Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 348 - 28: Treasure Delivery Officer (Part 1) (Second Update)
Susu’s actions not only muddied the waters in Hami but also held up the Bai Family and Prince Ke.
Meanwhile, the Qin Family’s hidden forces were fully mobilized to find out the purpose of the cooperation between Prince Ke and the Bai Family.
Or rather, what trump card Prince Yong had offered to make Prince Ke keep such an explosive figure like the Bai Family around.
But now, with the Qin Family and the Youye Twelve Guards handling these matters, they all knew that Susu was pregnant and dared not let her toil further.
So, apart from occasionally checking on the developments and issuing a few orders, Susu returned to a life focused on nurturing herself and ensuring a smooth pregnancy.
Hong Sheng had left for two months, and at the end of October, finally sent something back.
Four boxes arrived without a single word, yet Susu knew it had to be military protocol that forbade communication with the outside world during campaigns for fear of traitors leaking military intelligence.
"Where is the person who delivered the items? Please bring them in. Though safety was reported, I still can’t be at ease!"
Five young maids were about to open the boxes for inventory when Linlang, hearing Susu’s words and not waiting for Nanny Liu to reply, said, "Mistress, don’t ask; the person must have already left.
The Qin Family handles military affairs; they set the rule of appointing a Treasure Delivery Officer who sends back any spoils to the soldiers’ families, ensuring the elders, women, and children left behind live comfortably.
Apart from our household, there must be many other families they need to visit!"
After Linlang spoke, Nanny Liu laughed, "Exactly as Linlang said, there really are many families to visit."
Then she added, "There’s one more thing. I knew they couldn’t stay, and without time to consult with you, Mistress, I had Housekeeper Zhao give those men a reward of ten taels of silver; please punish me!"
Susu laughed and said, "Why punish? They traveled so far to bring us things and report peace; they deserved a reward.
Let alone, we didn’t even offer them a bowl of tea, and if we didn’t reward them, it would show we don’t know how to handle things properly; Uncle Liu did the right thing.
Later I will have Uncle Zhao record this amount of silver. Meanwhile, give Aunt Liu a token; tell Uncle Liu to go to the account and collect two taels of silver as my reward to him, let him buy some wine to drink!"
Before Nanny Liu could thank on behalf of her husband, Linlang and others covered their mouths, trying to suppress laughter, seeing which, Susu ended up laughing heartily.
Susu, confused by their laughter, glanced at Nanny Liu, who knew what the young maids were laughing at, and said a bit helplessly, "Alright, alright, stop laughing, what does it look like in front of the mistress?
This silver is the mistress’s reward, and I wouldn’t dare keep it; it was given to Uncle Liu to buy some wine."
Shuimo, laughing, explained to Susu, and Susu then understood that the other day, Uncle Liu went to buy wine with his private money and got caught by Aunt Liu, who gave him quite a scratch, and even now wore a long face.
Nanny Liu was a bit embarrassed, yet her eyes were full of laughter.
In the military, fearing your wife isn’t something shameful; instead, it garners envy, as having a wife to fear is better than being a single man.
Faced with this logic, Susu was speechless!
As Nanny Liu went to deliver the message, Susu said with some sorrow, "Who knows when this war will end!"
The young maids quickly comforted Susu, "There are daily reports of victories, and our master is the bravest; perhaps in a few months, Mistress’s title will rise again.
Mistress, you should focus on nurturing your body to give birth to a healthy son; that’s the most important thing now."
Susu was amused by the young maids; they were still children, speaking of having a big fat son, which was irresistibly funny.
"If I could choose what to give birth to, I’d be the Childbirth Goddess! Also, our family does not favor boys over girls."
As mistress and servants continued chatting, they simultaneously began opening the boxes.
Inside was an entire box of gold and silver items, dazzling and exquisite jewelry.
On the top was an ebony box; Susu opened it to find a floral crown inlaid with red gold and jewels.
This floral crown was woven with gold threads finer than hair into a pattern of intertwined flowers.
With just a glance, Susu saw over ten kinds of flowers, like peonies, lilies, laurels, gardenias, and jasmine.
Uniquely, different gems, jade, diamonds, and pearls were set into the centers of each flower.
Even though Susu was accustomed to fine things, the floral crown made her "dizzy and dazzled."
"What a pity, Uncle Wei has already set off with our New Year’s gifts; otherwise, I would send this back for Ya’an as a future dowry."
Fen Dai laughed and said, "The mistress always thinks of saving the good things for our lady instead of favoring the Song Family’s daughter!"
Susu sighed, "Now Ya’an, raised under Old Madam’s knee, is the first of the Song Family’s fourth generation. Old Madam’s letters express she’d give her the moon if possible, so I just love what’s hers.
Besides, how many good things has Old Madam given me? What I give Ya’an isn’t a tenth of what she’s given me; not just this crown, I’d give her a whole box without feeling a pinch." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
The Ya’an Susu spoke of was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Shun’an Earl Mansion’s Heir and his wife.
Susu got to know from Old Madam’s letters that since the Heir’s wife was in charge of the household and eager to bear a son while young, and Old Madam only had Sixth Miss by her side, they discussed with the Heir to send their daughter to Sui’an Hall.
Susu gently touched her belly, finding it incredibly well-behaved; she ate and drank with only drowsiness as a pregnancy symptom. If not for the Liu Mansion’s household doctor checking her pulse periodically, Susu might have thought she wasn’t pregnant!
Hence, Susu felt this must be a "little sweetheart," and she murmured inwardly: Good baby, let your dad and mom slowly save up for you, so leave this for Sister Ya’an!
Susu asked Shuimo to put the floral crown away as a gift for the little girl’s birthday next year.
The gold and silver jewelry in the box needed proper sorting; many were poorly stored, damaged, and had to be repaired or melted down.
Moreover, it’s uncertain who wore them before, so they must first be purified before being worn.
Thus, Susu only glanced for a rough impression and then asked Linlang to open the second box.
When they saw the contents, mistress and servants were speechless for quite a while.
Qi Qiao, clutching her wildly beating heart, mumbled, "Could it be that our master has already breached the Tartar Royal Palace?"
Susu, having seen the world, laughed, "Even if your master grew wings, it’s impossible to reach the Tartar Shangjing in two months."
Susu said this, though in her heart she was wondering if Hong Sheng had raided some mountain bandit’s den again?
It’s heard that pearls and gems are kept in boxes, but who has ever heard of them in crates.
This box, though not large, was half a meter square, filled to the brim with unmounted gemstones and pearls, a radiant jumble of colors.
Susu picked up a pearl necklace made of deep purple pearls approximately ten millimeters in diameter; she thought, these must be real? Ha!
