Being targeted by someone mentally unstable is terrifying.

What’s most frightening is that the unstable person doesn’t recognize their condition, and their target remains completely unaware.

That weekend, during the English competition’s second round, there was a small incident during the oral section.

Xia Xiaolan immediately communicated with Teacher Lin upon returning to school.

She explained the situation to Teacher Lin, who didn’t get angry. Though slightly disappointed, he still encouraged and acknowledged Xia Xiaolan: “If that was your perspective, you should stick to it. It might affect your final score, but your oral response was excellent. Honestly, your English speaking skills exceeded my expectations. I’m very proud of you.”

If Xia Xiaolan had come from a diplomat’s family or an intellectual household, learning foreign languages from childhood with the resources to practice speaking, her level would have been “expected.” But she wasn’t – she grew up in a remote rural village in Yunan Province. Teacher Lin understood better than anyone how incredibly difficult it was for a rural student to achieve such proficiency in English.

Without a language environment or early exposure, she probably hadn’t even encountered English textbooks until high school.

Teacher Lin was already satisfied that Xia Xiaolan had made it to the second round.

As for the finals, many upper-year students would be eliminated. There were elites not just at Huaqing but at several other equally prestigious universities – how many competitors would there be? Some students, though unable to enter the most famous universities, had natural language talents that weren’t reflected in total entrance exam scores. Teacher Lin felt Xia Xiaolan’s performance was already impressive, especially as a freshman. She still had room and time to improve!

Why continue studying foreign languages in university?

It wasn’t just for some students’ dreams of studying abroad – many disciplines needed to access cutting-edge international research, and those papers weren’t written in Chinese.

To surpass others, one must first keep pace with them. Not mastering languages meant working in isolation.

After discussing this with Teacher Lin, the matter was settled. Although Teacher Lin thought Xia Xiaolan’s chances of reaching the finals were slim, he continued offering extra tutoring during his spare time before the results were announced.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t refuse such tutoring.

She was grateful that Teacher Lin would sacrifice his rest time to give her extra lessons. Competition participation was one thing, but acquired knowledge would always belong to her. Xia Xiaolan understood this more deeply than others – even after being reborn, the knowledge she had worked hard to learn in her previous life still benefited her in this one!

Apart from her subpar performance in the English competition’s second round and not seeing Chen Qing at the Foreign Trade building, the rest of the weekend brought good news.

Accompanied by Bank Manager Wu, Xia Xiaolan completed the transaction with the owner of the Shichahai quadrangle courtyard. With cash freshly withdrawn from the bank, Xia Xiaolan became the new owner.

The house truly belonged to her now.

Touching the old gray bricks, Xia Xiaolan felt incredibly secure.

This was different from the house in Qijing Village. The house built there was more about fulfilling Liu Fen’s wishes and giving her a home. This Shichahai courtyard was Xia Xiaolan’s first real estate property in this timeline, bringing indescribable satisfaction and security. Manager Wu also remarked how salary workers were still squeezed into small government-assigned houses while private business owners were buying one large courtyard after another.

Who wouldn’t want to live in a big house? Families cramped in small homes couldn’t even have intimate moments without worrying about others overhearing.

Manager Wu’s comment was just momentary; he would never give up his stable job to become a private business owner. Private businesses might earn more, but their social status was far below his.

“Manager Wu, thank you so much.”

Xia Xiaolan thoroughly inspected her house and replaced the lock with a new one before thanking Manager Wu.

Buying more government bonds wasn’t possible – the clothing store wouldn’t pay dividends until year-end, and after buying the Shichahai courtyard, Xia Xiaolan had less than 40,000 yuan left. If she bought all the bonds, business operations would be difficult. Manager Wu wasn’t the type to turn hostile if she didn’t buy bonds. Human relationships were about long-term interaction – this year’s bond quota wasn’t met yet, but he couldn’t pressure Xia Xiaolan alone.

They could maintain good relations – there was always next year!

Xia Xiaolan wanted to treat Manager Wu to a meal. As a respectable bank manager, he enjoyed trips.

Even eating heartily wouldn’t cost more than a few dozen yuan.

Xia Xiaolan felt this meal expense was well worth it.

She liked carrying a bag when going out – a canvas backpack bought in Yangcheng, more suitable for a student’s identity than a briefcase.

When parting with Manager Wu, Xia Xiaolan placed two newspaper-wrapped cigarette cartons in his bicycle basket: “Thank you for all your help these past days!”

She gave Manager Wu no chance to refuse, cycling away immediately. Manager Wu was both amused and touched. Opening the newspaper, he found two cartons of “Zhonghua” cigarettes. This Student Xia was quite shrewd, hardly typical of a student! Of course, few students could spend tens of thousands on the property, and except for Liu Yong’s brief look, Xia Xiaolan had made all the decisions throughout this major purchase herself.

Although Kang Wei and Zhou Cheng no longer dealt with cigarettes, getting some loose packs was still easy, so Xia Xiaolan had no worries about that.

She rarely gave cigarettes as gifts in Beijing. As Tang Hong’en said, that was a business tactic – students should act like students. For instance, while studying at Huaqing, it would be inappropriate to give cigarettes or alcohol to department teachers! Better to excel in studies than curry favor with gifts – no teacher dislikes hardworking students.

Xia Xiaolan was still basking in the joy of officially owning the house.

The next day after class, someone else came looking for her.

An extremely elegant woman wearing a dark cashmere coat in December – the thin, perfectly-cut coat draped gracefully on her frame, both the material and styling distinctly superior for the era.

She looked like she’d stepped out of a foreign fashion magazine, expressionless, turning Huaqing’s campus into a Paris Fashion Week runway.

Yes, exactly like that model’s aloof demeanor on the runway that Director Xia had once seen!

“You are…?”

The woman smiled, “I’m Ji Jiangyuan’s mother. You’re Xia Xiaolan, right? I often hear Jiangyuan mention you at home. Could we talk?”

Xia Xiaolan had already guessed – Ji Jiangyuan didn’t resemble Tang Hong’en but took after his mother.

But why would Ji Jiangyuan’s mother come looking for her?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t believe Ji Jiangyuan often mentioned her at home – they weren’t even that close!

“Auntie, shall we take a walk around campus?”