Zhou Cheng thought Pan Third Brother was genuinely indifferent to the documents Jiang Yan provided.

That wasn’t the case.

Since his unexplained isolation and investigation, Third Brother seemed worried about implicating him. Their communication wasn’t as close as before – when there were matters to discuss, he would even relay messages through Kang Wei rather than speaking to Zhou Cheng directly.

He feared giving the Jiang family any leverage!

Therefore, Zhou Cheng could only guess at Pan Third’s true intentions.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s puzzled expression, Zhou Cheng changed the subject: “Is that thug from Guangzhou still harassing you?”

Xia Xiaolan shook her head, “It’s not harassment – we’re just both doing business in Shenzhen, with some overlapping areas, so we occasionally cross paths. This time Ke Yixiong’s men ambushed Bai Zhenzhu, but Pan Third Brother foiled their plan. I told Bai Zhenzhu to file a police report, trying to pull her back from the edge… Unfortunately, one of Ke Yixiong’s subordinates took the blame, claiming he ordered the ambush without Ke’s knowledge. We couldn’t arrest him this time!”

So there was still harassment happening.

Zhou Cheng’s previously playful expression instantly darkened with storm clouds. Afraid of frightening his wife, he quickly concealed his gloomy look and adopted a lighter expression:

“Taking the blame? Even the tightest lips can be pried open. If this was Ke Yixiong’s confidant acting without orders, have you considered that they must have done this kind of thing before? They grew bold because they got away with it once or twice! Instead of investigating what they’ve done in Shenzhen, we should look into what these people have been up to at the Guangzhou train station with their scams and tricks!”

Not investigating Shenzhen but Guangzhou instead?

This approach hadn’t occurred to Xia Xiaolan before.

“You mean—”

“I mean this is just the first time they’ve been caught, definitely not their first time hurting someone. If they dared to attempt taking Bai Zhenzhu’s life, it proves they’ve already taken lives in Guangzhou.”

Among the criminal underworld’s scams and deceptions, there were bound to be failures.

Some victims committed suicide when they couldn’t go on after being cheated or were silenced by Ke Yixiong’s gang when they tried to make trouble.

Xia Xiaolan knew about these dark aspects of society. With her looks, she was especially careful – never going to secluded places when out, avoiding food and drink handled by strangers. She still carried the electric shock device Zhou Cheng had given her.

Perhaps she had been lucky, experiencing minor troubles but no major dangers.

“No, it’s not that I was particularly lucky. When Ke Yixiong first harassed me, you immediately had Pan Third Brother warn him off. He was wary of Pan Third’s strength and uncertain of your background, which is why he kept his distance afterward…”

Ke Yixiong’s round face was deceptively innocent, and he often smiled, looking like a friendly young man. Xia Xiaolan found it hard to imagine him as truly vicious. Even knowing he wasn’t a good person, she hadn’t considered just how evil Ke Yixiong could be!

Now, prompted by Zhou Cheng’s words, Xia Xiaolan felt retroactive fear.

If Zhou Cheng hadn’t intimidated Ke Yixiong with such forceful measures from the start, would she still be sitting here safely today?

Once or twice, he had asked nicely to be friends, and she refused.

Three or four times – after Ke Yixiong lost patience, in the crowded train station, creating a small disturbance and taking advantage of drugs and kidnap her wouldn’t have been difficult. Once in Ke Yixiong’s hands, he wouldn’t have given her a chance to reappear – “Xia Xiaolan” would have become just another missing person… Thinking about this, Xia Xiaolan felt terrified and shaken. Despite the car’s heater running, she couldn’t control her cold sweat.

Zhou Cheng quickly embraced her, “Don’t be afraid, none of that happened, and it never will!”

It took Xia Xiaolan quite a while to calm down.

“I always talked about being independent, saying I could succeed without your help. If you hadn’t been protecting me from behind, I probably would have died before achieving anything!”

The heavy atmosphere was broken by Xia Xiaolan’s self-mockery. Zhou Cheng didn’t know what to do with her:

“Let’s not talk about him anymore. Don’t confront thugs directly – leave it to me. Every action leaves traces. Once we know which direction to investigate, Ke Yixiong won’t escape!”

Zhou Cheng was committed to his role as a kept man – after returning to Beijing, instead of going home first, he went to Shichahai.

Liu Fen, like a mother-in-law growing fonder of her son-in-law, knew Zhou Cheng was coming and didn’t go to the shop, preparing meals early instead. The table was laden with fish and meat dishes, including the wild boar meat Xia Xiaolan had brought back last time. Over 200 jin was far too much – you couldn’t get that much meat from butchering one pig. Grandmother Yu suggested sharing some with neighbors for a taste, but they still couldn’t give it all away.

Liu Fen gave some to Blue Phoenix’s shop employees as a bonus, but even after distributing it around, over a hundred jin remained. What couldn’t be eaten fresh was smoked and cured in the style of Sichuan and Southern Hunan.

The strong flavoring helped mask the gamey taste of the wild boar.

Liu Fen kept urging them to eat more: “Xiaolan said you went hunting for this wild boar – that’s too dangerous, please be more careful next time.”

Since they’d already done the hunting and taken the risk, why not eat more?

Zhou Cheng felt afraid thinking back on it too, and would never take Xia Xiaolan on such an adventure again.

They hadn’t told the family about Xia Xiaolan rolling down the hillside. Zhou Cheng guessed she didn’t dare mention it, and when their eyes met at the dinner table, they shared a moment of complicity in keeping their “secret.”

Xia Xiaolan had planned to attend Ji Ya’s fashion show tomorrow as an ordinary spectator, but that afternoon she received an invitation delivered to the Blue Phoenix shop.

“Ji Ya is confident – I’m quite curious to see her fashion show.”

If nothing else, Ji Ya’s fashion show was a pioneer in China. When the industry would later trace the origins of domestic fashion events, they couldn’t ignore this show.

If Xia Xiaolan had ambitions in the fashion world, Ji Ya’s move would have been a heavy blow.

Fortunately, she had no particular feelings about fashion. Opening a clothing store and supporting Chen Xiliang in creating a clothing brand wasn’t because she loved the industry – it was because throughout the 1980s, dealing in clothing was profitable!

Since her goal was making money, she didn’t care how much recognition Ji Ya gained, only whether she could convert the publicity into profit.

“Elegance?”

Xia Xiaolan received the beautifully printed invitation from the shop, with “Elegance” prominently displayed – meaning refinement. Had Ji Ya named it after herself?

Xia Xiaolan remembered there was a Japanese cosmetics brand called Elegance, though she wasn’t sure if it existed yet.

The invitation didn’t clarify whether “Elegance” was the show’s theme or Ji Ya’s clothing brand name… If Chief Editor Cui hadn’t warned her, receiving the fashion show invitation at the last minute might have caught Xia Xiaolan off guard.

Now, though, she had much more confidence.

She even had the leisure to help Zhou Cheng coordinate his outfit.

With a bit of grooming, Zhou Cheng looked even more spirited.

Not just his handsome face, but even his physique could rival male models. If Zhou Cheng were to stand on the runway, many male models would be out of work.