After my luck was stolen, I led my whole family to defy fate and change our destiny.

The counter on the second floor of Jinbaozhai.

The maid's voice was very soft: "Manager, do you buy back the gold hairpins in your shop?"

The manager shook his head: "We don't buy them back. If customers buy them and then resell them, how can Jinbaozhai do business?"

The maid thought about it and agreed, then took out a gold hairpin: "Then could you please help me check if this gold hairpin is from your shop?"

Lin Xiaoxiao stood silently to the side. She had deliberately chosen the second floor because there were fewer people there.

She knew Su Zihao wouldn't give her a fake, but she was inexplicably nervous, clutching the handkerchief tightly in her hand until it was almost deformed.

The manager examined the gold hairpin carefully and said, "Miss, this hairpin isn't from our shop."

"How could that be? Manager, take another look."

The manager took the hairpins in his hands and examined them carefully again: "Miss, these hairpins are indeed not made by our shop."

The maid huffed, "Nonsense! There's your Jinbaozhai mark on it!"

The maid's voice involuntarily grew a few decibels louder.

Does the presence of the Jinbaozhai mark necessarily indicate that the product is from Jinbaozhai?

The butler was somewhat displeased: "We at Jinbaozhai never sell counterfeit goods, and besides, the characters on it are all slanted; this hairpin is fake."

As soon as these words were spoken, the women who were looking at jewelry gathered around.

The second floor is less crowded, but only compared to the first floor.

The manager stepped past the two women, picked up an identical gold hairpin from the shop, and compared it to Lin Xiaoxiao's: "Miss, do you see? The characters on your hairpin are all slanted."

Lin Xiaoxiao looked incredulous. This was brought over by Su Zihao's confidant; there was no way it could be wrong.

To protect Jinbaozhai's reputation, the manager even had someone hand him a dagger without asking Lin Xiaoxiao.

He directly unsheathed the knife and carefully scraped the gold hairpin, ensuring that no one would tarnish Jinbaozhai's reputation.

Lin Xiaoxiao was startled: "What are you doing? Can you afford to pay for it if you scratch it?"

The hand reaching for the golden hairpin suddenly stopped in mid-air. The pupils contracted.

The steward scraped away a layer of "gold" from the hairpin.

It revealed its true form: pitch black.

An iron hairpin!

The young maid stared wide-eyed in bewilderment, glancing at Lin Xiaoxiao with alarm: "Miss, is this really real?"

People around were talking amongst themselves: "Is this person trying to extort money with a fake hairpin?"

"Exactly, that hairpin looks fake."

"Don't even mention how many scammers there are these days."

"With a business as large as Jinbaozhai, it's hard to guarantee that they won't try to extort money from you."

"Tsk tsk, they look quite well-dressed."

As Lin Xiaoxiao listened to the whispers of others, her lips turned white, and her fingers clenched so tightly they cracked. She felt as if an invisible hand was slapping her face repeatedly.

I wish I could find a crack in the ground and disappear right now.

Even when he sold himself into servitude to bury his mother, he never felt this ashamed.

Lin Xiaoxiao explained awkwardly, "It must have been some unruly servant who switched my hairpin. Steward, we have other matters to attend to, so we won't disturb you any longer."

"Please make yourself at home, young lady..."

Before the manager could finish speaking, Lin Xiaoxiao covered her face with a handkerchief and left quickly.

The manager called out from behind, "Miss, you haven't brought your iron hairpins yet?"

The people around burst into laughter.

Lin Xiaoxiao wished she could fly and walk even faster.

You bastard Su Zihao, you've made me lose face so badly. I won't let this go until I absorb your bad luck.

After Lin Xiaoxiao left, the steward went into the back room and bowed respectfully.

"Young Master, Young Master Cousin, the person is gone."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

The steward left.

Su Zihao watched the fleeing figure and lowered the curtain with satisfaction.

"Yu'an, how do you know Lin Xiaoxiao can't tell the difference between a real and fake hairpin?"

Gu Yu'an gently blew away the tea dust and took a sip: "My mother used to send her things often, and she always picked the worst quality jadeite. At the time, my mother thought she was just being shy and picking it on purpose."

"But sometimes she would pick out the best pieces, especially gold jewelry; she would always pick out the heaviest ones."

“My mother said that when she met Lin Xiaoxiao, she was still selling herself to bury her mother. Considering her background, I think she might genuinely like these things, but actually doesn’t understand them at all.”

Su Zihao was slightly stunned when he heard this: "So you want me to send the fake one over and embarrass her?"

"Gu Yu'an, you're really something! How did you even get that brain?"

Gu Linglong smacked her lips in Gu Liyao's arms. "You grow by eating, of course! My older brother is the smartest in our family! Unlike you, all you ever think about is romance; you can't eat and you can't study."

If everyone were as love-struck as you, we'd be doomed.

Su Zihao thought to himself: I'm also your older brother, I'm older than Gu Yu'an, I'm your eldest brother! How can you say that?

Gu Linglong: Excuse me, you're a watch!

Su Zihao: "..."

Gu Yu'an slightly curled the corners of his lips upward.

The criticism was spot-on, and the praise was very fair.

Su Zihao: "It's really satisfying to see Lin Xiaoxiao humiliated, but I also want to finish her off with one stab."

Gu Yu'an put down his teacup and said slowly, "What's the rush? It'll be more interesting to let her slowly lose what she cares about."

"The Gu family is going through a very difficult time right now. Gu Minghai has his eye on our family, and the Su family might be targeted as well. If she suddenly dies, it will be very troublesome."

There was one more thing Gu Yu'an didn't say: Gu Minghai separating from them wasn't the most taboo thing anymore; the most troublesome thing was the Prime Minister and the Second Prince behind him.

There are also things that inhale and transport air.

However, he did not intend to say it aloud, as he did not want his maternal grandfather to clash directly with the prime minister.

……

The following day, at the residence of Minister Gu.

Gu Linglong lay in the cradle, her head bobbing up and down. Douzhu and Chunhe cheered her on from the side.

"Wow, young lady, you're amazing! None of the other kids can lift their heads as well as you!"

"That's right, that's right, our young lady holds her head high and steady..."

Gu Linglong gradually lost herself in the praise from the two men, holding her head up very high, drooling everywhere.

I also want to give a shout-out to the two audience members who came to support me, hehehehe...

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't flip it over, and his face turned bright red...

Oh dear, I'm flipping through it, I'm flipping through it, I'm flipping through it, but I just can't get past it!

Gu Linglong slumped down in dejection.

Chunhe was amazed and quickly helped Gu Linglong up, saying, "Little Miss, you're still too young. In another month, you'll have the strength to roll over."

Since Gu Linglong turned into a child, her behavior and mentality have become increasingly childish.

Su Xiuran found it somewhat amusing; it turned out her daughter liked to hear nice things.

Feeling sorry for the child, Su Xiuran turned Gu Linglong over: "You've practiced for so long, that's enough."

Chunhe wiped Gu Linglong's mouth with a handkerchief and gave her a new bib.

"Mother, are you ready?"

Gu Yu'an's cold voice came through.

"Okay, you guys can take Linglong to join in the fun, I won't go."

Gu Yu'an knew his mother disliked such occasions, so he didn't try to persuade her but joked, "Yes, although all the families in the capital with daughters will be attending today, our little sister is still young, so there's no rush to find her a husband."

Su Xiuran's eyelids twitched. How old was her daughter?

If the Gu family can pull through this, she'll have to keep her daughter with her for a few more years.

Where to go?