No, that wasn’t right.

Every industry has its risks.

Real estate could fail, but so could renovation work.

If there was a difference, it was in the impact of failures.

If a house was poorly built with quality issues, it was a major problem – people lived in it. If renovation work was bad, at worst you’d lose some money and redo it.

Moreover, real estate involves approvals and dealing with the government, with many procedures where things could go wrong.

If something went wrong in Shenzhen, would it affect Tang Hongen, since Liu Yong was his brother-in-law?

Liu Yong was truthful about not wanting uncle and niece to compete in the same business.

His consideration for Tang Hongen’s position was also genuine.

Plus, Li Fengmei’s change of heart had discouraged him.

“Are you worried that you won’t be able to refuse Aunt in the future? That as the Li family gets more involved in the company, using your name – which means using Uncle Tang’s name too – the bigger your company gets, the more damage they could do?”

How long had the Li family even been in the city?

The difference between being renovation workers and being bosses, dealing with different people entirely – couldn’t Liu Yong handle them?

Impossible.

Xia Xiaolan knew what kind of person her uncle was. Even if he wasn’t Boss Liu, he had many ways to handle things.

But thinking about how she had to meet with Xia Hongxia, Xia Xiaolan could understand her uncle… Family relationships were too complicated. Liu Yong could ignore Liu Fang, but Li Fengmei had to maintain relations with the Li family.

Liu Yong might be fuming – they were all from humble origins, but he was the smart one. He was a boss now, how could he not handle the powerless Li family?

Of course, he could handle them. He could even drive all the Li family members out of Yuan Hui – forget about shares, he could instantly leave them jobless!

But while he could drive away the Li family, could he drive away his wife Li Fengmei?

Li Fengmei was also from the Li family. If she saw her family driven away, their marriage could instantly fall apart!

Hitting the rat would damage the jade vase, and worse, the jade vase was encouraging the rats to steal oil – Xia Xiaolan was also surprised. She had previously suspected her uncle might have wronged her aunt and heard that Li Fengmei had rushed to Shenzhen to catch him in the act, cutting off any chance of misconduct before it happened.

Now Xia Xiaolan realized she was wrong. Liu Yong wasn’t inexperienced with temptation. He dealt with all sorts of people, and if he wanted to make mistakes, he had countless opportunities and excuses.

He hadn’t made mistakes, not because Li Fengmei’s timing in catching potential affairs was perfect.

It was because his feelings for Li Fengmei were deeper than Li Fengmei herself believed.

Liu Yong stayed silent. Xia Xiaolan opened her mouth but instead of criticizing the Li family, she praised her uncle:

“I’m so glad you’re my uncle!”

Her uncle was different from those male chauvinists – he could make money and had a sense of responsibility. How wonderful.

Liu Yong was drunk and embarrassed by Xia Xiaolan’s praise. “You don’t think I’m useless? Sigh, these conflicts – I’m discussing them with a young girl like you, I am—”

Xia Xiaolan smiled and held his arm: “We’re family! I’m family with you and with Aunt too. Let me give you a suggestion – try it if you think it might work?”

Liu Yong’s face reddened further.

He couldn’t resist after all.

He might ignore others’ suggestions, but coming from Xiaolan, he had to listen carefully.

Xia Xiaolan whispered, Liu Yong listened intently, and after a while nodded:

“So simple, why didn’t I think of it?”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of it, but that he was unwilling to scheme against his bedside companion.

Sigh, if Aunt Li Fengmei felt insecure, she could make requests to Uncle directly – a wife making requests was natural, but a wife making requests for her family was strange.

…

After receiving Xia Xiaolan’s advice, Liu Yong decided to try it when he got home.

His family now lived in the Jinsha Chi complex, in a duplex on the sixth floor.

The courtyard house bought in Beijing was never used, but Xia Xiaolan said it would be appreciated, so Liu Yong just left it alone.

People who’ve been drinking walk heavily – as soon as he came upstairs, Li Fengmei recognized his footsteps.

The couple hadn’t been getting along lately because of the Li family matter, but neither showed it. Li Fengmei maintained her usual manner – she would certainly take care of Liu Yong when he’d been drinking.

She opened the door and set out his slippers:

“Keep it down, our son is sleeping. He watched Journey to the West today and was very excited – we barely got him to bed. Weren’t you supposed to be at the building materials store with Xiaolan today? Why did you drink again?”

Liu Yong slowly slipped his feet into the slippers:

“Just in a good mood. We discussed the building materials store’s profit distribution today. All shareholders only meet once or twice a year, of course, we had to drink.”

“Did Xiaolan drink too?”

“Of course, but not much.”

Li Fengmei fell silent.

Liu Yong sat on the sofa. Li Fengmei poured him a glass of warm water – people who’ve been drinking get thirsty, it was just the right time for water. Why not tea? It was late, and she worried tea would affect his sleep.

Liu Yong drank most of the water in one go. The couple fell silent again.

Li Fengmei thought for a while, wanting to mention Liu Zitao’s final exam results.

After all, she had made things unpleasant by discussing her family a few days ago. After so many years of marriage, perhaps they could only open conversation through talk of their child.

Just as she opened her mouth, Liu Yong interrupted: “You’re acting strange today. Why aren’t you asking how much money the building materials store distributed?”

Li Fengmei was stunned.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to ask – she was deliberately avoiding the topic.

Bringing up anything related to “money” would surely lead to unpleasantness.

She stood up, “Do you want more to drink? If not, I’ll wash the cup.”

But Liu Yong suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her back onto the sofa.

“Listen to me first. I know you’re afraid I’ll bring up our argument from a few days ago. Let’s set that aside and just talk about today. The building materials store had good profits this year – the distribution was 440,000 yuan. This money is separate from the company’s accounts. I’m giving it to you to arrange as you see fit. Spend it however you want during the New Year.”

Was this the stick followed by the carrot?

On one side was 4 million, on the other 440,000 – a tenfold difference.

Was she so easily bought off? She’d rather not take this money than have her family treated like thieves!

Yes, the Li family were common folk, without resources or connections.

Li Fengmei’s anger was building when Liu Yong suddenly began analyzing himself very seriously:

“About giving shares to your family – honestly, if they had Li Dongliang’s abilities, I’d give them shares without a second word. But do they? I don’t trust them. They’re surnamed Li, I’m surnamed Liu, and our son is surnamed Liu. If something happened to me someday, with them holding Yuan Hui shares, guess whether they’d look after themselves and grab money, or protect Taotao?”

Of course, they would protect Taotao.

But even Li Fengmei herself didn’t believe that.

Yuan Hui was a company earning over 4 million a year – who wouldn’t want a piece?

That day she had also been annoyed by her family’s pestering. She had intended to use Liu Yong’s rejection to push back against her family’s demands, but Liu Yong’s strong opposition had hurt her feelings too.

She had regretted it afterward but still wouldn’t admit it verbally. As Liu Yong brought it up again, Li Fengmei sneered:

“So what, you’re all surnamed Liu, but I’m surnamed Li. You don’t trust anyone surnamed Li, including me… Wait, New Year’s coming, why are you talking about ‘if something happens’? Peh peh peh!”