Thinking of Tina gave Xia Xiaolan a slight headache.
Tina was a little princess, overly protected by Cui Yiru and Zhang Jiandong. When Xiaolan had previously tried to get close to her to investigate the Xu family matters, she’d thought Tina would be easy to deceive due to her naivety.
If Xia Xiaolan could see through this naivety, Mrs. Wilson definitely could too, and perhaps even Ji Ya could see it! Given Ji Ya’s pride, the chances of her borrowing money from Princess Tina were slim. But what if Ji Ya was backed into a corner and had to lower her proud head?
Xia Xiaolan asked Little You:
“Are they still staying at the Nanhai Hotel?”
“Ms. Xia, if you’re asking about Mr. Xu, he hasn’t checked out yet.”
Though Ms. Xia hadn’t visited the hotel, You Li had been keeping track of Xu Changle’s movements. Not only had he not checked out, but he had also remained in Pengcheng city.
Xia Xiaolan admired Xu Changle’s patience.
Her second thought was that Tina was indeed difficult to handle.
She might have been so thoroughly won over by Mrs. Wilson that she didn’t even want to acknowledge her brother anymore.
Xia Xiaolan could guess Mrs. Wilson’s motives for courting Tina. The Wilsons were probably quite short on money now, and Tina was a young wealthy woman. After Zhang Jiandong and Cui Yiru’s deaths, Tina inherited stocks and cash totaling over 20 million US dollars!
Since her rebirth in the summer of 1983, nearly four years had passed, and even though Xia Xiaolan had pursued every profitable venture possible, she still hadn’t accumulated assets worth 20 million US dollars. This calculation included all her movable and immovable assets.
Tina, with her 20 million dollars in cash flow, was undeniably wealthy.
When considering her connections to Xu Changle and Xu Zhongyi, Tina’s value became even more significant.
“She’s a walking ATM and one that dispenses US dollars at that.”
Xia Xiaolan admitted she wanted to see Ji Ya’s predicament.
After so many days since Xu Changle’s return to China, this was Xia Xiaolan’s first visit to the Nanhai Hotel. She had designed the hotel’s interior decoration scheme, and ‘Yuan Hui’ had participated in the renovation, yet she hadn’t had the chance to stay there. Now, walking into the Nanhai Hotel and experiencing her design firsthand, she had a different perspective.
As it happened to be year-end, Huo Chenzhou was also at the Nanhai Hotel.
“Xiaolan, what brings you here?”
“I’m here to see a friend. I didn’t expect to find you here.”
“It’s year-end; we have a shareholders’ meeting today.”
The Nanhai Hotel had four shareholders, with Dongfeng Holdings being just one of them. There were three other Hong Kong shareholders, including Tang Yuanyue’s Meihua company.
Xia Xiaolan touched the diamond ring on her finger. Zhou Cheng’s timing for the proposal had been perfect – wearing an engagement ring now helped her avoid many complications.
Huo Chenzhou noticed her ring.
Manager Huo didn’t know her as well as Du Zhaohui did, and given that engagement rings weren’t common in mainland China at the time, he didn’t think much of it.
He checked his watch, finding time to chat with Xia Xiaolan:
“Did you know Sheng Xuan is getting married?”
“What a coincidence! I just received a wedding invitation. Don’t look at me like that – it wasn’t from Sheng Xuan, but from her fiancé Zhu Suizhou. We’re business partners now… They’re quite the power couple!”
Huo Chenzhou smiled and lowered his voice:
“Sheng Xuan even sent an invitation to my grandfather. The old man won’t go, of course – Sheng Xuan isn’t part of the Song family. But from what I can tell, Second Aunt wants everyone in the Song family except Grandfather to attend.”
Second Madam Song’s request was entirely reasonable.
They were all relatives, and it was natural for Second Madam Song’s cousin to invite the Song family to her wedding.
Sheng Xuan wasn’t being presumptuous in expecting the old man to attend the wedding.
The chances of the old man attending were minimal, but not sending him an invitation would have been extremely impolite.
Having just the Song family members attend was already quite prestigious. Putting herself in Zhu Suizhou’s position, Xia Xiaolan thought this marriage was excellent for him!
What did Zhu Suizhou lack?
He lacked background, coming from an ordinary family.
Marrying Sheng Xuan brought both practical benefits and gave him more confidence.
He was truly calculating, choosing his marriage partner rationally.
Fortunately, the Song family had no eligible daughters, or Zhu Suizhou might have aimed even higher – Song Minglan’s two older cousins were already married, and Song Minglan would likely have considered Zhu Suizhou too old, regardless of his talents.
Xia Xiaolan thanked Huo Chenzhou for the information:
“I understand now. Since all the Song family members will be there, we’ll see each other at the wedding. Brother Huo, you have your shareholders’ meeting to attend, so please go ahead. I’ll go find my friend.”
Huo Chenzhou parted ways with her and headed upstairs.
Halfway up, he belatedly realized – could that ring on Xia Xiaolan’s finger be… an engagement ring?
Unlike Du Zhaohui, Huo Chenzhou wasn’t heartbroken.
He admired Xia Xiaolan’s capabilities, but it wasn’t the kind of admiration a man has for a woman he loves, so why should he be heartbroken?
Huo Chenzhou thought more about how after marrying Zhou Cheng, this powerful alliance would make Xia Xiaolan even more formidable.
Xia Xiaolan waited for Xu Changle in the lobby area, having already asked the front desk to call him.
Unexpectedly, before Xu Changle came down, Tina arrived first.
Even more surprisingly, Ji Jiangyuan was following behind Tina.
“Xia Xiaolan, what are you doing here?”
Tina was very wary. Xia Xiaolan ignored her and greeted Ji Jiangyuan directly: “Long time no see, Ji Jiangyuan. How have you been?”
It made sense that Ji Jiangyuan was in Pengcheng during winter break, probably working part-time under Harold.
Seeing Ji Jiangyuan reminded Xia Xiaolan of Ning Xue.
She had always thought Ning Xue liked Ji Jiangyuan, but unexpectedly, after one semester at Cornell, Ning Xue had gotten together with Jonathan.
After Heidi’s suicide attempt and Mrs. Dawson’s confrontation at school, Ning Xue and Jonathan showed no signs of breaking up, so they probably wouldn’t separate anytime soon. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure whether to sympathize with Ji Jiangyuan – had he not noticed Ning Xue’s feelings, or had he pretended not to know?
Either way, it seemed Ji Jiangyuan and Ning Xue lacked the right chemistry.
Xia Xiaolan stood up to greet Ji Jiangyuan, who smiled back:
“It’s been a while! I was wondering when I’d run into you, and here you are today. I’m doing fine.”
Ji Jiangyuan had good news to share with Xia Xiaolan, but after glancing at Tina, he decided to wait.
The two of them completely ignored Tina, who stamped her foot:
“Hey, I’m talking to you, are you even listening-“
“Tina, where are your manners?”
Xu Changle had finally arrived.
Xia Xiaolan finally acknowledged Tina, “Of course, I’m here to see your big brother. I figured you wouldn’t be happy to see me, which is why I haven’t shown up all these days.”
Xu Changle blushed with embarrassment.
This was the Nanhai Hotel; naturally, Xia Xiaolan could come whenever she wanted.
He could understand Tina being willful with him and distant from Xu Zhongyi. But with others, Tina had no right to be impolite.
Though Xia Xiaolan’s words weren’t particularly courteous, Xu Changle felt very apologetic.