Life within the Ding Residence was complicated.
Master Ding made all the women purchased into the household call him "Father." The Ding Mansion seemed to boast a flourishing family, but in truth, his only actual child was his legitimate eldest son, Ding Yuanbo.
Though they were publicly addressed as young ladies of the Ding Mansion, even the servants often treated them with disdain. Only by climbing to the very top of all the "young ladies," becoming the one who earned the most money for the household, could they improve their circumstances a little.
But...
That very situation made survival within the residence even harder for them.
Scheming, framing others, and banding together to ostracize someone were daily compulsory lessons in the Ding Residence. What she found hardest to stomach, however, was how some would wait until a room's occupant was away, then sneak inside to steal.
Thus, she had developed the habit of keeping all her valuables on her person. Small items she carried directly; larger ones she exchanged for pawn tickets, which she carried instead.
As for her gold and silver, she had rented a house with an underground secret chamber specifically to store them.
That pouch contained not only the Jade Pendant Jiang Lifeng had given Master Ding, several pieces of valuable but compact jewelry, and more than ten pawn tickets and silver notes, but also the key to the house she had rented-
Practically her entire fortune!
Ding Ruihan's eyes turned bloodshot.
She staggered forward and seized Jiang Lifeng's wrist, nearly crazed. "Was it you? Was it you?!"
"Give it back!"
"Give it back to me!!"
Her wails grew more piercing with each cry. As she shook him violently, Jiang Lifeng cast a wooden glance toward the little girl.
His back felt so heavy, as though an