Li Chunhua had no idea what it was, but seeing her niece's mysterious look, it would be a shame not to guess.
"Let me guess, um... did you buy fabric, or did you have new clothes made?"
Li Chunhua thought for a long time before coming up with these two items. There was no other way; these were the kinds of things Ye Lin and Chen Guifang usually bought for their home.
Fu Wan smiled and shook her head, then took two things out of her pocket.
"Look, the little gadget I got yesterday!"
Upon seeing this, Li Chunhua exclaimed in surprise.
"My goodness, how could you bring such a valuable thing out here!"
Two round, white pearls lay in Fu Wan's palm, about the same size, roughly the size of a boiled egg yolk.
Li Chunhua realized what was happening and hurriedly ran to close the doors and windows. What a joke! Although she didn't know the value of pearls, such a large and beautiful pearl couldn't possibly be cheap!
Fu Wan was both amused and exasperated. "Auntie, there's no need to be so nervous. We're inside, and there's no one else outside."
"That being said, it's still better to close the door!"
Li Chunhua said that she should close the door. Ye Xiaoli blinked her big eyes and looked at the pearl in Fu Wan's hand. She was very interested in it and grabbed it in her palm.
The pearl looked even bigger when held in the child's hand.
"Oh my, our Lili loves these pearls!"
"Pearl! Pearl!"
Ye Xiaoli held up the pearls and grinned. Seeing Fu Wan's aunt-like smile, she waved excitedly, looking very happy.
Oh my, this kid is so cute!
Li Chunhua glanced nervously outside to make sure no one was there before sitting down next to Fu Wan again.
"Ah Wan, why did you bring pearls? Wow, they're so big, they must be worth a lot of money!"
Fu Wan nodded: "It should be worth a few hundred yuan, Aunt, you can keep it for now."
After saying that, she took out two more. "These two are for my older cousin's wife. There are too many people at the factory, so I didn't give them to her."
When she gets back, please give it to her for me.
"Oh dear, two would have been enough, why did you take so many?"
Li Chunhua immediately tried to push it back, saying that each pearl cost several hundred yuan, and these four pearls would cost over a thousand yuan.
She can't take it, she can't accept it!
Ah Wan doesn't earn money easily, how could she accept this!
Seeing Li Chunhua decline, Fu Wan pretended to be unhappy.
"Aunt, do you look down on my things?"
Li Chunhua quickly denied it, "How could that be? You're like my own daughter, how could I possibly look down on your things!"
"So you don't like pearls?"
When Fu Wan asked again, Li Chunhua looked at the few round, lustrous white pearls and couldn't bring herself to say she didn't like them.
Fu Wan could easily see through Li Chunhua's thoughts, and immediately laughed happily again.
"That's settled then. Just take it. What woman doesn't love pearls?"
"Keep it; you can turn it into jewelry later when you have the chance. It'll look really nice to wear!"
"Nonsense! It would be such a waste to drill holes in such beautiful pearls and make them into jewelry. No way, I can't bear to do that!"
Li Chunhua was extremely pleased; seeing Fu Wan like this now, Li Chunhua was truly happy.
She truly treated Fu Wan like her own daughter.
Back then, Shen Dongsheng schemed to marry Fu Wan into the family, and Li Chunhua was so angry that she didn't give Ye Jianguo a kind look for two months.
In her opinion, she doesn't care about rumors; if she says she won't marry, she means it. If anyone dares to spread rumors, then let that person marry her.
So when Li Chunhua learned of Fu Wan's divorce, she not only didn't feel disgusted, but if Ye Jianguo hadn't stopped her, she would have wanted to buy a set of firecrackers to celebrate.
"Ah Wan, are you really giving this to me?"
Yes, it's for you.
Fu Wan handed over the remaining pearls in her hand, and Li Chunhua quickly wiped her hands on the hem of her dress and took them.
"Hey, these pearls are so beautiful!"
The pearl lay in her palm, which was used to doing farm work, and looked even more noble and bright.
"Ugh... Pearl! Pearl!"
Ye Xiaoli mumbled incoherently, and when Fu Wan and Li Chunhua looked over, oh my goodness, the child was holding a pearl and gnawing on it with her tiny teeth!
"Oh dear, you can't eat this!"
Li Chunhua snatched the pearl with lightning speed. Ye Xiaoli's mouth twitched. Seeing this, Fu Wan picked up the milk candy left by Ye Xiaofeng in the bowl next to her and stuffed it into her mouth.
The sweet aroma made Ye Xiaoli grin again.
"Since you've given it to me, I won't be polite."
Li Chunhua wasn't the type to hesitate; if her niece really gave it to her, she would accept it.
However, Li Chunhua didn't really know much about the matter of storing pearls.
"Ah Wan, how should I hide these pearls? Can I wrap them in cloth and put them in a camphor wood chest?"
She had a camphor wood chest, which was part of Li Chunhua's dowry when she married Ye Jianguo.
By the time it reached Li Chunhua, it had been passed down through four generations.
This camphor wood chest is not an ordinary wooden chest; it is made of camphor wood, also known as ebony.
As the name suggests, camphor trees contain a special fragrance. This fragrance can not only repel insects and moths, but also repel mold and moisture. Moreover, the fragrance is long-lasting. Even though it was passed down from Li Chunhua's great-grandmother to her, after so many years, you can still smell a refreshing camphor scent when you open it now.
If it can preserve clothing, it can certainly preserve pearls as well.
"Yes, this is the best way to put it."
Li Chunhua listened with delight, and without trying to hide it from Fu Wan, she took out an iron box from the camphor wood chest.
This tin box used to be a biscuit box, which Li Chunhua used to store her precious items.
Inside were her daily allowance, unused tickets from before, and her treasured hair ties.
Li Chunhua found a piece of leftover cloth from making clothes, wrapped the pearls in it, and put them into the iron box.
"Ah Wan, then your aunt will accept it. When your sister-in-law comes back, I'll give her her share."
"Okay, as long as you like it."
"I love it! Wow, this is the first time I've ever received such a valuable gift!"
Li Chunhua was overjoyed and immediately began to think about what delicious food she should prepare to entertain Fu Wan. Fu Wan teased Lili with a piece of candy. Just then, a shout came from outside.
"Wan, Wan! We're back from hunting!"
"This place is amazing! They even have wild ducks from the United States!"
It was Jack and Robert's voices. Fu Wan quickly picked up Lili and went out with Li Chunhua.
Fu Wan was astonished to see what Jack and Robert were holding.
"Wild ducks?"
"Sure, you went to the river?"
"What riverbank? This greedy duck has flown all the way to the chicken farm!"
Fu Ming and Ye Lin also entered the courtyard, each carrying a basket filled with neatly arranged chicken and duck eggs.
"Wow, so many eggs!"
"That's quite a lot, there must be four or five hundred!"
Fu Ming put down the basket in his hand and breathed a sigh of relief. "Awan, you didn't go to the chicken farm. Brother Ye Jun's chicken farm is amazing. You would never guess what kind of chickens he raises!"
Seeing Fu Ming's mysterious expression, Fu Wan made a bold guess.
"Do you raise wild pheasants?"
"Damn, how come you always guess right!"
Fu Ming was astonished, while Fu Wan was speechless. "The chicken farm used to raise ordinary chickens, ducks, and geese. If you can say that, there must be something extraordinary about it."
His chicken farm is at the foot of the mountain, so it's not surprising that pheasants fly down from the mountain.
But from what you're saying, does that mean there are a lot of wild pheasants at that chicken farm?
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