After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Although Jiang Xiaoqi was short of money when he returned this time, it was only in terms of cash.

Hiring people from other dimensions to seal the secret passage was his biggest expense. Now that the matter is over, he only has a few taels of loose silver left, besides the two hundred taels he helped Jiang Yu'er keep.

However, he had no shortage of gold and silver bricks in the safety buckle. Although the silver took up space, he could still collect it all when the temporary space was opened.

Therefore, the gold bars inside the safety buckle are worth about 500,000 taels, and the silver bars are estimated to be worth about 2 million taels.

However, these gold and silver bricks all had special markings from the inner court. They could either be melted down and recast, or ground down. Grinding down would inevitably cause some damage, and recasting required finding a private foundry.

It is illegal to mint silver coins, and he currently has no way of finding anyone who owns such a workshop.

Before going home, I thoroughly reviewed my vast collection of information.

Finally, he managed to find some relatively ordinary items without any markings, which would be perfect as New Year's gifts for his family. After all, his family is now a commoner, and they shouldn't overstep the bounds of style and regulations.

The items Wenbin picked up were much easier to deal with. Besides some gold and silver, the most he took were jade artifacts.

They were quite discerning, picking out high-quality jade pendants, jade rings, jade bracelets, and other similar items, most of which did not bear the inscription "Made in the Imperial Court."

Perhaps the craftsmen at the time felt that carving words on jade would inevitably destroy its spiritual essence, so they did not treat these jade artifacts the same way they treated gold and silver.

Jiang Xiaoqi brought out a similar amount this time, including jade beads, white jade bracelets, pearl earrings, yellow jade hairpins, and countless other items.

It's perfect as a gift for the women in the family. Of course, I also picked out two jade pendants, one better and one more ordinary.

The better ones were for the grandfather, while the ordinary ones were for his cheap father, whom he barely spoke to all year round.

He could always sense a faint hostility from that person. He didn't know if he was being too sensitive or what. Having been a woman for thirty-eight years in his previous life, he sometimes trusted his intuition.

However, since that person still held the position of father, he couldn't make things too awkward, so he simply picked out a piece of jade pendant and gave it to him.

The gift for my grandfather is a yellow jade pendant with excellent symbolism. Yellow jade symbolizes longevity in this era, and the character "翡" (fei) is a homophone of "斐" (fei) in my name. I believe my grandfather will definitely like it.

The gift for my grandmother is a pair of Hetian jade bracelets. The jade is warm and smooth to the touch, making them very suitable for someone of my grandmother's age to wear.

The gift given to his mother, Lin Yueniang, was a jade hairpin. The hairpin was entirely green with no elaborate carvings, but its natural translucency and clear jade quality made it look incredibly noble.

The eldest and second eldest sisters received pearl bracelets. The round, white pearls were almost all the same size. Pearl harvesting was not easy in this era, and it didn't take pearl divers many dives to collect this bracelet.

The ones given to the half-sisters were different; they were red coral earrings, which were extremely rare even at this time of year. They were round and bright red, perfect for wearing during the New Year.

On this New Year's Eve, Jiang Xiaoqi presented all the gifts one by one, much to the delight of the whole family.

Jiang Wenqing was somewhat surprised that his son still cared about him, his father. He hadn't prepared any New Year's gifts for his son.

The most surprised person was Madam Pan. She never expected to receive a gift from the young master. Touching the jade bracelet on her wrist, her eyes reddened.

The master's jade pendant is made of green jade, and hers is also made of green jade. The young master is really thoughtful, treating his concubine as family.

"Auntie, why are you crying? Don't you like the bracelet your brother gave you? It's very pretty."

The fourth girl had just put on the coral earrings her younger brother had given her with the help of her third sister when she turned around and saw that her aunt's eyes were red.

"No, Auntie is happy, very happy." Aunt Pan quickly forced a smile, afraid that Jiang Xiaoqi would misunderstand.

"I'm glad you like it, Auntie. We'll bring some nice things for the sisters when we return from the city."

"Really? Seventh brother, you'd better keep your word!" Fourth sister said quickly.

"Of course it's true, Fourth Sister, don't you believe me?"

"Of course we believe it! Our seventh brother is the best to us sisters!"

The fifth and sixth sisters also helped each other put on the red coral earrings. With identical faces wearing identical earrings, the two sisters touched them again and again, clearly liking them very much.

