Jiang Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes.
"Mom, in your mind, is your daughter really the type of person who goes back on her word and is all over the place? I’m telling you, I’ve made up my mind to go to the countryside this ti. I’m not here for that. Really, this ti I’m bringing you and Dad sothing good. You’ll know what it is when you open it."
Trying to appease Fan Xiuying.
Fan Xiuying looked skeptical, "Really no regrets?"
How could that be, what’s this kid up to now?
"Alright, alright, let’s see what good thing you’ve brought us?"
Jiang Lao Shi saw his wife and daughter about to clash again and hurriedly opened the oiled paper package.
As soon as it was opened, the couple was dumbfounded.
The golden glow was blinding.
This was sothing he couldn’t pretend not to recognize.
Jiang Lao Shi picked up a gold bar and bit into it.
A tooth mark was left on it.
Fan Xiuying slapped Jiang Lao Shi’s arm.
"Are you out of your mind, biting it? Shouldn’t you quickly ask your daughter where this ca from? What’s she gotten herself into this ti?"
Worried, scared, and anxious, her tone beca a bit erratic.
Jiang Lao Shi suddenly snapped out of it, his face turning serious.
He placed the gold bar back on the table.
"Xiao Xiao, co here and honestly explain where this ca from?"
Here we go!
Jiang Xiaoxiao knew that her parents were afraid she’d go down the wrong path. Their first reaction wasn’t to celebrate the family’s sudden wealth but to think she’d done sothing wrong.
Ah, her kind-hearted parents.
"Mom, Dad! I went to the recycling station today, originally to get so newspapers for wallpapering the house. If I end up in the countryside, I might need to wallpaper a room or sothing. I accidentally found the mystery inside these two dictionaries! At first, I had no idea they were gold bars.
I just saw that soone had hidden sothing here and figured it must be valuable! So I bought it back, only costing two cents, and it wasn’t until I got ho and took a look that I realized what it was."
Jiang Xiaoxiao had prepared her story well and didn’t lie.
Apart from the fact that she had intentionally gone there, knowing in advance what these things were, everything else was true.
Of course, the two cents was a fabrication.
The dictionaries were tucked away in her space.
She’d just picked them up by chance.
She kind of regretted it! She should have straightforwardly taken them out and bought them.
But at the ti, she didn’t know why she acted so impulsively.
Mainly because she was used to casually picking up those high school textbooks.
Jiang Lao Shi and Fan Xiuying exchanged a glance, "Is it true?"
"It’s true! Mom, Dad, as soon as I ca out, I t Third Brother outside the recycling station, and we even got into a fight. If you don’t believe , you can ask him."
Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded earnestly, exuding sincerity.
Jiang Lao Shi was troubled.
"These are gold bars. You don’t know how desperate the owner must be. Shouldn’t we return them?"
Fan Xiuying was sowhat reluctant. Their family had no money and always needed cash. If these gold bars were theirs, it would be a substantial sum.
But her husband was right. Losing so many gold bars must be heartbreaking.
If it happened to them, wouldn’t they be frantic?
"Mom, Dad! Who would you return them to? It’s a recycling station. If the original owner realized they lost sothing, wouldn’t they have co back to search? They didn’t co back, so either sothing happened to them, and they couldn’t let anyone find these, so they discarded them, or they have no idea about these. If you return them, are you giving them to another unsuspecting person? Or to the recycling station staff? Wouldn’t that just benefit soone else?"
Jiang Xiaoxiao argued her point fervently, afraid her parents would push away the windfall in their hands.
Wouldn’t it be giving soone else free clothes?
Jiang Lao Shi thought about it and realized his daughter made sense.
In the factory, they sotis smuggled a bit of raw fabric or salt out. Who hadn’t taken advantage of the factory before?
If they returned it, who knew if the owner would get it back.
Fan Xiuying was imdiately pleased.
When you’re poor, your ambitions lessen.
With no money, they couldn’t afford to be generous.
"Then we should keep them."
Fan Xiuying reluctantly picked up the gold bars, lining them up; there were six in total.
Each one, she guessed, weighed around two ounces.
This ant it was over a pound.
Jiang Lao Shi was known as honest— but he wasn’t foolish.
This kind of thing clearly had no traceable owner, and even if returned, who would dare claim them?
And, besides! These might get confiscated by the authorities.
Jiang Lao Shi nodded, "Then that’s settled. Keeping them might be heaven’s blessing for us, but no one can know about this, or it’ll bring disaster."
After all, these were gold bars from ’76!
If you took them out, soone might report you.
Jiang Xiaoxiao quickly nodded, like a chicken pecking grain.
"I won’t say a word."
Fan Xiuying happily stashed the gold bars away, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and locked them securely in the wardrobe.
"Tomorrow, I’ll find a chance to check out the black market! It’s important to exchange them for money; keeping the gold bars at ho is inconvenient. If soone sees them, it’ll be trouble."
Jiang Xiaoxiao wasn’t concerned about what they did next. The rest was up to her parents.
She could step back now that she’d accomplished her part.
Jiang Xiaoxiao returned to her room.
Jiang Lao Shi and Fan Xiuying blew out the candle and laid down.
Neither could sleep.
Such a big thing— being able to sleep would be strange.
"Honey! Keep one gold bar for Xiao Xiao’s dowry; I’ll exchange the rest. I know soone from the black market who can trade them without anyone knowing, and we won’t be cheated.
That girl is blessed. Just buying a newspaper, and she found gold bars."
Jiang Lao Shi was happy but also worried.
His daughter was so lovable, but she insisted on going to the countryside.
It pained him.
Fan Xiuying was contemplating, "Why not leave two? Save one for Shitou as well, since he’s a boy. When he marries, if his wife knows, she might say we’re biased."
Jiang Lao Shi glared, "What’s wrong with being biased? Xiao Xiao found these herself; who would accuse us of favoritism? Then we’ll leave them all for Xiao Xiao."
They hadn’t even brought ho a daughter-in-law, and already worried about this.
Jiang Lao Shi couldn’t stand the idea of his little girl being bullied.
Fan Xiuying was speechless, not knowing what to say.
"Fine, fine! Whatever you say. We won’t give them to anyone; just for our Xiao Xiao."
She was rely suggesting, after all.
"Honey! Do you think what the Fang family said could be true?"
Fan Xiuying felt uneasy thinking about Ye Hua and Fang Zhiyuan.
Fang Xiaohui’s face, almost identical to hers, was truly unsettling.
"Don’t overthink it; Xiao Xiao is our daughter and will always be. No one can change that." Jiang Lao Shi was getting angry just thinking about it.
But he was also second-guessing.
If it were true and they didn’t let Xiao Xiao reunite with her biological parents, would they be harming her?
After all, the Fang family seed to be officials.
If they lived better than them, wouldn’t they be hurting their child?
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