Sha Sha's eyes widen and she gapes, looking at her daughter. If Shi Lian asks Zheng Yuan about the ring, he will definitely question her because how will Shi Lian even know about it if not for someone telling her?

"You cannot" Sha Sha keeps her tone steady, warning her. She does not want another big drama in her house after Zheng Yi's.

"Then, mother, please, tell me. I need to see it" she begs, gripping her mother's arm, her eyes desperately wanting to know.

Sha Sha feels like she is standing at the edge of a cliff. "Shi....why? Why do you want to see it so desperately?" she asks, her voice cracking.

How can she make her mother explain? She can't even understand by herself what she is doing. "You have to believe me. I only need a glimpse of it" she urges.

But Sha Sha isn't going to melt down that easily. "You need to tell the reason first" she demands, her eyes begging at her daughter to tell her what she is thinking.

"Mother, please try to understand," she says, trying to make her mother calm.

Sha Sha jerks away Shi Lian's hand fiercely. "Shi, tell me! Why is it that you are hiding?" her tone rises suddenly and Shi Lian had to turn around to look at the door to check.

Looks like her mother isn't going to say anything. There's the only way left for her, that is, to ask her father. She knows very well what will happen after she drops the topic of the ring in front of her father but she does not do anything, that creep would release whatever fucking secrets he had against Mo Family.

"Shi, tell me!" her mother presses but what can Shi Lian even say? She bites her lower lip, thinking what should she even do in this situation? She does not have much time left with her.

"I am going to ask father," she tells her, making up her mind. She needs to take the risk or else she will never know about the ring's location.

Sha Sha panics and when Shi Lian tries to go to the door, she stops her. "Your father will be very angry, Shi. Please don't do this" she begs, almost on the verge of crying.

Shi Lian hates seeing her mother like this. "I don't have any other way. It's important, mother," she says.

Just as she is going to unlock the door, her mother says, "Fine. I'll tell you."

Shi Lian feels as if she is finally getting a breath. "Really?" she asks, surprised and relieved.

With teary eyes, Sha Sha demands, "But you have to tell me what is going on."

That made the small smile on Shi Lian's face disappear. She somehow expected her mother to demand such a thing from her. Shi Lian is wondering what should she do? Will telling her mother about the creep will be alright? That man's eyes are everywhere and she does not doubt that he will try to hurt her mother.

Taking a deep breath, she says, "After I am done with everything, I will. Trust me, mother."

Sha Sha looks at her, searching for her eyes, those eyes which held innocence but now, she feels as if Shi Lian has changed. She has changed so much that she is worried about her.

Sha Sha answers, having nothing else to say, "Okay. You promise to tell me."

Shi Lian nods twice and with that Sha Sha leads her to where the ring is.

**

"What about Father?" Shi Lian asks, following her mother from behind.

Sha Sha says, "He is already asleep and I told Zhang to give me a call if your father wakes up."

Shi Lian is surprised. She never thought her mellow mother will be calculative as well.

Shi Lian looks around, looking at the walls of old paintings she has never seen since birth. She is not even aware that this room exists. It's a magical secret room.

"I never knew about this room" she mumbles, her eyes roaming around the room.

The room looks as if it hardly is taken care of. She can see spider webs hanging at the corners, dust everywhere and there's this earthy smell that feels like it's raining.

Her mother stops at a point and Shi Lian wonders what is ahead of hers. "Mother?" she calls, her eyebrows pressed together as Sha Sha remains still in one position.

Shi Lian then reaches to take a look at her face and finds her mother weeping, her body shaking with effect. "Mother, what happened?" she asks, panicking.

"I shouldn't be doing this... I shouldn't" she sobs, her tone regretful.

No no no, she cannot back away now. Shi Lian is this close to her mission, and if her mother backs away now, she doesn't know what she will do.

"No mother, don't think like that. There's nothing wrong" she tries to make her understand.

Sha Sha slowly looks up to meet her daughter's eyes, "Please promise me you will let me know."

"I promise you, mother."

Sha Sha then takes the left turn and reaches the location as per her. Shi Lian quizzical looks at her mother and then ahead of her because in front there are only books on the bookshelves.

She observes her mother silently how her eyes wander from one book to another. Sha Sha reaches to touch the book in a dark red cover and then slides her fingers gently onto others to the left of that book. Her fingers stop on the book with the dark blue cover and she takes it out from the shelf.

The book appears old, ancient to be precise snd there is a layer of dust on top of it. Sha Sha rubs her hand on the cover to remove the dust layer. She then glances at Shi Lian, but says nothing and then turns her attention back to the book.

She opens the book and when she does, Shi Lian is shocked. She is shocked to see that the book isn't a book actually, it's an act. Her eyes widen when she looks at the ring. The 4-Era Ring.

Sha Sha gulps softly and with various fingers, she holds the ring and takes it out. Shi Lian cannot believe she is actually seeing the ring. The ring appears so beautiful and it shines brightly even after resting inside the old book.

"The 4-Era Ring," Sha Sha says, almost like a whisper, handing it to Shi Lian to take a closer look.

Shi Lian's hand is shaking to take it. She takes the ring from her mother's hand carefully and observes it.

The Ring, made of pure Gold, as it appears to be, is beautifully shaped having four stones on top that are shining brightly, complementing the gold band.

There are four stones, just as her mother has told her— Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, and Diamond. The diamond is placed in the middle while the three other is placed around it along with another type of stone which she cannot identify. The diamond is bigger than the three others.

The ring also seems to be heavier than most of the rings she had or wore. "So this is the 4-Ring" she mumbles, a small smile on her face.

"How did you in which book it was kept?" she asks her mother with curiosity.

"I was confused because it's been almost eleven years since I last saw it. It was a random guess I would say" she says, half-laughing.

Eleven years. That's a very long duration.

"Now, we should go back before your father wakes up," Sha Sha tells her, worrying about Zheng Yuan knowing.

Shi Lian nods but before giving it back to her, she opens the camera of her phone and quickly takes some pictures of the ring.

Sha Sha, confused, asks her, "Why are clicking pictures?"

"Mother, I'll tell you everything, just not at the moment," she says, making an apologetic face.

Sha Sha sighs. She cannot do anything else than that.

Now that she got to see the ring, she only needs to execute her plan but she is worrying whether it will be done by tomorrow. It takes a lot of time in doing what she wants and if it doesn't go according to the required time, it might be the downfall for her.

Shi Lian gives the ring back to her mother. Sha Sha's hand's fumble as she takes hold of the ring but due to that, the ring falls from her hand. Both of them gapes and start searching for the ring.

Fortunately, the ring is right there near Sha Sha's foot, and bending down, Shi Lian gives the ring to her mother. This time, Sha Sha puts it inside the book without fumbling and place the back to its original position.

Sha Sha quickly puts it inside the book and place it in its original position.

"Let's go," Sha Sha says. Shi Lian follows her mother and exits the room.