Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to go to England. She felt she should explain this clearly to Katherine.

When she called, Katherine’s housekeeper answered and informed her that Katherine had returned to England, having departed by plane yesterday.

Xia Xiaolan hung up the phone and washed her face with cold water.

When Liu Fen heard that Katherine had returned to England, she let out a dismayed cry: “Did Mother make a mistake? If I had given you the note earlier, she might not have left yet!”

Indeed, they had missed the opportunity.

How could Xia Xiaolan blame her mother? “Even if you had given me the note earlier, I wouldn’t have had time to meet Professor Katherine. These days, revising the proposal is my priority. Nothing else could compare to this task.”

Both she and Liu Yong were staking everything they had on this venture. Things had their order of importance, and Xia Xiaolan needed to prioritize revising the Nanhai Hotel’s renovation proposal. Katherine probably wanted to discuss studying in England again.

Liu Fen seemed somewhat dejected, so Xia Xiaolan brought up the car.

“Kang Wei said the paperwork is complete. He’ll bring the car home tomorrow, and I’ll come back to teach you how to drive whenever I don’t have classes.”

Learning to drive properly was essential, both for one’s safety and out of responsibility for others’ lives.

Xia Xiaolan had considered finding someone else to teach her mother, but after careful consideration, she felt more at ease teaching Liu Fen herself.

Xia Xiaolan grew increasingly busy. Since returning to Beijing, she had only written two letters to Zhou Cheng and made one phone call. Zhou Cheng said everything was fine at the academy. Xia Xiaolan wanted to ask if Jiang Yan had made any moves, but decided against it, not wanting to appear distrustful of Zhou Cheng.

She had also told Zhou Cheng about the Nanhai Hotel project and the possibility of using his remaining money. Zhou Cheng gave his usual response, entrusting everything to her judgment.

Seeing her rush out immediately after classes these days, her senior Yang Yonghong had a heart-to-heart talk with her:

“Xiaolan, if you continue like this, are you still hoping for this semester’s scholarship? Are you planning to take over the dormitory cleaning duties?”

Xia Xiaolan nearly surrendered with both hands raised: “I have important matters to attend to, but it will be better after this busy period.”

Whether truly busy or not, Yang Yonghong wasn’t concerned about that. She just had a big-sister personality, caring not only about Xia Xiaolan but everyone in the dormitory.

Xia Xiaolan was telling the truth. She only needed to confirm whether the Nanhai Hotel proposal would be approved, and then secure the loan. Before the Nanhai Hotel project started paying returns, she wouldn’t have enough capital for any major moves. The clothing store was under her mother’s supervision, providing a monthly income for their family.

Kang Wei waited for her far from the school gates. Her Citroën CX20 was now registered with complete documentation, ready for the road.

When they parked the car outside their Shichahai home, many neighbors peeked out to look.

“Another car!”

“Is it different from the last one?”

Old Man Zhao, carrying his birdcage, spat at them: “You ate at their celebration dinner, yet now you’re gossiping behind their backs? The Xia family has been kind enough to us, you all should mind your words.”

Old Man Zhao’s directness made the others feel embarrassed.

Some had wanted to point out that not only was the car different, but the young man accompanying Xia Xiaolan wasn’t the same one who had come with her to buy the house. That one had been quite handsome; this one was somewhat less so.

After being scolded by Old Man Zhao, they felt their thoughts were ungracious.

Mainly because the Xia family was generous – whenever anyone needed to borrow something, they never hesitated to help.

Xia Xiaolan paid no attention to these background discussions. She rushed into the house after getting out of the car, waiting for a phone call.

By now, there should be some results from Shenzhen, right?

…

On the morning of the 20th, Du Zhaohui arrived at the Nanhai Hotel with Tiancheng’s representative and Tang Yuanyue.

The bare concrete building looked quite ugly without decoration. With so many places in Shenzhen to choose from, why select this location for the shareholders’ meeting?

Du Zhaohui suddenly had a wild thought – with so many people, what if someone needed to use the bathroom?

When he shared this thought with Tang Yuanyue, the chairman laughed heartily: “Zhaohui, we’re not having the meeting here. Dongfeng suggested we take a look at the hotel first.”

Look at what?

The construction progress.

To see how the hotel’s main structure was complete, yet decoration work couldn’t begin due to shareholder disagreements.

A perfectly good project was being delayed – this was Huo Chenzhou’s psychological warfare!

Du Zhaohui followed Tang Yuanyue and met the representatives from China Merchants Group and HSBC Bank. After about fifteen minutes, a car with government plates arrived, followed by others.

“Mayor Tang has arrived.”

Tang Yuanyue stepped back half a step. “Zhaohui, you go in front.”

When the car stopped, Tang Hongen indeed emerged from the first vehicle. A young man stepped out from one of the following cars – Tang Yuanyue said this was Huo Chenzhou.

Du Zhaohui maintained a smile, though he knew without looking that Huo Chenzhou would be someone he disliked.

And he was right!

Du Zhaohui disliked all men taller than himself.

Huo Chenzhou had regular features and, with his tall stature, could be called handsome.

Everyone gathered around as Huo Chenzhou walked beside Tang Hongen, introducing the entire Nanhai Hotel project.

Others could only follow behind, accompanying Mayor Tang as he toured the empty concrete building.

Du Zhaohui followed at a moderate distance, noticing his bodyguard Ah Hua making eye signals. He fell back two steps, “What’s wrong?”

Ah Hua pointed to a thin, small man in the crowd: “Young Master, when you previously asked us to investigate Miss Xia Xiaolan, that man should be her uncle, Liu Yong.”

Why would Xia Xiaolan’s uncle be here?

Tiancheng’s representative knew Liu Yong, “Strange, what’s he doing here?”

“You know him too?”

Everyone seemed to know Xia Xiaolan’s uncle except him. Du Zhaohui observed Liu Yong – short, dark, and thin. They say nephews often resemble their uncles, but it was hard to connect Liu Yong with Xia Xiaolan.

“Young Master, this Liu Yong runs a building materials store and a decoration company. Previously, Liu Tianquan wanted to partner with him, but Liu Yong never agreed. Liu Tianquan even offered him part of the Xiangmihu Resort project, but he still backed out of the deal.”

Liu Tianquan had been very angry at the time but held back because of Mayor Tang. Later, when Young Master Du ousted Liu Tianquan, the matter of revenge against Liu Yong was forgotten.

Hearing that Liu Yong ran a decoration company, Du Zhaohui’s radar went into full alert.

“When Liu Tianquan wanted to partner with him, was it for the Nanhai Hotel decoration?”

“Because everyone said Liu Yong was Mayor Tang’s man. Although his company isn’t large, they previously decorated the Shenzhen Government Guesthouse, so Liu Tianquan wanted to partner with him…”

Du Zhaohui suddenly understood, “So his decoration company doesn’t qualify to take on the Nanhai Hotel decoration project independently, unless someone partners with him.”

Like Dongfeng Holdings!

So that was it.

Tang Hongen wasn’t helping Dongfeng Holdings; ultimately, he was helping Xia Xiaolan.

This woman was truly troublesome. Even while absent from Shenzhen, she could still create problems for him from afar.

Liu Tianquan’s thinking had been correct – partnering with Xia Xiaolan’s uncle was equivalent to securing Mayor Tang’s support. However, that fool Liu Tianquan hadn’t handled things well and had concealed such important intelligence from him, clearly not wanting things to work out well for him. Du Zhaohui had always rated Xia Xiaolan highly, but now he realized he had still underestimated her – he hadn’t expected her influence over Mayor Tang to be so significant!