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Join the ServerHer brow furrowed tighter and tighter as she scrolled through it for a long while, finding absolutely nothing.
The phone desktop of a twenty-one-year-old college girl was actually cleaner than her own as a nearly fifty-year-old woman.
There wasn’t a single popular app.
No Douyin.
No beauty camera.
No games.
On her phone screen, aside from some basic software that came with the system, there was only WeChat, a ride-hailing app, a map, and WPS, which was needed for her daily schoolwork.
Refusing to accept this, Mother Shi searched her phone thoroughly from inside out once again.
She failed to find any hidden apps.
She opened the contacts list and call history; they were filled entirely with Shi family members, either the masters of the household or the servants.
She then opened WeChat; the contact list was very short and clear at a glance.
Pointing at a few names in the WeChat contact list, Mother Shi looked up, her gaze sharp.
“Who are these three people?”
Shi Kezhen didn’t even need to lean in to look, her tone as calm as usual.
“One is our class monitor, one is our dorm monitor, and the other is our class counselor.”
In her primary WeChat account, other than the Shi family, there were only these three outsiders.
“You aren’t lying to me?”
“You can check them one by one.”
Mother Shi stared at her with a scrutinizing gaze for a good while before speaking in a warning tone.
“You and Yanzhou are classmates.”
“I can find out about these few people with a single question, so I doubt you would dare lie to me.”
Still unwilling to give up, Mother Shi browsed for a while longer, checking the photo album, recently deleted, memos, and favorites…
She searched every single corner of the phone.
In the photo album, there were only a few pictures of leaves, flowers, and some nature photos of the sky and such.
The entire phone was spotlessly clean, without any trace of fishy business.
Mother Shi finally set the phone down.
But her gaze toward Shi Kezhen did not soften simply because she had failed to find any evidence.
Instead, it held an extra layer of something complex and indefinable.
Shi Kezhen was actually still very nervous in her heart; her phone naturally contained secrets, but they were hidden in the Privacy Space.
Fortunately, Mother Shi knew absolutely nothing about features like dual operating systems or Privacy Spaces, and had never encountered them before.
She would never imagine that Shi Kezhen would be so bold as to secretly set up a Privacy Space inside her phone.
However, even if Mother Shi did discover the Privacy Space, she wouldn’t be able to open it.
She had set up a self-destruct protection; unless opened with the correct password, the Privacy Space would automatically format itself.
Just to be safe, she had only set a password for the Privacy Space, omitting even the fingerprint unlock.
After finishing her inspection, Mother Shi did not return the phone to Shi Kezhen.
Instead, she placed it on the sofa beside her, apparently intending to confiscate it for the time being.
Leaning back against the sofa, she called Uncle He over and commanded him.
“Take some people to search Kezhen’s room thoroughly, and see if she has a second phone hidden there.”
Uncle He took his orders, leading two maids upstairs.
The search lasted for nearly half an hour.
‘It seems they really are searching quite thoroughly.’
During the wait, neither of the two in the living room spoke; one sat while the other stood.
Shi Kezhen showed no reaction to Mother Shi having her room searched, her face betraying no dissatisfaction whatsoever; she simply stood there quietly.
Half an hour later, Uncle He returned to Mother Shi, reporting respectfully.
“Madam, in the young mistress’s room, there is only a tablet and a laptop; there are no other electronic devices.”
Mother Shi nodded.
“Turn on both the laptop and the tablet.”
Uncle He turned on both the tablet and the laptop, placing them on the coffee table, and glanced at Shi Kezhen, gesturing toward the tablet with his palm.
“Young Mistress.”
Shi Kezhen said nothing, stepping forward to unlock both the tablet and the laptop before retreating to her original spot to stand.
Mother Shi then thoroughly inspected both the laptop and the tablet from inside out once again.
Yet, whether it was the computer or the tablet, they were just as clean as her phone.
Aside from the software needed for her daily schoolwork, there were no entertainment apps.
There wasn’t even a single social networking app, and she hadn’t even downloaded WeChat on them.
Setting the computer down, Mother Shi looked up at Shi Kezhen; there was neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction in her gaze, only a predictable coldness.
“Your personality has grown wild; it won’t do without some tempering.”
“For now, stay home obediently.”
The phone, tablet, and laptop were all confiscated by Mother Shi.
Shi Kezhen stood in place, saying nothing as she watched Uncle He carry her electronic devices, walking upstairs behind Mother Shi.
***
Shi Kezhen was locked inside the Shi house.
From morning till night, she locked herself in her room, staring into space.
Aside from staring into space, she had no idea what else she could do.
Her phone was gone, her computer was gone, she couldn’t go to school, she couldn’t go out, and she couldn’t contact anyone.
The curtains in her room were drawn tightly shut, keeping the sunlight out.
She knew it.
The moment she resisted, she would face this kind of forceful suppression.
This wasn’t the first time she had rebelled against Mother Shi.
The first time had been during elementary school.
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