Jiang Xiu hid his intense gaze from Cheng Lingran and followed behind her into the Cheng family's house. She gazed at him from the side with a smile on her face, "Little Xiu, you really surprised me. I didn't know you are this year's provincial topper for the college entrance exam."
"It was just luck."
Deity Xiu said said it with modesty though luck played no factor in it. He had achieved it using his own strength and could easily score the top marks if he wrote it again.
"Haha. Little Xiu, you've become mature now. Sister still remembers how naughty you were in your childhood and also quite energetic. But you've become so calm now."
Cheng Lingran's memories of him were from when they were children, way before the Jiang family had declined. At that time, they acted lovey-dovey with each other and played together often. Cheng Lingran was older than Jiang Xiu and Cheng Lingsu by two years, so she monitored them, but Jiang Xiu never acted obediently. He was quite competitive then.
"Humans always grow up."
Cheng Lingran guided him inside the house then squat down while using her left hand to fix her collar to avoid exposing herself. She took the slippers out with her right hand then said to Jiang Xiu, "Susu is upstairs. She locked herself in her room."
"My mom said that you went out to have fun together."
"Did you have a fight?"
Jiang Xiu shook his head.
"Did Little Xiu come?" A calm voice came through from the drawing room. Jiang Xiu didn't reply as he didn't have a good opinion towards the person who had caused his father to go to prison and even might've been behind his father's accident in the previous timeline.
"Mhm. It's him!"
Cheng Lingran responded.
"Really mannerless."
Sun Xiaohong's voice came through after that. She was sitting beside Cheng Hanlin. She naturally didn't feel happy about Cheng Hanlin calling the brat home. Cheng Hanlin was around 40 years old, had a refined appearance and gave off an intellectual feeling to others with his indifferent yet friendly smile.
Cheng Hanlin was slightly startled when he saw Jiang Xiu. It had been 3 years since he last saw him, At that time, Jiang Yi had come to ask for help regarding Jiang Xiu joining Second High.
Jiang Xiu was a yes-man then, but he was completely different now. He had a solemn face with a deep gaze, brimming with confidence, exuding a mysterious aura.
It's just that his clothes were too wretched.
"You've grown up."
He didn't mention the matter about Jiang Xiu becoming the provincial topper. Even he wasn't optimistic about Jiang Xiu at that time. Only, his old friend's genes had proved themselves.
After coming inside, Jiang Xiu discovered that there was another person inside the house. He was a refined, handsome youth. What Jiang Xiu wasn't expecting was that Cheng Lingran went towards him and sat near him.
"Little Xiu, let me introduce him to you. This is my friend, he's called Li Junfei."
Friend?
An ordinary friend naturally wouldn't visit Cheng Lingran's home, and that too sit so near to her. There was no doubt that he ought to be Cheng Lingran's boyfriend. In the previous timeline, after his parent's passed away and before Cheng Lingran entered his life, he had no clue about Cheng Lingran's past experiences.
Only, it was quite rare for a 20-year-old girl to not have a boyfriend. Let alone, a beauty like Cheng Lingran, she naturally had a lot of pursuers.
In that split second, Jiang Xiu felt the flames of jealousy flare up to his head, but his mind became tranquil in a flash. He had already come to a decision about it. He wished for Cheng Lingran to get together with a man who she loved genuinely and live all her life in happiness.
"Junfei is from the Imperial Capital, his home has assets worth over 10 billion…" Sun Xiaohong said with an excited look and even raised her voice higher when she mentioned '10 billion'.
In the year 2008, 10 billion wasn't a small amount. It wasn't possible to make such an amount just by dabbling in business. There was no doubt that there was a relation between the family and the government.
This Li Junfei was a prominent figure.
"So you're Jiang Xiu," commented Li Junfei.
"Aunt was just talking about it."
It could be made out from the contempt which flashed through his eyes that Sun Xiaohong had undoubtedly vilified him. Jiang Xiu guessed that she must have already mentioned that their home ran a fruit stall.
The two of them were candidates of the Cheng family's son-in-law position. One was a young master from the Imperial Capital, heir to assets worth 10 billion while the other wasn't even worth mentioning. Sun Xiaohong lamented for her youngest daughter.
"Hello!"
Deity Xiu replied elegantly.
