Chapter 109 Could these all be betrothal gifts?
Jiang Yutang tilted her head in confusion and nudged Jiang Huaiyu beside her: "Third brother, look at those two siblings, are they arguing?"
Jiang Huaiyu looked up and glanced around. Sure enough, she saw Cheng Daier staring at Cheng Lanzhou with a serious expression, while Cheng Lanzhou looked like she was being scolded.
He shrugged indifferently, grinned, and glanced at the large backpack next to Jiang Yutang, his curiosity piqued.
"Who cares about them? What's in that big bag of yours? It's quite heavy."
Jiang Yutang winked mischievously, deliberately keeping everyone in suspense: "Don't worry, I'll show it to everyone when we get to the city. I guarantee it's something good."
Full of anticipation, they finally arrived at the city gate. The escorts went to talk to the city guards, and the refugees relaxed and sat down to wait.
Jiang Huaiyu impatiently moved closer to Jiang Yutang, rubbing her hands together and urging, "Quickly take out your treasure and let us see it!"
Jiang Yutang had only been on the ground for three seconds when she shook her head helplessly, untied the thin rope on her backpack, took out a silver lighter, and tossed it to him.
Jiang Huaiyu quickly caught it and examined it closely. The thing was only the size of his palm, and he couldn't figure out its purpose. "What is this?" he asked.
"Hmph." Jiang Yutang chuckled smugly, took out another lighter, pressed it lightly with his thumb, and with a "click," a pale blue flame instantly shot up.
The family members standing around stared wide-eyed, and Jiang Huaiyu was so shocked that her hand trembled and she almost threw the lighter in her hand.
"This is called a lighter, used to start a fire. It's much smaller and more convenient than a tinderbox." Jiang Yutang released her thumb, and the flame went out instantly.
"For starting a fire?"
Jiang Songzhi curiously took the lighter and tried pressing it: "Such a small thing, yet the flame is more intense than a flint and tinderbox!"
She simply took out a lighter and gave one to each of them. When Jiang Huaiyu received hers, she excitedly kept pressing the switch, just like a child.
She clicked her tongue to scare him: "Don't play around with this! There's fire inside; it could explode if used improperly."
Jiang Yutang turned to look at the Cheng family. Cheng Daier sat upright with her hands folded, but her neck was stretched out, looking in this direction. When she noticed Jiang Yutang's gaze, she pretended to be nonchalant and turned her head away.
She suppressed a laugh, picked up three lighters, and threw them in their direction.
"then!"
Cheng Dai'er subconsciously reached out to catch it, but still maintained her arrogant posture, raising her chin: "We didn't beg you to give it to us."
Jiang Yutang ignored her little temper and took out the heavy item he had brought back this time from his backpack: a bunch of glass ornaments wrapped in soft cloth.
"Shh, come and see!" She spread out a soft cloth and displayed the items to her family.
There are round, translucent colored marbles, small and exquisite glass earrings, and a palm-sized glass makeup box, with several delicate glass bowls stacked next to it.
Its exquisite craftsmanship instantly attracted everyone's attention.
"Good heavens, this...this is made of glass, isn't it?"
Yun reached out and gently touched the glass makeup box, her voice full of amazement: "Master, look, look, isn't this glass?"
Jiang Shengan carefully picked up the makeup box with trembling hands, every hair on his beard shaking with excitement.
Yun placed her hand below to catch it, still feeling uneasy.
"It's so translucent, even more beautiful than the gemstone jewelry worn by noble ladies in the capital."
Zhu stared at the pair of glass earrings with shining eyes, unable to resist reaching out to touch them, yet afraid of damaging them. Her cautious manner was heartbreaking.
Xiaoxiao reached out to grab the glass bead, making little noises, but Mu quickly snatched it back and placed it on a soft cloth.
“If you wear this out, everyone will be envious.” Cheng Dai’er couldn’t help but come closer, her eyes fixed on the glass ornaments, unable to look away.
