“That Cui woman… hard to say, can’t figure her out.”
After leaving Mrs. Wilson’s home, Pan Baohua was noticeably more at ease.
That kind of mansion made Pan Baohua uncomfortable.
And all those well-dressed men and women holding wine glasses, wearing hypocritical masks.
Xia Xiaolan agreed, “I can’t figure her out either, but I gave Cui Yiru the photo, and she didn’t deny anything. Whatever Zhang Jiadong is planning, if Cui Yiru doesn’t want to ruin her reputation, she’ll come find me. Now we don’t need to stay in New York anymore, we can go straight back to Ithaca.”
Indeed, the show wasn’t even half over – Cui Yiru would surely come looking for them.
Just wondering how Zhang Jiadong would react.
“I sent someone to Los Angeles to investigate Zhang Jiadong’s situation. The results should be in soon.”
Pan Baohua wanted something to fidget with – he couldn’t keep his hands still. After finishing with the walnuts, he wanted to grab someone to play with.
If only some fool would willingly walk into his trap.
Pan Baohua felt quite regretful.
He didn’t consider that with his threatening presence as a human weapon, even thugs would cross the street to avoid him. Nobody would willingly come asking for trouble.
Xia Xiaolan returned to Ithaca.
Before Cui Yiru arrived, Han Jin showed up.
Han Jin came to Ithaca looking for her, unable to contain her anger:
“Xia Xiaolan, what’s wrong with you? Why did you have to meddle and tell Chen Qing’s family about his stock market losses?”
Having finally caught Xia Xiaolan on Cornell’s campus, Han Jin didn’t bother with pleasantries.
Pan Baohua perked up seeing someone confrontational.
Then seeing it was a woman, he slumped dejectedly onto a nearby bench.
He couldn’t hit a woman after all – with a body as weak as a chick, one light squeeze would… ah forget it, sister-in-law wasn’t easy to deal with either. Better let her handle this woman herself.
While Han Jin questioned angrily, Xia Xiaolan remained calm:
“How did you find out?”
Xia Xiaolan didn’t deny it, making Han Jin even more righteous.
“After you told them, Chen Qing’s grandfather fell ill from anger, then the whole Chen family found out about Chen Qing losing all the money. There have been several calls from China… Chen Qing is now hiding in his dorm, skipping classes and not eating. This is all because you had to meddle!”
Han Jin’s anger and concern were genuine.
Xia Xiaolan was quite surprised.
Han Jin could be ruthless to others, but she seemed to care for Chen Qing.
What did Han Jin see in Chen Qing?
If she didn’t truly like him, she wouldn’t have become his girlfriend and come to study in America with him.
Even if Han Jin was sincere about Chen Qing, that wasn’t reason enough to yell at Xia Xiaolan. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t polite either:
“Yes, I told Chen Qing’s family, but what’s that to you? Han Jin, I have a relationship with the Chen family, not with you. I’ll consider the Chen family’s interests, not whether you’ll be happy about it. Do you have objections to my actions? Keep them to yourself!”
“You- you-“
Han Jin’s face reddened with frustration.
Xia Xiaolan did know the Chen family.
Han Jin couldn’t argue with that, but she was still unhappy.
Xia Xiaolan sneered, “Chen Qing used tuition as an excuse to scam money from his family for stocks – did you ever think he might lose it all? You’re his girlfriend but have no connection to his family. You felt nothing when he wasted their hard-earned money, and you want to stop me from telling his family the truth? Let me tell you, his grandfather didn’t fall ill because I revealed the truth, but because Chen Qing even deceived his own family. He’s completely disappointed in Chen Qing!”
Han Jin’s chest heaved, “You’re meddling and still trying to justify it.”
Though defiant, her voice had weakened.
Xia Xiaolan lowered her voice too:
“You think what Chen Qing did was good? I imagine you liked Chen Qing for his character, but think carefully – if you let him get away with deceiving his family, how well will he treat you in the future… What ‘white lie’? A lie is a lie, does it matter if it’s well-intentioned? You support Chen Qing now and think I’m meddling, but when you’re deceived by such ‘well-intentioned lies’ yourself later, you’ll know how it feels.”
Han Jin was confused by Xia Xiaolan’s words.
She did like Chen Qing for his character.
Honest, ambitious, and faithful.
If Chen Qing ever deceived her, Han Jin absolutely couldn’t accept it, though she remained stubborn:
“So you’re saying I should thank you?”
“No need for thanks, I wasn’t trying to help you.”
Xia Xiaolan calmly accepted Han Jin’s “gratitude.” Han Jin had come looking for trouble in anger, but Xia Xiaolan’s few words had derailed her momentum. If someone else had told Chen Qing’s family about his stock losses, Han Jin wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.
Han Jin’s strong reaction was because it was Xia Xiaolan who told… She hadn’t even known about Chen Qing’s losses, but Xia Xiaolan knew. Were Chen Qing and Xia Xiaolan in close contact?
Han Jin was caught up in such suspicions.
Seeing her lost in thought, Xia Xiaolan added fuel to the fire:
“Honestly, Chen Qing is your boyfriend – if you don’t care whether he’s good or bad, I care even less. But if I were you, instead of wasting time here being jealous and angry, I’d carefully consider your future with Chen Qing. Do you still want him as your partner? If you can’t let him go, are you just going to let him continue like this? He needs to fill the hole from his losses – can your relationship withstand this test? It depends on how you handle this… If you figure all this out, feel free to come find me again.”
Han Jin felt conflicted: “Why are you helping me?”
Xia Xiaolan shrugged, “I’m not helping you or Chen Qing – I just don’t want to see Grandfather Chen heartbroken and disappointed!”
Han Jin could tell Xia Xialan wasn’t lying.
That’s why she felt especially conflicted.
Pan Baohua lazily yawned.
He knew Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t need much time to deal with a young girl. Though Xia Xiaolan was also a young girl in Pan Baohua’s eyes, there were differences between young girls – some only thought about romance, and they were no match for someone as clever as Xia Xiaolan.
Not that Xia Xiaolan didn’t love Zhou Cheng.
Love was love, business was business – that’s what made her so refreshing!
Xia Xiaolan was willing to talk properly with Han Jin because she seemed to genuinely like Chen Qing.
Han Jin was quite clever too. Now that she would worry about this matter, Xia Xiaolan could focus on handling Xu Zhongyi’s situation first. After sending Han Jin away, Xia Xiaolan figured Cui Yiru should be showing up soon.
If Cui Yiru wanted to, she would know how to find Xia Xiaolan.
The day after Han Jin’s visit, Pan Baohua said his people in Los Angeles had news.
Xia Xiaolan met a small man who, like Pan Baohua, had bronze-tanned skin. He wore a floral shirt and sunglasses, looking like a hoodlum but was actually very shy and proper, too embarrassed to look at Xia Xiaolan.
He handed her a file folder:
“Zh-Zhang Jiadong’s information, it’s all in here.”