"

"Actually, I..." Chen Mo wanted to explain something, but was interrupted by a hearty voice next to him.

"Chen Mo, come and take a look at this, how about it?"

Xu Hongdou also heard Chen Mo's voice and knew that Chen Mo really had something to do, so she didn't say anything more.

"Then go ahead and do what you want. I won't bother you for now."

"I'm fine."

Chen Mo just responded to the person next to him and wanted to say a few words to Xu Hongdou, but he found that Xu Hongdou had hung up the phone.

Chen Mo sighed lightly. There was nothing he could do but to find a chance to talk to Xu Hongdou after he returned.

After Xu Hongdou hung up the phone, she looked at the three dishes and one soup on the table. It was obvious that she couldn't finish them all by herself.

"Huh~~" Xu Hongdou let out a breath and served herself a bowl of soup.

"I even made soup specially for you. If you don't want to eat it, I'll drink it myself."

Xu Hongdou knew that Chen Mo had the habit of drinking soup, so she made a special soup for him.

It's a pity that someone is still unaware of it. It's like flirting with a blind man.

And on Chen Mo's side.

"Come and see what this material is like?"

"Coming." Chen Mo put away his phone and walked over.

"This is the best material I have. If you didn't want it, I wouldn't be willing to give it to you." A fat man with a festive and honest face said in a "heartbroken" tone.

"Don't give me that. As long as the money is right, why would you be reluctant to give it up? Keep it as a family heirloom." Chen Mo didn't believe it.

"Hehe." The fat man grinned when he heard that and did not deny it.

Hu Youwei's family runs an antique shop, so he has a long history in this business.

My ancestor was a pawnshop owner, and his job was to make a living as a pawnshop owner.

By the time of his grandfather's generation, they made their living by collecting junk from the streets and alleys. Relying on their ancestral "family knowledge" and extraordinary vision, they found a lot of old items at that time.

Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times.

When the country's economy improved, some old items with a long history and a long history became treasures worth thousands of gold.

The Hu family became wealthy from then on, and Hu Youwei is now the son inheriting his father's business.

"Let me be frank with you. You should make some money, but don't cheat me out of the things. I want to give them away." Chen Mo said.

"How can you say this to me? What kind of relationship do we have? I cheat others, so how can I cheat you?" Hu Youwei was unhappy.

"We have known each other for more than ten years. Don't you know who I am, Hu Youwei?"

"Although I am greedy for money, I never cheat or deceive anyone, let alone my friends." Hu Youwei said seriously, patting his chest.

"If I didn't believe you, I wouldn't come to you." Chen Mo shook his head.

"That's about right." Hu Youwei nodded.

"Don't worry. I can't guarantee the cheapest price when you buy something from me, but I will definitely not sell inferior goods as good ones."

"I know, that's why I came to you. Your business is very complicated." Chen Mo said.

The thing he wanted to buy was being sold at Panjiayuan for 500 yuan each.

"Everyone makes a living by their eyesight. If you lose more than you earn, you can't blame others." Hu Youwei smiled.

Chen Mo still believed what Hu Youwei said.

One is that the two of them have known each other for a long time. They were classmates in elementary and junior high school and played together. Now they get together occasionally.

Hu Youwei has a good reputation. Many people in his circle of friends have approached him, but I have never heard of anyone saying that they were cheated.

It’s not that Chen Mo believes that Hu Youwei is an honest man. To put it bluntly, it’s nothing more than weighing the pros and cons.

This little money is nothing to Chen Mo and Hu Youwei. Hu Youwei doesn't need to ruin his reputation.

As for Hu Youwei's statement that he never cheats his friends, Chen Mo thinks it is mainly because communication is well developed nowadays and there are many groups in various circles.

If someone gets cheated and spreads the news in big and small groups, Hu Youwei's business reputation will be ruined, and he will no longer be able to do business in this circle of friends. It will be a loss.

"By the way, you haven't told me what you want to carve yet?" Hu Youwei asked.

"This." Chen Mo took out his cell phone and found a picture.

"You want to buy a whole mammoth tusk just to carve these two little gadgets?!" Hu Youwei's eyes widened.

To protect elephants, the sale of ivory is prohibited.

But mammoth ivory can, because mammoths became extinct more than 3700 years ago and are now fossils.

The "ivory ball", a representative work of the intangible cultural heritage of "ivory carving", is currently carved from mammoth ivory.

