Chapter 1035: The Face Stings a Bit

A man's life is like grass in spring, coming like wind and rain, departing like dust.

Often, what forces us forward is not the faint light of a dream ahead, but the abyss of reality behind.

Fan Baobao could actually understand why that girl named Qiao Qiao had made that choice.

Everyone has a desire to live better, especially children from poor families. Perhaps because they have endured too many hard times and suffered too much, they loathe a bitter life more than anyone else.

So when many poor people suddenly become rich, they become unscrupulous. It's not because that's their true nature, but because they have suddenly escaped from suffering and find it hard to adapt.

Among such people, those with strong will can find themselves again. If they are not mature enough, they may lose themselves forever.

Obviously, this girl named Qiao Qiao was the latter.

And Fan Baobao herself was undoubtedly the former.

Because she had met Zhao Fusheng.

This is a happy story: after hardships, the prince and princess lived happily ever after.

But life doesn't have that many fairy tales. Not every princess in distress meets a prince who can wield a sword to slay demons for her.

So Qiao Qiao chose to rely on herself.

And now, she stood on the opposite side of Fan Baobao.

Fan Baobao remembered a lesson Zhao Fusheng had taught her: anyone who chooses to stand against you, you must make them understand that you are not someone they can afford to offend.

The reason is simple: many people in this world are especially despicable; they dare not offend those stronger than themselves, only bully the weak.

As the saying goes, bully the weak and fear the strong, flatter the high and trample the low.

That's probably the kind of person being described.

For instance, now Fan Baobao noticed that Qiao Qiao and her mother's faces were pale, and they looked at her with fear.

Helplessly, Xia Zijun, who seemed so formidable in their eyes, was now extremely enthusiastic toward Fan Baobao, blabbering something with Li Dezhu. Clearly, his interest was not in the wine.

"Beautiful lady, Zijun says he very much hopes to have the opportunity to visit your fiancé. I wonder if you could help arrange an introduction," Li Dezhu said to Fan Baobao politely.

To be honest, if at first Li Dezhu was shocked by Fan Baobao's beauty, now he felt that the girl before him was someone he needed to look up to.

After all, the wife of a billionaire is always astonishing.

Moreover, her fiancé was an investment genius.

Buying when NetEase's stock was at its lowest—just that insight alone was enough to make Li Dezhu believe that this time, he might meet a big shot.

Fan Baobao hesitated. She had only wanted to ask about something and incidentally disgust that mother-daughter pair, but things had developed to this point.

It was a bit troublesome.

"I can't decide on this matter. Let me ask for you," Fan Baobao said to Li Dezhu after thinking.

Li Dezhu translated her words, and Xia Zijun's face showed a hint of joy. Even Huiling and her mother beside him were quite happy.

But the next moment, they were stunned.

Fan Baobao thought for a moment and asked Zhou Qing beside her, "Aunt Zhou, about this matter, do you think I should tell our Fusheng?"

Ah?

Everyone was stunned.

So after all that, the 'ask' she meant wasn't asking her husband, but asking Zhou Qing...

"Well..." Zhou Qing also hesitated. On one hand, this seemed like a serious matter, but on the other hand, the faces of that mother-daughter pair really disgusted her.

Seeing Zhou Qing troubled, Fan Baobao's eyes twinkled, and a plan came to mind. She said to Li Dezhu, "Mr. Li, I'm sorry. My teacher here has some conflict with your friend's fiancée's family. I think we are not suitable for cooperation, right?"

Li Dezhu was taken aback. He didn't translate for Xia Zijun but frowned at Fan Baobao: "Miss, I think if there is any misunderstanding, perhaps it can be explained. This matter is very important to Zijun."

The 'matter' he referred to naturally meant the meeting with Zhao Fusheng.

For Xia Zijun, he was just a clerk at Citibank. If he could secure this loan, it would undoubtedly be a good opportunity to advance his position.

After all, NetEase had turned around thanks to its gaming business and was now a hot tech stock in the US.

Someone holding two million shares of NetEase stock undoubtedly had substantial personal assets.

Fan Baobao shook her head. "Sorry, although I'm not opposed to it, I really can't agree with their character."

Li Dezhu frowned even deeper. Clearly, there was something hidden here.

"I think there might be a misunderstanding. Miss Qiaoqiao is a student from Tsinghua University who went to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate studies. Her character..." Li Dezhu finally decided to try to mediate and persuade Fan Baobao.

