Had Xia Xiao Lan lowered her guard?

Her mood was relaxed, but as for being vigilant – what was there to be vigilant about?

All those who had tried to harm her had met with misfortune, leaving Xia Xiao Lan feeling incredibly at ease.

Even Fan Zhen Chuan, once the tyrant of He Dong County, had fallen due to his misconduct. Those who live by the sword… well, bullies eventually meet someone smarter, tougher, and capable of dealing with them. Fan Zhen Chuan’s retribution may have been delayed, but he couldn’t escape punishment. Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t kept track of Fan Zhen Chuan; Zhuo Wei Ping had told her about his fate.

Fan Zhen Chuan’s fall hadn’t just implicated many people in He Dong County; it had also brought down his family members who had relied on his influence to terrorize others.

Like a clay Buddha crossing a river, the Fan family could barely save themselves, let alone bother Xia Xiao Lan.

This situation was similar to Ding Ai Zhen’s arrest – Xia Xiao Lan was merely the catalyst; the real fatal blow came from their own illegal and disciplinary violations!

Liu Fang had visited twice but missed Xia Xiao Lan who was studying at the Commercial University. Grandmother Yu had chased her away with a broom, cursing vehemently.

Through Liu Fang’s tearful, pitiful act and fragmented information, one message became clear: Liang Bing An had met with misfortune!

Liang Bing An’s downfall came from Fan Zhen Chuan’s accusations. Though the investigation proved he wasn’t involved in Fan Zhen Chuan’s crimes, he wasn’t innocent either. While he avoided prison, he was removed from his position and expelled from the organization… Liu Fang implied this was Xia Xiao Lan’s revenge and begged for mercy.

Grandmother Yu had chased her away with a cold laugh: “You know it’s revenge and still dare to come? Just losing his position is too light a punishment!”

Xia Xiao Lan suspected this statement from Grandmother Yu had scared Liu Fang of further harassment.

It was fine – though she lacked such influence, and Zhou Cheng hadn’t acted against Liang Bing An, letting the Liang family imagine what they wanted kept these troublemakers away from her life!

She wondered how great the psychological impact was on the formerly high-and-mighty Deputy Director Liang, now reduced to a disciplined ex-official.

If Liang Bing An wasn’t a deputy director, Liu Fang wasn’t a deputy director’s wife.

And Liang Huan wasn’t a deputy director’s daughter.

Xia Xiao Lan was satisfied with this outcome. Among the four members of the Liang family, she only felt somewhat positive about their young cousin Liang Yu, whom she’d met once. Perhaps because he was still young, he hadn’t been corrupted by the Liang family’s values. Whether he would go astray in a few years, Xia Xiao Lan didn’t know.

She wasn’t so charitable – he wasn’t her son.

Just as Liu Fang had said Xia Xiao Lan’s fate was poor for being born a farmer’s daughter, Liang Yu’s future was his destiny!

Even the Xia family, who had reportedly moved to the commercial district, hadn’t crossed paths with her. These past two months, troublemakers had stayed away, allowing her to focus on exam preparation – how could she not feel relaxed? Her uncle had gone south to Pengcheng, originally thinking he’d take on a small project for practice, but through various coincidences, he’d secured the renovation contract for the entire municipal government guesthouse.

Could 11,000 yuan leverage a renovation project worth a million yuan?

Fortunately, there were bank loans.

Bank loans were certainly hard to obtain in 1984 when many people didn’t know they could borrow from banks.

But banks had to lend their money – what bank only takes deposits without making loans?

Before the 1980s, banks only lent to state units. By the 1990s, many factories barely survived on bank loans, overwhelming the banks. In the early 1990s, the “triangular debt” expanded to one-third of total bank credit!

Liu Yong was among the rare private business owners who could secure a bank loan.

Because he had signed a contract with the municipal government guesthouse, while the contract’s value might be debatable, its credibility was high. Also, being in the Pengcheng Special Economic Zone, at the forefront of reform and opening up, there weren’t restrictions that made private businesses elsewhere operate in semi-secrecy.

The Special Zone government was bold, daring to push boundaries in 1980 with real estate projects under “compensation trade,” when banks were already willing to lend to home buyers – though not like modern 20-30 year mortgages, but rather 40% payment before construction, 40% at mid-construction, and the final 20% upon completion.

Liu Yong could repay the bank loan with the renovation payments… While interest wasn’t low, the project’s profits would leave something after loan repayment.

The profit amount was secondary; the main achievement was Liu Yong leveraging 11,000 yuan to manage a million-yuan project.

Under normal development, “Yuan Hui” might have needed two to three years to secure such a large contract. Suddenly taking on work beyond their capacity, Liu Yong was overwhelmed, hastily assembling a construction team. Initially managing so many people, Liu Yong certainly lacked experience, but he learned quickly, and because of his personality, the workers found their boss reasonable and conscientious, making the team quite harmonious.

Liu Yong only shared good news, not troubles, so Xia Xiao Lan only heard positive reports.

She could only remind him of precautions, and alert her uncle to potential issues – Liu Yong was over forty, did he need Xia Xiao Lan’s step-by-step guidance in handling business and relationships? She felt her uncle was actually quite clever, the type who could perform well when given a stage.

With everything going smoothly, Xia Xiao Lan’s mindset was excellent before the college entrance exam.

On the 4th, she went for her usual run with the dog, completed a practice test, and then cycled to school, with Ge Jian following at a discrete distance behind her. Xia Xiao Lan needed to collect her admission ticket and check her exam location. It would be convenient if it was at County No. 1 High School, avoiding extra travel, but Feng Xian City’s students were randomly assigned, so Xia Xiao Lan didn’t yet know where she would take the exam.

This was why she rode her bicycle – if she needed to check the exam location, it would be more flexible and convenient than the bus.

With Liu Yong away, Ge Jian rode his 28-inch Forever bicycle, which he’d been using recently… Though Boss Xia could afford bodyguards and never skimped on food and clothing for herself or those around her, asking her to spend tens of thousands on a car to maintain a boss’s image would be worse than giving her a quick death.

Money wasn’t meant to be spent that way – necessary expenses were never compromised, but unnecessary ones and premature luxuries were avoided.

Her daily life just involved traveling between home and the Commercial University library, with occasional trips back to Anqing County – what use would a car be?

When the employer rode a bicycle, the bodyguard naturally did too.

Xia Xiao Lan arrived at County No. 1 High School’s entrance, with Ge Jian following behind, the latter being silent and rarely engaging his employer in conversation unless necessary.

To others, Xia Xiao Lan appeared to be alone.

At the intersection, several young men who had been waiting for half a day recognized their target as soon as she appeared. Yes, she was easy to identify and recognize – the most beautiful person there, with people on the roadside enthusiastically greeting “Classmate Xiao Lan.”

Xia Xiao Lan spotted Sun Tian from afar. As she glanced away, suddenly several bicycles accelerated toward her from the corner, causing her to lose balance and collide with them… Before falling to the ground, she found it tragicomic – what kind of accident was this?

“Oh oh oh, sorry sorry, let me help you up!”

“What’s going on, don’t you watch where you’re going?”

The collision and chaos happened in an instant. Xia Xiao Lan felt feet stepping on her hands, causing her to cry out in pain, while another person appeared to help her up but actually firmly pressed down on her shoulders, preventing her from rising – her mind instantly raised an alarm: these people were doing this deliberately!