Though Tang Yun felt in her heart that using this money was not quite right, she had no other way out — who else was there to blame but her own family's rotten luck, with every misfortune in the world landing on them all at once?

"Sis, don't be sad. That bastard's eyes are blind to what's good. Don't you worry — I, Xiaowei, am a man too, and I'll pay you back every cent!" Xiaowei knew what was weighing on his sister's mind, so he tried to comfort her. "I won't put you in a hard spot!"

"Mm..." Tang Yun nodded, somewhat comforted. At least Xiaowei was not the sort who only knew how to ask her for money; the intention alone was enough.

The bank card was in Tang Yun's name, and a one-time withdrawal of five hundred thousand naturally required Tang Yun herself to be present. They found a bank open twenty-four hours, Tang Yun withdrew the money, and together with her mother, Xiaowei, and Xiaodan she took a taxi to the residential compound where the big boss lived.

"So this is the place? How grand!" Mother Tang looked at the luxurious grounds and the handsome houses and could not help feeling a little envious. "When will our family ever live in a house as fine as this?"

"Auntie, this is Qianhua Waterside! One of the most upscale residential compounds in the whole city. Only rich people live here — a single unit costs over ten million!" Xiaowei had been here several times, so he knew the market well.

"Over ten million? That expensive!" Mother Tang was startled, and cast her daughter a regretful glance. "I'd been thinking our daughter had landed herself a golden son-in-law, and that your uncle and I might have a chance to live in a mansion like this someday. Now it looks like that's never going to happen!"

"Mom, what are you saying!" Tang Yun frowned. This was the very wound in her heart, the thing she least wanted to bring up, and yet her mother insisted on talking about it.

"All right, all right, I'll say no more!" But Mother Tang was turning things over in her mind: should she find a chance to talk with Wei Zhao and see whether there was any hope of a reconciliation? Though perhaps these rich young gentlemen already had marriages arranged for them at home — otherwise why would he have broken up with her daughter so suddenly, without the slightest warning? There had to be a reason behind it!

Mother Tang was old and shrewd, and her mind ran to more schemes than most; she thought further ahead than Tang Yun did. And since she knew nothing about Feng Xiaoxiao, she was certain there must be some hidden story behind Wei Zhao's casting off her daughter.

So Mother Tang reasoned: even if Wei Zhao had a betrothal and could not marry her daughter, then let her daughter be the other woman — that would do. Yes, our demands aren't high; just buy our family a mansion here at Qianhua Waterside and that's enough! And if that doesn't work out, then we must get another sum of money out of Wei Zhao — we can't let him off cheap! Even if he never did anything to her daughter, he still hurt her feelings!

Tang Yun still had no idea her mother was scheming such mercenary things again. Her own thoughts were still simple and innocent, so it never occurred to her that her mother could stoop to an idea so shameful; if she had known, she would have been furious.

Still, one could hardly blame Mother Tang for being so mercenary — the coldness of the world had made her truly afraid of poverty. After so many hard years, she did not want her daughter to suffer as she had, and so even the notion of becoming the other woman could surface in her mind. One could hardly blame her.

"This is the place!" Xiaowei pointed out a detached villa to Tang Yun and Mother Tang. "Boss Zou lives right here."

"Mom, once we're inside, don't say anything out of turn! This time we're not just handing over money — we have to get an agreement signed first." Tang Yun drew a deep breath and steadied her emotions, restoring herself for the moment to some semblance of normal, so that she would not think about what had happened that day.

Tang Yun might have had little experience of the wider world, but at an elite private school like Songshan No. 1 High School she had seen a good deal, and she knew that everything had to be put in a contract.

It was precisely because the contract had been unclear that her father had gone so long without compensation. So this time it was fine to give this Boss Zou his money, but he had to write out a signed statement that he would never again hold Xiaodan responsible.

"All right! We'll do as you say." Mother Tang knew her daughter had seen more of the world, and nodded.

Only then did Xiaowei go and ring the villa's doorbell.

Zou Tiandi had been in a foul mood these past two days. He had offended Wei Zhao, and then he had offended Li Cihua as well — and either of those two could snuff him out in an instant. And he did not even dare entertain the thought of resisting.

His opponents were too strong. Wei Zhao himself was a skilled hand of Yellow Rank or above, and there was no shortage of Yellow Rank fighters around Li Cihua either. In the past, with Uncle Yan at his back, he could still throw his weight around in Songshan City; now that Wei Zhao had beaten Uncle Yan into a cripple, how would he dare go out and swagger about?

"Damn it! To think that I, Zou Tiandi, was once somebody in Songshan City, and now I've come to this." Zou Tiandi poured himself a glass of red wine, drained it in one gulp, and spoke with a note of gloom.

Gloomy as he was, though, he still counted himself lucky. He had offended Li Cihua, yes, but it was no deep blood feud — he had merely declined to cooperate with him, and Li Cihua would not come after him for that. And Wei Zhao had promised not to pursue the matter further. So Zou Tiandi felt a little better.

Otherwise he would surely be unable to eat or sleep by now. Fortunately, in a little while a pretty young thing would be delivered to his door for his amusement, which soothed his sullen heart a little.

Hearing the doorbell, Zou Tiandi straightened the hem of his jacket. He knew it must be Xiaodan. He had given her an ultimatum: tonight she either brought the money, or she came washed and ready to be delivered.

The maid had already gone to answer the door, and Zou Tiandi strolled out of his study and headed down to the living room.

Tang Yun, Mother Tang, Xiaodan, and Xiaowei came into the living room and sat somewhat stiffly on the sofa. Xiaowei and Xiaodan were a little better off — they had been here several times before — but for Tang Yun and Mother Tang this was their first time inside such a mansion, and they did not quite know what to do with themselves.

"So Xiaodan's come, has she? Are you here to hand over the money, or to hand over yourself?" Zou Tiandi spoke as he came down the stairs, but when he saw four people sitting on the sofa he was slightly taken aback. The sofa faced away from the staircase, though, so he could not see who the visitors were.

"Boss Zou, I... we've brought the money!" Xiaowei stood up and turned to face Zou Tiandi.

"What? You brought the money?" Zou Tiandi was stunned, and a surge of fury rushed to his head. He had never imagined that Xiaowei could scrape together another five hundred thousand. How was that possible? Both Xiaowei's family and Xiaodan's were from the countryside; even borrowing from every household in the village, they could hardly raise that much.

He had already worked out his clever little plan: tonight he would take Xiaodan and vent his frustrations on her, and in that way relieve the gloom Wei Zhao had brought down on him these past two days. He did not dare do anything to Wei Zhao, but this Xiaodan — heh heh...

Fastest updates; for pop-up-free reading, please visit.