Chapter 43: Let Him Open His Eyes

When Gu Yan’an followed Lan Mo down into the cellar of the storage room, he was completely stunned.

“Momo, are these things your biological father left for you?”

“Yes, my biological grandfather’s ancestors were in the medicinal herb business. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to live in a Western-style house back then.”

Gu Yan’an picked up a piece of dried tangerine peel and smelled it, saying, “These medicinal herbs have been stored here for twenty years without any mold or insects. They’ve been preserved extremely well.”

Lan Mo pointed to the white substance scattered in the corners of the room and said, “Look at those…”

“So it’s lime powder, no wonder these things are so well preserved. Momo, why are there eight sacks of cotton here? This cotton looks so white, it doesn’t seem like old cotton.”

It was fresh cotton, after all, with cotton hulls and seeds still not fully cleaned. She couldn’t possibly store grain in the cellar—no one would dare eat twenty-year-old grain anyway.

This cotton could be used to make a cotton-padded jacket for each family member, and they could also fluff two new quilts.

Gu Yan’an walked over to the large rosewood box. “Momo, could it be filled with gold, silver, and jewels inside?”

What was he thinking? The several crates of antiques her biological father had left behind had long been stored in her space.

Lan Mo said leisurely, “My biological grandfather made his fortune in medicinal herbs. You can open it and see.”

Gu Yan’an lifted the lid of the rosewood box and found a smaller rosewood box at the bottom. On top of it were several sandalwood boxes, and above those were two purple jade boxes.

Gu Yan’an didn’t dare touch anything further. What if opening the jade boxes caused the precious medicinal herbs inside to lose their potency?

“Go ahead and open them. The two jade boxes contain two-hundred-year-old ginseng. The five sandalwood boxes hold one-hundred-year-old ginseng, and the small rosewood box contains twenty-year-old ginseng—sixty pieces in total.”

Gu Yan’an was dumbfounded. Had Momo’s biological father left her his entire fortune?

He had thought that by living frugally over the years and saving several thousand yuan, he was quite wealthy. But now, in front of Momo, he was nothing.

If he had chosen to work at the Railway Bureau like his second brother, he would only have a fixed salary. Thankfully, he had been wise enough to choose a job at the Material Reserve Bureau.

He needed to work hard; otherwise, he might end up being seen as someone who lives off his wife.

Lan Mo picked up one of the purple jade boxes and gently opened it. The aroma of medicinal herbs wafted out.

“What do you think of the ginseng inside?”

Gu Yan’an’s eyes brightened as he glanced at the ginseng in the jade box. “I don’t even need to look—just smelling it tells me this ginseng is extremely precious. So, two-hundred-year-old ginseng has such well-developed roots. The dense rootlets make it look like an old man with a beard.”

He had never seen five-hundred-year-old ginseng. The roots of five-hundred-year-old ginseng would be more than twice as thick as this.

Lan Mo smiled and said, “How about I give you one box?”

Gu Yan’an was taken aback for a moment, but soon a pleasant smile spread across his lips.

“Why would I need ginseng at such a young age? You should keep this for your father and grandfather to use!”

Lan Mo had only been testing Gu Yan’an. Seeing that his eyes were clear and he had no ulterior motives, she felt reassured.

“Let’s keep ten of the twenty-year-old ginseng and sell the rest. Give one piece of the century-old ginseng to my grandfather, my father, and my nephew each. Keep the rest as part of my dowry. What do you think?”

Lan Mo was a rational person. She knew exactly what she was doing.

She knew that no matter the era, a woman who married with a generous dowry would always be held in higher regard.

Even if her dowry was abundant, others couldn’t take it away—outsiders could only look on with envy.

Gu Yan’an pulled Lan Mo into an embrace. “Momo, I want to marry you not because of your dowry. I like you for who you are.

You’re beautiful, and I’ve seen other female comrades who are just as beautiful, but from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I was captivated for life.”

“Are you trying to say that pretty faces are all alike, but a unique soul is one in a million?”

“Heh, I meant to say it’s your calm and composed temperament that drew me in.”

As if I’d believe that, you sly man. So-called love at first sight is clearly just lust at first sight, yet you make it sound so refined and elegant.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you upstairs to have a good look at this Western-style house. I plan to rent it out.”

“Why do you want to rent it out now? Why has it been left empty for the past twenty years?”

“Although a house needs people living in it to feel alive, if we rented it out to just anyone, everything inside would probably be taken long ago. I suspect my biological father instructed that the house not be rented out.

