Chapter Seventy-Five: Returning Home (Part 2)

  That night, before going to bed, Qiu's mother came to the girl's room again and asked while looking at the girl lying on the bed: "Xiao Ye, didn't you spend all the money your father gave you? Now that you're back home, hurry up and hand over the remaining money."

  Qiu Ye thought her mother came so late at night because she was worried about her, but it turned out to be for that one thousand yuan which had already been spent.

  Qiu Feng had just heard his mother's voice in his sister's room, so he came over to eavesdrop through the door crack. He thought to himself that this favoring girls over boys was too severe. Since he got back, no one had asked him how he was doing, everyone was surrounding his sister, although he really wasn't feeling unwell, but he felt a lack of warmth.

  Who knew that the eavesdropper had heard his mother coming to collect debts, he knew where the thousand yuan went, so he quickly shrunk his neck and quietly ran back to his own nest, no warmth is better than being beaten.

  Before he even got back to his own room, he heard a loud scolding from his mother coming from his sister's room, "What? Not a single cent left, you've spent it all."

  Qiu Feng thought his sister was really pitiful, she had just come back and her body and mind hadn't recovered yet, but then she had to face their mother's fierce scolding, however he didn't dare to intervene, a furious mom was very scary.

  Qiu Feng lay on his bed, perked up his ears to listen to the movements in his sister's room. He thought that if he heard his mom scolding his sister or his sister crying, he would bravely rush over and rescue her. However, after listening for a long time, there was no sound coming from that room at all.

  It wasn't until more than 10 minutes later that I heard the sound of the door in my sister's room opening and closing, which should be mom leaving.

  Just as Qiu Feng was worrying about this and that, being suspicious and uneasy, Qiu Ye had already wrapped herself in her quilt, drowsily closed her eyes, and gone to meet Lord Zhou.

  Qiu's mother returned to her room, holding a piece of cloth in front of her. Qiu's father saw his wife return and asked, "What's wrong? Why did you just yell at the child?"

  "It's nothing, it's just that your daughter is bold and spent all the 1,000 yuan you gave her." Qiu Ma turned around and closed the door.

  Qiu's father half leaned on the bed, raised an eyebrow and looked at his daughter-in-law. This can't be right. If it was because of this reason, she wouldn't have let the girl off so quickly. There must be another reason. "How did she spend that money? Did you ask?"

  "Hmm. Your daughter spent that much money to buy this thing." Qiu's mother held up the jade pendant in front of Qiu's father.

  Qiu's father had never seen a jade stone before, and he saw a white piece of rock. He furrowed his brow and reached out to take it for a closer look, wondering what kind of rock could be worth the sky-high price of 1,000 yuan.

  "Oh no, be careful with that, it's jade and very valuable." Qiu Ma was afraid he didn't know the value of this stone and would accidentally break it, so she quickly spoke up to remind him.

  "Jade?" Old Master Qiu's hand paused for a moment before carefully taking over the jade seed.

  "Yes, and it's the same material as the bangle that Old Qiu's wife in Building No. 1 wears." Qiu Ma carefully handed the stone to Qiu Ba.

  The Lao Duan family was very famous in the Teachers' University, not because of anything else, but because their family background was not good. Originally they were big landlords, and during special times, they were those people who got beaten up every day. But nobody knew how they managed to hide it. In recent years, when policies improved, his wife started wearing a yellow and white jade bangle on her wrist, which was said to be passed down from their family and was very valuable. Someone once came to buy it from her for 300 yuan, but she didn't sell.

  Lao Dan's wife became the object of admiration for all the women in the neighborhood at Shi Da, what kind of person is this? How rich must their family be, always carrying 300 yuan with her when she goes out, during that time, very few people dared to approach Lao Dan's wife, because everyone was afraid of accidentally damaging something and not being able to afford compensation.

  Later, an insider revealed that Lao Dan's wife's bangle is not ordinary. It is said that jade has spirituality, people raise jade and jade raises people. At first, Lao Dan's wife's bangle had a crack, but after being worn for so many years, the original crack has disappeared. Nowadays, people have little culture and are extremely respectful of ghosts and gods, so this news adds another layer of mystery to the jade bangle.

  Qiu Baba was even more careful at this time, holding the jade seed material in his hand and looking at it even more carefully.

  "Can't you see anything?" Qiu's mother also got on the bed and sat beside Qiu's father to take a look. "I saw it when I was in your daughter's room just now, and I said this doesn't look like the bangle of Old Shan's wife either. Your daughter said that this is called seed material, and that bangle can only be made by polishing."

  Qiu's mother told Qiu's father about the situation she had just learned. "Your daughter also said that this is the best jade, saying it's called Hetian Jade, and it's even better than Lao Dan's wife's."

