Xia Ziyu didn’t know how to describe this feeling. She had such parents who would never become wiser, forever unable to distinguish what’s important from what’s not.

Her expression was so terrible that Zhang Cui became somewhat scared and hurriedly explained, “Your father and I knew she had ulterior motives when she went to study at County No. 1 High School. She must still be hung up on Jianhua, that’s why she wants to go to university. I also had your father bring gifts to Principal Sun’s home, hoping he would expel her from school, but…”

“But it failed,” Xia Ziyu finished expressionlessly.

“How long has she been studying at County No. 1 High School?”

“Two or three months.”

Xia Ziyu remained silent for a long time.

She felt it was impossible to communicate with her parents.

They hadn’t informed her immediately when Xia Xiaolan started attending County No. 1 High School.

Principal Sun had only helped her a few times; she wasn’t his daughter, so why would he help expel Xia Xiaolan? Principal Sun wasn’t a dog bought by the Xia family, and the current Xia family couldn’t afford to keep him anyway! Xia Ziyu herself had graduated from County No. 1 High School and knew how strict their transfer requirements were – the entrance examination scores had to exceed the previous year’s “college and vocational school” cut-off line.

What was last year’s college and vocational school cut-off score?

Xia Ziyu remembered it was 350 points.

If Xia Xiaolan had gotten into County No. 1 High School on her merit, it meant she had scored above 350 points on the entrance test.

Xia Xiaolan had been idle at home since graduating from middle school, not touching books for three years – could she achieve such scores? Xia Ziyu felt somewhat indignant and suspected that either Xia Xiaolan had used other means to transfer or that her dear cousin had been tutoring her privately.

Who else would tutor Xia Xiaolan?

Wang Jianhua was the first person Xia Ziyu thought of.

Wang Jianhua had a good foundation and hadn’t completely abandoned his studies all these years. After all, given the Wang family’s situation, all other paths were blocked for him – only the university offered hope for turning his life around. It was precisely because of his good foundation that he managed to get into Beijing Normal College after just a few months of intensive review last year.

Wang Jianhua’s college entrance exam scores were even higher than hers, and he had studied from Xia Ziyu’s review notes.

The review notes had been borrowed through Xia Xiaolan’s request – could it be that Wang Jianhua wasn’t just studying for himself but also teaching Xia Xiaolan?

Both Xia Ziyu and Wang Jianhua avoided discussing these details, so she couldn’t be certain now.

Xia Ziyu hoped that Xia Xiaolan had gotten into County No. 1 High School through other connections… if she had achieved those scores on her own, the situation would be much worse.

Xia Ziyu’s expression remained dark, so Zhang Cui carefully kept quiet, not daring to mention that Xia Xiaolan had scored 514 points in the recent final exams, ranking second in her grade.

Ziyu had just returned home; this news would have to wait.

Xia Ziyu was preoccupied with her thoughts and had no interest in shopping. After visiting Beijing, the few streets of small Anqing County seemed too short. She bought a few things randomly with Zhang Cui and headed back.

Wang Jianhua had woken up and was sitting in the shop eating lamb noodle soup.

His bowl had more lamb than noodles, making another customer eating the same dish extremely jealous. But there was nothing to be done – he was Zhang’s son-in-law.

“Ziyu, why didn’t you wait for me?”

Xia Ziyu suppressed her troubled thoughts and smiled gently, “You were sleeping so soundly, I wanted you to rest more.”

Wang Jianhua asked if she had eaten, and when he finished his noodles and tried to help clean up, Zhang Cui and the others wouldn’t let him.

Xia Hongxia thought that only Sister Ziyu deserved such a good brother-in-law.

Zhang Cui was very satisfied too. When Wang Jianhua was just a poor educated youth sent down to Dahe Village, even though he was handsome, Zhang Cui would never have considered marrying her daughter to him. Good looks couldn’t put food on the table, and a poor man wasn’t worthy of Ziyu.

But now Wang Jianhua was highly sought after, and Xia Ziyu never misjudged people. Zhang Cui had full confidence in Wang Jianhua.

