“Let it be. Since we were classmates, let’s help pass on her message,” one said.

During freshman year, Xia Ziyu had quite good relationships with others. Her dormmates all thought she was someone from a rural background who worked hard to get ahead. Dressed simply but warmly generous, everyone liked Xia Ziyu back then.

The situation took a sharp turn downward in sophomore year. Her dormmates gradually couldn’t understand or comprehend the things Xia Ziyu did.

There were quite a few students secretly dating in school, but others who dated didn’t let it affect their normal studies and life. Some couples even encouraged each other and became more excellent together.

By the second semester of sophomore year, as the initial excitement of entering university faded, most students had settled down and started planning for their futures.

Some studied hard, hoping to win honors.

Others actively participated in school activities, trying to get noticed by teachers.

It was rare to see someone like Xia Ziyu, who seemed to be all over the place, abandoning her former simple warmth and becoming completely unrecognizable.

One dormmate suddenly remembered: “The school disciplinary warning is still in effect. If she gets into trouble again, then…”

Would she be expelled?

What punishment could be more serious than probation, if not expulsion?

Though they couldn’t understand Xia Ziyu and had grown distant from her, these dormmates weren’t mean-spirited enough to want her expelled. So they could only try to pass a message to Wang Jianhua, deciding they wouldn’t get involved anymore.

As the saying goes, those who don’t share the same principles cannot work together. If Xia Ziyu didn’t want to align herself with everyone else, no one could force her!

On the weekend, it wasn’t easy for Xia Ziyu’s dormmates to find Wang Jianhua. They finally got his home phone number and called. A woman answered.

She identified herself as Wang Jianhua’s mother. Ran Shuyu was quite pleasant when she heard it was a female classmate from school looking for Wang Jianhua. But as soon as they mentioned being Xia Ziyu’s dormmate, Ran Shuyu stiffly said Wang Jianhua wasn’t home.

Xia Ziyu’s dormmate became anxious:

“Auntie, the police came looking for Ziyu, and she’s already at the police station now. She asked us to notify Wang!”

“What did she do wrong?”

No one could answer Ran Shuyu’s question.

When Xia Ziyu’s dormmate couldn’t explain clearly, Ran Shuyu simply hung up.

The dormmate hadn’t expected this reaction.

Hadn’t people said Xia Ziyu and Wang Jianhua were engaged? Why was Wang Jianhua’s mother acting this way?

“What should we do about the police station situation?”

After some discussion, they could only think of other ways to find Wang Jianhua.

While Xia Ziyu’s dormmates couldn’t understand Ran Shuyu’s behavior, at the Wang household, Ran Shuyu was complaining to Wang Guangping:

“That harbinger of misfortune will be the death of this family sooner or later. She barely stayed out of trouble for any time at all before getting herself taken to the police station again. Guangping, I will never agree to let Xia Ziyu marry Jianhua!”

The Deputy Director of Higher Education might not necessarily have weekends free.

But Wang Guangping from the Party History Office truly had enough free time to raise birds and walk dogs. After his transfer order came down, Wang Guangping had completely deflated.

Though his salary remained the same, his authority was vastly different. Wang Guangping had lost so much weight his pants were a size too loose. Ran Shuyu kept trying to convince him that their current life was better than being at the farm, that the family could be together, and that things would gradually improve once Jianhua graduated from university. Only then did Wang Guangping barely show some signs of life.

Just hearing the name “Xia Ziyu” made Wang Guangping’s head throb.

For Wang Guangping to admit his own mistakes would be more painful than death. After his reinstatement, he hadn’t been cautious enough – first with the tutoring class, then locking horns with the Hong Kong businessman, and finally interfering with the English competition. Looking back, none of these decisions had been right.

Except for the clash with the Hong Kong businessman, both the tutoring class and English competition incidents involved Xia Ziyu. If Wang Guangping didn’t blame Xia Ziyu, should he blame himself?

Hearing that Xia Ziyu had been taken to the police station, Wang Guangping showed neither concern nor interest. Unlike Ran Shuyu’s anger, he brought up a different topic:

“I’ve been thinking, that our family can’t help Jianhua much, he needs other support. Xia Ziyu definitely won’t do – the Xia family are all farmers, and they’ll only hold Jianhua back. Director Zhang has a daughter, one year older than Jianhua. You must have met her – what do you think?”

Director Zhang was an old friend of Wang Guangping.

He had also helped when Wang Guangping returned to the city.

Wang Jianhua was already 27, and Director Zhang’s daughter was a year older. For a leader’s daughter to remain unmarried at that age, there must be something wrong.

Ran Shuyu recalled some gossip she’d heard and didn’t immediately agree: “His daughter was sent down to the countryside as an educated youth a few years ago, and only returned to the city later. I heard she married and had a child in the countryside. After returning to the city, the Zhang family tried to cover it up, but how could they completely hide something like that? Guangping, you want Jianhua to marry someone’s leftovers?”

That would be worse than choosing Professor Liu’s daughter.

Wang Guangping glared at her: “Women are narrow-minded with their long hair! What leftovers? Those are all baseless rumors!”

Even if all the rumors about Director Zhang’s daughter were true, Wang Guangping didn’t care.

Director Zhang’s real power couldn’t be faked. With all those messy past incidents surrounding Zhang’s daughter, wouldn’t the Zhang family have to wholeheartedly support their son-in-law?

Before the couple could reach an agreement, Wang Jianhua pushed open the door.

Ran Shuyu didn’t mention the phone call, but Wang Guangping sneered: “Jianhua, the police from Xidan Station took Xia Ziyu away. Go see what happened. The Wang family only has a little face left – don’t let Xia Ziyu throw it all away. If she’s done something illegal, and you still want to marry her, you might as well kill your father!”

The police took her away?

Could it be because someone got sick from eating at Zhang Cui’s snack shop?

That was all Wang Jianhua could think of.

Wang Guangping couldn’t handle any shock – after his transfer, he often cursed at home. Wang Jianhua didn’t dare provoke his father randomly, so he hurriedly put his just-removed shoes back on:

“Dad, what illegal thing could Ziyu possibly do? Maybe the police just needed to ask her about something else. I’ll go take a look!”

Ran Shuyu hoped Xia Ziyu would suffer more hardship. Wang Guangping wasn’t concerned about Xia Ziyu – he worried she might say something reckless at the police station that would affect the Wang family.

The current Wang family couldn’t withstand any storms. Even a small wave from outside might capsize them.

Only finding a powerful marriage alliance could help pull the Wang family up.

Professor Liu’s daughter was deeply devoted to Jianhua, and the Liu family was a scholarly household – in the past, this would have perfectly matched Wang Guangping’s wishes. But times had changed, and Professor Liu’s scholarly family couldn’t compare to Director Zhang’s real authority.

…

“Comrade Liu Fen, that’s the situation. You need to be careful too. Don’t come to the police station – I don’t think she’s figured out where you live yet. You can’t be too careful with people like this, best not to have any contact with her.”

On the other end of the phone, Station Chief Ma clearly explained the situation with Zhang Cui’s stalking. Liu Fen held the receiver, her whole body trembling.

Grandmother Yu was also listening in.

Grandmother Yu had found it strange that Station Chief Ma would call Liu Fen, but when she heard it was about Liu Fen’s former sister-in-law stalking her in Xidan, she thought, how could this be allowed?

“Chief Ma, thank you, I understand everything!”

Liu Fen hung up the phone, angry tears in her eyes as she turned to Grandmother Yu and said:

“…Will the Xia family never leave me alone?!”