It is very light and thin, like a layer of gauze.

There were some curves drawn on it, and tiny, barely legible handwriting that Gu An'an couldn't even make out.

Gu An'an glanced at the picture and thought it was somewhat abstract.

This silk gauze is as thin as a cicada's wing and much lighter than the gauze garments unearthed from Mawangdui. It is unlikely that Jiang Qiaoqiao would have come into contact with it.

If it wasn't Jiang Qiaoqiao, then it must have been the work of the Orchid Sect leader who gave the token to Jiang Qiaoqiao.

What secrets are involved this time?

Gu An'an suddenly panicked.

Fortunately, the Orchid Sect in Anzhou Prefecture was destroyed; otherwise, wouldn't it have been fatal if I had gotten my hands on this thing?

Gu An'an originally intended to use the orchid wood token to intimidate others if she encountered any trouble later.

After all, it's a rare token worth only thirty or so yuan, and ordinary disciples might not necessarily know the specific patterns on it.

But now this thing is getting a bit too hot to handle.

Gu An'an thought for a moment and put the orchid wood token back together.

In the end, I couldn't bear to destroy it.

She examined the orchid wood carefully and found no trace of Anzhou, so she decided to keep it for the time being.

As for the picture, Gu An'an put it away somewhere else.

Currently, apart from Xiao Wu, no one knows that this orchid wood token has fallen into her hands, so there's no need to worry too much, after all, the Orchid Sect of Anzhou Prefecture was wiped out completely.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

After finishing her morning practice, Jiang Mingzhu came over to discuss something with Gu An'an.

"Tomorrow is Qixi Festival, and I want to pray for skill with Bao'er and Mom."

The Qiqiao Festival.

Gu An'an laughed and took out some loose silver coins to give to her, "Then go and buy some things you need. We'll celebrate Qixi Festival tomorrow night."

Jiang Mingzhu refused the silver coins, saying, "I don't need these. I have money; I don't need my mother."

Gu An'an recalled how she used to try to trick her parents out of pocket money when she was little, but she couldn't anymore and had to burn paper money for them herself.

"What a silly girl. Tell me what you need to prepare, so I don't forget anything."

Jiang Mingzhu smiled and tugged at Gu An'an's arm, "Mom, I wanted to make Qiaoguo (a type of fried dough), but you know I'm not very good at it. Could you help me make it tomorrow?"

The girl was always sensible and rarely made requests of Gu An'an, so Gu An'an naturally couldn't refuse. "Okay, then go buy all kinds of flour. I'll help you make Qiaoguo tomorrow."

The girl immediately beamed with joy, "Thank you, Mother."

No sooner had she finished speaking than there was a knock at the door. "Are Madam Gu and Miss Mingzhu home?"

Gu An'an went out to look, and to her surprise, it was an invitation from Master Zhao's mansion.

"Tomorrow is the Qixi Festival, and our young lady would like to invite all the young ladies to our residence to pray for skill in needlework."

Jiang Mingzhu was taken aback. She wasn't very familiar with the young lady from the Zhao family, so why had she been invited?

The old woman smiled and said, "The third young master of the prefect's mansion stayed at our residence for a while before."

This made Jiang Mingzhu realize that this was the reason.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I already have plans for tomorrow, so I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint Miss Zhao."

The old woman clearly hadn't expected anyone to decline an invitation from Master Zhao's residence. "Miss Mingzhu, please reconsider."

Jiang Mingzhu smiled and shook her head, "I'm really sorry to have troubled you to make this trip for nothing. I hope you can pass on a message to Miss Zhao. I appreciate her kindness, but I just can't get away. I hope she has a good time tomorrow and that everything goes well for her."

Hearing this, the old woman knew she couldn't say anything more and turned away.

Jiang Mingzhu, however, looked at the invitation in her hand and felt it was burning hot. "Mother, am I handling this correctly?"

He had lost his composure from before.

Gu An'an took the invitation and glanced at it. "If you don't like it, just refuse. This is Anping County, not the capital. We can't keep dragging you there."

Jiang Mingzhu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "I just find it strange. Didn't Chen Bei go to the capital with his mother to attend his maternal grandmother's funeral? How come the young lady of the Zhao family is still in the mood to celebrate the Qixi Festival?"

Although she was the maternal grandmother, there were no mourning rituals observed.

However, both morally and logically, one should exercise some restraint.

Gu An'an smiled when she heard this, "This relates to the story of the two Xie family daughters getting married back then. The Xie family wanted to marry into the Chen family, but at that time, Prefect Chen had a bad reputation for being a jinx to his wives. So, in the end, it was Madam Xie who married him."

Gu An'an smiled and said, "Miss Zhao's mother probably regrets it a bit. Although she is a wealthy merchant, her own sister is the wife of a prefect. Do you think you can accept that?"

Jiang Mingzhu was slightly surprised. "This is my own choice, so why would I feel unbalanced? If I really have to blame someone, I can only blame myself."

Hearing this, Gu An'an felt greatly comforted. She put her arm around Jiang Mingzhu and led her inside. "Yes, people with open minds will feel that they made the wrong choice back then. But for most people, blaming themselves is meaningless. They will only blame others for the problem in order to achieve psychological balance."

Jiang Mingzhu seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this.

"Pearl, I hope you will be a broad-minded person who can handle things decisively and leave no regrets. You can do some things boldly, and I support you."

Jiang Mingzhu laughed when she heard this, "I understand, thank you, Mother."

Although she didn't receive much love from her father and lived a hard life from childhood, Jiang Mingzhu is now very content.

After discussing with Gu An'an what kind of flour to buy to make Qiaoguo (a type of pastry), the girl returned to her room.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!