Mommy, don't be afraid, I'll bring you blind boxes and scam you out of a wealthy family to

The atmosphere in the living room was as tense and subtle as a taut string.

No one explicitly asked, "Did this child steal it?" But the gardener's words were like nails, piercing into everyone's hearts.

Wen Li huddled against the wall, shivering.

Grandpa would definitely scold her just like her stepfather, calling her an unwanted, good-for-nothing bastard, and then kick her out.

She was so frightened that she closed her eyes.

Sure enough, I heard Grandpa speak, his voice barely concealing his anger: "You saw her take it with your own eyes?"

...Huh?

The milk ball was surprised.

Grandpa, you weren't scolding Li Bao?

She opened her eyes and saw the old man facing the gardener, his gaze gloomy.

The gardener choked, "No, no... but she was the only one who went this morning..."

"Keep looking if you can't find it." The cane tapped the ground, not heavily, but it felt like it was stabbing into everyone's hearts. "I don't know when the Duan family started to falsely accuse people out of thin air?"

The surroundings suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The servants knew that the old man was angry, so they dared not utter a sound, for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

Tears still clung to Xiao Wenli's eyelashes, her mind slowly working:

Grandpa...speaking up for me?

The entire Duan family home was searched again.

Study, living room, side hall, corridor, storage room... not one is left out.

Drawers were pulled open and pushed back, cabinets were moved away and then moved back, and carpets were lifted up and then put down again.

The old man tapped his fingers on the table.

He didn't get angry, and he didn't even urge him any further.

It can be so oppressive that it makes people sad.

Adults don't grieve on their own initiative, so the little one grieves for his grandfather.

"Chirp chirp, Pear wants to help Grandpa," she thought to herself.

[Here it comes! Little Pear, want to try opening ten at once? You have a lot of points now.]

Wen Li nodded.

Once you break 5000 points, the store will upgrade and automatically transfer any N-level blind boxes you open to the warehouse.

After unpacking them, she saw three R-grade blind boxes and one SR-grade blind box.

The first one is [R·Screaming Horn].

Wen Li muttered to herself, "What is this...?"

The sound exploded in my head like thunder, booming and making my ears ring.

The milk ball quickly covered its mouth, its eyes wide open.

Only after the box was put away in the warehouse did he let go, patting his chest: "That scared Li Bao to death..."

The second one is [R·Backflip Frog].

Having learned her lesson, Wen Li dared not utter a sound.

With a "croak," a little green frog jumped out and started doing somersaults without saying a word.

It flipped faster and faster, like a spinning top.

Xiao Wenli stared wide-eyed: "Can you do anything else?"

The little frog kept flipping over, completely ignoring her.

Milk Dumpling sighed and put the frog away: "Thank you, Frog."

The third blind box can blow out colorful bubbles, which looks nice, but it gets all over the place and is therefore useless.

Wen Li sat in the pile of bubbles, feeling somewhat deflated.

She clasped her dirty little hands together and prayed: "The next one must be useful."

The purple box was opened, and a little mole emerged, wearing a deerstalker hat.

【SR·Detective Mole】

The tiny mole, no bigger than a palm, landed with a thud at Wen Li's feet. It shook its head dazedly, its nose twitching as it sniffed left and right, sniffing the sky and the ground.

Then, with a whoosh, it shot out like a cannonball.

"Ah!" Wen Li quickly scrambled to her feet and chased after her, "Wait for Li Bao!"

The little mole looked round and chubby, and quite agile. It darted left and right towards the kitchen, then plunged headfirst into the cake.

Its nose sniffed frantically, as if saying, "This is it!"

Wen Li rushed in, panting, "It's not this, it's...it's Grandpa's watch!"

The little mole tilted its head to look at her, as if it were thinking, and then darted off to its next destination.

Wen Li followed behind, her face flushed from running.

She lost one of her slippers, but she didn't bother to put it back on and just held it in her hand.

The little mole led its pups through bushes and flowerbeds, turning the Duan family's old house into an adventure paradise.

Several leaves were stuck to the milk dumpling's hair, the hem of her skirt was covered in mud, and her knees and the backs of her hands were smeared with dust.

"Slow down... Pear's legs are too short... I can't catch up..."

Finally, the little mole stopped in front of a wall, scratched at it a few times with its paws, and then looked back at her.

Wen Li lay down, her little face almost touching the ground, and peered inside.

That was a drainpipe; she stretched her arm as far as she could, but her fingertips only touched the wet mud.

Wen Li moved forward again, squeezing half her shoulder into the gap, using all her strength—

Finally, I encountered something cool and round.

She hooked the metal chain and slowly pulled it outwards.

The silver, patterned shell is covered with tiny scratches that bear the marks of time.

"Found it—!!"

Wen Li held the pocket watch high, as if it were the most precious treasure in the world, and ran back to the living room.

Duan Yuanzhou sat at the door of his messy study, not catching a single word of the servants talking beside him.

"grandfather--"

The old man turned his head and saw a little mud ball running towards him.

He was covered in dust and dirt, but his eyes were surprisingly bright.

He saw something gleaming silver in her hand.

It's a pocket watch!

The old man suddenly stood up.

Before catching the pocket watch, he caught the little baby who had tripped and fallen.

Wen Li forgot her previous fear of her grandfather, grabbed his hand, and excitedly babbled, "Little mole, run, run, run... Li Bao chases... climbs the tube! Li Bao tries hard... got it!"

The old man barely understood what he was saying.

But from the little girl's filthy appearance and the fawning look in her eyes, he could see her effort.

