Tang Zhelan swallowed. What did her cousin want from her this time? Hadn't she distanced herself from their family and Tang Enterprise?

  But that's absurd. More than ever, she certainly didn't want to get involved with the messy situation the Tang family was in. She was done with them already, so there's no reason for Tang Moyu to seek her.

  The last time she and Tang Moyu had spoken, the empress had taught her a lesson never to drag her children to their dysfunctional family. Tang Zhelan regretted speaking those words. She wouldn't have tried to insult Tang Moyu's twins had her parents didn't put her under constant pressure leading to their meeting that day.

  Still, she should have known better not to drag her niece and nephew to their family feud. They certainly didn't deserve it, even if they both bore the Tang family name.

  "Are you going to read it? It must be important if Miss Moyu troubled herself to find you and send you this," Zhao Feng said.

  "I didn't realize I was that easy to read," Tang Zhelan muttered and ripped the envelope open. She took the sheets with elegant handwriting on them.

  Dear Tang Zhelan,

  I heard you left Shenzhen even before I could set another meeting with you. From what I heard from your parents, you were missing, but I knew better… Anyway, it's not my place to voice out your reasons. I tried to call you, but I couldn't get through to you at all, hence I need to hire someone to locate you.

  She frowned as she worked her way through the letter. How come Tang Moyu was able to find her this quick, while her parents were taking their sweet time to find her?

  I'm writing because we've been trying to reach you. The audit within the company is finally done, and it's important for me to talk to you. Call me whenever you get a chance. You'll find my private number at the end of this page.

  Tang Zhelan's hands trembled. What was so important that Tang Moyu wanted to speak to her? Whatever the empress wanted to talk about must be serious. Their last encounter had gone ugly when she lost her composure and snapped at Tang Moyu.

  She re-read the letter again, slowly and carefully this time to ensure that she hadn't misunderstood anything in her cousin's letter, while Zhao Feng fidgeted across her. But she didn't find anything off.

  Tang Zhelan then checked the other papers accompanying the letter, and her eyes slightly widened in shock. It was a deed of sale of the shares she currently had with Tang Enterprise. The clauses indicated the amount Tang Moyu was willing to pay for the shares she owned, and it wasn't an offer anyone could easily ignore.

  "What's wrong? Did something happen? Is she coming after you?" Zhao Feng asked worriedly. The other members of the board had been filed with several lawsuits. If Tang Moyu was to sue Tang Zhelan, it would be an expensive battle on the latter's part.

  Because Tang Zhelan refused to marry the man her parents arranged for her, this only meant that she could only rely on herself. She didn't want nor need a rich man who could take care of her.

  "She has a proposal to make. The audit in the company is also finished," she answered him.

  Stiil, Tang Moyu's offer was an opportunity for her to live better on better terms. What's the use of keeping the shares of the company with her if she had no use for it? It would be foolish to waste this kind of opportunity to increase her funds just because of her pride.

  She put the letter and the deed back into the envelope. She hugged herself and looked outside the balcony where she could see the branches of the trees swayed smoothly as the breeze came.

  "Is it good news or not?" Zhao Feng furrowed his brows. He knew well that the relationship between the Tang cousins wasn't good ever since they were younger.

  Tang Zhelan then turned her gaze towards him and wondered why he cared too much about her. She studied Zhao Feng under her eyelashes, giving him an assessing look. His features lacked the refinement of the men she dated in the past, but there was something about the casual, confident way he held himself that attracted several women.

  She wasn't that blind to see that Zhao Feng had a fair share of admirers even when he was still working in her Tang family household. He could easily get along well with people, and they liked being with him.

  Zhao Feng was wearing the inn's black uniform with his sleeves rolled up, revealing strong forearms. His calloused hands were big, his fingers long and thick. Compared to Tang Zhelan's well-manicured ones, it was obvious that he'd done a lot of work by just looking at his hands.

  Zhao Feng never shied away from doing household chores and gardening, something men she had met in the past would never do on their own. Of course, with the money they had, they would have just allowed somebody else to take care of the tasks that they deemed beneath them.

  While the men she dated before wore custom-made clothes, Zhao Feng could be seen wearing plain cotton, and things one could easily purchase from ready to wear stores.

  She didn't date them because she was attracted to them. Tang Zhelan would date the most popular man in their class because they had something that could boost her reputation. She would never date a man because of love.

  A Tang daughter like her and Tang Moyu were expected to marry a man not because of love, but out of their family's interest to strengthen their ties with other families.