This girl is so terrifying!
Tai Wu clamped his tail between his legs and averted his gaze, not daring to meet Wen Ying’s eyes.
Wen Ying subconsciously touched her face: was she really that frightening?
She had checked the mirror before leaving the house this morning, and she clearly looked quite approachable. Yet this boy acted as if facing a formidable enemy!
Zhang Nan, who had just finished her call with Peng Guoqing, also felt a touch of awkwardness. But the bold words had already been spoken, and Zhang Nan was not one to go back on her promises. She immediately exchanged contact details with Wen Ying and told her to seek her help if she ran into any trouble in the capital:
“Anything I can sort out, I will handle for you. If even I cannot manage it… I will find people to sort it out for you!”
Zhang Nan made the promise with utmost seriousness, and Wen Ying nodded just as earnestly. “Then we can consider ourselves friends?”
“Of course.”
Zhang Nan still held her chin slightly raised, like a proud silly swan.
How silly was she? Silly enough that Wen Ying felt no qualms about deceiving her.
Not everything Wen Ying said to Zhang Nan was a fabrication. Xie Jinghu, that utter scumbag, had indeed treated Xie Qian terribly. Letting people like Zhang Nan realise Xie Jinghu’s dangers sooner would prevent them from being exploited by him again.
This time, it was Zhang Nan who had come to corner Wen Ying, and she had handled it without pressure. But if these people sought out Xie Qian over some other matter next time, would that not just cause trouble for Xie Qian?
If Wen Ying decided to act, she would do so thoroughly, subduing and incorporating people like Zhang Nan completely!
Wen Ying acknowledged them as friends, and Zhang Nan started off a bit coy. After a few more exchanges, she loosened up and began probing Wen Ying to verify some rumours.
“I heard from Tai Wu that Xie Qian tricked his dad out of two billion to buy land in Modu. Is that true?”
Regarding this incident, opinions in the circle were sharply divided.
Some viewed Xie Qian as young and ambitious, knowing how to seize opportunities for himself. Others saw him as utterly disrespectful towards his own father.
Indeed, as a son, inheriting the family business was only natural for Xie Qian. But having the right to inherit and becoming the actual successor were two different matters. The family empire, built single-handedly by his father, was not yet at the stage where the father was ready to relinquish control. For the son Xie Qian to secretly siphon off funds… this made some people sense a threat, fearing they might one day face the same from their own children!
Zhang Nan’s question was also Tai Wu’s question.
Like Peng Guoqing, Tai Wu had been an eyewitness to the scene where Xie Jinghu angrily called Xie Qian a “thief”. He had only heard that Xie Qian spent two billion on land, but the specifics remained unclear to him.
The fame of “Xie Two Billion” echoed through the capital’s circles, and not knowing the full story was a regret for many gossip enthusiasts!
Wen Ying’s face was full of surprise: “Can a family really use the word ‘trick’? In my understanding, mutual support among family members is a basic principle. Do you all keep such clear boundaries with your parents? My finances are shared with my parents. As long as they have a legitimate need, any money I earn is theirs to use. And vice versa, my parents are the same with me. They have never hesitated to pay for my tuition and living expenses each year. After all, I did not grow up on air alone!”
Wen Ying truly believed this.
All along, Wen Ying had only been striving towards “financial independence”. The money she earned from writing books and investing in films and dramas, she was willing to give however much the family needed.
Wen Ying had shown such an attitude, yet Manager Chen insisted she manage her own earnings.
As for why she only gave Old Wen that pittance in filial allowance each month… well, who could blame her? Old Wen had a track record, and too much pocket money in his hands made him prone to mistakes!
Wen Ying spoke with full confidence, and Zhang Nan and Tai Wu could not help but nod along.
They indeed did not keep such clear boundaries with their parents.
They were all still young teenagers, with Tai Wu only just turned adult despite being a bit older than Zhang Nan. None of them yet had the ability to support themselves independently. If they did not ask their parents for money to spend, would they resort to street robbery to cover daily expenses?
The two completely failed to notice Wen Ying subtly shifting the concept.
A parent being willing to spend on a child and handing over two billion in one go were obviously not the same thing!
