Chapter 574 - 568 - _1
When Lin Yue unwrapped the cloth bundle, she was genuinely surprised. She hadn’t expected her grandmother to truly leave behind a few valuable items for her. Inside was a set of hair accessories made of silver, quite heavy in weight, and there was even a delicate gold hairpin and a pair of gold earrings.
Although these objects meant little to Lin Yue at her current standing, for the average person, even the dowry of a lady from a small city family might not include gold items, let alone the Lin Youfu family, who had to sell their daughters for Silver Coin to fund their sons’ education. This showed that, although the family was better off than the average tenant farmer, they were far from wealthy. Mrs. Zhou probably possessed at most a couple of silver items—let alone a gold hairpin. Even a set of silver hair accessories would be enough to dazzle her eyes. No wonder the grandmother entrusted these items to her aunt for safekeeping.
However, the fact that the grandmother had entrusted these items to her aunt spoke volumes of the trust she had in her, and her aunt, in turn, honoring this trust by handing them over to Lin Yue, was a credit to her. After all, the grandmother had been gone for six or seven years, and without her aunt mentioning it, who would know about these items? Moreover, no one could prove they were left for Lin Yue. Yet the aunt had preserved them all this time and now handed them to Lin Yue.
Lin Yue looked again at her aunt, who had shown no sign of surprise when the silver headwear and gold hairpin appeared, suggesting she had known what was in the bundle all along. Seeing her aunt’s plain, patch-mended clothes, it was clear that she herself was not wealthy. Despite this, her aunt hadn’t been tempted by the treasure, earning Lin Yue’s profound respect.
Seeing Lin Yue’s astonishment, the aunt didn’t forget to speak a few words on behalf of her older sister, "Er Ya, when your grandmother passed away, what she worried about and couldn’t let go of most was you. She was very ill at that time, and in order to save money, your parents were unwilling to hire a good doctor from the city, only hiring a so-so village healer to treat her.
Your grandmother had been a maid in a wealthy family and had good embroidery skills, which pleased the master greatly, and she was rewarded with many valuable things. Because your great-grandparents had sold her into that wealthy household to support the family, they always felt indebted. So, they never asked for any of her earned rewards, giving them all to your grandmother as her dowry. I knew your grandmother still had some precious items, and at that time, I urged her to sell them to afford a proper doctor, but she refused, saying they were to be saved for Er Ya’s wedding dowry and couldn’t be touched! And so, your grandmother departed."
The aunt had always been well treated by her sister, the grandmother, and speaking of her still brought tears, even after so many years, as she constantly dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.