Xia Ziyu’s voice came like a death warrant from the King of Hell’s court.

Panic filled Tian Xiaoyan’s heart.

Her tears flowed more fiercely, but Xia Ziyu showed no mercy. Instead, she grabbed her hair, forcing her to look out the car window:

“What are you afraid of? People outside can’t see inside the car. Tian Xiaoyan, oh Tian Xiaoyan, no matter how sweet your words are, you’re just useless dead weight. Someone like you serves no purpose. I’ll have someone send you back to the mainland tomorrow!”

Tian Xiaoyan hugged Xia Ziyu’s feet, sobbing:

“Lady Du, Lady Du, please don’t abandon me! I’m useful, I can help Lady Du solve—”

Tian Xiaoyan had some cleverness, her life experiences had taught her to read people’s expressions, and she’d learned to be two-faced and deceptive.

But ultimately, she was barely 14 years old, still a minor, with little education.

Though ambitious, clever, and crafty, limited by her experience, how could she come up with any useful schemes at this moment?

Unable to propose any solution, Tian Xiaoyan cried even harder, her pretty school uniform dress becoming wrinkled.

No matter how desperately Tian Xiaoyan begged, Xia Ziyu remained unmoved.

If only she had known, she wouldn’t have volunteered to “share” Xia Ziyu’s troubles, avoiding this whole situation.

After returning, Tian Xiaoyan asked Xia Junbao to plead on her behalf.

Although Xia Junbao considered her a good friend, at a time like this, how could he dare to provoke Xia Ziyu’s displeasure?

Even he feared being sent back to the mainland.

Xia Junbao knew that if he were sent back to the mainland this time, Xia Hongxia’s family would never support him again. He could shamelessly work at the small restaurant, find odd jobs in Shenzhen, or seek refuge with Second Uncle Xia Dajun in Shangdu… No, he didn’t want any of those options. Someone who had experienced the good life couldn’t bear to suffer again. In Hong Kong, Xia Junbao had cars taking him to and from school, his clothes, food, and lodging were all beyond his wildest dreams. Except for struggling with school courses and being mocked by classmates for being unsophisticated, Xia Junbao was content with everything.

Emotions are especially precious in adversity.

Because back then, besides Tian Xiaoyan, no one was kind to him.

His relationship with Tian Xiaoyan wasn’t just friendship but also included the confusion of first love. As Xia Junshan had seen, Xia Junbao and Tian Xiaoyan had even kissed—well, Xia Junbao was truly his sister Xia Ziyu’s brother. Compared to his current lifestyle, what was this little girlfriend Tian Xiaoyan worth?

Tian Xiaoyan was in primary school, while Xia Junbao was in middle school.

The older middle school students were already dating.

Without Tian Xiaoyan, Xia Junbao could have dated other girls in the future.

So Xia Junbao was destined to disappoint Tian Xiaoyan. When she cried and begged, saying she didn’t dare return home, Xia Junbao even suggested:

“Why don’t you go back to Shenzhen and seek shelter with Sister Hongxia? You’re quick with your hands, if Sister Hongxia won’t take you, Third Aunt would be willing to keep you…”

Tian Xiaoyan’s heart turned ice-cold!

If Xia Junbao couldn’t bear to give up his current life, how could Tian Xiaoyan?

The upper-class life Xia Ziyu had described to her was exactly what Tian Xiaoyan dreamed of.

The next day, Xia Junbao went to school with a hardened heart, avoiding the trouble, while Xia Ziyu kept her word and truly sent Tian Xiaoyan back to Shenzhen.

The car circled Shenzhen once, and Xia Ziyu ordered Tian Xiaoyan to get out.

“I don’t feed useless people. Sweet-talking girls are everywhere, I could wave my hand and a crowd would rush over. For a good life, they wouldn’t just flatter me, they’d probably even kill for me… Now, you useless thing, get out!”

Tian Xiaoyan begged, but Xia Ziyu personally opened the car door, whispered these words in Tian Xiaoyan’s ear, and pushed her out.

“Lady Du, Lady Du, give me one more chance, Lady Du—”

Tian Xiaoyan frantically knocked on the car door, then knelt and kowtowed so hard her forehead was injured.

But the car sped away, leaving only dust.

This commotion had already attracted the attention of passersby.

“Child, what happened to you?”

“Did anyone see what happened? How did someone suddenly fall out of a car?”

“How bold, doing this right in front of the city government…”

People on the street showed concern for Tian Xiaoyan, and even the government security guards were alarmed. When Tian Xiaoyan heard this was the “city government,” she suddenly raised her head.

City government?

Why did Xia Ziyu drop her at the city government?

Did she want her to kneel at the city government’s entrance and denounce Liu Fen’s “heartlessness”? Was this the trouble Xia Ziyu wanted her to solve?

…No, no, no, it wasn’t like that.

Xia Ziyu had said crying was useless. Liu Fen was married to Shenzhen’s mayor, the highest official in Shenzhen. If she spoke ill of the mayor’s wife, she would surely be arrested.

So being dropped at the city government entrance was just a coincidence?

Tian Xiaoyan pushed away the kind passersby and ran away stumbling.

She wouldn’t go work at Xia Hongxia’s small restaurant.

She also wouldn’t return home to be ostracized by villagers and have people pretend to care by sending her to school.

She had been to Hong Kong, she wanted to live in a big house, and she wanted to be upper class like Xia Ziyu!

Tian Xiaoyan ran stumbling.

Her beautiful clothes were dirty, her hands and feet were scraped, and her white leather shoes were stained.

Xia Ziyu’s final words buzzed in her head as if someone had pressed the loop button:

“Not just flattery… willing to kill…”

Willing to kill?

Xia Ziyu wanted her to kill someone.

Kill Xia Xiaolan?

No, if she wanted her to kill Xia Xiaolan, why drop her in Shenzhen? Yesterday she could have just given her a gun and let her shoot Xia Xiaolan!

But Xia Ziyu had mentioned only two troubles.

One was the pregnant Fourth Lady in the Du family.

One was Xia Xiaolan.

Tian Xiaoyan’s head was about to explode from thinking.

She was indeed somewhat cunning and clever, and she vaguely guessed a possibility.

Xia Ziyu wanted her to kill… no, she didn’t dare, she was afraid, she would be imprisoned, she would be executed!

…

Going back one day.

As October approached day by day, Xia Xiaolan voluntarily worked overtime until nine in the evening.

Leaving the company, her attention was drawn to a car across the street.

“That’s—”

Zheng Feng recognized it immediately, “President Xia, it’s the Du family’s Fifth Lady’s car. It’s been parked there for several hours, with people inside the whole time.”

Indeed, she hadn’t been mistaken.

It wasn’t strange for Xia Ziyu’s car to appear below the Chengrong Building, as CR Investment was in the building, and Xia Ziyu might have gone up to the office. But why park on the street for so long instead of using the parking garage? The streets in Central weren’t spacious.

Hearing from Zheng Feng that people had been in the car the whole time, Xia Xiaolan felt even more uneasy.

So it wasn’t her imagination. Although the car windows blocked the view inside, she had constantly felt someone watching.

Thinking that the person in the car might be Xia Ziyu, who had been waiting for an unknown time, Xia Xiaolan felt very uncomfortable.

“Zheng Feng, look into whether the Fifth Lady has shown any unusual behavior recently.”

Better safe than sorry. Since something felt off, it was best not to let down her guard.