Zhou Cheng hadn’t lied to Du Zhaohui.

He hadn’t come to Hong Kong just for the Du family.

Who would bother focusing solely on the Du family? Zhou Cheng had more important matters in his new post.

Since Zhou Cheng hadn’t yet resolved Shi Kai’s concerns, he thought it was good to combine the two matters. The smuggling was rampant, not just involving the Du family – this was a large-scale operation, with the Du family being just one link in the chain!

Of course, there was another reason – his wife had unwittingly become entangled in the Du family’s affairs, getting deeper and deeper.

Until the Du family’s threat was eliminated, Zhou Cheng wouldn’t feel at ease about his wife’s safety.

Du Zhaohui hadn’t expected Zhou Cheng to be so straightforward.

After staring at Zhou Cheng for a while, he finally sneered:

“Tell me, how exactly is this mutually beneficial?”

Black-faced Zhou had spent too much time with Xia Xiaolan and learned her ways. Xia Xiaolan always emphasized “mutual benefit,” giving favors before seeking help from others.

Du Zhaohui felt bitter, wondering whether Black-faced Zhou had learned this from Xia Xiaolan or if he had taught it to her.

After all, they had dated for three or four years, deeply influencing each other.

Hmph, what’s so great about three or four years? Hadn’t he known Xia Xiaolan for almost three years too?

Du Zhaohui knew this wasn’t the time for jealousy.

If he could eliminate both Du Zhaoqi and Liu Tianquan, with only Xia Ziyu left and compromised by his leverage, the obstacles to his inheritance of the Du family would be largely cleared.

No matter how dissatisfied the old man was with him, it wouldn’t matter – besides Du Zhaoqi, the other Du family brats weren’t useful yet!

Needing Black-faced Zhou’s help was somewhat embarrassing.

But Du Zhaohui had lost face plenty of times throughout his life.

Once he became the ultimate winner, nobody would care about the process.

Only when he became the winner could he act more freely—Du Zhaohui concentrated on listening to Zhou Cheng’s words, his expression growing increasingly strange: not only had Zhou tanned his skin, but if you cut him open, his core would probably be black too.

Right, how else could he have kept Xia Xiaolan by his side for several years if he wasn’t dark-hearted?

Du Zhaohui saw Zhou Cheng in a new light.

Zhou Cheng finished speaking and saw him lost in thought.

“Du Zhaohui, what do you think of my proposal?”

“…It’s just okay, we can give it a try.”

Du Zhaohui’s words didn’t match his thoughts.

Zhou Cheng couldn’t be bothered to expose him.

“Then I’ll take that as an agreement to cooperate. If you need to find me, contact me through Uncle Xu.”

Du Zhaohui reluctantly nodded.

With business concluded, Du Zhaohui didn’t want to linger. Their relationship was purely mutually beneficial, without any friendship – on the contrary, he deeply despised Black-faced Zhou.

Seeing Du Zhaohui stand to leave, Zhou Cheng called out to him again:

“Du Zhaohui, I arranged contact through Uncle Xu because I don’t want to involve Xiaolan. She should just focus on doing business happily. This is men’s business, don’t you think?”

Du Zhaohui found this reasonable.

But how could he simply agree with Zhou Cheng’s thinking?

He gave Zhou Cheng a cold smile and pushed open the courtyard door with a bang. Zhou Cheng thought he was leaving decisively, but Du Zhaohui returned, randomly grabbed a vase from under the eaves, and asked Chai Hai outside:

“Manager Chai, tell me honestly, is this vase valuable?”

Chai Hai trembled with anger.

This was Master Qiu’s Hong Kong residence – not just the vase deliberately placed under the eaves, but even the random pots and jars in the courtyard were valuable.

Du Zhaohui understood Chai Hai’s expression.

He carelessly tossed the potentially valuable vase to Ah Hua, who nearly failed to catch it.

Du Zhaohui laughed, “Seems quite valuable. I’ll take this then. I came all the way to an antique dealer’s house, there has to be a reason, right? I’ll take this vase back as a gift for my father.”

Then he ran off with Ah Hua.

He had no intention of paying.

While Chai Hai’s eyebrows twitched with helpless anger, Zhou Cheng just smiled:

“It’s fine, I’ll pay for the vase he took.”

Zhou Cheng had no reason to be angry – such childish provocation only showed that the other party recognized he was right. Unable to reject his proposal, wasn’t Du Zhaohui just acting out over small matters?

Chai Hai naturally wouldn’t accept Zhou Cheng’s money.

He simply said it was an inexpensive trinket.

This wasn’t a lie – value depends on who holds it. Only with private auction channels could these antiques fetch high prices; the first-line acquisition price wasn’t expensive.

Chai Hai was angry at Du Zhaohui’s behavior of grabbing things and leaving – truly a scoundrel and a rogue!

Then he thought, wasn’t this scoundrel still going to follow Zhou Cheng’s words?

Unable to vent his anger at Zhou Cheng, he stole from Master Qiu’s courtyard as a show of defiance.

Chai Hai instantly stopped being angry.

Serves him right!

That bastard Du Zhaohui needed someone to teach him a lesson!

Zhou Cheng’s meeting with Du Zhaohui had to be kept from Xia Xiaolan, and not being a deity, she naturally didn’t know.

Zhou Cheng had “disappeared” for many days before finally showing up again.

Xia Xiaolan was simply happy again.

“I got my diploma! Zhou Cheng, I graduated!”

With no one around, Xia Xiaolan threw herself into Zhou Cheng’s arms.

Zhou Cheng hugged her and spun her around twice, genuinely delighted, “Congratulations, Xiaolan! Your early graduation shows the school’s recognition of your academic efforts. I’m happy for you, happy for us both. I’ll submit our marriage registration to my unit right away!”

Xia Xiaolan was confused:

“What? You haven’t submitted the marriage registration yet?”

Hadn’t her return to Beijing for graduation defense meant she would graduate soon?

She thought Zhou Cheng was eager to marry her, and that as soon as she left Hong Kong, he would submit the marriage registration.

In the twenty-plus days of coming and going, by the time she saw Zhou Cheng again, the registration should have been approved.

Suddenly hearing that Zhou Cheng hadn’t submitted it yet, Xia Xiaolan was stunned.

Who was it that had been so eager to marry her? Now that she had changed from passive to active, Zhou Cheng wasn’t in a hurry anymore?!

Xia Xiaolan’s questioning gaze was too obvious, and Zhou Cheng couldn’t help but laugh.

He kissed her eyes once, “You fell for that? I submitted the marriage registration long ago. Did you think I didn’t know you would graduate early? The unit has already approved it. Once I finish the work at hand, I can take marriage leave!”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to scratch him.

But Zhou Cheng turned the tables, catching her hands and sealing her lips with his.

They kissed until they were breathless, reluctant to part, barely managing to regain their senses.

Zhou Cheng was truly eager to marry – he was a young man in his prime, if he held back any longer, wouldn’t it affect his health?

“I was just about to tell you, that this mission has shown progress. After setting things up for a while, it’s time to close the net. Once I complete the mission, shall we get married?”

Xia Xiaolan, still breathing unevenly, leaned against Zhou Cheng and softly agreed.

“I don’t know what this mission of yours is about, but I’ll wait for you to marry me. Zhou Cheng, from the moment you put that ring on my finger, you became a committed man. I won’t interfere with your mission, but no matter the reason, you can’t abandon me. If you break your promise, I’ll throw away the ring and marry someone else – not just now, not just this time, I want you to remember these words always!”