Xia Ziyu was secretive, her head wrapped in a scarf – Xia Xiaolan thought the silhouette looked quite similar.

Visiting Du Zhaohui’s room wasn’t exactly confidential. Xia Xiaolan could easily find out by sweetly asking the cleaning staff – Du Zhaohui’s status as a Hong Kong merchant was notable, and the cleaning ladies couldn’t help but pay attention to his room. While changing her bandages, Xia Xiaolan overheard two cleaning ladies discussing how the Hong Kong merchant had lost a tooth and stayed in the special care ward for two days – their tone nearly made her laugh out loud.

Though she thought the figure resembled Xia Ziyu, she wasn’t certain until she asked the cleaning lady, who confirmed someone had entered with a scarf-wrapped face.

“Just like spies meeting in secret. Is that Hong Kong man a spy?”

The cleaning lady thought Du Zhaohui looked shifty, like a villain from the movies.

While Xia Xiaolan couldn’t figure it out, Zhou Cheng hit the nail on the head:

“Birds of a feather flock together – they must be delighted to find each other.”

They both preferred underhanded methods, avoiding straightforward paths in favor of scheming – their coming together wasn’t surprising. Xia Ziyu was certainly talented; if she had been a man, she’d be a crafty operator. Now that the Wang family was losing influence, was she trying to attach herself to Du Zhaohui?

According to Pan San’s investigation, Du Zhaohui was a playboy in Hong Kong who frequently changed girlfriends, but Zhou Cheng felt that if these two were getting involved, Du Zhaohui certainly wasn’t after Xia Ziyu’s looks.

“What does Xia Ziyu have that Du Zhaohui wants? He’s extremely pragmatic – he wouldn’t give someone useless a second glance.”

Was he interested in Xia Ziyu’s fluctuating intelligence?

Xia Ziyu’s intelligence was a mystery. Xia Xiaolan often couldn’t understand her methods – just when she thought Xia Ziyu would die from stupidity, she’d discover a new angle. And whenever Xia Xiaolan acknowledged her intelligence, Xia Ziyu would slip up.

Zhang Cui opening a snack shop at Anqing County No. 1 Middle School’s entrance was probably Xia Ziyu’s idea.

Given the Xia family’s situation then, each additional worker meant more income. Inexplicably, Zhang Cui went to the county to accompany her studying. The studying was just a cover – it was probably always about starting a small business. Xia Ziyu started high school in 1980, just as reform and opening up began. In conservative Anqing, there were no private stalls on the county streets. Zhang Cui and Xia Ziyu’s venture into business was ahead of its time – Xia Xiaolan had to admit Xia Ziyu’s cleverness on this point.

But when Xia Xiaolan moved against “Zhang’s Snacks,” the supposedly clever person offered no resistance. A simple tactic had quickly forced Zhang’s to close.

The clever person didn’t even struggle?

This wasn’t Xia Ziyu’s only contradiction. The tutoring class business had also impressed Xia Xiaolan.

To Xia Xiaolan, it seemed Xia Ziyu had ideas for getting rich but always fell short in execution.

She lowered her voice and laughed: “Perhaps Du Zhaohui has taken notice of Xia Ziyu’s business acumen.”

If Du Zhaohui was fooled by Xia Ziyu, Xia Xiaolan thought that based on Xia Ziyu’s previous “achievements,” she could run Du Zhaohui into the ground.

“Not necessarily. If it’s just a few million, losing it wouldn’t hurt Du Zhaohui much.”

Du Zhaohui relied on the Cheng Rong Group – as long as the Du family didn’t fall, he’d always have backing. A few million wasn’t much to him. Kang Lianming hadn’t planned to suppress Cheng Rong Group’s mainland investments either – that was business, a win-win situation.

But Du Zhaohui himself would be afraid.

Because Du Zhaohui wanted to seize power within the Du family, placing all his hopes on the Shenzhen project.

Now that Cheng Rong Group had separated their mainland investments from smuggling operations if Zhou Cheng were to crack down hard on smuggling, it would seem like he was helping Du Zhaohui eliminate competition.

“Xiaolan, have you considered accepting Second Uncle Kang’s help? Within the bounds of regulations, of course.”

Kang Lianming suggested that since Xia Xiaolan and Kang Wei were doing business in Shenzhen, they might as well expand. He’d mentioned this to Xia Xiaolan, who had deflected to Kang Wei at the time. With Zhou Cheng, she could be honest:

“I don’t want that kind of help. Business backed by officials certainly develops quickly. But following an official career is like walking a tightrope – once you accept too much help from an official, the ties become unbreakable. I hope our business develops healthily according to market principles, not overly dependent on anyone’s connections… Zhou Cheng, these are the best of times. China is rebuilding everything – whether old industries or new ones, grabbing onto any opportunity can develop your career.”

She’d sought Tang Hong’en’s protection only as deterrence, never intending to use his connections for municipal projects.

Tang Hong’en had given Liu Yong just one chance – an “entry ticket” for the municipal guesthouse renovation bid. He hadn’t taken a penny in kickbacks. Rather than official-merchant collusion, it was more like giving a young woman a helping hand.

That was the only opportunity, and Liu Yong had done an excellent job with the municipal guesthouse renovation. ‘Yuan Hui’ had established itself in Shenzhen through the profits and reputation of this project.

If Xia Xiaolan asked, given her current relationship with Tang Hong’en, wouldn’t he help?

She deliberately avoided asking and was vigilant about others using this connection. For instance, when Liu Tianquan had strongly urged Liu Yong to cooperate on the “South Sea Hotel” renovation project, Xia Xiaolan opposed it.

She wanted to make money and build a career but didn’t want deep business ties with any officials. She feared being lost in false success, feared taking steps too large for their actual capabilities. Regardless of whose connections helped develop the business, political struggles carried risks – the bigger the benefit, the bigger the risk. If a leader fell, Xia Xiaolan’s business would fall with them!

“Mm, I understand. We’ll do it your way.”

Zhou Cheng was already devoted to his wife, and Xia Xiaolan’s reasoning made sense. He couldn’t force her to accept Kang Lianming’s help:

“You’ve done a lot for Kang Wei, Xiaolan. I need to thank you. That kid and I grew up together – he’s like my own brother. You’re already injured, so don’t worry about Kang Wei anymore. Let us men handle the rest, okay?”

No matter how clever she was, they couldn’t let Xiaolan shoulder everything. Zhou Cheng was deeply concerned.

She should have been spending winter break at her home in Shangdu, but came to Shenzhen to see him and got into an accident. Zhou Cheng’s heart still ached thinking about that terrifying moment.

He and Kang Lianming wouldn’t let go of Du Zhaohui because he cared about Xiaolan, and Kang Lianming cared about Kang Wei.

Du Zhaohui had driven his car like an airplane on Shenzhen’s streets, and they had both nearly lost important people. This made them equally furious.

Zhou Cheng hadn’t shown it because he didn’t want to worry Xiaolan, but her ability to spot Xia Ziyu proved she was still watching Du Zhaohui’s room… Zhou Cheng hoped his wife could relax and not worry so much. Leave these matters to the men to handle!