I chuckled. “What do I have that you admire? You’re just trying to comfort me, aren’t you?” 

Qin Sisi shook her head. “Do you really think we live such a happy life?” 

“Isn’t that the case? Your father left you so much money that even if you don’t work, you can live a pretty good life.” 

“You’re wrong,” Qin Sisi said in an annoyed tone. “Completely wrong.” 

“Oh, really?” I asked, “How am I wrong? Do you want to tell me?” 

“It’s not as simple as you think,” Qin Sisi said. “You’ve only seen our pretty side; you don’t know about the internal competition within our family. The richer you are, the more people desire your wealth. To defeat the competitors, our relatives are willing to do everything! I don’t feel a bit of warmth in this family. Our siblings and cousins don’t even want to recognize their family members. I’ve tasted more hardships during these days than the four years I’ve spent in university.” 

“Really?” I smiled. “Do you want me to comfort you or tell you the truth?” 

Qin Sisi lifted her head to look at me. “The truth, of course.” 

“I think you have a lot of free time to ponder since your stomach is full. Take a look at the low-class people in this society. Every day, in order to fill their stomachs, they have to work hard. They even have to put away their dignity and pride just to make ends meet. Do you think they don’t feel pressure? They have pressure from their families, from life, and other stuff. What exactly is your pressure, losing some money to your family members? If you can get over it, you won’t feel that much pressure.”

“I didn’t expect you to be this philosophical. We’re more alike than I thought.” Qin Sisi smiled. 

At this moment, she looked really mature and calm, completely different from the naive girl from before. It seemed she was just pretending earlier. This girl was really intimidating!

It was to be expected, though. She had to learn how to deceive others to survive in this type of family.

“In front of them, I try my best to be low-key. I have never competed against them for benefits. Thus, in their eyes, I’m just a naive girl that isn’t worth their time.” Qin Sisi sighed. “I have never thought of competing against them on anything, and I don’t like it when my elders hand over the properties for me to manage. I just work hard on the one-third acre of land I have. Do you think that I don’t have a bright future? I’m just a young girl, though. No matter how hard I try, I can’t accumulate as much wealth as my seniors.”

I shook my head. “No, you did well. Sometimes, you just can’t force things and have to compromise. This is how life works.” 

She smiled. “You still don’t understand, right? I’m a young girl who’s not suited to manage a company. I need an agent. So…”

She lifted her head, and her watery eyes met mine. “You seem capable enough.”

I choked on my coffee. She wants me to be her agent?

I didn’t like this kind of competitive way of living. That was why I decided to open an antique shop, which was not considered a career with a bright future, either.

I rejected Qin Sisi’s request without a bit of hesitation. “Second Lady, what are you talking about? I’m just a small merchant with no competence. I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you.”

Qin Sisi seemed impatient. “Actually, I think you should think about it carefully. As my agent, of course, your position and identity will be different. Perhaps one day, I’ll fall in love with you! And then, if you’re interested in the Qins’ wealth, you and I can join hands. Perhaps we can win some fortune.”

I was speechless. The good impression I had of Qin Sisi had vanished. I could tell it wasn’t that she didn’t want power. She was just subtle and knew the art of hiding and preying. Her ambition was bigger than anybody.

But it wasn’t her fault. Living in such conditions, it would be weird if she could maintain her pure, kind heart. 

I gave Qin Sisi a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in this.” 

“All right.” Qin Sisi forced a smile. “Different backgrounds will lead to different thoughts. There’s no one right or wrong in this world. I just hope that your impression of me won’t be affected by what I had just said.” 

I said, “No, I totally understand you, Miss.”

“I know that you don’t understand me. You called me Sisi earlier and now you’ve changed back to Miss. Do you find me that scary?” 

Qin Sisi made me speechless. The atmosphere turned awkward, and I felt that I had no power to retort in front of this girl. 

While thinking, I heard noises from the air vent, which cheered me up. Those two had arrived just on time. 

The gold-toothed man fell off the dirty vent, his face ashen. “Which bastard designed this vent? Only a puppy can go through it!”

I laughed. “Did you get the ether?” 

He produced a small glass bottle from his chest. “Is this enough? This is a drug that’s prohibited on the market. I had to use my connections and paid twenty thousand renminbi for it. You’ll have to reimburse me.” 

Qin Sisi waved her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay you back.” 

“Ah, thank you very much, Second Lady.” 

A bottle of ether of that size would cost three hundred renminbi at most. The gold-toothed man wanted to use this opportunity to rip off Qin Sisi.

I wondered, Is there another man who’s more cunning and fraudulent than Gold-toothed?

Shortly after, a man who was more cunning and fraudulent than him really arrived. Li Mazi came with an old and strange machine. I guessed it was an unlocking machine that some company had discarded.

Li Mazi bragged about the tool and said that it was a professional device used by CIA experts. He had bought it from the black market and had to make use of a lot of his connections to get it. More importantly, he had paid one hundred thousand renminbi for this shabby tool.

They both thought that Qin Sisi was a naive girl, someone easy to fool. At this time, I admired Qin Sisi even more for her ability to pretend. These two old foxes weren’t able to see through her. 

I asked them to clean up, and after confirming that we left no traces, we rushed back to the Qins’ house.

After returning, I laid on the bed and rested to regain my composure and strength. I asked Li Mazi to stand guard.

Qin Sisi excused herself. She said she had to call her Second Uncle. 

Suddenly, my heart throbbed. Qin Sisi was much more cunning than I had thought. What if she was a spy that Mr. Qin had sent to watch us? What should I do then? 

Qin Sisi read my mind and smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m loyal to my father in this matter. If I wanted to report everything to my uncle, I wouldn’t have shown you my real face. You’re the first man that has ever seen my true colors.” 

I forced a smile. “All right.” 

But I was still worried. From her tone, it seemed Qin Sisi was interested in me. 

After she was gone, I couldn’t rest my mind. I always felt that the three of us were like three pawns that played in her hand. 

After half an hour, she returned to the room and said, “My Second Uncle asked me what we talked about in the coffee shop. I told him that we were discussing how to expel the evil spirit that lives in my father’s body. He told me to keep an eye on you guys. He doesn’t want you guys to do anything strange to my father. My Second Uncle has investigated your background, but he couldn’t get much information.” 

I smiled. “That’s good then. So your Second Uncle can rest his mind now?”

Qin Sisi said, “We’d better be careful. My uncle is a cunning, savvy man. What if he has doubted me?” 

Yeah, she’s right. This is really troublesome. I made up my mind and decided to never mingle with this sort of big family’s internal competition again. This time was an exception because of my grandfather.