Su Jinli and Jiang Yan were both stunned. She looked at her son's earnest little hands and suddenly remembered the boy's frown as he hunched over his desk, calculating accounts at dusk last night. She had assumed he was simply greedy for money, but she hadn't imagined there was such a vast world hidden within those abacus beads.
"Okay," she reached out and rubbed Siyan's head, her fingertips touching the soft swirl of his hair, "Dad and Mom support you in opening a bookstore, making a lot of money, and doing good deeds."
Si Yan smiled happily, revealing his two small canine teeth, just like Jiang Yan's usual triumphant look. He held the wooden box and rubbed against Su Jinli, suddenly remembering something: "Mom, when I make money, I will buy you the best rouge in the capital! Better than the one made by my elder sister!"
"Come on," Su Qingyao rolled her eyes, her gilded armor scraping across the edge of her rouge box. "With your limited taste, don't ruin the good material." She said this, but secretly slipped a piece of freshly made "Zui Liuxia" rouge cream into Si Yan's hand. "Here, try this, it's even more fragrant than the pastries in the imperial kitchen."
Young Marquis Su came over to watch the fun, still chewing almond cookies, and said, "Si Yan, can you give me some money? I've got a new broadsword I like, and the blade is really reflective!"
Siyan immediately pulled the box closer to her chest and stared at him warily: "The sword my uncle bought last year is still rusting in the warehouse!"
"You little money-grubber!" Young Marquis Su pretended to snatch it, but Su Qingyao hit the back of his hand with her round fan. "Why are you snatching it from a child? It's shameful!"
The carriage was filled with laughter and joy. Willow branches outside the window brushed against the curtains, casting dappled shadows. Su Jinli leaned on Jiang Yan's shoulder, listening to her son bicker with his uncle and smelling the sweet fragrance emanating from her eldest sister's rouge case. Suddenly, she felt that this carriage, though small, held the heaviest happiness of her life.
- [Returning Home in the Warm Sun: Past and Present]
When they returned to the Jiang residence, the setting sun shone brightly on the plaque above the hanging flower gate. Si Yan jumped out of the carriage, clutching his "Si Yan Bank" banknotes. The silver ingots clattered against the wooden box, startling the canaries under the eaves and causing them to flutter and chirp.
"Madam, young master," the butler came forward with a smile on his face, "the kitchen has stewed sweet and sour pork ribs, which is young master Siyan's favorite, and also steamed osmanthus cake."
Si Yan's eyes immediately lit up, and he stuffed the wooden box into the butler's hand: "Uncle Liu, help me lock it in the accounting office!" After that, he pulled Young Marquis Su to the kitchen, and the footsteps of the two of them beat out a cheerful rhythm in the corridor.
Su Qingyao followed behind, fanning herself with a round ball. Suddenly, she turned around and winked at Su Jinli: "Sister, I didn't notice it in the palace just now, but the way you protect your child is exactly the same as when mother was young."
Su Jinli was startled, watching her sister disappear behind the moonlit gate. Suddenly, she remembered how her mother, before her death, had straightened the pearls in her hair, her fingertips bringing a gentle warmth. It turned out that some things in her blood never change with time.
Jiang Yan held her hand, the warmth of his palm coming through her skin: "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking," Su Jinli looked up at him, the sunlight falling on the corners of his smiling eyes, creating tiny glints of light, "In my previous life, I died of illness in a cold courtyard, without even a sip of hot soup. I never thought that in this life, I would have such a lively family."
Jiang Yan gently pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. "It'll only get more lively in the future. Look at Si Yan, that money-obsessed little thing. I'm afraid he'll buy every abacus in the capital someday."
Su Jinli was amused by him, her laughter startling butterflies in the corner of the courtyard. She looked at Si Yan chasing after Young Marquis Su in the distance, listening to the clattering of the abacus in his arms, and suddenly felt that all the grievances of her past life had been turned to dust by the warm sunshine.
Yes, in this life, Su Jinli had finally made her life as sweet as honey. And her money-obsessed son, with his abacus, was slowly calculating a future even sweeter than honey. The wind blew through the courtyard, bringing with it the sweet aroma from the kitchen: the scent of sweet and sour pork ribs mixed with osmanthus cake, exactly like the feeling in her heart at that moment.
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