The old man made an exception for Xia Ziyu.

This wasn’t a good sign.

“Tell me the details.”

These days, Du Zhaohui had been shuttling between Hong Kong and Pengcheng.

Being unfamiliar with the affairs of the Cheng Rong Group, gaining recognition from the company wouldn’t be easy.

He had no time to manage Xia Ziyu’s matters.

Ah Hua didn’t know what Du Chengrong was thinking either, so he could only analyze based on what he knew:

“I heard Master Du let Fifth Madam submit a business plan. Whether Fifth Madam wrote it herself is debatable, but she said if Master Du wouldn’t support her, she’d sell her jewelry and properties to invest in herself. So Master Du gave her several million.”

Interesting – who knew Xia Ziyu had such courage?

Willing to sell jewelry and properties to start her own business – what kind of project could make Xia Ziyu so confident?

Du Zhaohui remembered when Xia Ziyu had “prophesied” about the Soviet Union’s leadership change. That woman was peculiar – sometimes seeming brilliant, other times empty-headed. From Du Zhaohui’s interactions with her, he didn’t think she was talented. So how could her business plan have moved the old man?

Could it be that Xia Ziyu was playing the prophecy card again?

“If Xia Ziyu had such abilities, why would she settle for being a concubine? If the old man confirmed this talent, he would have made her the official wife long ago!”

Making her the official wife wouldn’t be about liking Xia Ziyu.

Du Zhaohui analyzed his father’s mindset – encountering someone with “supernatural abilities,” he would naturally want to keep them locked up, making predictions for the Du family!

Keeping her in a prison cell would risk her making spiteful false predictions that could cause huge losses for the Du family.

Instead, they could confine her with the status of “Madam Du,” giving her a life of luxury so she’d willingly serve the Du family.

Being Madam Du was different from being Fifth Madam.

What fool would devotedly serve the Du family as just a concubine?

Since she wasn’t made the official wife, Xia Ziyu must not have used this strategy.

Did this woman impress the old man with her business plan?

Du Zhaohui sneered after some thought, “If she sells her properties and jewelry, the Hong Kong media will create a scandal, bringing shame to the Du family. Plus, she’s pregnant. The old man probably just threw a few million at her to keep her quiet. Once her so-called business fails, she’ll obediently return home to be a caged bird!”

Du Zhaohui felt his guess was closest to the truth.

But he had learned his lesson.

He previously thought he could completely control Xia Ziyu, yet she still found a loophole.

That time, he had lost face in front of Xia Xiaolan. He couldn’t be careless this time.

“Investigate this matter thoroughly, and don’t forget to keep track of the old lecher’s situation too.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

This time Ah Hua agreed promptly.

He always felt Xia Ziyu posed a greater threat – a shameless woman whose limits normal people could never predict.

Truthfully, whether Old Ivan was a villain didn’t affect the Young Master. But Xia Ziyu was different – as Master Du’s Fifth Madam, she was a dangerous thorn in the Du family’s headquarters working against the Young Master. Ah Hua preferred to focus surveillance on Xia Ziyu.

Du Zhaohui checked his wrist:

“It’s too late… forget it.”

He wanted to discuss Xia Ziyu with Xia Xiaolan, but it was late.

Besides, he had just sent Tang Yuanyue back to sleep, and if he went to find Xia Xiaolan now – considering Tang Yuanyue held shares in this hotel – wouldn’t Tang Yuanyue find out tomorrow?

Getting caught would be quite awkward.

Du Zhaohui had already sensed that Tang Yuanyue was hesitating – surprisingly when their friendship was wrung out, there was still some truth to it.

Wait, why was Tang Yuanyue hesitating? Did he think he would end up as miserable as Ivan?

Du Zhaohui darkened:

“…A loser is just a loser!”

Even if their friendship had some truth to it, it was useless. They say women are like clothes and brothers are like limbs – whoever tries to steal his clothes, he’ll cut off their limbs.

On certain matters, Du Zhaohui wouldn’t yield an inch.

…

“Achoo…”

Xia Xiaolan started sneezing as soon as she woke up.

It was only eight-thirty in the morning when Liu Fen arrived at the hotel. Xia Xiaolan asked curiously, “You’re here so early – did Uncle Tang mind?”

It was the weekend!

Every weekend was precious to Old Tang – he usually wanted to stay with her mother. Yet he let her come so early.

Liu Fen blushed and tapped her:

“What’s there to mind? He has to work overtime today.”

“Oh, that explains it-“

He probably didn’t want to see the Xu family, but also didn’t want to keep his wife at home. Since he couldn’t see his son at the South Sea Hotel anyway, Old Tang simply went to work overtime.

Ji Jiangyuan and George weren’t around these past two days. After dining together last week, Ji Jiangyuan had arranged with Hong Kong’s Qingshan Hospital, and together with George, they transferred Ji Ya there. Today Ji Jiangyuan had to return to Pengcheng – after handling Ji Ya’s hospital transfer, he needed to report back to Huaqing and end his leave.

Today, it wasn’t just Ji Jiangyuan returning to Pengcheng.

Xu Zhongyi and his group would arrive too.

However, Ji Jiangyuan would arrive during the day while Xu Zhongyi’s group would arrive in the evening. Xia Xiaolan had even changed her Monday flight back to Beijing, fulfilling Old Ivan’s words by taking half a day’s leave from school for “meddling in others’ business”-

Grandmother Yu had ordered new clothes made specifically for tonight’s meeting.

Sun Chunsheng took measurements yesterday and worked overnight. He called this morning saying he could deliver two sets of clothes by afternoon.

Liu Fen was more anxious than Grandmother Yu, who remained perfectly calm.

She ate as usual, showing no signs of nervousness.

Xia Xiaolan thought she could return later in the evening. When she went to the company, Du Zhaohui followed her like a stalker. Xia Xiaolan had the car stop and rolled down the window to ask:

“Du Zhaohui, what exactly do you want? I knew someone was following yesterday, and you’re still playing this game today?”

There weren’t many cars on Pengcheng’s roads in ’87 – even if Xia Xiaolan were blind, the driver wasn’t.

Qihang now had a dedicated driver.

With Ge Jian as manager, it wasn’t practical for him to personally protect Xia Xiaolan anymore, so this driver also served as Xia Xiaolan’s current “bodyguard.”

This man wasn’t from the Bai family martial arts school, having no connection to Bai Zhenzhu or Ge Jian – he was introduced by Zhou Cheng.

A retired reconnaissance officer named Zheng Feng.

He was missing half of his ring and little fingers on his left hand. While it didn’t affect his daily life, the injury had forced him to leave his classified unit.

The unit had arranged stable work that wouldn’t leave him starving but wouldn’t make him rich either. Zheng Feng’s family was even poorer than Shi Kai’s had been, with a string of younger siblings to support. Finding stable work boring, he wanted to try his luck in the South.

Zhou Cheng learned of this and placed him at Qihang.

This happened after Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan chose a house together. Zheng Feng hadn’t been here long – Ge Jian had personally sparred with him. While his skills weren’t as formidable as Ge Jian’s, he could be relied upon in crucial moments.

With such an observant driver who kept eyes and ears alert in all directions, Du Zhaohui and Tang Yuanyue’s poorly concealed tailing had been exposed long ago!

Du Zhaohui, thick-skinned as ever, simply got out of his car and tried to squeeze into Xia Xiaolan’s:

“I do have something to tell you. Tang Yuanyue will look for you today – he probably won’t cooperate with that loser Ji anymore! Also, there are new developments with Xia Ziyu…”