The Real Heiress Has an Appraisal System

"Thank you, Mr. Ryan." Gu Shengsheng genuinely thought it was great—very practical, and clearly made with a lot of thought and effort.

Lu Shijing’s ears turned a little red. He glanced at the time; most of the day had already passed.

"Should I get going?"

"We worked so hard on this cake. You should have a piece before you go!"

As she said that, Gu Shengsheng went to cut him a slice, but Lu Shijing took the knife from her. "You have to blow out the candles first," he said.

"A birthday only comes once a year. You have to have a little ceremony."

Gu Shengsheng didn’t seem to mind. "Having someone to celebrate my birthday with is wonderful enough," she said with a smile. "The ceremony can just be in my heart."

Lu Shijing paused, a pang of sympathy striking his heart. But he didn’t let it show.

He simply stood up, placed the candles on the cake for her, and then said, "Make a wish."

"Okay."

She closed her eyes, blew out the candles, and kept the first slice of cake for herself.

Lu Shijing cut another slice, not leaving until he had finished it.

Only after he returned to his own apartment next door did he signal for Lin Kai to bring Grandma and Linnin back.

The grandmother and granddaughter duo felt a little guilty upon their return. They were supposed to go grocery shopping, but they ended up trying to make longevity noodles at a hotel, and it hadn’t been very successful...

Now that they were back, they worried Shengsheng might be disappointed.

When the door opened, Grandma placed the longevity noodles she’d made in front of Gu Shengsheng. "Grandma isn’t much of a cook. The old man used to do all the cooking."

"I made this one."

Lu Linlin placed a small bowl next to it. "Sister-in-law, I made this one."

"Happy birthday! May you be happy every single year. May our family stay healthy and well, and may we always be together and never be apart."

"Okay." Her eyes began to feel moist.

She lowered her head, took a bite of Grandma’s longevity noodles, and then said with a laugh, "It’s salty."

"But it’s delicious."

Tears started falling as she ate. Fortunately, she could keep her emotions in check with her head bowed, so Grandma and Linnin wouldn’t notice.

’How could they not notice?’ Of course, they did. But Grandma’s heart ached for her.

She didn’t say a word, even pretending she hadn’t noticed.

Linnin looked at the cake and said with a smile, "We were originally going to make a cake for you, Sister-in-law. Did you make this yourself?"

She quickly moved closer and hugged Gu Shengsheng. "Sister-in-law... you must have been so lonely today, weren’t you?"

"Not at all. The gentleman from next door came over to help me. He even had a slice."

"He’s gone now."

The old woman nodded. "That’s good, that’s good."

She didn’t press for details; the old woman had no desire to ask any more questions right now.

Seeing a man who looked identical to Lu Shijing in the middle of the night—she was no fool. She had already done some investigating.

She found no suspicious individuals, and even the relevant section of the surveillance footage was missing.

’If it were a ghost, it wouldn’t be able to do something like that.’

She knew something was off right away. After all, back in her younger days, she had worked in intelligence.

She immediately contacted some old acquaintances and asked them to look into it.

And what do you know, they really did find the young man. He looked identical to her grandson, but he’d changed his name to Ryan.

The interesting part was, he was living right across the hall from them.

How could the old woman not be suspicious?

All day today, she’d felt that Lin Kai was just leading them around in circles. She’d been cunning enough to sneak a peek at Lin Kai’s chat history.

’Isn’t it just some man ordering him around?’

Then she managed to coax a few more words out of that fool, Lin Kai, and everything became clear.

’Besides her gloomy grandson, who else would do something like this?’

’Looks like this grandson of mine has his own plans. He’s already set his sights on his little wifey, has he? And he’s planning to woo her himself?’

The old woman saw through it all but said nothing. Letting things develop naturally was for the best.

’That boy is really alive, and living well at that. And now he wants to bring down the Lu Group? He’s got more stubborn energy than he knows what to do with.’

’He won’t even come home to let us know he’s safe. That brat’s wings have certainly stiffened.’

She had no intention of helping him with his wife-chasing.

Anyway... the old woman was currently feeling quite peeved. Now and in the future, she was firmly on her granddaughter-in-law’s side.

Then, the old woman added a word of caution, "Shengsheng, the person living across the hall might not be a good person. You should be more careful in the future and limit your contact with him."

"It would be terrible if he turned out to be a bad guy."

Lu Linlin, knowing nothing, just foolishly chimed in. "Right, right."

"He’s probably not even as smooth-talking as those boys from the club."

The old woman shot her a glare. "You should spend less time at those clubs; your brain has turned to mush. You were almost tricked by that poor kid before. People are incredibly devious these days. Someone like you could be tricked into bearing a man’s children and you wouldn’t even know it."

Lu Linlin’s shoulders slumped. "Grandma, please stop bringing that up!"

Then, she looked expectantly at Gu Shengsheng. "Sister-in-law, where are you going to livestream tomorrow? So many people want to watch you."

"I want to be your ’fansite master’ and take gorgeous photos of you."

Before Gu Shengsheng could say a word, Grandma shut it down. "No. I haven’t even been, so you can’t go. If you’re that bored, you can come with me to work on renovating the courtyard house."

"I’m planning to check out the old bookstalls tomorrow," Gu Shengsheng said. "Lately, Pan Garden and the other places I’ve visited have been too crowded."

She mainly wanted to investigate the System’s appraisal function. Why was the attribute panel for books so detailed?

According to the System, the rewards provided upon leveling up were always things she needed in the near future.

’So, now that the book attribute panel has appeared, does that mean I’ll be able to score some rare ancient books soon?’

So, Gu Shengsheng wanted to try her luck. It was an idea she’d had since the appraisal competition.

Grandma nodded. "Then you go ahead. I’ll go supervise the house work tomorrow."

"Chaoyang can barely fend for himself lately, so he probably won’t come looking for trouble. If he does, just give me a call, and I’ll go pull the seniority card."

Grandma had her own way of handling each of the younger generation.

No matter how much of a scoundrel Lu Chaoyang was, he was always respectful toward Grandma.

「The next morning」 Gu Shengsheng went straight to the old book market.

It was located on an inconspicuous street, where the ground was covered with all sorts of bookstalls. The more upscale ones were actual book kiosks.

Her online followers had been the ones to recommend this place to Gu Shengsheng.

They said it was where they all bought their comic books.

Gu Shengsheng was truly stunned when she arrived. Most books were sold at five for ten yuan, or a few yuan each.

The clientele consisted mostly of elementary school students in uniforms, carrying small backpacks.

As an adult, Gu Shengsheng stood out like a sore thumb.

She asked her live stream audience, "So this is the place you all recommended?"

Her followers started reminiscing in the chat:

"Yeah, the comics, picture books, and even those ’spicy’ little novels I read back in school, I bought them all here. Can’t believe this street is still around."

"Yep, they’re almost all pirated copies. But streamer, don’t underestimate this place. You can find anything here, I guarantee it!"

"That’s right, this is where my obsession with romance was born. I read *The Young Mistress’s 99th Escape* and cried my eyes out. Then I read about her daughter, her son... so, so many stories."

"Uhh... uhh... my romance obsession is fully activated."

"Streamer, what kind of books are you looking for?"

"..."

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