Mr Xiang stopped his wife, asking rather helplessly, “If you won’t say anything at all, how can you know that it’s us who are bullying him and him who’s wrongfully suffering, as opposed to him being the one who is cheating you?”


  “He would think of even such a method……” Mrs Xiang took the contract out from her bag and threw it on the table, questioning as she pointed at it, “You are worth just this? A single flat?”


  Under such circumstances, it would be easier to accept if Xu Tingsheng was poorer. Yet, the current Xu Tingsheng was relatively wealthy……as a result, the pride of Mr and Mrs Xiang was wounded as their wariness correspondingly rose greatly too……

  Meanwhile, their impression of Xu Tingsheng naturally worsened.

  Little Xiang Ning had already admitted that Xu Tingsheng was related to their acquisition of that flat. She was actually willing to explain the situation to her parents in detail too……still, Mrs Xiang had spoken like this again and again, implying that Xu Tingsheng wished to exchange that flat for her.

  Little Xiang Ning’s self-esteem was hurt as a result. Feeling that Xu Tingsheng was really suffering too great an injustice, her stubbornness now rose completely to the surface.

  “I’m worth a hundred flats.”


  Little Xiang Ning got up and walked over to their house’s landline phone, dialling a number and turning on the speaker……

  Not knowing what she wanted to do, Mr and Mrs Xiang simply watched her.

  Previously, Xu Tingsheng had just heard the sound of Mr and Mrs Xiang entering the room and questioning Little Xiang Ning over the phone. Right after that, Little Xiang Ning had hung up. Anxiety had overtaken him as he was stressed out and hesitant over whether he should give Xiang Ning’s parents a call and explain things to them or even go straight over to plead guilty.

  As his ringtone sounded now, he picked up the call at once.

  “Hey, Xu Tingsheng,” Little Xiang Ning said into the phone as she sobbed, “Mum says that I’m worth more than just one flat. How about a hundred flats then?”


  There was no way Xu Tingsheng could know that Xiang Ning was making this call in front of her parents. He thought that after having taken a scolding, she was seeking solace from him behind her parents’ backs.

  “Okay, just calm down. Don’t be mad with your Mum and Dad. First, tell me: what’s the situation like now?” Xu Tingsheng asked gently.

  Little Xiang Ning anxiously pressed, “No, I’m being serious here. If you have to trade a hundred flats for me, would that be fine?”


  “Yes,” Xu Tingsheng could only coax her.

  “Do you have that many?” Xiang Ning was in no way jesting at all as she asked him earnestly.

  “I do,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “Will you willingly trade them for me then? I, I don’t think I’m worth so much money……” Little Xiang Ning was crying like some child who was really going to be sold away by her parents.

  “I would do it. I have 23 percent of the shares of this real estate corporation. That amounts to more than a hundred flats, actually. How about I use them all to trade for you?” If Xu Tingsheng knew that Mr and Mrs Xiang were listening to this conversation from the side, he would probably throw himself into the wall headfirst to die.

  “You’d really be willing?”


  “Really.”


  “Prepare the flats then. I’ll come look for you in a while.”


  Little Xiang Ning hung up and returned to sit down across from her parents.

  “Ask whatever you want to ask. When you’re done with that, I’ll be off to look for Xu Tingsheng,” Little Xiang Ning said with a serious, solemn expression on her face.

  Believing that she was really about to leave for good, she felt sad and burst into tears at the thought of having to leave her parents, sobbing, “I’ll come back to look after you and be filial to you in the future. I’ll call you every week too……well, I can come back to visit you every week……will you, will you miss me?”


  Mr and Mrs Xiang were helplessly taken aback by their daughter’s abrupt outpouring of genuine emotions and rendered at a loss as to what to do.

  Affected by her emotions, Mrs Xiang began shedding tears as well.

