Chapter 629: Gift
Editor: Atlas Studios

What Xiulan had given Mu Yangling was an embroidered screen with gorgeous flowers blooming, but this was clearly a new design. On the front were nine flowers each with a different charm. Interestingly, not all nine flowers were in full bloom, but the budding process was shown. Though gorgeous, there was a certain air of reservedness about them. In addition, there were a few butterflies flapping their wings at the side. Yet, when one flipped the screen over, it revealed a lotus painting. In the middle of the clear water, there were only three lotus flowers that were either budding or blooming. A dragonfly was carefully perched upon the tip of the lotus.

“This is a double-sided embroidery?” Madam Liu’s eyes lit up as she said in surprise, “And all the threads are hidden perfectly… Did Miss Xiulan really embroider this?”

Such embroidery skills would probably take at least 20 years to master.

Mu Yangling was also overjoyed. Since it was mentioned in the letter that Xiulan had embroidered it, it must be her. It seemed that she had become quite accomplished in the art.

That child was a quiet one. Other than working every day, she only stayed in the house and practiced embroidery. She didn’t go out often and was very timid. In the past, Mu Yangling was still worried about her future livelihood, but now it seemed that she had worried for nothing. Xiulan was a technical talent. As long as she possessed this skill, she would do quite alright in life.

Finally, Mu Yangling opened the box that Xiuhong had given her. Upon opening it curiously, she saw a stack of paper inside. She realized that there were title deeds, house deeds, and banknotes contained within.

Mu Yangling frowned slightly. She picked up Xiuhong’s letter and found out that this girl was doing business with Liu Lang and had earned a lot of money. Hence, she bought a lot of land and houses for Mu Yangling in the north. After hearing that their residence hadn’t been repaired until now because of insufficient funds, Xiuhong had even sold a lot of things and gathered a lot of banknotes for her.

Mu Yangling’s heart was sour, bitter, and sweet, all at the same time. She put away the things and planned to return them to Xiuhong later. It was not that Mu Yangling was short of money that they did not repair the residence, but that the Imperial Court and Qi Haoran were short of money.

Almost all of Qi Haoran’s money was plowed into the army, so much so that she did not have the money to buy land in the past and could only manage her dowry.

However, now that Qi Haoran had a lot of fiefs and stipend land, there wasn’t even a need to buy land and they already owned plenty of assets. As for doing business, what business could earn as much as the business that Fan Zijin owned?

Both the couple had a share in his businesses. If they opened a shop to do business, they would be snatching business from him. Furthermore, they might not even be able to win. Mu Yangling and Qi Haoran would not do such a wasteful and unprofitable thing.

Fan Zijin sent stewards to manage the businesses. The money he earned was directly invested in Qi Haoran’s army or the national treasury to support Qi Xiuyuan. As the land had only been conferred this year and was still not promising, this was why they appeared to be poor. But in a few years, even if they could not get a single cent from the business, they could still save a lot of money with Qi Haoran’s salary and the yield from the land.

Hence, they really didn’t need Xiuhong’s money.

Xiuhong was just a commoner, and it was probably even more difficult for her than it was for them. It was not easy for her to earn this money, so how could Mu Yangling have the cheek to take it from her?

Actually, if not for Qi Haoran’s pride, Mu Yangling could have used her dowry. Over the years, her dowry had increased significantly.

This thought only flashed across her mind. Madam Liu was envious of Mu Yangling’s family’s relationship with her and said, “How many women in the world are as blessed as Your Highness?”

Mu Yangling also felt that she possessed all the rarest sentiments in the world.

Smiling, she handed the things to Spring to pack up. She held Madam Liu’s hand and said, “Mistress, tell me more about the north. I grew up there and suddenly left. In the past, I was busy every day, so I didn’t have time to be nostalgic. But when I saw you today, I recall that my happiest days were the ones I spent in the north.”

Madam Liu replied with a smile, “You’re only recalling it suddenly because you saw me. Actually, home is wherever your husband and children are. Now, you may feel that life in the north is the happiest, but perhaps after some time, you may feel that life in the capital is the best. And in the future, when you leave here, you may feel that this is the best.”

“However, the North has indeed changed a lot.” Madam Liu said, “Let’s not talk about other things. The lives of the people are much better than before. Ever since the rebellion, the North is now brought under control by the Imperial Court. A lot of the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are now removed, and we only need to pay taxes according to the rules set by Emperor Shizong. Coupled with the high yield of corn, which every family has planted some, the number of people who starve to death has decreased a lot. Let’s not talk about other places. The low-grade county that our master went to was so poor in the past. In just two years, even during times of difficulty, the number of people who starve to death these days can be counted on one hand. The number of people who sold their children even decreased by 80%. The quality of living has improved by a lot…”

Madam Liu wiped her eyes and said, “This is all thanks to His Majesty.”

Mu Yangling said with melancholy, “One day, the people will be able to live and work in peace. Aside from being fed and clothed well, they will no longer have to resort to selling their daughters because they’re starving.”

Madam Liu only smiled, not really believing it in her heart. She felt that if the world could have the current achievements of the north in the future, it would already be considered a golden age.

After the two of them chatted for a long time, Mu Yangling gave Madam Liu’s children a lot of greeting gifts. As she remembered that Teacher Liu was still waiting at home for them, she sent them out.

When Qi Haoran returned at night, Mu Yangling flaunted the gift she had received to him.

With a chuckle, Qi Haoran jumped off the bed. He dragged his shoes to the door and shouted at Spring, who was outside, “Get Fei Bai to bring in all the things Teacher Liu sent.”

After a while, Fei Bai called more than ten people to carry five large boxes into the outer room, occupying the entire room.

Qi Haoran hugged his son smugly and said, “These are all gifts from Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law, and Great-aunt, for me and my son. Son, go and open them. There are many fine items among them.”

Little Bear immediately climbed down from Qi Haoran’s body and ran over to open the box. However, the box was too big and his arms were too short, so he could only open a crack. Turning around, he saw that his parents were still looking at each other. So, he turned around and tilted his head to look at the crack. Then, he opened the box and burrowed his head in first. By the time the couple realized it, Little Bear’s feet had already left the ground and half of his body had already burrowed in.

Qi Haoran rolled his eyes, feeling that his son was really stupid. He went forward to open the box and the light suddenly shone in. Stunned initially, Little Bear then became unhappy. After climbing into the box, he pointed at the lid and made “ahh, ahh, ahh” noises at his father.

Now, Qi Haoran could already “understand” what his son meant by “ahhh” and “ohhh”. After glancing at the toys in the box, he shook his head. “You can’t climb into the box to play. What if none of the adults notice and the lid falls back down? It’ll be suffocating in there.”

Little Bear protested to his father. He felt that the game just now was quite fun.

Feeling that it was inappropriate to reason with him so much, Mu Yangling tempted him. “Little Bear, that game isn’t fun. Instead, let’s play the game of opening the box, okay? Let’s see who can open the box.” Seeing that Little Bear wasn’t interested, she immediately said, “I think you definitely won’t be able to open it.”

Little Bear instantly looked up and clenched his fists angrily to show that he could definitely do it. He stopped sitting in the box and crawled out to rush to the other box.