He Zhitong indeed handled matters efficiently.

Once she made a decision, she acted swiftly without hesitation. When Tang Yuanyue wanted to break off the engagement, she was even more eager than him to publish it in the newspapers.

When Xia Xiaolan caught the He family’s weakness, they didn’t want to tangle with her. He Zhitong accepted Xia Xiaolan’s “reconciliation” terms and promised to handle the previous newspaper leak. She immediately dug up Tang Yuanyue’s previous brief romance to take the blame!

It was handled brilliantly, even Xia Xiaolan had to praise her public relations skills.

Xia Xiaolan’s other condition was for He Zhitong to explain to the Zhou family.

He Zhitong took their contact information and managed to get in touch with Guan Hui’e.

A wealthy young lady who knew social etiquette could make her words sound very pleasant when she wanted to.

He Zhitong explained everything clearly to Guan Hui’e, saying she was Tang Yuanyue’s “former fiancée” and had dragged Xia Xiaolan into their engagement dissolution out of anger when she didn’t understand the situation. If this caused any misunderstanding, she was very sorry:

“It was a female TV host who interfered. In any case, it was our relationship that developed problems. I’m very sorry for involving Miss Xia.”

Guan Hui’e hadn’t expected this call.

The other party was very polite, and Guan Hui’e responded equally politely.

After hanging up, Guan Hui’e’s feelings became more complicated:

“Old Zhou, was I too harsh the other day?”

Zhou Guobin spoke frankly, “Xiaolan chose to tell you because she trusts you and doesn’t want to deceive you. You should know what kind of person she is.”

If she had any inappropriate thoughts or changes in her feelings for Zhou Cheng, it would have happened long ago, not now.

Moreover, if the young couple really couldn’t be together, could the elders force them?

Zhou Guobin approved of letting things take their natural course.

Guan Hui’e got angry, “Now you’re playing the good guy! What I said the other day wasn’t wrong either. Look at when we were young – once you had a partner, you naturally kept your distance from the opposite sex. I remember when Zhou Cheng was only 2, a female colleague at your workplace took a liking to you, always making tea and getting food for you. I took Zhou Cheng to visit you twice, and she understood the message…”

Speaking of their younger days, Zhou Guobin’s expression became slightly uncomfortable.

The tea-making colleague wasn’t the only one who showed interest in him. The higher his position, the more temptations he faced, but Zhou Guobin refused them all.

In his position as a leader, when female colleagues he worked with developed other intentions, he could choose not to interact with them or transfer them directly. However, his work nature was different from Xia Xiaolan’s business dealings.

Zhou Guobin spoke fairly for Xia Xiaolan:

“Xiaolan is likable. If you think she shouldn’t be too close to men, then over 90% of her business would be impossible.”

Doing business ultimately means dealing with different people. Such requirements created a dead end unless Xia Xiaolan stopped pursuing her own career, found a stable, leisurely job after university graduation, and became Zhou Cheng’s supportive wife… a path that Xia Xiaolan had rejected from the start, as everyone in the Zhou family knew!

Guan Hui’e understood this too.

This might be the difference between a mother-in-law and a birth mother.

A mother-in-law, no matter how close she is to her future daughter-in-law, inevitably thinks of her son first when issues arise.

If it were a birth mother, her first concern wouldn’t be about reputation, but whether her daughter had been wronged.

When He Zhitong called Guan Hui’e to apologize, Guan Hui’e responded politely and hung up, unwilling to display family disputes before the Hong Kong people.

If it were a birth mother, she would have first questioned He Zhitong: What right do you have to drag my daughter into your quarrel?

Guan Hui’e sighed: “I can see Xiaolan isn’t too happy either.”

Guan Hui’e felt somewhat wronged.

Wouldn’t any family question their future daughter-in-law if she appeared in newspapers with another man?

Was she not even allowed to give a few words of advice?!

This was truly a deadlock.

Guan Hui’e wouldn’t approve if Zhou Cheng found someone who wasn’t excellent.

Yet finding someone too excellent made Guan Hui’e worry.

If only there could be a middle ground.

Zhou Guobin laughed at her greediness: “There’s no daughter-in-law custom-made for you. Would Zhou Cheng even like someone you’re satisfied with? Being excellent isn’t bad – it puts pressure on Zhou Cheng, and gives him motivation!”

Xia Xiaolan’s beauty and capability were evident to anyone with eyes – how could others not be attracted to her?

Zhou Guobin quite approved of his son’s taste.

All this talk about reputation was nonsense. For Zhou Cheng to keep his wife from being pursued by others, wouldn’t he have to work hard to improve himself? He was just a small battalion commander now – others would certainly covet his wife. But if he rose two or three ranks higher, who would dare covet a senior colonel or brigadier general’s woman?

…

Tang Yuanyue had quite a fiery moment.

He Zhitong forcefully pinned the blame on the TV host, stirring up a huge scandal, clearly showing she didn’t want to reconcile with Tang Yuanyue.

With the young people’s relationship so damaged, how could they still marry?

This engagement seemed impossible to maintain.

Despite Tang Jingyun’s repeated attempts to salvage the situation, the He family left no room for negotiation, stating plainly:

“Breaking off the engagement now allows us to maintain friendship. Continuing to fight would damage our relationship.”

Tang Jingyun knew he couldn’t force the issue.

Since the engagement had to end, once He Zhitong had vented her anger, the messy newspaper reports still needed to be suppressed.

Tang Jingyun finally spoke with Tang Yuanyue: “You can marry whoever you want in the future, but I don’t approve of this mayor’s daughter. Given my years of friendship with your Uncle He, if you won’t marry Zhitong, you can’t marry the woman who broke up your engagement.”

Tang Jingyun had his pride too.

Tang Yuanyue, previously so confident, had now shot himself in the foot:

“I’d like to marry her, but she has to be willing. You think I’m such a catch, but others don’t see it that way.”

Tang Yuanyue had heard Xia Xiaolan’s assessment of him from He Shi’en. That kid had passed on the message deliberately to anger him. Xia Xiaolan said he was “too old and not handsome enough” – two stabs to Tang Yuanyue’s chest that severely wounded his pride.

He had been too confident and ended up mishandling everything.

Tang Jingyun now felt indignant:

“There are only people we don’t want to marry, not people who won’t marry us?”

Tang Yuanyue gave his father a bitter smile, “That’s the reality. She has plenty of suitors without me. I told you she’s personally exceptional – did you think I wanted to marry her just because she’s the mayor’s daughter?”

Tang Jingyun became interested, “From what you’re saying, someone I know is pursuing her? Now I want to meet this girl!”

“Du Chenrong’s son, Du Zhaohui, is also pursuing her very actively…”

Tang Jingyun laughed in anger: “Everyone in Hong Kong knows what Du Chenrong’s eldest son is like. If you can’t even compete with him, you’re bringing shame to the Tang family!”

Tang Yuanyue took another stab to the heart from his father and remained silent for a long time.

Indeed, losing to anyone else would be better than losing to Du Zhaohui.

Xia Xiaolan used to despise Du Zhaohui, but this time he was taking advantage of Tang Yuanyue’s mistakes to change her impression of him. Tang Yuanyue couldn’t possibly admit defeat.