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  Fang Yunyao, Fu Cheng and Niannian set off for Fang Yunyao’s hometown along with Fu Cheng’s parents on the seventh day of the new lunar year.

  If all went well, the wedding would take place after Fu Cheng’s graduation. At that time, Niannian might already be able to help carry the train of her mother’s wedding gown.

  The primary purpose of the Fu family’s visit was for Mr and Mrs Fu and Fu Cheng too to obtain forgiveness and understanding from Mr and Mrs Fang. While things had already been decided, it was still necessary for them to show their sincerity.

  Song Ni directly joined Happy Shoppers.

  Huang Yaming returned to Yanzhou on the same day, helping Tan Yao to look after the bar for a few days before rushing to Shenghai to attend the celebratory banquet of .

  Xu Tingsheng stayed at home, accompanying his parents and younger sister……

  On the seventh day of the new lunar year, Xiang Ning sat in a car, heading east from Yanzhou’s city district.

  The one driving was a woman with short hair in her mid-twenties. While not that pretty, she was very refreshing and seasoned.

  She was one of Xiang Ning’s cousins, the one who had been a policewoman in Xihu City. When Xu Tingsheng had been in Xihu City for Apple’s last performance before exiting showbiz, he had encountered her and even been interrogated by her.

  “Look, I wasn’t wrong, right? With his background and capabilities, him becoming your home tutor was already abnormal. It literally screamed ulterior motive. But he still simply refused to admit it to me then no matter what,” Her cousin said as she drove along.

  When girls turn seventeen, it just feels very different for them from when they were sixteen. It feels like: Wow, seventeen! I’ve really grown up!

  When Xiang Ning’s cousin had questioned Xu Tingsheng in the past, she had done so without alerting her to it. Despite having her suspicions from hearing about the two of them from relatives thereafter, she had also not asked her directly or said anything to her face.

  Still, with the start of this new lunar year, she no longer had any reservations when speaking of him.

  Mrs Xiang’s cousin’s family returned to Yanzhou to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

  Little Xiang Niang had originally been going to pay some house visits as per tradition with her parents. In the end, however, she was dragged out by her cousin right after lunch.

  Hearing her cousin talk about Xu Tingsheng and evoking memories of when he had been her home tutor, although Xiang Ning felt it to be a bit awkward, she still lowered her head, smiling blissfully to herself.

  Then, she averted her gaze and stared out of the window as she said, “Cousin Yanan, can you please not think of him as a bad guy? He, he isn’t bad. His ulterior motives aren’t bad motives.”


  “Aren’t bad motives? And he started cheating you at such a young age? Even your Mum and Dad weren’t able to guard against it,” Her cousin, Zhao Yanan, smiled wryly.

  Consolidating the previous rumours, some things Mr and Mrs Xiang had just said and Xiang Ning’s reaction, she could already basically deduce and ascertain the current state of affairs with her experience as a policewoman.

  “You can’t say he was cheating me……” As she was young and felt embarrassed, Xiang Ning could only defend Xu Tingsheng in a small voice.

  “That’s not important. Actually, I still can’t get it,” Zhao Yanan frowned, but then relaxed as she said, “But then again, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with that. For now, at least, I’ve really never seen many men treat a woman as well as he treats you before, putting in so much thought, time and effort. Even if he is cheating you, it’s the most sincere cheating the world’s ever seen.”


  She paused for a moment before saying slowly, “If it’s like this, most women in the world would probably even be willing to be fooled.”


  A joyful Xiang Ning nodded emphatically, as if feeling very proud of having gotten cheated.

  Then, she said, “Cousin Yanan, actually, you put him in a real tragic state before! After you reminded my parents, he wasn’t able to see me for over a year! My Mum and Dad were so fierce to him during that time.”


  “That happened?” The car screeched to a halt before the bridge as Zhao Yannan enquired rather nervously.

  “Yes,” Xiang Ning now recounted to her what Xu Tingsheng had faced and done over that period of time.

  Zhao Yanan was silent for a while before she extended a hand and gently stroked Little Xiang Ning’s head, “Looks like you’re really lucky. He was able to persist even when treated that way, and still do so much for you too……still, I’m probably doomed now.”


  “What? Why? Sis Yanan, why are you doomed? He has a very good temper; he won’t try to take revenge on you,” Xiang Ning felt rather perplexed.

