Shanshan hadn’t laid a hand on her, but her tone was terrifying.

Cao Jiajia was trembling like a leaf, her eyes welling up with tears.

She tried to explain, but her throat tightened, and she swallowed the words before they could escape.

None of the students around them dared to make a sound.

"This is your last warning. If I hear you running your mouth again, you’d better think long and hard about the consequences."

The threat made Cao Jiajia suddenly recall the fierce, ruthless streak Shanshan had that was so at odds with her age.

"I... I get it! I won’t do it again, I really won’t!"

"Hmph. See that you do."

As Shanshan let go, Cao Jiajia’s legs gave out, and she fell back into her chair with a THUD, unable to get up for a long while.

Shanshan scanned the room, her voice ringing out loud and clear.

"Listen up, everyone. I, Ling Xueshan, consider Yang Changle my little brother. His parents helped me once, and that’s a debt I won’t forget. Our teachers taught us to repay kindness. So from now on, if anyone dares to lay a single finger on him, they’ll have to answer to me, Ling Xueshan!"

Word of this spread like wildfire, and within half a day, the entire school knew.

When Yang Changle heard what had happened, his nose tingled, and tears streamed down his face.

Shanshan had wanted to be a bit more subtle in her protection, worried she might hurt his pride.

But it turned out the boy had a great attitude; he got over his feelings faster than one could flip a page in a book.

The two of them were back to normal in no time, and if anything, they were even closer than before.

After getting home, Yang Changle didn’t hide a thing, spilling the whole story to his parents like beans from a pod.

Yang Dapeng and his wife were both misty-eyed after hearing the story.

So, they took advantage of the weekend and invited Shanshan to stay with them for a couple of days.

Shanshan checked with her grandparents and agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

Ling Anxun had said he’d be working overtime.

But he managed to finish all his work early that day and decided to pick up his daughter on his way home.

To his surprise, he got a call from the kindergarten teacher saying his daughter had already been picked up.

His first thought was that a family member had picked her up. Pleased, he hurried home, eager to see her.

But when he walked in and didn’t see Shanshan’s small figure, the color drained from his face.

The most terrifying thought imaginable popped into his head.

’Could she have been abducted?’

Seeing his ghastly expression, Ding Qin quickly spoke up.

"Don’t panic. Shanshan is staying at Dapeng’s place for a couple of days. She’s fine."

She patted her son’s shoulder as she spoke, waiting until his breathing steadied before explaining further.

"Weren’t you just saying for the past few days that you’d be pulling all-nighters for work? Yun Hua called and offered to have Shanshan over for a couple of days. Shanshan seemed really happy to go, so I agreed. I didn’t make a point of telling you since you wouldn’t have seen her anyway, being at home. Who knew you’d suddenly knock off early today?"

Ling Anxun’s face fell the moment he heard this.

"So, this is my fault?"

"Oh, I wouldn’t dare say that. Everyone knows what a very important, busy man you are."

Ling Zhenkang, who was standing nearby, sneered and rolled his eyes.

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew tense.

"Your daughter misses you, you know," Ding Qin added. "Before she left, she made sure to put on the necklace you gave her. She said it’s her lucky charm to keep her safe."

The words were spoken lightly, but they sent ripples through Ling Anxun’s heart.

Ling Anxun’s expression softened slightly at this, but he still shot to his feet.

Without a glance at anyone, he walked resolutely toward the door.

Ding Qin grabbed the corner of his shirt.

"Hey! Dinner’s almost ready. Where are you going?"

"Back to the office."

The light in the stairwell flickered, and his parting word echoed in the empty hallway.

Ding Qin turned to her husband.

"What was that all about? His daughter isn’t home for one night, and he won’t even stay for dinner. It’s just so disheartening."

Her hand fell to her side, her shoulders slumped, and her eyes filled with disappointment.

Ling Zhenkang sighed and took her hand.