Cheng Hanlin said, "Little Xiu, did you and Susu have a quarrel? That girl returned back in a gloomy mood and locked herself in the room without even eating anything for a day. Just what happened?"
"I too don't know."
"Go up and call her down. She must be famished."
Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows but still endured it for the sake of Cheng Lingran. Cheng Lingran had sensed the conflict in his heart, so she jumped in, "Little Xiu, I'll come up with you."
She ran over and pulled Jiang Xiu towards the upper floor.
"Sis, how long have you known that man?"
"Not that long. Father introduced him saying we should become friends…"
"Sis!"
Jiang Xiu stared into her eyes, "You must find a person you genuinely like. No matter how much resistance there is from your family, I'll help you settle it. The main thing is that you should be happy."
He felt his heart hurt when he said this, but these were his sincere thoughts.
Buddha said - There are Eight Sufferings in life, Birth, Aging, Sickness, Death, Parting with love, Meeting with hate, Unattained goals and Difficulty of letting go…
Cheng Lingran laughed, "Okay!"
"Sister will count on Little Xiu to protect me from now on then."
She knocked on the door while raising her voice, "Susu, open the door. Don't act with such a temper and come out to have a meal. Dad and mom will cut your pocket money if you don't."
Cheng Lingsu was hugging a big bear doll in her room with a bewildered gaze. She replied without even thinking, "Don't mind me, let me rest."
Cheng Lingran said, "Don't throw a fit now. Little Xiu has come. Quickly come out."
Cheng Lingsu's expression changed. She immediately got down the bed and ran to open the door. Her pretty face turned pale the moment she saw Jiang Xiu there. She didn't know why he had come.
"Looks like using Little Xiu's name is more effective."
Cheng Lingsu looked into his apathetic gaze, "W-Why did you come?"
Her voice was quite nervous.
"Alright, let's go down!"
Cheng Hanlin smiled after seeing his youngest daughter come down. He was quite lenient towards his elder and younger daughter. Sun Xiaohong, however, pursed her brows, pondering why she had come down when Jiang Xiu called her out but didn't when she did.
"Have a meal first, okay? Everyone's waiting for you."
Sun Xiaohong became more upset as she had her meal on the dining table. She couldn't understand why her daughter was so fixated on Jiang Xiu and decided she couldn't allow it to continue anymore. "Do you know that the Cheng family and Wang family's joint project is about to start soon? After this project is completed, our Cheng family will be the richest family in Jiang City."
Li Junfei asked, "Is that Wang family the provincial capital's Wang family?"
Sun Xiaohong's gaze turned fervent, "That's right!"
Li Junfei said, "I've also heard about this Wang family in the Imperial Capital. They have a heritage of over 200 years. Although they aren't on the Wealth Ranking, in fact, it's possible that the Wang family's financial resources are stronger than my family's."
"The Cheng family will surely soar with this cooperation from the Wang family."
Cheng Hanlin's face revealed a smile. This was all pretty unexpected for him. He had coincidentally met Wang Xuetang who was in-charge of the Wang family's businesses in the aeroplane and even sealed a deal smoothly.
"The project was finalized just recently. There are many other things which need to be done so it'll be quite a busy time later."
Although he whined about the hardships, he was wholly proud.
Sun Xiaohong said, "Some people should be clear about what to do. My Cheng family has achieved all we have today by relying on ourselves, not on others."
Jiang Xiu remained calm. Cheng Lingsu peeked at him with worry as she knew that the Wang family was already crawling under Jiang Xiu's feet, all their assets belonged to him now.
Ring-Ring!
Cheng Hanlin's cell phone started ringing. He answered it with a smile, but it went rigid immediately, "What!? The Wang family breached the contract and canceled the collaboration with us on the project!?"
Cheng Hanlin planned to call Wang Xuetang after ending the call, but his cell phone rang again.
"Bailu Institution Project was shut down."
"Central Building Project was shut down."
"Bridal…"
News about projects being shut down came in unbroken succession. Cheng Haling was still calm in the beginning, but his face had turned pale by the end as a cold sweat formed on his forehead. He appeared as if he had lost his soul.
"Finished… Everything is over…"
"How is this possible?!"
"Our Cheng family will die from the financial loss."
Cheng Lingsu looked towards Jiang Xiu. She knew that Jiang Xiu must have done it as only he possessed this kind of power in Jiang City.
As for Jiang Xiu, he too was puzzled.