Seeing the undisguised affection in everyone's eyes, yet their restrained expressions due to the preciousness of the items, Jiang Yutang immediately waved her hand and said, "Take them if you like them, and share them as gifts!"
It's just a piece of glass; in modern times, you can have anything you need.
As she spoke, she picked out three pairs of exquisite earrings from the glass ornaments and handed them to the Yun family, the Mu family, and the Zhu family respectively.
To everyone's surprise, the three of them recoiled as if they had been burned, hurriedly pulling their hands back, saying, "No, no, no!"
Yun waved her hands repeatedly, her voice trembling slightly: "Only the emperor is worthy to use such a translucent object. How could we, in our current status, dare to wear it?"
Mu echoed, "Yes, little sister, it's too precious."
Jiang Yutang said nonchalantly, "I have plenty of these things. They were given to me by that merchant. If you all like them, I can ask him for more next time."
The scene fell silent instantly, and everyone stared at her in shock.
To them, this was no different from a young nobleman sending betrothal gifts to his future wife's family, promising another batch as if he were already planning to do so; his intentions couldn't be clearer.
After saying this, Jiang Yutang noticed the ambiguous expressions on her family members' faces. She belatedly realized what was happening and embarrassedly tugged at her sleeve.
She quickly rummaged through her backpack, pulled out a few magnifying glasses that she had previously forgotten, and hurried over to her three older brothers and Jiang Shengan.
"Don't just look at the earrings, this is more useful! This is called a magnifying glass. It can magnify small print, making it convenient to read blueprints and check for flaws."
She immediately picked up a blade of grass and placed it under a magnifying glass for Jiang Shengan to see; the originally tiny veins instantly became clearly visible.
The men's attention was indeed drawn to this novel object, and they surrounded her, asking her how to use it. The awkward atmosphere from before instantly vanished.
Seeing her family members captivated by these little gadgets, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Yutang was about to pack up the remaining glass ornaments when she glanced to the side and saw Cheng Lanzhou and Madam Lin sitting not far away.
Lin's face showed no emotion; she simply gazed quietly into the distance.
Cheng Lanzhou remained calm as always, toying with the lighter in his hand, his gaze fixed on the moment the flame ignited and then went out.
Jiang Yutang hesitated for a long time before picking out two pairs of the most elegant earrings from her backpack and walking over.
"Mother, Aunt, these two pairs of earrings are for you."
She handed the earrings to the two of them, and you could clearly see the flutter in Cheng Dai'er's eyes, but Lin Shi didn't move. She just clenched the hem of her clothes, not daring to reach out.
Lin spoke slowly, her tone gentle yet distant: "Yutang, thank you for your kindness, but these items are too valuable, and we have no reason to accept them. Please take them back."
Jiang Yutang stood frozen in place, holding the earring, caught between a rock and a hard place, her cheeks burning again.
If it weren't for the need to maintain contact between the two families after arriving in Danzhou, she wouldn't have been so eager to send gifts.
Just then, Jiang Huaiyu ran over cheerfully and immediately noticed her embarrassment.
He casually took the earring from Jiang Yutang's hand and shoved it into Cheng Dai'er's arms: "Oh dear, we're friends from our shared exile, don't be shy! My little sister gave it away, how could she take it back?"
Cheng Daier held the earring in surprise, instinctively wanting to chase after her and return it.
Seeing this, Jiang Yutang quickly followed Jiang Huaiyu and ran towards their own camp.
“Mother, I think it’s fine for us to keep it. We don’t have much money left, and we’ll need to spend money on many things when we get to Danzhou.”
Lin looked at Cheng Daier helplessly. She could see that her daughter liked the two pairs of earrings, so she could only nod reluctantly.
The escorts came to direct a few people to go to the city to buy reserve grain. As they raised their hands, they saw Jiang Yutang winking at them.
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