Things weren’t going well for Ke Yixiong.

Cao Liu’s unauthorized decision had resulted in over a dozen people being arrested.

Fortunately, these people kept their mouths shut and didn’t implicate Ke Yixiong.

Xia Xiaolan’s actions had completely shattered any romantic notions in Ke Yixiong’s mind.

He had shown his face at Jin Sha Chi, and unexpectedly, a small security guard followed him. Initially, Ke Yixiong thought he was sent by Xia Xiaolan, but the guard turned out to be interesting – he was the son of Gan Quan village’s chief.

Ke Yixiong had his men get Luo Yaozong drunk, and someone like Luo Yaozong couldn’t keep secrets – he spilled everything about the Luo family’s plans.

Ke Yixiong found it laughable at the time.

If Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t even look at him, how dare a coward like Luo Yaozong have such aspirations?

He should look in the mirror!

Luo Yaozong sought out Ke Yixiong because he had no chance to get close to Xia Xiaolan himself and thought Ke Yixiong could help.

How could Ke Yixiong help?

He immediately had Luo Yaozong tied up, planning to use this to curry favor with Xia Xiaolan.

But before he could, Cao Liu had people attack Bai Zhenzhu, and everything went wrong after that. Luo Yaozong had been on leave these past few days, and the Jin Sha Chi construction site probably hadn’t noticed his disappearance yet.

Now Ke Yixiong naturally didn’t want to use Luo Yaozong to please Xia Xiaolan. He had just been stabbed hard by her and had just woken up from his toad-dreaming-of-swan-meat fantasy – wouldn’t trying to please her now be utterly pathetic!

“Let him go, have someone befriend him properly – this person can be useful!”

After saying this, Ke Yixiong closed his eyes to rest.

News of his being taken by the police had spread around the construction site, and workers were stealing glances at his return.

Ke Yixiong pointed at Xia Dajun, “Drive those three away, right now.”

If Cao Liu were here, he might have suggested finding an excuse, but Cao Liu wasn’t around, and no one else dared advise Ke Yixiong.

The news hit Xia Dajun like a thunderbolt. Working under Ke Yixiong, he had vaguely sensed something wasn’t right. By reason, as someone Young Master Du sent to supervise, Ke Yixiong should have treated him with respect, but he didn’t take Xia Dajun seriously at all.

Moreover, Ke Yixiong didn’t mention anything about wages.

Xia Dajun had wanted to ask about this for a long time. Now that Ke Yixiong was having people drive him and Xia Hongbing father and daughter away, he couldn’t accept it:

“I need to see Boss Ke!”

“Second Uncle, better not—”

Xia Hongxia couldn’t wait to leave this cursed place, and Xia Hongbing also found it exhausting. Both felt being driven away was for the best – surely this time Xia Dajun would find them easier, more respectable work.

Xia Dajun lacked confidence – if he was driven away, how would he explain to Young Master?

But Ke Yixiong wouldn’t see him at all.

Report to Du Zhaohui?

Du Zhaohui wouldn’t care about such minor matters, and if asked, Ke Yixiong could easily make excuses.

The three Xia family members were driven from the site in disgrace, naturally without any wage settlement. That was money earned through Xia Hongbing and his daughter’s sweat and toil at the site. Though father and daughter didn’t want this job, they still deserved their wages!

Now all three demanded to see Ke Yixiong, but his men were ferocious:

“Xia Dajun, your daughter offended our boss. Not tying you up with rocks in a sack and feeding you to the fish is already our boss being considerate of Boss Du’s face. You still dare ask for wages!”

His brother and niece’s eyes turned to him, and Xia Dajun’s face reddened: “Nonsense, I’ve already severed ties with her!”

Xia Xiaolan was truly a troublemaker.

Xia Dajun now had a son to fulfill all his needs – still in Xiaoyu’s belly – and no longer cared about his daughter Xia Xiaolan.

