“She said that?”

Xu Jing was devastated.

After their breakup, he had never spoken ill of Xiang Li.

Even when Ma Hai wanted to criticize her, Xu Jing would stop him.

Xu Jing knew he wasn’t well-liked, but when Xiang Li told him to attend the international students’ party, saying it was Li Yong’s idea, he still went reluctantly.

He didn’t want to make things difficult for Xiang Li or let others criticize her.

Who knew that while he maintained his gentlemanly conduct, Xiang Li would act so outrageously?

Xia Xiaolan watched him deflate like a frost-bitten eggplant. “Yes, she said that. She drove several hours from New York to warn me. Who should I believe?”

That was quite a sharp blow.

Xu Jing didn’t rush to defend himself or slander Xiang Li. He just said that the project was real, the borrowing was real and left it at that.

While Ma Hai was anxious, Xia Xiaolan secretly nodded in approval.

Though soft-spoken, this personality wasn’t formed overnight – Xiaolan had noticed it when he sold his house.

Still, a man who doesn’t badmouth his ex after breaking up can’t be too bad a person.

Ah, honest people being deceived was an inescapable fate – the difference was that some learned their lesson after a few times, while others remained gullible until their dying day.

If Xiaolan hadn’t revealed Xiang Li’s visit, Xu Jing and Ma Hai wouldn’t have known to guard against that woman – she had only given the Wen house phone number to Xu Jing and Ma Hai, so Xiang Li must have gotten the contact information from them before showing up.

She had extracted information from Xu Jing and Ma Hai, then came to blacken their names. No wonder these two couldn’t secure any investments – even fools wouldn’t believe they could come up with any money-making ideas… But strangely enough, while business and trade were driven by clever people, technical innovations were usually accomplished by honest folks like Xu Jing.

Perhaps those in technology needed to be a bit naive in life to focus wholeheartedly on innovation in their field.

Seeing Xu Jing so dejected, Xia Xiaolan checked her watch:

“Come on, where are you two staying? I’ll take you there. Make do for one more night – tomorrow’s Saturday, and I’ll head back to New York with you in the morning.”

“No, no need…”

Before Xu Jing could react, Ma Hai was overjoyed: “Miss Xia, you’re willing to invest in our project?”

Xia Xiaolan was noncommittal, “We’ll see. But if you continue to be so defenseless, I’d advise you to forget about entrepreneurship and just find jobs using your technical skills. I don’t want to invest a lot of money, only to have you hand over the results to others just when we’re about to see returns.”

As a woman herself, Xiaolan wanted to say this – some men were just hopeless, acting like they’d never seen women before, believing everything they heard.

If Xu Jing was that type of person, they shouldn’t even talk about investment – Xiaolan’s interests wouldn’t be protected at all.

Xu Jing’s face turned bright red with embarrassment.

“It won’t happen again. I never expected Xiang Li would do that.”

Xia Xiaolan thought for a moment, “At the party, Senior Ma mentioned that you bought Xiang Li’s car, right? She drove that very car to see me today!”

Pffft.

Another knife twist.

Xu Jing wanted to bury his head in shame.

He wanted to confront Xiang Li and ask why she did this!

Known in the circle as Xia the Knife – when you’re out in the world, who doesn’t take a few hits? If one knife doesn’t wake you up, might as well add a few more.

She had said what needed to be said; Xu Jing and Ma Hai needed to think things through themselves.

After dropping them off at their temporary lodging, Xia Xiaolan left, but Ma Hai couldn’t swallow this grievance:

“What’s Xiang Li’s game? She won’t rest until she’s completely cut off our lifeline? Old Xu, what did you do to wrong her when you were dating that makes her hate you so much!”

Xu Jing couldn’t figure it out either.

“She gets nothing from stopping Miss Xia from investing with us…”

Ma Hai jumped in frustration, “Let’s go find out where she is and confront her!”

Ithaca wasn’t big, and fellow townspeople knew each other. Xiang Li had visited Xia Xiaolan yesterday; maybe she hadn’t left yet? Given her financial situation, she probably wouldn’t stay at a hotel, more likely staying with that female townsman like they were. With some asking around, they might find her.

Xu Jing put on his clothes too, finally not letting Xiang Li off the hook this time.

She had his car – that was from when they were together, and Xu Jing still had lingering feelings.

But this project wasn’t just his blood and sweat – it was Ma Hai’s investment too. Xiang Li couldn’t joke around with this!

Ma Hai’s guess was right.

Xiang Li had stayed in Ithaca, hoping to arrange a weekend trip to New York with Xia Xiaolan.

There wasn’t much fun in Ithaca – wealthy international students like Xia Xiaolan must head to New York City on weekends to spend their money. If Xia Xiaolan was going to New York, Xiang Li could drive her.

Five or six hours on the road – wouldn’t that be enough to get familiar with each other?

Ma Hai gritted his teeth:

“Old Xu, when we see her, just ask why she did this. Don’t mention anything else, especially don’t let her know that Miss Xia is going to New York with us tomorrow.”

Though soft-spoken, Xu Jing wasn’t stupid. He nodded:

“You want her to think she succeeded so she’ll stop causing trouble?”

“Exactly! You need to play along well, and whatever you do, don’t go soft on this woman. We’ll curse her out and leave – no unnecessary talk!”

Xu Jing agreed to this plan.

They cornered Xiang Li at her friend’s place, and Ma Hai immediately started berating her:

“Xiang, you’re ruining our reputation, saying we scam international students’ money. Show us the evidence – when did we ever scam money from you?”

Xiang Li was quite angry – young female students really couldn’t keep secrets, and immediately told Xu Jing and Ma Hai about her visit.

But then she thought – doesn’t this prove that Xia Xiaolan believed what she said?

It must be so, otherwise Ma Hai wouldn’t be so agitated.

Suppressing her joy, Xiang Li ignored Ma Hai and spoke only to Xu Jing:

“Xu Jing, we were together once, and whatever I say or do is for your good. Coming abroad wasn’t easy for you. I just hope you focus on completing your studies instead of borrowing money to get by. You might still have a chance to find a job and stay in America in the future.”

Xu Jing had heard such heartfelt words more than once.

Before, they moved him; now they disgusted him.

“Xiang Li, we’ve broken up – how I live is none of your business. I won’t go to Li Yong’s gatherings anymore. I know about the money I owe, and that car I bought you before we broke up – I don’t want the installment payments anymore. You’ve only given me 450 dollars over six months. Give me 1000 dollars more, and the car is yours as a used vehicle. Then we’re even, owing nothing to each other!”

Xiang Li’s face darkened. Had Xu Jing lost his mind? Where would she get 1000 dollars… Even if she had it, she wouldn’t be willing to give it to Xu Jing all at once.

– Unless, as Li Yong suggested, she could get some “investment” money from Xia Xiaolan!