“Stock trading has its ups and downs. Keep a level head. With the real estate market booming, buying property company stocks won’t bring huge profits but won’t lose much either.”

Xia Xiaolan knew the stock market crash would come in October, but she couldn’t suddenly enter then with massive short positions. If Xia Ziyun had an IQ above 80, she would suspect her motives.

She was unlikely to fall for it, and might instead suspect Xia Xiaolan had insider information and follow her short positions.

Since she didn’t want Xia Ziyun to profit, she naturally wouldn’t do that.

Entering three months early, she didn’t need to make much profit before the crash. Better to have a few obvious mistakes to show Xia Ziyun how weak she was in the stock market.

When Xia Xiaolan took large short positions before the crash, Xia Ziyun would surely think she was seeking her doom.

Fishing required patience. The bait was set; now to wait for the fish to bite.

Sometimes fish would test the bait – you couldn’t pull the rod before they fully took it!

Xia Xiaolan thought carefully – after cleaning up the Hong Kong stock market battlefield, she could still catch the Qiong Island land purchase. One stock market crash wouldn’t kill Xia Ziyun, but add the Qiong Island real estate deal, and even if Du Chengrong made mountains of gold and silver, she couldn’t sustain Xia Ziyun’s losses.

Regardless of outside speculation, Xia Xiaolan followed her own pace, letting them guess.

Xia Ziyun hadn’t wasted time either, finally discovering where “Qihang Capital’s” money came from.

Qihang had over 100 million Hong Kong dollars!

Most of this money must have come from Du Zhaohui.

Du Zhaohui couldn’t have produced such large amounts of cash himself – at Xia Xiaolan’s request, he had borrowed from Tang Yuanyue and Yu Shihua!

Most amazingly, he had succeeded in getting the loans.

Xia Ziyun thought about how she’d paid 2.5 million from her pocket to please Yu Shihua, who remained indifferent, then turned around and lent a huge sum to Du Zhaohui – wasn’t she indirectly subsidizing Du Zhaohui?

Xia Ziyun complained sourly to Du Chengrong about Du Zhaohui’s grand moves:

“I heard the eldest son borrowed tens of millions from Yuhua’s President Tang, and also from Sister Yu. All this money went to Xia Xiaolan…”

Du Chengrong rarely rebuked Xia Ziyun:

“That’s money he found himself. He didn’t ask me or misuse company funds. It’s not your business who he gives it to! If you were his birth mother, you could care about him. You’re just his stepmother, younger than him. Instead of minding your own business, you’re always concerned about Zhaohui – are you afraid people won’t misunderstand?”

Women were short-sighted despite their long hair. Yu Shihua was willing to lend money to his son – Du Chengrong could only be grateful. But Xia Ziyun’s gossip touched Du Chengrong’s taboo.

Friends were friends, women were women. Du Chengrong could choose his own friends and enemies. Various factors including friendship and benefits influenced his relationships with friends, but women’s pillow talk was definitely not one of them!

Xia Ziyun had been too smooth lately, losing her sense of boundaries and crossing lines.

Xia Ziyun, face flushing from the scolding, held her temper and tried another angle:

“Mr. Du, I see the eldest son likes Xia Xiaolan. Given our animosity, if he eventually marries her, how should I handle myself?”

Du Chengrong dismissed it, “He’s the son, I’m the father. Why fear him? By the time he wants to marry, the Du family might already be divided.”

Xia Ziyun’s heart raced – this was Du Chengrong’s first clear mention of “family division.”

In the Du family’s situation, division meant dividing family assets.

She wanted to ask how Du Chengrong would arrange it but couldn’t find an excuse.

Xia Ziyun couldn’t even focus on mocking Xia Xiaolan anymore.

CR Investment needed to succeed, and she couldn’t lose Du Chengrong’s favor.

Her last miscarriage had been devastating – that lost child could have been the Du family heir!

The doctor said she was young and healthy and could conceive again after a few months’ rest.

Thinking of this, Xia Ziyun snuggled into Du Chengrong’s embrace:

“I’m young and foolish, spoke wrongly. Please forgive me. Stay tonight, let me make it up to you properly…”

Stay, give her a child – she needed a child!

Last time, she’d conceived quickly after stopping contraception. This time, she must succeed too.

She had to become indispensable to Du Chengrong, winning his professional admiration and physical satisfaction. She must bear his children – only then would Du Chengrong favor her when dividing family assets.

Without children, Du Chengrong wouldn’t give her much money.

One wasn’t enough – she needed several.

Xia Ziyun had told Tian Xiaoyan that women’s tears were weapons but hadn’t mentioned that their bodies were weapons too.

This world scorned poverty, not prostitution.

Xia Xiaolan spoke righteously, but who knew what she did behind closed doors?

Dating high-ranking officials’ sons while entangling with men like Du Zhaohui and Tang Yuanyue!

Xia Ziyun didn’t think herself shameless. The truly shameless one was Xia Xiaolan, playing virtuous while being a whore – Liu Fen might have been urban in her past life and lucky in this one, but she couldn’t know much about Hong Kong events. Before everyone had internet phones, mainlanders’ knowledge of Hong Kong was limited to celebrity news!

Relying on Tang Hongnen’s connections, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t satisfied making money in Pengcheng and came to stir trouble in Hong Kong.

What kind of place was Hong Kong? Xia Xiaolan had cut off most of her support!

Xia Ziyun gently swayed while holding Du Chengrong’s neck.

She had to make him stay.

Without children as bonds, Du Chengrong could turn on her anytime. Even when Liu Keying erred, having children meant Du Chengrong only expelled her from the Du mansion and took away her brother’s business, not destroying her-

Mainland connections were useless to Xia Xiaolan now. Coming to Hong Kong, did she think she could establish herself through Tang Yuanyue and Du Zhaohui?

What a beautiful dream.

Du Zhaohui couldn’t even make his own decisions.

Though Tang Yuanyue had taken over Yuhua, lending millions right before his wedding to the He family’s daughter, with the money ending up in Xia Xiaolan’s hands… Did He Zhitong have no objections?

Xia Ziyun pressed against Du Chengrong – a move that had always worked before, but today failed. Du Chengrong showed no emotional response and pushed her away.

“Rest well yourself. I have other matters tonight. Business thrives on harmony – don’t let money come between anything. You’re now Xia Minwei, the Du family’s Fifth Mistress. Remember your place!”

Du Chengrong straightened his clothes and left Xia Ziyun behind.

Xia Ziyun was stunned – what had happened?

Now it was her turn to experience Du Chengrong’s mercurial moods, and she wasn’t used to it at all!

If Du Chengrong wouldn’t touch her, how could she get pregnant? Xia Ziyun touched her belly – Du Chengrong had seemed unresponsive just now, could he be impotent-