After having a casual meal together, Xia Xiaolan accompanied Zhou Cheng to visit his parents.

He had booked an afternoon train ticket, so they couldn’t spend much time together, but Zhou Cheng assured her that he would arrange for reporters to interview Chen Xiliang, so she wouldn’t need to worry about that matter.

Watching Zhou Cheng hop onto the train, Xia Xiaolan felt that their relationship had been quite challenging. Just moments ago, she had bought various snacks for Zhou Cheng to take back to the academy. During this visit, Zhou Cheng had given her a bundle of keys.

Those were for the siheyuan courtyard houses that Zhou Cheng had purchased on Xia Xiaolan’s advice.

Including the courtyard where the Shi family had temporarily stayed, there were eleven properties in total, varying in size and location, and naturally, purchased at different prices. For all eleven properties, they had taken out a loan of 600,000 yuan, making Xia Xiaolan marvel at how low property prices were currently.

There were, of course, some extremely expensive siheyuan houses – large ones in prime locations with well-preserved structures that could sell for several hundred thousand yuan each.

Zhou Cheng hadn’t bought those types. Xia Xiaolan had instructed him to focus on land size and location rather than the condition of the houses.

The varying sizes of the courtyards would make them easier to sell in the future.

Zhou Cheng had his reasons for giving the keys to Xia Xiaolan:

“Kang Wei has been managing everything, but now he’s busy with the furniture factory and building materials store, so I can only entrust you to look after them.”

Xia Xiaolan accepted the keys in a daze, her mind slowly processing the situation.

Why did it have to be her looking after them?

Shouldn’t they be managed by Guan Hui’e?

It seemed the Zhou family didn’t know about Zhou Cheng buying so many properties – would they scold him if they found out?

Or was this another one of his schemes, just like when Zhou Cheng gave her his bankbook? How could Xia Xiaolan just let the money sit idle in fixed-term deposits? She couldn’t help but manage it for him… Ah, now he was even entrusting her with property management. Their bond was growing deeper; even if she wanted to run away, she couldn’t.

“Where did you learn these tactics!”

Xia Xiaolan complained verbally, but couldn’t help smiling.

Previously, she had wanted to maintain clear boundaries with Zhou Cheng, but that was when their feelings weren’t as deep as they were now.

Moreover, judging from Zhou Cheng’s submitted bankbook and purchased properties, while Xia Xiaolan was still flipping eggs and earning pennies to save capital, Zhou Cheng must have already accumulated several hundred thousand in assets. Once he and Kang Wei concluded their cigarette business, they would have made over a million yuan in total.

Xia Xiaolan, who started with just 100 yuan to her name, was clearly taking advantage by getting financially entangled with Zhou Cheng!

But now things were different. Xia Xiaolan had her career, so whether Zhou Cheng entrusted her with his bankbook or property management, she didn’t feel guilty at all. Even if the Zhou family found out, who could criticize her?

She had already proven her capabilities.

If she couldn’t manage Zhou Cheng’s assets well, no one else in the Zhou family could do better!

“Perfect time to drive around and check them out.”

Along with the keys, Zhou Cheng provided a paper listing the addresses of all eleven properties and their rental status.

Xia Xiaolan planned to inspect all eleven properties when she had time. Those that could be rented should be rented – leaving the courtyards empty wouldn’t generate any money, and even small gains counted. The rental income could at least supplement Zhou Cheng’s daily expenses… considering he had surrendered his savings and was now living on a fixed salary.

She estimated that his previous small reserve of funds had probably been depleted during her last birthday celebration.

She felt uncomfortable about spending money freely while her boyfriend lived on just over 100 yuan monthly salary. She had no intention of treating Zhou Cheng poorly – while he believed he didn’t need to spend much money at work, she cared about her man and wanted him to live more comfortably rather than frugally.

Of these eleven properties, surprisingly only four were currently rented out.

Why weren’t the other seven being rented?

Were the houses too dilapidated to rent without renovation, or were Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei, being typical men, too lazy to bother managing them?

Regardless of the reason, Xia Xiaolan found their financial management skills quite poor.

In Beijing, a single room in a siheyuan could be rented for 5-10 yuan per month. The courtyard where the Shi family had stayed temporarily had eight rooms and was in an excellent location – it could easily rent for seventy or eighty yuan per month.

Eighty yuan per month was equivalent to an average worker’s monthly salary, totaling 960 yuan annually.

While not all seven vacant properties would generate this much rental income, they were still losing thousands of yuan annually!

A few thousand yuan was more than Zhou Cheng’s work salary.

Xia Xiaolan decided to help Zhou Cheng reclaim this lost money.

She checked the addresses on the paper, and one property wasn’t far from the station. She drove there but was bewildered upon arrival. While the main road was easy to find, how was she supposed to navigate these winding hutongs?

She doubted Zhou Cheng had even visited the properties he bought.

“Sister… Sister Xia?”

Xia Xiaolan turned around to find Little You.

Xia Xiaolan was surprised, but Little You even more so. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Shao Guangrong had followed her here to scold her, but finding Xia Xiaolan here was unexpected.

Little You looked anxious.

Seeing that she had come from the hutong, Xia Xiaolan said, “Do you live around here? I’m looking for someone, but I underestimated how complex these alleyways are.”

“Sister Xia, which hutong are you looking for? I can take you there, I’m quite familiar with this area.”

Little You was very enthusiastic. Xia Xiaolan invited her into the car.

“I’ve always called you Little You, but I don’t know your full name!”

“Sister Xia, I’m You Li.”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “Did you deliberately follow him to Wangfujing Street this morning? When there’s no romantic connection, we can still be friends since we know each other.”

Surely Shao Guangrong hadn’t done something shameful he couldn’t admit to?

Xia Xiaolan felt the root of the problem lay with You Li.

She spoke more because she found the young girl sensible and well-behaved.

Feelings couldn’t be forced. With Shao Guangrong showing such resistance, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t going to play matchmaker and push You Li towards him.

Perhaps Shao Guangrong had mishandled things this time, unable to end things amicably, causing You Li to truly fall for him.

You Li’s face turned bright red.

She must have been very obvious for others to notice she was pursuing Shao Guangrong.

You Li lowered her head, “Sister Xia, I didn’t mean anything by it, I don’t know how to explain… Anyway, I was wrong, and I don’t blame Young Master Shao for disliking me. I still want to try getting along with him properly, but if he thinks I’m unsuitable, I won’t pursue him anymore.”

“So what exactly happened between you two after returning from Hebei Province?”

They hadn’t reached their destination yet, so Xia Xiaolan asked casually to pass the time.

Lying wouldn’t work; You Li had already experienced the consequences with Shao Guangrong.

Similar people become friends, and just as Shao Guangrong resents her concealing her age, Xia Xiaolan might feel the same way.

You Li was particularly embarrassed, “Young Master Shao asked how old I was. I had previously lied to you and Sister Shan, and also hidden it from Young Master Shao – I’m not quite seventeen yet.”

So she was just sixteen?

Xia Xiaolan realized she had misjudged Comrade Shao Guangrong – he did have moral principles after all, refusing to take advantage of a sixteen-year-old girl!