Chapter 523 - 522: Yun Zijin Gives a Gift (Part 1)

Huo Yue Lan rubbed her nose. "You’re grown men. Are you seriously trying to compete with Zijin for attention? Get in here, both of you. And stop looking like a couple of scorned lovers. You too, wipe that look off your face!"

Huo Yue Lan delivered her tirade, then turned and went back inside. But before she turned, the two brothers could see her muttering something under her breath.

The brothers exchanged a look, finally letting out a helpless sigh. It couldn’t be helped; they’d always been the less favored ones at home.

It hadn’t been so obvious before Yun Zijin came along, but her arrival made it increasingly apparent.

Lu Yunque pushed Lu Yunzhou into the main courtyard, and the first thing they saw was Yun Zijin happily chatting with their grandparents.

"Oh, right! I brought you all some small gifts. I just forgot to bring them in with me."

With that, Yun Zijin stood up from the sandalwood chair and made to run outside.

"Hey, not so fast! Put on your jacket before you go out. It’s too cold to be dressed like that. You’ll catch a cold, and you’ll be the only one miserable for it."

As she spoke, Huo Yue Lan walked over and took down the down jacket Yun Zijin had just hung by the wall, even looking ready to help her put it on.

Yun Zijin quickly took it from her and put it on herself.

’They’re being so warm, I can hardly keep up.’

Yun Zijin headed out. She hadn’t gone far from the main courtyard when she saw Zero One and six others walking in, laden with bags of all sizes.

It wasn’t the first time Zero One and his team had visited the Lu Family’s Old Mansion, so after a quick security check for any suspicious items, the guards at the gate let them in.

The bags of all sizes they carried were filled with gifts Yun Zijin had pulled from her system’s inventory, along with others she had found at home.

Each person’s gift was unique, and their values naturally varied, but Yun Zijin had carefully selected every one of them based on her understanding of each member of the Lu Family.

"Miss."

Zero One greeted Yun Zijin respectfully.

"You brought them all in. I knew I’d forgotten something when I came in earlier."

When Zero One and his men wanted to be inconspicuous, they were so good at it that you could completely overlook their presence as long as they remained silent.

"Are all these gifts for us? Just having you here is enough. You didn’t have to bring anything. Auntie isn’t short on anything here."

"It would be rude of me to visit empty-handed. I’ve already brought them, so Auntie, you can’t refuse!"

Yun Zijin linked her arm through Huo Yue Lan’s, swaying it cajolingly.

How could Huo Yue Lan possibly resist such charm?

"Alright, alright, I won’t refuse. Quick, bring them in so we can see! I’m sure any gift you’ve chosen will be wonderful."

’Even if I see a gift I don’t quite like,’ Huo Yue Lan thought, ’I have to make Yun Zijin feel like she’s given us the perfect presents.’

Huo Yue Lan took Yun Zijin’s hand, and they returned to the main courtyard together.

"You’re back. Let me see what gifts Zijin has brought."

Xu Su Hua put on her reading glasses and walked over.

"Hehe, I picked them all out myself. Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle, Auntie, you can’t say you don’t like them, or I’ll be heartbroken."

"Of course not, of course not!" Lu Zhengguo chimed in quickly. "Who would ever complain about receiving a gift?"

No matter what Yun Zijin gave, just looking at the packaging, you could tell she had definitely put thought into it.

A gift given with thought is always a good gift, no matter what it is.

Lu Yunque and Lu Yunzhou remained quietly at the side, but you could tell from their curious, shifting eyes that they were also eager to see what gifts Yun Zijin had for them.

Yun Zijin first took out a rectangular box. It looked quite large.

"This one is for Grandma."

"Oh! So big?"

"Grandma, you can open it and see if you like it."

Afraid she would be too embarrassed to open it in front of her, Yun Zijin suggested it herself.

’Only by seeing their first reaction can I know if they genuinely like the gift.’

Xu Su Hua had originally planned to open it after returning to her room that night but hadn’t expected Yun Zijin to ask her to open it now.

"Alright, then I’ll open it and have a look."

After speaking, Xu Su Hua glanced at the others around her.

Without Xu Su Hua having to say a word, they all knew what to do.

Xu Su Hua untied the ribbon and lifted the lid off the gift box.

What came into view was a bolt of dark red cloth embroidered with gold thread.

Xu Su Hua’s eyes lit up. "Is this... Su embroidery? And by the looks of it, it’s completely hand-stitched."

Xu Su Hua reached out, took a corner of the fabric from the gift box, and rubbed it carefully between her fingers.

After all, ever since the advent of machine embroidery, the market for hand-stitching had dwindled. Nowadays, very few people sought out handmade embroidered goods.

Xu Su Hua had once been the treasured daughter of a prominent family; she could tell the quality of these fabrics with a single touch.

The bolt Yun Zijin had given was clearly of exceptional quality—not just the fabric itself, but also the embroidery on it.

In every single stitch, you could see the exquisite skill of the person who had embroidered this bolt of cloth.

The skill was on par with that of any Su embroidery master she knew of.

"I love this gift. Since Zijin gave me a gift, I have a gift for Zijin too."

With that, Xu Su Hua tidied the gift box with the bolt of cloth, had Mrs. Wang put it away for her, and then trotted off toward her own courtyard, all to get a gift for Yun Zijin.

Huo Yue Lan’s eyes hadn’t left the gift box since Xu Su Hua opened it.

"Zijin, do you have any more of this fabric? You don’t have to give it to me. How much is it? I’ll buy it."

"Auntie, this gift is for you. You can take a look."

Huo Yue Lan looked at the gift box Yun Zijin pushed in front of her. It was about the same size as her mother-in-law’s, with nearly identical dimensions.

A thought struck her, and her hands, moving faster than her brain, untied the ribbon.

Inside was, indeed, another bolt of fabric. But unlike Xu Su Hua’s dark red one, this bolt was a deep crimson-purple.

Originally, Yun Zijin had wanted to give Huo Yue Lan the Yun Brocade she had just received as a reward. But then she discovered twenty bolts of deep crimson-purple Shu brocade in her system inventory and felt this would be more suitable for Huo Yue Lan.

However, she couldn’t possibly give away all twenty bolts at once, so she gave one bolt each to Xu Su Hua and Huo Yue Lan.

She wasn’t very familiar with the clothing styles they liked, so she could only give them the fabric directly and let them find their own people to make clothes.

People with deep family foundations like Xu Su Hua and Huo Yue Lan certainly had more connections. The tailors they could find might even be the kind with a family heritage of their own.

"This color is beautiful. And this on top, is it Shu embroidery?"

First Su embroidery, and now Shu embroidery. The way Huo Yue Lan looked at Yun Zijin was different now.

Young people nowadays rarely have an appreciation for embroidery.

This kind of traditional culture really needed the younger generation to promote it more.

"That’s right. I was worried that if I had a tailor make the clothes, the style might not be to your liking, so I decided to give you the fabric directly. I hope you don’t think I was just being lazy about it."

After saying this, Yun Zijin blushed in embarrassment.