The Song family opposed this marriage!
Xia Xiaolan had known this fact long before Huo Chenzhou’s reminder.
Was Huo Chenzhou suggesting that she help him influence Tang Hongen’s attitude? They ally interests, and in return, he would help her and Liu Fen fend off the Song family, allowing Liu Fen to securely become the mayor’s wife and Xia Xiaolan to smoothly become a high official’s daughter.
Xia Xiaolan’s expression turned serious:
“Manager Huo, you might have misunderstood something. Whether my mother and Uncle Tang can be together is their business. Whether you and I can cooperate depends on whether we can integrate our resources—if you value my abilities and I trust your character, that’s the foundation for cooperation. These two matters shouldn’t be mixed, though they share a common prerequisite: I won’t harm Uncle Tang’s interests!”
Did Huo Chenzhou think he could deceive her because of her youth?
Even if Xia Xiaolan truly saw Tang Hongen as just a meal ticket, without any filial respect, she still knew what she could and couldn’t do.
There were rules even in latching onto someone powerful. How could you rely on someone to build wealth while conspiring with others to harm their interests? That would make you a traitor and a fool!
Huo Chenzhou studied her for a while, seemingly unable to determine whether she was cleverly pretending or truly foolish.
She was certainly confident.
Did Xia Xiaolan think everything was settled just because Tang Hongen had announced his relationship with Liu Fen?
If Xia Xiaolan hadn’t found an ally within the Song family, when all branches of the family united, they would drive Liu Fen away from Tang Hongen.
Huo Chenzhou shook his head, “I won’t hold today’s words against you. When you regret it, you can come find me—you’ll have one more chance to change your mind. Xia Xiaolan, you’ll realize later that I meant you well. There aren’t many people in the Song family as easy to talk to as me.”
After speaking, Huo Chenzhou got into his car and left.
Liu Yong came downstairs a moment too late and only caught a glimpse of his back:
“Was that bastard Huo trying to trick you again? I knew there couldn’t be such a good deal—not spending his own money but giving it to us for free. So he wanted to drag us down with him, to make Mayor Tang approve his project.”
This wasn’t the first time they’d encountered such a situation.
Liu Tianquan from Hong Kong had done the same thing before. Liu Tianquan’s contract manipulation had made Liu Yong extremely wary of all contracts and agreements.
Huo Chenzhou was just using a different method, but essentially doing the same thing as Liu Tianquan.
But while they could kick aside Fat Liu and cut ties, they had to maintain relations with Huo Chenzhou.
Being mayor was indeed prestigious but also very difficult. Dangers lurked in invisible places—not only did one need to resist temptation, but those around them also had to stay clear-headed… Liu Yong felt somewhat proud. Mayor Tang’s interest in Fen showed his good judgment—Fen’s brother and daughter were both clear-headed and wouldn’t trade the mayor’s power for benefits. With others, who knew?
Xia Xiaolan smiled, “He’s not the first, and won’t be the second. Right now only Huo Chenzhou has shown himself—he’s just the Song family’s vanguard. If everyone in the Song family is like Huo Chenzhou…”
Xia Xiaolan left the sentence unfinished.
If everyone in the Song family was like Huo Chenzhou, no wonder Elder Song wouldn’t let them touch the centers of power.
Someone like Tang Hongen was needed to understand and execute Elder Song’s ideas.
Liu Yong clenched his fists.
He could disapprove of his sister and Mayor Tang being together—that was a brother’s fear of his sister being mistreated.
But with both parties willing, Liu Yong couldn’t forcibly separate them.
He had finally accepted this fact, and now some Song family members were opposing it. Liu Yong felt rather pleased—if Tang’s family opposed it, they might have standing, but what right did the Song family have to object?
Liu Yong really couldn’t understand what these people were thinking.
“Uncle, I’m going to check on Golden Sand Pool. Want to come?”
Liu Yong wanted to buy a house at Golden Sand Pool and was quite interested in how construction was progressing. “Let’s go together.”
Although Huo Chenzhou was calculating, he hadn’t deliberately made things difficult during Nanhai Hotel’s completion inspection. With this major project finished, Liu Yong felt unburdened. As for Tang Yuanyue’s office renovation, although Liu Yong had agreed to inspect the site, that could wait until after Xia Xiaolan left Pengcheng.
At Golden Sand Pool with Xia Xiaolan, they saw that the building near the road was taking shape. Liu Yong couldn’t help praising:
“Xiaolan, this is moving very fast!”
Xia Xiaolan nodded, “Fortunately, Master Mao is watching over it.”
Someone of Mao Kangshan’s status, even when hired post-retirement as a “consultant,” wouldn’t normally need to personally visit sites at his age and seniority.
Yet because Xia Xiaolan was developing residential property, the old man cared for his young disciple, worried that Xia Xiaolan’s multi-million loan might be wasted and she’d spend half her life paying it back. Without hesitation, he had stayed at the Golden Sand Pool construction site from start to finish.
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but feel moved.
They said being Mao Kangshan’s disciple would bring many troubles, but so far Xia Xiaolan hadn’t encountered any—she’d only received benefits.
“Teacher, you’ve worked so hard.”
Xia Xiaolan wanted to massage his shoulders, but Mao Kangshan brushed her off with disdain: “Didn’t you say you’d go abroad at the beginning of the year? What’s your plan?”
“When the department asked about my preferences, I requested America.”
Xia Xiaolan thought that as an exchange student for just one year, any school would do as long as it was in America—she mainly wanted to help Grandmother Yu find relatives, and perhaps make some U.S. dollars while she was there.
Mao Kangshan’s mustache bristled at her casual attitude. Someone had left some sugarcane on the work shed table, and though Mao Kangshan’s teeth weren’t strong enough to bite it, he picked it up to hit Xia Xiaolan: “Time is precious as gold—how can you be so casual? Wouldn’t going abroad be a waste of a year? Your early twenties are the golden time for learning, with a good memory and no family burdens… You’ll be the death of me!”
Mao Kangshan’s sugarcane never came down.
If he killed her, no one would inherit his teachings, and he didn’t know where to find another last disciple.
Besides, Xia Xiaolan was Qihang’s boss—he couldn’t make her cry out in pain in front of all the workers.
Though everyone was standing far away, Mao Kangshan still noticed people sneaking glances.
Xia Xiaolan felt somewhat ashamed at Mao Kangshan’s words. She had repeatedly said she would study hard, but her businessman’s nature kept prevailing. Her so-called effort, while more focused than ordinary people’s, couldn’t compare to the pure dedication of veterans like Mao Kangshan.
“Teacher, I was wrong. I’ll research it properly and try to get the department to choose a school with a strong architecture program.”
Mao Kangshan threw the sugarcane back on the table, “Wait for your research? It’ll be too late! I’ve already contacted your department head and chosen a school for you—you’ll go to Cornell University in America!”
Xia Xiaolan swallowed, “Can that be arranged?”
Seeing her expression like she’d struck gold, Mao Kangshan was somewhat surprised: “You know Cornell University?”
How could she not know?
One of America’s eight Ivy League schools, though not as famous in China as Harvard and Yale, still carried great prestige. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t even considered Harvard and Yale—if the Ministry of Education could easily send Chinese students to such schools for exchange, wouldn’t studying abroad be too simple? Though Cornell had slightly less name recognition in China, its architecture department had enormous influence in America and was recognized as a top undergraduate school:
“Teacher, isn’t this very difficult?”