The "ivory ball" is a hollow-carved concentric nest of balls, with a large ball wrapping a small ball, layer by layer.

Each layer is only about 2 mm thick and can rotate independently. The beads on the bottom layer are smaller than mung beans.

The surface of the ivory ball is engraved with dragons, phoenixes, flowers and birds, while each layer inside is engraved with various patterns such as cross patterns, swastika patterns, chrysanthemum patterns, and osmanthus patterns.

The current record for an ivory ball is 57 layers, which took more than 30 years to create.

It can be said to be a masterpiece of nature, so the ivory ball is also called the "ghost ball".

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Chen Mo didn't think there was a problem.

Hu Youwei sighed, "I thought you were going to carve a big piece as a gift."

"You should have told me you wanted to carve this earlier. I have some small pieces here. I'll just give you two pieces. I don't want you to pay."

"I don't want scraps, I want the best." Chen Mo shook his head.

"It's not worth it for you to carve these two little things, is it? I can just give you a bigger piece of material."

"No, that's so insincere." Chen Mo still refused.

"Besides, I'm not going to throw away the remaining materials. I can carve some bracelets or ornaments out of them, so it won't be wasted."

"That's true, but are you giving this to your girlfriend?"

Hu Youwei recognized this thing at a glance and naturally knew its meaning.

"Yes." Chen Mo nodded.

"In fact, many people use Bodhi roots to carve this thing," said Hu Youwei.

Bodhi root is very cheap, only about a dozen dollars.

"That's not authentic. The ancients used animal bones, horns and ivory to carve. They wouldn't use fruit cores or seeds." Chen Mo obviously knew about this.

"Wow, you use mammoth ivory for carving, which is really ancient and elegant." Hu Youwei was also convinced.

"That's what sincerity is." Chen Mo smiled.

Hu Youwei thought for a moment and said, "But in fact, mammoth ivory is not suitable for daily wear."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Chen Mo was puzzled.

"Mammoth ivory needs to be maintained because it is easily affected by temperature and humidity and cracked," Hu Youwei explained.

"In a relatively stable environment, if you wash and dry your hands and play with it casually, it's fine."

"But you have to avoid direct sunlight outdoors, direct air conditioning indoors, and take it off when washing hands and taking a shower to avoid contact with water. If you wear it close to your skin, sweating will also have an impact."

"So troublesome?" Chen Mo frowned. He just wanted to send something more precious and didn't think too much about it.

"This thing is like this. It can be considered 'fragile'." Hu Youwei shrugged.

"That won't do. I gave it to you to wear, not to look at." Chen Mo shook his head. Moreover, Chen Mo gave it to you to represent love. If it cracked after just two days of wearing, what would that mean?

Love has cracks? It's unlucky to think about it.

"Actually, you can use deer antlers, and deer have a good meaning as well," Hu Youwei suggested.

"Deer antlers." Chen Mo thought about it and decided that the most important thing was to find the right one, so as to avoid making things worse.

"Okay, let's change it to antlers. Do you have any?"

"I don't have it in my store right now. If you want it, I can help you find it." Hu Youwei said.

Male deer shed their antlers every year, so antlers fall off naturally every year.

Scarcity makes things valuable. Obviously, deer antlers are not as collectible as mammoth ivory, so Hu Youwei did not hoard them.

"Then please help me keep an eye out and see which kind of antlers are good." Chen Mo said, professional matters should be left to professionals.

"No problem. Deer antlers are not difficult to get. I will help you pick the good quality ones. It will only take two days. I will let you know when the time comes."

"Okay, thanks." Chen Mo said seriously.

Deer antlers are not as valuable as mammoth ivory. Hu Youwei could have simply not told him.

"Talk about this." Hu Youwei smiled.

In fact, if Hu Youwei didn’t know the person, he would definitely not say much and would talk about it after making the money.

There is nothing wrong with what I sell. If you don't understand mammoth ivory, that's your business.

But if you don't tell someone you know, even if they don't blame you, they will inevitably feel resentful.

Most of the people in their circle have good family backgrounds, so Hu Youwei feels that he has to take a long-term view when running his business.

Sometimes when a friend is in need, they can just mention it to you and business will come.

"Come on, it's noon, I'll treat you to a meal, it's a waste of time for you to take out this good thing."