  In her impression, Xu Tingsheng was not some petty, bad guy, especially not when the other party was her cousin.

  Zhao Yannan turned to look at Xiang Ning and smiled. She stepped on the gas pedal again.

  The car crossed the bridge. Within a few minutes, it was in front of the showroom area for Zhicheng’s Ning Garden.

  Winding down the window, Zhao Yanan peered outside before saying a bit dazedly, “That actually really is your Ning. Ning Garden, built for you……the design is great, beautiful, and construction is speedily underway as well……”


  Just a short distance away, the basic form of over a dozen buildings could already be seen.

  “Yup,” Xiang Ning nodded happily, feeling blissful as she always did when thinking of how it followed her name, “He said that this place must already be renovated by the time my school moves to the new school district. Because of that, however fast the school is being built, he will do it faster.”


  Hearing this, Zhao Yanan’s mind drifted off again: Was that young man a fool or smitten? Was her cousin here really that pretty as to warrant such doting and love that transcended all else?

  She could not really tell Xiang Ning some too ‘real world’ stuff, like how rushing the construction like this would actually have a much greater toll and also put more pressure on Xu Tingsheng’s finances.

  As her cousin stayed silent, Xiang Ning did not speak too. Her finger outstretched, she counted down the block that she would be residing in in the future.

  “Do you know why I said just now that I’m doomed, Little Ning?” Zhao Yanan eventually asked after hesitating for a time.

  “Huh? I don’t.”


  Zhao Yannan pointed rather awkwardly out of the window, “I’d like to live here too. This first phase of flats.”


  “That’s great!” Xiang Ning was excited, but then felt doubtful, “But don’t you work in Xihu City, Big Sis Yanan?”


  “I’m going to be transferred back here. My boyfriend is a Yanzhou local, a classmate from senior high. He works in the civil service here. Also, his family doesn’t really like me being a cop……so, I may be transferred back here after the New Year holidays, then switch to another unit. Then……marriage.”


  “Wah, a senior high classmate……” Little Xiang Ning’s focus was clearly on the wrong place.

  Zhao Yanan smiled, “Yeah, it really wasn’t easy, persisting for so many years. That’s why I’m willing to come back and change jobs. And then, and then we’d like to buy a new house for our marriage……your future brother-in-law decided on this place way back. I’m also very satisfied after seeing it today.”


  “Right. Here is the best. Teehee,” Xiang Ning nodded.

  “But he didn’t manage to buy it back then……the flats here are too difficult to buy, and he is only a minor employee,” Zhao Yanan said as she looked at Xiang Ning.

  Xiang Ning had basically gotten the gist of it.

  Zhao Yanan struck while the iron was hot, “We were going to give up at first. After all, we don’t know when the second phase of flats might come, and we can’t afford to wait. But then I came here this time, and I heard that the Ning here, and you……”


  Xiang Ning nodded.

  “And your brother-in-law asked around and heard that Zhicheng’s higher-ups may have some first phase flats remaining……so I asked you out today. I actually wanted to ask……rest assured, we’re not asking to pick a location and we also don’t need a discount,” Zhao Yanan looked rather awkward as she requested this.

  “Still, you said just now that I have put him in a real tragic state before……what should I do?”


  Her cousin was already putting it across very explicitly and evoked sympathy with how awkward she looked. Still, Xiang Ning did not dare to say yes in Xu Tingsheng’s stead for such a matter.

  It was not that she was afraid Xu Tingsheng might be petty and bear a grudge against her cousin. Instead……she had actually known long ago that a few flats still remained. Fu Cheng would definitely be buying one, and Xu Tingsheng might also have a need for the remainder.

  “I’ll ask him about it later, okay?” Xiang Ning looked at her cousin.

  “Alright,” Zhao Yanan nodded happily.

  Perhaps Xiang Ning did not know her own worth, but as Zhao Yanan saw it, if Xiang Ning was the one asking, as long as Xu Tingsheng really had some flats left, there shouldn’t be much of a problem here.

  As for why the flat that Xiang Ning’s eldest uncle’s family wanted had never come to fruition, it was because they despicably only had discounts on their minds. Xiang Ning was unwilling to ask on their behalf, and her parents were also not thick-skinned enough to do so.

  “Make haste when he comes then?” Zhao Yanan asked.

  “Yeah, he should be coming to Yanzhou in a few days,” Xiang Ning said.

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