That wouldn’t do. She had to hurry and call the chauffeur to take her home so that she could rub eggs on her eyes to reduce the swelling.

  Her mom was right. Wang Yang had a good background. As long as the Zhu family’s inheritance was settled, Wang Yang’s conditions would only get better. She couldn’t afford to let a vixen take her place. She had to ensure that she was in tip-top condition at any moment.

  Forget it. She had better not head home to rub her eyes with eggs. It would be better for her to go straight to the beauty salon.

  When Li Yayan returned from the beauty salon, it was almost dinnertime for Wang Yang. “Why are you back so late? Were you with Qiao Nan the whole time?” Hadn’t she said that Qiao Nan had classes in the afternoon? Had Qiao Nan skipped class just to spend time with Li Yayan?

  If that was the case, Wang Yang would have to teach Li Yayan a lesson. No matter how good their relationship was, they couldn’t do that! The Zhai family definitely wanted Qiao Nan to upgrade herself so that she wouldn’t be an embarrassment to them. The Zhai family would definitely not stand in the way of Qiao Nan making friends. But if Li Yayan was a bad influence, they would definitely find a way to separate her from Qiao Nan!

  In fact, Qiao Nan might not even dare to talk to Li Yayan in the future if the Zhai family were to say something. If they went too far with their actions, it would only backfire.

  \r \r \r

  “I wanted to, but Qiao Nan had classes in the afternoon. If not for her afternoon classes, I might not even have gotten the chance to have lunch with her. I had too much fun chatting with her, so I decided to go to the beauty salon in the afternoon.”

  Wang Yang had indeed smelled a fragrance that wasn’t present at home on Li Yayan. As such, he knew that Li Yayan was not lying. However, Wang Yang couldn’t understand the logic behind Li Yayan visiting the beauty salon because she had had too much fun with Qiao Nan. “How was it with Qiao Nan today?” Wang Yang didn’t care about anything else. All he cared about was how close Li Yayan had gotten to Qiao Nan.

  Li Yayan winked at Wang Yang and gestured an ‘okay’ sign. “Qiao Nan refused to have a meal with me the previous two times, but today, she agreed to have lunch with me!”

  Wang Yang finally let out a smile toward Li Yayan. “Not bad. But I’d better remind you about something. I received a text today and it seems like Qiao Zijin has already bought a ticket to the capital. I’m sure you know what that means. I didn’t force you to break off your ties with your family even after getting married, and I’ve always been helping your family out too. But there’s a limit to everything. Your family’s lives in the future will depend on how capable you are and how much effort you put in.”

  There weren’t many men who liked women who always helped their own families out, and neither did he. In the past, Li Yayan had had to sacrifice her own interests if she wanted to help her own family out. As such, Wang Yang had never cared much about it. But Wang Yang would never tolerate anything more than that. He had never been a generous person anyway.

  A year ago, Li Yayan had discussed with Wang Yang about giving her brother a sum of money to make a down payment on a house. At that time, Wang Yang had not even uttered a word. His expression was clear enough to show his stance. It was true that that sum of money didn’t mean much to the Wang family, but money didn’t grow on trees.

  Why should his sister and brother-in-law have to pay for his down payment if his own parents couldn’t afford it? That made no sense!

  Of course, the moment she heard that Qiao Zijin headed for the capital, Li Yayan became nervous. The five million yuan determined whether her brother could buy a house and a car to get a wife and whether her parents would get a grandchild this year. The money belonged to their family, and no matter what, she wouldn’t allow Qiao Zijin to have it. “Don’t worry, dear. I have my eye on Qiao Nan. Not only did we have lunch together today, but we even chatted for over an hour! I believe that it won’t be long before we become friends.”

  Wang Yang nodded. “Yayan, do you know why you’re better than Qiao Zijin?”

  “Yes, because Qiao Zijin’s relationship with Qiao Nan is worse than that between strangers. Although I’ve only met Qiao Nan, I’m sure that Qiao Nan has more trust in me and is more willing to get close to me than Qiao Zijin. So, I’m sure that I have a higher chance of winning than Qiao Zijin, even though she may be Qiao Nan’s sister.” Li Yayan was clear about that.

  If not for the fact that the relationship between Qiao Zijin and Qiao Nan was so atrocious, she would never have had the confidence of being able to get the five million yuan back from Qiao Zijin. When it came to Qiao Nan, she had much more confidence in herself than Qiao Zijin. If Qiao Zijin could do it, she would definitely be able to do it much more easily.

  Since she had a higher likelihood of succeeding, there was no way Li Yayan was going to give up on that five million yuan before Qiao Zijin gave up.

  Wang Yang patted Li Yayan’s elbow, agreeing with her.

  Qiao Zijin had absolutely no idea that Wang Yang had betrayed her and had even tasked his wife with such a mission of getting the five million yuan back after seeking her out. Having endured a tough year in Ping Cheng, Qiao Zijin couldn’t wait to be back in the capital and to get the ten million yuan.

  With ten million yuan, she wouldn’t have to suffer anymore even if she couldn’t stay in the capital and be forced to return to Ping Cheng. When that time came, she wouldn’t even bother about her parents even if they came begging her. Hadn’t they favored Qiao Nan all along? Since that was the case, they had better not think of taking advantage of her once she got rich.

  Despite making that promise to herself, Qiao Zijin’s expression did not lighten. She gazed out toward the prosperous capital and her stubbornness was apparent in her gaze. It didn’t matter. She would depend on her own efforts and hard work to earn the ten million yuan. Then, she would live her own carefree life.

  At that moment, Qiao Zijin’s phone rang. She took it out to see that Ding Jiayi had texted her. “Have you arrived in the capital safely?”

  Qiao Zijin let out a cold sneer, with no intention of replying to Ding Jiayi’s message. If her mom was so worried about her, why had she refused to make the trip with her no matter how much she had asked?

  If her mom really loved her, she should have taken the initiative to accompany her to the capital and persuade Qiao Nan to accept Wang Yang’s proposal. She had been forced to come to the capital alone and fight the battle alone and yet, her mom was now being a hypocrite and asking about her. How disgusting!