Miss He brought Young Master He with her.

He Shi’en fidgeted restlessly in his seat.

Others called him Young Master He – didn’t he care about his face? His family made him come apologize to a northern girl!

He wondered if he should deliberately speak English – would the northern girl even understand?

“Sit still! Why are you moving around?” He Zhitong was also irritated.

He Shi’en complained, “You don’t love me anymore!”

“This is teaching you to think before acting next time, don’t be so impulsive. You’re in middle school now – haven’t you learned about ‘planning before action’?”

What planning before action!

He would never go to that awful mainland place in his life – why should he fear a mainland mayor’s daughter?

While He Shi’en was complaining to his sister, applause rang out behind them, followed by a young female voice:

“Miss He’s Mandarin is excellent, even knowing the phrase ‘planning before action’!”

He Zhitong felt Xia Xiaolan was deliberately mocking her, mocking that she knew nothing before leaking to the newspapers.

He Shi’en, just a teenager, melted at the sound of her voice. When he turned around, he was stunned by the glistening sparkle in Xia Xiaolan’s eyes. He had never seen such a beautiful young woman before.

She had a maturity between girl and woman that was devastating to teenage boys. At He Shi’en’s age, boys often had a “sister complex” – not inappropriate thoughts about their actual sisters, but rather a yearning for maturity and instinctive attraction to slightly older “sister figures.” Having crushes on senior female students or neighborhood girls was perfectly normal for boys his age.

After all, he was only in his teens, still confined to school. Though bold, he hadn’t reached the age where Du Zhaohui had been courting actresses. Unexposed to various beautiful starlets, he usually only saw teenage female classmates who seemed plain compared to Xia Xiaolan – those unripe apples held no appeal. Xia Xiaolan was like a cherry just turning red on the branch.

He Shi’en couldn’t help but swallow: Good heavens! This northern girl was so beautiful, no wonder Brother Yuan couldn’t resist!

The teenage He Shi’en found himself somewhat empathizing, quite able to understand Tang Yuanyue’s behavior.

After speaking with He Zhitong, Xia Xiaolan looked at He Shi’en.

A teenage troublemaker – nothing special.

“Young Master He, didn’t you want to ‘invite’ me for a talk? Now that I’m here, what did you want to discuss?”

He Shi’en wasn’t sophisticated enough. He had little experience being stared at by beautiful older girls. He stammered for a while, not knowing what to say.

He Zhitong was angry at Xia Xiaolan’s aggressive attitude: “Miss Xia, he’s still just a child!”

If you’re angry, take it out on the adults.

Before Xia Xiaolan could respond, He Shi’en instinctively protested, “Sister, I’m not little anymore!”

Xia Xiaolan applauded again, “Young Master He, I also think you’re quite responsible now, so tell me – why did you have someone bring me here? What did you want to discuss?”

He Shi’en stammered, “…nothing really, I just wanted to scare you.”

At school he was domineering, but only bullied classmates, being somewhat arrogant due to his family background. He wouldn’t dare to kill anyone. He hadn’t even developed the criminal mindset of wanting to destroy a woman by having her raped – that was something hardened criminals did, not half-grown delinquents. Usually, they would just beat someone up to vent their anger.

That was He Shi’en’s thinking – to call Xia Xiaolan to face him, threaten and intimidate her until she backed down. Or perhaps use the money to humiliate her, show her the gap between the He family and mainland women, and make Xia Xiaolan scram!

But he hadn’t expected Xia Xiaolan to be so beautiful that he could barely look at her. With such a face before him, who would dare to scar it with a knife? Perhaps only women who envied and hated Xia Xiaolan would do such a thing… He Shi’en was a perfectly normal straight male, as straight as they come, just young.

Xia Xiaolan, being completely straight herself, couldn’t detect He Shi’en’s newfound chivalrous thoughts, but He Zhitong found her brother’s behavior extremely unusual.

Tang Yuanyue met Xia Xiaolan and impulsively wanted to break off his engagement.

Du Zhaohui met Xia Xiaolan and suddenly wanted to be a good Samaritan.

Even her little brother was acting strange after meeting Xia Xiaolan.

He Zhitong didn’t want to stay in this cursed place for another moment. “Shi’en, have you forgotten what you’re supposed to say?”

He Shi’en was here to apologize.

He had been extremely unwilling before coming, complaining and venting his anger just moments ago.

Now he had lost much of that indignation, hanging his head meekly: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have sent someone to scare you. I apologize.”

Xia Xiaolan was quite surprised. According to her investigation, He Shi’en was a teenage terror at school, definitely a perpetrator of campus bullying, yet he apologized so obediently and sincerely… It seemed the He family truly didn’t want to tangle with her anymore.

“Shi’en tends to act impulsively. I never intended to do anything to you. Whatever your relationship with Tang Yuanyue, I don’t care-“

Xia Xiaolan interrupted He Zhitong:

“Though I disdain explaining, I can’t help but say this – I have no relationship with Mr. Tang. I merely owed him a favor and was invited to Hong Kong to do his renovation plans. I told you this the first time we met! Had I known I’d be dragged into the mess of your broken engagement, I would never have taken this job. Miss He, the problem now is that not only do you have a fiancé, but by publishing my photos in the newspaper, you’ve also upset my future in-laws. How do you think this should be resolved?”

He Shi’en blurted out, “You have no relationship with Brother Yuan?”

Xia Xiaolan looked puzzled, “Why would I have a relationship with him? He’s over ten years older than me, and not particularly handsome!”

The He siblings were both speechless.

Tang Yuanyue was Hong Kong’s most eligible bachelor.

Yet in Xia Xiaolan’s words, he was criticized for being too old and not handsome enough!

As if Yuhua’s eldest son needed these qualities to enhance his appeal? Money was already the best weapon of attraction, and Tang Yuanyue possessed this ultimate weapon.

He Zhitong didn’t know if Xia Xiaolan was telling the truth.

After all, this northern girl before her was quite sophisticated, capable of deceiving both men and women.

But if it was true, she felt oddly pleased that Tang Yuanyue was being rejected.

“So what exactly do you want me to do?”

Xia Xiaolan rubbed her chin, “My time is also valuable, and I don’t want to tangle with the He family. You leaked the story, so you handled it. Additionally, you need to explain everything clearly to my future in-laws… How you resolve things with Tang Yuanyue is not my concern. I can’t afford to offend either Mr. Tang or Miss He, so I’ve decided to stay far away from both of you!”

As for Tang Yuanyue’s supposed favor, Xia Xiaolan had no desire to accept it.

It wasn’t because Tang Yuanyue said he liked her that she completely avoided contact with him, but rather his seemingly gentlemanly yet domineering way of doing things that Xia Xiaolan found rather offensive.

What was there to discuss with someone who didn’t understand respect?

He Zhitong’s expression kept changing – this northern girl was getting quite presumptuous, even trying to teach her how to handle things.