Although Hua Yan and her father didn't understand why someone would send them fish, they were happy to have fish to eat, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

"Dad, look at these two fish, they're so fat and delicious. Steaming them and making fish soup would be especially tasty. It's such a good day, we have fish every day, and today there's even more. We've escaped from that annoying family gathering, breathed fresh air here, relaxed, and now kind people have sent us fish to eat."

Huayan looked happily at the fish in the wooden bucket, while her father shook his head with a bitter smile, tidying up his tools and preparing to rest before dinner.

"Why don't you go and thank them?"

"No need. It must be that someone caught a lot of fish and kindly shared two with us. We'll accept his fish and share his success. Besides, look at all those luxury cars parked outside. Anyone who comes here to play is either rich or noble. If we go to thank them, others might think we have ulterior motives."

"You make a good point. Now hurry up and take the fish to the landlady so she can make us dinner." Huayan's father pretended to scold her, but Huayan understood and happily carried the wooden bucket away.

As they waited for dinner to be served, Shangguan Ning put down the newspaper and asked Cheng Cheng, who had been staring at the door outside, strangely, "Do you have friends coming over? Why are you so eager?"

"Huh? No, I just want to see when that woman, Huayan, will come to thank us. I just told them our room number a while ago. You wait, she'll be here soon," Cheng Cheng said confidently.

"After dinner, I'm going to the Cheng family's banquet. Are you coming?" Shangguan Ning changed the subject.

"I'll go. I want to see what expression Cheng Jie will have when Huayan stands him up," Cheng Cheng smirked.

"How can you be sure Huayan won't come tonight?"

"Just now when I was delivering the fish, I heard them say they were staying here overnight."

"Oh, then let's go together. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to at that boring banquet." Shangguan Ning said simply.

By the time dinner was almost over, Cheng Cheng hadn't seen any sign of Huayan. Unable to help himself, he muttered, "Looks like Huayan has gone to the hospital and completely lost her mind."

Shangguan Ning chuckled softly a few times, then continued eating without paying much attention to his disappointed friend, thinking to himself that it served him right.

When Shangguan Ning and Cheng Cheng arrived at the Cheng family's old mansion, there were already many different cars parked outside the house, and the three-story high building was brightly lit, with music constantly drifting out. Shangguan Ning saw Cheng's mother and Cheng Cheng exchanging glances, both with an expression of anticipation. They knew that Cheng's mother was not waiting for them, but for Huayan.

After receiving a warm welcome from Cheng's mother, Shangguan Ning pulled Cheng Cheng, who was eager to watch the show, into the house. Shangguan Ning looked around and saw many people she knew, and in the innermost circle, Cheng Jie was chatting attentively with a foreign woman. The smile on his face was flawless, and Miss Alice was not a simple person either. While chatting with Cheng Jie, she also paid attention to other people passing by her. When Cheng Jie saw Shangguan Ning and them raising their glasses to welcome him, he reciprocated, then continued talking to Alice about something else.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"If it were in the past, Cheng Jie would definitely come over and chat with us for a few words. After all, Cheng Jie is smart and treats people differently according to their importance. He treats those who are useful to him with courtesy, and treats those he regards as life and death brothers differently. He sits in the VIP section."

"This time Cheng Jie seems to be using the handsome man strategy." Cheng Cheng said coldly.

"Go get some fruit to eat," Shangguan Ning ignored Cheng Cheng's sarcasm. He had only come back today out of respect for the one still abroad in the Cheng family, so he didn't care about what kind of person Cheng Jie was.

Cheng Jie now appeared to be in good spirits, but internally he was in agony. Alice immediately questioned him about why he divorced Huayan and whether she was doing well now, among other questions. To maintain his good image, he had to fabricate lies to avoid offending her.

"Is Xiaoyan not coming today? You assured me that Xiaoyan would come," Alice said mercilessly.

Cheng Jie felt like his back was about to break from bending over, cursing Huayan a million times in his heart, but he still explained earnestly, "After the divorce, Xiaoyan rarely contacts me in order to start a new life. Yesterday, I called her and told her you were coming, and we agreed she would come today. But since she hasn't arrived, I don't know why. To let you meet, I even went to her current home yesterday to look for her, but I only found out that Mr. Hua wasn't feeling well and went to the hospital. I'm still trying to find out the exact address."

"You still don't know which hospital her father is in?" Alice's face, visibly stiff, showed her dissatisfaction with Cheng Jie.

"Um... Xiaoyan's phone may be dead, so I can't reach her. The maid at her house also doesn't know which hospital they're at. If you're worried about them, I'll definitely find out for you tomorrow."

Less than an hour after the banquet started, Alice and several tycoons chatted for a few minutes and then left. Cheng Cheng changed his viewing spot several times, from the banquet hall to a small lounge, and finally dragged Shangguan Ning up to the outdoor balcony on the second floor to watch the whole scene.

"Look at that scumbag, like a dog following behind Alice, shaking his head and wagging his tail, begging for mercy. It makes me want to puke just watching," Cheng Cheng said, pretending to vomit.

"Cheng Jie's Cheng family is currently at a bottleneck. If they don't advance, they'll retreat. I heard that despite the big moves made by the Cheng family tonight, they haven't received verbal cooperation from Alice. Cheng Jie's handsome man strategy has failed. If it were you, Alice would have surrendered," Shangguan Ning said with a malicious glint in his eye.

Stepping back a pace, Cheng Cheng's body was pervaded by his friend's cold humor, his terror palpable. "I'm just your company's legal advisor. If you want to use me as a male PR, male beauty, take the hint early and dispel the notion."

Shangguan Ning gave a gentle smile and said no more, leaving Cheng Cheng to sneak peeks at his expression as they left the Cheng family's house, trying to determine if he really had his friend's attention. Cheng Cheng was worried that the outwardly gentle but inwardly sinister Shangguan Ning would really threaten him to sell his body.

Exhausted from a night of tension, Cheng Jie collapsed onto his bed, cursing, "After talking up a storm all night, being careful and hospitable, this woman still won't agree to cooperate. She's really a tough nut to crack. If that bitch had come today, this might not have happened. If she fails at a critical moment, watch how I deal with her tomorrow." Cheng's mother, also in the living room, cursed Huayan repeatedly, threatening to have a good talk with her.

Many people were worried about Huayan, but she herself slept soundly, without a care in the world. After breakfast the next day, around noon, she and her father took a car back to the city. On the way, Huayan also went to the health center where her father used to work and casually got a one-night hospitalization form. After everything was done, the father and daughter returned to the villa, happy and content.