You can’t play with it, you can’t touch it, and you can’t even see it. So this group of students had no choice but to start wandering around the house.
Shu Shu had spent a fortune on the house renovations back then. Even though more than a decade had passed, the interior décor remained timeless—understated yet undeniably luxurious.
Chu Lian wanted to draw everyone’s attention away from the locked cabinets so she took the initiative to lead the group to the balcony to admire the distant river view.
Meanwhile, Shu Shu slipped into her old master bedroom.
The room was exactly as she remembered it, though her personal belongings were gone and replaced by the scattered traces of Chu Lian’s daily life.
She suddenly remembering something, and started walking into the walk-in closet. She brushed aside a specific curtain in the wardrobe and gave a panel a firm push.
A hidden compartment opened, revealing a fingerprint scanner inside. Shu Shu placed her fingertip on the glowing sensor.
Beep.
A door panel behind the wardrobe slid to the side.
Shu Shu had specifically designed an inner sanctum within the walk-in closet to store her most valuable possessions.
The door opened and the ambient lighting and the spotlights inside the high-quality gold-rimmed glass cabinets flickered to life. There are watches, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings inside the display cases, along with designer bags lining three walls. They all shimmered under the light.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Shu Shu stepped forward.
My babies.
It’s been thirteen years since we’ve seen each other. You must have missed me so much, boo-hoo. (˃̣̣̥ w ˂̣̣̥)
Shu Shu picked up one of the bags, holding it lovingly against her chest. It was a limited-edition bag she had bought just before her “accident”, she hadn’t even carried it more than once.
But now… it was out of style! No longer trendy![1]
Shu Shu painfully set the bag down and moved to the jewelry cabinet in the center.
They said “A diamond is forever.”
Fortunately, a cabinet full of diamonds and precious jewelry gave her some sort of consolation. She noticed that the glass panels have layers of dusts, suggesting it hadn’t been opened in a long time.
Shu Shu arched an eyebrow.
She had noticed the hidden door is the same—there were no signs of it being tampered with for a very long time. It seemed that no one had managed to enter this room since her “departure.”
Well, it made sense. The hidden door was designed so discreetly that it was nearly impossible to find it. And even if someone discovered it, no one could get in without her fingerprint.
So, that little idiot Shu Lingchen didn’t even tell the Chu family about the secret room’s existence?
Shu Shu looked at her bags and jewelry.
Hold on, my babies. Don’t be impatient. I’ll take you and the Moutai wall out there home soon! Don’t worry
Shu Shu exited the hidden room, securely closed the door, and walked out of the bedroom.
“Well, poor loser, how was the tour? Did it open your eyes yet?”
A shrill female voice rang out the moment Shu Shu stepped out. Zhang Lu stood there arrogantly, her arms crossed. She was looking at Shu Shu with a sneer of superiority.
“Treasure this golden opportunity because once you leave this door, you won’t get another chance. You won’t be able to see a place like this ever again.”
Shu Shu nodded.
She felt that Zhang Lu was absolutely right. This was indeed the last time she would be able to look at this house in its entirety.
But it was also the last time for everyone else in this room.
Just a second after Zhang Lu finished speaking—
Ding-dong—
The doorbell rang.
Chu Lian instinctively moved to open it, but remembering she had a “maid” in the house, she cleared her throat, sat down elegantly on the sofa, and shouted toward the kitchen: “Wu Ma, go get the door.”
“Can’t you see I’m busy? Are your hands broken? Can’t you open it yourself?”
With seven or eight people arriving at once, making tea and cutting fruit was no small task. Mother Chu looked up with annoyance, but she snapped back to reality when she saw the suspicious and surprised looks of the student. Her current identity was the maid, Wu Ma.
Her face stiffened for two seconds before she forced an awkward smile. “Apologies, Young Lady. I’ll go open it right now.”
She walked to the entryway and opened the door.
Standing outside were a man and a woman in business suits, with name tags pinned to their chests.
