Chapter 11 — After the Rain, Nam Son Still Has the Fragrance of Medicine

Chu Hoai Le smiled coldly.

"The Lam family? The Lam family disbanded a long time ago. Now it's unknown who Nam Son Duong belongs to."

I opened the needle bag. The silver needles lie neatly in rows. The innermost compartment... is empty. The seal is no longer there. Even Tham Nhuoc Lan was stunned.

"Why isn't there? Obviously I left it in there."

Chu Hoai Le immediately turned to her.

“Where is the seal?”

Tham Nhuoc Lan seemed crazy, flipping over the cloth bag.

"I don't know! It's really in here!"

Tran Thieu suddenly burst out laughing.

“Looking for this?”

He took out a tiny white jade seal from his pocket and held it up under the light. Tham Nhuoc Lan screamed loudly.

"Tran Thieu! When did you get it?"

Tran Thieu grinned.

"When you hugged it to sleep, you were careful of Co Nghien Tri, of Gian Thanh, but you forgot to be careful of your own husband."

Co Nghien Tri's face turned pale.

“Tran Thieu, give it back to her.”

Tran Thieu squeezed the seal in his palm.

“General Gu, who are you talking about helping?”

“Someone paid five million yuan to buy this, on what basis should I pay?”

Chu Hoai Le immediately said:

“Give it to me, the money will be transferred immediately.”

Uncle Trieu stepped up.

"Tran Thieu, think carefully. That's the Lam family's property, holding it is a crime of theft."

Tran Thieu spat on the ground.

“Don't scare me.”

“There's only one way of scaring people with money.”

"Whoever bids the highest price today, the item belongs to that person."

I looked at him.

“You want money?”

Tran Thieu raised his eyebrows.

“I give you ten minutes.”

“Call the person you intend to sell this item to.”

“Whoever can tell the exact origin of this seal on the spot, I will let you leave here safely.”

Duong Tue whispered impatiently.

“Why are you still talking about business with him?”

I put the needle bag back.

“It's a fake.”

Duong Tue was stunned. I looked at the jade seal in Tran Thieu's hand.

“My mother never put a real stamp in her needle bag.”

“That thing is just a needle stopper.”

The proud look on Chu Hoai Le's face immediately froze and then crumbled. Tran Thieu cursed loudly, raised the seal and intended to smash it on the ground. Co Nghien Tri rushed to hold his hand, the two immediately started fighting. Co's mother screamed and kept backing away. Tham Nhuoc Lan cried and crawled under the table. I stood at the edge of the stage and took out a silver needle from the bottom of my needle bag. At the end of the needle is engraved an extremely small word "Thanh". As soon as he saw it, Uncle Trieu's eyes immediately turned red.

“It turns out the lady gave you the real seal.”

I closed the needle bag.

“Not a seal.”

I raised my head to look at Chu Hoai Le.

“It's me.”

The big gate of the old house in Nam Son is wide open. There are many people in the yard. There are older people, some wearing long dresses, some with canes, and also middle-aged men wearing normal shirts. When they saw me walking in holding a jar of ashes, the chatter immediately subsided. In the middle of the main hall, there was a white-haired old man sitting with his back straight. Next to him lay an ebony stick. I stepped forward.

"Grandfather."

Lam Ba Son looked at the jar of ashes in my heart. The hand placed on the stick for a long time still did not lift.

“Where is your mother?”

Uncle Trieu spoke softly.

“Dear boss…”

Lam Ba Son still stared at the jar of ashes, his voice stiffened.

“I asked her.”

“Where is your mother?”

I knelt down and placed the urn in front of the kneeling cushion.

“I took my mother home.”

Lam Ba Son's hand finally trembled. He stood up with his cane, slowly walked in front of the urn, and gently stroked the edge of the white cloth covering it.

“Twenty years of not returning.”

“By the time I returned... there was only this small box left.”

Sighs echoed in the hall. At that moment, a woman wearing a purple coat walked out, her voice shrill.

"Eldest uncle, now is not the time to cry. Since Thanh Hoa is gone, you should also take out the seal. Nam Son Duong has relied on everyone to support you all these years, you can't let a girl with a different last name decide everything."

Duong Tue stood at the door and immediately asked Uncle Trieu in a low voice.

"Who is that? Why does his mouth look exactly like Co's mother?"

Uncle Trieu replied:

“A member of the second branch of the Lam family, Lam Ngoc Mai.”

Lam Ngoc Mai heard it and immediately glared over.

“Where did this girl who doesn't know any manners come from?”

Duong Tue also glared back.

“Rules are for people, but wasting them on you is a waste.”

Lam Ba Son slammed his stick on the ground.

“What are you arguing about?”

Lam Ngoc Mai fell silent, then turned to look at me again.

"Thanh Thanh, it's not like my second aunt intentionally made things difficult for me. I've been outside for so many years, and I've never even stepped in at the door of Nam Son Duong. In the past, my mother ran away from home because of a poor scholar, causing the old man to fall ill. Now that she's gone, I'm carrying the jar of ashes back and want to take the seal of the head of the Lam family, how can such a thing happen?"

I stood up.

“I never said I would take it away.”

“Then hand it over.”