Shen Zhaozhao frowned in irritation, holding back her temper: “Let go.”
“I won’t let you go until you explain clearly! Do you think you can kill me right here?”
Wang Yurou refused to release her no matter what. Having reached her limit of patience, Shen Zhaozhao simply pulled her hand away sharply.
Wang Yurou had already strained her leg muscles earlier and was in great pain. Off-balance, she fell heavily face-first onto the ground.
Shen Zhaozhao was about to leave when a clear, crisp clink rang out.
Her steps halted instinctively, and she turned toward the source of the sound.
Bathed in sunlight, a palm-sized rectangular white jade pendant glowed with an exceptionally gentle, lustrous sheen.
The pendant was milky white throughout, with an even, pure hue and not a single speck of impurity. Even someone who knew nothing about jade could tell at a glance that this was high-quality material—undoubtedly worth a fortune.
She froze, not because of how valuable it was, but because…
It looked so familiar.
She immediately picked it up and held it in her palm for a closer look. Up close, its texture was even more striking: the color was perfectly uniform, with no clouding or flaws inside. Paired with the exquisitely carved lily of the valley on its surface, the pendant looked as if it had been formed by nature itself, every line belonging to the stone.
Most importantly, carved on its back was a single character: Lin.
That had been her mother’s surname.
Holding the pendant, a rush of overwhelming familiarity from the original owner’s memories surged up.
She had seen and traced every inch of its patterns countless times, as familiar to her as her own limbs.
This was exactly the pendant her mother had left her.
Recalling carefully, she remembered that when she was still living in the educated youth dormitory, her father Shen Tiancai had sent her a package.
Inside, along with her usual cup and small mirror, were piles of clothes and shoes she had worn as a child. Most of the sandalwood combs, beaded bracelets, and small ornaments her mother had made for her had been stored away for years, untouched. It seemed like a small pile, but there were quite a few scattered items—things she had once kept together in a little box.
All of it looked worn, just odds and ends. Presumably, her stepmother Wang Yulian hadn’t looked through it carefully, dumping everything into the package carelessly.
Yet many of the clothes that would still fit her now were missing—even a brand-new outfit made just before she left. Only one tattered, unwearable old garment had been sent. Even the half-new bedding she had used for some time was nowhere to be found. Every decent, useful item of any size had vanished without a trace.
She suspected Wang Yulian had once again manipulated her useless father into clearing out her belongings, wanting to take over her room for themselves. But with her family so far away, the original owner had been powerless to pursue the matter. She could only place what was left in her locker at the dormitory.
Later, once, a few small glass beads she had wrapped in candy wrappers as a child had spilled out of her bag. The original owner had assumed they had fallen out accidentally, tucked them back in, and even retied the loose knot of the bundle.
Looking back now, she realized she had never noticed anything wrong. No doubt many things had been stolen back then—and she had never had a clue.
No wonder when she had moved her things from the dormitory earlier, the bundle had felt so much lighter than she remembered. Now she knew why. Everything of any use or value had likely been ransacked.
What she hadn’t expected was that Wang Yurou would have stolen even this pendant carved with her mother’s surname.
Seeing the pendant in Shen Zhaozhao’s hand, Wang Yurou’s eyes widened sharply. She lunged to snatch it, shoving it into her pocket.
Shen Zhaozhao’s expression darkened. She grabbed it right back.
Wang Yurou tried to grab it again, but Shen Zhaozhao dodged nimbly. Wang Yurou stumbled forward, nearly losing her balance once more.
For some reason—perhaps guilt—her gaze darted about as she feigned ignorance.
“Why are you snatching my things?”
Shen Zhaozhao let out a cold laugh. “Your things? Can’t you see this pendant bears my mother’s surname? Is there anyone in your family named Lin?”
“What? Would you even change your own mother’s surname just to keep what you’ve stolen?”
“I should be asking you—why did you steal from me?”
Wang Yurou looked at the character clearly carved on the back of the pendant, her lips pressing together guiltily as she turned her head away, frowning in quiet frustration. She rolled her eyes, scrambling for an excuse.
“I… I found it! How was I supposed to know who it belonged to?”
“Found it? But you were just insisting it was yours.”
Wang Yurou swallowed hard. “I… I thought you were trying to take it from me! If I found it, it’s mine now, isn’t it?”
Shen Zhaozhao’s expression turned icy.
“Such smooth lies. Do you take me for a fool?”
“I remember now—all my food coupons, cloth coupons, and money were kept in that locker. A lot of it went missing too.”
The original owner had never kept her coupons or cash on her person, always tucking them away in the cabinet without ever counting them properly. Even so, she had noticed last month that her supplies were running far too low. She had never been overly thrifty, but her food coupons had always lasted until the end of the month before. Cloth coupons were always scarce, and she had been saving hers up to make a new set of clothes and replace her worn-out bedsheets.
But last month, her food coupons had run out well before the month was up, and even the cloth coupons she had saved for a full outfit were gone. She had always trusted her roommates, leaving her locker unlocked whenever she was inside, only locking it when she left. She never imagined someone would be stealing from her right under her nose.
The more Shen Zhaozhao thought about it, the angrier she grew, her expression turning colder by the second. She gripped Wang Yurou’s wrist tightly, her fingers tightening with every breath.
“What else did you steal from me? Hand it over—now!”