Chapter 479

Julie suddenly wanted to tell her something. After this incident happened, she knew she should be happy, but she couldn’t seem to find a place to be happy, but she knew that when she told someone else, they would be happy for her, which would be the same as her being happy too.

She didn’t tell Dai Yu Cicada because she wanted to be the first to tell Zhu Yu Yan, she wanted to let Second Miss to be happy for her, Second Miss is like another sister to her, she knows everything about her, if she is happy, she will be happy too.

She said, “A year ago, someone found me.”

Zhu Yuyan froze for a moment. Because of what happened a year ago, she hadn’t said anything about it, so why did she say it now?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

But now was not the time to pursue the question.

Zhu Yu Yan just nodded calmly, looking at Ms. Julie with gentle eyes, waiting for her to continue.

Julie swallowed and mentally organized the words many times.

“A lawyer came to see me with a priest.”

Bertali John was an estate lawyer. He wasn’t exactly famous, just a small, ordinary lawyer who did some side work for some barristers, more like finding creditors or heirs to an estate, or keeping some inheritance papers, waiting for the day when they could be read out to the official heirs.

It was a job that required patience, and in addition required him to be extraordinarily long-lived.

He once received a gentleman who gave him a task regarding an inheritance.

“That’s my mother, she died a few years ago, and I found a letter from her after she was gone, and a few things, and I think it ought to be considered a will.”

The gentleman gave the letter to Bertali John.

The letter was addressed to a little girl.

The gentleman said, “It is said to be the adopted daughter of my mother, a noble maiden from China, where my father held an official position with the Emperor of China, and where my mother was at the time, and probably a girl adopted at that time.”

The letter was some remembrances and gifts from that venerable lady to this little girl, and it did mention something in it that said that all these things should go to this little girl.

The gentleman said, “Now I am going to move away with my family, and I want to find owners for these things before I go.”

This amounts to an indefinite task, and one that will likely never be accomplished – unless Bertali makes a future trip to China. But who can say?

Bertali charged the gentleman twenty pounds for safekeeping and signed a contract that he would search for the lady and return the relics.

The gentleman, after giving everything to Bertali, was relieved to take his family on a ship to the former world. These things were never to concern him again. If Bertali ever contacted him again, he would only be informed that he needed to pay another twenty years of custodianship fees, or that he had successfully found an heir to his estate.

Bertali never expected the good news to come five years later.

There was a priest in the countryside of Manchester, writing to another priest, inquiring about a parishioner, about her name, and her parents, the baptized priest, etc., and he said that a lady had come to his parish, who, according to what she claimed, was of the Catholic faith, but who was yellow or Chinese, and the priest, though he felt that her words were true and very much like the truth, needed to make sure once more that the lady was not a Liar.

Soon the priest received a reply to his letter, which told him all he needed to know, and a parishioner who had seen the lady in the church before was willing to come and confirm that, fortunately, everything had come full circle and that the lady was not a fraud.

Fortunately for Bertali, because he had written a letter to the church where the lady had been baptized asking the baptizing priest if he had any news of the lady, the priest, who had a good memory, also wrote to Bertali informing him that there might be the person he was looking for in Manchester.

It was only a year later that Bertari found the time to travel to Manchester and meet his client. To identify himself, he had brought a personal letter from Fr.

Julie whispered, “That’s my baptized priest.”

Zhu Yuyan had been dumbfounded. The church as a social occasion, its circle was really surprisingly small. And it actually worked.

Julie stood up and held Zhu Yuyan’s hand as she walked to the other room.

These things had been placed here from the moment they were received and hadn’t been unwrapped yet.

Zhu Yuyan followed her in and watched Julie as if she was opening a treasure box that had been dusty for years.

She pulled open the curtains and let the sunlight pour in.

She picked up a long roll that was placed on the table, untied the string on it, and poured out the paintings inside.

So that’s where the paintings were kept.

She unfolded the paintings, they were not big, they were two portraits.

Zhu Yuyan walked over to look at them.

The paintings are still in good condition, and the colors are still very vivid.

One is a little girl, at a glance is Julie. She looked much smaller than now, and her expression was a little timid.

She wore a tiered silk dress, adorned with lace, and her hair was slightly curled and tied in two bows.

She stood by the chair like a large doll. Cute and pretty.

Julie: “I drew this one when I was five or six. Madame says that all little girls of this period need a portrait to use to make friends and to keep as a souvenir.”

The other one is a little larger, and Julie looks a little thinner in it; she’s wearing a prettier gown, standing next to the tree gracias, wearing a lace hat, and holding a small leather whip in her hand.

Julie: “This one …… is from the summer before I came back home, we went to the manor house for a vacation, and I took a picture of it, and Madame asked the artist to paint it as a portrait for me, Madame said that portraits were the only way to keep it forever. She said that young girls like me at this age need to start making some better friends, and I guess she was referring to blind dates.”

Zhu Yuyan nodded her head, a little shocked in her heart, because the Julie in the portrait looked like she was just eight or nine years old, and she already needed to paint a portrait of a blind date?

But the duchess should just be doing it to make Julie happy, Julie is not the duke’s child, there won’t be anyone coming to propose to her, but if Julie’s friends have such portraits and she doesn’t, she might notice that she’s different from the others. The Duchess had arranged the portrait to be considerate of her.

Julie found that she could think of more and more, she could even remember how she looked in this outfit after the photo shoot, with the dog and the servants, running madly through the grass, falling and rolling down the hill laughing madly as well.

She rolled all over the place, even in her hair, and when she woke up the next day she found grass clippings on her pillow.

In addition to the two portraits, there were some toys. Julie one by one to pick up, all to Zhu Yuyan to tell what it is, she also found several from the inside is not her toys, should be the other children in the castle’s, for some reason all sent over.

Julie: “Maybe they don’t know who these things belong to.”

Zhu Yuyan: “Are there many children in the castle?”

Julie: “There are always relatives coming and going, often people live in the castle for a few years or a dozen years, madam never kicks them out, she is very nice to them all, and to me too.”

Zhu Yuyan nodded.

Julie herself went and opened the box, she said, “At that time, the duke did something wrong and made a big mistake. Madam and the duke had a son, but at that time, they both didn’t dare to mention the matter of inheriting the title, worrying that they would hold a grudge against the boy for it. Madame had to leave, and the boy was looked after by relatives in the public school, and I got on a ship back home.”

“Everyone was frightened, and many of my friends left; the castle became empty, and the servants were uneasy. Madame sent her friends away one by one, and she gave each one many presents and money; she was a generous hostess.” Julie, “But I know she was nervous and scared, she would hug me and cry.”

Zhu Yuyan held her hand.

Julie said quietly, “I haven’t thought of her in a long time.”

Now the memories gradually revived.