Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 194 - 18: Darkness Beneath the Lamp (Part 3)

Ruan Qiniang did not want to bring up the past, and Susu did not want to know. The burden was too heavy, so she could only say, "Seventh Sister, we will live longer than him." Ultimately, the kingdom that was arduously obtained would still be handed over to the Ruan Family’s bloodline. Truly, what goes around comes around, retribution is inevitable.

Susu and Ruan Qiniang heard three knocks from the mechanical wall that had flipped earlier. Ruan Qiniang said, "Your maid is coming up, I’m leaving, contact me if anything comes up. Now that you’ve left the mansion, be even more careful in everything you do."

Susu couldn’t help but express her hope to Ruan Qiniang, "Seventh Sister, both you and Sister Ten must find happiness too!" Ruan Qiniang patted Susu’s head but said nothing, knocked on the wall three times, and someone on the other side activated the mechanism. The wall turned again, and Susu was once more left alone in the room.

Susu had no time for sentimentality and quickly overturned the teacup Ruan Qiniang had used, pushed the chair back to its original position, and just in time as Fen Dai and the other four maids knocked on the door. However, Susu was troubled by the large box on the table; she still didn’t know what was inside or how to explain it later.

Hurriedly, Susu opened the box for a quick glance and was shocked by what Seventh Sister had left. Even if their useless father suddenly had a change of heart, he could not have left so much dowry for a daughter of a concubine. The box was filled with extremely exquisite and valuable jewelry, along with a thick stack of gold notes and silver notes. Susu didn’t have time to count, so she quickly stuffed them into the package she carried with her.

Then she closed the box and said, "Come in!" It hadn’t even been thirty seconds, so Fen Dai and the others wouldn’t suspect anything. As they entered, Fen Dai looked a bit embarrassed, and Linglong smiled sheepishly, "We made you wait long, Miss. The jewelry at Jinyinman Tang is just too exquisite, and we couldn’t make a choice."

Fen Dai approached flatteringly, "Miss, what do you think of this hairpin I picked?" She handed the hairpin to Susu, who took a good look at it. It was just a silver hairpin, but the head was inlaid with a few red gemstones arranged in the shape of two or three plum blossoms. Though the rubies were not large and the clarity wasn’t great, the craftsmanship of this hairpin was exquisite, with a certain luster as if it had a soul, showing that there was no shortage of talent even among the apprentices of Jinyinman Tang.

The reason Susu immediately recognized it as the work of an apprentice was that she had spent some time at the Qiaogong Pavilion in Yangzhou to learn carving. The gemstones on the hairpin were clearly offcuts, used only for apprentices’ practiced hands, and the buyers were usually maids of wealthy families or daughters-in-law from middle-class families. Its value ranged from two to five pieces of silver.

Susu’s sharp eyes were pretty accurate, and she asked, "How much silver?" Fen Dai answered slightly reluctantly, "It costs three and a half pieces of silver!" Susu nodded and said, "In terms of craftsmanship, you got yourself a bargain. If you just replace it with slightly better gemstones, its value could increase tenfold."

Hearing Susu’s words, Fen Dai immediately beamed with joy. "I also have some spare gemstones that Miss has given. I’ll find a chance to have it re-mounted." She naturally believed Susu, and to her, that hairpin now looked like it was worth thirty pieces of silver.

Susu smiled involuntarily, and then looked at the jewelry selected by Qi Qiao, Linglong, and Shuimo. Qi Qiao chose a pair of lantern-shaped silver earrings, hollow inside with a pearl the size of a bean, very cute.

Linglong picked a silver filigree ring, with silver threads as fine as hair woven into a peony flower. Though it used only one qian of silver, its craftsmanship cost at least a tael.

Shuimo chose a pair of small jasper jasmine hairpins. Though the color of the jade was good, the water quality was lacking, but it was still impressive due to the carving, with five or six small jasmines clustered together, lifelike.

When Susu called someone to settle the bill, she found out that the four young maids had already paid in advance, which left her feeling amused and helpless, "Has the master become so poor that she can’t even afford this much silver?" Even the most expensive, Shuimo’s jasmine hairpin, was only six taels of silver.

The four young maids shook their heads, saying, "Of course, we don’t think that. We know Miss cares for us, but this is the first time we’re buying jewelry with our own silver, and it feels more meaningful." If anyone said their master was only left with money, that would be more accurate. However, their parents had long taught them that just because their master was kind-hearted, it wasn’t a reason for them to be reckless, and they should remember, "A cup of rice in gratitude, a bucket of rice in vengeance." They must never take Miss’s kindness for granted.

If Susu knew how the parents of the four young girls had taught them, she would be even more grateful to Grandpa Qiao. But for now, she couldn’t refute their reasoning and could only go along with it. There would be many more opportunities in the future anyway.

Susu came to Jinyinman Tang with a pretext, so she naturally couldn’t leave without doing anything. She had Fen Dai call up the shopkeeper, and during that time, she untied her package, took out the things she brought, and conveniently stashed the large box on the table into her package.

The four maids assumed the box contained the jewelry Miss had already picked. Although it was large and seemingly heavy, Miss had money, so buying more jewelry wasn’t a problem. After all, even they, with not such abundant silver, wanted to take all of Jinyinman Tang home. And which woman could refuse jewelry and accessories? None!