Xia Xiaolan worried for nothing.

Harold knew his elder brother better than Xia Xiaolan did – not only had he changed hotels, but he hadn’t even come to the construction site today!

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t happy at all. Unable to find Harold, old Ivan kept pestering her.

“Mr. Ivan, I need to work…”

Old Ivan waved his hand, “Oh, I won’t disturb you.”

Then why don’t you leave?!

If it were a young man’s harassment, Xia Xiaolan could call it that. But when an old man old enough to be her grandfather clung to her like this, it was just being unreasonable.

Xia Xiaolan was watched by old Ivan for an entire day. When he said he wanted to treat her to dinner, she claimed she’d forgotten something and needed to retrieve it. She grabbed a familiar-looking person:

“You’re Harold’s assistant, right? Could you please tell Harold to come get his brother? I’m not his hired nanny – I have no obligation to look after Ivan!”

The assistant’s face fell.

If anyone else had said this, he could ignore it, but he didn’t dare not report Miss Xia’s words.

But the Boss didn’t want to meet with Mr. Ivan. Why make things difficult for a lowly assistant in these matters between important people?

The assistant’s eyes were pleading, but Xia Xiaolan turned away – this was Wilson’s family business, and she was even more innocent than the assistant!

Somehow the assistant managed it, and later a car came to pick up old Ivan.

Old Ivan rolled down the window and waved at Xia Xiaolan:

“See you tomorrow, young lady!”

Better not see you tomorrow.

Xia Xiaolan was very worried. Hoffman cast her an inquiring look, and she explained:

“That’s Mr. Harold’s elder brother. He wanted to discuss something with me, but I absolutely won’t let trivial matters interfere with work.”

Hoffman nodded, “Better not!”

Having an old man at the construction site was strange.

Knowing he was from the Wilson family, Hoffman couldn’t say much. It was their family’s project – if they wanted to visit the site, let them. Hoffman couldn’t stop them.

Old Ivan disappeared for two days. It was now early July, and Xia Xiaolan had been in Washington for several days. During this time, she hadn’t seen either old Ivan or Harold.

In Pengcheng, the golf course renovation bid meeting was held as scheduled.

When the person in charge announced that “Yuanhui” had won the bid, George knocked over his cup on the table.

How was this possible?!

George’s suspicious gaze swept across the room. This was a rigged operation, deliberately letting “Yuanhui” win the bid!

George didn’t know this had been decided by Harold in America and believed Tang Hongen was deliberately making things difficult for him.

Harold’s assistant Carl, who remained in China, knew the truth but couldn’t explain it to George.

George was very angry. Ji Jiangyuan stepped forward:

“Uncle George, let’s discuss this when we get back!”

Liu Yong bowed repeatedly saying “thank you” several times – one of the few English phrases the old businessman knew. He was trying to be polite, but it only made George more furious.

Back in the car, George’s face was dark:

“This isn’t fair! Because the mayor doesn’t like me, the city government deliberately makes things difficult for me.”

Ji Jiangyuan couldn’t respond to this at all.

Huaqing had just started summer break. Due to final exams, Ji Jiangyuan hadn’t been to Pengcheng for two weeks, perfectly missing the bidding process, arriving just in time for the bid opening.

George said it was Tang Hongen’s deliberate revenge, but Ji Jiangyuan didn’t believe it.

“Uncle George, if it were because of… Mayor Tang, you wouldn’t have encountered just this one major setback in all your time in Pengcheng.”

Ji Jiangyuan didn’t think Tang Hongen was that kind of person.

What revenge?

Only if he still cared about his mother Ji Ya would he hate George for taking her away.

Since there was no love left, how could there be hatred?

Ji Jiangyuan didn’t know how Tang Hongen and Liu Fen got along after marriage, but they seemed very much in love, there was Xia Xiaolan whom Tang Hongen was very proud of, forming a happy family of three…

George thought differently.

He wanted to say something, but remembering Ji Jiangyuan was Tang Hongen’s son, he reluctantly kept quiet.

Ji Ya had also arrived in Pengcheng.

But not to visit George – she came to expand Elegance’s new market.

Ji Ya opened Elegance stores herself. Wherever there was a Luna franchise, there had to be an Elegance brand store. Li Fengmei had franchised Luna here in Pengcheng, so Ji Ya wanted to set up an Elegance store here too.

Seeing George return, Ji Ya hung up her phone:

“I’ve invited Sheng Xuan to dinner. George, come with me.”

George responded listlessly: “Sorry, I’m not in the mood for socializing. Go by yourself.”

Ji Ya raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? We’re husband and wife – of course, we should appear together on such occasions… You’re still angry about my loans, aren’t you? I told you, I’ll repay those loans myself. Now that Elegance has developed so many stores, I can sell the entire brand if necessary. I won’t let you take on debt during our marriage!”

Something had changed. While dating, George had been completely accommodating, loving her madly, abandoning his career in America for her.

After marriage, his enthusiasm had greatly diminished, changing from lavish spending to being calculating. It was just a few million yuan in loans, what was the big deal?

George felt exhausted.

Ji Ya had questions, but he had his questions too!

Men have different requirements for girlfriends and wives. The passionate pursuit during dating was hoped to be exchanged for a wife’s gentle care after marriage. Before marriage, men pursue women; after marriage, women should take more care of the family.

Ji Ya hadn’t adapted to this role change.

Couldn’t she see how unhappy he was right now?

How hard was it to say a few caring words? Instead, she brought up the loans that made them both unhappy.

“We lost the golf course bid.”

He truly liked Ji Ya very much, and even now hadn’t given up on her, hoping to receive her concern.

Ji Ya was applying makeup in front of the mirror. She pressed too hard and broke the eyebrow pencil tip:

“How is that possible? You’re a Wilson, this is a Wilson project – your renovation company should naturally get this project. The bidding was just a formality… George, didn’t you tell me your uncle Harold promised to give you the golf course renovation!”

Ji Ya was shocked, and her tone became harsh.

Her string of words sounded more like questioning than concern.

George was extremely disappointed and spoke ungraciously:

“You’re asking me? No, perhaps you should ask your ex-husband! Who’s manipulating things behind the scenes, making me lose the golf course renovation? Do you know who won the bid? It was Yuanhui Company!”

Yuanhui!

The renovation company is owned by Xia Xiaolan’s uncle.

Ji Ya threw down her eyebrow pencil, “George, are you blaming me? Because of me, you’re being suppressed and revenged against? But you knew all this before marrying me. You were once very confident you could protect me, fight for my dignity!”

George had nothing to say.

He wasn’t blaming Ji Ya, but losing what should have been a sure thing was hard to accept:

“You know what? I calculated the profits for this golf course renovation project. If I had gotten it, the profit would be at least 3 million yuan. I had planned to use that money to repay half of your loans!”