Xia Hongxia was exhausted and didn’t want to hear anything about Xia Ziyu or Xia Xiaolan!

She just wanted to find a stool and sit down for a solid half-hour of rest. Yes, only half an hour, maybe not even that. Although the busiest period had passed, it didn’t mean Xia Hongxia could truly rest. When running a business, you had to serve customers whenever they came – whether they chose to eat lunch at noon or 3 PM, it was the customer’s choice.

People’s Bridge Small Goods Market was crowded from morning to night with people restocking and shopping. They would only think about eating after finishing their business, so having customers at three or four in the afternoon was perfectly normal.

Working from dawn till dusk, any rest time Xia Hongxia could squeeze in was precious – her back was nearly breaking from exhaustion every day.

This precious rest time was what she yearned for, what she wanted to enjoy alone, yet Wang Jingui insisted on talking about Xia Ziyu.

Why should she look? She didn’t want to!

She wasn’t in the mood.

Xia Ziyu became a concubine to a Hong Kong tycoon, and the newspapers reported about her pregnancy and miscarriage – that life was too far removed from Xia Hongxia’s reality, just like Xia Xiaolan’s life. These were all beyond her reach, so why torture herself by paying attention to how others lived?

Earlier, she had dreamed of marrying someone from Hong Kong, but after several failed matchmaking attempts and gaining more weight, she had completely abandoned that idea.

Too busy, won’t look, Xia Hongxia waved her hand dismissively.

Wang Jingui’s gossip heart was burning fiercely, determined to make Xia Hongxia look. She kept pushing the newspaper into her hands with a sneaky expression. If there hadn’t been customers eating in the shop, Xia Hongxia would have started arguing with Wang Jingui right there.

She ended up looking at the newspaper anyway.

Xia Meiwei? Xia Hongxia didn’t know her.

But the Fifth Mistress Du had to be Xia Ziyu. Xia Ziyu hadn’t just changed her face, she’d completely changed her name too, further severing ties with the Xia family.

“What does her success have to do with us? It’s not like she’s going to share her money with you! Don’t tell me you’re still hoping to get something from this niece?”

Xia Hongxia couldn’t understand much about investment companies, and even the traditional Chinese characters in the newspaper gave her a headache. She vaguely gathered that Xia Ziyu was now very successful, with the old man Du giving her money to do business.

Wang Jingui’s eyes darted around:

“What would I expect from her? She’s heartless, and doesn’t even care about her parents, why would she care about me, her third aunt? Better to count on my daughter… Hongxia, don’t look at me like that, your eyes are scary. I want to count on your two brothers too, but they’re still young.”

Xia Hongxia’s expression softened slightly, “Good that you understand. You can’t count on Big Brother or Second Brother, and my father too – we should thank the heavens if he doesn’t spend the money I earn, let alone give you any!”

If Wang Jingui dared to say she was counting on her niece Xia Ziyu, Xia Hongxia would have fought her right there!

But that wasn’t what Wang Jingui wanted to say:

“Remember when Xia Ziyu sent people to find you?”

Of course, she remembered.

Inquiring about Second Aunt Liu Fen’s whereabouts – she hadn’t dared help Xia Ziyu then. Siding with Xia Xiaolan had proved more reliable, successfully securing the lease rights to this shop from her. Now with a stable storefront to run, Xia Hongxia was extremely satisfied with her current life. Perhaps she was just too busy, leaving no time to think or energy to envy others, which was why she didn’t want to hear news about either Xia Ziyu or Xia Xiaolan.

Did she want more benefits?

Of course!

But even if she got another shop, she couldn’t manage it.

Others might have their whole family working together, but with Wang Jingui and Xia Hongbing, she couldn’t take her eyes off them for a moment. Without Xia Hongxia’s supervision, one was lazy as a ghost, and the other was not only lazy but also gambled… Heh, they were nothing but burdens.

Xia Hongxia’s temper flared again: “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Wang Jingui lowered her voice and smiled, “Hongxia, how don’t you understand? Even two roosters in one fence will fight. Xia Ziyu has always wanted to cause trouble for Xia Xiaolan. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, mother understands! Now that Xia Ziyu is successful, both roosters have beautiful feathers, they’re bound to fight again… Couldn’t we profit a bit from that?”

Two roosters?

They weren’t even men – if Xia Xiaolan knew she was being compared to a rooster, she would definitely-

No, that wasn’t the point. The point was that Xia Hongxia didn’t dare try to profit from this! Although working for Xia Xiaolan had proved reliable, with Xia Xiaolan keeping her promises and willing to provide “compensation,” it was better to minimize such dealings. In movies, those who acted as spies never met good ends – she wasn’t stupid!

“Stop meddling in their affairs. If you’re so free, help me wash the dishes. Where’s my father gone off to now?”

Xia Hongxia grabbed the newspaper from Wang Jingui’s hands and threw it into the iron-barrel-turned-honeycomb-coal stove.

Wang Jingui cried out in dismay, unable to save the newspaper in time.

“I borrowed that from someone, now I’ll have to pay for it!”

People’s Bridge Small Goods Market was full of “Hong Kong goods,” including Hong Kong newspapers and magazines. Wang Jingui had borrowed it from another stall, and now she was beating her chest in distress.

Xia Hongxia remained unmoved – better to burn it than let it trouble her mind.

Xia Hongxia thought she had avoided these messy affairs, but two days later, early in the morning, her eyelids started twitching severely.

The old saying goes that a twitching left eye means disaster, and a twitching right eye means fortune – both her eyelids were twitching alternately, so badly that she almost cut her hand while chopping vegetables.

Sure enough, half an hour later, someone came looking for her.

“Miss Xia Hongxia, right? If someone wants to meet you, please come with us. Mr. Xia Hongbing as well.”

Xia Hongbing had been assigned to watch the shop at night and usually slept in the small partition behind the storefront. He came out wearing slippers, shuffling along with sleep in his eyes… The visitors couldn’t help but frown:

“You are Mr. Xia Hongbing?”

“…”

That was his name, but “Mister”? Xia Hongbing felt uneasy. He did have gambling debts outside, but debt collectors would never be this polite when coming to collect.

Debt collectors also wouldn’t wear suits and ties.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Hongbing hid behind Xia Hongxia without making a sound. Xia Hongxia was about to die from anger – this was her father, her biological father no less!

“Who wants to meet me? I have a business to run!”

The visitor took out an envelope and placed it on the table: “Though we don’t know the exact figure, this should be enough to compensate for closing your shop for one day.”

Money!

Starting with money again!

This routine was all too familiar, making Xia Hongxia’s hair stand on end.

She wanted to refuse a hundred times over, but they didn’t give her the chance. Their commanding presence made Xia Hongxia cower. She and Xia Hongbing were bundled into a car, with Wang Jingui shamelessly squeezing in too – the visitors didn’t object to that either.

The car drove on and on, to who knows where.

It was an upscale place, somewhere Xia Hongxia’s family of three would never normally set foot in.

Someone was waiting for them there, and Wang Jingui blurted out:

“…Ziyu, aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”