Chapter 92: Family Heirloom

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Family Heirloom

Liu finally understood. After all was said and done, the old hag planned to keep the Jade Pendant for herself!

She shot a glare at Bai Dazhu, urging him to say something.

Bai Dazhu naturally knew what his wife was thinking. His eyes darted about before he put on an ingratiating smile and said to Old Mrs. Bai, "Mother, since you plan to pass it down as a family heirloom, it should be given to me. I’m the eldest son of this family, and Da Bao is the eldest grandson. This treasure should rightfully be passed down to me."

Old Mrs. Bai shot him a sideways glance and snapped, "I’m not dead yet! What’s this about passing it down? When I die, it will naturally be passed on to you. What’s the rush?"

After speaking, she turned and went into her room. She sat alone by the window, fiddling with the Jade Pendant, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it. Thinking of how desperately Liu and Dazhu wanted the pendant, she found a red string, hung the Jade Pendant from it, and put it around her neck. She would wear it day and night; let’s see who could steal it from her then.

————

「The Hu Family」

After dinner, Hu Changlin took out all the silver that Doctor Lu had delivered.

"Zhi, there’s a total of one hundred and ninety-five taels of silver here. Doctor Lu sold the wild ginseng for a total of 200 taels. He received a ten-tael commission from the pharmacy shopkeeper, but he sent the full 200 taels to us. Yesterday, Hu Feng and I went to town and bought a few things for you, spending five taels in total. The remaining one hundred and ninety-five taels are all here."

Bai Zhi stepped forward graciously. She divided all the ten-tael and smaller silver ingots into two equal halves. Then, she separated the broken silver into one larger and one smaller portion, keeping the smaller one for herself and giving the larger one to Uncle Hu.

"Uncle Hu, we’ll cover the cost of the items you bought. This is your share. Please, take it."

She took out a square handkerchief, wrapped her share of the silver, and pushed it toward Uncle Hu. "Uncle Hu, please keep this silver for me for now. We just separated from the Bai Family, and there’s no telling if they’ll come looking for trouble. It’s really not safe for us to keep the silver on us. I’ll leave it with you, and when I need it, I’ll ask you for it."

Uncle Hu knew Bai Zhi’s character. Since she had divided it this way, he knew she wasn’t just putting on a show of generosity. Besides, this was the division method she had proposed earlier. If he were to refuse again, it would just seem pretentious.

Uncle Hu nodded decisively. "Alright. I’ll keep it safe for you for now. Come and get it whenever you need it."

Bai Zhi thought for a moment, then took a five-tael silver ingot from the cloth bundle. "Tomorrow, Mother and I are going to town to buy a couple of changes of clothes. I’ll take the money now so I don’t have to rush and ask you for it in the morning."

Zhao Lan quickly said, "I have clothes to wear. You don’t need to buy any for me. Just buy a couple of outfits for yourself."

’She had only ever heard words like these on television before. Her old roommate, watching with her, used to say that all parents under heaven were the same—they’d save the best food and drink for their children, never willing to enjoy it themselves.’

’At the time, it had made her miserable to hear. She’d wanted to tell her roommate that not all parents in the world were like that. Her roommate was just lucky enough to have good parents. But she, Bai Zhi, had not. She had had nothing.’

’But things were different now. She, Bai Zhi, finally had a good mother too—a good mother who truly and sincerely doted on her.’

Swallowing the tears that had just welled up, she said with reddened eyes, "Mother, look how torn your clothes are! They should have been replaced long ago. We had no money before, so there was nothing to be done. But now that we have money, how can we continue to be so hard on ourselves?"

Zhao Lan replied, "There will be many more expenses in the future. We should save wherever we can. A woman of my age looks the same in anything. There’s no need to spend this money on me."