Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Qiao Xuan was displeased with the way Qiao Wei belittled Shao Yunduan.
But she knew better than to argue with her hot-headed sister.
Instead, she calmly interjected, “I beg to differ, sister. My husband is not just a recommended man, but also a Provincial Champion – the first one in the whole province. That is quite an achievement.” “My husband will have a great and promising future!” Qiao Xuan expressed her pride.
Qiao Wei was visibly annoyed, “A promising future?!”
Qiao Xuan interrupted her before she could finish, “You don’t think so? That was what my father said about him just now!”
“Indeed, he is young and talented, with a very promising future ahead of him,” Madame Qiao said with a forced smile. “Oh, and by the way, I have some beautiful garments and jewelry that I would like to give to you, Qiao Xuan.” She quickly motioned for Auntie Ling to bring them out.
Despite her polite words, Madame Qiao’s heart was heavy.
She didn’t really want to give any gifts to Qiao Xuan, and had originally planned to buy some cheap ornaments from a street vendor.
Dozens of liang for some exquisite ornaments and a few garments should be enough.
However, Qiao Xuan and Shao Yunduan arrived unexpectedly, leaving Madame Qiao with no time to buy new items. Reluctantly, she had to go through her own collection of jewelry.
She spent a long time pcking out a large pearl hairpin and a green jade
bracelet, which were worth more than 300 liang combined.
The garments were silk with golden edges.
When Auntie Ling arrived with the items, Concubine Du, Qiao Kou, and Qiao Wei were all fuming with annoyance.
How could Qiao Xuan, a mere woman, be gifted with such items? She didn’t even deserve the right to receive them.
Concubine Du and Qiao Kou felt their hearts breaking. Even if they did not have such beautiful hairpins and bracelets, which should be worth more than a few hundred liang in total. Even Madame Qiao and Qiao Wei had few such items.
Concubine Du’s most expensive golden bracelets with some rubies were not even worth one hundred liang, and Madame Qiao had scraped them away from her later.
Qiao Xuan almost burst into laughter seeing this. So rare that Madame Qiao offered stuff to her.
She was definitely going to take them.
She would not wear them. She would put them away in her space and pawn them later for money.
After all, she knew the true value of these ornaments, and it was not just a few hundred liang as she believed.
She had more savings than all of these together.
And she had many ornaments and garments too.
She herself did a lot of shopping in the province. She had bought proper clothes and some exquisite ornaments. She put them away for collection so she could use them in the future.
Moreover, First Madame had given her many other wonderful things.
Those were genuinely precious and valuable.
The ornaments with ruby and sapphire alone were worth 5,000 liang.
The hairpins had pearls that were flawless and large as one huge longan fruit.
What Madame Qiao offered were insignificant in comparison.
Madame Qiao smiled as if she were giving Qiao Xuan the best things ever, as she ordered Auntie Ling to deliver them to Qiao Xuan.
Qiao Xuan thanked Madame Qiao and reached out for the items, accidentally revealing the emerald bracelet on her wrist.
Madame Qiao’s expression became tense and the others also noticed it, becoming uneasy.
Concubine Du smiled and asked, “Second Miss, did you acquire that bracelet on your own? It looks very valuable..”