“Very well, you’ll meet them.”
Liu Tianquan stared at Xia Xiaolan for a long while.
She was indeed beautiful – no wonder Mayor Tang, usually indifferent to others, would give her special treatment.
Her intelligence was above average for women, otherwise she couldn’t have gotten into a prestigious mainland university.
But being pampered too much had made her arrogant in both personal conduct and business matters.
Liu Tianquan couldn’t be bothered to argue with Xia Xiaolan. After spending months without achieving his goal, Mr. Liu was also angry.
The friendly fat man suddenly changed his expression – Liu Tianquan’s current success hadn’t come from being soft.
Pan San frowned – wasn’t this Hong Kong businessman being too aggressive talking to Zhou Cheng’s wife like that? Xia Xiaolan shook her head at him and picked up the contract from the table again. “Then I’ll wait for someone to come demanding the fulfillment of this contract. I wonder if Xiangmi Lake agreed to Tianchen subcontracting the project to others when they gave them the work.”
So they ended up burning bridges after all.
Xia Xiaolan had no regrets – Liu Tianquan was full of schemes, and her uncle was no match for him.
Staying away from Liu Tianquan meant avoiding not just business traps, but also troubles like those drinking companions. Since Liu Yong had made his decision, Xia Xiaolan fully supported it, and she also agreed with Pan San – to handle what materials they could, and if Liu Tianquan wouldn’t take them, Yuanhui could sell them at a discount.
How much could the materials be worth?
Most were from the building materials store.
Only one sum couldn’t be returned – the 40,000 yuan deposit paid when signing the contract.
This money had been given to ‘Tiancheng’ who signed with Yuanhui. If Liu Tianquan played dirty, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t be able to get a refund from ‘Tiancheng’.
Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong took their leave.
Pan San deliberately fell behind a few steps, the scar on his right eyelid twitching:
“Mr. Liu, you may be laundering your reputation as a legitimate Hong Kong businessman in Pengcheng, but do you think no one knows what you did in Fujian Province? This isn’t Hong Kong – let me advise you that even a strong dragon can’t suppress a local snake. You think your wealth and schemes let you bully a mainland small business owner, but little do you know… hehe.”
Who had the patience to waste time with Liu Tianquan over a matter of tens of thousands?
Pan San had come to Pengcheng because he didn’t want Liu Tianquan to hold a grudge and target the vulnerable Liu Yong in the future.
Liu Tianquan’s face twitched as he looked Pan San over again.
Initially, he had thought Pan San was Xia Xiaolan’s bodyguard.
Like Li Dongliang and Ge Jian who followed Liu Yong – though capable, mainland law enforcement was strict, and Liu Tianquan, enjoying preferential treatment as a Hong Kong businessman in Pengcheng, wasn’t afraid of how tough Liu Yong’s bodyguards might be.
But a bodyguard shouldn’t know about his business in Fujian Province.
Liu Tianquan was uncertain, but Pan San had already left.
After a long while, Liu Tianquan called for Fan Yu:
“Tell me again, what kind of man is Xia Xiaolan’s partner?”
Fan Yu couldn’t explain clearly.
She only knew that Fan Zhenchuan’s downfall came from wanting to marry Xia Xiaolan, who refused, and when Xia Xiaolan’s partner showed up, Fan Zhenchuan met his doom!
As for how Xia Xiaolan’s partner managed it, someone of Fan Yu’s level couldn’t understand. Though she was Fan Zhenchuan’s mistress, he was arrogant and would never discuss business matters with a mere plaything for his amusement.
“They say her partner is just a…”
Liu Tianquan’s fat hands clasped together.
“Uncle, you need to be prepared for not getting the money back.”
It wouldn’t be as much as 90,000 yuan, and though Liu Yong was reluctant to part with it, he had learned his lesson and felt relieved. Breaking ties with Liu Tianquan was for the best – no more business talks at dance halls, places Liu Yong didn’t like anyway.
Going too often had made him restless, unable to focus on learning or running small businesses.
Spending all day with millionaire businessmen had made him look down on businesses that only earned hundreds or thousands.
Though Liu Yong lost tens of thousands, he felt unburdened: “I’m prepared for it. I’ll work harder – there’s still three or four months until New Year’s. I’ll try to earn back what I lost.”
But they wouldn’t lose it all.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t make any grand promises, but after some thought, she asked Liu Yong:
“Are you planning to be honest with Aunt? About both losing this money and the hostess incident? I’m worried it won’t look good if Aunt hears about it from others.”
After all, Li Fengmei was still in Pengcheng.
Even if she left tomorrow, she’d have a chance to visit Pengcheng again. What if Liu Tianquan, purely out of spite, brought up that hostess? Xia Xiaolan thought it better for Uncle Liu Yong to confess proactively, keep control of the narrative, explain properly to Aunt Li Fengmei, and apologize sincerely to avoid future conflicts.
Liu Yong’s legs went weak.
Though he hadn’t done anything to betray his wife, going to dance halls still made him very guilty!
Even more guilty than losing tens of thousands.
Liu Yong had no choice but to steel himself and confess when they got back.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know if her aunt was angry, but at three in the morning, she was hazily awakened by Liu Fen:
“Did I hear your uncle and aunt arguing?”
The guesthouse rooms weren’t very soundproof, and with the window not fully closed, they could hear movement next door.
There were sobs, curses, and crying.
To Xia Xiaolan, it didn’t sound like an argument, more like her aunt giving her uncle a one-sided scolding – serves him right, if he hadn’t let misplaced sympathy get the better of him, this wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s probably still about buying the siheyuan in Beijing. Let my aunt get it out of her system – Uncle won’t lose any flesh over it. Go back to sleep and pretend you didn’t hear anything, so Uncle won’t feel embarrassed.”
Liu Fen was half-convinced.
What was there to argue about regarding the Beijing siheyuan? Hadn’t they reconciled?
Early the next morning, Liu Yong, with dark circles under his eyes, instructed Li Dongliang and Ge Jian:
“Follow me in a while, and bring some workers. We’re going to remove our materials from Xiangmi Lake – starting today, we’re stopping work there!”