Xia Xiaolan left her phone number with the Shangdu police officers, expressing willingness to cooperate with their investigation anytime.
The direction Xia Xiaolan suggested kept the police pondering.
They immediately contacted the Shangdu City Bureau – Xia Changzheng’s criminal motive truly needed thorough investigation!
When the case of Xia Changzheng hiring thugs broke, involving Xia Xiaolan, Shao Guangrong’s uncle still held his position in Shangdu. Though Uncle Shao might not notice this matter, his secretary would certainly monitor it.
Secretary Hou hadn’t forgotten Xia Xiaolan.
“Leader, what do you think about this?”
Secretary Hou closely followed the developments, only reporting to Shao Limin after Xia Changzheng confessed. Shao Limin thought of the news from Beijing – this time was different from helping Zhou Cheng. Back then, only Zhou Cheng was involved, and Xia Xiaolan was just an ordinary female student.
Shao Limin had wondered why the Zhou family would accept such a match for Zhou Cheng. Someone as excellent as Zhou Cheng – if it were the Shao family, they’d certainly seek a power alliance, finding in-laws who could add another boost to Zhou Cheng’s future… But Xia Xiaolan proved herself, scoring first in the province and choosing Beijing’s Huaqing University.
Zhou Cheng liked her; Xia Xiaolan was beautiful, intelligent, and presentable. The Zhou family actually accepted her.
Not just bringing her home to meet her parents – from what Shao Limin knew, Guan E’e had already been showing Xia Xiaolan around everywhere. She was considered the Zhou family’s future daughter-in-law, just waiting for her university graduation to marry.
Shao Limin couldn’t abuse his power to force a confession from Xia Changzheng. Now that Xia Changzheng had confessed on his own, Shao Limin could inform the Zhou family and earn their gratitude.
Zhou Guobin was completely puzzled when he received the news.
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t mentioned anything to the family!
After hanging up, Zhou Guobin, being a man, felt it inappropriate to speak with Xia Xiaolan directly, so he told Guan E’e.
“Such a big matter, why didn’t this child say anything?”
Guan E’e stood on Xia Xiaolan’s side.
Zhou Guobin glanced at his wife, “How could she feel comfortable talking about it?”
Zhou Guobin had heard of internal fighting, families battling for power and profit. During the Cultural Revolution, relatives denounced each other, revealing humanity’s selfishness and baseness.
But now in peacetime, how could Xia Xiaolan getting into university harm her uncle?
Not only ruining someone’s future but escalating to hiring thugs – extremely vicious behavior. Zhou Guobin and Guan E’e had seen Yunan Provincial TV’s interview with Xia Xiaolan; when the exam results came out, her right hand was still in a cast… Poor girl took the exam with an injured hand yet still ranked first in the province.
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t just smart and beautiful; her greatest quality might be ‘resilience.’ When Guan E’e disliked her, she complained Xia Xiaolan was too straightforward, but once she accepted Xia Xiaolan, this became a quality Guan E’e admired.
Due to Uncle Shao Guangrong’s ‘concern,’ just after seeing off the investigating police from Shangdu, Xia Xiaolan was called to the Zhou family home.
“About Xia Changzheng’s matter, Shangdu informed us. What are your thoughts?”
With Guan E’e present, Zhou Guobin could communicate easily with Xia Xiaolan.
Xia Xiaolan was prepared:
“Uncle Zhou, I support the legal judgment. If you intervene, he might get a longer sentence, but that wouldn’t look good for you. What concerns me more is his motive. There’s something else before this.”
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t told the police about Zhao Gang’s matter, feeling the timing wasn’t right.
She had nothing to hide from the Zhou couple.
“The true culprit is your cousin!”
Guan E’e recalled meeting Xia Ziyu once, having a very poor impression. Stealing Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend was one thing – if she hadn’t taken Wang Jianhua, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t have gotten together with her son Zhou Cheng.
After stealing her boyfriend, she wanted to crush Xia Xiaolan completely.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to stay in the muck, but Xia Ziyu wanted to cut off all her paths to advancement.
Guan E’e learned just how evil human hearts could be.
Zhou Guobin understood – Xia Changzheng was secondary; Xia Xiaolan’s real target was her cousin Xia Ziyu. Last year’s matter, waiting until this year to act – they probably hadn’t expected this.
Xia Xiaolan was good at judging situations. Last year, what did she have? Only Zhou Cheng’s help, without even the Zhou family’s acceptance. Wanting to deal with Xia Ziyu – coincidentally, Wang Guangping returned from the farm to his position, working in the Higher Education Department, perfectly targeting a regular university student’s lifeline.
This year was different.
Wang Guangping had transferred to the Party History Office, barely protecting himself, let alone supporting Xia Ziyu. Zhou Guobin took a sip of tea – Yunan tea had been constantly supplied to their home since last year. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t a helpless victim; she had taken some revenge privately. So what? Should Zhou Guobin speak for outsiders?
So Zhou Guobin didn’t mention Xia Changzheng’s broken hand, just put down his teacup and asked Xia Xiaolan:
“Are you confident?”
Xia Xiaolan thought for a moment, “With Zhao Gang’s matter, I’m seventy to eighty percent confident.”
Zhou Guobin shook his head: “If you strike, you must strike decisively – you need one hundred percent certainty. Don’t worry about Yunan anymore, let the family handle the rest.”
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t planned on relying on the Zhou family.
As Zhou Guobin thought, she didn’t act earlier because she lacked capability then. If she had relied on the Zhou family from the start, how would they view her?
Not just about her relationship with Zhou Cheng, Xia Xiaolan always believed in self-reliance over depending on others. She never expected anyone to fight her battles… Now was different. Zhou Guobin saying “Let the family handle it” showed his care. Xia Xiaolan had taken the most important step; letting the Zhou family handle the cleanup wasn’t a bad idea.
She had to admit, that relying solely on herself might leave oversights. Zhou Guobin’s involvement was on a completely different level. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t one to be ungrateful after receiving help; she thanked him happily:
“Thank you, Uncle Zhou!”
…
While Xia Xiaolan enjoyed the Zhou family’s care,
Xia Ziyu endured Zhang Cui’s crying.
“Ziyu, think of something! Your father’s been arrested by the police, we must save him!”
Last year, Zhang Cui had considered divorce.
During the worst conflicts with the Xia family, Zhang Cui almost followed Liu Fen’s example and divorced. Finally, fearing others’ judgment and being unable to let go of face, plus considering the children, she couldn’t divorce.
Her feelings for Xia Changzheng weren’t what they used to be – a constantly drunk man was worse than no man at all. But when Xia Changzheng was arrested, Zhang Cui still broke down. Besides being her husband, he was her children’s father!
Xia Changzheng was arrested for hiring thugs to attack Xia Xiaolan. Zhang Cui was terrified – she and Xia Changzheng had planned it together, she had withdrawn the money from the bank and given it to him. Would he implicate her at the police station?
Worry and fear mixed, leaving Zhang Cui completely lost.
Xia Ziyu’s temples throbbed painfully, “Mom, shut up! Now we should worry not just about Dad, but about ourselves! Dad’s already arrested, we need to protect ourselves!”