  Qiu's mother carefully picked up the heavy stone, which weighed about 4 or 5 kilograms, and examined it again. At first, she had heard that her daughter had spent 1,000 yuan on this stone and was so angry that she wanted to teach this reckless girl a lesson. However, after listening to her daughter's explanation, she began to like the stone. Her daughter said that during the winter break, she would go with her godmother to Beijing to find a master craftsman to carve the jade into jewelry. Her godmother had also bought several pieces.

  Qiu's mother heard that Zhao Shuyan also bought several pieces, and she completely put her mind at ease. Since others who had been abroad and seen the world were buying it, then it must be good stuff. She never thought that Zhao Shuyan was able to buy so many because of her niece's deception.

  Qiu's father looked at the jade stone thoughtfully, and after a while said, "Hmm, if it's really jade, it's indeed a good thing. Spending 1,000 yuan may be a bit expensive, but it should be worth it. When I was young, I saw a jade bangle in our village from an old lady, who said it was passed down from her ancestors. She wore it since she was young until she died at the age of 103 without ever taking it off. According to that old lady, the jade bangle had spiritual power and people who wear it often wouldn't get sick easily."

  "Oh, this stone has such an effect?" Qiu's mother heard Qiu's father's story and loved the stone even more in her heart.

  "Uh, this thing can't be disbelieved, nor can it be fully believed. Since the girls have already bought it back, let's make a few rings out of it, you two girls each get one, and leave one for Xiaofeng. When Xiaofeng gets married in the future, we'll give him one too."

  "I knew, I have a plan." Qiu's mother had already discussed with the girl that this jade stone would be given to Master Fu to see how many jade bangles could be carved out of it. The leftover scraps would be used to make some jade pendants for the men in the family.

  They were discussing here, without knowing that this stone was not the most expensive one Qiu Ye bought. It was much smaller than the sheep fat jade he bought for 5,000 yuan, and the color was about the same.

  Qiu Ye didn't want to give the big one to his mother, but later he thought that there were many relatives in the Qiu family. If his mother got the big one and made a lot of jade decorations, it was likely that they would not be treasured and would be given away as gifts. In order to prevent Qiu's mother from being extravagant and failing to protect these precious jades, he took a small one instead.

  The jewelry made from this jade is just enough for the few people in our family, so there won't be any waste.

  The next day, Qiu Ye slept until she woke up naturally. She opened her blurry eyes to look at the sunlight outside the window, rubbed her cheek against the quilt, and felt extremely happy in her heart. It's great to be home, it's so comfortable, sleeping till dawn.

  She lay in bed for a while longer and then got up and washed. She had many things to do today.

  Went to aunt's house with brother first, had breakfast first, and then collected things brought back.

  Zhao Shuyan had been up waiting for them, "How was it? Did you sleep well last night?"

  Qiu Ye ate a baozi and smiled at Cong Dan's mother, saying: "I slept really well, as soon as I opened my eyes it was already morning."

  Qiu Feng didn't make a sound either, just eating. With his sister around, he could be silent, and his sister would take care of everything.

  "That's good, your father said so when he went to work today. He said let you two have a good rest today and tomorrow we'll send you to school." Zhao Shuyan gently added porridge for the two children, a perfect virtuous wife and loving mother.

  Qiu Ye listened and then pouted and frowned, if she had known earlier, she would have said that she was not adapted to the local environment, so she could take a few more days off.

  After finishing their meal, they dragged over the luggage that had been placed by the wall yesterday and started packing up one by one, with a focus on those three baskets of seeds.

  Zhao Shuyan saw that Qiu Ye didn't have a suitable container and still wanted to use those bamboo baskets, so she gave her two camphor wood dowry chests. This allowed Qiu Ye to pack her treasures. The large chest given by Zhao Shuyan was an ancient camphor wood chest with a reddish-brown color. On the top and sides were carved some flower patterns, very delicate.

  Qiu Ye thought this thing looked very old, and it seemed to be worth a lot of money. Qiu Ye cherished it, touching it left and right, and was reluctant to use such a good box to hold stones, fearing that if it got crushed, it would be ruined.

  "Don't worry, it's sturdy, this was made by my great-grandmother when she got married, and after all these years, it still hasn't broken. You can use it with peace of mind, I have two more at home, you like them, they'll be yours in the future." Zhao Shuyan treated Qiu Ye as if she were her own child, naturally assuming that these old family heirlooms would also belong to Qiu Ye in the future.

  Qiu Yeke didn't think so, she knew that her godmother would have her own baby after two years, and all these things should be left for her little brother.

  Let's take care of it for now, Qiu Ye thought to herself as she looked at the camphor wood box. She felt at ease and exercised her right to use it, arranging the jade stones according to their price, with cotton padding between each layer to prevent accidental collisions during transportation.

  Finally, the packed boxes were placed in the corner of the study. As for other things like dates, dried tangerine peels and walnuts, they were divided into several portions to be given away, while the rest were put on the balcony, left for the family to enjoy slowly.