“So you went out with Junior Sister Xia.”

Li Xiang had waited from morning until past 2 PM, skipping lunch because she was worried about missing Xu Jing’s return. The landlady Mrs. Maltz showed no hospitality at all – she didn’t even invite her to lunch!

As it turned out, Xu Jing was driven back by Xia Xiaolan. If Ma Hai hadn’t been with them, Li Xiang would have suspected something was going on between those two… The situation still wasn’t looking good – the table wine Xia Xiaolan had ordered wasn’t finished and was brought back by Ma Hai.

This kind of wine was something both Xu Jing and Ma Hai could now afford – it was as Li Yong had guessed, who knew how much investment they’d gotten from Xia Xiaolan!

“Why are you here?”

Xu Jing didn’t want Xia Xiaolan to misunderstand. Not in terms of romance, but rather misunderstanding that he and Ma Hai were foolish enough to still associate with Li Xiang after she had tricked information out of them once before.

Seeing the iron lock on the garage door hadn’t been touched, Ma Hai breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Xiang remained completely unfazed: “I know you’re upset about what I said in front of Junior Sister Xia, but that was just… well, it seems I’ve managed to displease everyone. I’m here to apologize for what happened before and to deliver a check. Xu Jing, you remember that $1,000 you mentioned, right?”

Xia Xiaolan found Li Xiang quite interesting. Not because her tactics were particularly sophisticated – such methods could only fool honest people like Xu Jing. Rather, it was Li Xiang’s thick skin in carrying on as if nothing had happened and her unshakeable composure that earned Xia Xiaolan’s grudging respect.

“Senior Brother Xu, why is Senior Sister Li bringing you a check?”

Xia Xiaolan asked leisurely.

Ma Hai was extremely wary. “What else could it be? After they broke up, they still hadn’t settled things about the car he gave her. But Li Xiang, how did you manage to gather $1,000 so quickly? Why didn’t you pay Xu Jing back earlier instead of giving him a few dozen dollars at a time, treating him like a beggar!”

The sudden willingness to pay $1,000 made Ma Hai deeply uncomfortable. Mainly because the last time when she brought $50, it had nearly ruined their investment opportunity. He couldn’t believe there wasn’t some scheme behind this quick $1,000 payment!

Li Xiang’s smile was quite bitter: “Where else would it come from? I borrowed it from Li Yong. He gave me a severe scolding, saying that while others might doubt Ma Hai and Xu Jing’s character, how could I, having dated Xu Jing, believe such baseless claims? In short, I was wrong to act so petty. Xu Jing, please accept this check!”

Of course, he would take the check.

Xu Jing didn’t want any further entanglements with Li Xiang. When she had gone to Xia Xiaolan to speak ill of him and Ma Hai, any lingering sentiment he might have had was cleared away.

Xia Xiaolan sincerely exclaimed: “Senior Brother Li Yong truly has a generous heart!”

She spoke with genuine feeling, leaving Li Xiang unsure whether there was any sarcasm intended, making it difficult to respond.

Xu Jing took out the agreement he had prepared earlier and accepted Li Xiang’s check.

“Good, now the car is officially yours, free and clear. From today forward, neither of us owes the other anything. Li Yong has a good reputation in our circle and is capable – you’ll be happy together. I wish you both the best!”

Whether Li Xiang’s words were true or false, Xu Jing didn’t care to investigate anymore. Li Yong’s generosity was praised throughout the international student community, and Xu Jing had no grounds to doubt such a person.

But he could choose to keep his distance!

If you can’t beat them, at least you can avoid them, right?

Right now, he and Ma Hai had no time for such matters. Having received so much money from Xia Xiaolan, they needed to focus on product development and quickly produce results to justify her investment in dollars!

Xu Jing had firmly closed the door on further discussion, leaving Li Xiang at a loss for words. She had waited half a day and spent $1,000 – how could things end so simply? Before leaving, she asked Xia Xiaolan:

“Junior Sister, there’s another gathering next week, just for female students. Why don’t you join us!”

Li Xiang was certainly persistent. Xia Xiaolan smiled and nodded, “I’ll come if I’m free.”

“Great, let’s keep in touch. I’ll let you know the specific time and place.”

Ma Hai was winking from the side, not understanding why Xia Xiaolan would agree to Li Xiang’s invitation. When Li Xiang finally left, Ma Hai’s eye was twitching, and Xia Xiaolan held back her laughter: “Senior Brother Ma, isn’t your eye tired?”

“Ah, you’re going to worry me to death! Why did you agree to her invitation?”

“Who said I agreed? When she invited me to the gathering, I said I’d go if I was free… Why do you think I had you two register the company? Because I’m going to be very busy in the coming days.”

So she wouldn’t have time.

Wasn’t this just toying with Li Xiang?

Ma Hai burst out laughing: “Well done! Let her taste what it feels like to be played after all her tricks with Xu Jing!”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to step into the underground garage again:

“Anyway, you and Senior Brother Xu need to sort out the housing situation and move out of here quickly. I’m not being paranoid, but you two are more educated than me – look at history and you’ll find that of ten people with great reputations, eight usually turn out to be hypocritical villains. With Li Xiang repeatedly approaching us, don’t you think it might have something to do with that well-reputed Li Yong?”

It must have taken great effort for Li Yong to maintain such a good reputation.

In the international student circle, surprisingly no one spoke ill of Li Yong – everyone only had praise for him.

It’s extremely difficult for someone to achieve that.

Was Xia Xiaolan popular?

Though beautiful and able to help others make money, not everyone liked her. Those who disliked her might even outnumber those who liked her. Was it because she wasn’t generous?

You can’t just look at the surface of things – you need to grasp the essence.

Li Xiang and Li Yong were one entity. These two’s running around couldn’t be aimed at Xu Jing and Ma Hai.

Without Xia Xiaolan’s dollar backing, Xu and Ma were nobodies – not even worth Li Xiang’s time to mess with, let alone involving Li Yong… So, they must be targeting her!

Xia Xiaolan considered what about her might attract others’ attention.

Her face?

The way Li Yong had looked at her that night showed no lust.

He wasn’t a man who valued physical beauty.

So that only left money.

While Xu Jing and Ma Hai were lost in thought over Xia Xiaolan’s words, she saw things quite clearly.

“Don’t think about this anymore. The urgent matter now is to develop the product. I can handle any other troubles for you two senior brothers.”

Xia Xiaolan truly found it interesting.

She was always the one figuring out how to get money from others’ pockets – this was the first time she’d encountered people trying to get money from her pocket.

Even someone as shameless as her knew that to earn others’ money, you had to provide goods – even her wisdom was a kind of “product”… Did these two think they could get the dollars from her pocket just by sweet talk and showing concern?

“What a beautiful dream.”

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but look at herself twice in the rearview mirror. Did she look like some naive sweetie?

With a sharper gaze, this face could easily play a villainous female supporting role in dramas – she looked like a big bad guy!