Huo Yao raised her brow the moment she heard what the shopkeeper said. “Is there a second half to it?”


  The shopkeeper glanced at her and said, “Have you heard of the eight trigrams? They combine to form the eight trigrams.”


  Huo Yao always felt the jade pendant had a very unusual shape, but it never dawned on her it was half of an eight trigram. Now that the shopkeeper mentioned it, she felt he was right.

  “If you have the second half, it will fetch a higher price,” said the shopkeeper as Huo Yao contemplated.

  Huo Yao answered lazily. “I am not selling it.”


  The shopkeeper went quiet.

  Huo Yao took the necklace bCK from the shopkeeper and put it on her neck before she stood up. “I am leaving.”


  The shopkeeper was stunned. He did not expect her to suddenly leave, so he stood up. “Hang on.”


  Huo Yao looked sideways at the shopkeeper.

  The shopkeeper looked at Huo Yao’s face and felt he seemed to know her from somewhere, so he asked. “Have you ever been here before?”


  “Uh huh. I bought a pair of night vision glasses from you last year,” said Huo Yao with a straight face.

  The shopkeeper seemed to remember the incident the moment he heard her bring up the night vision glasses. He studied Huo Yao before he asked. “Have you been to my store before even earlier than that?”


  “Nope.” Huo Yao’s eyes looked bright as she spoke and did not seem like she was lying.

  A look of disappointment swept across the shopkeeper’s face.

  That woman had not shown up in a few years. Moreover, this young girl was not the same age as her.

  He shook his head and said nothing before he sat back down.

  Huo Yao noticed the look in the shopkeeper’s eyes, but she had no intention of telling the truth. Instead, she opened the glass door and headed out of the store.

  She gave off a cool aura as she quietly came and left.

  **

  By the time Huo Yao got home, it was already 10:00 pm.

  Huo Yulin had arrived home a few minutes ago. Initially, he thought that his little sister had gone to her room, but he saw her coming in from outside and could not help feeling surprised. “Why are you so late tonight?”


  “Uh huh. I went shopping,” said Huo Yao candidly.

  Huo Yulin glanced at her empty hands and felt puzzled. “Why didn’t you buy anything?”


  Huo Yao went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. She opened it and took a sip before she sighed. “Everything costs money.”


  Huo Yulin’s lips twitched

  Meanwhile, Huo Yao’s phone pinged. She stopped talking and retrieved her phone. The moment she saw the text message, she could sense a headache coming on.

  Prof Rong had sent her a text message: [Remember that your homework is due tomorrow, my dear.]

  Huo Yao went quiet for a second before she quickly replied: [The recipient of your text message has refused to verify your number, so your text messages are unable to reach the recipient.]

  Prof Rong: […]

  Huo Yao: [The recipient of your text message has refused to verify your number, so your text messages are unable to reach the recipient.]

  Prof Rong: [???]

  Huo Yao: [The recipient of your text message has refused to verify your number, so your text messages are unable to reach the recipient.]

  After Rong Jun had conned her into joining the Physics faculty, he kept saying that she had free rein when it came to studying. However, he kept giving her homework and flooding her phone with messages when she refused to submit them.

  He was an associate. Didn’t he have anything better to do?

  She regretted joining the faculty for the Nth time ever since this vicious cycle commenced.

  Huo Yao put her phone away. She raised her head and said to Huo Yulin, “I am going back to my room. Have an early night.”


  Huo Yulin saw the miserable look on Huo Yao’s face and could not help asking. “What’s wrong?”


  Huo Yao waved her hand as she headed upstairs and answered. “I don’t want to talk about it. I shot myself in the foot.”


  Huo Yulin’s face twitched when he heard this.