Volume 1, Chapter 14: Reward
Seeing her looking so uneasy and at a loss, Lu Yanshu quickly lowered his voice to soothe her: “What would you like to eat? I’ll have the kitchen make it?”
“I’m not hungry.” Jiang Zhiwan pressed her lips together and replied in a small voice.
A flicker of darkness passed through Lu Yanshu’s eyes. “Then just think of it as keeping me company for a bit, alright?”
Since it was her employer’s request, Jiang Zhiwan would agree to anything she possibly could.
Neither of them had any particular preferences regarding the dishes, and since it was already a bit late, the kitchen prepared some easily digestible dishes and brought them up.
Lu Yanshu silently watched Jiang Zhiwan until she was about eighty percent full before letting her leave the table.
Around ten o’clock in the evening.
Jiang Zhiwan sat on the soft chair across from the head of the bed, reading to Lu Yanshu for half an hour before tiptoeing out of the room.
The butler, dressed in a tailcoat, dismissed the two servants first, then personally escorted Jiang Zhiwan back to her room before turning away with peace of mind.
.
Compared to her previous life of rushing between various part-time jobs all day, this kind of life now was simply the most relaxed and comfortable imaginable.
After several consecutive days, Jiang Zhiwan had fully adapted to life in this traditional Chinese courtyard.
The people here—whether her employer or her colleagues—were all easy to get along with and easy to talk to.
It was just that after accidentally overhearing Mother Jiang mention things from Jiang Zhiwan’s childhood that she herself had long forgotten, she had developed a great interest in the wintersweet tree in the courtyard.
Seeing how interested she was in the wintersweet tree, the butler told Jiang Zhiwan its story.
“About thirty-five years ago, Old Mrs. Lu planted it with her own hands.”
“Later, after Old Mr. Lu passed away, before the young master went abroad, he had someone transplant it here from the old Lu family estate.”
The butler’s expression turned somewhat wistful, a hint of bitter irony curling at the corner of his mouth. “If you think about it carefully, this is the only thing the young master brought out from the old estate.”
Jiang Zhiwan keenly caught onto something. “Mr. Lu doesn’t like the Lu family?”
“It’s not just dislike.” The butler let out a sigh. “It’s hatred.”
Hatred for everything belonging to the Lu family.
Hatred for everyone in the Lu family.
Hatred for the entire Lu family.
Jiang Zhiwan was stunned. She wanted to say something, but felt that nothing she said would be quite appropriate at this moment.
Throughout the day, the butler was mostly busy. He told Jiang Zhiwan to head inside early since it was cold, then continued with his own affairs.
Jiang Zhiwan looked up at the wintersweet tree again, but her thoughts had long since drifted to Lu Yanshu.
That Lu Yanshu who always smiled at her so gently—what would he look like when he hated someone?
Jiang Zhiwan couldn’t imagine it.
Having spent so much time with Lu Yanshu, she had never even once seen him angry or upset.
A ringtone came from her pocket, disrupting Jiang Zhiwan’s thoughts.
She took it out and saw it was a call from Fu Baozhu.
As soon as she answered, Fu Baozhu’s delighted voice came through, reporting good news: “Wanwan, guess how many subjects I failed?”
If she had actually failed any subjects, Fu Baozhu would never have asked her that way.
Jiang Zhiwan pretended to ponder for a few seconds. “I’m guessing you didn’t fail a single one.”
Fu Baozhu laughed heartily, hands on her hips. “Aren’t I amazing?”
“Very amazing.” Jiang Zhiwan agreed in a gentle voice.
Since childhood, Fu Baozhu had never been one who loved studying—she was far too fond of playing around.
But in Fu Baozhu’s own words, she was just lucky.
Born in a small mountain village that favored boys over girls, her family still doted on her—you could tell just from her name.
The villagers weren’t very educated, and her father chose the characters “Baozhu” because he thought they were the best two characters possible.
Not rustic, yet carrying the most beautiful wishes for his daughter.
Her family spoiled her without limits. When Fu Baozhu picked up a little beggar boy named Chi Chen from the roadside and said she wanted to raise him, her parents agreed without a second thought.
At the time, her parents planned to raise Chi Chen as Fu Baozhu’s future husband—someone whose background they knew well, so they could rest easy when she grew up.
Later, when her parents passed away in an accident, Chi Chen carried on the way they had doted on Fu Baozhu. He took Fu Baozhu and their thirty thousand yuan in survivor benefits, left the small mountain village, and step by step climbed to where they were now.
Fu Baozhu’s admission to Jing University was absolutely inseparable from Chi Chen’s supervision and guidance.
When she didn’t pay attention in class, Chi Chen would come home after overtime work and painstakingly break down the knowledge piece by piece, feeding it to her.
After entering Jing University, freed from Chi Chen’s supervision and guidance, Fu Baozhu immediately let herself go.
Fu Baozhu’s mouth suddenly seemed to be stuffed with something to eat, making her speech muffled: “I really have to thank you, Wanwan, for taking the time to outline the key points for me.”
Her mind jumped from one thing to another, and soon she had steered the topic to something else.
“Wanwan, have you checked your class ranking?”
“First place, you know.”
Being so busy all day and still easily taking the top spot—she was practically a genius.
That was just exam scores though. If you counted comprehensive grades, Jiang Zhiwan would probably drop a few places.
Jiang Zhiwan smiled and said softly, “I’d completely forgotten about that. I’ll have to thank you, Baozhu, for letting me know.”
On the other end of the phone, Fu Baozhu was about to say something when her mouth suddenly got blocked.
The next second, Fu Baozhu’s irritated voice came through: “I told you, I’m not eating.”
Immediately followed by a deep male voice, speaking with a stern tone: “You slept straight until four in the afternoon. If you don’t eat something soon, your stomach is going to be in trouble.”
Chi Chen had only recently established himself in Wangjing a few years ago, and he was usually very busy.
Jiang Zhiwan, being tactful, didn’t disturb the young couple’s private time and quickly made up an excuse to hang up the phone.
Just before hanging up, Fu Baozhu told Jiang Zhiwan that she hadn’t failed her exams, and Chi Chen had given her a reward. She said that when school started, she would share half of the reward with Jiang Zhiwan.
Jiang Zhiwan naturally had no intention of accepting it, but she didn’t mention that on the phone.
However, little did Jiang Zhiwan know at that moment that she too would receive an exam reward later that evening.
.
In the study.
Jiang Zhiwan looked in confusion at the box on the small tea table that was nearly half the size of the table itself.
“Open it and take a look?” Lu Yanshu said with a light chuckle.
Jiang Zhiwan obediently opened the large box and froze in place instantly.
Inside was a set of imperial green jadeite jewelry.
— A ring, a necklace, a bracelet, and earrings.
Back then, the most valuable dowry that her grandmother had given her mother was also an imperial green jadeite bracelet.
But that bracelet, which Jiang Zhenyue had forcibly taken, insisting it was a family heirloom of the Jiang family, would immediately show its inferiority if placed side by side with this one.
It was like comparing a small witch to a great one!
The jadeite stones set into the ring, earrings, and necklace were each as large as pigeon eggs.
If Jiang Zhiwan guessed correctly, these three pieces of jewelry were likely cut from the same rough stone as the bracelet.
As everyone knew, in the jadeite world, only bracelets held the most value.
Yet Lu Yanshu had insisted on grinding away the rough material that could have produced another imperial green bracelet to make these mounted pieces instead.
What a waste of a treasure!