His throat felt like it was blocked by something.

Just then, the butler arrived; everything had been investigated and clarified.

The gardener's son had accumulated a mountain of gambling debts, which someone had paid off for him. He was then tasked with keeping an eye on Wen Li, hoping to find something to use against her.

The gardener didn't like Wen Li either: a child of unknown origin who had caused chaos throughout the old house. Why did so many people fawn over such a little girl?

The pocket watch was lost, so it made perfect sense for him to frame her.

Anyway, a three-year-old migrant child can't argue, can't resist, and no one will believe her.

This is the easiest form of malice adults can show towards the weak.

Old Master Duan's gaze was chillingly cold: "Bring the person over here."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to make everyone tremble.

The gardener was brought in, and knowing he had been exposed, his legs went weak: "Master, I didn't mean to—"

"Not intentional?" Duan Yuanzhou sneered. "Taking money to target such a young child and then falsely accusing her, you call that 'not intentional'?"

The gardener's face turned deathly pale: "My son is in debt, I had no choice!"

"So, you have no choice but to bully the child?"

The cane fell heavily to the ground!

The entire living room fell into a deathly silence.

Wen Li shrank back in fright and instinctively hugged her grandfather's leg.

The old man saw her scraped knees and elbows, and how she had searched through countless bushes and corners—places even adults wouldn't go—to find her pocket watch.

His voice turned completely cold as he said to the gardener, "Starting today, you are fired."

The gardener panicked completely and immediately knelt down: "Master, I have worked for the Duan family for over twenty years—"

"In the past twenty years, all you've learned is to smear children?" the old man said coldly. "Not only the Duan family, but no one in Tan City will dare to hire you in the future. Find someone else."

The gardener looked up abruptly, utterly distraught: "Master!!"

However, the security guards had already dragged him out.

The pleas for mercy faded into the distance, and no one in the living room dared to utter a sound.

The servants all realized that this child was no longer an outsider in the Duan family.

Wen Li didn't have many complicated thoughts. She tugged at the old man's sleeve and shook it gently, her voice soft and careful: "Grandpa, don't be angry..."

The old man looked down at her; the little one was a mess himself, yet he comforted him first.

His heart softened suddenly, and he took out a handkerchief to wipe her face, his tone still harsh: "Do you know how dirty you are? Couldn't you call for help when you couldn't find your way? You ran into the garden all by yourself."

Wen Li obediently tilted her little face up to him as he wiped her mouth, explaining softly, "Li Bao isn't as fast as the little mole. It squeezes in, and Li Bao squeezes in too..."

What utter nonsense! Duan Yuanzhou had a headache listening to it.

It was this child, who couldn't even speak clearly, who found the pocket watch for him.

—Even after suffering a great injustice, she still remembered to help him find his watch first.

Little Wenli's face was being wiped while her eyes were still closed, and her body felt light.

She opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself being picked up by the old man.

The whole little dumpling was stunned:

Grandpa... hugged me?

She even held her breath, unsure of what to do with her little hands.

The old man frowned: "Why are you moving around like that?"

Wen Li immediately stopped moving.

The old man held the tiny, light bundle in his arms, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper: "It looks like a kitten. Where did all the food it eats go?"

housekeeper:"……"

Didn't you complain before that she was too picky about food?

The old man coldly ordered, "Go get the first-aid kit. Also, give me less snacks from now on. If I don't eat my regular meals, what kind of health can I expect from eating all that stuff?"

Wen Li immediately tensed up: "Li Bao ate her food obediently!"

The old man looked at her; her little face was both ashen and flushed, and he almost laughed.

But he suppressed his lip and deliberately put on a stern face: "Try talking back again."

Little Wenli immediately covered her mouth, leaving only her big, blinking eyes.

Then, she quietly rested her head on her grandfather's shoulder.

A soft, fluffy little thing, taking its pampered status for granted.

The old man paused in his movements.

He hadn't held such a delicate little thing in his arms for many, many years since his youngest son grew up.

He suddenly understood why his eldest son insisted on keeping Wen Li.

It feels really... good to be relied upon so wholeheartedly by such a little life.

-

After finishing his case, Duan Xianchen was on his way home when he saw someone post a picture of the old man's newly renovated study in the family group chat.

A sharp-eyed relative noticed that the expensive painting behind the desk was gone and had been replaced with a child's drawing with childlike strokes.

Soon, curious messages arrived:

[Xiao Chen, what's going on?]

Is the news report true?

[Where did this child come from? The old man didn't say anything.]

Every word and phrase is a test.

If the old folks had seen this, they would definitely have told them not to spread it around.

The old man hated it most when others speculated about the Duan family's affairs. A child whose background was unclear was not worth his personal explanation.

But today, the old man sent a voice message.

[The child He Tong brought back.]

The group was quiet for a while, and no one asked any further questions.

Duan Hetong is the current head of the Duan family, and his children are naturally members of the Duan family as well.

—Has the old man acknowledged Xiaolibao? At least he's given his approval, right?

Duan Xianchen was overjoyed. Just then, he arrived home, opened the door to ask, but held his breath—

The TV was still on in the living room, the volume was turned down very low, and it was playing cartoons that the Duan family would never normally watch.

Grandpa Duan was asleep on the sofa, still holding a pocket watch in his hand.

Little Wenli was fast asleep, her head resting on the old man's lap, covered with his coat.

An elderly person and a child, a heartwarming scene.

Duan Xianchen looked at it for a while, then shook his head with a smile.

He took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to his older brother, who was still away on a business trip.

It seems I've passed the old man's test?