“Can’t Ke Yixiong’s actions be tied to Du Zhaohui? What a shame. We know he sheltered Xia Ziyu’s escape, yet there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Xia Xiaolan was still sighing in the car back to Pengcheng.

Zhou Cheng also felt regretful, “Regardless of what Du Zhaohui did in Hong Kong, from what we’ve discovered, he’s been quite well-behaved in Pengcheng. He’s smarter than Ke Yixiong, and with his substantial family wealth, he has more backing than Ke Yixiong.”

Why did Ke Yixiong reveal the matter about Xia Ziyu? He certainly wasn’t being honest out of goodwill—he wanted Zhou Cheng to confront Du Zhaohui.

Even caught in the net, he was still causing trouble.

But Ke Yixiong still didn’t understand Du Zhaohui. Du Zhaohui came to the mainland to make money. Though he looked like a dandy, he was truly ruthless.

Last time with the Kang Wei incident, Kang Lianming wouldn’t let it go. In the end, Tang Hong’en had to mediate between both sides because Du Zhaohui immediately sold out the Du family’s smuggling business as a gesture of goodwill… Being deceived by Ke Yixiong was probably because Du Zhaohui didn’t care about such small matters.

Small matters aside, having his face exposed like this was unbearable for Du Zhaohui. Ke Yixiong should be grateful he was already in police custody—otherwise, who knows what Du Zhaohui might do for the sake of his face.

Zhou Cheng probably hadn’t rested since arriving in Pengcheng. Though catching Ke Yixiong seemed effortless, who knew how much work went on behind the scenes?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t want Zhou Cheng to keep worrying:

“Let him shelter Xia Ziyu. I have a feeling she won’t give up so easily—she’ll appear again! If she wants Du Zhaohui’s full support, she’ll need to show him something worth his while.”

Borrowing power?

What’s borrowed is never truly yours. When others refuse to lend, you’re still left with nothing.

Only when Xia Ziyu understood this principle would Xia Xiaolan consider her a real opponent?

Zhou Cheng also shook his head; like Xiaolan, he didn’t take Xia Ziyu seriously.

“She wants to come back? Compared to when she left, the domestic situation is a completely different landscape!”

She was just a selfish person.

She could abandon the parents who gave birth to and raised her.

She even discarded Wang Jianhua, whom she supposedly loved desperately.

The Wang family was already unfortunate enough then, but Xia Ziyu had to set up Wang Jianhua before leaving. To clear Wang Jianhua of suspicion of aiding her escape, the Wang family reportedly went through great trouble.

Catching Ke Yixiong made Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan quite happy—returning to Pengcheng, even the sky seemed bluer.

There was still follow-up work to supervise, which Zhou Cheng needed to oversee.

Xia Xiaolan was reluctant to part, “But I have to return to Beijing this afternoon…”

Wouldn’t they have to separate again?

“I’ll come back at noon to accompany you, I promise to have lunch with you!”

After some sweet moments together, they parted. Liu Yong approached with his hands behind his back, unsure how to inquire about his niece’s private life.

He heard from Liu Fen that Xiaolan hadn’t returned to the hotel all night. That damned Zhou Cheng—how infuriating! The rascal left quickly too—was he feeling guilty?

Should he ask or not?

Xiaolan was a grown woman now; she might not listen to her uncle about staying out at night.

Liu Yong’s face was twisted with indecision.

But Xia Xiaolan’s face was full of joy, “Uncle, do you know where I went last night?”

“No, you all…”

Liu Yong wanted to hear but didn’t dare ask—so conflicted, the pressure was unbearable.

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t see through her uncle’s rich inner drama and continued with her thoughts: “Zhou Cheng took me to the Yangcheng Police Station to make a statement. They’ve arrested Ke Yixiong! Along with a bunch of his subordinates. This time the evidence is solid—there’s no way they can find someone to take the fall!”

Liu Yong was overjoyed, “That bastard was arrested?”

Xia Xiaolan nodded vigorously. Liu Yong muttered, “So you spent the whole night at the Yangcheng Police Station?”

“Yes, they arrested many people. Du Zhaohui was also called in to cooperate with the investigation. I even saw Xia Hongxia at the police station.”

Xia Hongxia was truly unfortunate.

Though Xia Xiaolan disliked her, she wasn’t malicious enough to wish for Xia Hongxia to be trafficked as a “shampoo girl.”

“Shampoo girl” was the polite term—those small hair salons were brothels. Xia Hongxia almost became a prostitute… Just because you hate a woman doesn’t mean you should curse her to be raped or forced into prostitution. As a woman herself, Xia Xiaolan found such retribution despicable.

When society’s morals decay, many innocent women can’t escape misfortune. Places like these small hair salons absolutely must be cracked down upon.

Xia Hongxia got lucky—Ke Yixiong and his people wanted to use the Xia family members in their scheme, so they sent her to the salon but didn’t force her to take clients.

Other women weren’t as fortunate as Xia Hongxia. This investigation led to raids on several similar establishments, and most of the “shampoo girls” rescued had been tricked into the trade.

Some were beaten when they tried to escape.

Others had resigned themselves to their fate, already numb and unfeeling.

Thinking about these things made Xia Xiaolan uncomfortable. People like Ke Yixiong truly deserved to die.

She didn’t elaborate on these details to Liu Yong, changing the subject instead: “The crisis at Golden Sand Pool should be resolved now. Ke Yixiong might have one or two loyal followers who escaped the net. You and Aunt should be careful these few days—just don’t go anywhere alone and you’ll be fine.”

“I understand! Look at the people lined up outside—I think there are even more today than yesterday?”

Xia Xiaolan’s lips curled into a smile, “Haven’t you seen today’s morning paper?”

She had people notify the newspaper office overnight, even changing the advertisement content.

“Only 90 rare housing units remaining”—let those hesitant buyers see that they might not be able to get a Golden Sand Pool house if they keep waiting.

Xia Xiaolan dared say that in the next year or two, Pengcheng wouldn’t see another development like this.

Not everyone dared to develop such high-end properties.

Either the environment would be far inferior to Golden Sand Pool, making it a low-end development.

The only project that might match Golden Sand Pool’s environment would be the residential project at the golf course next door.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t think the neighboring houses would sell for less than Golden Sand Pool—they could only be more expensive.

Perhaps Harold wasn’t even planning to sell yet?

The cheap welfare housing only cost a few hundred per square meter, but the environment and quality were far below Golden Sand Pool’s standards. Qihang might not even develop such expensive properties again in the short term.

Liu Yong listened in a daze.

“This works?”

“Why wouldn’t it!”

Looking at the anxious crowd in line, there were familiar faces—the middle-aged couple from yesterday’s first viewing who had hesitated over which unit type to buy.

They hadn’t bought it yesterday, while a fat man surnamed Xu had bought two units.

This couple had come to Pengcheng and hadn’t rushed back to Hong Kong. They probably hadn’t decided whether to buy last night. When they saw the morning paper today showing that a third of the more than a hundred units had sold yesterday, how could they not panic?

People have herd mentality—once they panic, they lose their composure.

As Xia Xiaolan passed by the couple, she heard the middle-aged woman complain: “Why didn’t you convince me to pay yesterday? What if someone takes the unit we liked?”

Her husband was speechless—yesterday, who was the one being indecisive!

The couple’s mutual blame made others in line even more anxious.

—Can’t you be quiet? Instead of arguing, hurry up and move toward the sales office!