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"We still need fifteen taels of silver," said Lady Zhang.
"Um, mother, that's exactly why I came back, to get the money. The twenty taels of silver that Master Shen Liu gave last time haven't been touched; they should fit perfectly with this amount," Lian Manman said.
"Right, right."
Lian Manman then took off her shoes to climb onto the kang, fetched the wooden box where she kept money from the cabinet she shared with Lian Zhizhi, took out the key from somewhere close to her body, unlocked the wooden box, and pulled out fifteen taels of silver. After thinking for a moment, she took a few more pieces of broken silver before relocking the wooden box and putting it back in its place.
Lady Zhang had already taken a large handkerchief and wrapped up the fifteen taels of silver to place in the basket, while the few pieces of broken silver were put by Lian Manman into her own purse.