DLWAV CH115

But the very next second, Sun Xiuji heard Sun Jianhong say, “Then Professor Zheng, Boss Li, you two can stay in the two rooms downstairs.”

“Brother Zhao, Little Brother Xiao… you two take the second floor.”

“Brother Zhang, you’ll stay on the third floor… Xiuji, take Uncle Zhang up.”

Sun Xiuji: “…”

Because there were only two rooms on the third floor: his own room, and a guest room.

So Sun Jianhong was clearly arranging for Ao Ruize to stay in the room right next to his.

And in that TV drama, the uncle lived in the room right next to the nephew, which gave the uncle the opportunity to secretly drug the nephew and then break into his room in the middle of the night…

But the next second, Sun Xiuji snapped back to his senses.

Why was his mind wandering in that direction again?

He immediately pulled his attention back: “Uncle Zhang, please follow me.”

Ao Ruize: “…”

Fine, uncle it is then.

It wasn’t like they were actually related, right?

As for the promise that he would be on his best behavior in this world and wouldn’t go around seducing anyone—he would absolutely keep his word.

After all, he was the dignified Dragon Lord; how could he be shameless enough to tease a little milk dumpling?

Thinking this, he directly followed Sun Xiuji upstairs.

And so, the night passed uneventfully.

So much so that when he woke up the next morning, Sun Xiuji inexplicably felt a sense of emptiness in his heart.

It was as if something that was supposed to happen, hadn’t.

Right at that moment, he suddenly heard a burst of commotion coming from the courtyard.

“Brother Zhang, taking a swim first thing in the morning is incredibly refreshing, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

“And my little garden here, pretty well-maintained, right?”

…

Sun Xiuji got out of bed and walked over to the balcony to take a look.

He saw that down in the swimming pool, Sun Jianhong was swimming with Professor Zheng and the others.

Sun Jianhong and the rest were one thing—after all, they were either seniors in their sixties and seventies or middle-aged men who had long since developed paunches. But one couldn’t ignore the fact that right in their midst was Ao Ruize, whose age and physique were both in their absolute prime.

Of course, the main reason was that Sun Xiuji had taken very good care of his eyes and still didn’t have myopia even now. So with a single glance, the scene in the swimming pool was practically laid bare before him.

Even the parts he couldn’t see clearly, he could still make out the general outline.

Sun Xiuji: “…”

That TV drama only mentioned that the uncle would sneak into the nephew’s room in the middle of the night. It never said that the nephew would wake up the next morning to see the uncle swimming in the pool wearing nothing but a pair of briefs.

Sun Xiuji’s Adam’s apple couldn’t help but bob up and down.

But exactly at this moment, Sun Jianhong climbed out of the pool: “Alright, the kitchen should have breakfast ready by now. Let’s go eat first.”

Hearing this, the others also climbed ashore one after another.

Including Ao Ruize.

Sun Xiuji: “…”

He suddenly felt like his dad was a bit of a third wheel.

But unexpectedly, after breakfast, Sun Jianhong suddenly received a phone call from his own father, saying that an old friend of his had returned, and asked him to go pick them up at the airport in his stead.

Sun Jianhong could only say to Ao Ruize, “I’m really sorry, Brother Zhang. I’m afraid I won’t have time to drive you back on my end.”

Then, as if thinking of something, he turned his head to look at Sun Xiuji: “Xiuji, didn’t you say you were going on a business trip to Qian City today? Why don’t you help me drive Brother Zhang back then?”

Ao Ruize naturally had no objections.

Sun Xiuji also nodded: “Alright.”

And so, the matter was settled just like that.

Right before they left, as if remembering something else, Sun Jianhong added, “Oh right, if any of you want to keep something from the antiques we collected this time for your own collections, feel free to pick two pieces.”

So Ao Ruize went ahead and picked out a paperweight and a red jadeite archer’s thumb ring.

Seeing that after getting into the car, Ao Ruize just sat obediently in his seat without the slightest intention of flirting with Sun Xiuji, the majority of the tension in the milk dumpling’s heart finally dissipated.

Along with this, its favorability toward Ao Ruize also surged by a large margin.

Although Ao Ruize used to be a bit of a scumbag, he was at least willing to change, and could actually walk the talk.

Wasn’t this much better than those guys who hollered about quitting smoking every day, only to end up increasing their smoking volume from one pack a day to three packs a day?

So it shifted its attention to admiring Sun Xiuji’s beauty: “Wu wu wu, this nose, these eyes, these collarbones…”

“I really want to bury my face in them… My wife is so good-looking. As expected, my taste is as excellent as ever.”

Ao Ruize: “…”

That was indeed true.

But the sense of emptiness in Sun Xiuji’s heart inexplicably grew larger and larger.

