“Then I’ll invite Jiang Yan.”

After Pan Baohua had devoured all the bread on the table, Xia Xiaolan finally snapped back to attention.

“I’ll invite Jiang Yan. I’ll tell her to stop playing games and bring the original evidence for Third Brother’s case appeal. She’ll come!”

This wasn’t Xia Xiaolan being arrogant.

While she couldn’t summon others, she could certainly summon Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan looked down on her, believing she wasn’t worthy of Zhou Cheng.

If Xia Xiaolan wasn’t worthy of Zhou Cheng, then who was?

Xia Xiaolan had been saving face by not pointing this out, but that didn’t mean she didn’t understand. Let Miss Jiang demonstrate her capabilities – surely Jiang Yan would be delighted to crush and humiliate Xia Xiaolan.

But Jiang Yan might not think this way.

Jiang Yan presented herself as pure and noble, supposedly unaware of gender differences, not seeing herself as a woman.

After maintaining it for so long, the pretense had become real.

But if she truly didn’t recognize gender differences, why did she keep following Zhou Cheng to the academy?

If she wanted to help Pan Third Brother, why not just give the original documents to Zhou Cheng if she couldn’t find Pan Third Brother? Truly noble people don’t play such games. Jiang Yan could deceive herself, claiming to be Zhou Cheng’s ‘buddy,’ but her feelings for Zhou Cheng were obvious to everyone around them.

Therefore, without Zhou Cheng’s invitation, if Xia Xiaolan invited her, she would certainly come.

Xia Xiaolan was confident, and neither Zhou Cheng nor Pan Baohua could argue.

Women could be reasonable one moment and unreasonable the next – there was no point arguing about this. They could deal with it if the invitation failed.

Xia Xiaolan knew the academy’s phone number and called directly from the hotel, asking for Jiang Yan this time.

Half an hour later, the call came back. Xia Xiaolan answered decisively:

“Jiang Yan? I’m waiting for you in Pengcheng. Bring whatever evidence you have – I can arrange for you to meet Pan Third Brother… Of course, you have to get past me first. Without Zhou Cheng’s permission, how would I know you have evidence? Are you afraid to meet me?… Good, I’ll be waiting in Pengcheng!”

She hung up with a sharp click, both men in the room staring at her.

Xia Xiaolan spread her hands:

“Women can solve problems efficiently too. I’m not concerned about Jiang Wu – I invited Jiang Yan, and I’m telling you she’ll come to see me.”

Ah, Xia Xiaolan had predicted all of Jiang Yan’s reactions.

Pan Baohua felt somewhat sorry for Jiang Yan.

Zhou Cheng wasn’t on Jiang Yan’s side, and Xia Xiaolan was so clever – the chances of stealing him away were too low. Jiang Yan hadn’t seemed this foolish when she was on the front lines before.

Did even the smartest women become foolish when it came to love?

Then why was Sister-in-law Xiaolan still so clever?

Pan Baohua pondered.

Some people looked thuggish with a shaved head – Pan Baohua, with the scar on his eyelid, looked especially dangerous.

Ke Yixiong’s gangster type couldn’t compare to Pan Third Brother. Without strong convictions, Pan Third Brother wouldn’t have survived in the complex Min Province – he must be a fierce bandit!

When he was deep in thought, he truly emanated killing intent.

The journey back to Pengcheng with Pan Baohua was incredibly peaceful – not even a mosquito dared fly near Xia Xiaolan.

What kind of person could live with Third Brother?

Xia Xiaolan wondered what kind of woman that would be.

Probably someone like Sister Bai.

When it came to disregarding femininity and gender distinctions, Jiang Yan couldn’t compare to Bai Zhenzhu.

Comrade Bai Zhenzhu was a true warrior, dealing with all sorts of people in Pengcheng’s small commodities market, building up the construction materials store without any family background support. In Yangcheng, even the Bai Family Martial Arts School’s reputation didn’t carry weight anymore, let alone in Pengcheng.

Those who wouldn’t submit would be beaten into submission!