“Hello, we are staff from the Yujing Garden Property Management Office,” the woman said with a smile. “The property management fees for Unit 1701 are more than a month overdue and today is the final deadline. We are here to ask you to settle the balance.”
“Wh—what property fees?”
“Ma’am, it’s like this, the card you designated for property fees has insufficient balance, causing last month’s payment to fail.”
Mother Chu was completely bewildered. She had been living in 1701 for several years and had never paid a single cent so she had long since forgotten that property fees even existed.
Her eyes flickered when the staff mentioned a “payment card”. She immediately ran back into the room, pulled Chu Lian aside, and lowered her voice:
“Contact Xiao Chen quickly! Ask him what’s going on. The card for the property fees has insufficient balance. Tell him to top it up immediately because the management staff are at the door!”
Chu Lian froze.
Like her mother, she had lived there under the assumption that Shu Lingchen was handling all the expenses for unit 1701. Just as she went to grab her phone to message him, she realized it was missing.
“Has anyone seen my phone?” Chu Lian looked around frantically.
The students assumes that she needs her phone to pay the fees so helped her look for it to no avail. “We haven’t seen it.”
Zhang Lu took out her own phone. “Xiao Lian, I’ll call you.”
She dialed several times, but no ringtone was heard. Chu Lian remembered she had likely set it to silent.
She hurriedly signaled Mother Chu to contact Shu Lingchen. Mother Chu grabbed her phone and ran to the balcony.
No one noticed that the phone in Shu Shu’s hand, as she sat in a single-seater sofa, was currently in the middle of a call. She had a single Bluetooth earbud in one ear.
“Hello? Who is it? Why are you calling and not saying anything?” Shu Lingchen’s puzzled voice came through the line.
Shu Shu typed out a text: I’m your mom.
“Mom? You? You finally contacted me! Is this your number?!” Shu Lingchen was quite excited. Shu Shu disappeared without a trace every day after school, and Lingchen had no idea where she went.
Shu Shu: Mm.
“Where are you? Do you want me to come find you? Why aren’t you talking? Why are you texting?”
“It’s not convenient for me to speak.”
“Ah, are you in some kind of trouble? I’ll come find you right now!” Shu Lingchen said, sounding worried.
Shu Shu typed quickly: No need. It’s a new SIM card. The salesperson said I have to have an eight-minute call for it to be officially activated.
“Oh, okay. So I just leave it on and wait for eight minutes?”
Shu Shu paused, then replied with a straight face: The person receiving the call has to talk. Sing “Little Apple” for me.
“???” Shu Lingchen asked, “There’s a rule like that?”
Shu Shu: Well, are you singing or not?
Those four words, even in text form, gave Shu Lingchensuch immense pressure even through the screen. So, biting the bullet, he began singing “Little Apple.”
When he finished, he asked, “…How was that?”
Shu Shu: Not bad. Another one.
Shu Lingchen was a bit flattered. “Really?”
He began the next song. With his mother’s “encouragement,” he sang even more passionately, even using a nearby TV remote as a microphone.
Back in the apartment, Shu Shu expressionlessly yanked out the earbud the moment she heard the first note of her son’s voice.
This brat’s singing is lethal.
Mother Chu returned hurriedly from the balcony and told Chu Lian, “Xiao Chen hasn’t replied to my messages, and his phone is constantly busy.”
Chu Lian: “…”
What now?!
The two property management staff, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, peeked inside and called out, “Is the owner of 1701 here?”
“…I’m here.” Chu Lian walked to the entryway, her expression stiff. She tried to negotiate, “Um, I’m sorry, I can’t find my phone. Can I pay the fees tomorrow?”
If she delayed until tomorrow, she could get Shu Lingchen to pay.
The female staff member kept a polite smile on her face but said, “I’m afraid that won’t work. The fees for 1701 are already very overdue. We hope you will cooperate with us.”
She added, “Unit 1701 is the only household in the entire building that hasn’t paid yet.”
Sansukini: Embarassing. Also, shameless Chu Lian, making your mom act like your maid.
[1] I supposed that it should be vintage now if it’s 13 years ago and should still be valuable