That crazy Ji Ya was going to marry George?

Xia Xiaolan felt somewhat sympathetic toward George.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she always felt that Ji Ya was domineering towards George, acting recklessly and maintaining a condescending attitude, secretly looking down on him.

Now they had reached the point of marriage.

No wonder George was overjoyed when the high-and-mighty goddess suddenly agreed to marry him.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to meddle in their affairs. Whether Ji Ya looked down on George or not wasn’t her concern. Most marriages in the world weren’t based on love anyway, but rather on various practical considerations… Besides, if even certain relationships could exist, what did it matter if one party was a bit superior? Different people had different tastes, and some men liked that sort of thing. Thinking about it this way, George and Ji Ya’s marriage wasn’t strange at all.

Xia Xiaolan was more concerned about how their marriage would affect her.

George already followed Ji Ya’s every word, and now he would probably oppose her to the bitter end.

While various thoughts flashed through Xia Xiaolan’s mind, Ji Jiangyu was stunned for quite a while before finally congratulating George: “I’m sorry, this news caught me off guard. I thought you two should have married long ago but kept delaying… I’m a bit incoherent. Will you have a wedding ceremony? Where do you plan to hold it?”

Taking advantage of Ji Jiangyu’s conversation with George, Xia Xiaolan quietly left.

George had completely ignored Xia Xiaolan throughout. Men of George’s age, when they wanted to oppose someone, wouldn’t resort to childish verbal threats.

After marrying Ji Ya, his interests would align with hers.

Anyone Ji Ya disliked, George wouldn’t like either.

Having already bought the renovation company, George would proceed according to his original plans.

Did he feel sorry for Xia Xiaolan being targeted?

George didn’t think she deserved sympathy.

But then, who had felt sorry for Ji Ya?

Ji Ya had already told him about why she divorced Tang Hongen years ago. An ambitious Chinese politician, disregarding his wife’s pleas, had put their small family in danger. To protect her son, Ji Ya had no choice but to divorce and flee to America… For a Chinese woman with a child, establishing herself in America was extremely difficult. Yet Ji Ya not only managed to stand firm in America but by the time George met her, she had already become a fashion designer with her studio.

Confident, beautiful, and elegant – how could anyone not cherish such a woman?

George both adored and pitied Ji Ya; even her neurotic bad temper fascinated him.

Oh, he was going to marry Ji Ya now, and he needed to resolve the conflict between mother and son for his wife. Tang Hongen had somehow bewitched Ji Jiangyu, causing an irreconcilable conflict between him and Ji Ya, but whatever Tang Hongen could give Ji Jiangyu, George could provide too!

George decided to win Ji Jiangyu over.

As for Tang Hongen, who had hurt Ji Ya, George wouldn’t easily forgive him.

…

“It seems that no matter what kind of person someone is, there’s always someone who truly likes them,” Xia Xiaolan muttered.

While Ge Jian was supervising at Jinsha Pool, Xia Xiaolan had Bai Zhenzhu pick her up. Zhou Cheng had said that Jiang Wu had disappeared, and while Xia Xiaolan verbally consoled Zhou Cheng to stay calm, she didn’t dare to be complacent.

Life was precious, and she had to cherish it. ‘Rebirth’ was already a rare occurrence – if she lost her life carelessly, who would give her another chance?

Even if Jiang Wu didn’t kill her, Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to become leverage that he could use against Zhou Cheng. She remembered all of Zhou Cheng’s warnings.

Having Bai Zhenzhu pick her up was the right choice.

Bai Zhenzhu wore a joyful expression, and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but ask:

“What happened?”

“Xiaolan, remember I mentioned my elder brother was home on leave? My grandmother arranged some introductions, and he decided on the second person he met. He said he’ll hold the banquet first, then submit the marriage application when he returns to his unit.”

No wonder Bai Zhenzhu was happy – this was indeed joyous news!

Right after getting off the plane, she’d heard about two marriages. Xia Xiaolan had met Bai Zhiyong at work, and it was because of Bai Zhiyong’s relationship with Zhou Cheng that she had the chance to become friends with Bai Zhenzhu. Whether as Bai Zhenzhu’s friend or as Zhou Cheng’s colleague’s sister, she was happy for the Bai family.

“Will the banquet be in Yangcheng? When?”

Bai Zhenzhu nodded, “Yes, it’s in Yangcheng. We’ll probably invite fellow disciples too. It’s the day after tomorrow. Would you like to come, Xiaolan?”

“I must attend!”

The day after tomorrow was Sunday.

Xia Xiaolan had to attend this wedding banquet – she would be representing two people by herself.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Your family must be busy these days preparing for the celebration, yet I still had you come to pick me up…”

Bai Zhenzhu laughed heartily, “What’s there to be busy about? It’s my brother’s wedding, naturally, he’ll handle it himself, and my martial brothers won’t stand idle either. There are plenty of people to help; it doesn’t even get to my turn.”

Xia Xiaolan thought she should prepare a wedding gift for Bai Zhiyong.

Best to get two gifts – something Bai Zhiyong could use, and something his future wife could use too.

This needed to be done quickly.

Bai Zhenzhu drove Xia Xiaolan straight to Jinsha Pool, where Mao Kangshan immediately caught her: “Come take a look at this design and see if it works!”

While Xia Xiaolan handled the overall direction, Mao Kangshan took care of the details. How to renovate the houses at Jinsha Pool had been thoroughly discussed among the three of them. Even though Xia Xiaolan hadn’t come to Pengcheng last week, the Guangdong Provincial Construction Engineering’s construction team had already started work, the walls were being built, and construction materials like red bricks, steel bars, and cement had been delivered successively. Naturally, the construction drawings were also ready.

Different from Xia Xiaolan’s suggested 5-story building – she was used to elevators and hated climbing stairs, believing it inhumane not to install elevators in residential buildings over 5 stories – Mao Kangshan didn’t understand, and Wang Houxin’s teeth ached at the thought. How could floors above the fifth not be climbed? Some buildings were even 8 stories without elevators. Even Mao Kangshan himself lived on the sixth floor, only worrying about his wife getting tired from climbing.

Building an extra floor meant recovering more capital. Xia Xiaolan treated Mao Kangshan and Madame Song well, so naturally, Mao Kangshan considered things for her too. Therefore, what Xia Xiaolan saw was still her original main unit design, just with Mao Kangshan changing the total height from 5 to 6 floors, everything else was unchanged.

Xia Xiaolan touched her nose:

“I’m just thinking about the customers – climbing six floors is tiring.”

Mao Kangshan snapped at her: “Then why not build all single-story houses, or better yet, install elevators for every unit?”

Xia Xiaolan was speechless.

Was it right for a teacher to bully someone like this? If she had money, she would develop buildings with elevators. It was just that she really didn’t have money, and now her poor state was being criticized by her teacher.

Just as she was thinking this, the laid-back financial manager Ying Jinchuan, hearing that Young Director Xia had arrived, also came to the construction site:

“The loan has been deposited in Qihang’s account, totaling 16 million yuan.”

It was close to the amount Xia Xiaolan wanted; the extra million or two proved that Ying Jinchuan was quite capable. If he weren’t so laid-back, the loan might have been even larger.

However, 16 million yuan was enough for Xia Xiaolan’s needs.

“So what did the bank say about the mortgage loans?”