Chapter 530 The Ownership of the Coins

"Then I’ll have to choose carefully and see which ones look like they might have a coin inside."

"According to the rules, you have to eat all the dumplings you wrapped yourself before you can eat any others!"

Yun Zijin was dumbfounded.

"Why?"

"Because the ones you wrapped look so... unique. You can spot them at a glance."

Theirs all looked more or less the same, so that rule didn’t apply to them.

"I... You eat them!"

Yun Zijin dumped all the dumplings she had wrapped into Lu Yunque’s bowl.

’If I eat all the ones I wrapped, I’ll be full. How am I supposed to find a dumpling with a coin then?’

Lu Yunque chuckled helplessly and accepted Yun Zijin’s "gift."

They might have looked different, but they tasted the same, so it didn’t matter.

Watching the two interact, the others couldn’t help but smile fondly. A real couple was just so sweet to watch.

After giving the dumplings she’d wrapped to Lu Yunque, Yun Zijin turned her attention to the platter on the table. She carefully used a large serving spoon to pick out a few for herself.

She could probably eat about six to eight of these big dumplings, but no more. Careful selection was essential.

When the others saw that Yun Zijin had only put a few dumplings in her bowl, they all thought it was too little.

"Zijin, why don’t you take a few more? Can you really get full on so little?"

Huo Yue Lan was worried that Yun Zijin felt like a guest and was too polite to eat more, so she was deliberately eating less.

"I’ll be full. This is how much I always eat."

Although Yun Zijin’s biological parents were from the north, she had grown up in the south, and her lifestyle habits were those of a southerner.

That included her eating habits.

To a northerner, her portion probably wouldn’t even count as a warm-up.

"Well... in that case, you just take what you want. You can always go back for more, you know?"

Hearing Yun Zijin say that, Huo Yue Lan wasn’t sure what to do.

She was afraid Yun Zijin wouldn’t eat enough, but if this was truly all she could eat, forcing more on her and making her uncomfortably full would be a mistake.

"Don’t worry, Auntie. I definitely won’t be overly polite with you all."

With that, Yun Zijin began eating her carefully selected dumplings.

Lu Yunque had eaten with Yun Zijin several times and was familiar with her appetite. He knew she was telling the truth, so he didn’t join in trying to persuade her.

Watching Yun Zijin chew slowly and deliberately, the others unconsciously slowed their own pace.

Otherwise, it would look like they were wolfing down their food.

However, even though they ate quickly, their movements were still very proper and elegant. Such was the bearing of a prominent family.

As Yun Zijin was eating her second dumpling, there was a stir from Lu Yunzhou’s direction.

"Did you get a coin?"

Huo Yue Lan was sitting next to Lu Yunzhou, and when she saw him suddenly stop, she quickly looked over.

A moment later, Lu Yunzhou covered his mouth with a napkin and spat a coin out.

"He really found one! As expected of my son!"

"That’s the first coin of the year! It looks like Zhouzhou will have great luck this year. His fortune is on the rise!"

The others at the table, for reasons unknown, all showed a glimmer of hope on their faces.

This omen was so good it made them feel like they could eat another bowl.

"Mmph!"

Just as Yun Zijin was eating the last dumpling in her bowl, having already given up hope, she suddenly felt herself bite down on something hard.

Realizing it was a coin, she quickly covered her mouth with a napkin and spat it out.

"I got one too!"

This was Yun Zijin’s first time participating in the New Year’s tradition of finding coins in dumplings, and she never expected she’d be one of the lucky ones.

"Excellent, excellent! Zijin will be bursting with good luck this year, and wealth will come rolling in!"

"There’s one more. I’d better step it up."

So far, of the three young people at the table, only Lu Yunque hadn’t found a coin, and he couldn’t help but feel a little out of sorts.

Lu Yunque sped up his dumpling eating. He was only slightly full anyway, he could still eat more!

"Slow down. You’ll end up choking before you find a coin."

’He’s being a little childish,’ Yun Zijin thought, ’turning even this into a competition.’

"Ah! I’ve got it right here."

Xu Su Hua elegantly spat the coin from her mouth.

And with that, all three coins had been found.

At that moment, Lu Yunque also put down his chopsticks.

Seeing that Lu Yunque looked a bit stuffed, Yun Zijin walked over and patted his shoulder. "You need to go for a walk to digest."

"You come with me."

Lu Yunque grabbed Yun Zijin’s delicate hand, looking up at her and pleading with his eyes.

"Okay, let’s go together."

The Lu Family’s Old Mansion was large, with many places suitable for a walk.

There were all sorts of pavilions and kiosks, winding streams and covered corridors—it was picturesque at every turn.

"Oh, right. Auntie Huo bought an Ice Tree and a Fire Tree from me before. I wonder how they’re doing now?"

"I see Li Yuexing posting on his Moments every day, and his Ice Tree and Fire Tree never seem to grow any bigger."

They weren’t wilting, but it was still worrying that they weren’t growing.

"They’re planted in the courtyard of the house she and my dad live in. Do you want to go see them?"

"Can we? To go into the courtyard where your uncle and auntie live... shouldn’t we ask them first?"

’Taking without asking is stealing. By the same token, entering someone’s private residence without asking them is trespassing.’

"I’ll just call and let them know. We’re not going into the side rooms anyway, just walking around the courtyard and garden."

Lu Xianzhang and Huo Yue Lan both loved to garden, so the garden in their courtyard was the most beautiful in the entire compound.

When Lu Yunque was a child, he would often wander in here. Most importantly, it had lots of beautiful flowers, plants, and a swing set.

That’s right, there was a swing set. Lu Xianzhang had built it back then to cheer up Huo Yue Lan while she was pregnant.

However, after Huo Yue Lan gave birth to Lu Yunque, the swing set gradually fell into disuse. Now, it was almost dilapidated.

After getting the couple’s permission, Lu Yunque and Yun Zijin stepped into the courtyard.

The first thing Yun Zijin saw upon entering the courtyard were the Ice Tree and Fire Tree that Huo Yue Lan had planted on either side of the gate.

"They... also seem like they’re not really growing."

Yun Zijin glanced at the two trees and thought they seemed a bit too small.

"They’ve been watered diligently every day since they were planted, but for some reason, they just haven’t grown."

"I don’t know the reason for that, either. The two at my place are usually looked after by Aunt Wang."

’Perhaps some people are just born with a green thumb,’ she mused. ’Given the same process and methods, someone with a maxed-out planting skill could just grow things better than anyone else.’

Yun Zijin moved closer to the Fire Tree for a look and was instantly enveloped by its warmth, feeling a sense of comfort spread through her body.

The warmth from the Fire Tree was so much more pleasant than the dry heat from an air conditioner.

’Is it because the Fire Tree is a plant, and the thermal energy it produces through photosynthesis is different from the artificial heat from an air conditioner, which can feel stuffy after a while?’

"A tree this size... if you bought a bigger pot, transplanted it, and moved it into a room, you’d even save on heating costs. Wouldn’t that be better?"

"It’s not that. My mom was afraid the Fire Tree wouldn’t survive the transplant, so she didn’t let my dad move it."