She was indeed more than ordinarily difficult to deal with.
After leaving the Chen house and getting in the car, Xia Xiaolan said to Ge Jian:
“Let’s head back to Pengcheng. We’ve attended the wedding banquet, let’s not meddle in others’ family affairs.”
It wouldn’t look right for a real estate company that had profited from the Jinshachi Complex to not even have dedicated company cars. Xia Xiaolan had purchased two cars through customs for company use, which also made things convenient when she was in Pengcheng. Though the cars weren’t expensive, they boosted company morale. Having cars and proper office space made them increasingly resemble a legitimate organization, making people more confident about working at Qihang.
As Xia Xiaolan had Ge Jian drive toward Pengcheng, they found Du Zhaohui waiting at Jinshachi as soon as they arrived.
Du Zhaohui appeared very anxious:
“Some bastard told the old man about me selling my cars and houses. Those people just don’t want me to succeed!”
Xia Xiaolan found his words amusing: “Don’t you know your personality? If you succeed, they won’t have a way out. There are plenty of people trying to hold you back!”
In terms of image, Du Zhaohui lost to his brother Du Zhaoqi.
Du Zhaoqi was academically trained, looking like a business elite. Regardless of his true personality, he appeared reasonable.
Du Zhaohui looked like a bastard who was sweet-talking but ruthless.
If Du Chengrong intended to choose between Du Zhaohui and Du Zhaoqi to inherit the Du family business, Xia Xiaolan thought the other three branches would first ally. They would work together to bring down Du Zhaohui, and then deal with Du Zhaoqi later… Even if they ultimately couldn’t beat Du Zhaoqi, they didn’t have deep grudges against him and wouldn’t face retaliation.
But their grudge with Du Zhaohui was massive!
This unfortunate Du Zhaohui, as far as Xia Xiaolan knew, had faced two life-threatening situations. Once when Xia Dajun rescued him from the dock.
The other time was on the way to Yangcheng Airport when he nearly died in a roadside bombing.
Both assassination attempts were connected to the other three branches of the Du family.
The Yangcheng Airport incident was likely orchestrated by Fourth Concubine Liu Keying, with Liu Tianquan as the executor.
Du Zhaohui probably knew this in his heart, but due to Fan Yu and Xia Dajun’s involvement, he still didn’t know the full story. Xia Xiaolan only planned to cooperate briefly with Du Zhaohui and wasn’t bored enough to voluntarily tell him about this.
Just mentioning that the other three branches might have allied made Du Zhaohui’s face turn extremely ugly:
“Let’s… never mind about them for now, let’s talk about that money of mine, what should we do?”
The houses and cars were being handled, and Xia Xiaolan told him not to worry, he could take his time finding suitable buyers to get better prices.
So Du Zhaohui now had 30 million in hand.
“Before we discuss what business to do, let’s agree on my payment first. I won’t take shares in your business, I only want 10 million as payment, and you need to pay upfront.”
Pay upfront?
Du Zhaohui had thought payment would come after making profits.
If anyone else had made such a demand to Du Zhaohui, he would have sent them to clear their head in the sea.
But when Xia Xiaolan said this… Du Zhaohui somehow found it convincing.
If they made 100 million, 10 million would be quite reasonable in comparison.
“You only want 10 million?”
Xia Xialan nodded, “That’s right, I want 10 million Hong Kong dollars, but you need to pay in US dollars. No need for cash, just transfer it to my account in Hong Kong.”
This year’s exchange rate was 7.8 HKD to 1 USD, while the yuan to USD rate was 3.45:1.
10 million HKD was only about 1.27 million USD.
Xia Xiaolan was quite conscientious—if she had asked Du Zhaohui for 10 million yuan, he would have had to pay 2.9 million USD!
Paying 10 million HKD upfront meant he still had 50 million HKD left.
Du Zhaohui agreed very quickly: “No problem, I’ll transfer it to you when I return to Hong Kong.”
The Chengrong Group held an annual spring banquet, sometimes before the New Year, and sometimes after.
This year’s spring banquet had been moved up to before the New Year.
Though Du Zhaohui didn’t want to go back, Du Chengrong had specifically named him, so Du Zhaohui had to make the trip.
He was also unhappy and had developed a determination to make an all-or-nothing move: if he didn’t do something big, the old man wouldn’t see him in a new light.
Since Xia Xiaolan dared to ask for payment upfront, he wasn’t worried about her backing out. He didn’t even ask what the business was—anyway, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t go to America until after the New Year. Du Zhaohui had found out the timing clearly and rushed back to Hong Kong.
When the old man heard he was selling houses and cars, he seemed ready to shoot him.
Though Du Zhaohui had played the good son for many years, even after Xia Xiaolan described the beautiful prospects of independence to him, he was still unwilling.
He wanted to keep his options open!
…
Winter’s chill was persistent.
Recently, something rare happened at the Provincial Architectural Design Institute’s staff quarters in Hangcheng.
Six months ago, Mao Kangshan, the most senior qualified architect at the Provincial Institute, took on a female apprentice.
The gifts brought on the day she became his apprentice were so numerous, large and small, that it gave the residents of the staff quarters something to talk about from mid-year until year’s end!
Ever since that female apprentice arrived, everything changed in the Mao household.
First, Mao Kangshan refused to accept the unit’s rehiring offer and went to the Special Zone with his wife and female apprentice, staying away for half a year without returning.
Then there was Mao Guosheng, an awkward figure in the unit, who was suddenly seconded to Guangdong Provincial Construction.
Zheng Shuqin’s mouth could turn three parts into ten, let alone when there were ten parts to talk about, so she naturally often bragged.
However, she’d quieted down a bit recently, seemingly because Mao Guosheng’s planned business trip to Hong Kong fell through, leaving Zheng Shuqin losing face.
Just for this matter, Mao Kangshan and Madam Song took the train back to Hangcheng from Beijing. Zheng Shuqin was cold and distant, often telling neighbors that the in-laws kept good things to themselves, not sharing with their children and grandchildren, letting them go to waste.
She also said that in other families, the elders helped raise the younger generation, unlike her family which was the most pitiful, as if they weren’t related by blood.
“There’s nothing to be done, who told the children they weren’t as sweet-talking as outsiders? All that talk about how tiring it is for the elderly to climb stairs, but we never see her helping. It doesn’t cost anything to say nice things!”
Seeing the Mao family’s internal conflict, others naturally enjoyed watching the drama.
When some well-meaning people gave Madam Song a heads-up, it nearly made her faint with anger:
“Old Mao, wasn’t it just some things that Xiaolan brought back then? I was thinking of dividing them among the family when everyone’s here for New Year’s, who knew Guosheng’s wife wanted to keep everything for herself…”
After spreading so much gossip for the neighbors to laugh at, Madam Song was both angry and hurt.
Mao Kangshan understood clearly, “Why bother with her? She’s just upset about not getting any benefits.”
Wanting things was just an excuse—it all came down to Mao Guosheng’s job.
Seeing Wang Houlin getting high pay at Qihang while Guosheng couldn’t get in, Zheng Shuqin was resentful.
Mao Kangshan didn’t want to indulge in this, telling Madam Song to ignore it.
But how could they not be affected at all?
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Mao Guosheng returned to Hangcheng. Mao Kangshan’s other children had also arranged to come to see their parents. The cramped two-bedroom apartment was packed with Mao family members, everyone squeezing in at the table to reach for dishes. In previous years they had sat like this with no complaints, but this year Zheng Shuqin held her bowl and spoke with sarcastic undertones:
“This house is a bit small, when is Little Xia going to get you elders a bigger one?”