“If Du Zhaoqi never gave such instructions, why would Second Madam want to buy my shares at such a high price? While $3 million might have been nothing to Second Madam in the past, it’s not a small sum now.”

Du Chengrong was like a retired emperor devoted to spiritual cultivation, no longer concerning himself with power or worldly affairs. He was still alive but showed no interest in dividing the family assets. Du Zhaoqi had nearly committed patricide, which had implicated Second Madam as well. Men could do no wrong, of course—if a child dared to attempt patricide, surely it was the mother’s fault for poor upbringing.

Naturally, Second Madam fell in Du Chengrong’s favor. Previously, she had received substantial money and gifts from him annually, but now all that had stopped. With Du Zhaohui managing the Chengrong Group, he would surely be tight-fisted with Second Madam and others like her.

Second Madam needed to maintain her dignity as a wealthy lady while supporting the business Du Zhaoqi had left behind. With money only going out and none coming in, her funds would deplete quickly. How could she not feel the pain of spending $3 million, equivalent to over twenty million Hong Kong dollars? Yet how could she feel at ease without buying back those shares?

Asia Plaza was a project Du Zhaoqi had left to the second family, and Second Madam didn’t dare risk letting Xia Xiaolan get involved. She looked at Xia Xiaolan with reddened eyes, “Why are you asking these questions? Since you said Du’s family’s grudges have nothing to do with you, and you’re not collaborating with Du Zhaohui to destroy us, then sell me your 18% shares in Asia Plaza. I’ll pay you the full $3 million, and you’ll profit $1 million—not a bad deal at all.”

The actual profit wasn’t just $1 million—the original investment of $2 million consisted of only $1.5 million in cash plus the property rights to a building at Twenty-Seven Plaza. So Xia Xiaolan’s profit would be even more than $1 million. Second Madam’s mood worsened as she thought about having to “give money” to Xia Xiaolan while maintaining a humble attitude.

She looked at Xia Xiaolan with hopeful eyes, wishing for her to agree. But this devil Xia Xiaolan first thoughtfully offered her a handkerchief, appearing sympathetic, before firmly refusing:

“I’m sorry, Second Madam, as I said, I’m not short of money, so I’m not interested in making this $1 million profit. I won’t sell my Asia Plaza shares. However, Second Madam, if you find this project too difficult to manage, I wouldn’t mind buying your shares in Chaoyang Real Estate…”

“You—!”

Second Madam threw down the handkerchief, her face flushed. She couldn’t maintain her dignified lady’s composure. Xia Xiaolan indeed harbored wolfish ambitions, wanting to monopolize Asia Plaza.

As Second Madam seemed about to berate Xia Xiaolan, Bai Zhenzhu couldn’t bear it anymore.

“They say uneducated people are foolish, but you wealthy folks aren’t much smarter. How can you not understand what Xiaolan is saying? Since Du Zhaoqi didn’t tell you to buy back the shares, why not just leave things as they are? Wouldn’t it be better to wait peacefully for Asia Plaza to start making profits? Why insist on being fooled like an idiot!”

Without Xiaolan, Asia Plaza would be completely dominated by Zhu Suizhou, and Second Madam wouldn’t even be worth his consideration. She knew nothing about the business yet refused to follow the right path. Bai Zhenzhu’s ears hurt just listening to her—hurt by Second Madam’s stupidity!

Xiaolan was kind enough—buying Second Madam’s shares now would help her exit safely with money in hand, but unfortunately, Second Madam was too foolish to understand these matters.

Xia Xiaolan felt she had made things clear enough, but Second Madam didn’t understand. While Second Madam had to suppress her anger towards Xia Xiaolan, she looked at Bai Zhenzhu—who was this nobody to lecture her?

Second Madam dropped the handkerchief and stormed out.

Bai Zhenzhu rubbed her face, “Xiaolan, are all wealthy madams like this?”

No, not all wealthy madams were like this. Some were quite formidable. Second Madam happened to be among the less capable ones.

She had secured her position beside Du Chengrong simply because she had entered the family early. According to Yu Shihua, Du Zhaohui’s mother had no interest in romance and didn’t prevent Du Chengrong from finding other women, which was why Second Madam had entered the family so smoothly… In terms of cleverness, Second Madam wasn’t even a match for Liu Keying.

At least before Xia Ziyu appeared, Liu Keying had dominated both the Second and Third Madams for over a decade, and it wasn’t just because of her youth and beauty. As the saying goes, it wasn’t that Liu Keying was particularly strong—she just had weak competition!

“Second Madam has lost her bearings. The current situation in the Du family is very unfavorable to her, making her anxious and vulnerable. Naturally, she believes what others tell her rather than my words, which is understandable. In her eyes, I must be conspiring with Du Zhaohui to harm them.”

So whom did Second Madam trust?

Since Du Zhaoqi couldn’t always be there to advise her, the Second Madam would trust Zhu Suizhou!

Zhu Suizhou was the ‘talented steed’ discovered by Du Zhaoqi himself. Second Madam didn’t understand that a talented steed had its pride—even the one who discovered it might not be able to control it forever, let alone Second Madam, who commanded no respect from the steed and had only appeared halfway through.

Now, Second Madam holds 80% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares. If she hadn’t sold to Xia Xiaolan and insisted on forcing Xia Xiaolan out of Asia Plaza, those 80% shares might soon have belonged to the Zhu family…

Old Zhu truly deserved his reputation. Regardless of whether his business empire had collapsed due to overexpansion, he was still a figure in textbooks. How could he have made ‘Asia’ so successful without thick skin and a black heart?

Xia Xiaolan had previously admired Zhu Suizhou.

Now, while she still acknowledged his abilities, his character was hardly admirable. Despite his seemingly warm and agreeable manner, why was he so greedy?

—Why couldn’t everyone profit together? Did he have to feast alone?

Just as Xia Xiaolan was thinking about Zhu Suizhou’s greed, he knocked and entered:

“Miss Xia, can’t we negotiate? Second Madam is willing to add another $500,000 to the $3 million offer.”

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered with false pleasantries.

“Mr. Zhu, do you think 18% of Asia Plaza’s shares are worth $3.5 million right now?”

Of course, they weren’t.

Because Asia Plaza’s construction had stopped.

The prospects after the mall’s opening were even more uncertain.

“Worth depends on who’s buying. For Second Madam, it’s worth it—this is, after all, the business Mr. Du left behind.”

“Is that so?”

Xia Xiaolan stood up, looking Zhu Suizhou up and down:

“You’re quite skilled, Mr. Zhu, gaining Second Madam’s trust and important responsibilities. Honestly, I don’t care what tricks you’re playing, nor do I care who’s the major or minor shareholder. My 18% shares in Asia Plaza aren’t unsellable—after all, Asia Plaza’s scale is limited, and it’s no longer my preferred investment project. But one thing annoys me: people making decisions for me without consulting me and treating me like a fool… Mr. Zhu, do you understand?”

It didn’t matter how he deceived Second Madam—Xia Xiaolan wasn’t the Pacific Ocean’s police, trying to control everything, including Second Madam’s affairs. If Second Madam got deceived, it served her right; it wasn’t Xia Xiaolan’s money anyway.

But using Second Madam as a front and treating her like a fool to be deceived—that was truly intolerable!