Chapter 19: Photographic Memory
After Yang Huaijiang left, everyone finally had some peace and quiet and continued to take inventory in the house.
Qiandeng and Aunt Xuanji selected several sets of headwear that the lady had loved most during her lifetime, as well as gold, jade utensils, and jewelry, to ensure that the collection was complete.
As they were sorting, Aunt Yingluo exclaimed, "Huh?" and picked up a red lacquer lunch box. "How did you find this in the storeroom? It doesn't look like it's been soaked in water."
When she opened the lid of the box, she was even more surprised to see that there were a few cakes inside.
Lady Dingxiang said hurriedly, "It was sent from Huaijiang just now. They said they were worried that I would be hungry from all the hard work."
"My cousin is very filial." Aunt Yingluo complimented him, knowing that there must be something wrong with Yang Huaijiang's excuse to come here, so she calmly opened the bottom layer of the box and took a look.
This simple two-layer food box, made of loosely woven bamboo, was practically transparent, so it couldn't possibly have a middle layer. On the top layer were a few small cakes, and on the bottom layer was just a red velvet bag.
"Hey, what delicious food is this?" Aunt Yingluo said deliberately, took out the bag and squeezed it in front of everyone.
This bag seems to be used to hold jewelry, but it is empty now.
Aunt Yingluo gave Qiandeng a look, meaning that maybe Yang Huaijiang wanted to take some jewelry during the chaos, but unfortunately he was exposed by Liuli, so the bags were ready but the items were not stolen.
Qian Deng naturally understood what was going on, but when he saw that the bag was sewn into nine small compartments, with each compartment just big enough to accommodate a flower tree, he felt a little uneasy and thought something was wrong.
She turned her head and glanced at the place where Yang Huaijiang had just looked. It was under the cabinet, where a batch of silver jewelry was placed.
The silver jewelry was not that valuable, so it was piled here unwashed and covered in mud.
Among these silver jewellery, there were a few branches of silver tree, which were whiter and brighter than other silver, and did not look like they were washed out from the cellar at all.
She picked it up and took a look. The silvery-white petals were made thinly, surrounded by a round pearl in the middle, shaped like branches and trees of flowers. The slightest movement made her sneer at the sight.
No wonder Yang Huaijiang dared to take off his clothes when he left to prove that he didn't bring anything with him. It turned out that he did bring something with him.
At this moment, a maid outside led a small figure over. It was Li Zi who came back from the inner treasury after checking the files and was escorted to the Changhua Palace by the guards.
"Sister County Master, I have seen the list of imperial gifts from the Changhua Palace over the years. Your palace can compile the list."
Although he was young, his words and actions were not out of line. Qian Deng's depression was slightly relieved. He waved the flower tree in his hand and said, "Okay, wait a moment. I'll be back after I say a few words."
Li Zi also noticed the difference between these flowers and trees, and asked curiously, "Why are these flowers so clean and whiter than other silver ornaments?"
"Because this was not something taken out of the cellar, it was just stuffed in by someone." Qiandeng said, counting the silver flower trees, and there were indeed nine of them.
She presented the silver-flowered tree to Lady Dingxiang and asked with a smile, "Aunt, do you recognize this jewelry?"
When Madam Dingxiang saw the jewelry, she immediately recognized it as the flower tree set that Yang Huaijiang had tried to force on Qiandeng. She immediately looked surprised and asked, "How...how did it get here?"
Qiandeng opened the food box that Yang Huaijiang had brought, and placed the silver flower tree on the red velvet bag with nine small grids. He said, "I'm afraid my cousin brought it in to give me a surprise."
Lady Dingxiang hesitated and said, "This child has good intentions, so the county lady should accept him..."
"The palace has its own rules. When taking inventory, nothing can be missing or added. My cousin insists on giving me this set of jewelry, but we should wait until our relationship is established. Why are you so impatient?"
As Qiandeng was speaking, Aunt Xuanji had already covered the food box and handed it back to Madam Dingxiang.
"Please ask Auntie to take it back and have my cousin keep it. Don't waste your time on it."