The only downside was that he was too excellent, always attracting butterflies trying to climb up. Ziyu had just mentioned that Wang Jianhua was very popular at school, even the professor’s daughter was pursuing him.

Zhang Cui was worried sick.

Ziyu was excellent in every way, but how could the Xia family compare to a university professor?

Moreover, that girl Xia Xiaolan still hadn’t given up, who knew when she might try to snatch Wang Jianhua away.

Having such an outstanding son-in-law gave Zhang Cui too many worries!

Xia Xiaolan traveled south by train with Kang Wei, and the journey was relatively relaxed.

Though Kang Wei didn’t appear as steady as Zhou Cheng and even retained some boyish delicacy, his attitude toward others was very sincere. Because he trusted Zhou Cheng, he treated Zhou Cheng’s chosen wife as his true sister-in-law.

When he heard about the “ribbon-cutting” ceremony planned for the clothing store’s opening on the 25th, Kang Wei was quite intrigued: “I’ve heard only places like Hong Kong have these ribbon-cutting events. Sister-in-law, you’re trendy!”

“It’s just for show, a promotional tactic, I suppose.”

Xia Xiaolan also wanted to hire a lion dance troupe, though it was difficult to contact one. A lively performance at the opening would be memorable – people had few entertainment options these days, and they wouldn’t miss out on such excitement. It would definitely leave a strong impression of “Blue Phoenix.”

When Kang Wei heard that Xia Xiaolan had invited Yuan Honggang, the deputy director of State Cotton Mill No. 3, to participate in the ribbon-cutting, he directly said she had lucked out:

“This deputy director might be getting promoted soon.”

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t concerned about whether he would be promoted or not, but Kang Wei became more enthusiastic:

“A factory director might not have much influence. How about I ask Xiaoguang to talk to his uncle about having him attend?”

“His uncle is also surnamed Shao… could it be Shao Limin?”

Xia Xiaolan had asked casually, but Kang Wei nodded.

“That’s him.”

“Don’t be silly, why would I invite such a high-ranking official to my little shop?”

Xia Xiaolan’s thoughts became a bit chaotic.

If Shao Guangrong had such an uncle, and they could associate with him, it showed that Kang Wei’s family background must not be ordinary either.

Kang Wei respected Zhou Cheng’s authority, so what was Zhou Cheng’s family situation? Although they were dating, Xia Xiaolan realized she knew nothing about her boyfriend’s family – she had been too carefree! But she didn’t dwell on it too long. This recent sabotage had made her more clearly recognize her vulnerability… She had always thought of herself as an independent modern woman and didn’t want to take advantage of Zhou Cheng, but if it hadn’t been for him this time, Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong wouldn’t have come to Shangdu, and without Shao Guangrong’s uncle’s connections, she definitely would have been in serious trouble this time. Even now, Kang Wei was traveling thousands of miles to Yangcheng with her, wasn’t that also to help solve her problems?

This realization was hard for Xia Xiaolan to accept.

After all, in her last letter to Zhou Cheng, she had just expressed her desire for an “equal and respectful” healthy relationship. If she kept accepting Zhou Cheng’s help, talking about equality would just be taking advantage of him.

In her previous life, she had been so busy with her career that she had no experience in matters of love. She couldn’t balance rationality and emotion well. Her workplace experience told her that to receive, one must first give. All windfalls that came without effort usually had strings attached. Zhou Cheng repeatedly helped her without hesitation using his connections – what could she bring to him in return?

She certainly couldn’t help Zhou Cheng in his career; she hadn’t been lucky enough to be reborn as a military leader’s daughter.

Financially, she was still far behind Zhou Cheng’s family wealth.

Xia Xiaolan was worried… if Zhou Cheng knew these thoughts of hers, he would be upset enough to spit blood. When you like someone, you just naturally want to be good to them, and the only return you think about is probably having them respond to those feelings.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan suddenly fall silent, Kang Wei couldn’t guess his future sister-in-law’s thoughts and could only speculate:

“If it’s not appropriate to invite Uncle Shao for the ribbon-cutting, how about his secretary? Mr. Hou saw me take those two beatings for nothing, he should return the favor…”