Not much, just three hundred thousand.

Guo Yang turned and glared at Chen Ruowen. "What are you up to now? I’m taking my own daughter home, none of your business!"

Chen Ruowen nodded. "Of course, it’s none of my business. However… if you want to take her away, shouldn’t you pay back the money she owes me first?"

"You dared to borrow money from someone else again?" Guo Yang shot a vicious look at Guo Jingyuan, then, seeing himself surrounded by a group of burly men, resignedly pulled out his wallet. "How much?"

A sly smile curled on Chen Ruowen’s lips.

"Not much. Just a few sets of clothes and a month’s rent."

Guo Yang dawdled for a while, then, extremely unwilling, pulled out his last two thousand yuan in cash and handed it over.

Chen Ruowen didn’t reach for it. "This little bit? Do you think you’re buying socks?"

Guo Yang slapped the bills against his palm in frustration. "Look closely! That’s two thousand! She’s only stayed with you for half a month, and she can return the clothes when she gets home. That’s more than enough!"

Chen Ruowen let out a cold laugh. "I never wear anything that’s been touched by someone else. Return the clothes? Do you think my house is a recycling station?"

"Useless girl!" Guo Yang glared at Guo Jingyuan again, stuffed the cash back into his wallet, and fished out a credit card. "How much is it, then?"

Chen Ruowen replied coolly, "Not much. Around three hundred thousand."

Three—three hundred thousand?

Not much?

That’s more than his annual salary! Guo Yang wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.

"For just a few pieces of clothing? How could it be that much?"

Chen Ruowen pointed at the clothes Guo Jingyuan was wearing. "All my clothes are custom-made. Even if this girl had no taste and picked the cheapest, two sets of winter clothes and pajamas are over four hundred thousand. As for the house, you can check the rent for Waterside Residences online. But since she didn’t stay a full month, and the clothes have been worn a few times, I’ll give you a thirty percent discount."

She raised three fingers. "Three hundred thousand. Not a cent less."

Guo Yang’s movements froze, not because of the outrageous price of the clothes, but because—

Waterside Residences.

The most expensive residential area in the southern part of the city, where only the truly wealthy or powerful could afford to live. He’d only ever heard that his boss’s boss might have a private residence there.

If what this woman said was true, then it could only mean one thing.

This useless girl’s family had some background.

Seeing the shifting look in Guo Yang’s eyes, Chen Ruowen impatiently urged him again. "Hurry up and pay. Aren’t you her father? It’s only right for a father to pay his daughter’s debt. Pay up and take her away!"

Guo Yang pointed at Guo Jingyuan. "I’m supposed to cough up three hundred thousand for this useless brat? Dream on! She can figure out her own debts!"

With that, he prepared to slip away, but without Chen Ruowen’s permission, how could the bodyguards let him leave?

"Trying to run out on your debt?" Chen Ruowen smiled. "This girl wrote me an IOU herself. I’ve been waiting for her family to come pay it off. Before she turns eighteen, her debts are her guardian’s responsibility. If you refuse, I’ll take the IOU to the court for enforcement."

That foolish girl actually wrote an IOU! Is she brainless or what?

Guo Yang nearly ground his teeth to dust, but Chen Ruowen’s words reminded him of something.

He was responsible for Guo Jingyuan’s debts before she turned eighteen, but after that, her debts would have nothing to do with him.

Hmph, just a few months left anyway. Let her fend for herself. Once she’s eighteen, he’d make her pay for this tenfold!

"I don’t want her anymore. Do whatever you want with her. Even if you sell her off to pay the debt, she deserves it!"

With that, Guo Yang identified the weakest spot in the crowd, turned, and ran. The Chen family’s bodyguards gave a token chase, then let him go.

Chen Ruowen sneered. "Trying to take someone from me with that little intelligence? What a fool."

…

In the car, Chen Ruowen leaned against the back seat, playing with her phone. Guo Jingyuan sat primly beside her, sneaking a glance at Chen Ruowen every ten seconds. Bai Jinyan was sitting sideways in the front passenger seat, her gaze also fixed on Chen Ruowen.

After dropping the two girls off, Bai Jinyan exchanged a few words with Chen Ruowen at the door. They parted on good terms.

But once inside, the atmosphere between the two women became much less friendly.

Guo Jingyuan followed Chen Ruowen into her bedroom, carefully closed the door, and stood with her hands behind her back, just inside the room, as if she were a schoolgirl being punished for wrongdoing.

Chen Ruowen threw herself onto the sofa, glanced at Guo Jingyuan, picked up a notebook from the tea table, and flipped it open at random.

"Speak, daughter of a district director."

Guo Jingyuan’s face went pale.

"I… I didn’t mean to hide it from you, I just… I was afraid of bringing you trouble…"

"I don’t want explanations, just answers. You’re the daughter of a government official, so how did you end up destitute, relying on others for food and shelter?"

Guo Jingyuan took a few hesitant steps forward and stood before Chen Ruowen.

"My father started as a regular clerk, then gradually rose through the ranks. When I was fifteen, he became district director in the outskirts of the southern city.

That same year, my mother fell gravely ill and passed away within a few months.

Three days after her funeral, my father brought another woman and her daughter into our home.

That woman always pretended to stand up for me, but afterward, the conflicts between my father and me only grew worse.

At that dinner, I truly did nothing, but somehow, according to their version, I became the one trying to seduce the forty-year-old deputy secretary.

Later, that woman smoothed things over, claiming I was too pretty and easily misunderstood by others. From that day on, my family stopped buying me new clothes and even refused to let me eat my fill, afraid I’d do something disgraceful because of my looks.

After that, you know most of what happened.

I endured, hoping to escape their shadow once I came of age.

I never thought anyone would help me. Ruowen, I’m so grateful that you believe in me, that you took me in, that you stood up for me…

But you really shouldn’t have done this.

When my father comes to his senses, he’ll definitely come after you and your family. I… I’m sorry, I never wanted this, I only—"

"If you don’t want to bring me trouble, then behave yourself and don’t hide anything from me again," Chen Ruowen interrupted, tearing two blank pages from the notebook and slapping them onto the tea table. "Write down your life story and your family’s history for three generations, word for word. I’ll check it this weekend."

"…What?" Guo Jingyuan was stunned by the unexpected punishment.

"What? Or do you prefer writing a self-criticism?"

"Ruowen!" Guo Jingyuan looked anxious. "You should hand me back to my father, scold me with him, put all the blame on me. Only then will he calm down and won’t cause you any more trouble!"

"You still don’t understand what I’m saying." Chen Ruowen tossed the notebook aside and looked at Guo Jingyuan calmly.

"In Chen Ruowen’s dictionary, there’s no such word as ‘endure,’ and certainly not ‘fear.’ Let him try whatever he wants—he’ll be the one begging me in the end. If I were afraid of him, I wouldn’t be called Chen Ruowen."