"The kids grow up, they get their own ideas. Just let him be. With him gone, at least we’ll have some peace and quiet for a couple of days."

And with that, the matter was dropped.

No one could have imagined that the necklace she wore so close to her skin would end up causing so much trouble.

Shanshan had a wonderful time over those two days.

When she returned on Sunday evening, she held onto Yang Changle’s hand, unwilling to let go.

Ding Qin chuckled and coaxed her inside, only to find that the girl’s forehead was burning up.

That very night, she came down with a high fever that simply wouldn’t break.

The thermometer repeatedly read over thirty-nine degrees Celsius. They applied cool towels and gave her medicine, but nothing worked.

The fever stubbornly clung to her.

Her second aunt, Yin Yaming, was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. She immediately took Shanshan’s pulse, but it was chaotic and erratic; she couldn’t pinpoint the problem.

Her brow furrowed as she shifted her fingers to several different positions on Shanshan’s wrist, trying to get a clearer reading.

They took her to the hospital for an IV, but the doctors could only give her fever reducers and anti-inflammatories—treatments that addressed the symptoms but not the underlying cause.

Under the stark white lights of the infusion room, Shanshan lay on the hospital bed with a catheter in her small hand, whimpering for her daddy.

Shanshan was delirious with fever.

She woke up several times, always trying to pull at the necklace.

At first, Ling Anxun thought it was just an itch and reached over to scratch it for her, but he found her little hand clutching the necklace in a death grip.

He leaned in for a closer look and saw the metal chain was soaked with sweat.

"Is it... is this thing the problem? Daddy will take it off for you right now!"

He cradled her head with one hand while his other hand clumsily fumbled with the clasp.

The instant the jade pendant left her skin, Shanshan let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

He was about to toss it out the window, but Shanshan weakly raised a hand to stop him.

It turned out the jade pendant contained a special kind of energy that she could absorb. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This time, however, she had absorbed too much, and her body, unable to cope, had reacted with a fever.

Yin Yaming discovered this when she examined the pendant later.

She confirmed it wasn’t ordinary jade, but a mineral with gentle, restorative properties.

It was a true treasure and had to be kept.

While it had caused the high fever, it had also, to some extent, awakened a latent potential within Shanshan.

"I can’t throw it away?"

Ling Anxun glanced down at the pendant, which had turned a dull gray.

After a moment’s hesitation, he stuffed it into his pants pocket.

"Alright, Daddy will keep it safe for you. You just focus on getting better, okay?"

"Daddy... Shanshan... get better..."

Her speech was broken by the fever, and in her delirium, her fingers clenched the bedsheets.

Reassured that the necklace hadn’t been thrown away,

Only then did her tense body relax. Her eyelids slowly drooped, and she drifted back into a deep sleep.

Gazing at his daughter’s flushed face, Ling Anxun felt a prickling at the tip of his nose.

He reached out to feel her forehead, and the searing heat sent a pang through his heart.

The events of the last few days replayed in his mind.

’Work?’

He canceled everything.

For the next several days, he never left her bedside.

He moved his office into the house.

The slightest movement from Shanshan would have him dropping everything to rush in and check on her.

When her fever spiked at night, he would wipe her arms and back with a cool washcloth, over and over again.

When exhaustion overcame him, he would lie down on the sofa for a moment, only to jolt awake less than ten minutes later.

The illness kept Shanshan bedridden for a full two weeks.

The once lively, active child was now quiet and frail, needing help just to sit up.

To make matters worse, she also missed the academic competition she was supposed to enter.

On the very day Shanshan was finally able to get out of bed and walk again, Cao Jiajia decided to blow things up.

Invoking Cao Daqiang’s name, she filed a formal complaint against the school with the relevant authorities.

The complaint alleged gross misconduct in the school’s selection process, claiming that spots were being secretly reserved for the children of the rich and powerful.

She didn’t just submit written materials; she also posted her accusations online.

The story quickly gained traction.

An established public school like theirs dreaded this kind of scandal more than anything.