Zhou Lian and Li Xiu slowly ambled home. After wandering around for a while, it was already high noon, so Eldest Aunt and Third Aunt were also in a hurry to get back.
As they walked, Zhou Lian smiled. She had always known Third Aunt was protective of her own, but she never realized she was such a character.
But it made sense. Among all of Li Xiu's cousins, it was Third Aunt's children who lived the most comfortable lives. Though they weren't rolling in wealth, their family was the most peaceful and happy.
Seeing his wife's radiant smile, Li Xiu smiled with contentment. 'Third Aunt really is a good person,' he thought. 'Earning a genuine smile from my wife makes all my respect and care for her across two lifetimes worth it.'
Back home, the couple worked together to make lunch. After they ate, Li Xiu asked, "Are you tired? Why don't you go rest for a bit?"
Zhou Lian shook her head. The days were short now; if she napped, she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Seeing his wife wasn't tired, Li Xiu's eyes lit up. He pulled her by the hand and started walking out, saying, "I'll take you to see our family's things. From now on, you'll be in charge of them."
They walked to the passage between the main hall and the east wing. He moved a large vat with a gardenia plant in it, pulled a rope to open the cellar door, and went down the steps with a lantern. After setting the lantern down, he came back up to help Zhou Lian down into the cellar.
Staring at a cellar the size of two rooms, Zhou Lian was dumbfounded. 'Who digs a cellar this big? Is this man crazy? And he dug it himself? How long must that have taken?'
"Sweetheart, look," Li Xiu said, showing off as he opened a chest. Along the north wall, more than a dozen large chests were lined up in a row. Zhou Lian slowly walked over. Li Xiu had her sit on a small stool to the side, then took a small, purple sandalwood jewelry box out of a large chest and handed it to her.
Zhou Lian opened it to find a box full of jewelry. Li Xiu took out a jade bracelet and tried to put it on his wife's wrist. Zhou Lian quickly snatched it away, shot him a glare, and said, "Are you crazy? Can we wear things like this now? Let's just put it away for now!"
Li Xiu pouted and grumbled, "Honestly, when will this all end? All these nice things..."
"Shut it. You have no filter."
Grabbing her hand, Li Xiu said sullenly, "I just want to see you all dressed up and pretty. My wife is so beautiful."
The corners of Zhou Lian's mouth curved up slightly. She patted his hand and said, "Alright, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. I'll go look at the other things."
Then, Zhou Lian saw a large box of gold ingots, a large box of small pieces of gold, a pair of jade Fish pendants, and over a dozen large chests of books. The books were neatly arranged in the chests, with mothballs placed inside to prevent insect damage and dampness. There were also three or four chests filled with a jumble of miscellaneous items.
Zhou Lian instructed her husband, "Go find two clean cotton cloths and bring a basin of warm water." Li Xiu quickly agreed.
Zhou Lian took everything out of the chests and placed them on the floor, examining each item carefully. She picked out three inkstones, a snuff bottle, an ivory carving, and a pair of bronze candlesticks, had Li Xiu wrap them in some cloth, and put them back in a chest. Piled to the side were the things Zhou Lian had brought back last time; Li Xiu hadn't dared to touch them and had left them stacked on the floor.
After sorting for a long while, they dismantled several pieces and salvaged a lot of good wood—zitan, huanghuali, and an agarwood decoration. Zhou Lian felt a bit dizzy. 'It's like zitan wood is a dime a dozen now.'
Li Xiu had used zitan wood to build three beds, a vanity, a set of cabinets for the kang bed, and three large wardrobes. Now she had found even more. This was the small-leaf zitan, the kind that later generations would describe as "an inch of zitan for an inch of gold." The amount they had in their house alone was already worth a fortune. On top of that, their main gate and the doors to every room were made of huanghuali wood, as were some of the furniture, tables, chairs, and bookshelves. 'We have to keep all this safe,' she thought. 'We'll leave it for the children in the future.'
They continued sorting with renewed enthusiasm. Perhaps their luck since being reborn was simply off the charts. From the base of a broken old grandfather clock, they pulled out six gold bars, each a "large yellow croaker" weighing ten taels. Adding the 56 bars Li Xiu had brought back, they now had over 600 taels of gold alone.
HISS... Li Xiu felt a pang in his teeth. A scrap station in a small county town, and the two of them had managed to haul back a dozen or so pieces of small-leaf zitan furniture, large and small, not to mention huanghuali doors and furniture, plus all this gold and jewelry. 'Was there really such a wealthy family in this small county?'
The couple stared blankly at the contents of the cellar for a long time. Suddenly, Zhou Lian patted Li Xiu and said, "I remember now. I once heard my grandpa telling old stories. He said that during the Ming Dynasty, under the Zhu family's rule, a top scholar came from our town. He married a prince's daughter. Could these things have belonged to their descendants, who were…?"
Li Xiu froze, understanding her unspoken words. They exchanged a look, and he reached out to pull his wife into his arms. "Sweetheart, don't overthink it. Maybe Heaven just took a liking to us and let us have these things. Besides, it's not like we have to rely on this stuff to live. It's nice to have, but even without it, your husband can still provide for you."
His wife was soft-faced and kind-hearted; he knew she'd feel uneasy using things they'd gotten for free. He continued, "Maybe these things were fated to be ours. If not us, it would have been someone else. Besides, in our hands, this wood is safe. If someone else who didn't know its value found it, they'd probably just burn it as firewood. What a waste that would be. Stop thinking about it. It's getting late, we should tidy up and get ready to make dinner."
Zhou Lian calmed down. 'He's right,' she thought. 'In our previous life, that wood was worth more than gold. But now, people are just struggling to get by. When they look at wood, all they see is whether it's sturdy or not. Otherwise, it's just material for a fire. Besides, we didn't steal or rob anyone. We paid for everything.' The more she thought about it, the happier she became. They had basically secured half a fortune for their children.
'Among those books, there must be quite a few rare editions. The kids would definitely love them. Our children all went to university in the capital. When the time comes, we can exchange the gold for money and buy each of them a house—a siheyuan courtyard home. The kids would all love that. No wonder we're a couple, we're even thinking the same thing!'
In the middle of the night, the couple lay in bed, both wide awake. Zhou Lian was still excited, not from their "exercise" together, but because the shock from the afternoon hadn't worn off yet.
In their last life, they had scrimped and saved to put their children through university. When it was time for their children to marry, they only had enough money for the down payment on one house. Their daughter refused it, telling them to buy it for their son, but their son-in-law's family, just a widow and her son, didn't have much money either.
In the end, it was their son who said they should help his sister first, and his sister could help him when it was his turn to get married. Their daughter-in-law had also been generous and understanding, using her betrothal gift money and her own dowry to buy their house. Because of this, their son-in-law had always felt indebted, treating their daughter and them, the old folks, exceptionally well. His family was also very close with their son's family.
Li Xiu gently kissed the wife in his arms and said, "What's wrong? Still can't sleep? If not, how about we get a little more 'active'?"
Zhou Lian swatted him. 'He's such a wolf,' she thought. 'We've already gone several rounds, and I'm exhausted. It's just that the sudden wealth has me a little worked up.'
Li Xiu chuckled and pulled the blanket over them. The night was long, they were practically newlyweds again, and he had been thinking about this for decades. How could he not be allowed to eat his fill? Before long, Zhou Lian's soft moans could be heard, and even the moon seemed to hide behind the clouds. It was another night of bliss.