He even felt his previous desire to reconcile had been a moment of confusion!

Xia Xiaolan had offended Ke Yixiong – what did that have to do with him? That unfilial daughter didn’t even recognize him as her father, why should he suffer because of her?

Xia Dajun’s mind was full of thoughts about doing well at Young Master’s assigned work, returning to serve by Young Master’s side, then borrowing money from Young Master, and with his wages, buying the house Xiaoyu mentioned, getting Pengcheng household registration for their family of three, letting his son become a city person – now with Ke Yixiong rejecting him, how could he explain to Young Master?

Ke Yixiong’s men naturally wouldn’t let Xia Dajun seek clarification from Ke Yixiong.

What severed father-daughter relationship? If the boss wanted to vent his anger on the Xia family, they had to bear it!

“Go find your daughter. If you can get her to come to kowtow and apologize to Boss Ke, he might still give you all a meal. You know where she is, right? Go to Jin Sha Chi, you’ll find her.”

Ke Yixiong’s men were intimidating, and the three Xia family members were no match. They were driven away without receiving a single cent in wages.

Xia Dajun was furious, while Xia Hongbing sighed repeatedly:

“Second Brother, what do we do? Your niece is cutting off our livelihood.”

Jin Sha Chi was all too familiar to him – the house Xiaoyu dreamed of buying was in Jin Sha Chi.

The place where gold was dug up, where buying a house could get you Pengcheng household registration.

Xia Dajun hadn’t thought deeply about why they could find Xia Xiaolan at Jin Sha Chi. He just wanted to ask her why she wouldn’t let him live a good life. But after a few steps, he hesitated, remembering Guan Hui’e’s warning and the difficulty of getting introduction letters for his younger brother’s family.

“…Let me ask Young Master first. Ke can’t bully people so easily – he still needs to consider Young Master’s face!”

Xia Dajun was rarely shrewd.

His thinking wasn’t wrong – Ke Yixiong did need to consider Du Zhaohui’s face, but precisely because Du Zhaohui wanted to distance himself from Xia Dajun Ke Yixiong dared treat the Xia family this way.

Xia Dajun only saw the first half; he couldn’t see the latter part, or if he had suspicions, he dared not believe them.

If true, most of his dream life would become a bubble – who else but Du Zhaohui would pay him 3,000 yuan monthly?

For someone like him who could only sell his labor, he could earn at most two to three hundred yuan monthly at a construction site.

Two to three hundred yuan was a lot for the old Xia Dajun, equal to a year’s income in one month.

But the current Xia Dajun couldn’t adapt to dropping from 3,000 to 300 yuan! Several tens of thousands a year meant he could buy a commercial house with household registration rights in two or three years, but with just a few thousand a year, how many years would it take?

His son couldn’t wait that long.

While father and daughter Xia Hongbing blamed Xia Xiaolan back and forth, Xia Dajun remained silent. Only after the father and daughter had talked themselves dry did he burst out, “You two go back first, don’t mention losing the job. I’ll go to Young Master’s place first.”

These words temporarily placated Xia Hongbing and his daughter, and Xia Dajun hurried to find Du Zhaohui.

Du Zhaohui’s heart rate increased just hearing the surname “Xia.” He had just returned from Hong Kong two days ago, where he had spent a week in the hospital undergoing countless tests that found nothing wrong with his heart.

The doctors pushed to their limits, suggesting under pressure that Young Master Du might want to see a psychologist.

Du Zhaohui knew there was nothing wrong with his mind. In Hong Kong, he couldn’t see Xia Xiaolan, and busy competing with Du Zhaoqi for a favor, he had no time to think of her. His heart symptoms hadn’t flared up then, so he could only return to Pengcheng.

Now, just hearing Xia Dajun’s name immediately made him think of Xia Xiaolan, and his heart started acting up again – damn it, he was done for! A terminal illness – he had contracted a terminal illness!