  Seeing his wife and daughter like this, Mr Xiang blinked as it felt as if he really was going to sell his daughter. He smiled wryly, wiping away the moisture from the corner of his eye as he said, “Stop being so hasty in selling yourself away. Tell us what the matter of the flat is about first……”


  Little Xiang Ning was very forthright in revealing all she knew about Xu Tingsheng’s plans now as she ultimately concluded, “He didn’t want the two of you to find out about it. It was you who fooled me and found out about it yourselves……just how did he have any bad intentions……”


  “Not wanting to let us know and only letting you know, isn’t that also because……” Mrs Xiang paused, realising with a start that Little Xiang Ning seemed to have no actual sense of money and whatnot at all, meaning that if Xu Tingsheng was doing so to cheat her and get on her good side, this seemed like a pretty stupid method……

  Maybe even that bear was preferable to Little Xiang Ning, being better used in winning her over. There was no need to pay such a steep price at all.

  “What could he be thinking then?”


  Mr and Mrs Xiang exchanged looks, just unable to wrap their heads around it. Could it be that he intended to use this flat to metaphorically hold them hostage in the future? But that wouldn’t make sense! The contract was in their possession, and he should also be aware that they could simply give up on the flat at most……

  The smart, brilliant Xu Tingsheng had such a blatant, gaping loophole in his scheme?

  The two of them were left perplexed.

  “He didn’t even want me to know about it. He tried to hide it from me too. The lucky draw ticket was originally supposed to be switched out with the one drawn by you with the help of that Lin whatever Xian person. Then, it was only because I guessed that he was behind this that he let me be his spy,” Little Xiang Ning said, very liberal with her information now that she would soon be leaving this place.

  “He wanted to hide it even from you? You mean that he originally hoped that all of us would not know about this at all?” Mrs Xiang asked.

  “Yes,” Little Xiang Ning nodded.

  “How did you find out about it then? And when?” Mr Xiang asked.

  “On the day we went to view the flat. I guessed it, and then I called him,” Little Xiang Ning said.

  “You guessed it? How?”


  Little Xiang Ning hesitated for a time at this. Little Pert Waist was a no-go as was all that other mushy stuff.

  Little Xiang Ning sorted out her thoughts, venturing, “That place is called Ning Garden……then, I promised him before that I would definitely make it into a first-tier senior high……then, outside the sales building on that day, Mum said that the old school district for the first-tier senior high’s just across the bridge, with the new district being even closer and visible with just a single glance……I then realised it at once. Our house is very far away from there, right? You didn’t want me to tire myself out too much, and he can naturally think of that too.”


  “You could guess it from just that?”


  “Yes, because I know that he will treat me that well,” Little Xiang Ning said with utter certainty.

  “I know that he will treat me that well?” Mr and Mrs Xiang exchanged looks.

  “Could it be that it was only to make it more convenient for Little Ning to attend senior high? For such a simple reason, he built Ning Garden, next maneuvering tirelessly behind the scenes just because he was afraid that we would be unable to accept it?”


  If this really was the case, Mr and Mrs Xiang could understand why he had kept it totally under wraps like this. The two of them had still held a tough stance towards him then. Not doing so would, on the contrary, mean that this might likely fall through as a result.

  “Why does it feel like we’ve been rather harsh on the kid……”


  Whatever the case, it was a definite thing that the Ning from Ning Garden was the very Ning from Xiang Ning as he had built such beautiful flats in dedication to her. Even Mr Xiang himself had previously said that if this real estate venture was really by Xu Tingsheng for Little Ning, that would truly mean a great show of sincerity indeed.

  “Xu Tingsheng really treasures Little Ning to this extent?”’


  Seeing that her parents were no longer saying anything, Little Xiang Ning dabbed at her tears and stood up, new tears immediately falling to replace them as she said miserably, “Well, now that you’re done with the questions, Mum and Dad, I’ll be going now. I’ll come back to visit you next time……”


  “Where do you think you’re going?” Mrs Xiang did not know whether to laugh or to cry, “You’re going nowhere.”


  “He will deliver the flats as promised. We keep by our promises.”


  “.……We don’t want them. Even a thousand flats wouldn’t be okay.”


  Looking at her mother, an aggrieved Little Xiang Ning asked indignantly, “Why are you suddenly upping the price?”