“What? You actually managed to pick that up? Then you really are a lucky little treasure. You know, if you take this over there now and fill in a name, all the properties tied to these deeds will become yours. No, take it out first and let me see.” He Youyou wasn’t surprised at all that her daughter could read.
Back when Old Master Qu was young, he had suffered from being illiterate, so all the children in the family—regardless of age or gender—had to start their education at three years old with a private tutor. No one was allowed to grow up unable to read.
Although their little girl had only studied for two years, she had been clever since childhood. Most characters, once taught twice, she could already read and write.
Because of this, the mother and daughter had often been targeted by the First Madam. After all, children didn’t know how to hide their talents, and after Teacher Bei praised her too many times, others naturally became dissatisfied.
The First Madam had three children: the eldest daughter, Qu Qingqing, was seventeen this year; the legitimate eldest son, Qu Junjie, was fifteen; and the youngest son, Qu Junping, was seven.
Although they had started their education two years earlier than Qu Weiwei, whether in writing or reading, none of them could match her. Because of that, little Weiwei had been punished twice in winter—forced to kneel in the snow for an hour each time. If He Youyou hadn’t risked everything to complain to Old Master Qu back then, her daughter might have frozen to death under that vicious woman’s schemes.
Qu Weiwei crawled like a little worm toward the kang cabinet. From inside it—actually from her space—she took out a stack of unnamed land deeds and property certificates she had found earlier that night in the old Madam Zhang’s room.
When she handed them to He Youyou, the latter froze for a moment. There were just too many—at least twenty or thirty sheets.
“Why are there so many? Daughter, did you see Butler Hu or anyone else who didn’t faint and escaped early?” Youyou had been completely unconscious at the time and had no idea what had happened outside. But seeing these documents, she could tell Butler Hu must have been packing up to run away. After all, taking so many deeds couldn’t have been done without prior planning.
“Does Fourth Concubine count? I saw Butler Hu and Fourth Concubine carrying many boxes out of the courtyard, going back and forth several times. I was afraid they’d see me, so I hid and didn’t dare go out to look. These deeds were dropped by the butler when he left. I only dared pick them up after they had gone far away,” Qu Weiwei said, wanting to give her mother a heads-up in case they encountered those people again.
“So it was them… Looks like Butler Hu wasn’t just secretly working with the First Madam, but also with the Fourth Concubine. Isn’t he afraid of drowning by stepping in two boats at once? Forget it, we won’t meddle in that. Those things were in that residence anyway—we wouldn’t have gotten them. If they moved them, so be it.
“But we definitely can’t return these deeds. Come, let’s look at the other things. You hide these for now. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the housing office to register them under your name. Oh right—daughter, you’re no longer called Qu Weiwei. You take my surname now. Your name is He Caiwei. Your nickname is still Weiwei. Remember it—you’re He Caiwei now.”
He Youyou was quite open-minded. The Qu family’s wealth might be vast, but none of it would fall into her hands anyway. Losing it didn’t bother her much.
“Don’t use my name—use yours instead. Also, Mom, this bundle here feels really heavy. What’s inside?” Qu Weiwei—no, now He Caiwei—felt it would be better to use her mother’s name. After all, her mother was an adult, while she was just a child and less convincing.
“How do you want to handle these things? If we plan to sell them, we might as well fill in the buyer’s name directly and avoid changing it again—it’ll be more convenient. As for this bundle, it contains Gold Yuan Certificates I exchanged for ten silver dollars.
“Your Grandpa Li also stuffed in some fabi notes. Those can’t be used here anymore, but he said some places in the south still accept them. Since they’re worthless to him here, he just gave them to us—it’d only serve as fire kindling if kept.
“The Gold Yuan Certificates are the new currency recently issued by the government. Many places are already paying wages with them. We should carry some so we won’t need to exchange money later.”
As she spoke, He Youyou opened the bundle, revealing two smaller packages inside.
The larger one contained fabi notes, in various denominations from large to small. Each denomination was tied in thick stacks—thousands and tens of thousands included—neatly arranged, as if freshly withdrawn from a bank.
The Gold Yuan Certificates also ranged from one yuan, five yuan, ten yuan, twenty yuan, fifty yuan, one hundred yuan, two hundred yuan, five hundred yuan, and even up to one thousand and ten thousand.
“Isn’t the Gold Yuan Certificate not worth much now? How did ten silver dollars exchange for so many?” He Caiwei asked in confusion.
“Not all of it was exchanged. Part of this was money your Grandpa Li owed your grandfather years ago. When he heard we were heading south to find your grandfather, he repaid everything. That’s why there’s so much.
“Right now, one silver dollar can be exchanged for three hundred yuan in Gold Yuan Certificates. Back then, your Grandpa Li borrowed fifty silver dollars from your grandfather. Since he couldn’t repay in silver now, I had him convert it into Gold Yuan Certificates.
“He felt he was getting a bargain, so besides this, he also gave me a gold necklace—it’s in this bundle too.”
As she explained, He Youyou poured everything out. Bundles of money rolled all over the kang.
He Caiwei’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the pile of banknotes. If she kept some and stored them for decades, they would definitely become valuable collectibles.
“Mom, I found a piece of waterproof cloth in the kang cabinet in this room. You can sew it into a shoulder bag and a backpack. Then we can put these things inside. If someone tries to rob us, we can even use it as a weapon—one hit with this and their head will definitely be ringing.”
This was the only practical use He Caiwei could think of for now.
“Sigh, my daughter really is clever. Alright, take out the cloth—I’ll sew it in a bit. Making bags won’t take long. Now that you mention it, this could really work as a self-defense weapon. It’s so heavy—if someone gets hit, they’d probably pass out,” He Youyou said, increasingly impressed with her daughter.
“Now, let me explain our current registered identities. Outside, I’m a widow whose husband has died. My name is He Yuping, and your ‘father’—who doesn’t really exist—is registered as He Dazhu. After your father died of illness, we were left with no support, so we’re heading south to rely on your grandfather. Remember that.
“When we go to register these deeds, if anyone asks for details, say your father was a driver for a landlord. After the landlord fell from power and couldn’t pay wages, he gave these lands as payment. Now we’re selling them for travel expenses to go south.”
These details had been confirmed with Uncle Lin, an old friend of her father. Such a person had indeed existed—but years ago, after the landlord refused to pay wages for a long time, he had secretly been beaten to death by the landlord’s men.
Provided by author Jun Yaling