Lady Dingxiang was so embarrassed that she could no longer stay here. She picked up the food box herself and said, "I'm a little tired too. Let's go back and talk to him."
She left with the food box, while Li Zi recalled what he had seen in the inner treasury. Everyone prepared pens and ink, opened the boxes, and waited for him to relay the story.
"In the first year of Baoying, Bai Xiaode was appointed Jiedushi of the Beiting Camp. He was given a set of fine steel Mingguang armor, a pair of rotten silver tiger-swallowing short spears, a thirteen-plate white jade dragon belt, and a pair of coral gold belt hooks."
"Yes, Young Master, you remembered it perfectly. The style and number are correct," Aunt Xuanji sighed in admiration. "This set of armor, pistol, belt, and belt hook have already been taken to the mausoleum with the old prince. There's no need to keep a record."
Li Zi nodded and recited again, "In the first year of the Shangyuan era, Bai Xiaode and his son led an army to rescue the Shen Ce Army at Mohuanchuan in Lintao. They were given a famous sword inlaid with gold and crows, 'Songtao,' and a pair of leopard-head red agate vases... At the end of the year, his son got married, and the palace gifted him a mother-of-pearl mandarin duck and diamond-shaped mirror, a 'Jiuxiao Huanpei' phoenix-tail zither, and a vermilion lacquer brocade zither with dragon patterns...
"In the second year of Guangde, he led his army to defeat the Turkic army and was granted the title of Prince of Changhua County. He was also given a golden dragon and a jade lion...
"In the third year of Guangde, the Crown Prince gave birth to a daughter. He was given one hundred and eight gold coins from the inner treasury, an eight-treasure wish-fulfilling necklace, a hundred-bead golden lock, and a grape and squirrel pearl bag..."
He recounted every detail of the past years, events, and objects, even though the objects were numerous and their names were complicated, he remained perfectly organized. He truly had a photographic memory, just as the legends say.
The people who were originally a little worried no longer had any doubts in their hearts. They were busy with their hands, carefully collecting and putting the cleaned items in the order he counted, marking them, making a list and locking them up.
As the years passed, the imperial gifts became numerous, and finally Li Zi mentioned the last one, which was the one from three months ago: "At the end of August in the first year of Xingyuan, in congratulations to Lingling County Princess on her selection of a husband, the emperor granted her a nine-tree golden flower hairpin made by the Eastern Palace, and set it with eighty-one pearls from the South China Sea."
Everyone searched through the gold and jade jewelry but found nothing. Aunt Yingluo slapped her head and said, "This jewelry was delivered on the day of the rebellion. It was never put into storage, so it's naturally not with the other imperial gifts. We hurriedly packed it up and put it in the cellar that day. It should be at the bottom now. It must have been buried in the mud and we haven't cleared it out yet."
As he was speaking, Jin Tang personally brought over a basket of gold items and said, "This was recently cleaned out. The shelves and boxes below are all destroyed. I see a faint glimmer of gold in the mud. It looks like jewelry. Please take a look, aunts."
Aunt Yingluo quickly agreed and poured buckets of clean water, revealing the gold jewelry underneath. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and quickly cleaned up and searched.
"County Master, look at this."
Aunt Yingluo took out a pair of necklaces from the pile of golden jewelry and handed them to Qiandeng.
Qiandeng took a quick look and saw two small gold necklaces, clearly meant for children. One featured a flowing water pattern, dotted with round lotus pods, while the other had a plum branch pattern, adorned with plum blossoms. Both necklaces were adorned with ruyi pendants, delicate and lovely.
Aunt Yingluo recalled, "This was custom-made for me by my wife twenty years ago."
As she spoke, she turned her hand over, looked at the words engraved inside the collar, and nodded: "The first year of Guangde, I remember correctly."
Aunt Xuanji said sadly, "This thing will only make Madam sadder if she sees it. It's better not to go to the underground with Madam."
Qiandeng suddenly remembered that that year, her mother had a miscarriage and lost her first child.
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