What was Xia Ziyu’s bottom line?
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t guess.
After all, since this woman’s “rebirth,” she had stolen her cousin’s boyfriend and tried to drive her cousin to death – these weren’t actions of someone with principles.
Of course, from Xia Ziyu’s perspective, perhaps the previous life’s ‘Xia Xiaolan’ had a grudge against her, and given the chance to be reborn, she naturally wanted fierce revenge… but this still didn’t align with Director Xia’s values.
What kind of grudge needs to wait until rebirth to settle? Deal with present grievances in the present life. If you couldn’t even find a chance for revenge in your previous life, coming back to beat up a newbie in the starting village – how accomplished is that?
Even if the past life’s matters couldn’t be let go, at least wait until ‘Xia Xiaolan’ did something wrong in this life before striking hard.
For Xia Ziyu, the pain spanned two lifetimes.
For ‘Xia Xiaolan,’ she was schemed against and lost her life while still confused and unclear about everything.
‘Xia Xiaolan’ was indeed an empty vessel who fought for money, but according to Director Xia’s memories when she first returned, this life’s ‘Xia Xiaolan’ had no major conflicts with Xia Ziyu.
There wasn’t even a chance to form a deadly feud.
Xia Ziyu must have already been reborn when she changed her name, after which she went to study in the county town.
‘Xia Xiaolan,’ who only had a pretty face, merely envied how the Xia family valued her cousin and resented how her father Xia Dajun favored Xia Ziyu. She also complained about her mother Liu Fen being too simple and timid, but she hadn’t done anything wrong – she couldn’t even do wrong.
Xia Xiaolan looked down on Xia Ziyu even before knowing she was a returnee.
After guessing this fact, even more so…
Anyway, Xia Ziyu’s dictionary probably didn’t even recognize the word “principles” – she only knew success by any means necessary.
Of course, Xia Xiaolan had similar thoughts, desperately wanting success, sometimes with quite low moral standards.
At least Xia Xiaolan was genuinely trying to live earnestly. When everything she had worked for over twenty years in her previous life vanished overnight, she didn’t accept defeat. She gritted her teeth to start over, turning disadvantages into advantages, trying to forge an even more brilliant path!
Xia Xiaolan actively integrated into the present.
She was simply “Xia Xiaolan” living in the 1980s.
Xia Ziyu’s rebirth brought the arrogance of foreknowledge. She always seemed detached, as if everyone around her wasn’t worthy of being treated as real people with flesh and blood – they were just NPCs for Xia Ziyu to gain experience.
Once they became useless, even Wang Jianhua, whom she had fought so hard to steal, could be discarded.
Even her birth parents could be abandoned.
To become someone superior, she was willing to get plastic surgery, willing to completely change herself to become some old man’s concubine.
How could such a person make Xia Xiaolan believe they had “principles”?
Xia Xiaolan had ties to this world, ties that grew deeper and deeper, with loved ones and family – these were all her vulnerabilities.
Xia Ziyu had no vulnerabilities; she was selfish and only loved herself… Tian Xiaoyan had some cleverness, and while Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure if her life was as thin as paper, her ambition certainly reached the sky. Despite having little education, she was quite skilled at moral manipulation.
When Tian Xiaoyan secretly left Qijing Village, Xia Xiaolan tried to think from her perspective – it was probably about discontent and refusal to accept her fate.
She believed Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen could easily change her destiny with just a wave of their hands, yet they deliberately wouldn’t help.
Helping might not end well, but not helping meant making an enemy for sure.
Tian Xiaoyan had grand ambitions; leaving the village was done with revenge in mind.
Such a somewhat clever but extreme 14-year-old village girl was perfect for manipulation and deception.
Xia Ziyu wasn’t planning to discard Tian Xiaoyan, but rather to use her for something!
Xia Ziyu wasn’t causing trouble in HK because she had mistaken her opponent, thinking Liu Fen was the one who had made her life difficult – so, was Tian Xiaoyan, this seemingly insignificant chess piece, prepared for Comrade Fen?
