1RomanceEB Chapter 882 - 879: The Plot Unfolds, the Dagger Revealed (Part 3)
Chapter 882 - 879: The Plot Unfolds, the Dagger Revealed (Part 3)
She tried calling Liu Daqing, but the line was busy.
She hung up right away.
After a while, the phone rang.
Her voice was bright and cheerful: "Empress Dowager, I’ve learned the latest way to pan-fry steak. When I come back for break I’ll cook it for you to try, okay?"
"Okay. Lately everything I eat tastes like nothing."
"Then I’ll learn a few more dishes and cook them all for you when I get back."
"Forget about cooking, Xixi. Your studies have to come first."
"Ha, Empress Dowager, I was just about to tell you. I wrote a new paper and got high praise from my professor. It’ll probably be published in a very important core journal. They say it’s really, really rare for a freshman to do that..."
"That’s really good. Now I can relax. You really are putting in the effort."
"Actually, it’s not entirely my own doing. Last time I talked with Brother Donglin, he explained a lot of things to me, and his analysis went deeper than many professional economists. I just used his material for the paper. A lot of the data was provided by him too. Strictly speaking, Brother Donglin deserves seventy percent of the credit; I only contributed thirty..."
As expected, Liu Daqing just chuckled.
She didn’t continue on the topic of Wan Donglin.
What kind of person was Yan Xixi? The moment she saw that the Empress Dowager Liu wasn’t really picking up the thread, she immediately shifted the topic, casually told a few jokes, and managed to make Liu Daqing laugh.
She could clearly hear how unusually tired Liu Daqing’s voice was. Even though she was forcing herself to sound energetic, that laughter was obviously put on.
She pretended not to notice at all, chatted lightly for a bit, then said goodbye.
The Empress Dowager Liu was about to hang up when she added, "Xixi..."
"Empress Dowager, what is it?"
"Xixi, you must study hard. The direct line of the Wan Family is just Donglin, his sister, and you. I hope you’ll be able to help the Wan Family in the future. Also, whether it’s during breaks or any other time, if I don’t tell you to, you must not come back to the country."
Her heart gave a jolt.
The Empress Dowager Liu would never say something like that for no reason.
But she answered immediately, "Empress Dowager, don’t worry! I promise I’ll listen to you."
The Empress Dowager Liu gave a small laugh, then finally hung up.
Vaguely, she felt that something had happened, and that this was precisely what the Empress Dowager Liu did not want her to know.
Since that was the case, she might as well pretend she didn’t know.
For several nights in a row, Yan Xixi worked overtime reading through information on some of the Wan Family’s businesses. Before, she only knew the Wan Family was very rich, but just how rich, in her mind, was limited to that one time she’d seen all those fine paintings and calligraphy.
After she got into Harvard, Wan Donglin had given her a dossier. She’d never read it, because she was afraid it would stir up too many unrealistic greedy thoughts in her. Especially after the tests showed she would have difficulty getting pregnant in the future and she’d briefly thought about breaking up, she hadn’t dared look at that dossier at all—everything countless Cinderellas in the world dream of; the more you understand it, the harder it is to let go.
It wasn’t until now that she finally opened it.
By then, her state of mind had changed.
People are like that: once you’re already well clothed and well fed, massive wealth, in your eyes, becomes nothing more than a string of numbers.
She no longer had a greedy heart.
Even so, she was still stunned as she read on: in addition to various civilian industries in different countries, the portfolio also covered some high-tech sectors—oil, large-scale retail chains, five-star hotels, biotech, and stakes in several well-known internet companies...