Lu Lingyun’s eyes lit up at this. She thought back to her previous life, how the young master had been willing to abandon his family and parents for her, daring to elope. That concubine was no ordinary woman. But, it didn’t matter. “If she doesn’t bother me, I won’t bother her.” Lu Lingyun smiled faintly. It was just another golden canary for Cheng Yunshuo, she didn’t mind at all. She wasn’t like Lu Hanyi, that foolish woman, who had to compete with the concubine. She married him to be the head of the household, not to fight for his affection. As long as the golden canary stayed in her place, she would let her have what she wanted, as long as she didn’t overstep her boundaries, she wouldn’t make things difficult for her.
“Alright,” Wang Qiluo stared at her with a relieved expression. She turned to her maid, “Cui Xin, bring the things over.”
“What are those?”
Lu Lingyun looked up and saw Cui Xin carrying a heavy jewelry box. Wang Qiluo smiled and opened the box, revealing a complete set of head ornaments. There was a jade top hairpin, a pair of ruby butterfly hairpins, a pair of long hairpins with auspicious cloud patterns and embedded pearls, a gold bead hairpin with a heart-shaped pendant, a half-heart pendant, a pair of golden silk brocade hair ornaments with jade embellishments, a pair of jade earrings, a pair of jade bracelets, a pair of ruby filigree rings, and several pairs of small hairpins, hair picks, and forehead ornaments.
Opening the lower box, in the hidden compartment, lay a bag of gold leaves and a stack of silver bills. A full thousand taels.
“This is a dowry from my mother.”
Seeing these plentiful gifts, Lu Lingyun’s eyes turned red again. In her previous life, she had been busy preparing for her wedding at home, and hadn’t had time to see Wang Qiluo. She hadn’t let anyone come, and only heard from Zhiyan that she had brought gifts, but they were intercepted by her stepmother, Liu Shi. Liu Shi had helped her bring the gifts over, but there was only one thousand taels of silver bills. She had never known there were so many other things.
“Qiluo…”
“Don’t get emotional. When I came in just now, I saw your stepmother. When she saw me carrying these things, she said she would help give them to you. If your maid hadn’t come running over, I don’t know if I would have dared to give them to her! Don’t tell them.”
Lu Lingyun burst into laughter, “Thank you and Auntie.”
“My mother always regarded you as her daughter. We’re like sisters. Since you’ve made up your mind, we will support you. If you suffer any injustice in the Houfu, just come to us.”
“Mhm.” Lu Lingyun nodded.
She couldn’t help but make a silent vow in her heart: This time, she would not only live her own life well, but she would also protect them. She would never let the tragedy of her past life repeat itself.
After bidding farewell to Wang Qiluo, Lu Lingyun had the gifts sent by the Wang family put away in a chest. In the evening, Lu Lingyun asked Zhiyan to select some inexpensive jewelry and gold and silver to take to Liu Shi’s courtyard.
Liu Shi’s courtyard was bustling these days. Her relatives and some family members of Lu family’s students had been coming and going. The Lu family had two daughters getting married, and anyone closely related had come to give dowry gifts.
“Mother.”
After reporting, Lu Lingyun stood with Zhiyan in the room. There was a middle-aged woman sitting in Liu Shi’s room, whom Lu Lingyun recognized as Liu Shi’s brother-in-law’s wife.
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