Xia Xiaolan gave a cold laugh.
Whose territory was Shenzhen?
If they couldn’t stop Xia Ziyu from making trouble in Shenzhen, Xia Xiaolan might as well delete her character and start over!
Honestly, it was exhausting for Xia Xiaolan to constantly think from Xia Ziyu and Tian Xiaoyan’s perspectives.
Fortunately, when she felt unwell that day, she had Zheng Feng investigate further.
Fully focused on waiting for the HK stock market crash, she hadn’t had time to worry about Shenzhen. Tian Xiaoyan, such a minor character harboring resentment towards her and Comrade Fen, was so insignificant she was easiest to overlook!
Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to keep guessing; she directly told Tang Hongen about this matter.
“…Preventing problems before they arise – you did the right thing, Xiaolan! I’ll have someone find this Tian Xiaoyan.”
Old Tang was reasonable to talk to.
He wasn’t afraid of people trying to harm him. Along his journey, he had made quite a few enemies – if he worried about wolves in front and tigers behind, Tang Hongen wouldn’t have achieved what he had today.
But he was afraid of someone hurting Liu Fen.
For Liu Fen’s safety, Tang Hongen didn’t mind making a bigger commotion.
He wouldn’t rest until he found that twisted-minded Tian Xiaoyan.
— Liu Fen happened to be in Shenzhen these days!
Not finding Tian Xiaoyan would be troublesome, but finding her would be problematic too.
Tian Xiaoyan certainly wasn’t mentally ill; it was her young age and extreme nature that made things difficult. As a leader, he couldn’t just send a village girl to a mental hospital, could he?
That wouldn’t work, they couldn’t handle it that way – Tian Xiaoyan wasn’t Ji Ya!
Relying solely on Tang Hongen’s side, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t at ease. Old Tang couldn’t possibly guess why Xia Ziyu wanted to target Comrade Fen.
Xia Ziyu thought Comrade Fen was another “returnee”!
So what should she do? Should she walk up to Xia Ziyu and tell her the truth, say she had been mistaken all along, that actually she was the returnee, Xia Ziyu’s real opponent… but then all the preparations for the HK stock market crash might be wasted.
Xia Ziyu was currently unable to see the forest for the trees. If she learned that Xia Xiaolan was the “returnee” and thought about how Xia Xiaolan had built her fortune, she wouldn’t need to think any more in the future – whatever Xia Xiaolan invested in, Xia Ziyu would follow; whenever Xia Xiaolan retreated, she would run too — no, just thinking about it was too disgusting!
“Then let’s focus on finding Tian Xiaoyan, and let the HK stock market crash teach Xia Ziyu another painful lesson, making her too preoccupied to trouble Comrade Fen.”
Until she was certain Xia Ziyu couldn’t recover, Xia Xiaolan still didn’t plan to let her know the truth!
Xia Xiaolan decided to add another safeguard.
Her second call was to Bai Zhenzhu, and she didn’t need to explain much – she just said they must find Tian Xiaoyan.
“…You can put out a bounty in the underground for me. Whoever finds her fastest gets the reward. Don’t make too much noise about it.”
Bai Zhenzhu didn’t ask many questions. It was a simple matter – where could a girl with a South Henan accent go? Shenzhen had many migrants, people from all walks of life, each with their channels.
Besides Bai Zhenzhu, Xia Xiaolan also thought of Qihang’s security chief Luo Yaozong.
Come to think of it, Coward Luo was quite good at handling this kind of thing.
…
In Shenzhen, Luo Yaozong, wearing his uniform, walked with his chest puffed out and nose in the air around the ‘Luohu Tiancheng’ construction site. On this sunny day, he suddenly sneezed heavily.
“Who?!”
“Who’s talking behind my back?”
“Hmph, it must be those people jealous of how quickly I got promoted!”