“Very good. We have reached a consensus: the notion of ‘tricking’ does not hold water in the first place, right? With that major premise established, let us dissect the details. From what I know, the land Xie Qian bought in Modu did not even cost two billion. Most of the funds came from bank loans. Saying Xie Qian stole two billion to buy land is simply too exaggerated! Moreover, for such a massive investment, use your toes to think: it could not possibly have been decided by Xie Qian alone. As far as I know, it was Aunt Zou who first had the investment idea. Xie Qian provided suggestions to Aunt Zou, she adopted them, and decided to register the purchased land under Xie Qian’s name. What is wrong with that?”
Of course, nothing was wrong with that.
In a family, there might only be one main breadwinner, and most often, that role falls to the husband.
It was not that women could not earn money; the social environment in China for many years had been thus: men handling external affairs, women managing the home. Men toiled outside, women tended the household, both contributing to the family.
If Xie Qian’s act of using Xie Jinghu’s two billion to buy land drew criticism, then if it were Zou Weijun spending money on land, no outsider would question it.
If a man’s earnings could not even be spent on his wife, then what hope was there?
As for why Zou Weijun wanted to buy the land and register it under her son Xie Qian’s name, this required no toe-wiggling thought. Zhang Nan and Tai Wu immediately arrived at the answer: because Xie Jinghu had cheated, kept a mistress, and favoured his illegitimate children. If Zou Weijun did not plan for herself and her son now, she would be a fool!
Since it was Zou Weijun who decided on the land purchase, why did Xie Jinghu go around proclaiming that Xie Qian had “stolen” two billion from him?
Xie Jinghu was everywhere slandering Xie Qian’s reputation, showing not a shred of fatherly affection. He was utterly unworthy of being Xie Qian’s father!
Not only did Zhang Nan completely forget the original purpose of seeking out Wen Ying, even Tai Wu felt a complex swirl of emotions.
Tai Wu had previously heard from elders that Xie Qian’s situation was difficult, but he had not imagined it was this dire.
Tai Wu had always seen Xie Qian as a winner in life. Now, he felt the heavens knew how to balance things: he might not be as handsome as Xie Qian, nor as wealthy, nor as clever, but his father would never scheme against him like that!
Xie Qian was truly pitiable.
Zhang Nan was filled with righteous indignation: “Xie Jing… Xie Qian’s dad does things like this, and no one in the Xie family steps in to rein him in?”
Wen Ying sighed. “Xie Qian’s father is an adult. He has his own ideas and his own business empire. Even if the Xie family wanted to intervene, they could only manage things out in the open. If he pulls some underhanded moves against Xie Qian, the family might want to stop it, but they cannot.”
Zhang Nan deeply agreed.
Take this incident, for example!
Whether Xie Qian dated or not was, to the Xie family, a trifling matter not worth mentioning. Yet Xie Jinghu insisted on using this small thing to scheme, all to obstruct Xie Qian and dismantle his circle of friends. Xie Jinghu’s mindset was truly too narrow!
The most infuriating part was that such a narrow-minded scumbag controlled vast wealth, with people and resources at his command. In most cases, he could do as he pleased!
Xie Qian was not only pitiable; he was also in danger.
“We have to help Xie Qian.”
Zhang Nan shoved Tai Wu: “Right?”
Tai Wu nodded first, then shook his head. “I want to help, but I cannot do anything useful!”
Tai Wu clearly knew his own limitations. Zhang Nan, on the other hand, either did not recognise hers or refused to admit her uselessness. She racked her brains to find a way to contribute: “As long as we want to help, we can surely do something, right?”
Zhang Nan was not asking Tai Wu this time; she was looking at Wen Ying.
Wen Ying had wasted so much time today tangling with Zhang Nan and the others precisely for this moment. She nodded emphatically: “You all have such a strong sense of justice. Xie Qian truly chose his friends well! In my view, the great heroes in wuxia novels are not all martial arts masters. They earn the title of hero by ‘drawing their sword to aid the distressed’! One person’s strength may be meagre, but if we pool our forces, we might just make a difference at a crucial moment!”
