Before his marriage, Yuan Han had secretly sold some calligraphy, paintings, and seals – something Xia Xiaolan, Gu Siyan, and Cheng Min witnessed firsthand.
When Xia Xiaolan later saw a Tianhuang seal at a private auction in Hong Kong that strongly resembled the one Yuan Han sold, she informed both Zhou Cheng and Zhou Wenban. However, she hadn’t connected it to Ye Xiaoqiong at the time.
Now knowing Ye Xiaoqiong was Yuan Han’s ex-wife, Xia Xiaolan began piecing together a clear picture: “Back then, Du Zhaoqi was competing with Tang Yuanyue for the Tianhuang seal. Come to think of it, isn’t Ye Xiaoqiong working as Du Zhaoqi’s secretary? If that seal was her property, stolen and sold by Yuan Han, only to surface in Hong Kong where Ye Xiaoqiong found it – she would certainly persuade Du Zhaoqi to buy it!”
One shouldn’t underestimate a secretary’s influence. Of all people to offend, never cross a boss’s or leader’s secretary – their words can sway their superior’s judgment.
Whether Ye Xiaoqiong had pleaded with Du Zhaoqi or subtly guided him to purchase the seal didn’t matter. What mattered was – if the artworks and seals Yuan Han sold belonged to Ye Xiaoqiong’s family, wouldn’t she want them back?
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t realized how tragic Ye Xiaoqiong’s situation had been. To be cheated out of her ancestral property, losing both house and family heirlooms, forced to abort at five months pregnant and leave after divorce – if it were Xia Xiaolan, she’d be consumed by hatred too. Probably only thoughts of revenge drove Ye Xiaoqiong to climb so desperately upward!
No wonder Ye Xiaoqiong had sought her out at the hotel regarding the production line, saying she couldn’t lose her current job.
Was Ye Xiaoqiong counting on Du Zhaoqi to help recover the artworks Yuan Han sold? Or perhaps even hoping to use Du Zhaoqi’s influence for revenge against Yuan Han… Ye Xiaoqiong wasn’t wrong – while money might not buy everything, crushing a parasite like Yuan Han would be easy.
This thought gave Xia Xiaolan a headache: “Ye Xiaoqiong probably isn’t well-informed enough to know Yuan Han treated her so cruelly just to marry Zhou Yi. Yuan Han kept this from Zhou Yi, but Ye Xiaoqiong might not understand that. Honestly, in her position, I wouldn’t believe Zhou Yi was innocent either… The last time she asked for my help, I refused. Why would she agree to help us expose Yuan Han’s true nature now?”
Even over the phone, Zhou Cheng could imagine his wife’s slightly furrowed brow.
Zhou Cheng wanted to smooth away her worries: “It’s fine. As you just said, problems money can solve aren’t real problems. There must be something that can move Ye Xiaoqiong – helping her buy back her belongings or recover her house, how could she not be tempted?”
That was true.
Xia Xiaolan nodded involuntarily, “I know about Ye Xiaoqiong’s belongings – there’s a Tianhuang seal in Tang Yuanyue’s possession. Tang Yuanyue competed with Du Zhaoqi and drove the price from 10,000 to 150,000 Hong Kong dollars. Getting that back could serve as payment for Ye Xiaoqiong’s help!”
Xia Xiaolan disliked asking for favors without compensation. She didn’t want to leverage their previous encounter on the train to pressure Ye Xiaoqiong. If she provided “payment” and Ye Xiaoqiong agreed to help, both parties would be satisfied.
If Ye Xiaoqiong were clever, she’d realize that as the Zhou family’s son-in-law, Yuan Han would be difficult to take revenge on. Wouldn’t exposing him and cutting off his parasitic lifestyle be better revenge?
Of course, this was just Xia Xiaolan’s rational analysis – no one could know Ye Xiaoqiong’s true thoughts. Some women become foolish in matters of the heart – previous hatred might dissolve with a few sweet words from Yuan Han.
Wasn’t Zhou Yi just such a fool? Who knew how much sense she’d regained?
Xia Xiaolan didn’t expect Zhou Yi to suddenly become enlightened. If she could recover even ten or twenty percent of her judgment from complete blindness, that would be progress – at least she might gradually see whether she’d married a man or a demon!
Recovering the seal from Tang Yuanyue? Tang had feelings for Xiaolan and would surely do this favor.
But Zhou Cheng wasn’t pleased with that idea. He didn’t want to involve Tang Yuanyue in Zhou Yi’s affairs. The seal was just one of many items Yuan Han sold – wouldn’t locating other pieces earn even more gratitude from Ye Xiaoqiong?
“Wait a moment. You remember where Yuan Han sold those artworks, right? For items to travel from Beijing to Hong Kong’s exclusive private auctions, there must be middlemen. Whoever organizes this flow of goods would know where Ye Xiaoqiong’s artworks ended up.”
Zhou Cheng offered another solution.
Xia Xiaolan perked up: “Master Qiu! The private auction was organized by Master Qiu, who handled Ye Xiaoqiong’s artworks. When Du Zhaoqi needed help finding that vase, he went through Master Qiu too. He’s a major broker dealing in antiques in Hong Kong, quite a substantial operation.”
She had bought a yin-yang jade pendant from the auction for Wu Daonan. This Master Qiu indeed had wild connections – seemed he could source anything.
Master Qiu?
The name alone suggested connections.
These antique dealers, like triad members, enjoyed using the title “Master.” Their sources were rarely clean.
Zhou Cheng actually preferred it that way – legitimate businesses would be harder to approach. The shady ones always had vulnerabilities to exploit.
“I’ll try to meet this Master Qiu. Even if I can’t see him personally, I can still gather some intelligence.”
Xia Xiaolan hesitated, “You mean…”
“Catch the small fish, and the big one will surface. As long as that shop where Yuan Han sold the artworks still exists, I have ways to send messages to ‘Master Qiu.'”
Zhou Cheng had his methods, without needing Xia Xiaolan to ask for favors or become indebted to others.
Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t try to direct Zhou Cheng’s actions. This wasn’t some domestic matter – men were naturally skilled at such things, especially Zhou Cheng.
He’d handled far more difficult secret missions than this, hadn’t he?
“Alright then. You track down Master Qiu to investigate where Yuan Han’s sold items went. I’ll ask around about whether Ye Xiaoqiong still works for Du Zhaoqi – I suspect she fell from favor after that production line incident.”
While Xia Xiaolan sympathized with Ye Xiaoqiong, she wouldn’t be foolishly righteous enough to feel guilty. This wasn’t Xia Xiaolan’s responsibility at all – if time could turn back, she’d make the same choices!
…
Gu Siyan never imagined she’d one day be able to help her cousin – not just any cousin, but the most capable one, Zhou Cheng!
“Yes, I remember that shop! Sister Xiaolan took me and Cousin Min there. I know the owner. Brother Zhou Cheng, why are you asking about that shop? I heard Sister Zhou Yi almost had complications during childbirth – are you going after the Yuan family?”
Gu Siyan had visited Zhou Yi once. Aunt Zhou wouldn’t let her ask questions, so she only pieced together fragments of what happened in adults’ conversations, still confused about the details.
But it must be Yuan Han’s fault.
If Sister Xiaolan said he wasn’t a good person, then he wasn’t.
Were they going to expose Yuan Han’s true nature now?
Gu Siyan hadn’t expected to be involved – she felt both nervous and excited!