Chapter 7: Stolen?

Su Jinyan instantly understood Sun Shi and Zhao Zhengjun’s worries.

She smiled and comforted them softly, “Mom, no, don’t think that way. Big cities are different from small places, there are more ways to earn money. We are a family, so don’t feel burdened.”

“Moreover, I heard inside information that the country is changing policies, and the college entrance examination has been reinstated. What’s needed now is to revive the economy. It’s very likely that ordinary people like us will soon be able to do business.”

“At that time, a day’s income might be more than what you earn in a whole year of working in the countryside.”

Sun Shi didn’t understand these things, but Zhao Yuanyi, who often frequented the black market, had his eyes lit up. “Really? Yan’yan, is the news reliable?”

Su Jinyan turned her head and said gently, “It’s about eighty or ninety percent accurate. However, this matter cannot be publicized.”

“In at most half a year, or a year, we will be able to see it.”

Zhao Yuanyi thought seriously for a while, but after all, he was born in this era and wasn’t reborn, so he wasn’t very confident about this.

Finally, under Sun Shi and Zhao Zhengjun’s insistence, Su Jinyan accepted the sixty-two yuan, completely taking over the household.

At night, Sun Shi insisted on having the two children sleep in their room, saying that it had been a long time since they slept together, and she missed them dearly.

The children had always been taken care of by their grandparents and weren’t very resistant, so they stayed.

It wasn’t until Su Jinyan was about to leave the room that she saw Sun Shi give Zhao Yuanyi several meaningful glances, and she finally understood what was going on! Embarrassed, she turned around and fled back into the room.

Really!

They had been married for four years! Getting a marriage certificate could still make them newlyweds?

West room.

Su Jinyan returned to the room, went straight to the kang, and spread out the bedding.

After a long while, Zhao Yuanyi came into the room carrying a basin of water and holding a towel and toiletries. He asked Su Jinyan to wash her hands and feet and even poured her water for brushing her teeth.

His hair was wet, so he must have washed it.

“Yan’yan, this is for you.”

Zhao Yuanyi opened his hand, and lying on a blue handkerchief in his palm was an imperial green jade bracelet.

Under the dim light, it was so dazzling.

Su Jinyan hooked it with her index finger, held it with her thumb, picked it up, and curiously looked at it closely under the kerosene lamp.

While looking, she asked curiously, “Where did you get this bracelet?”

Almost at a glance, she could confirm it was imperial green.

In this era, there shouldn’t be fake bracelets made of glass or chemical materials.

The water content was very good, with a full gelatinous feel. It was old ice jade, and she could see that this bracelet had been worn for a long time. The “cotton” inside the bracelet had already dissolved, and the color was even more beautiful.

Good jade bracelets became more spiritual the more they were worn, and this one looked very pleasing.

In the book, Zhao Yuanyi hadn’t given this bracelet to the original owner. Holding it in her hand, she felt inexplicably close to it.

The question she asked didn’t receive a response. Su Jinyan couldn’t help but look curiously at Zhao Yuanyi, seeing him pursing his lips and looking at her nervously. “Do you like it?”

Su Jinyan raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Yes, I like it very much. Where did it come from?”

They hadn’t been separated at all when they went to town today, which meant this bracelet had existed for a long time.

At least before today.
Zhao Yuanyi considered for a long while, organizing his words in his mind again and again. “Yan’yan, after I tell you, don’t be angry.”

“Okay.”

“Stolen.”

“St-stolen?!”

Su Jinyan looked at him with wide eyes in disbelief.

Afraid that Su Jinyan would be angry, Zhao Yuanyi quickly explained, “Yan’yan, listen to me. Those black-hearted people were going to sell such a good thing to the little devils. I heard that these things all came from the palace, and they were all worn by nobles. This bracelet was worn by that… that Empress. How can our ancestors’ things flow into the hands of the little devils? So I did a switcheroo and gave them some broken rocks and tiles.”

“Yan’yan, if you don’t want…”

“I like it.”

“Huh?”
Su Jinyan suddenly smiled, put the bracelet on her wrist, and repeated, because she really thought it was quite beautiful, “I like it, I like it very much.”

What’s more, even if this bracelet wasn’t worn by some Empress, decades later, it could buy a whole house. Zhao Yuanyi finally breathed a sigh of relief, scared to death.

“It just happened to fit?”

“Hehe, husband, well done!”

Su Jinyan raised her arm and shook it, sincerely praising him. Then she looked at it left and right under the kerosene lamp, liking it more and more the more she looked.

She really didn’t expect the bracelet’s size to fit perfectly.

“These things? Do you mean there are many more?”

Zhao Yuanyi pursed his thin lips, observing Su Jinyan, and said softly, “Yes, they’re buried in the backyard.”

“Many? Why don’t you bring them in and let me see?”

Zhao Yuanyi looked at Su Jinyan, who didn’t seem angry, and asked cautiously, “You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be angry? Once it’s in your hands, isn’t it in my hands? Isn’t it mine and our son’s and daughter’s? It’s better than giving it to those foreign devils, right?”

Hearing this, Zhao Yuanyi narrowed his eyes and smiled happily. “Okay, okay, you go wash up, and I’ll bring them in for you to see later.”

About twenty minutes later, Zhao Yuanyi carried two wooden boxes into the room.
The wooden boxes weren’t very big, only about half a meter in length, width, and height.

Zhao Yuanyi carefully placed them on the ground and then opened them one by one.

“You… you actually have so many?”

Seeing the contents, Su Jinyan was almost dazzled.

One box was full of various gold bracelets, gold hairpins, gold earrings, rings, gold-inlaid jade, and so on. The other box contained all kinds of jade bracelets, jade thumb rings, jade rings, pendants, and various pearls.

“I thought these things came from the palace after all, maybe they’ll be valuable in the future. Even if they’re not, it’s good to leave them to the children as heirlooms.”

These things aren’t valuable—

Forget it, ignorance is bliss.

What’s more, in this era, these things were indeed not valuable. Not only were they not valuable, but they were also a source of trouble.

“Zhao Yuanyi, be honest, if I had left today, were you not planning to give them to me? Hmm?”

Su Jinyan grabbed his collar and pulled him closer, standing on tiptoe and leaning in, humming a low question.

This bracelet hadn’t appeared in the book.

“Yan’yan, these things came from Beijing. Wearing them in Beijing can easily attract trouble. Moreover, I was worried you would despise them.”
After all, the source of these things wasn’t legitimate.

At this distance, Zhao Yuanyi’s face turned red to his ears. He stood stiffly, not knowing where to look, letting Su Jinyan’s alluring gaze wash over him.

“Okay, I’ll let that reason slide.”

Su Jinyan said, letting go of him.

But she was very curious how things from the palace could have ended up in Zhao Yuanyi’s hands so far away in Xi’an.

But everyone had their own secrets. If he didn’t say, she wouldn’t ask.

“We’re about to leave, aren’t we taking these things with us?”

“Yes, we’ll hide them in the quilt and take them away.”

Su Jinyan took out the two boxes of jewelry and looked at each piece. She had no interest in gold but quite liked jade and pearls.

Any one of these things, taken out decades later, would be enough to buy a house.