It wasn’t that Xia Xiaolan had money to spare; she genuinely admired how Yang Yonghong and her siblings were self-reliant and self-respecting.

Some people do charity after getting rich, and Xia Xiaolan had plans to do good deeds too, but she wasn’t truly philanthropic – she wanted to help those around her live better lives first.

This weekend trip to Pengcheng, meeting Ji Jiangyuan again was a bit awkward.

It had little to do with Ji Ya, but rather with what she had said to Tang Hongen at the wedding.

Her mother wasn’t even married to Mayor Tang yet, and she had already nearly snatched away Ji Jiangyuan’s birth father. How could Xia Xiaolan not feel awkward?

Although Ji Jiangyuan had rejected his father first… Xia Xiaolan still felt somewhat embarrassed. Strange, when had she become so thin-skinned?

“Ji Jiangyuan, would you like to sit together?”

People were quite casual about seating on planes nowadays, and flights were usually not full – you could change seats freely if they were empty. Xia Xiaolan took the initiative to break the silence, and Ji Jiangyuan suddenly smiled: “Are you worried I’ll hold a grudge against you? I won’t. I should thank you for attending the wedding last time. Although the wedding was ruined, my mother has been more normal lately.”

Xia Xiaolan was curious about what “more normal” meant.

But Ji Jiangyuan wouldn’t elaborate.

Having ruined his wedding that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare, realizing that George was truly heartbroken, of course, his mother had to humble herself to appease George, right? In Ji Jiangyuan’s opinion, his mother was used to being dramatic and putting herself on a pedestal, treating everyone with a goddess attitude. Now that she had lowered her stance, she seemed more like a normal person.

Who knew how long it would last? Old habits die hard, and Ji Jiangyuan himself didn’t quite believe one setback could completely change his mother.

Because of the deep grudge between Xia Xiaolan and Ji Ya, Ji Jiangyuan changed the subject:

“I heard the English competition winners will go abroad early next year. What about the residential project you’re building?”

So the news had spread already. “Early next year” was a rather broad timeframe – January through March all counted as early in the year, but there was a big difference between leaving in January versus March.

“I can only hand over sales responsibilities to someone else. If you weren’t working part-time at the Wilson family’s golf course project, I would have considered asking for your help, since some of your ideas are quite similar to mine.”

Even if she left in February, Jinsha Chi’s residential sales would have started, and Xia Xiaolan could have led the entire marketing campaign.

If it was January, the timing would be too tight – she wasn’t sure if the sales office building’s renovation would be finished.

It was now late October, and with Mao Kangshan overseeing things, the model building was progressing on one floor every three days. It was only six stories high, to begin with, and according to feedback from Pengcheng, the building was almost topped out. After completion, they needed to wait for the concrete to dry thoroughly before starting interior and exterior decoration. If all goes smoothly, it should be finished in December.

With the model building ready, Xia Xiaolan could start pre-sales. She hoped everything would go smoothly so she could sell some units before going abroad.

However, Xia Xiaolan had no intention of sharing these plans with Ji Jiangyuan, nor did she want to probe him about the golf course project, so naturally she wouldn’t reveal the Jinsha Chi arrangements.

They used to be able to chat quite easily, but after everything that had happened, now that they might become step-siblings, they didn’t know what to talk about.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t force it. Relationships between people were just like that – because of changing circumstances, sometimes close, sometimes distant.

As soon as she got off the plane, she saw Chen Xiliang’s excited face.

“Miss, do you want to hear some good news?”

Xia Xiaolan glanced at the car beside Chen Xiliang, “Buying a car is indeed good news. Looks like your wholesale business is doing well.”

There were noticeably more self-employed clothing merchants than in 1983. After six years of reform and opening up and several years of land reform, people’s bellies were full, and they began pursuing better “clothing.”

Luna had never distributed dividends, so Chen Xiliang’s ability to buy a car must have come from profits in the clothing wholesale business.

“That’s not the good news, though it is something to celebrate – having a car makes business negotiations more convincing. I’m talking about Wang Mingming from Hong Kong – she agreed to do our advertisement!”

This was quite unexpected.

“Did you spend a lot of money?”

Wang Mingming’s agent had no interest in her taking this obscure mainland clothing advertisement. Previously, when Chen Xiliang had expressed interest, they had always quoted astronomical prices to shut him down.

Even now, Xia Xiaolan had given up on Wang Mingming.

Chen Xiliang shook his head vigorously, “It’s not about money. Miss, after you sent Master Sun over, I figured sending Wang Mingming a couple of sample pieces wouldn’t show Master Sun’s true skills. So a few days ago, I took Master Sun personally to Hong Kong, hoping at best to have him take Wang Mingming’s measurements. As it happened, Wang Mingming was scheduled to perform at a film awards ceremony… Anyway, we got lucky, Master Sun’s craftsmanship helped Wang Mingming out, and this time she agreed.”

Xia Xiaolan stared at Chen Xiliang for a good while.

Indeed, there was more than just skill behind his becoming a clothing tycoon in his previous life – Chen Xiliang had luck too.

This was the second coincidence after catching the Spring Festival Gala opportunity to deliver clothes to Wang Mingming. Now that she was indebted to them, Wang Mingming couldn’t firmly refuse anymore.

“It’s certainly best if Wang Mingming can shoot the advertisement. We can capitalize on last year’s momentum. Though the advertising budget will need to increase – hiring a mainland actress might cost several hundred to a thousand yuan, but Wang Mingming will cost at least tens of thousands more. Of course, her impact will be outstanding – consumers currently favor Hong Kong stars more.”

Not just currently – Hong Kong stars would lead Asian entertainment culture for many years to come.

It wouldn’t be until the 1990s when Hong Kong films declined and Hong Kong superstars successively fell or retired, and Korean dramas swept across Asia, that Hong Kong celebrities’ influence would gradually weaken.

But now Luna didn’t lack funds for advertising.

When Xia Xiaolan had been feuding with Zhou Cheng, she hadn’t used Zhou Cheng’s remaining money, which had already been added to Luna’s expansion.

This time she still had the money that Zhou Cheng had Kang Wei deliver for buying land.

She couldn’t use this money now, and after doing it several times, she had no reservations about using bank loans to make money grow. As long as this wave of advertising was launched, Luna would receive large franchise fees, and the clothing company should be able to pay dividends.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s approval, Chen Xiliang was even more delighted, “It’s too troublesome for us to go from the mainland to Hong Kong, so I convinced Wang Mingming to come to the mainland for shooting. Isn’t this great news?”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “You handled this well, and Master Sun proved his worth. For skilled people like Master Sun, you need to ensure good treatment.”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to ask about Comrade Chen Xiliang’s recent love life but then thought about how that future poisonous young wife who eventually killed Chen Xiliang was much younger than him, so she probably hadn’t appeared in his life yet… Wait, wasn’t this perfect? During this blank period, if Chen Xiliang found a suitable partner, wouldn’t that perfectly avoid the future tragedy?

The legal affairs program had mentioned that the poisonous young wife was Mr. Chen’s second wife, and Xia Xiaolan had met his first wife too.

If they could find the second wife early now, by the time the poisonous young wife appeared, Chen Xiliang would have a happy family, and given his personality, the chances of him getting involved with other women would be slim.

“Old Chen, let me ask you something – have you had any recent urge to get married?”