Chapter 85: Chapter 84: Serve You Right for Hurting!
According to Wen Shun, he originally intended to take the bracelet to the pawnshop, but then he met a well-dressed gentleman. The man told him that a small child like him would get a low price and offered thirty taels to buy the bracelet, allowing Wen Shun to go home earlier.
Growing up, Wen Shun had never seen thirty taels, let alone three taels. Weighing the silver ingots in his hand, he was happier than a beggar who found gold.
Afraid that the gentleman might change his mind, Wen Shun dashed back home.
Father Wen listened to the story, and his eyes blazed with anger.
The jewelry in that box was left by Mrs. Lu before she left, instructing him to pawn it and use the money to support their daughter.
It was also then that Father Wen realized Mrs. Lu’s identity was extraordinary. After she left, he feared that pawning those items might unintentionally expose her identity and location, so he buried them under the jujube tree.
The Wen Family had always lived frugally. One year, the harvest was poor, and Wen Wan was often sick, so Father Wen decided to take a piece of jewelry from the box, intending to exchange it for money for Wen Wan’s treatment.
The item he took out was that same Jade Bracelet.
Father Wen knew a skilled elder in town who understood jade, and he asked him to appraise the price. The elder said the bracelet was worth at least three hundred taels.
If it were an ordinary person, upon hearing such an exorbitant price, they might have sold the bracelet immediately and lived a wealthy life from then on.
But Father Wen didn’t.
The higher the bracelet’s value, the more dangerous he felt it was, as it represented Mrs. Lu’s status being even more distinguished than he had anticipated.
He couldn’t harm her.
So finally, Father Wen brought the bracelet back and continued to bury it underground, opting to borrow money for Wen Wan’s treatment instead.
...
Thinking about the past, Father Wen couldn’t help but feel melancholic.
Wen Wan, to some extent, could tell that her father must have known all along there was something under the jujube tree.
In other words, it was probably something he had buried with his own hands, so when Wen Shun sold one, he got so angry.
Sitting in the ox cart heading towards town, each person’s thoughts were scattered.
Father Wen remained lost in thought.
Wen Shun nestled in Mrs. Zhou’s arms, still sniffling and recovering from the shock.
Mrs. Zhou’s mind was already in turmoil.
The Wen Family actually had such a valuable item?
One item worth thirty taels, selling the whole box would be hundreds or even thousands of taels. Would the Wen Family have to worry about not living well in future?
Yet her husband was so stingy that he nearly crippled his own son for a bracelet.
Just thinking about it made her heart grow cold.
Compared to Mrs. Zhou, Wen Wan appeared very calm, yet beneath that calmness lay numerous questions.
Where did Father get such valuable items? Could they be mother’s relics?
If they were, then her mother must have been a lady from a wealthy family. Otherwise, an ordinary family couldn’t afford such an expensive bracelet.
The silver bracelet that the Song family bought for her wedding was only worth five taels, yet a Jade Bracelet in that box was valued at thirty taels. What a wealthy family they must have been!
It’s a pity that after her mother’s death, no one from her grandmother’s side ever came to inquire. Otherwise, she might have known where her mother came from.
——
Before the family even reached the town, they encountered Old Song and Song Wei, father and son from the Song family, returning from the neighboring county.
Wen Wan spotted her husband with a bandage wrapped around his forehead at a glance, and she quickly jumped off the ox cart and approached.
"Wanwan." Song Wei smiled at her, "Where are you headed?"
Wen Wan didn’t answer, her eyes fixed on his head.
Instead of Song Wei, it was Old Song, who was driving the cart, that replied, "We were supposed to be back yesterday, but as we passed by the restaurant below, some scoundrel threw a wine jar down in a drunken stupor and injured Third Son. I took him to the clinic to treat his wound, and we were delayed by that."
Feeling sorry yet amused, Wen Wan couldn’t help but frown. She had only been away for three days, three days only! How could he be so unlucky?
——I told you to let me come with you, but you refused. Now look, not only did you get slapped in the face, but you also hit your head. Why didn’t it hit you hard enough to knock some sense into you?
Seeing his little wife sulking, Song Wei couldn’t help but laugh, "Next time, I promise to take you with me."
Wen Wan pouted, turning her face away in anger.