Hearing Shen Baozhu's cheerful tone, Shen Minghua forced a smile. "Hahaha, Baozhu, you must be joking with me. According to what you're saying, after Uncle San divorced Princess Jingning, he left all of you with the General's Mansion? That's impossible. Stop kidding me..."
As he spoke, Shen Minghua's voice grew softer and softer.
Under Shen Minghua's disbelieving gaze, Shen Haiyan couldn't hold back his laughter. "Yes, hahaha. Now our household registrations are all in the General's Mansion."
"This... this is impossible! There's no way a woman would take all the children with her after a divorce. Even if Princess Jingning took you all away, what about Brother Danqing? He's an illegitimate son. He couldn't possibly go to the General's Mansion too, right?" Shen Minghua stammered for a long time and finally found a flaw. He regained his confidence.
Although Shen Haiyan was still recovering from his injury during the divorce, he pestered Bai Zhi to tell him the story countless times afterwards and could explain a thing or two.
He patted Shen Minghua on the shoulder. "It's a long story. Shen Yunfeng was afraid that Mother would fight with him for Brother, so he threw Brother Er to Mother, meaning that he gave Brother Er to Mother, and Brother, I, and Baozhu would all belong to him."
Shen Minghua was slightly stunned. If that was the case, it did make sense. Shen Heqing was the apple of his grandparents' eyes, and the whole family was counting on him to achieve the highest honors in the imperial examinations. It was worth exchanging Shen Danqing for Shen Heqing, not to mention exchanging him for three people: Shen Heqing, Shen Haiyan, and Shen Baozhu.
"Unfortunately, just as we got the divorce certificate from the government and divided the children, telling Brother Er to go with Mother, coincidentally, an imperial edict came from the palace, saying that the three of us were Mother's own flesh and blood. His Majesty pitied us and couldn't bear to see us separated from our mother, so he gave the three of us to Mother." Shen Haiyan pretended to be regretful, but the corners of his mouth could hardly be suppressed.
Shen Minghua looked at Shen Haiyan and asked, "What about Brother Danqing?"
Yan Mingli understood and his eyes lit up. He kindly reminded, "Didn't we say before? Shen Danqing went with Princess Jingning!"
"Ah? This doesn't seem right. The previous division was because Brother Heqing and the others belonged to Uncle San. But now there's an imperial edict, and Brother Heqing and the others don't belong to Uncle San. Then Brother Danqing should belong to Uncle San. He's a member of the Shen family!" Shen Minghua was completely confused but still argued.
Shen Baozhu asked in confusion, "Why should Brother Er belong to Father? Does Father also have an imperial edict from the Emperor Uncle?"
This question hit the nail on the head. Shen Minghua's mind went blank, and he stammered without being able to say a word.
Prince Rui had also heard enough and understood the whole story. He smiled and said, "If there's no imperial edict, according to the previous agreement, Shen Danqing should belong to Princess Jingning."
After Shen Minghua sorted out this logic, he was a bit crazy. "So, after the Shen family was convicted, I'm the only descendant of a convicted official?"
King of the Dragon: [Of course not. There are still people from the eldest branch of the Shen family accompanying you.]
Lin Yu: [No wonder Shen Minghua didn't want to believe that Shen Qingshan was corrupt and insisted that Prime Minister Sima was a villain.]
King of the Dragon: [Why? Is he afraid of being the descendant of a convicted official?]
King of the Dragon: [That's so tragic.]
While Shen Minghua was going crazy and refused to believe it, Yan Mingli eyed the chicken leg in the chicken soup. With a stretch of his hand, he夹住 the chicken leg.
Yan Mingli was very proud. Just as he was about to take a bite, he felt a burning gaze on him. He looked up and saw that it was the Fourth Prince staring intently at him, or rather, at the chicken leg in his bowl.
If it were Shen Baozhu or Qiuqiu, Yan Mingli would have directly given it to them to eat. But the Fourth Prince had a weak stomach and couldn't eat too much. The originally delicious and tempting chicken leg instantly became a hot potato.
Just as Yan Mingli was having a hard time making a choice, Shen Minghua had already adjusted his mood, sat back on the chair, and was trying hard to eat the food. While eating, he muttered, "I have to eat quickly. After I'm done, I'll help find evidence and get my mother out earlier."
