What could Xia Xiao Lan say? She could only offer encouragement to Ji Jiang Yuan:

“Don’t forget, you still have us.”

Ji Jiang Yuan nodded, “I know. I’m not that fragile. If I need help, I’ll ask you. But be mentally prepared – having a stepbrother who might borrow money from you can be scary!”

That’s not scary at all. Except for those who take advantage, asking to borrow money from someone shows the closeness of a relationship. Xia Xiao Lan would be quite willing to lend money to Ji Jiang Yuan. Even without Tang Hong En’s connection, she and Ji Jiang Yuan would have naturally become friends anyway!

“Whenever you’re ready, you can ask.”

Lending money wasn’t the big issue; the question was what Ji Jiang Yuan needed it for. As he said, he resigned from the golf club because he wanted to take time to cool down and find a path suitable for himself… Xia Xiao Lan felt the timing wasn’t ideal. Ji Jiang Yuan had been involved with the golf course project from start to finish, and now was truly the time to reap the rewards. As a middle manager at the club, his service to those members could have helped him build an incredibly rich network of connections.

With Ji Jiang Yuan’s intelligence, how could he put himself in a mere “server’s” position? He would have learned the members’ living habits and backgrounds – this job would have been an excellent starting point for his future career!

It was just too short a time. Emotion had overcome reason. Rationally, Ji Jiang Yuan didn’t think Harold had done anything wrong, but emotionally, he couldn’t accept Harold’s cruel treatment of George and couldn’t continue working for him, so he simply resigned.

After joking about borrowing money, Ji Jiang Yuan remembered something else:

“I asked the bank – Elegance has been taken over by a Hong Kong businesswoman surnamed Yu. She seems to want to keep the Elegance brand.”

He had thought Xia Xiao Lan buying Elegance was almost certain, but unexpectedly someone else had snatched it.

Although his mother would certainly be happy if the Elegance brand was preserved, Ji Jiang Yuan didn’t plan to be an especially filial son. Ji Ya’s emotions couldn’t handle major ups and downs. If she learned that the Elegance brand would be preserved, her condition might change again… A loss is a loss, why have false hope?

If Ji Ya had created the clothing brand because she was doing something she truly loved, Ji Jiang Yuan would have been very happy. But Ji Ya created the brand to use it as a weapon – well, such a business venture might as well not exist at all.

“A Hong Kong businesswoman surnamed Yu? Is she also in the clothing business?”

“I think she’s in textiles.”

That was quite a coincidence. Xia Xiao Lan immediately thought of the Cheng Rong Group’s spring banquet, where she had met one of Du Cheng Rong’s friends, surnamed Yu, whose family was also in textiles.

It must be the same person – that Ms. Yu seemed to be called Yu Shi Hua.

Yu Shi Hua and Du Cheng Rong had a good relationship. CR Investment’s willingness to pay a premium to acquire Elegance wasn’t just Xia Zi Yu trying to irritate her.

Xia Zi Yu was infiltrating Du Cheng Rong’s social circle.

Realizing this, Xia Xiao Lan felt quite unsettled.

That old lecher Du Cheng Rong was getting more muddled with age.

Until Ji Jiang Yuan came to find her, Xia Xiao Lan had been completely isolated from the world. Everyone knew she was working on an important design and wouldn’t disturb her with other matters. So when Ji Jiang Yuan broke this state of isolation and Xia Xiao Lan emerged from her shell to inquire, she learned how the situation had changed:

First, Xia Zi Yu received particularly strong support from Du Cheng Rong. CR Investment’s office was located right in the Cheng Rong Group building. Xia Zi Yu had to report to the company every day, causing quite a bit of friction with Du Zhao Hui.

The good news was that apart from acquiring Elegance, CR Investment hadn’t made any other eye-catching investments yet.

The bad news was that in the friction between Xia Zi Yu and Du Zhao Hui, Du Cheng Rong’s attitude toward both showed no bias… This wasn’t fairness – it was a very dangerous signal. It didn’t matter how much Du Cheng Rong doted on Xia Zi Yu in private, but in the company, he should have stood on Du Zhao Hui’s side!

Even if the friction between Du Zhao Hui and Xia Zi Yu was Du Zhao Hui’s fault, it should still have been this way.

Du Zhao Hui was Du Cheng Rong’s chosen “successor” – at least that’s how outsiders saw it, how Du Zhao Hui himself thought of it, and how others in the Cheng Rong Group viewed it.

If Du Cheng Rong wouldn’t even give a face to Du Zhao Hui, how could Du Zhao Hui maintain his position in the company?

Second, Du Zhao Ji had returned to Hong Kong and taken over the Du family’s smuggling business.

Xia Xiao Lan naturally got this news from Assistant Hua, as she hadn’t been in contact with Du Zhao Hui for a long time.

It wasn’t that Xia Xiao Lan had forgotten about Du Zhao Hui’s situation when she got busy. She wanted to cut ties with the Hong Kong Du family, but after Xia Zi Yu became CR Investment’s executive director, this became an almost impossible luxury!

No, even earlier, when Xia Zi Yu became the Du family’s Fifth Madam, she wouldn’t let Xia Xiao Lan go.

This time, when Xia Xiao Lan inquired about the news, she still couldn’t contact Du Zhao Hui directly but rather reached out to Assistant Hua, Du Zhao Hui’s most loyal bodyguard-cum-driver-cum-assistant.

“Did Du Zhao Ji take over the Du family’s smuggling business?”

“Yes, Miss Xia.”

“What about Liu Tian Quan?”

Would Liu Tian Quan give up the smuggling business so easily?

Xia Xiao Lan didn’t think it was possible.

“Liu Tian Quan has disappeared… Miss Xia, you might doubt this, but a grown man disappeared right under Young Master’s nose. Young Master is very angry now, under attack from both front and back.”

With Xia Zi Yu in front and Du Zhao Ji behind, Du Zhao Hui was certainly having a very difficult time.

But Liu Tian Quan’s disappearance – how could that be possible?

Xia Xiao Lan was more inclined to believe that Du Zhao Hui had taken advantage of Liu Tian Quan’s fall from power and had him tied to a rock and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

That fat Liu Tian Quan had tried to take Du Zhao Hui’s life several times; it wouldn’t be surprising if Du Zhao Hui chose such a drastic form of revenge.

But Assistant Hua firmly denied this and instead warned Xia Xiao Lan to be careful:

“Miss Xia, as long as Liu Tian Quan is on the run, Young Master won’t be able to sleep soundly.”

“He escaped? That’s impossible…”

How could Du Zhao Hui allow Liu Tian Quan to escape?

Xia Xiao Lan’s expression turned serious.

Recently, there had been many unreasonable, impossible things happening that had happened anyway.

First, Du Cheng Rong, who had never taken women seriously his entire life, started promoting Xia Zi Yu as a powerful businesswoman.

Second, old Ivan, who still wanted to seize power at his advanced age, chose suicide rather than continuing to resist after his plan failed.

Third, Du Zhao Ji, who had considerable business talent and studied business at a prestigious foreign university, chose to return to Hong Kong to take over the Du family’s smuggling business.

Fourth, the fallen Liu Tian Quan disappeared under Du Zhao Hui’s strict surveillance!

Remove the second incident, and the other three were all related.

Nothing in the world is absolute. If some things seem inconceivable yet still happen, it can only mean that someone wanted them to happen.

Who had such capability?

Du Cheng Rong, who had built his empire from scratch and commanded both legitimate and underground worlds!

Xia Xiao Lan took the museum’s initial draft and told Liu Fen:

“Mom, I want to take the design back to Pengcheng to work on it.”