"Wait, what did you say?" Zhou Qing was startled and looked at Li Dezhu in surprise. "Which university did you say she's from?"

"The University of Pennsylvania," Li Dezhu answered subconsciously.

He didn't notice that at that moment, the faces of Qiaoqiao and her mother turned extremely pale.

"And before that, you said she graduated from Tsinghua University?" Zhou Qing asked Li Dezhu with a strange expression.

Li Dezhu nodded blankly. He wasn't really sure either; he had just remembered it from when Xia Zijun talked about his romantic history with Qiaoqiao during dinner.

"Pfft..." Zhou Qing burst out laughing, looking at Qiaoqiao and her mother with utter disbelief. "Seriously, you two are something else. Do you have to rely on lies even for marriage?"

"Huh?"

Except for the bewildered Xia Zijun, everyone else, including Fan Baobao and Li Dezhu, who could understand Chinese, was stunned by Zhou Qing's words.

Clearly, Zhou Qing was implying something.

"Ma'am, forgive my impertinence, but what do you mean by that?" Li Dezhu hadn't planned to meddle, but hearing Zhou Qing's words, he felt he should ask on behalf of his friend.

Zhou Qing didn't bother with pleasantries. Pointing at Qiaoqiao, she said directly, "This girl barely graduated from high school. When she went to the US, she learned English from her black boyfriend. How could she have graduated from Tsinghua University, let alone be a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania? Hah, do they have adult college entrance exams in the US too?"

Having said that, she couldn't be bothered with the mother and daughter anymore. Turning to Fan Baobao and the others, she said, "Let's go. We'll head back for rehearsal later."

"Okay."

"Got it, Teacher Zhou."

The People's Art Theatre group naturally had no objections and got up to leave one after another.

Fan Baobao thought for a moment, then took out a business card and handed it to Li Dezhu. "This is my fiancé's card. I'll mention it to him later."

Regardless, she felt that this Xia Zijun was actually quite pitiful—a Wall Street financial elite being fooled by a Chinese girl who had only graduated from high school, even about to marry her. Fortunately, the girl wasn't pregnant, or else he might have ended up like Zhao Fusheng said: becoming a stepfather.

Li Dezhu's expression had turned very grim. He took the card and handed it to Xia Zijun, then began speaking in English, pointing at the pale-faced mother and daughter.

Xia Zijun's expression shifted from initial confusion to shock, then disbelief...

By the time he looked at Qiaoqiao again, his eyes were full of suspicion.

"No, Zijun, don't believe them. They're bad people trying to slander my reputation," Qiaoqiao said, her face pale but still trying to argue.

At that moment, Li Dezhu spoke calmly, "It's easy to verify. We can check with Tsinghua University. Don't they keep a list of all graduates?"

This was a normal thing. As a world-renowned institution, Tsinghua University's records of student names date back to its founding. Li Dezhu's suggestion was simple and effective.

Qiaoqiao's face turned completely white, and she couldn't say a word.

Xia Zijun snorted, said nothing more, turned around, and pulled Li Dezhu away.

Sometimes, in the emotional world of adults, everyone has an unspoken understanding. You don't need to wait for the other person to explicitly end things; you already know everything.

Xia Zijun's actions had already pronounced the death sentence on his relationship with Qiaoqiao.

No one likes being treated like a fool, especially a financial elite like Xia Zijun. A Wall Street financial elite being duped by a high school graduate was not a pleasant thing.

If they weren't in China, in a public place, and if his upbringing and manners didn't prevent him from being rude, he would have really wanted to slap that woman across the face.

...

...

"So, you just broke up a couple like that?"

When Fan Baobao came home that evening and told Zhao Fusheng about it, he was stunned and looked at her in surprise.

Fan Baobao shrugged. "I didn't want to either, but who knew that girl was so bad, deceiving one person after another."

That was her true feeling. She had initially felt sorry for Qiaoqiao, but after hearing that she claimed to be a Tsinghua graduate, Fan Baobao felt that the pitiable person had her detestable side.

"Actually, from another perspective, it's a good thing for that young man named Xia Zijun," Zhao Fusheng said with a smile to Fan Baobao. "At least it allowed him to see her true colors."

Then he ruffled Fan Baobao's hair. "So, is this why you went grocery shopping and cooked today, and want to have a few drinks with me?"

You see, Ms. Fan hadn't been this obedient in a long time. Her sudden change made Zhao Fusheng a bit uncomfortable.

Nothing good comes from sudden flattery. This girl was definitely up to something.