Yan Mingli's eyes lit up. He immediately gave the big chicken leg in his bowl to Shen Minghua. "This big chicken leg is for you. Eat more to have the strength."
Looking at the big chicken leg in the bowl, Shen Minghua was very touched.
The scene returned to the beginning. Shen Minghua buried his head and ate hard, and everyone watched silently.
Shen Baozhu sat back on the chair and looked at the jadeite jade pendant that belonged to her.
Qiuqiu put her red jade pendant in front of Shen Baozhu. The two jade pendants were side by side. She pointed at the jade pendants. "The red one is me, and the green one is Baozhu. The jade pendants are like us, hugging each other tightly."
"Then let's exchange jade pendants. In the future, when you go home and miss me, you can look at the jade pendant. When I miss you, I can also look at the jade pendant." Shen Baozhu suddenly suggested.
Qiuqiu thought this was a good idea. She handed her red jade pendant to Shen Baozhu, and the two exchanged jade pendants.
Prince Rui watched this scene and sighed in his heart that little girls were really cute. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a touch of green on the table. He fixed his eyes and saw that it was a jadeite pendant in the shape of a galloping horse. Just looking at its quality, it seemed to be of the same quality as the tributes in the palace. The craftsmanship of the carving was also top - notch, vividly depicting the horse in full flight.
"Mingli, did you give that jadeite horse to Baozhu?" Prince Rui deliberately tested Yan Mingli. After getting a negative answer, he asked him to estimate the price of this little horse.
Yan Mingli didn't get to eat the chicken leg and was staring at the other chicken leg in the chicken soup. He didn't even raise his head and casually perfunctorily said, "About a dozen taels. Didn't you say that these things were newly received by the pawnshop and not worth much? At most fifty taels, that's the limit."
"Smack!"
Prince Rui slapped Yan Mingli on the head and said seriously, "Take a closer look. You weren't good at studying before. Seeing that you were interested in business, I let you go. If you still don't take it seriously, I'll send you to Li Xingzhi and let him teach you to study."
Hearing Prince Rui's threatening tone, Yan Mingli realized that he was serious. He quickly put down the soup bowl in his hand and looked at the jadeite horse.
Shen Baozhu picked up the little jadeite horse beside her. "Is Grandpa Gu referring to this?"
Qiuqiu, who was sitting next to Shen Baozhu, glanced at the little horse and reminded Yan Mingli, "Brother Mingli, this wasn't sent by Grandpa Gu. The toys sent by Grandpa Gu all have ropes."
Hearing this, Yan Mingli sat up even straighter and stared at the jadeite horse without looking sideways. "It's jadeite. It's green all over without a single impurity. It's a rare treasure. Looking at the carving technique, it seems to be made by a famous craftsman. The lines are soft and natural..."
Jadeite little horse?
Green all over?
Natural?
Shen Minghua felt like he had heard this before. He felt that he might have seen it several times, probably in his grandfather's study.
"... It's a bit difficult to estimate the price. It's at least 100,000 taels of silver. If the carving craftsman is really a famous one, the price can go even higher. Just this material isn't something an ordinary person can come across. Baozhu, was it a reward from His Majesty?" After estimating the price, Yan Mingli was also a bit surprised.
Shen Minghua was even more shocked. He didn't even dare to look up at the jadeite ornament. He could only whisper to Shen Haiyan, "Haiyan, do you remember that there was also a jadeite horse ornament in Grandpa's room?"
Shen Haiyan had a deep impression of this ornament. "I remember. The rare ancient books in the study and that jadeite horse couldn't be touched. In the backyard, the wooden hairpin and the mirror on the dressing table couldn't be touched either."
"Ah? What do you mean?" Shen Minghua was stunned and subconsciously asked.
Shen Haiyan was very experienced. "It means that we could take whatever we wanted from Grandpa's study and Grandma's backyard, except for these four things. If we touched them, they would scold me regardless of their dignity. So I never touched them."
"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? Could it be that the jadeite horse in Baozhu's hand is the one in Shen Qingshan's study?"