Fiddling with the hairpin in her hand and looking at it shine under the sun, an unconfident Heng Yuqing asked, "Xueyan, what do you think about this hairpin? Is it pretty?"

Knowing her grandmother was about to celebrate her birthday, she invited Ning Xueyan out to get her help in picking a gift for her grandmother. They were inside a popular ornament shop in the capital, a shop that spanned eight rooms. All kinds of gold and silver jewelry could be found here, enough to ...