Zhang Cui thought she had seen wrong.

Looking carefully, it was Liu Fen.

A person’s skin might become fairer, and their appearance might improve, but their build rarely changes drastically.

Though Liu Fen’s dress and demeanor had changed, Zhang Cui still recognized her. Zhang Cui was smarter than Wang Jingui—where Wang Jingui would have rushed over foolishly, Zhang Cui knew Liu Fen wasn’t as easy to bully as before, so she didn’t act rashly.

Zhang Cui had heard from Xia Ziyu about Xia Xiaolan finding a boyfriend from an excellent family.

The fact that Xia Xiaolan could afford a siheyuan worth tens of thousands showed how much her boyfriend’s family approved of her.

Poor Ziyu, excellent in every way, yet still criticized by the Wang family—how was she less popular than that brazen Xia Xiaolan? Zhang Cui cursed internally, believing Xia Xiaolan only bewitched men with her fox-like beauty.

She didn’t dare provoke Liu Fen either—wasn’t Xia Changzheng’s return to South Henan because Xia Hongbing and the others were still detained in Canton’s detention center because of Liu Fen?

Zhang Cui retreated to the side and waited.

Liu Fen didn’t buy clothes in the store but spoke with the staff about something and emerged with a package.

A man in uniform met Liu Fen, and they exchanged words.

Zhang Cui’s heart pounded.

Liu Fen didn’t seem to be shopping, and the uniformed police officer appeared to know her.

Could he be Liu Fen’s new man?

Zhang Cui muttered in contempt: “Like mother, like daughter—both loose women. Barely divorced and already found another man.”

The uniform commanded respect, and he looked stern, so Zhang Cui kept her distance. She watched them walk to the bank together and emerge side by side.

After exchanging a few words, the uniformed man left, and Liu Fen rode away on her bicycle. Unable to keep up, Zhang Cui lost her.

Forgetting about her restaurant ingredients, she took a bus to the university to find her daughter Xia Ziyu.

Xia Ziyu had gone to Canton a few days ago, telling Wang Jianhua she was checking on her uncle’s situation, but Zhang Cui didn’t believe it. When she questioned Xia Ziyu, her daughter remained tight-lipped, refusing to tell even her mother, which angered Zhang Cui secretly.

Mother-daughter tension was a minor issue—standing united against outsiders was what mattered!

“You saw Second Aunt?”

“It was her, Mother wouldn’t mistake her!”

Beijing was populous—Xia Ziyu had only encountered Xia Xiaolan at the Foreign Ministry’s social dance and when Xia Xiaolan bought her house, running into Xia Changzheng. Zhang Cui’s sudden sighting of Liu Fen in Beijing seemed strange to Xia Ziyu. “You say Second Aunt seemed familiar with the Xidan area? Keep watching her, see what she’s doing there.”

Xia Ziyu had received a check from Du Zhaohui for business purposes but hadn’t decided how to use it.

Her recent purchase at Luna had inspired her—running a restaurant was greasy and tiring, but opening a store like Luna would be elegant and effortless. Xia Ziyu was quite tempted.

If she was going to do business, it had to be impressive.

Why settle for Xidan when she could open in Wangfujing?

The best storefront, luxurious decorations, and a whole fashion mall!

She had planned to convince Du Zhaohui to collaborate, persuading him to build a shopping center where she would use one or two floors for women’s clothing. At that scale, who could compete with her?

But Du Zhaohui showed no interest in her business plan, interrupting her halfway through.

Xia Ziyu simply stopped talking.

Why not keep her money-making plans for herself?

Du Zhaohui wasn’t stingy—the first time she told him about the Zhou family’s background, the reward was only 10,000 yuan, which she refused, wanting more.

This time, just for a suggestion, Du Zhaohui wrote her a check for 100,000 yuan.

With 100,000 yuan, Xia Ziyu could buy a nice courtyard in Beijing, but she hadn’t looked at properties, wanting to use it as startup capital instead. Opening a fashion mall in Wangfujing would require millions for construction, or at least hundreds of thousands.

Her 100,000 yuan wasn’t nearly enough.

If not Wangfujing, Xia Ziyu still wanted to open in Xidan.

What was so hard about opening a clothing store? Just get clothes from wholesale markets, decorate like Luna, hire some pretty young salesgirls—all clothing stores were the same.

It was perfect since school rules restricted her daily presence at the store.

Xia Ziyu chose Xidan not to target Luna specifically—she noticed there were already several clothing stores besides Luna there. Luna spent money on magazine and newspaper advertisements; by opening next door, she could benefit from their marketing without spending on ads!

Xia Ziyu hadn’t shared these plans in detail with Zhang Cui, only asking her to watch Liu Fen closely.

Opening a store in Xidan of Luna’s caliber would barely be covered by Du Zhaohui’s check. She couldn’t risk the capital she’d worked so hard to get from him.

Whenever she encountered Xia Xiaolan, misfortune followed!

Xia Ziyu wouldn’t feel secure doing business in Xidan without understanding why Liu Fen was there.

Good locations were coveted by all; Xia Ziyu could only practice patience.

When Zhang Cui mentioned her purchased ingredients, Xia Ziyu interrupted:

“Mom, don’t lose sight of what’s important—how much could those ingredients be worth? If you don’t figure out why Second Aunt is in Xidan, how can you feel secure reopening Zhang’s Restaurant? Xia Xiaolan won’t let us live peacefully. She can rely on her man’s connections now, while Jianhua’s father has been transferred to the Party History Office. We can’t confront them directly.”

Zhang Cui was deeply frustrated.

Flour, sugar, and oil could be stored, and eggs could last a month in this weather, but meat would only keep for a day.

“Come home for dinner tonight, I’ll cook the meat I bought. Bring Jianhua too… Speaking of Jianhua, Mother just thought—does Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend know about her past? Her reputation was so bad back home, doesn’t his family care?”

Why did rural areas care so much about reputation? Since ancient times, women’s chastity was highly valued.

With Xia Xiaolan’s previous reputation, no matter how beautiful she was, she could only marry old bachelors or widowers in the countryside. Now that she’d entered Huaqing University, a sparrow turned phoenix, she could date a cadre’s son. Zhang Cui couldn’t accept it.

If the Wang family was so picky about Xia Ziyu, how could Xia Xiaolan’s future in-laws not care about their future daughter-in-law’s past?

Officials cared most about reputation.

Zhang Cui’s words made Xia Ziyu’s eyes flicker.

Would the Zhou family not care? The Wang family’s standards were so high, with Wang Guangping maintained his pride even after his transfer.

The Zhou family was more powerful than Wang Guangping before his transfer—their son must have been captivated by Xia Xiaolan’s face, and her admission to Huaqing University probably helped the Zhou family agree. Xia Ziyu had always wondered how the Zhou family would react if they knew about Xia Xiaolan’s past.

But she couldn’t act herself, couldn’t personally bring this to the Zhou family’s attention.

“Mom, first figure out what’s going on with Second Aunt. I have my plans for this matter—don’t worry about it!”