Unlike bracelets and bangles, earrings are not visible when worn. Luckily, all four sisters wore the same style, so they could see each other's.

Lin Yueniang wore the jade hairpin, which made her face even more radiant, and Jiang Wenqing was momentarily stunned.

Madam Jiang glanced at the couple, but smiled without saying a word. She touched her pair of Hetian jade bracelets and occasionally touched her husband's yellow jade pendant.

The whole family was delighted to receive the gifts, and no one was disappointed. After giving out eleven gifts, Jiang Xiaoqi also received several large red envelopes.

At this point, Jiang Wenqing naturally learned of his father's decision. He wanted to get angry but didn't dare. So, he was going to have to stay and guard the family business in Longevity Village until he was old?!

He also wanted to go out and see the world. His son had suggested that the whole family go to the prefectural city, but his father wouldn't allow it. He was still young and had good legs, and he didn't mind the distance!

But this is just something to think about. Once someone is used to being weak, you can't expect to change them overnight, unless they are taken over by someone else.

At night, Jiang Wenqing tossed and turned on his bed in his study, unable to fall asleep.

He knew his father's temperament; once he made a decision, it was hard to change it. But he was still unwilling to spend his whole life in the longevity village.

Sigh, in a few more years he'll be forty, with no hope of passing the imperial examinations. If his son becomes successful by then, won't he have even less say in the family?

Unaware of her adoptive father's intentions, Jiang Xiaoqi carried a rather large brocade box to her mother's and sister's courtyard.

Inside were red coral earrings, pearl necklaces, hair ornaments made of small pearls, and exquisitely crafted, brightly colored necklaces.

"This is?"

It was not yet midnight, and the mother and her children were staying up all night to welcome the New Year.

"Wow, what's this? How come there are so many good things?" Jiang Xiwen's eyes widened when she saw the contents of the brocade box. Had her younger brother struck it rich?

"These coral earrings are the same as the ones my third and fourth sisters have. I thought my two older sisters would like them too, so I bought these two pairs as well."

However, it's inconvenient to give them openly at this time, so we can only take them out privately. Once we arrive in the prefectural city, the older sisters can all take them out and wear them.

"You, you, are we that greedy? So what if we don't have earrings? This pearl bracelet is obviously much more valuable than those red coral earrings. How could we not know that?"

"Anyway, I'll be buying things for my sisters once we get to the city, so I'm just trying to save trouble by buying everything at once. Please don't be offended, sisters."

Jiang Xiwen then picked up a pearl necklace, the beads of which were larger than the bracelets worn by the two sisters.

"These are for Mother. We'll buy them for the older sisters later when we find suitable ones. But these two necklaces are for the older sisters. Try them on and see if you like them."

Jiang Xiaoqi took out two similar-style necklaces and handed them to the two sisters.

The two sisters put them on as instructed and admired them greatly, clearly showing how much they loved them.

Jiang Xiaoqi took out a few more hair ornaments, stood on tiptoe and put them on her two older sisters. The lifelike pearl butterflies and pearl dragonflies had their wings fluttering up and down, and they were very lively.

"Granny Zhou, Sister Cui'er, these are for you." Jiang Xiaoqi took out the only two pairs of jade bead earrings she had left.

"Oh, we have some too?!"

The two men glanced at Lin Yueniang, who nodded. Only then did they step forward, bend down, and happily take off the silver earrings and put on the jade earrings, their joy impossible to hide.

When Jiang Xiaoqi was organizing the external space, she felt that the piles of identical jade earrings looked like they were given as gifts by a princess of a previous dynasty, given the sheer number of them.

Otherwise, it could be something that palace maids and nannies usually wear, which would be suitable as a gift to someone close to the mother. After all, even items used by palace staff are extremely exquisite.

At least in Changshou County, they are rare. They might be found in Fucheng, but earrings made from such ordinary scraps of jade beads wouldn't fetch a high price, and better jewelry shops wouldn't bother making them.

Lin Yueniang put the extra jewelry she and her two daughters put back into the brocade box, intending not to wear it during their stay at home.

It was past midnight, so we urged the three children to go to rest. The lights in the main courtyard were not turned off, as this was a custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve.

Jiang Xiaoqi yawned, went back to his room, lay on the bed, but was still thinking about the private foundry.

If all else fails, you can first ask the system to exchange the gold and silver bricks for interstellar coins, and then go to another dimension to find a place to mint coins. This is a safe method, even if it costs more in 'handling fees'.