Yu Li didn’t know what grievances President Xia had with Du’s family’s Fifth Madam, but it was clear President Xia disliked her. As a secretary who should help ease her boss’s concerns, Yu Li made a mental note to monitor the Fifth Madam’s activities and compile them systematically, so she could provide immediate updates whenever President Xia inquired next.

Yu Li arranged a meeting time with Ye Xiaoqiong using the contact information Xia Xiaolan provided.

Ye Xiaoqiong was somewhat surprised, as Xia Xiaolan usually contacted her directly: “…Who are you?”

“Hello Miss Ye, I’m President Xia’s secretary. You can call me Little Yu.”

Having fought her way up from a secretary position herself, Ye Xiaoqiong was particularly sensitive to this role. She took note of Yu Li but didn’t say anything further.

“Please tell President Xia I’ll see her tonight.”

It wasn’t surprising that Xia Xiaolan had a secretary, given that she owned a real estate company. Ye Xiaoqiong felt strange, suddenly realizing that Xia Xiaolan owned a real estate company, could afford to hire secretaries, and could directly challenge Second Young Master Du Zhaoqi. Meanwhile, as a special assistant, she could only rely on the Second Young Master’s influence… But if she didn’t rely on him, should she instead place her hopes on the Zhou family’s conscience?

If the Zhou family were truly good people, they would have raised their daughter properly and prevented Zhou Yi from pursuing a married man!

Although she had made her decision to meet with Xia Xiaolan in Pengcheng, Ye Xiaoqiong still had mixed feelings.

At the meeting place, Xia Xiaolan indeed brought her female secretary.

Ye Xiaoqiong stood up, “Xiaolan, you’re here.”

“The last time we met was in America when you went to New York to see Zhou Yi. We should have had a proper talk when I returned home last time… But never mind that, have you seen Yuan Han?”

Yuan Han was in plain sight while Ye Xiaoqiong remained hidden. Xia Xiaolan figured Yuan Han hadn’t seen Ye Xiaoqiong, but Ye Xiaoqiong must have secretly observed Yuan Han.

A mocking expression appeared on Ye Xiaoqiong’s face: “Yes, I saw him. Promoted with a raise, became a section chief, living quite grandly!”

Though she had proposed the plan, and the Zhou family merely helped transfer Yuan Han to Pengcheng, seeing Yuan Han as “Section Chief Yuan” still infuriated Ye Xiaoqiong.

Yuan Han’s current position was built upon her suffering.

The Ye family house.

The Ye family’s ancient books and paintings.

Her trust and love, years of her youth… and that child she was deceived into aborting.

When Ye Xiaoqiong first saw Yuan Han, she barely controlled herself, almost abandoning the plan to torture him slowly in favor of stabbing him to death right there. She had managed to restrain herself, but Xia Xiaolan’s question made her hatred surge again!

Xia Xiaolan frowned: “Xiaoqiong if you can’t calm yourself now, I suggest you abandon this plan.”

This seemed less like torturing Yuan Han and more like torturing herself. What was the point? Wasn’t revenge supposed to be satisfying?

Ye Xiaoqiong took a deep breath, “No, I must proceed.”

She clapped her hands, and a fashionably dressed young woman stood up from the next table.

Xia Xiaolan had expected Ye Xiaoqiong to prepare a naive, sweet, simple type of “rich merchant’s daughter” for Yuan Han since he was most experienced in dealing with such women. After all, both the previous Ye Xiaoqiong and Zhou Yi were that type – easy to deceive!

But surprisingly, this woman Ye Xiaoqiong had found was quite attractive, with seductive glances and movements, nothing like a naive rich girl.

She had a worldly air and charm, but completely lacked the nobility of a wealthy family’s daughter.

Xia Xiaolan had met a Hong Kong merchant’s daughter named He Zhitong, who remained graceful even when throwing coffee in Tang Yuanyue’s face.

Could such a woman deceive Yuan Han, that pretty boy?

After all, Yuan Han was experienced in this game too.

Noticing Xia Xiaolan’s skepticism, the worldly woman affected an accent: “Boss, are you doubting my abilities? I’ll let you know I attended TVB’s performing arts training! Playing a rich young lady seducing some inexperienced loser? If you asked me to play an old woman, I might lack the skill, but playing a wealthy young miss is easy!”

Well now, were all those TV actresses playing rich young ladies doing method acting? Before their debut, they might have been selling fish at the market stalls. Change their clothes, apply some makeup, add some flashy jewelry, and they could still fool viewers on screen.

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but laugh – this had to be TVB’s performing arts training program’s worst endorsement ever: “My apologies, every profession has its expertise. I shouldn’t have questioned your professional capabilities.”

The worldly woman made perfect sense. With her qualities, deceiving people with real experience would be difficult, but Yuan Han had no idea what Hong Kong’s wealth looked like. With some packaging, tricking Yuan Han wouldn’t be hard.

Yuan Han specialized in deceiving naive, sweet, simple women, so they needed someone worldly like this to turn the tables and deceive him instead.

When the worldly woman first met Xia Xiaolan, she felt quite hostile. They were both women, so why was she a prostitute while the other was beautiful and had a good background? She even maliciously thought that Ye Xiaoqiong hiring her was unnecessary – if this “President Xia” were willing to help, with that face, what man couldn’t she deceive?

However, after Xia Xiaolan’s doubts and subsequent frank apology, the worldly woman didn’t know what to say and quietly sat down.

“Xiaolan, don’t worry, I’ll act quickly. It’s just that with Zhou Yi’s situation—”

Ye Xiaoqiong trailed off.

Xia Xiaolan knew what Ye Xiaoqiong wanted to ask, “Whatever you do to Zhou Yi, I won’t interfere. You know we’d love for you to slap some sense into her.”

Resenting Zhou Yi was normal; only those with a god’s-eye view wouldn’t.

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t ask Ye Xiaoqiong to be a saint when she couldn’t do it herself.

But taking revenge on someone and killing them were two different matters. Xia Xiaolan and the Zhou family’s hands-off approach was predicated on Ye Xiaoqiong not crossing that line.

Hiring thugs to deal with Zhou Yi in New York had already crossed that line, but Ye Xiaoqiong had pulled back in time…

Xia Xiaolan wanted to ask about Du Zhaoqi’s next steps, but since Ye Xiaoqiong could lose her job for revealing that, Xia Xiaolan held back. After chatting for a while, Xia Xiaolan left with Little Yu.

The worldly woman had been secretly observing Xia Xiaolan the whole time.

“You like her?” Ye Xiaoqiong suddenly asked.

The worldly woman sheepishly denied it, “I just think she’s beautiful enough to be a star in Hong Kong!”

Ye Xiaoqiong frowned, “Be quiet, don’t say such things.”

Xia Xiaolan becoming a Hong Kong star?

Living off her looks, being threatened by triads, being kept by rich men – even thinking about it felt like insulting Xia Xiaolan.

However, it wasn’t surprising the worldly woman liked Xia Xiaolan, who was naturally likable.

Those who had been friends with Xia Xiaolan would never want to be her enemies!

Ye Xiaoqiong snapped out of her thoughts, “I’ve already explained everything you need to do in detail. After it’s done, I’ll pay you the remaining amount… You should know who you’re working for. The Du family’s money isn’t easy to earn.”

He’s just some bumpkin from the mainland, right?

The worldly woman felt confident.

—After all, she had attended TVB’s performing arts training class!