The person to whom this jade plaque was originally intended was Mrs. Bai, who was currently busy taking inventory of the storeroom. She had just received a reply from the Sheng family two days prior, and she and Mama Chang had been going in and out picking things out.
Mrs. Bai looked at the purple jade bracelet on the list and said to Madam Chang, "This bracelet is only worn by Miss Minglan."
Mother Chang found the box containing the bracelets, opened it, and looked at them in the sunlight. She said, "Indeed, Miss Shengda has skin as white as cream. This pair of bracelets will only be worthy of these fine jades when worn on her wrists."
Pointing to the Shu brocade material that Father Bai had just sent over a few days ago, Mother Chang said, "This material is absolutely beautiful whether it's used to make shoe uppers or cloud shoulders."
After taking the material and touching it, Mrs. Bai nodded and said, "Yes, this bright color is very suitable for Minglan."
The betrothal gifts sent to the Sheng family had to be handled with extreme caution. The Bai family had been eyeing Minglan since she was a child and wanted her as their daughter-in-law. Ye Ge'er, having lived up to his mother's care, finally confessed his feelings to Minglan before leaving for Northern Xinjiang.
Bai Shi didn't need to be present to know that Ye Ge'er must have used many methods to coax Minglan.
On this side, Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion was preparing betrothal gifts, and on the other side, Xu Wen of the Sheng family also dragged Minglan to choose a dowry. Xu Wen's goodies were even more abundant than those in the Bai family's warehouse.
After taking out the goodies one by one, Minglan blinked her big eyes and asked, "Grandma, I can only pick a few at most. Do you dare to take them all?"
Xu Wen tapped Minglan's forehead lightly and said with a smile: "You are dreaming, girl. Pick a few more. I want to take everything you want, you greedy little ghost."
Minglan stuck out her tongue, hugged Xu Wen and said coquettishly, "Grandma, am I your favorite granddaughter?"
Minglan, twisted like a twisted candy, made Fang's mother laugh. Xu Wen glanced at Fang's mother, then took Minglan in her arms and said, "Who said it wasn't?"
Everyone knew the Hai family was aristocratic, and while Hai's dowry was more generous than that of any other official's daughter, it was far less than Xu Wen's. Hai's family had only one daughter, so when Minglan married, she naturally gave away half of her dowry. Adding to the dowry stipulated by the imperial court, Minglan's dowry was quite substantial.
Minglan felt that the dowry was more than enough, and she didn't want Xu Wen to spend any more money, so she spoke in this way on purpose. However, when Minglan left, she was still stuffed with a lot of land deeds, and the servants following her were carrying three large boxes of valuables.
Hai was waiting for Minglan in the courtyard. When she saw the person following Minglan, she knew that her mother-in-law had found something from her private storehouse to give to Minglan. After glaring at Minglan, she sat down and said to her, "Your grandmother gave you all the little things she had."
Minglan drank a glass of fruit drink and replied slowly, "There are more than just those three boxes."
After saying that, he took out a large stack of land deeds from his sleeve pocket.
Hai took the deeds and sighed softly. She then flipped through them one by one, examining them. Finally, she held the deeds in her hand and solemnly instructed Minglan, "Your grandmother has loved you dearly since you were little. She'd even pluck the moon from the sky for you. Even if you get married, you must always come home to visit your grandmother. Do you understand?"
Minglan replied seriously, "Mother, I'm so ashamed. A daughter should be filial to her grandmother, whether at home or at her husband's house, and she will never change."
Hai gave Minglan some more instructions and left, returning the land deed to Minglan before leaving.
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