The reason I want to rent it out now is, first, to earn a bit of living expenses, and second, to avoid drawing unwanted attention. You know how some people are always looking for loopholes and opportunities. If my dad weren’t a police officer, this house would probably have been taken long ago.”

Most importantly, with the major changes coming next year, if this house attracted attention, it could even affect her father. That’s why she decided to rent it out to the East City Police Station as dormitory housing.

Lan Mo showed Gu Yan’an around for a while. Not long after, Lan Jingtian walked in and noticed the mountain-like pile of coal in the courtyard. “Momo, what’s with all this coal?”

“Dad, I traded some furniture for coal. There are three thousand catties in the courtyard, and another thousand coal briquettes in the kitchen. This should be enough for our family for two years.”

“You traded such nice furniture for just this coal?”

“Dad, look over there in the corner—that used tricycle was also part of the trade. I also asked him to try and get me ten catties of fresh beef today. Didn’t Mom want to eat fresh beef?”

“Where’s the beef?”

“I’ll go get it from him this afternoon! Dad, you should go check the cellar first. Don’t worry about the coal for now.”

Lan Jingtian went down to the cellar and came back up with a pale face. It seemed he had been shocked by the medicinal herbs stored down there.

“Momo, it’s a good thing I didn’t rent out this house earlier. Otherwise, the dowry your biological father left for you would have been stolen!”

“Dad, I only found out he left these things for me after reading his letter. But with so many medicinal herbs, there’s no use keeping them all. Why don’t we sell them? These herbs have been stored for twenty years already.”

“It looks like they’ve been well preserved.”

“Dad, keeping these things here will only make people covet them. Let’s sell them to the purchasing station instead!”

At this point, Gu Yan’an spoke up to stop them. “Momo, the purchasing station might not offer a fair price. They’ll buy the herbs from you and then resell them to pharmacies and hospitals at a markup. If you trust me, I can help you find someone to purchase them directly.”

Just as Lan Mo nodded in agreement, Lan Jingtian said, “Momo, these herbs were left to you by Changqing—they’re your dowry. Are you sure you want to sell all of them?”

“Dad, those mugwort leaves can be used to make moxa sticks. I took a bag and had someone help process them. Let’s sell everything in the cellar!

We’ll keep ten jin each of the aged tangerine peel and dried tangerine peel. Out of the sixty twenty-year-old ginseng roots, keeping ten is enough for us. The century-old ginseng and two-hundred-year-old ginseng we’ll keep and not sell.”

Seeing that all the premium ginseng was being kept, Lan Jingtian breathed a sigh of relief. “Momo, you keep those ginseng roots as part of your dowry. Just leave two jin of dried tangerine peel and aged tangerine peel for your grandfather.”

“Dad, let’s keep ten jin each of dried tangerine peel and aged tangerine peel at home. Half of those ten twenty-year-old ginseng roots can be sliced to make ginseng tea or used in chicken soup, and we’ll keep a few for future gifts.

Out of the five century-old ginseng roots, one each for you and Grandfather to nourish your health—you can also use them to make medicinal wine. Another one for Xiao Li’er, to keep for when he grows up and gets married. The remaining two century-old ginseng roots and the two-hundred-year-old ginseng I’ll keep for myself.”

Hearing that Lan Mo wanted to leave three century-old ginseng roots for them, Lan Jingtian was unhappy. He hadn’t raised Lan Mo for the sake of these things, especially since they were left by her biological father. How could he possibly accept them?

“Momo, your grandfather and I don’t need any ginseng. You should keep those three century-old ginseng roots for your future children!”

“Dad, you worked so hard to raise me. If you don’t accept them, are you trying to make people say I’m ungrateful?”

Gu Yan’an originally didn’t want to interfere, but he couldn’t bear to see Lan Mo frown or be upset.

“Uncle Lan, Momo told me about her background. It couldn’t have been easy for you to adopt her. You should accept what your own daughter gives you, so Momo doesn’t feel awkward.”

“Alright, let’s not talk about this for now. What’s with these bags of cotton? Could it be that Changqing left them for Momo’s dowry bedding?”

He hadn’t expected Changqing to be so thoughtful. It was all Ziwan’s own fault for being difficult and missing out on such blessings.

“Dad, check if the cotton is damaged. Since the cellar had a lot of lime powder, the cotton doesn’t seem to have yellowed much.”

“It does seem quite white, almost like new cotton. Alright, let’s go eat first. We’ll deal with these things in the afternoon. What needs to be sold should still be sold.”

Momo now has a partner. If we sell some of these medicinal herbs, she’ll have more private savings when she gets married, won’t she?