hwcstory-03 - The junk dealer Vasily

Hello everyone! There is an interesting topic in the contest, so I decided to try my hand at writing a story. @sur-riti I organized an interesting contest, and the theme for this contest is this:

A junk dealer found a large amount of foreign currency inside a book sold as junk. What happened next?

And this is my story.

Vasily, a junk dealer, never thought that his life would change thanks to a book. Every day he wandered through the ancient markets and shops, looking for valuable items that could bring him at least some profit. His small shop was packed with antique clocks, porcelain, and decanters, but he always looked for the real treasure on the sides of the stories that were contained in the books.

One day, Vasily came across an unremarkable book tied with a complicated tight rope. "Old, dusty, useless to anyone," he thought and, without hesitation, bought it for a nominal sum. Sitting at his desk in his shop, he opened the book to see if it was worth his money. It turned out to be an old textbook on foreign philology with yellowed pages and cut corners.

However, when he started flipping through the pages, he suddenly noticed something strange — there was an envelope hidden between the lines on one of the pages. The coffee mug he had just made captivated his perception, and he awkwardly dropped this treasure onto the floor. The envelope fell, and the bills fell out of it. He couldn't believe his eyes: there were several thousand dollars of various foreign currencies in front of him — euros, pounds, something else.

Vasily pressed his hands to his heart, trying to understand how such a thing could happen. His thoughts were instantly filled with questions: who owned this sum? Why was it hidden in the textbook? Could it be the money of a criminal or the lost savings of a person who lived in another time and was associated with this book?

At first, he decided to just keep his find, fearing that someone might suspect him of impurity. However, his conscience was getting more and more tormented every day. He remembered how he loved helping people himself, and realized that the best thing to do was try to find the owner.

He began contacting various organizations to find out if there was a list of missing funds. Ads about "missing wealth" appeared in the newspapers, several weeks passed, but not a single person responded.

Finally, his solution came to mind randomly. He planned to hold a charity event in his store, offering local residents a special price for books and items. He planned to give all the proceeds to help orphaned children. This decision gave him peace of mind, and feeling that he was doing the right thing, he used the money he found to purchase new books needed for the campaign.

As soon as the event took place, Vasily's small shop was suddenly filled with life — children, parents, people who needed support. Vasily was just happy to see how smiles lit up on people's faces. And all the money he raised was sent to an orphanage.

Some time later, Vasily found out that one of the guests, an elderly man, turned out to be the newspaper owner of the very book where he found the money. Overjoyed, he approached Vasily and told him about his tragic story — how he lost his love during the war, and how he kept his savings for her, hoping that one day he would be ready to start a new life. When he came to him, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that his money was not missing and had found a new owner in the form of a noble junk dealer.

From this incident, Vasily realized that true wealth is not in money, but in sharing it with others. And the book probably carried not only knowledge and stories, but also a chance to change the world around it. So he remained a junk dealer, but his life now began to play with new colors, and his store became a place where every old thing could bring happiness and inspiration.

10% beneficiary to @hindwhale

I invite you to join the contest
@adriancabrera
@solaymann
@artist1111

All photos taken by me personally

https://steemit.com/hive-179660/@sur-riti/hwcstory-03

Thank you all for your attention!