Lu Zhaoling saw these pouches and remembered them. These were gifts Lu Xiaokelian had prepared for the Lu family.
Lu Xiaokelian actually knew that she wasn't welcome after returning to the Jingcheng Lu Family. She also knew there was a reason she was abandoned in the countryside for ten years, but her power was weak alone, and she just wanted to get along with them for now.
Once she had a firm footing in Jingcheng, she would slowly investigate what happened back then.
So, she prepared gifts for everyone in the Lu family.
But she had been treated like an animal in the countryside, enduring many hardships, so she naturally couldn't prepare any good gifts.
The small pouches were sewn from scraps of fabric she had saved for a long time, and inside were silk flowers she had made herself. There were also three other pouches containing a few small stones.
These were very beautiful stones she had picked up in the river behind the mountain, and she wanted to give them to the three young masters of the Lu family.
However, now that the items were in Lu Zhaoling's hands, it was naturally impossible to send them out again.
They weren't worthy of receiving such heartfelt intentions.
Lu Zhaoling poured the small stones onto the table, and her gaze was immediately drawn to two dark green, round stones among them.
These two small round stones actually contained life force.
What was the purpose of this life force?
Simply put, if placed in a fish tank, the fish wouldn't die from lack of oxygen. If placed at the root of a green plant, the plant would grow very well!
And she urgently needed life force now, as it would help her cultivation recover quickly.
Lu Zhaoling hadn't expected such a gain.
She remembered something.
A few years ago, because people from the Old Lu Family wanted to snatch a pendant from Lu Xiaokelian, she dug a pit by the river behind the mountain and buried the pendant there.
This time, she was suddenly called back to Jingcheng, and she was worried she couldn't handle the Lu family, so she hadn't dug out the pendant, leaving it hidden there.
It seemed that after she recovered a bit, she would have to return to the countryside to retrieve that pendant.
She remembered it was left to her by her birth mother.
"Miss, the Lu family is going too far."
Qingbao returned, angrily complaining to her.
"Yesterday, I clearly told the kitchen staff that Miss was injured and needed light, nourishing food, but the breakfast they gave today was this!"
She brought over the tray, on which was a small dish of spicy pickles, looking fiery red and probably quite hot, and a small, fist-sized steamed bun that looked yellowish, likely made from inferior flour.
Lu Zhaoling picked it up and squeezed it. It was very hard, probably from last night.
"Where's your breakfast?" she asked. Then she dropped the bun back onto the plate.
Qingbao felt a little wronged.
"Qingyin and I each got one bun."
And there was no dish of pickles.
It was clearly an attempt to bully their Miss!
Qingyin brought over warm water, sighing, "Miss, I just asked the steward for fine salt to help you wash up, and he gave me this small bottle."
She handed over a small bamboo tube containing yellowish salt granules.
In a prince's manor, they would have fine bristle willow twigs, dipped in fine salt for brushing teeth. This was common in noble families in Jingcheng, with only slight differences in quality. But such yellowish salt granules were only used by poor commoners.
It was clear that the Lu family intended to disgust Lu Zhaoling with these things.
"Madam Lu said that Lord Lu is an honest official, with clean hands, and it's not easy to support so many people in the manor, so they use things that are cost-effective and are frugal with food and clothing. She told Miss not to be angry."
Thinking of Madam Lu's smug and provocative expression when she said those words, Qingyin's teeth itched.
Lu Zhaoling stood up and asked Qingbao, "Can you braid a hand rope? Help me thread these."
Qingbao actually could.
"This servant will take the stones to be drilled."
Without drilling holes, there was no way to thread them. But these two small stones were so beautiful, like jade.
Lu Zhaoling casually took off a silver hairpin from Qingbao's hair and poked the small stone with its tip.
Plop.
One in each hand, a thin hole was pierced through each stone with a single poke.
Qingbao and Qingyin stared in shock.
"But Miss, you don't seem to have any martial arts skills, do you? We can't even do that!"
"I'll go braid the rope now," Qingbao quickly went to find colored string.
Lu Zhaoling settled for washing up, then glanced at the bun again.
"Miss, how about I go tell the Prince?" Qingyin said. The Prince would surely stand up for Miss.
Lu Zhaoling shook her head. "No need. Help me go for a walk. I'm going to pick up silver."
Pick up silver?
Qingyin was puzzled.
But she still obediently helped Lu Zhaoling out of the room.
Lu Xiaokelian didn't have a single copper coin. And Lu Zhaoling couldn't always let Prince Jin stand up for her. Her head was still injured, and her spirit was unstable, so she wouldn't contend with Madam Lu for now, but—
The Lu family would have to lose some money for a few days.
Lu Zhaoling's luck with money had always been excellent. Besides that, she could also sense wealth, especially lost wealth.
The weather was quite nice today.
Stepping out of the room, Lu Zhaoling stood in the courtyard and looked around.
Although the Tingnuan Tower courtyard was small, it was filled with flourishing flowers and plants, very beautiful. It was said that when the Lu family's female relatives hosted banquets for ladies, they almost always did so here at Tingnuan Tower.
Lu Zhaoyun and Lu Zhaoyue also often invited their girlfriends here to chat, drink tea, and enjoy the flowers.
Qingyin helped Lu Zhaoling, unsure of what she was going to do.
After a moment, Lu Zhaoling pointed in a direction and told her, "Go move those two ornamental stones and take out what's inside."
"Ah?" Qingyin paused, then said, "Yes."
Lu Zhaoling was pointing to two stones next to a cluster of purple chrysanthemums. The stones weren't too big, but a small girl probably couldn't move them.
There was a gap between the two stones, and moss had grown all around the edges, indicating they had been there for quite some time.
Qingyin didn't know what was there, but she still obediently moved the two stones.
When the stones were moved, an earring was revealed in the original crevice.
Qingyin picked it up in surprise.
It was a pure gold earring, quite weighty! She weighed it in her hand, then looked closely at its style, and quickly ran back to hand the earring to Lu Zhaoling.
"Miss, I've seen this earring at Mingbao Tower in Jingcheng. A pair used to sell for fifty taels, so this single one should be worth twenty-five taels of silver."
Of course, that included labor costs.
If melted into a gold nugget, it would be less, but exchanged for silver, it should still be worth twenty taels.
"Mhm, keep it and exchange it for silver."
Qingyin was a little excited. "How did Miss know there was gold there?"
Twenty taels wasn't much for her, having been in the prince's manor for ten years, but finding it this way felt incredibly fresh!
"There was a little aura of wealth there," Lu Zhaoling said.
Aura of wealth?
Although Qingyin didn't quite understand, she didn't ask again, because Lu Zhaoling pointed in another direction.
"Dig under that tree."
This time, Qingyin didn't hesitate at all and immediately ran to dig in the dirt.
Before long, she dug out a small silver box from the soil. It was only palm-sized and a bit flattened.
"Open it violently," Lu Zhaoling said.
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