Qin Junyao glanced at the red coral bracelet on her wrist. After looking around, she walked to a box containing a coral tree and asked, "Zhao Liangcai, do you know how long it takes for this coral tree to grow this big?"
"Fifty years? The trees in the sea should be similar to those on land, right?"
"Over a thousand years. This one took over a thousand years to grow this large."
"Also, it's an animal, not a plant."
"Ah?" Zhao Liangcai was a bit dumbfounded.
He knew the coral was valuable, but he wasn't very clear about exactly how valuable.
If it was truly as Yao Yao said, then this piece was a treasure.
He then looked at the other two boxes containing yellow and pink coral...
"Ah~~"
"My goodness!"
"Why didn't you two close the door?"
Grandma Qin wanted to find a piece of floral fabric in the adjacent open storeroom. Seeing that the empty storeroom's door was open, she looked in curiously. What she saw was astonishing.
"My heavens, Hammer, did you rob the national treasury?" Grandma Qin exclaimed repeatedly as she wandered among the boxes.
Zhao Liangcai thought to himself that this was a true reaction to seeing treasures.
He walked to Grandma Qin's side and said, "Grandma, these were found in the general's mansion of Shao Yong, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army camp."
"Does anyone else know what's in here?" Grandma Qin asked, peering closely at a box filled with porcelain.
"No, these boxes are inconspicuous, and they were kept in a small storeroom. I opened one, saw the good stuff inside, and brought it all back."
"Good that you brought it back, good that you brought it back. Hey?" Grandma Qin suddenly felt something was off.
"Hammer, he's just a commander-in-chief who raises troops in the northwest. Where did he get so many good things?"
"You also lead troops. Can you save money?"
Zhao Liangcai rubbed his nose. He couldn't save money.
With so many mouths to feed under his command, if the court's provisions were not timely, he had to find ways to get food and drink himself.
Before Zhao Liangcai could answer, Grandma Qin continued, "Looking at this set of bowls and plates, I saw similar ones at a birthday banquet for an imperial concubine who had left the palace. They were only used at the main table."
"Look at the carving on this ivory. The town's treasure in the Pavilion of Myriad Treasures in a marquis's mansion in the imperial city isn't carved as finely as this."
"This kingfisher feather hair ornament, look at this blue, not a speck of impurity."
"Heavens, a box of perfectly round pearls, this big..."
Grandma Qin didn't need to specify the exact value of each item for Zhao Liangcai to know they were incredibly valuable from her descriptions. Sudan Novel Network.
Zhao Liangcai didn't think about why Grandma Qin knew these things. Instead, he pondered which of the captured individuals might understand the origin of these items.
"Grandma, can we keep these things?" Qin Junyao asked with some concern.
"Why can't we? I've looked, and there are no markings on them, so we can keep them. Keep them well."
"However, Yao Yao, you should find a way to hide them. These corals, pearls, and the like need to be preserved properly. Soak them in water from time to time, or they will lose their luster."
"It's so dry here with lots of sand and soil. It would be a pity if their condition deteriorates."
Qin Junyao understood Grandma Qin's meaning. She herself was thinking of storing these items in her spatial dimension.
There are no secrets that cannot be kept. Shao Yong might be dead, but that didn't mean no one else knew about this batch of goods.
The items were good, but it wouldn't do to attract disaster because of them.
Qin Junyao placed the coral bracelet on her wrist into the box of jewelry. Such items were always rare and unusual.
At Zhao Liangcai's insistence, Qin Junyao chose two inconspicuous bracelets and a pair of earrings. Even though they were inconspicuous, their value was not low.
Qin Junyao, Grandma Qin, and Zhao Liangcai inventoried these items and recorded them in a ledger. Then, Qin Junyao, walking last, locked the storeroom and, as she did so, conveniently put the ledger and the boxes into her spatial dimension.