The first thing that caught her eye was a necklace — something the original owner had always worn around her neck since she was a child. It wasn't worth much: a peachwood pendant carved in the shape of a zodiac animal, with a brown drop-shaped ornament hanging below that looked like either jade or stone.
Apparently, it had been around her neck when her adoptive parents found her. Judging by how plain it was, she likely hadn't been cherished much by her birth parents either.
Its only real function seemed to be that her date of birth was carved into the back of the wooden tag — as if someone had known she'd be abandoned one day. A bit ironic, really.
She actually felt that being an orphan suited her just fine. She had no plans to search for her biological family. She had no desire to bring a bunch of so-called ancestors into her life.
Underneath the box were two property deeds. One was for the house she was currently living in; the other was under her adoptive mother Ding Zhilan's name.
The house under Ding Zhilan's name had been rented out to the government. The rent used to be transferred to Ding Zhilan, but after her death, her grandfather had arranged for it to be sent to the original owner instead.
Thinking about her upcoming move to the countryside, she realized she needed to stop by and settle the matter before leaving.
While she was still deep in thought, someone suddenly banged on the door.
"Yunyi! Open the door!"
The voice was unmistakable. She hadn't even gone to confront them yet, and they had already shown up at her door.
Perhaps it was a lingering remnant of the original owner's emotions, but a wave of anger surged in her chest.
She stood up abruptly. But in her haste, her hand scraped against the sharp edge of the open secret compartment, cutting a gash. Beads of blood immediately began to form.
Thinking that the Sun family must be after all this property laid out in front of her, Yunyi didn't even bother tending to the bleeding cut on her hand. She quickly stuffed the house deeds back into the small wooden box.
Just as she was about to toss the worthless-looking necklace back into the box as well, a droplet of blood from her wound fell directly onto the brown pendant.
Yunyi reached out to wipe it off — but before she could, an entirely different scene flashed through her mind.
Having once possessed a "cheat" (an external system), how could she not recognize what this meant?
Shock and delight surged through her heart — mixed with a bit of disbelief.
But now wasn't the time to look into it.
Because outside the door, a fresh round of pounding had just begun.
She quickly tended to the wound on her hand, put everything back into the secret compartment, and stepped out into the courtyard. "Coming."
As soon as the front door opened, it revealed Madam Sun's ingratiating smile."Yunyi, what took you so long to open the door?"
Yunyi made no move to invite her in. "Auntie Sun, is something the matter?"
Madam Sun glanced sideways at the curious neighbors peeking over, then forced a laugh."I just thought you might be feeling lonely all by yourself, so I came to keep you company."
Yunyi wasn't in the mood to waste words. "No need, I'm a bit tired and would like to rest."
That one line — "would like to rest" — shut down anything Madam Sun had planned to say. Though she cursed Yunyi up and down in her heart, she still wore a fake smile."Well, rest well then. Even though your grandfather is gone, you still have us. Don't you worry."
But Yunyi wasn't the original host anymore. She responded bluntly,"There's nothing for me to worry about. My grandfather made all the arrangements before he passed. No need for you to trouble yourself."
She didn't speak too harshly — not wanting to ruin her plans for revenge later.
Before Madam Sun could say anything else, Yunyi cut in,"If there's nothing else, I'll be going to rest now."
With that, she nodded toward the neighbors outside and closed the door.
No one was a fool. The Sun family's intentions were plain for all to see — they wanted to swoop in and snatch up the inheritance from a now-heirless household.
Still, considering Old Master Chu had just been buried, most people could understand Yunyi's attitude.
(End of Chapter)