Chen Mo looked at the mammoth tusk in front of him. This thing was sensitive to both temperature and humidity, so it obviously had to be specially preserved. It took Hu Youwei a long time to take it out just now.

"You're telling me all this? I have to treat you, and you're still taking care of my business."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's just reminisce about the past, shall we?"

"That's pretty much it."

"When will you bring your girlfriend out for everyone to see? I'm really curious, which beauty could make you so obsessed?"

"Haha, she is indeed very beautiful." Chen Mo was not at all modest about this.

"If I can bring family members to the next gathering, I will take her with me."

"Oh, it seems like he really got the beauty." Hu Youwei couldn't help but teasing.

"Keep a low profile." Chen Mo couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"You look so cheerful, you don't look like a low-key person."

"Last year, I saw that you all had your partners, and Old Feng even had a child, so I was the only one left."

"Haha, we thought you didn't mind." Hu Youwei couldn't help laughing when he recalled the scene at that time.

Who would have thought that Chen Mo, who is the most handsome and has such good conditions, is the last one who is still single?
"I don't mind, but I envy it."

"Then you don't have to be so cowardly in the future."

"That's right, you will all envy me from now on."

In the evening, Chen Mo returned to the community with the last rays of sunset.

“Ding Dong~ Ding Dong~”

Chen Mo rang the doorbell of 1101.

"Why are you here?" Xu Hongdou opened the door and saw it was Chen Mo.

"I'll pack some food on the way back, let's eat together."

Chen Mo lifted the things in his hand, which he had specially packed from a Shandong cuisine restaurant.

"Come in, I'm just about to eat." Xu Hongdou asked Chen Mo to enter the house.

"That's perfect." Chen Mo smiled and brought the packed dishes to the dining table.

Xu Hongdou took a bowl and helped Chen Mo serve a bowl of rice.

"I only have leftovers from lunch."

Xu Hongdou hadn’t finished the lunch, so she simply heated it up and prepared to eat it.

When Chen Mo saw the dishes on the table, he knew that Xu Hongdou had cooked too much for him at noon.

"Then I'm lucky. I missed lunch, but I can still catch the train in the evening."

Chen Mo placed the dishes he brought next to Xu Hongdou and moved all the leftovers on the plate towards himself.

"What are you doing?" Xu Hongdou looked at Chen Mo's actions.

"This is my lunch portion, right? You've already eaten your lunch portion, so these are mine."

Chen Mo said this and started eating with big mouthfuls.

"It's not yours, I just did too much."

As Xu Hongdou was speaking, she wanted to pick up the food she had cooked, but Chen Mo blocked her with chopsticks.

"You've already eaten lunch, so try something else." Chen Mo pointed to the dishes he had packed.

"I can eat whatever I want. Why should I listen to you?"

Xu Hongdou used chopsticks to pick up another dish, but was blocked by Chen Mo again. Xu Hongdou stared at Chen Mo, but Chen Mo did not give in.

The two of them used chopsticks to strike back and forth, fighting like swords.

"I did this." Xu Hongdou looked at Chen Mo and said seriously.

"You made this for me." Chen Mo replied seriously.

"Who said I made it for you?"

"You called me at noon."

“I hadn’t done it yet.”

"You did it, otherwise there wouldn't be so much left."

"I was too lazy to cook two meals, so I made the evening meal as well."

"But I like the food you cook. These left over are not enough for me to eat alone." Chen Mo said, looking into Xu Hongdou's eyes.

Xu Hongdou was stared at and dodged a little. She casually picked up the food that Chen Mo brought with her chopsticks and ate while muttering, "It's a problem. Some people like to eat leftovers."

Chen Mo didn't care. He went to the kitchen, got another bowl and filled it with soup.

"Hmm?! This soup is good, a bit like the one I made." Chen Mo was a little surprised, "You like the soup I made? When did you learn it secretly?"

"I don't like it." Xu Hongdou said.

"So you made this specially for me?" Chen Mo couldn't help but smile.

"No."

"Since you don't like it and you're not making it for me, why did you make this soup?" Chen Mo pretended to be surprised.

"What's it to you?" Xu Hongdou said unhappily.

Hearing this, Chen Mo remembered what Xu Hongdou said in the morning and couldn't help but smile:
"I don't care about you, but you can care about me."

"What do I care?"

"I'm already preparing for 'sincerity', but it will take some time." Chen Mo said.

“But you can exercise your rights in advance.”

(End of this chapter)