This was even more suspicious!

Hitting women didn’t match Li Yong’s style, let alone beating up Xiang Li’s American man.

Li Yong must have known the consequences of such actions – why act so impulsively?

“Is Xiang Li seriously injured?”

“One hand is broken, and I heard there are other injuries. Anyway, she’s in the hospital now.”

Xia Xiaolan brushed aside her unease, “What did Senior Xu Jing say? Does he still plan to visit Xiang Li?”

Ma Hai chuckled, “How could he dare? Everyone knows why Xiang Li was beaten now. If he shows up to care for her, people will say Old Xu was involved. I initially thought Xiang Li was playing some sympathy trick, but now it seems that’s not the case.”

Heaven had finally delivered justice – good and evil would eventually meet their rewards!

Ma Hai wasn’t the type to turn the other cheek when slapped. He truly felt this was satisfying justice.

“It’s better not to visit Xiang Li. You and Senior Xu should focus on completing the final work. He couldn’t help anyway – whoever did the beating should take responsibility. America has relevant laws for this.”

Li Yong had beaten both Xiang Li and the American, and Xiang Li didn’t let him off, making his thesis fraud and domestic violence public knowledge.

It seemed the beaten American man wouldn’t let it go either – Li Yong was facing charges!

Of course, Xiang Li didn’t fare well either. Now everyone knew about her serial cheating. She couldn’t find another partner in the international student circle, and Li Yong had broken her hand.

These two had achieved mutual destruction, hadn’t they?

Xia Xiaolan felt something was strange, as it contradicted Li Yong’s basic character – too unreasonable:

“Could Song Minglan be behind this?”

In early May, when Xia Xiaolan accompanied Zhou Cheng to New York, while the delegation was still there, Song Minglan had met her in the parking lot, saying she hadn’t forgotten the favor owed, telling Xia Xiaolan to watch for upcoming “excitement” in the international student circle.

At the time, Xia Xiaolan had guessed Song Minglan was still angry about Li Yong and Xiang Li’s deception, suspecting she would deal with them.

But was Xiang Li’s domestic violence and Li Yong facing charges Song Minglan’s lesson for them?

“If so, the Song family taught Song Minglan to be quite petty…”

Old Master Song wasn’t equivalent to the Song family.

Xia Xiaolan had long understood this principle. Old Master Song’s mindset had transcended ordinary people’s, focusing more on national affairs rather than the Song family’s prospects.

Conversely, while the Song family members had various messy thoughts, they maintained Old Master Song’s image outside, which was why Song Minglan feared Xia Xiaolan would report the party incident back home – to punish Li Yong and Xiang Li, Song Minglan should have had many methods, not necessarily having Li Yong beat Xiang Li into hospitalization.

This was what puzzled Xia Xiaolan.

…

In the car, Song Minglan was also furious.

She sat beside Han Jin in the backseat.

Han Jin was completely confused.

Miss Song wanted to teach Li Yong and Xiang Li a lesson. She had done it flawlessly, leaving no evidence – why wasn’t Miss Song satisfied?

“Sister Minglan-“

Song Minglan had a splitting headache.

Had she known Han Jin would be so petty in handling matters, she wouldn’t have let her do this.

Now stuck in this situation, what could she do?

“Enough, don’t mention this matter again. Don’t get involved in how they handle things afterward… By the way, weren’t you friendly with Xiang Li’s group before? Now that she’s hospitalized, give her some money – from you.”

Song Minglan didn’t write a check; she deliberately took $1,000 in cash from her bag for Han Jin.

All this trouble came from the welcome party. Song Minglan had personally spent $2,100 on the party, and now gave Han Jin another $1,000 – over $3,000 spent in total!

So her cousin Hu Chenzhou was right about keeping a low profile abroad. If she had been more low-key, she wouldn’t have gotten into this mess.

Did Xia Xiaolan have money?

As far as Song Minglan knew, Xia Xiaolan was the wealthiest among New York’s Chinese international students, but others didn’t know!

They might guess Xia Xiaolan was well-off, but couldn’t imagine just how well.

Trouble hadn’t found Xia Xiaolan because she maintained an appropriate distance from other international students – no one knew her background. Song Minglan vaguely regretted not being more low-key when she first arrived in New York.

Now words were useless; she still had to clean up after Han Jin’s actions.

Han Jin dared not take the money: “Sister Minglan, I’m not that close with Xiang Li. If I suddenly give her $1,000, she might overthink it!”

Song Minglan sneered, “Then consider it a loan to Xiang Li. I see you enjoy excitement too. Since Xiang Li and Li Yong won’t be able to function in the circle anymore, you can take over their role.”

Helping in times of need – what a great reputation!

Annoyed by Han Jin’s unreliable handling of matters, Song Minglan intentionally let her take over this hot potato position of being “generously helpful.”

With Xiang Li’s incident, Han Jin’s generous giving would surely earn her a reputation for righteousness among the students.

But this righteousness needed dollar support. When others came asking for help in the future, Han Jin would have to continue paying up reluctantly.

Han Jin felt Song Minglan was truly mercurial.

If the Han family hadn’t asked her to please Miss Song, Han Jin would have walked away!

Forcing herself to smile while taking the money from Song Minglan, Han Jin appeared as docile as a rabbit – who could tell from appearances that this young girl could be so ruthless.

“Sister Minglan, I’ll go now.”

“Go ahead, don’t forget what I said.”

After Han Jin left the car, Song Minglan forcefully closed her handbag, clearly full of anger.

The driver had silently observed everything and couldn’t help saying:

“Miss Song, this Han Jin is two-faced and ruthless – it’s best not to associate too much with her.”

Song Minglan had a headache: “I thought she was just a young student. Didn’t expect her family upbringing to be poor but her courage was extraordinary.”

And ruthless in action.

First reporting Li Yong’s thesis fraud – several years of study couldn’t end in proper graduation. Li Yong couldn’t stay abroad easily, and returning home would be difficult, especially since he was state-funded!

Li Yong had some skills, managing to arrange a graduation delay to get past this hurdle.

Han Jin’s second move was more frightening. Song Minglan didn’t know the details, only that the American man with Xiang Li was probably arranged by Han Jin… Even Song Minglan didn’t know how Li Yong had reacted after catching them in bed.

When Han Jin came to claim credit, Song Minglan also felt it was satisfying revenge.

But after the satisfaction, she found Han Jin frightening.

Li Yong faced charges, Xiang Li suffered physical pain and a reputation for infidelity – killing two birds with one stone was played brilliantly – but it also made Song Minglan wary. Han Jin wasn’t just a flatterer but had a ruthlessness that didn’t match her age.

And beating women?

When she, Song Minglan, wanted to teach someone a lesson, was beating up women the way?

This even made her unable to face Xia Xiaolan and ask her to “accept the favor.”

Instead, Song Minglan feared Xia Xiaolan would mock her lack of vision!