I go to the ancient imperial examinations

Chapter 570 The Dowry
As the seal was torn off, the items in Dou's dowry were displayed one by one. The dazzling array made the surrounding government servants jealous. After all, any one can be sold for hundreds of taels of silver. Our children will not have to worry about eating and drinking for ten years.

Knowing that the keepsakes might be in these boxes, Zhan Feiyu couldn't help but look carefully. Ancient paintings, copybooks, and ancient books were excluded, and then the whole set of heads for women, jewelry such as gems and pearls were also excluded, and the rest of the items were Some messy.

There are exquisite lacquerware, a few ancient fans, and some inkstones and paperweights among the Four Treasures of the Study. Zhan Feiyu's eyes were fixed on the ornaments in the second box. Even though the weather was gloomy and the light was dim, these top-grade jade ornaments It is a treasure.

Qiu Huaixin was bored, but when he saw this ornament, his expression suddenly changed, "White jade lotus?"

Although these things in the box are valuable treasures, the Qiu family does not lack these things, and Mrs. Qiu's dowry is definitely richer than these.

As for Wu's sister-in-law, Qiu Huaixin didn't know her dowry, but when he went to Qiu Bingde's yard these years, the ornaments on the antique racks were also treasures.

But this white jade lotus flower the size of a small watermelon really made Qiu Huaixin startled. If I remember correctly, it was more than ten years ago. Mr. Mei and his father who returned home were old acquaintances, so When passing through Qianzhong Mansion, I specially came to visit my home.

Looking back on the past, Qiu Huaixin's face became even more ugly. Seeing Zhan Feiyu's puzzled face, it was a family scandal to outsiders, but Qiu Huaixin didn't care about it at all, and explained in a low voice.

"This white jade lotus flower was given to Master Mei by my father. One month later, my father received news that Master Mei's family had encountered robbers. Not to mention all their belongings were looted, and more than 20 people in the family were also killed by the robbers." .”

Because Mrs. Mei's hometown is in a border town, there are often barbarians burning, killing and looting. After investigation, the government also determined that it was the barbarians. In the end, the case was closed like this.

Qiu Huaixin didn't expect to see this white jade lotus again more than ten years later, and it was still in Sanfang's sealed dowry. Does this mean that the robbers and Sanfang were inextricably linked.

"If that's the case, this white jade lotus will not appear here." Zhan Feiyu shifted his gaze from the white jade lotus to a coral tree ornament next to him. Below is a tree root carved with sapphire, and at the top is a tree more than a foot long. tall coral trees.

She didn’t understand why corals were so precious before, but then she thought that it was very difficult to dig such high-quality red corals from the bottom of the sea in the Daqing Dynasty. All worth a fortune.

Zhan Feiyu saw that Xu and Qiu Jingyuan's expressions were normal when they saw the white jade lotus and the coral tree, but there was a little joy in their eyes, so he knew that his guess was right, and said to Qiu Huai: "The white jade lotus is probably It was given by other people, Qiu Tai acted cautiously, it is impossible for such an omission to occur."

Qiu Huaixin frowned and thought about it, the white jade lotus was also obtained by his father by chance, and it took less than half a month from the time he got it to the time when he gave it to Master Mei as a farewell gift, even his mother and elder brother didn't know about it.

Qiu Huaixin was young, so he sneaked into Mr. Qiu's private treasury, and only then did he see this white jade lotus.

Later, thinking about the exquisite carving of this white jade lotus flower, and the rarest thing is such a large piece of flawless white jade ornament, Qiu Huaixin thought about secretly taking it out and putting it in the house for enjoyment, only then did he know that Lord Qiu gave it to Lord Mei.

If Sanfang really intercepted Mrs. Mei's family, it would be absolutely impossible to take such a big risk and keep Bai Yulianhua at home.

Thinking of the instructions from his father and elder brother before going out, Qiu Huaixin also withdrew his confused thoughts, and looked at these exquisite ornaments again, "Did you find anything unusual?"

Except for the dead Qiu Wenlan, no one knew what the token was, but the token was nothing more than a jade pendant.

There were quite a few jade ornaments in Dou's dowry. The huanghuali box was full of various jade pendants. Qiu Huaixin visually inspected that there were at least 20 pieces.

