Xia Xiaolan wasn’t about to pass up on a free favor.

This favor didn’t require her to bend down and pick it up – she just had to wait for Miss Song Minglan to present it. I see Song Minglan having to put on an act in front of so many people despite clearly disliking her. Xia Xiaolan found it inexplicably satisfying. Forced by circumstances, the Third Young Lady had no choice but to adopt this populist approach.

“Then I’ll wait for Third Young Lady to return this favor! I must say, today’s party was high-class.”

Xia Xiaolan had eaten plenty, and Ning Xue said she needed to stay at a family friend’s house. Since Xia Xiaolan and Ning Xue weren’t close enough to share a hotel room, she dropped Ning Xue off at her destination and left. Before leaving, Ning Xue retrieved her $5 from the registration desk.

Xia Xiaolan and Ning Xue departed from the party before nine, while Song Minglan stayed entertaining the international students until eleven before finally showing signs of fatigue.

“Minglan is tired now, let’s meet again another day!”

Li Yong’s words were well-received, but Song Minglan stopped him:

“Wait, make sure to return the money to everyone.”

Song Minglan wasn’t joking – she had reached an agreement with Xia Xiaolan, so she couldn’t let Xia Xiaolan use this against her.

Song Minglan personally supervised, checking off each person as their money was returned, before smiling and seeing everyone off.

Although Young Lady Song had her pride and arrogance, at least she kept her word!

This left everyone who attended the party, whether willingly or reluctantly, with a favorable impression of Song Minglan.

Well, looking at how things turned out, one couldn’t blame Young Lady Song or Senior Li.

It was all due to poor communication.

After everyone left, Li Yong wanted to explain:

“Minglan, I didn’t know—”

Song Minglan raised her hand, “Li Yong, we’re not that close, so when we’re alone, just use my full name! Whether or not you knew I knew Xia Xiaolan is irrelevant – that’s not why I’m angry tonight. If you want to pay for a party, I’ll accept your kindness, but then you went and made the international students pay an activity fee… Li Yong, oh Li Yong, thankfully Xia Xiaolan made a scene tonight. Did you think keeping this from me was doing me a favor? Do you think I, Song Minglan, need charity from all the international students in New York to get by!”

What an embarrassing situation – it would have been bad enough for anyone to see, but it had to happen in front of Xia Xiaolan.

Song Minglan grew angrier just thinking about it – she was supposed to be the one looking down on Xia Xiaolan.

Now Xia Xiaolan was probably laughing inside about how she had come to New York to “beg”!

“Miss Song, it’s not what you think. Well, anyway, this time it was my carelessness. I’ll personally make up for Miss Song’s losses.”

This Song Minglan was hard to please – humble in public, but putting on airs in private.

If Li Yong didn’t have such a good temper, he would have lost it long ago.

Song Minglan pulled out her checkbook: “No need, I can certainly afford this much. Tell me, how much was spent in total?”

Li Yong looked uncomfortable, so Song Minglan turned to Han Jin.

Having been ignored most of the evening, Han Jin didn’t dare go against Song Minglan’s wishes. Since she and Li Yong had both helped with the party, she naturally knew: “The total was $2,100, Senior Minglan, you don’t need to…”

Song Minglan gritted her teeth.

$2,100 – yet they had collected over $2,700 in “activity funds” that were just returned. Xiang Li probably thought she could use this to get even more money from Xia Xiaolan, right? Well, well, these people were something else – throwing her a welcome party to curry favor while using it to profit from ‘activity funds.’ They enjoyed the food, drinks, and entertainment, and still wanted to make money.

How lovely!

Song Minglan wrote a check for $2,100.

Having been played by three sycophants she despised, Song Minglan was furious. She dropped the check and left. A modest car pulled up, “Miss Song, shall we take you back to school?”

Song Minglan bent down and got into the car.

Behind her, Han Jin called out “Senior Minglan” several times, but Song Minglan didn’t offer her a ride.

Han Jin stamped her foot in frustration.

Back inside, Li Yong was smoking on the sofa when Han Jin exploded:

“Look what you’ve done! Now you’ve made her angry, you’re both going to be the death of me!”

Li Yong wanted to get angry himself.

But that wouldn’t fit his usual image. At times like these, Xiang Li usually took on the role of spokesperson, leaning against the sofa with folded arms and a cold smile:

“Junior Sister Han Jin, be reasonable. You’re the one who gave us incorrect information! You were so mysterious about it all, knowing about Miss Song’s situation but not telling us clearly, leaving us to guess everything. When mistakes happen, you blame us? If we had known earlier that Miss Song knew Xia Xiaolan, would we have made such a joke of ourselves tonight!”

Xiang Li grew increasingly angry.

It was Han Jin who told Li Yong that Xia Xiaolan was from a rural village in Yunan, and her family had just made some money from private business.

She had a boyfriend from a good family, but with an ocean between them, what could he do? So she and Li Yong thought they could take advantage.

It was all nonsense!

Xia Xiaolan knew Young Lady Song and Young Lady Song was quite friendly with her.

No wonder she didn’t care when they mentioned introducing her to Young Lady Song – Xia Xiaolan must have known all along that Song Minglan was the party’s guest of honor.

Xiang Li’s few words silenced Han Jin, who could only grasp Li Yong and Xiang Li’s mistakes: “I never thought about using the party to make money. No wonder Senior Minglan got angry when she found out!”

“You’re the one who gave us the wrong information—”

Li Yong stubbed out his cigarette, “Enough, both of you say one less word, stop arguing. Haven’t we had enough trouble? Now everyone’s at fault, so let’s all take a step back. Why would Xiang Li and I care about those few hundred dollars? Everyone volunteered to chip in – could we have made them contribute exactly $2,100? What’s done is done, now we need to think about how to make amends!”

Yes, how to make amends.

Han Jin had only gone abroad to study because she was accompanying Chen Qing, and becoming “schoolmates” with Third Young Lady Song by chance made her overseas journey worthwhile.

Building a good relationship with Song Minglan was something her family would be happy to see. Her father had told her not to worry about spending money, as “Uncle Qin” would provide the funds. Of course, she couldn’t appear too wealthy in front of Song Minglan – the Song family was known for their strict principles. How would Song Minglan view the Han family if they spent money without restraint?

That’s why for this party, Han Jin had carefully considered the amount, contributing only $500 rather than covering everything herself.

Li Yong’s words also struck at Han Jin’s concerns.

It seemed Chen Qing hadn’t told her everything about Xia Xiaolan.

“Everyone thinks of solutions tonight, and we’ll discuss them again tomorrow!”

Han Jin rushed back to school to get the full story from Chen Qing, leaving with just these words.

Xiang Li spat in disgust at her retreating figure.

Li Yong rubbed his temples: “Fortunately we didn’t succeed. If Xia Xiaolan has more backing than we thought, it would be better not to pursue her investment.”

Xiang Li couldn’t understand, “So we just let it go?”

Xiang Li didn’t know why she was so fixated on Xia Xiaolan, perhaps because Xia Xiaolan had invested in Xu Jing and Ma Hai… this had brought great uncertainty to her future life. Thinking about Xu Jing possibly succeeding didn’t make Xiang Li happy.

What would others say about her in the future – that she lacked judgment?