Rebirth: The Ascent of a Socialite-Chapter 581 - 235: Twilight Love

Thank you Ranyu for the pink, thank you Polemo for the evaluation ticket, girls with over 1000 subscriptions, make sure to vote energetically. September 1st, the ending month~

**

Melin was somewhat surprised to find a stranger sitting in the room.

Ever since her father mismanaged his business and fled with a heap of debts, she and her mother had been forced to relocate from their original small western-style house to this flat; over the years, her mother rarely had contact with the outside world and she had not heard of her having friends intimate enough to be invited over to visit.

The room was somewhat messy, clearly having been rummaged through by her mother. Seeing her mother’s face filled with urgency, Melin then looked at the young woman who was sizing her up.

Molin is mixed-race, roughly the same height as Su Ziceng, and more beautiful than Qiao Zhizhi, she has flaxen hair, eyes tinged with baby blue, and a prominent nose. The decline in her family’s fortunes mid-way made her personality sharper than her peers, wary of everyone.

"Melin, have you seen the diary, the one with the red-brown cover, a very heavy diary with a metal clasp on it?" Qiao Zhizhi snatched Melin’s backpack and rummaged through it, indeed finding that heavy diary inside.

"What do you need the diary for?" After finding the diary, Qiao Zhizhi breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately began scolding, "How many times have I told you not to touch things your cousin Aunt left behind, whether it’s a school uniform or a diary, these are all things your... cousin Aunt left for me."

Qiao Zhizhi, who naturally shares some similarities with Qiao Zhi’an, scolded fiercely like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her fur bristled with anger.

"Why the fuss, there’s still a guest in the house," Melin glared at her mother, angrily snatched the backpack from Qiao Zhizhi’s hands, just about to throw it onto her own bed, then noticed that her small bed was already occupied by Su Ziceng.

"Aunt, don’t rush, look, it seems the lock on the diary has already been opened." Su Ziceng, with sharper eyes, spotted that the metal clasp on the diary had come loose, and the pages seemed to have been flipped through.

The fury on Qiao Zhizhi’s face instantly disappeared, replaced by a look of thrilled surprise as she beheld the diary in her hands. Ever since Qiao Chu passed away and this diary was sent to her, Qiao Zhizhi firmly believed that the diary contained the final words her cousin left for her, which is why she had sought numerous locksmiths over the years, hoping to open this diary. However, neither Eastern nor Western locksmiths could assure her that the diary would remain intact once the lock was opened, so Qiao Zhizhi simply preserved the diary.

Melin, as far as she could remember, often saw Qiao Zhizhi sighing over that diary; seeing it often, she became somewhat guarded about it. After being forced to move to this flat in Chinatown, that diary had also been brought along. Especially over these recent years, as their living condition worsened day by day, all the valuable things in the house had been sold for money. During such days cold enough to freeze dripping water into ice, and with the heating cut off, Melin couldn’t withstand it and took out the seemingly valuable yet useless Rose Handbook, running to a store famous for dealing in Eastern artifacts.

As luck would have it, the owner of the art store had some experience with locksmithing in his earlier years. After examining the diary, he managed to unlock it. However, after he casually flipped through it, he returned the diary to Melin, mentioning that this diary was very important for its owner.

Despite Melin emphasizing that the diary’s owner had been deceased for many years, the principled old shop owner still insisted on not taking the diary, saying that buying the diary would cover up some secrets, urging Melin to keep the diary safely as it might be needed by someone one day.

Like most second-generation immigrants, Melin could only speak simple Mandarin, and she was completely helpless with written text. So, on the way back, she looked through a few pages but couldn’t make sense of the complex characters, only to bring the diary back with her.

"You reckless girl," upon hearing that Melin nearly sold the diary, Qiao Zhizhi became so angry she made a move to hit her. Su Ziceng quickly held her back, "Aunt, don’t be angry yet," Su Ziceng looked around the room, no wonder Melin harbored such thoughts, in such a place, just breathing could freeze someone to death.