This is not counting the ordinary jade pendant placed in the first drawer, but the carved patterns are all suitable for men to wear, and it is estimated that it was used by Dou as a gift.

No matter whether the headed wife of a big family is going out to attend a banquet or entertain guests at home, she will always give gifts to the younger generation when she sees the younger generation. The girl's family can give some bracelets, pearl hairpins, etc., and those young men, these Jade pendant is the most suitable.

"There are sapphire and black jade that can be excluded from those jadeites." Qiu Huaixin worried that Zhan Feiyu was born in the countryside and didn't know much about jade, so he explained, "These jade ornaments are all processed from the same piece of jade."

Zhan Feiyu nodded. It stands to reason that everything on Dou's dowry list can be excluded. After all, it was something she brought from her natal family, not Qiu Wenlan's token.

But the power of the old master has been lurking for decades. After Qiu Wenlan returned home with his only son Qiu Feng, Qiu Tai has not yet married a wife. If Qiu Wenlan acts cautiously, she may send this token to Dou through other channels without anyone noticing. In the hands of Dou's family, it finally became Dou's dowry and brought it back to the third room.

Besides, Qiu Wenlan is also a woman, so this keepsake may also be these pearl hairpins or jade bracelets. There are too many things, and it is impossible to judge without clues.

Zhan Feiyu and Qiu Huaixin were guessing. Master Tao on the side was also staring at the objects on display. Before that, he wanted to enter the warehouse to check, but unfortunately, in addition to Jiao Zhifu's cronies, there were even three divisions guarding the warehouse. It is absolutely impossible for the people who came here to bribe these people to enter the warehouse without permission.

Moreover, there are three keys to open the warehouse, one is in the hands of the magistrate Jiao, one is with Mr. Tao, and the last one is guarded by the chief envoy, so whether it is Mr. Tao or anyone else who wants to enter the warehouse, they can only grab it openly. , that is courting death.

It's not just waiting until today, it's also because of Dou's death, the yamen will return her dowry, otherwise the five boxes of things will continue to be sealed in the warehouse.

"My lord, nothing unusual was found." A middle-aged man with the appearance of a literati who was following Master Tao lowered his voice. He only came to Master Tao three days ago.

Shopkeeper Zhao couldn't find it, and Zhan Feiyu, a yellow-haired girl, and Qiu Huaixin, a dude, couldn't even find it. Master Tao nodded calmly, but looked even more ugly looking at the hundreds of things on display.

Except for the slightly larger ones, if you add up these pearl hairpin jewelry and miscellaneous objects, the number is more than one hundred. Finding an unknown token among these objects is no less than looking for a needle in a haystack.

More than half an hour was enough time for Mr. Teng to verify these items. At this moment, Mr. Teng put down the pen in his hand and blew on the ink that was not dry, and then he took the list and reported to Mr. Tao, "My lord, the total number of items, large and small, is 320 six items, according to Dou’s dowry list and treasury account records, 120 of them have been verified to be correct, and the records of the remaining [-] items are not exhaustive.”

That is to say, the origin of these 120 things is unknown, not Dou's dowry, not bought by Dou himself over the years, nor gifted to Dou by others, including the white jade lotus that Qiu Huaixin mentioned before.

If Master Tao was not the one who dealt with this matter today, most people would consider these 120 items as Dou's private property and return them to Qiu Jingyuan because of Qiu Jingyuan's father's imprisonment and mother's tragic experience. It can be regarded as sympathetic to her, a little girl who is lonely.

"In this case, these 120 objects should be re-registered and brought back to the government office." Mr. Tao was expressionless, and his attitude was so cruel that it was inhumane.

When Xu Shi and Qiu Jingyuan heard this, both of them looked ugly, and they were even more reluctant. These 120 items are definitely the most precious among the five boxes, and when converted into silver, they definitely exceed all of Dou's dowry and private property. Now that they are all returned to the public, it is heartache to let anyone else go.

Mr. Teng had expected this result, so he turned back to the table and continued to work. As for the final result, it depends on whether Mr. Qiu can take these things back from Mr. Tao.

"Huaixin, what do you think?" With a bitter face, Mrs. Xu patted Qiu Jingyuan's shoulder with one hand, motioning her to beg Qiu Huaixin, her cousin.

(End of this chapter)