I understood what Dad meant. Indeed, Emily Walker sometimes gives people the impression of being a bit loose in her lifestyle.

"More people, more paths." My mom didn't seem to like her much either. "If you can help, just help out. You never know when you might need someone’s help in the future."

After chatting about other things for a while, Mom’s gaze finally landed on that stack of RMB. She glanced at me, pretending to be casual: "Little James, you’re still young. Let Mom keep this money for you for now, and use it for your graduation and wedding in the future."

Huh? At least leave me a bit, right? But I just said, "Sure, it was meant for you anyway."

Dad tapped the edge of his bowl with his chopsticks. "Taking the kid’s money too! Look at you, have some self-respect!"

Mom got anxious. "What about me? What? My son can’t show some filial piety and give me a bit of money? He can’t?"

After a noisy back-and-forth, Mom reluctantly pushed eight thousand yuan over to me, reminding me, "Don’t waste it. I won’t give you any more living expenses next semester."

I was speechless for a while.

Day turned to night, and the evening breeze was gentle.

Lying on the bamboo mat, I stared blankly at the ceiling. Dad had strictly forbidden me from getting involved with antiques, but I wanted to be rich, to let my parents live a good life. So, getting involved with antiques was inevitable. After thinking it over for a long time, I still decided not to tell my parents and planned to continue in secret. It’s not that I’m unfilial—on the contrary, I consider myself a very filial child. It’s just that my understanding of filial piety is different from Dad’s.

I think that blind obedience is not the same as "filial piety."

I’ll keep it a secret for now. Once I’ve made a lot of money, I’ll tell my parents. By then, what’s done is done—at most, I’ll just get a beating.

The next day.

According to the events recorded in my notebook, I went to Huangcun in Daxing. The source of this information was a shopkeeper in the antique market who loved to chat. It was said that he had brought back a porcelain piece from the previous dynasty from Huangcun, and the timing was supposed to be these next couple of days. But when I followed the address he described and asked around at many houses, I never saw any sign of the porcelain.

After a whole day of running around, I came back exhausted and empty-handed, thinking that the shopkeeper must have been bragging.

After dinner that night, still unwilling to give up, I dragged my sore body out again while it was still light.

This time, I went to the moat at You’anmen, about seven or eight kilometers from my home. A few days later, an eleven-year-old boy surnamed Liu from No. 23 in our alley would catch a cricket there—big, good-looking, and hard to believe it came from Beijing. I liked it a lot and had asked him about it in detail before, so I had pretty complete information.

How much can a cricket be worth?

Some are worth a few cents, some a few hundred, some tens of thousands, and some even hundreds of thousands.

A cool breeze swept along the riverbank in the evening, making it very pleasant.

Walking slowly along the moat, I perked up my ears, straining to listen for the sound of crickets below. If I searched the ground one spot at a time, I probably wouldn’t find it even by tomorrow morning—there were just too many crickets here. So, I could only rely on the sound to distinguish them. The ones with thin, weak, or sharp, piercing calls were usually not good. The truly good ones had a deep, bell-like chirp.

I walked back and forth several times in the area the boy had described—a stretch of about ten meters, not too big, not too small.

Suddenly, after being bitten by three or four mosquitoes, my ears twitched.

I stopped, standing on the busy street, and listened again to confirm. Amid the sound of engines, a faint insect chirp made me happy.

Found it!

Chapter 7: [The Cricket Hopping Here and There]

The summer breeze was gentle.

There was a slope by the moat. After going down the steps, there was a not-too-deep, not-too-shallow river on the left, and on the right, a row of lush tree pits and grass, with willow trees swaying in the wind every few meters. Smack! I killed a black mosquito that had landed on my wrist, waved my hand in the air, and stepped into the pungent grass, carefully probing the turf with my canvas shoes. But all I turned up were a few piles of dog poop and a gang of fierce, vicious mosquitoes.

Ring ring ring...

Just as I was about to search further, my phone rang.

It was Emily Walker!

I backed out of the grass and answered the call. "Hello, Aunt Walker."

"Hello, hello, haha, no need to be so polite. Here’s the thing: I just bought a jade pendant from Panjiayuan today, and I’m giving it to someone tomorrow, but I’m not too sure about it. Can you help me take a look?"

I hesitated. "I’m at You’anmen right now. It might not work today, I’ve got something going on here."

"You’anmen? That’s perfect! I’m at Guang’anmen, not far at all. Wait for me, I’ll come over now, okay?"

"Alright."

After telling her the exact location, I hung up and continued searching the grass.

The sun was about to set. If I didn’t hurry, I might come up empty-handed again today. Five or six minutes passed, and out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a small black shadow. Instinctively, I stopped. Bending down with my hands on my knees, I peered into the uneven grass pile and saw a cricket quietly nestled there—black head, black body, black wings, like a dark, lustrous pearl. If I were to describe it in human terms, this cricket would have a big face, broad body, and thick neck. Judging by its head, it was at least eight millimeters wide.