When Xiang Li wanted to extract information, Xu Jing couldn’t resist at all.

After sending $50 and using a silk scarf as an excuse, Xiang Li obtained Xia Xiaolan’s contact information.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t lost any scarf – Xiang Li knew this better than anyone else, so she obviously wouldn’t call to ask about it.

She stayed in the garage for half an hour, unable to stand Xu Jing and Ma Hai’s “messiness” anymore. The place was cluttered with all sorts of things from their “inventions”… How could anyone invest in this pile of junk? Li Yong was right – having Xia Xiaolan invest in Xu Jing and Ma Hai would be worse than investing in Li Yong and herself.

After Xiang Li got what she wanted and left, Ma Hai nudged Xu Jing:

“Wasn’t Miss Xiang acting strange today?”

Voluntarily giving $50 and wanting to return a silk scarf to Student Xia – it seemed, unlike the Xiang Li that Ma Hai knew.

Xu Jing appeared lost: “What’s strange about it? She’s always been like this.”

Xiang Li would thoroughly investigate any young woman who appeared around him. Xu Jing never had wandering eyes, and he used to think Xiang Li’s possessiveness and jealousy were expressions of love. Now circumstances had changed, though Xiang Li hadn’t yet broken her old habits.

Ma Hai sighed: “Fifty dollars is enough for two weeks of meals, but what about our project? Old Xu, I still want to find Student Xia. Who else do we know with money? This might be our best chance. Nothing has gone right since you came abroad – don’t you want to seize this opportunity to prove yourself?”

Were self-funded international students all failures?

Ma Hai knew that he and Xu Jing weren’t well-regarded in their circle. Others praised Li Yong, but Ma Hai felt Li Yong was causing trouble.

He and Xu Jing had borrowed considerable money for this project, all documented with IOUs. Even if their investment was lost, they would repay everything once they started working – who were the real scammers? It had to be either Li Yong or Xiang Li. The rumors about him and Old Xu being fraudsters must be connected to those two.

Bah!

If they were truly righteous, why didn’t they have Xiang Li return the car?

Xu Jing had bought that car for Xiang Li when he considered her his future wife – they were just short of official registration.

Without such a relationship, who would dare to accept a “gift” worth thousands of dollars one-sidedly?

Xiang Li clearly couldn’t return anything of equal value… Heh, not just in America where people were used to splitting bills, but even in China, engagement gifts had to be returned if the engagement was broken!

Ma Hai didn’t attack Xiang Li directly – a man shouldn’t keep harping on a woman’s mistakes, and Xu Jing still had lingering feelings for her, so he might not appreciate it.

He just wanted to encourage Xu Jing to pull himself together. Put aside relationship matters first – how could a man talk about love without establishing his career?

“Don’t you know that American-Chinese female students now have three P’s as their mate selection criteria!”

Though “3P” had a questionable connotation, Xu Jing didn’t understand. He looked at Ma Hai with genuine curiosity.

Ma Hai sneered: “First P is Ph.D., second P is P.R., third P is Property!”

Doctoral degree, permanent residency, and personal property… Xu Jing realized he had none of these, feeling another sharp blow to his confidence.

He washed his face with cold water. “Let’s organize the materials and take a ride to Ithaca.”

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t completely rejected them.

She’d said to contact her when he was clearheaded.

This might have been just an excuse for rejection. Given Xu Jing’s former proud personality before going abroad, he would rather die than bring it up again.

But he and Ma Hai were now at rock bottom. Having finally found an opportunity, if they didn’t try to grasp it, they could only blame their cowardice for being failures, not others.

Ma Hai was overjoyed and patted Xu Jing’s shoulder vigorously:

“You’re finally showing some spirit!”

The fifty dollars had arrived at just the right time – it would cover their trip to Ithaca.

While Xu Jing and Ma Hai were preparing to go to Ithaca, Xiang Li returned with her gathered intelligence.

When Li Yong heard that Xia Xiaolan was the one who bought the house from Xu Jing, he nodded:

“Now it all makes sense.”

Someone like Xu Jing wouldn’t normally know a female student of Xia Xiaolan’s caliber.

No wonder she wore a watch worth over $200 – how could anyone feel comfortable seeing such a girl carelessly spending her family’s money abroad?

“After several years in America, I’ve discovered a principle: rich people use money to make money very quickly, while it’s particularly difficult for those without money to start from scratch.”

Wasn’t that stating the obvious?

American capitalists all fit what Li Yong described.

Seeing that Xiang Li hadn’t caught on, Li Yong explained further:

“I mean, Xu Jing sold the house more than a year ago. She could afford several ten thousand yuan for a courtyard house back then. Who knows how much their family wealth has grown during this period? Money breeds money quickly – they might not have hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they probably have hundreds of thousands of yuan.”

Even hundreds of thousands of yuan was a lot!

Converted to dollars, it would be over a hundred thousand. Chinese people liked to save money, so it was probably just sitting there.

Unlike Americans who preferred spending, using tomorrow’s money today, with various mortgages and credit cards draining American wallets, people with over a hundred thousand dollars in cash were beyond Li Yong and Xiang Li’s social circle.

Xiang Li crumpled the silk scarf, feeling something between envy and jealousy.

“Even with over a hundred thousand dollars in family wealth, they wouldn’t bring it all to America.”

Li Yong was speechless, “You still don’t understand.”

No one would bring their entire wealth.

But for those who made money just a few years after the Reform and Opening Up policy began – where did that money come from?

It was either embezzled by someone in the family or earned through private business. However, since Xia Xiaolan’s family dared to use the money to buy houses, it proved the money was legitimate.

So it must have been earned through private business.

The fact that she hadn’t outright rejected Xu Jing and Ma Hai’s investment proposal showed that Xia Xiaolan was extremely pampered by her family and had considerable say in how family money was spent.

It made sense – having gotten into Tsinghua University and coming to America as an exchange student through competitions, how could her family not dote on such a daughter?

However, while academic excellence was one thing, Li Yong thought, you couldn’t protect children too much – he was just giving Xia Xiaolan’s family a lesson, what was wrong with charging some tuition?

“She won’t have access to all the family wealth, but I estimate she can get her hands on ten or twenty thousand dollars here in America. Don’t waste time, get to Ithaca early, before Xu Jing and Ma Hai convince her to invest… In any case, play it by ear, don’t mention money right away, and show that you’re considering things from her perspective. Young girls abroad are bound to feel lonely and homesick – show her care, and she’ll naturally trust you.”

Xiang Li threw the silk scarf at Li Yong’s face: “Pah! How many girls have you tricked with this method? You’re quite practiced at it!”

Li Yong’s expression remained unchanged as he pulled Xiang Li into his arms:

“Have you no conscience? Without such careful planning, how could I get you a big house? If I had ulterior motives, wouldn’t I approach her myself? That way I’d get both the person and the money, right?”

Xiang Li spat at him again.

But this time it was gentle, clearly pleased by Li Yong’s words.