Du Zhaohui firmly refused to admit anything.

This involved his competition with Du Zhaoji, 5% of Chengrong Group’s shares, and even the entire Du family inheritance. No matter how close he was to Tang Yuanyue, Du Zhaohui could never trust him completely.

Tang Yuanyue felt the same way. Though Du Zhaohui wouldn’t admit it, he had his conclusions.

Du Zhaohui’s alliance with Xia Xiaolan was unexpected to Tang Yuanyue. Xia Xiaolan already had an official boyfriend, and both he and Du Zhaohui were trying to steal her away. The fact that Du Zhaohui had gained such an advantage infuriated Tang Yuanyue.

Had he known Du Zhaohui was deceiving him for the Tianhuang seal to please Xia Xiaolan, Tang Yuanyue might have forgotten his noble young master’s dignity and rolled up his sleeves for a fight.

After obtaining the seal from Tang Yuanyue, Du Zhaohui followed Master Qiu’s list and tracked down buyers to recover many items. Now he only lacked the painting sold to Southeast Asia, the Qiu Ying painting in Du Zhaoji’s possession, and the chicken blood stone seal Master Qiu had returned to Zhou Cheng… All other items Yuan Han had sold were now gathered in Du Zhaohui’s hands.

Things had developed beyond Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng’s expectations. After acquiring the items, Du Zhaohui casually called Xia Xiaolan, leaving her bewildered:

“Why did you buy all these things?”

Du Zhaohui responded angrily, “Wasn’t your boyfriend asking Master Qiu about them? I saw he wasn’t getting results, so when I returned to Hong Kong, I bought them for you.”

Du Zhaohui was secretly undermining Zhou Cheng, implying that he had accomplished quickly and efficiently what Zhou Cheng had failed to do when Xia Xiaolan asked.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Zhou Cheng wasn’t inefficient – Ye Xiaoqiong hadn’t contacted them again, and neither she nor Zhou Cheng knew how Ye Xiaoqiong wanted to handle things.

They hadn’t expected Du Zhaohui to gather the items first. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t complain about his interference: “It’s complicated, and I can’t explain everything now, but both Zhou Cheng and I are very grateful for your help. How much did you spend? I’ll transfer the money to you. Just have Teacher Mao keep the items for me.”

The most expensive items were a painting for 250,000 Hong Kong dollars and the premium-priced Tianhuang seal from Tang Yuanyue. These two alone had originally sold for 400,000 Hong Kong dollars. While Tang Yuanyue hadn’t made a profit on the seal, Du Zhaohui had paid an extra 50,000 for the painting, and the other items had also cost more than their original prices.

But at this moment, he couldn’t mention the price increases. He wanted to give them to Xia Xiaolan for free, but knowing her personality, Du Zhaohui only quoted Master Qiu’s private auction prices: “The total was 500,000.”

Xia Xiaolan gritted her teeth in anger.

She was angry at that scoundrel Yuan Han and the fool Zhou Yi.

Who was this 500,000 spent for? For Ye Xiaoqiong? No, it was for that fool, Zhou Yi!

The Zhou family also wanted to make amends to Ye Xiaoqiong, and Zhou Cheng had even offered to pay. But Zhou Cheng’s money didn’t fall from the sky – the siheyuan would be valuable in the future, but the capital came from Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei’s cigarette business.

Connections alone weren’t enough – Zhou Cheng had to carry a gun when dealing in cigarettes, showing how dangerous it was!

Selling the siheyuan now would be unwise. 500,000 Hong Kong dollars was equivalent to over 200,000 yuan, which would have to come from Luna’s dividends.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t concerned about the 200,000 yuan itself, but rather the heavy responsibility on her man’s shoulders.

Only now did she understand why Old Master Zhou had solemnly asked her how to handle things – all the Zhou family’s resources would belong to Zhou Cheng in the future, and correspondingly, Zhou Cheng had to take responsibility for the rest of the Zhou family.

“Du Zhaohui, thank you. I was planning to contact you today. Do you remember the two students we met in Ithaca? They’re returning to Pengcheng to start a business, making electronic products…”

Xia Xiaolan briefly explained Xu Jing and Ma Hai’s electronic dictionary.

Du Zhaohui was surprised, “Those two beg- those two weren’t scammers? They developed a product?”

“Of course, they weren’t scammers. I’ve seen the product myself.”

Even if it was a scam, Xia Xiaolan would accept it.

Investment always carries risks. Though Xu Jing and Ma Hai had successfully manufactured their product, there was no guarantee their factory and business would succeed. While Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t be involved in direct operations, she needed to pave the way for them to ensure her dollar investment could return a profit.

Du Zhaohui responded sourly: “As long as their product is real, whoever enters the market will make me money. I won’t deliberately make things difficult.”

He couldn’t say Xia Xiaolan was unkind – she even trusted two beggars she met in America.

She was only harsh with him – if he hadn’t paid the 1,000,000 consulting fee, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t even speak to him.

Du Zhaohui forgot to consider that with his previous arrogant and insufferable attitude, who besides women trying to con him would want to get close to him?

After being sour for a while, Du Zhaohui found balance by thinking about Tang Yuanyue.

–Hahaha, Tang Yuanyue still didn’t know anything!

After hanging up, Du Zhaohui pulled out a cigar from his drawer, lit it with satisfaction, and put his feet on the desk, swaying them while humming a tune.

Outside the office, Ah Hua was sweating.

What was the young master so happy about? Was Miss Xia’s conversation that amusing?

Ah, this was the young master’s tribulation! When he used to chase girls, he never expected today would come!

…

As July approached, the workshop grew increasingly hot.

The suffocating heat made the female workers feel like they were in a sauna on a hot day.

A sauna was meant to be enjoyable, sweating profusely for twenty or thirty minutes leaving one feeling refreshed. But in the workshop, they stood all day, their clothes never drying, constantly soaked in sweat.

That day, the big boss came to inspect production.

Ye Xiaoqiong and the local female workers carefully went about their work, each wearing a large face mask. Ye Xiaoqiong didn’t expect Du Zhaoji to recognize her.

Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter.

As long as Du Zhaoji held his grudge, Ye Xiaoqiong would have to keep working in the workshop.

She was enduring it too.

Just when she was about to give up, after contacting Xia Xiaolan once, Ye Xiaoqiong found new motivation.

After so many days, she still couldn’t forgive Zhou Yi magnanimously.

The cold operating table, Yuan Han’s heartlessness, the Yuan family’s coercion… Ye Xiaoqiong’s experiences made it difficult to be kind. If Zhou Yi didn’t suffer at all, what was the point of Ye Xiaoqiong’s suffering?

To Ye Xiaoqiong’s surprise, Du Zhaoji recognized her at first glance during his workshop tour.

Ye Xiaoqiong had lost weight.

The work uniform hung loosely on her frame.

Wearing a large mask, only her eyes were visible.

Those eyes were filled with exhaustion, yet startlingly bright.

This woman was truly stubborn.

She came to work in the workshop when told, enduring hardship and exhaustion without a word. Du Zhaoji had been waiting for her to yield, but Ye Xiaoqiong hadn’t sought him out once.

Hadn’t she learned any subtle techniques while working in the secretary’s office?

Her compliance had been superficial; stubbornness was in her bones.

Passing by Ye Xiaoqiong, seeing no reaction from her, Du Zhaoji stopped:

“Come with me.”