After strolling around, they ended up at Yuelai Inn.
The upper room costs one hundred and twenty wen per night, the lower room a hundred wen.
In Qingfeng Town, the inn’s upper room was eighty wen, the lower room forty wen.
Now, the lower room prices in the Capital City are sixty wen higher than those in Qingfeng Town.
Don’t ask why there’s no comparison for the upper room, if asked, it’s simply because there’s no money.
Once everything was settled, Lu He had Zhao Jun stay in the room to read, then tidied up her appearance in front of a bronze mirror before heading out.
Zhao Jun also wanted to go, but his health didn’t allow it.
With much difficulty and joy, she went to recognize her relatives, but with a plain-looking, mute, and disabled man by her side, it was a sure bet that the reunion would fall through. Lu He sent him off using the excuse of his inconvenient health.
Leaving him there to read, that was all he could do...
Carrying the Hollow Lotus Patterned White Jade Bracelet, Lu He visited many jade shops, handing the jade bracelet to the shopkeeper for inspection, claiming she was looking for a family with the surname Gu.
The Capital City is vast, and there are also many with the surname Gu, so for the time being, there was no further news.
Inside Guiyun Pavilion.
Manager Yao, dressed in a honey-colored silk Hangzhou satin robe, with a kind face and standing seven feet tall, carefully examined the white jade bracelet brought by the young lady.
After a while, he returned the bracelet. "Young lady, where did you get this bracelet?"
Lu He thought the shopkeeper was simply asking, and did not hide: "My mother gave it to me when I was little. I came this time to search for my family, and this bracelet is a token."
Manager Yao, forty years old, with few wrinkles and a few light lines on his forehead and at the corners of his eyes, sported a small eight-character mustache. His eyes were bright as if he had discovered some incredible gossip. He confirmed again: "You say this bracelet was left to you by your mother?"
She nodded: "Yes."
"Perhaps you are not looking for the Gu Mansion, you should go to number nine Ruyi Street to find the lady of Ye Mansion, the Minister’s Wife, and inquire, perhaps she has the answer."
Guiyun Pavilion is a property under the Minister’s Wife’s name. Manager Yao was previously a servant at the Minister’s Wife’s maternal family, and later, when he was an apprentice at Jade Pavilion, he was fortunate to see the production process of this bracelet, which belonged to the young lady of the family at the time.
Could this young girl be the Minister’s Wife’s illegitimate daughter outside?
Manager Yao squinted and smiled slyly.
As a result, it was a while after the person left that he realized, with a face full of regret, damn, the old man didn’t even get the chance to ask if the young lady was the legitimate family’s illegitimate daughter... and the girl had run off so quickly.
Ye Mansion.
The two characters were framed in a gold traditional script and hung on a red plaque above the middle of the red gate.
The "red gate" refers to a door painted with vermilion lacquer, symbolizing the noble status of the owner. The doors of ordinary people’s homes remain unadorned.
The phrases "family status" and "comparable social standing" convey this level gap accurately.
On either end of the main ridge, there are stone statues of mythical beasts.
The doors of the red gate are mainly decorated with beast face patterns, "beast face holding a ring to ward off evil."
At the entrance of the mansion, there are two stone carvings resembling round drums.
This combination is even three times more luxurious than the Zhao Mansion, which was the third richest in Feng County at that time!
Lu He hesitated, looked at herself in a pale purple straight robe long skirt, touched her thin-skinned little hands on her unadorned face.
Walking all the way, the young ladies in the Capital City wore modern styles, with rouge and lip balm as standard; compared to herself, she truly seemed to be from the countryside.
Resolutely, she turned her head back to the inn, to come back dressed more beautifully tomorrow.
That night.
A message from who knows where that the Minister’s Wife’s illegitimate daughter had come knocking had swiftly entered the top ten on the Capital City’s gossip chart.