Now, seeing his daughter standing beside his wife, looking so sensible and obedient, Xie Chongshan finally couldn't remain indifferent.
“You should sit down and eat as well,” Xie Chongshan said calmly. It was a simple sentence, yet it made Xie Zhaofan pause for a brief moment.
She immediately replied with a smile, “Alright!”
On the other side of the dining table, Xie Jinyi watched the scene in silence.
Once Madam Shen served the soup, Xie Jinyi took one sniff and was able to identify most of the medicinal herbs used.
“These herbs are quite mild. They’re mainly for conditioning the body and don’t have any particularly strong medicinal power.” She looked at Xie Zhaofan, her eyes clearly filled with surprise. “When did you learn to do this?”
“I studied it in secret,” Xie Zhaofan glossed over it casually.
Xie Jinyi didn’t press further.
With her medical skills, she could naturally tell that the actual efficacy of this tureen of soup wasn't exactly startling; one could even say its flavor far outweighed its tonic effects.
However, several of the herbs were paired quite cleverly. When combined with the fresh ingredients, they produced a unique and exquisite flavor.
This novel pairing even left her somewhat surprised.
“The taste is indeed quite good,” Xie Jinyi commented softly.
“Of course it is. Just look at who made it.” Xie Zhaofan shamelessly praised herself, making Madam Shen burst into laughter, while even the corners of Xie Chongshan’s mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.
By the end of the meal, the originally stifling atmosphere had lightened considerably.
Looking at the smile on her mother’s face, Xie Zhaofan felt a subtle, inexplicable warmth in her heart.
She had originally only used the soup as an excuse to look for attribute points through the system, but after actually spending time together, she realized that Madam Shen’s love for this daughter wasn't the least bit fake.
Since someone was treating her with sincerity, she naturally wouldn't be stingy with her own.
Xie Zhaofan thought to herself that once she truly became strong and had enough ability to protect herself, she would definitely be a filial daughter to this mother who truly loved her.
...
“Chunxing, where did you get this ornament? It looks a bit strange.”
After Xiahe finished tidying the desk, her gaze fell upon the nearby bronze ornament that had been washed clean. She couldn't help but lean in curiously.
She had been serving the Second Young Miss for a while now and had seen plenty of fine things, but this oddly shaped bronze piece was truly a first for her.
Hearing this, Chunxing immediately perked up and lowered her voice. “What do you know? This thing cost a full ten taels!”
“What? Ten taels?” Xiahe’s eyes widened in an instant. She looked at the object in disbelief and even reached out to touch it, as if trying to confirm she hadn't misheard. “This thing?”
She couldn't find any way to connect ten taels of silver with this monstrous-faced, ugly thing that radiated an aura of malevolence no matter how she looked at it.
Chunxing gave her a frustrated look and briefly explained what had happened today.
“I saw the Second Young Miss take out two ten-tael silver notes with my own eyes. But when she came back, she told me to throw this ornament away. Don't you think that’s a waste? I couldn't bring myself to actually do it.”
At this point, she couldn't help but touch the bronze ornament, her face full of heartache for the money.
Ten taels! Her monthly rations were only two qian. Ten taels was equivalent to several years of her wages.
Even if the Second Young Miss came from a wealthy family and didn't care about this small amount, they as maids couldn't be so wasteful.
Xiahe thought she had a point. The two of them squatted by the table and huddled together to study it carefully.
When the item was still covered in mud, they couldn't see much, but now that it was clean, it revealed a somewhat ancient texture.
However, it was carved with a hideous, strange beast that had a green face and fangs with wide, angry eyes. It didn't look like a mascot at all.
“The Second Young Miss said it’s ugly, and she wasn't wrong,” Xiahe whispered.
“But no matter how ugly it is, it was bought for ten taels. Let’s just keep it for now. Who knows, maybe one day someone who knows their stuff will recognize it?”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
The two maids exchanged a glance and quickly reached an agreement to hide the item for the time being.
Since the Second Young Miss had already said she didn't want it, they didn't dare display it for themselves. They would keep it hidden; if they could really sell it for a good price in the future, they might even be able to split the profit.
Xie Zhaofan, of course, was completely unaware of this. She had no idea that the item she had tossed away on a whim had become a massive fortune in the eyes of the two maids.
...
That night, Prince Qin didn't appear in Xie Jinyi’s courtyard as he usually did.
Xie Zhaofan waited for a long while, but the familiar gossip session never happened. She could only return to her room out of boredom.
“What’s wrong with that dog Prince today? Why hasn't he come?” she muttered. She didn't continue wasting time and instead took out the teal hairpin she had brought back from the market.
The faint moonlight outside reflected off the young girl’s fair and delicate profile.
Xie Zhaofan’s vision now far exceeded that of an ordinary person. Even without a lamp lit in the room, she could use the weak moonlight from the window to see everything around her with perfect clarity. This feeling left her quite satisfied.
At the very least, while this cold, aloof system didn't usually acknowledge her, it had still provided her with many tangible benefits.
She held the hairpin in her hand and observed it closely.
Now that it was clean, the item was actually quite beautiful.
Its color wasn't as warm and bright as ordinary jade, but rather a calm, deep teal with a fine texture.
The body of the hairpin lacked excessive, complicated decorations; there were only some extremely simple patterns faintly visible on the surface, making it look ancient and elegant instead.
This kind of aesthetic wouldn't be out of place even back on Blue Star.
Xie Zhaofan even felt that if this were placed in certain high-end modern jewelry stores, people would probably scramble to buy it as some kind of limited-edition vintage piece.
“The person who made this had good taste,” she remarked as she gently turned the hairpin, her curiosity growing.
If this was just a piece of jewelry, why did the system react to it?
Among that pile of burial items, this was the only one that had shown an abnormal blue light.
So, what was its true function?
Xie Zhaofan stared at the hairpin in thought for a moment and quickly thought of one of the most common novel tropes.
“Blood recognition?”
As soon as the thought occurred to her, she found it a bit ridiculous.
But this world already had a system that could increase attribute points and martial arts experts who far surpassed ordinary people. She had even encountered someone like Prince Qin, who clearly wasn't a normal human. Who could guarantee that this world didn't have even more mystical things?
Since she had already transmigrated, she might as well be bold.
However, she didn't use her finger to try it immediately. This thing had been dug up from underground; who knew if there was anything strange about it?
If she were to drip her blood and a thousand-year-old ghost suddenly popped out, wouldn't she be looking for trouble?
Rate on N.U.