In this aspect, Bai Zhenzhu and Pan Baohua were quite similar.

Looking at these two, Xia Xiaolan was reminded of the phrase “jianghu men and women don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Xia Xiaolan’s mind wandered with such thoughts back to Pengcheng.

She had originally planned to return after the symposium in Jiangcheng, just in time for the branch store’s opening.

Who knew the symposium would be eventful, with Nie Weiguo’s provocation?

After the meeting, Zhou Cheng had come, they’d taken a water route from Jiangcheng to Jinling, then spent two days in Shanghai. By the time Xia Xiaolan returned to Pengcheng, it was already August, and the branch store had naturally long since opened.

Both Shao Guangrong and Kang Wei were still in Pengcheng. They were delighted to see Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan return together.

After his initial joy, Kang Wei became nervous, unconsciously trying to hide behind Xia Xiaolan, hoping Sister-in-law Xiaolan might save him.

Pan Baohua grabbed his arm and pulled him forward:

“What are you hiding for? Zhou Cheng won’t eat you! Don’t worry, Third Brother will protect you!”

Kang Wei’s face fell.

Third Brother couldn’t be his bodyguard forever. Once Third Brother left, he’d still have to face Brother Chengzi.

Kang Wei struggled to break free from Pan Baohua. “I need to talk to Sister-in-law Xiaolan.”

Third Brother wasn’t as useful as Sister-in-law Xiaolan.

Kang Wei pulled Xia Xiaolan aside. “Sister-in-law, let’s talk seriously. While you were in Jiangcheng, guess who came looking for you?”

Who?

Mayor Tang or Ji Jiangyuan?

It couldn’t be George and Ji Ya.

Xia Xiaolan really couldn’t guess.

“That gang leader from Yangcheng, surname Ke, remember him?”

“Ke Yixiong is in Pengcheng?”

Strange, what was Ke Yixiong doing in Pengcheng?

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t dealt with him for a long time, except for their last encounter in Yangcheng when Ke Yixiong told her that Chen Xiliang’s former brother-in-law wanted to harm her. Ke Yixiong’s men had refused the job and discouraged them.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t hidden this from Chen Xiliang.

She didn’t know how Chen Xiliang handled it, but his ex-wife’s family hadn’t bothered her since.

This was Xia Xiaolan’s only recent interaction with Ke Yixiong.

Xia Xiaolan quickly grasped the key point. “Why Ke Yixiong is in Pengcheng isn’t important – what matters is why he came looking for me.”

Talk about bad timing – why now when both Zhou Cheng and Pan Third Brother were here? Zhou Cheng had forgotten about this gang leader – was this forcing Zhou Cheng to remember how Ke Yixiong had wanted to “be friends” with her?

Kang Wei shared Xia Xiaolan’s thoughts.

Of all times to come looking, he had to pick now – wasn’t that unlucky?

Kang Wei chuckled: “Sister-in-law, you’re wrong about one thing – his reason for being in Pengcheng is quite important. This Boss Ke somehow got in Du Zhaohui’s good graces. These past two months he’s been thriving in Pengcheng, taking on construction projects and debris transport. He’s had several gang fights with local thugs and now commands quite a following. He’s reinvented himself as Businessman Ke!”

Xia Xiaolan’s expression turned serious.

In that case, it was indeed relevant.

Xia Xiaolan had decided to follow Harold’s lead, trying to benefit from his golf course investment plan by selecting about a hundred mu of land to build several buildings as a trial.

And Ke Yixiong happened to be contracting construction sites?

Kang Wei mentioned he’d gotten close to Du Zhaohui – Ke Yixiong must be contracting for Zhengrong Group’s projects.

Strange how these two had ended up working together.

“Did he say why he was looking for me?”

Kang Wei’s smile turned peculiar. “He said he wanted to partner with you to make money.”

Hmph, he just wanted to take advantage of Sister-in-law! His sister-in-law had always been the one helping others make money. For a mere gang leader to brazenly claim he could help Sister-in-law Xiaolan make money!