"What!" The middle-aged man on the other end was instantly alarmed. "Little Yuan, you know about Su Qing now too? And how does Su Qing know someone from the Li family?"

Hearing this, Li Yuan’s fury surged. "Li Aiguo, you knew about Su Qing and you didn’t tell me? Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I found out yesterday that Su Qing and Li Huan are friends?"

Hearing Li Yuan call him by his full name, Li Aiguo couldn’t help but frown. "Little Yuan, no matter what, I’m your older brother. Are you just going to call me by my name like that? Don’t you forget..."

Before Li Aiguo could finish, Li Yuan cut in, "Alright, Brother, I was just anxious. Don’t you realize how serious this is? Since you knew about Su Qing’s situation, why didn’t you tell me?"

Hearing Li Yuan’s change of tone, Li Aiguo decided not to dwell on her earlier words. After all, their family’s current good fortune was all thanks to Li Yuan. He couldn’t afford to sour their relationship, no matter what.

So, Li Aiguo said in a softer tone, "Little Yuan, it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, it’s that I hadn’t finished investigating the situation. Besides, I didn’t find out about Su Qing much earlier than you did. It was when I went to Beijing to see you last time. I saw a girl whose profile looked a lot like Li Wan’s. I didn’t know it was Su Qing at the time, so I just decided to have someone check up on Su Qing’s situation in the Northeast, just in case."

"And then?" Li Yuan asked hurriedly.

Li Aiguo continued, "As it turns out, my investigation revealed that Su Qing has already had a falling out with the Old Su Family and split from them. She lives alone now. But when I sent my people, Su Qing wasn’t in the village. They said she’d gone on a long trip and probably wouldn’t be back for two or three months. That’s when I figured the girl I saw was most likely Su Qing. Her profile just looks too much like Li Wan’s."

Li Wan!

Li Yuan pressed her lips together and said, "Li Wan herself isn’t the problem. But if this Su Qing looks so much like her, we absolutely cannot let anyone from the Li family see her. The trouble is, Li Huan has already met Su Qing. That’s a problem. Maybe once or twice is fine. Li Huan is young, so she won’t notice anything. But what if one day, Li Huan brings Su Qing to meet the family? Li Huan might not see the resemblance, but you think the rest of the Li family wouldn’t?"

The more Li Yuan thought about it, the more panicked she became. "Brother, you have to help me with this. Otherwise, we’re both finished."

Li Aiguo naturally understood the gravity of the situation. He thought for a moment with a frown, then said, "Little Yuan, let me come up with a foolproof plan. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this as soon as possible. I’ll make sure Su Qing doesn’t disrupt your life."

Li Aiguo knew that if something went wrong on Li Yuan’s end, he wouldn’t be able to escape either. They were like grasshoppers tied to the same rope; if one was tugged, they would all be caught.

"Okay, Brother, figure something out quickly." Seeing Li Aiguo agree, Li Yuan nodded eagerly. "If you need my help with anything, just let me know."

"Stay out of this, so you don’t end up slipping and revealing something to the Li family," Li Aiguo said. "I’ll handle it."

"Good. Brother, I’ll be counting on you, then." Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. With Li Aiguo on the case, she felt reassured. He had handled the incident with Li Wan six years ago entirely on his own, without letting the Li family find a single flaw. She was confident that he could handle Su Qing as well.

’Once Su Qing is dealt with, I’ll have nothing left to worry about.’

After hanging up, Li Yuan sat behind her desk and took a couple of sips of water to calm her anxiety. The thought of Su Qing actually falling out with the Old Su Family made her frown. ’If I’d known that damn girl would still be able to stir up this much trouble now, I should have been more ruthless back then. I should have made sure she was burned into a complete idiot.’

’It’s all Brother’s fault. He said that with that bunch of degenerates in the Old Su Family, Su Qing was nothing to worry about. And look what happened now! Su Qing broke ties with the Old Su Family, and it seems she even has a mind of her own—daring to go on long trips all by herself!’

The more Li Yuan thought about it, the angrier she became, grinding her teeth in hatred for Su Qing. ’That damn country girl. Instead of staying put in the countryside where she belongs, she just had to come out and wander around. Since that’s the case, she can’t blame us for being cruel.’

After sitting in her office for a while longer, Li Yuan finally left.

As she was leaving the department store, she happened to see a colleague. The colleague smiled upon seeing her and said, "Director Li, Happy New Year! You’re so dedicated, coming to work on the first day of the New Year."

Li Yuan smiled and said, "I just came to take a look. The department store is open today, after all. I just wanted to do a quick round. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading home."

"Alright." The person smiled, exchanged greetings with Li Yuan, and they went their separate ways.

Su Qing, of course, had no idea that someone in Beijing was plotting against her. After a quiet New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, she took some gifts and went to Fu Yuzhen’s house.

In fact, while things had been quiet on Su Qing’s side for the past two days, the neighboring Old Su Family was anything but. On New Year’s Eve, Old Su and Old Su had both fainted from anger, and the large family was in such a panic all night that they didn’t celebrate at all. Then, on the morning of New Year’s Day, a newly-awakened Old Su was seething with resentment. She relentlessly ordered Zheng Erlian and Tian Aixiang around, causing the two to complain endlessly. While working in the kitchen, they started arguing and got into another physical fight, which made Old Su so angry she fainted again.

You could say that Su Qing spent her New Year’s holiday watching the farce unfold next door.

Because many of the workers were from out of town, the employee dormitory building where the Pan Family lived was nearly half-empty for the New Year, as most had gone home to celebrate. Of course, some had brought their parents from their hometowns to celebrate with them, so it was still reasonably lively.

Since Su Qing had visited several times, many people recognized her. They smiled and greeted her when they saw her arrive, and Su Qing politely responded to each of them.

Suddenly, an older woman looked closely at Su Qing and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, my, Su! Has the scar on your face gotten better?"

Because she had gotten the medicinal powder from Mr. Gong, Su Qing had been diligently treating the scar on her face these past few days. After several days of treatment, the color of the scar had faded quite a bit. While it wasn’t a dramatic change, it already looked much better at first glance.

Su Qing smiled and replied, "Yes, it has. I got a formula for treating scars a while back and recently finished preparing the medicine. I’m treating it now, and the results look pretty good so far."

"Wow, the results really are amazing." The older woman looked closely at the scar on Su Qing’s left cheek and asked eagerly, "What medicine is it? It works so well."