To the point where he couldn’t focus on the financial report in his hands no matter how hard he tried.

He thought to himself, That TV drama really was a bit too detached from real life.

For example, it never wrote about a scene where the uncle and the nephew were sitting in the same car.

If it were in a setting like this… the uncle would definitely try every possible means to take advantage of the nephew, wouldn’t he?

For instance, taking advantage of a bump in the road to throw himself right onto the nephew and pin him beneath him.

Who knew that right at this moment, the driver would suddenly wrench the steering wheel hard. Sun Xiuji, caught off balance, was thrown directly into Ao Ruize’s embrace.

Sun Xiuji: “…”

Ao Ruize: “…”

Milk dumpling: “…”

Almost simultaneously, the driver’s voice rang out: “Apologies, boss, two stray dogs suddenly dashed out in front of us…”

But at this moment, who had the mind to care about what the driver was saying?

All Sun Xiuji could think about was—

Wasn’t the uncle supposed to throw himself at the nephew?

Isn’t this completely backward?

But that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was, he knew his eyes had been well taken care of—because the outline he saw from the balcony that morning was indeed flawlessly accurate.

However, before Ao Ruize could react, the milk dumpling’s shriek echoed out: “…What are you doing?”

“Let go of my wife right now—”

Ao Ruize: “…”

What could Ao Ruize do? Ao Ruize could only let go of Sun Xiuji.

“Are you alright?”

“Cough, cough.”

Sun Xiuji reluctantly withdrew the hand he had placed on Ao Ruize’s lower half and sat up straight: “My apologies, Uncle Zhang.”

Ao Ruize: “It’s fine.”

After that, Ao Ruize didn’t say another word, and the milk dumpling’s raised heart finally settled back into place.

After all, this was just an accident.

But Sun Xiuji’s heart couldn’t calm down for a long, long time.

To the point where he even forgot when Ao Ruize got out of the car.

At almost the exact same time, at the Zhao family home.

The moment Zhao Cheng saw Father Zhao return, he couldn’t wait to ask, “Dad, how did it go?”

Father Zhao immediately replied, “With your dad personally taking action, were you worried things wouldn’t get done?”

He said, “Zhao Weizhi has already sold the residential plot to me.”

“The certificate will be processed and ready by this afternoon.”

Zhao Cheng instantly burst into loud laughter: “Fantastic.”

The Zhao Weizhi he spoke of was none other than the previous owner of Zhang Qingyan’s house.

There was no such thing as presale properties in the urban village; they were all limited property rights houses that could only be circulated among the villagers. Purchase contracts signed with people from outside the village were not protected by law.

Including the house Zhang Qingyan owned.

And Zhang Qingyan clearly knew this as well. That was why, when she bought the house back then, she didn’t hesitate to spend a hefty sum to hire a third-party agency as a witness. They also stipulated that if Zhao Weizhi breached the contract, not only would he have to refund the entire purchase price, but he would also have to pay an additional sum equal to the purchase price as a penalty for breach of contract.

But no one could have predicted that within just these past few years, the subway line would extend into the urban village, the best hospital in Qian City would plan to build an affiliated hospital right next to it, and a rather famous key school in Qian City would also prepare to relocate to the urban village. As a result, the land value in the urban village more than doubled outright.

For Zhao Weizhi, if he chose to breach the contract and take the house back, he could make an extra hundred thousand or so.

If he chose to transfer the property rights of that house to them, he could make over a million more—and this transaction would be protected by law.

So how could Zhao Weizhi not be tempted?

—Zhang Qingyan could indeed take Zhao Weizhi to court.

But Zhao Weizhi’s family had already emigrated and settled abroad.

Unless she was willing to spend another several hundred thousand to a million, along with countless amounts of energy, to fight a transnational lawsuit, there was absolutely no way she could recover the purchase money and the penalty fee.

And for them, it wouldn’t be long before the urban village was marked for demolition—this was news Father Zhao had heard from his younger brother, who worked as a clerk in the village.

In other words, by buying Zhao Weizhi’s house now, not only could they drive the Zhang siblings out of the urban village like two stray dogs, but they could also make an extra seven or eight hundred thousand, which perfectly covered the sum of money Ao Ruize had scammed from them back then.

What did it mean to kill two birds with one stone? This was it.

The smugness on Zhao Cheng’s face instantly deepened: “Zhang Ruize, Zhang Qingyan, you two are finished.”

And so, early the next morning, Zhao Cheng led the people of the Zhao family and stormed the Zhang family home.

Because it was Saturday, Zhang Qingyan happened to be at home.

Upon learning the purpose of Zhao Cheng’s visit, and catching a glimpse of the freshly issued real estate property rights certificate in his hand, Zhang Qingyan only felt her vision go dark.

