Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 83: Chapter 82 The Secret is About to be Revealed

Tang Shunyan handled the box with care, and Mrs. Li was also by his side, cautiously holding the small box with both hands, afraid that the young Master might accidentally let go.

Tang Shunyan brought the box to the bed but did not start giving away gifts one by one. Initially planning to give only a small amount of silver and gold, he now wanted to give the whole box to Ru Mei.

Seeing so many people at the door, his little head was quite astute. He presented the entire box to Ye Shiqi and said:

“Little sister, oh, Ye Shiqi, since you have given me so many toys, I will give you everything in the box. If you want to give some things to the elder sisters, that’s okay too.”

Ye Shiqi unceremoniously took the box, sneakily opened it to glance inside, and found small silver, small gold, and a jade bracelet.

She didn’t take the jade bracelet; such valuable items, if her family really kept them, the master’s family might blame them.

The small silver and gold could be accepted; with a thought, she gathered up the small gold and small silver.

Then, with another thought, she conjured a small jar, previously washed clean from being used to store kitchen pickles, to hold honey. Manifesting a small jar, she didn’t show it off in front of everyone; instead, she brought out another small jar from under her quilt.

“Mmm, mm,” Ye Shiqi, holding the small jar, offered it to Tang Shunyan and also pushed the little box he had given her back into his hands.

Tang Shunyan fixedly stared at Ye Shiqi; this little sister had just brought out a toy from under her quilt, and now she was holding a clay jar, which felt quite heavy and surely contained something, as he could smell a sweet scent coming from it.

“Wuya, why did you bring the kitchen’s pickle jar into bed to play with?”

Mrs. Li wanted to take the pickle jar from Tang Shunyan’s hands. In front of so many people, she felt quite embarrassed. It was baffling why the child would play with a pickle jar, so dirty from the kitchen.

“Wet nurse, this is a gift from little sister; you can’t take it away,” said Tang Shunyan, clutching the pickle jar tightly, completely ignoring the box of jewelry.

“This… this isn’t a fun thing. It’s a jar from the kitchen for pickling vegetables. It might contain pickles,” Mrs. Li said, even more embarrassed, as she could feel many eyes on them from outside and even heard the maids laughing at the door.

“Pfft…”

The maids, Mei Zhi and Xiu Zhi, couldn’t help but laugh out loud. They lowered their heads, thinking that Mrs. Li’s baby was such a rarity, a country child doing such foolish things, embracing something as dirty as a pickle jar to play with.

“Young Master, the pickle jar is dirty; don’t hold it and get your clothes dirty,” Jufeng reminded him dutifully, taking two steps forward, intending to discard the pickle jar.

“Don’t come over, Jufeng, are you blind? This clay jar is so clean it shines; how could it dirty the clothes?”

Tang Shunyan’s command stopped Jufeng in her tracks.

“The pickles from our home were finished long ago; the kitchen’s pickle jars are all empty,” said Daya, who cooked and prepared food in the kitchen every day. How could she not know the situation in the kitchen?

“Daya, then what’s in this small clay jar?” asked Mrs. Li, realizing after hearing her daughter’s words that besides her, no one else in the family knew how to pickle vegetables. Her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law were so lazy, probably having eaten all the pickles she had made a long time ago, right?

Daya had learned to pickle vegetables from her, but these little girls, who worked outside every day and then had to do household chores, had indeed no time for pickling after listening to their husband’s long talk and following their father in carving.

She also wondered what they had been eating during this time? Perhaps Mother-in-law was willing to buy some meat to bring home, otherwise why would her daughters have a bit of flesh on their faces?

Daya was not aware of Qing’s incident, and Siwa was the one who spent the most time with the little sister. She shook her head and said,

“When we got up this morning, there was no crock on the bed. We had gone out to work, so it must have been the little sister and Siwa who carried it in, right? Siwa, was it you who did it?”

When questioned by her elder sister, Siwa did not reply. Her gaze fixed on the crock in Tang Shunyan’s hand, she said in a tiny voice,

“Honey, honey.”

Hearing these words from her younger sister, Ye Shiqi covered her eyes with her hands and peeked through the gaps, feeling that their secret was about to be exposed.

Perhaps the others hadn’t noticed the sound of Siwa’s voice, but Hongji, standing at the doorway, seemed to have guessed something.

He pushed through the crowd at the door and handed the wooden box to the housekeeper, then said to Tang Shunyan,

“Young Master, I think my daughter has given you this crock. Let the housekeeper carry it to the carriage and take it back home. It’s a small token of my daughter’s appreciation.”

“Uncle,” Tang Shunyan replied while handing the crock to the housekeeper, “the box in the housekeeper’s hand is meant for my little sister.”

But he persistently intended to give the box to her.

“Young Master, the gift you are offering is too valuable. My daughter wouldn’t dare to accept it. We’ve taken your kind thought into consideration. If we have a chance, and our elders do business together, that would be your good fortune bestowed upon us. The item is a gift from my daughter to you; please accept it.”

Hongji always felt that his little daughter was very mature, possibly hesitating to accept the gift because of its considerable value. If they accepted it, it wouldn’t stay with them long; his mother and sister would certainly claim it.

He didn’t want to incur such a substantial favor owed, as the debts of gratitude are harder to repay for the poor.

It would make life even harder for Mrs. Li, who worked in the main family’s house. He had just seen how the two maids were making things difficult for his wife.

Tang Shunyan looked at Ye Shiqi, and seeing the little sister nod at him, he reluctantly agreed. Deep within his young heart, he thought just as the uncle had said: to introduce some business to their family. He loved the toys Uncle carved and wanted to show them to his father and grandfather.

The housekeeper, carrying an item in each hand, felt that the small box seemed a bit lighter, yet he hadn’t seen the child take anything from it. Out of curiosity rather than suspicion, he did not open the box. As a servant, he maintained his decorum.

The property of the young Master wasn’t to be opened casually. He felt the small crock in his hand was a bit heavy, and just as the young Master had said, there must be something inside.

Having kept a distance earlier, he hadn’t smelled anything, but now, holding it, he could sense the scent of honey emanating from inside.

It occurred to the housekeeper that the child from this family must have brought the most valuable honey to give to the young Master.

He was also curious, as the other adults in the house didn’t seem to notice, but only that honest man seemed to know something.

The housekeeper thought that Mrs. Li’s husband’s family was quite interesting; the seniors appeared a bit exceptional, but the children were well-behaved and hardworking.

This visit was proving to be quite fruitful for the young Master.

Mrs. Lai’s gaze was fixed intently on the small box in the housekeeper’s hand. She stamped her chubby legs furiously on the ground, her little heart aching. She wanted to shout out loud, “Why didn’t they take the useless stuff? It’s mine!”

But alas… it was such a pity. Why didn’t they take it?

She wondered how she would deal with them later on?