There were more than one thousand taels of silver in the box, of which five hundred taels were the silver from the bottom of her dowry. Yang Xi recalled her own dowry, which was not much, only two thousand taels including the silver from the bottom of the box.
She and her husband were childhood sweethearts. She also came from an official family. Her father was the head of the Ministry of Rites. Her dowry was not much not because she was not favored, but because her father died early.
In addition, her parents were not good at business and lost a lot of the family property, so it was not easy for her to have a dowry of two thousand taels.
Dad’s death was a great blow to the Yang family. Fortunately, my father-in-law was a gentleman and the Zhou family had the integrity to not cancel the engagement.
In addition, she and her husband were childhood sweethearts, and they knew each other’s hearts well. Her husband had made his attitude clear. Not only did she keep her marriage, but the Zhou family also protected the Yang family.
Yang Xi thought of his parents. His father was a very strong man and he hated evil, which caused him to offend many people.
Now thinking back to the cause of his father’s death, Yang Xi pursed her lips and finally let out a sigh. His enemy was still alive and well.
Her mother had been a dodderIt is used metaphorically to describe someone who was dependent on others, as dodder plants depend on their hosts for nutrients. . After marrying, she followed her husband; after her husband’s death, she followed her son. After entrusting her to the Zhou family, her mother returned to her ancestral home with her younger brother.
Yang Xi remembered the reason for fainting. It was not only because she was worried about her father-in-law and husband, but also because she received news a few days ago that her ancestral home was attacked by rioters and she didn’t know whether her brother’s family and her mother were alive or dead.
She remembered that before she was buried in the sea of fire in this ancient life, she had no news of her younger brother and mother.
Yang Xi suppressed her worries. At the moment, she had to find a way to hide some money. As for her brother and mother, she could only look for them slowly.
Yang Xi took out one or two taels of gold and silver from the box, counting that there were five pieces of gold weighing slightly less than one tael each, and twelve pieces of silver, each weighing one tael.
As for the five-tael and ten-tael silver, not only were they heavy, but they were also quite large, making them too conspicuous to carry on one’s person.
Why not take silver notes? Because natural disasters and man-made disasters continue in various states, many money houses find it difficult to exchange silver.
When the dynasty fell, the forces behind the money houses became completely rogue, and the banknotes became nothing more than waste paper.
Now that the dynasty’s destruction was apparent, the state governments had long since slowly slipped out of control. As long as one could afford the money, many impossible things could be accomplished.
In troubled times, demons were rampant and life was worth less than a dog’s.
Yang Xi took a deep breath to calm her mind and found the needle and thread to sew a close-fitting belt. To hide the bumps on the silver, she removed the cotton filling in the belt. Fortunately, she remembered that the officials only robbed the visible jewelry and did not search the women.
Yang Xi glanced at the remaining silver and money, decisively closed the box, then stood up and took the jewelry box. She couldn’t touch the jewelry listed in the dowry.
The imperial court stipulated that a woman’s dowry list must be registered at the government office along with the marriage certificate. If dowry jewelry was lost or pawned, a pawn ticket or a record of the loss must be kept. Making a temporary record would be too false and could easily be discovered.
The only thing she could touch was the jewelry her husband had given her.
After calculating, she found that there was not much jewelry she could take, so she found a handkerchief, wrapped up the earrings she could take away, selected a few jade pendants of good quality, and finally took a few strings of beads.
Yang Xi glanced at the golden dragon and phoenix bracelet that came as a dowry. It was made of pure gold. Alas, she couldn’t take it away and could only look away with great pain.
Yang Xi placed the jade pendant against one side of her armpit and tied it up with a string of beads. She was afraid that it was not tied tightly enough so she shook it deliberately. After making sure that it would not fall off, she put on her clothes with confidence.
Finally, she untied her hair. Her hair was very dark and thick. She had changed her hairstyle and hid the handkerchief wrapped with earrings in her bun. She checked her bunted hair in front of a bronze mirror and was relieved only after making sure that it could not be seen.
It was winter now and the temperature was dropping. Yang Xi thought about it and took out her thickest cotton coat and put it on.
She had just put on her clothes when she heard hurried footsteps outside the door. Yun Ya knocked on the door in a panic, “Madam, the Master, and the Eldest Master are back.”
Yang Xi took a deep breath. The crisis of the Zhou family was inevitable. After experiencing it again, her voice still couldn’t help but tremble, “Are they okay?”
Yun Ya’s voice trembled, “No, it’s not good, the Master is not well.”
(End of this chapter)

Leave a comment