The surrounding onlookers burst into an even greater uproar.

Old Mrs. Zhang and the others immediately yelled out in anger, “Zhao Cheng, Zhao Li, Zhao Mingde… can’t you guys act like decent human beings?”

“The face of the old Zhao family, the face of Zhao Family Village—you guys are about to throw it all away completely!”

If Zhao Cheng could be swayed by a few weightless words like these, then he wouldn’t be Zhao Cheng.

So his expression didn’t change in the slightest.

Looking at Zhang Qingyan, he held up two fingers: “For the sake of the fact that we’ve been neighbors for so many years, I can give you two days.”

“Within two days, you must move out. Otherwise, don’t blame us for throwing you out directly.”

“Hahahaha.”

After saying that, Zhao Cheng turned around and strutted away with his people.

Buzz!

Zhang Qingyan only felt her mind go entirely blank.

Although she had long known that, given how thoroughly Zhang Ruize had offended the Zhao family, Zhao Cheng would definitely not let them off the hook.

But she never could have imagined that Zhao Cheng’s methods would be this despicable and malicious.

Her house—the house she had lived frugally for, working overtime four days a week, spending three whole years to buy—was going to be gone just like that.

Her body trembled uncontrollably from anger.

She regretted it, too.

She never should have bought this house just because it was cheap.

The moment Ao Ruize offended Zhao Cheng, she should have firmly forced Ao Ruize to apologize to him.

She shouldn’t have indulged Ao Ruize and let him continue to provoke Zhao Cheng.

And she definitely shouldn’t have harbored the wishful thinking that their family wasn’t easily bullied either, and that Zhao Cheng wouldn’t be able to do anything to them.

Seeing her like this, Old Mrs. Zhang and the others couldn’t help but say, “Qingyan, we’re all just old folks with one foot in the grave, and we can’t really help you with anything. But you work in a big company, and you interact with a lot of big shots. Why don’t you see if you can find someone to help you smooth this matter over?”

Right, right, right.

The most urgent task was to find a way to resolve this situation.

But after frantically pulling out her phone, Zhang Qingyan suddenly stopped moving.

Because where on earth was she supposed to find someone to help her settle this?

—It was true that she worked at a big company, but she was nothing more than a deputy director of a single department in a subsidiary under that big company.

In other words, nine times out of ten, she wouldn’t be able to keep her house.

Thinking of this, with trembling hands, she dialed Yan Qi’s number, seeking his comfort.

Receiving Zhang Qingyan’s call, Yan Qi completely ignored the morning meeting that was currently in session.

“Don’t panic. Let me think of a way, maybe there’s still room to turn things around.”

Although he still didn’t plan on exposing his identity, that didn’t mean he could tolerate his girlfriend being bullied like this.

Zhang Qingyan: “What?”

…

When the news reached the Yan family, Mother Yan—who had just learned from Qian Shanjing that Yan Qi was secretly dating a girlfriend behind their backs—saw her expression turn even uglier.

It was the same old saying: the daughter-in-law in her heart had to at least be a lady from an illustrious family. Ordinary people shouldn’t even dream about it. Let alone a woman like Zhang Qingyan, who not only couldn’t provide the slightest bit of help to Yan Qi, but conversely required Yan Qi’s help to settle every trivial, sesame-seed-sized matter.

So she immediately declared, “Shanjing, don’t worry. From start to finish, the only daughter-in-law recognized in Auntie’s heart is you. Any other woman wanting to enter the gates of our Yan family is simply an idiot daydreaming.”

Having said that, she turned her head directly and instructed the butler: “Go tell A-Qi’s secretary: tell him he is not permitted to carry out a single one of the tasks A-Qi ordered him to do. Otherwise, he can forget about ever staying in Qian City again.”

The butler: “Yes, ma’am.”

Hearing this, Qian Shanjing smiled outright.

A good show was about to begin!

But what they didn’t know was that on the other side, at the Seven Treasures Pavilion…

Sun Jianhong came over today firstly to invite Ao Ruize and the others to an auction being held at Hai City University a week from now—the items up for auction naturally being the antiques they had acquired from Lihe Village a few days ago.

“And secondly,” Sun Jianhong said, “I’ve already had people thoroughly investigate the situation with the Zhao family. We can draw the net at any moment now.”

“Brother Zhang, rest assured, not a single one of them will be able to run away.”

Hearing this, Ao Ruize also smiled.

He immediately raised the teacup in his hand and clinked it against Sun Jianhong’s: “I’ll be troubling you then, Older Brother Sun.”

The Zhao family wouldn’t let them off the hook—but did they really think he would let the Zhao family off the hook either?

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