1338 A Ring
Liang Lan had completely no recollection of where Qiao Qiang’s photo was kept. Even if she had seen it before, it was when she was about seven or eight years old. She was almost 50 years old now and could not remember anything from her childhood.

However, the house was only so big. She also knew where Liang Shu kept her things, so she was sure she would be able to find it soon. It was just photos and not anything valuable, so it could not be hidden somewhere obscure.

Liang Lan rummaged through all the cabinets and boxes in the house. In the end, she found a rather exquisite wooden box inside a big box in the storeroom. When she opened it, it was indeed filled with old photos and she hurriedly ran back to the room to show Qiao Mei. The earlier she handed these things to Qiao Mei, the more satisfied Qiao Mei would be and the sooner she could be free.

“Look! This is the box. There are many photos inside. You can take a look at them,” Liang Lan said happily.

Qiao Mei searched through the photos one by one, worried that she would miss seeing Qiao Qiang’s photo. However, no matter how carefully she searched, she could not find any photos of Qiao Qiang. There was not even a group photo with him inside.
The box was completely filled with only photos of Liang Lan and Liang Guo when they were young. There were photos of them at all ages and there were also quite a number of photos of Liang Shu. Qiao Mei did not expect Liang Lan to look so sweet and obedient when she was young. How did she become like this and changed so much!

“Are you messing around with me? Or perhaps your mother has destroyed all the photos and you don’t know about it,” Qiao Mei asked with a frown.

“No! I’ve definitely seen it before! Wait!” Liang Lan took the wooden box from Qiao Mei and rummaged through it carefully. As she searched, she muttered to herself, “I can’t be wrong… I clearly remember that it’s in this box… How can it have disappeared… I definitely can’t have remembered wrongly…”

Liang Lan poured everything out of the box and a ring fell to the ground with a crisp thud. When Liang Shu saw the ring, she started to yell violently again. Qiao Mei did not know what she was trying to say, but she felt that this ring must be especially important to Liang Shu.

“You can take this. We have no use for it anyway. I know you really like antiques and this ring should be quite old. Take it as my thank-you gift to you for coming to save my mother,” Liang Shu said.

She was no longer sure if the photo was still around or not. If she really could not find the photo, she would have to give Qiao Mei something else to placate her. This way, there was a higher chance of her obtaining the “divine medicine”.

The ring was very exquisite and looked as if it was made by a master craftsman. It was not an ordinary item. The butterfly on it was lifelike and made of gold. The wings of the butterfly were embedded with all kinds of gemstones, including many rare gems. In particular, the rubies on the body of the butterfly looked like they could be pigeon blood ruby.

“I can’t take this thing. If word gets out, how am I supposed to explain myself? I’m not here to save someone in return for such things,” Qiao Mei said.

Not long ago, the grandson of Xia Jun’s close comrade, Old Mr. Sun, suddenly came to look for her. He knelt down and begged her for a bottle of “divine medicine”. Old Mr. Sun was five years younger than Xia Jun, but no one had expected his health to deteriorate very quickly. Old Mr. Sun was suffering from so much pain that he could not even eat.

Qiao Mei had been very moved by what Old Mr. Sun’s grandson did. If Qiao Qiang was terminally ill, she would also do anything to save him. Even if it meant kneeling down to others, she would do it to save Qiao Qiang.

If she accepted Liang Lan’s gift now, the Sun family might send a big gift to her house in a couple of days. Then did she have to give everyone the “divine medicine” if they brought their family heirloom along when they came to look for her? That would be such a mess.

“Just take it! It’s useless to leave it in our house! It suits you! You… you’re my father’s biological granddaughter after all. We’re related by blood, so there’s nothing wrong with me giving you a gift,” Liang Lan said as she stuffed the ring into Qiao Mei’s hand.

“My grandfather has already completely severed ties with your family, so the blood relationship between us is equivalent to nothing. You should take it back.” Qiao Mei wanted to return the ring to Liang Lan, but she suddenly felt that something was wrong.

The ring was slowly absorbing her energy. The energy in her body kept getting transferred to the ring through her palm. Her body gradually turned cold as she held onto the ring tightly, unable to move an inch.

Liang Lan just watched on as Qiao Mei stared at the ring in a daze. Even Xia He found her behavior to be a little strange.