Chapter 324: Lu Jiuzhang
Today is the seventh day since Old Madam passed away.
The weather is very cold, but the sun is shining brightly.
Jiang Wan is going to the mansion to pack some things and, at the same time, bid a final farewell to Old Madam.
Her aunt had originally wanted to come too.
However, Old Madam’s death seems to have hit her very hard, and she has actually fallen ill.
It is just as well, as Jiang Wan did not want her aunt to accompany her anyway.
In truth, she had hidden some things in this house that she did not want to bring into the Seventh Princes Mansion. Since she would not be returning here in the future, she needed to come and collect them.
With his mother ill, the Heir, Chu Xi, stayed home to attend to his filial duties and did not come out either.
He was likely avoiding suspicion. After all, Old Madam Jiang was still considered a person of guilt; there was no need to cause Princess Huiyun any displeasure by coming over for the seventh-day rites.
Regardless, the Seventh Prince’s family had all stayed away.
That was fine.
In truth, Jiang Wan did not want anyone to accompany her.
Returning to this familiar place, she had not expected that in just a few short days, everything would have changed.
When Old Madam was in this mansion, she spent most of her time in her room, rarely even stepping out into the courtyard.
Having shared a bond over two lifetimes, Jiang Wan felt very deeply for Old Madam.
Old Madam had always treated her well, and even until her dying breath, she was still making plans for her.
After Jiang Wan finished paying her respects, she had the servants pack things up; she would never come here again.
This place was too close to Jiang the Second’s home; in truth, she had been living in fear every single day.
The servants would come to move the larger items later.
She was just packing up some valuable belongings.
Like a cunning rabbit with three burrows, Jiang Wan had purchased several properties for herself upon coming to the capital, each containing quite a few valuables.
The items in this mansion were only a small portion of them.
After experiencing a period of hardship while managing the household in Ming County, Jiang Wan had come to realize the importance of money.
In the past, she had never cared about such things, and had never imagined that one day she would be haggling over petty profits.
Considering whether ten-tael fabric or hundred-tael fabric was better—she had never considered such questions before.
Once a person has experienced lack, they will become urgently concerned with it.
Some families that have just struck it rich tend to go to the other extreme when raising their daughters, spoiling them with wealth and fostering a spendthrift, extravagant nature, as if that were the mark of a true noblewoman.
Jiang Wan was originally a noblewoman with a refined background who did not need to worry about money, though she was aware of its utility. However, after having been poor, she had acquired a bit of worldly pragmatism; she was no longer floating in the clouds and had started to care about money.
That was why she had come in person to pack up her valuable jewelry.
After packing, she boarded her carriage to return.
In reality, she was heading to one of her other residences.
Because everyone had their own agendas, and coupled with the Seventh Prince’s need to avoid suspicion, the people around her now were all guards she had recruited herself.
Jiang Wan had not been idle since arriving in the capital.
She had recruited some guards, all of whom were capable individuals from her memories; of course, she hadn’t managed to get them all, as some things are a matter of chance.
Building a reputation, gathering resources and connections, creating something from nothing—in truth, she had already done remarkably well; it was the limit of what a young woman could achieve.
Jiang Wan had been very low-profile recently, and the carriage she traveled in was very unassuming, yet she had not expected to run into someone blocking her path on the road.
In ancient times, blocking a horse carriage had the same result as using one’s body to block a Range Rover or BMW in modern times.
One would get hit.
If the impact was severe, one might die; if it was light, one would be cursed at for being crazy or reported to the magistrate to be arrested.
The person blocking the carriage had a reckless air about him.
It was actually the missing youngest son of Prime Minister Lu, Lu Jiuzhang.
His family had been sentenced and their home confiscated, yet he had somehow managed to survive and had disappeared without a trace. Unexpectedly, he had appeared before Fairy Liu’s carriage.
When Jiang Wan saw the person, he was in such a disheveled and wretched state, with messy hair, that she almost did not recognize him.
The person before her was the youngest son of the once all-powerful Prime Minister Lu.
Every time she had seen him before, he had been oblivious to the vastness of the world and the hardships of life, generous with money as if it were nothing, appearing lively and innocent.
Jiang Wan had actually quite liked such a youth; he exuded a naive foolishness, was generous, spoke well, and was quite good-looking.
There were no ugly people in wealthy families, especially among the youngest sons; Prime Minister Lu’s concubines must have been beautiful, so how could their children be anything less? Their genes had been super-improved.
It was a pity he hadn’t inherited Prime Minister Lu’s brains.
However, even Prime Minister Lu himself had been unable to protect his own life, so it was hard to say anything about the twists of fate.
Seeing the wretched youth, Jiang Wan had her maid send him a hundred taels of silver.
After all, he had fallen on hard times.
It was hard not to feel for him.
When Lu Jiuzhang saw that hundred taels of silver, tears burst forth.
During this time, he had tasted the cold and warmth of the world.
The families who had once enthusiastically invited him to visit as a guest, where he had been welcomed with all sorts of fanfare, now kept their doors and windows shut to him; even a dog could enter, but he could not.
Even his former servants, to whom he had casually tipped countless amounts of silver, were now unwilling to even provide him a single meal upon seeing him in such distress.
Let alone his former fair-weather friends, who avoided him like the plague, terrified of being tainted by his misfortune and getting into trouble.
He had always been generous; whatever his friends wanted, he would give it to them with just a word.
Now that he was in trouble, he hadn’t even been able to get a mouthful of hot soup from any of them.
Fairy Liu was different from them; she had actually given him a hundred taels of silver.
If it were in the past, he would have tossed this hundred taels onto the ground; even a dog wouldn’t want it.
After all, which of the gifts he had casually given to Fairy Liu had not been worth thousands of taels?
But because he had fallen into misfortune and tasted the cold and warmth of the world, he understood that to still give him a hundred taels at such a time was not unkind at all.
He accepted the hundred taels of silver, ran to the front of the carriage, and knelt down, wanting to thank Fairy Liu in person.
The streets were bustling with traffic and people.
In the past, the youth’s legs had been like pine trees—they could be broken, but they would not kneel.
Now, the youth knelt down easily, kneeling before the young woman he admired.
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