Sleeping in a hotel was completely different from sleeping at home.

The courtyard house in Beijing’s Shichahai was Xia Xiaolan’s home.

The government apartment assigned to Tang Hongen in Pengcheng was also Xia Xiaolan’s home.

Though the bed and bedding weren’t as luxurious as a hotel’s, sleeping there felt secure!

Xia Xiaolan woke up refreshed. Zhou Cheng was already awake, learning to make oyster pancakes from the housekeeper in the kitchen. Using oysters and sweet potato starch as ingredients, the salty-umami flavor carried the natural sweetness of seafood – something Xia Xiaolan had always enjoyed in her previous life in Pengcheng.

“Zhou Cheng!”

“You’re awake? Quickly go wash up and brush your teeth, breakfast is almost ready.”

With the housekeeper not looking and Tang Hongen in his study, Zhou Cheng quickly stole a kiss from Xia Xiaolan.

When Tang Hongen came out from his study later and saw Zhou Cheng helping with breakfast, he nodded approvingly, “Little Zhou, you’re working hard.”

“It’s no trouble. If Xiaolan likes it, I can make it for her after I learn how.”

Zhou Cheng wasn’t foolish – he knew exactly how to respond.

Tang Hongen was just being polite.

Was he supposed to tell Zhou Cheng not to learn and let Xia Xiaolan do all the housework in the future?

That would be stupid.

What father would let his daughter be taken advantage of?

Let someone else’s son do the work when he should.

Sitting at the dining table, Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng secretly held hands underneath – their affection couldn’t be hidden. Tang Hongen turned a blind eye, but hearing that Xia Xiaolan would head to the company after breakfast, he made sure to emphasize her “hard work” to Zhou Cheng again.

Once they finally went downstairs, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help laughing:

“Were you lectured from last night until this morning? Old Tang is too strict with you.”

“Strictness is good. Uncle Tang doesn’t have to play the bad guy – his challenging me shows he cares about you. I’m happy because there’s another elder who genuinely cares about you!”

It wasn’t about Xia Xiaolan’s background changing after Liu Fen married Tang Hongen.

Zhou Cheng never cared about family background – if he did, why would he have gotten together with Xiaolan before?

Comparatively, having another elder care for Xiaolan made Zhou Cheng truly happy.

Wasn’t it just about pleasing his future father-in-law?

Anyone with a daughter would understand – until the final judgment day, who knows how long a “son-in-law’s” kindness would last?

So for Zhou Cheng, the struggle would never end – his battle of wits with his two fathers-in-law wouldn’t be resolved in just two or three years!

When Xia Xiaolan arrived at the company, she received an enthusiastic welcome.

Qihang’s employees had been eagerly awaiting Chairman Xia, who finally announced the launch of the new project – the “basic needs housing” operation would be different from Jinshachi, but one core principle remained unchanged: never compromising on quality.

Being “basic needs housing” didn’t mean deceiving homebuyers.

“This time, we’ll control the unit price within 1,500 yuan per square meter, ideally around 1,200 yuan. Any objections?”

There were surely doubts.

But Xia Xiaolan’s authority was strong. At Qihang, while Ying Jinchuan wasn’t completely convinced by her, he worked for his salary. Ge Jian, however, was Xia Xiaolan’s devoted fan who would do anything she said – he and Ying Jinchuan were the two pillars of Qihang.

Ge Jian spoke up first, “Chairman Xia, I have no objections. I’ve prepared the surveying data for you. Would you like to visit the site?”

Ge Jian knew Xia Xiaolan couldn’t stay long during this return.

In his view, since Xia Xiaolan studied architecture and Jinshachi had received unanimous praise thanks to her planning, she should personally handle the new residential area – others might not understand her requirements.

Xia Xiaolan was indeed pleased:

“Good, give me the materials. I’ll go check the site this afternoon.”

Ying Jinchuan also spoke up, “Chairman Xia, how much bank loan should we seek for this project?”

Qihang had paid 7 million in cash for the land.

While Jinshachi had made good profits, Xia Xiaolan had only invested about a million, with the rest coming from bank loans. With Qihang’s good reputation and timely repayments, they were excellent bank clients – why not take loans when available?

“This project is bigger than Jinshachi, and total costs won’t be cheap. Can you confidently secure around 30 million in bank loans?”

30 million was substantial.

But Ying Jinchuan still nodded, “I’ll do my best. Now that Sheng Xuan has been completely sidelined by Director Pan, if our documentation is complete, the chances of getting the loan are high.”

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t actually that short on money.

If she hadn’t invested Du Zhaohui’s million-plus US dollars in Xu Jing and Ma Hai’s electronic dictionary development, her cash flow would have been much better.

Of course, though Qihang was her wholly-owned company, business and personal accounts needed separation to prevent future chaos as operations expanded.

Right, she still needed to check Xu Jing and Ma Hai’s progress – she’d been back so long, how were they doing?

Even without her future father-in-law’s surveillance, Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t stay together constantly. These two days after Xia Xiaolan’s return were bound to be busy like a spinning top.

Zhou Cheng could only act as a driver, taking Xia Xiaolan wherever she needed to go.

Xia Xiaolan worked hard, visiting three places in one afternoon: Qihang’s new land plot, Du Zhaohui’s electronics plaza, and the factory Xu Jing and Ma Hai had just established. Fortunately, the last two were very close. Even without Xia Xiaolan’s guidance, after surveying Pengcheng, Xu Jing and Ma Hai agreed that the area near Shennan Boulevard was best for their factory.

Several electronics factories were already there, and with Du Zhaohui’s electronics plaza project, the Pengcheng government was intentionally consolidating electronics factories in this area – land approval was easiest here.

…

While Xia Xiaolan spun like a top in Pengcheng,

In Hong Kong, Xu Zhongyi wasn’t having an easy time either.

With Zhang Jiadong and Cui Yiru’s simultaneous deaths, Xu Changde and Tina were both immersed in grief.

Tina was too young to help, so Xu Changde had to gather his spirits to assist Xu Zhongyi in handling matters.

Legally, Xu Changde and Tina were Zhang Jiadong’s children – their testimony was naturally credible. Cui Yiru killing Zhang Jiadong before committing suicide was an ironclad fact. Even the Hong Kong police investigation could only reach this conclusion.

As for why Zhang Jiadong was covered in explosives, how to explain the several gunshot wounds besides the fatal one – when even the family didn’t pursue it, there was no point in the Hong Kong police persisting. Though procedures had to be followed, they couldn’t be completed in just a day or two.

Thinking of his old mother still waiting in Shangdu, Xu Zhongyi felt anxious.

Twenty years of separation.

He had secretly watched his mother before but from afar.

Only now, with his enemy dealt with, did he dare to meet his mother with peace of mind.

While confronting Zhang Jiadong on the cruise ship, Xu Zhongyi had also arranged to remove the “nails” in Shangdu – those people had been waiting for him to walk into their trap. There had been no point eliminating them before, as Zhang Jiadong would just send others.