One was an elderly lady over seventy, with permed white hair, pearl accessories, and a dignified demeanor.
The other was a young woman with her hair in a bun, adorned with a jade hairpin, wearing a qipao, and carrying an exquisite small handbag.
Li Xiaoya peeked out to take a look.
Wei Xuanming spoke up: "This is Mrs. Xing, the wife of the CEO of Beemind International. You can call her Grandma Feng. And this is Grandma Feng's eldest granddaughter, Xing Siyun."
Li Xiaoya obediently greeted them in order: "Hello, Grandma Feng. Hello, Sister Siyun."
Grandma Feng smiled: "Why call her sister? Call her Auntie."
Li Xiaoya glanced at Xing Siyun's expression, clearly seeing displeasure in her eyes.
Obviously, she didn't like it.
So Li Xiaoya just smiled without changing her form of address.
"Wenqing, put Little Ya down now," the old man ordered.
Wei Wenqing had no choice but to let go.
Because of the guests' presence, the old man couldn't ask much about the island. He had the servant bring some food for Li Xiaoya, then sent her off to bed.
Li Xiaoya asked the servant: "Is Grandma Feng grandfather's friend?"
The servant said: "No."
"Then why are they..."
The servant smiled and said: "That's grown-up business."
Li Xiaoya didn't ask further.
Anyway, if she wanted to know, she could find out through "seeing".
Li Xiaoya returned to her bedroom, took a shower, and found her phone blinking incessantly in the pile of clothes.
She picked it up and saw there were already three missed calls.
They were international calls.
Li Xiaoya's eyes flickered. Was it Ke Muning?
She pressed the answer button, but there was no sound from the other end.
Li Xiaoya had to speak first, sending over a soft "hello".
When speaking an unfamiliar language, perhaps due to the difference in pronunciation, one's tone changes along with it.
Previously, they had only heard Li Xiaoya speak Chinese, which was then translated by the phone.
The cold, robotic AI voice from the phone translation suddenly changed into the soft voice of a little child.
Ke Muning felt his ears tingle.
On this end, Li Xiaoya confusedly took the phone away from her ear, tapped it a few times, then brought it close again: "Hello?"
Ke Muning's voice finally came through: "Back in China?"
The phrase was simple enough for Li Xiaoya to understand. She responded with a sound: "Mm."
But her mind was racing.
Had he left someone to keep an eye on the island's activities? Did they see Sheng Yuxiao leaving with her?
She hoped Sheng Yuxiao hadn't been seen.
The other end rattled off a string of words.
This time, Li Xiaoya truly couldn't understand. Because the phone was still connected, it wasn't convenient to translate, so Li Xiaoya could only say in Chinese: "I don't understand."
Although Ke Muning couldn't understand what she said either, hearing her switch to Chinese, he realized they couldn't communicate again.
Ke Muning waved his hand, taking a translation device from his subordinate.
So what came through the phone signal to Li Xiaoya's ears became AI-generated Chinese, mechanically saying: "I asked Secretary Wang, he's still there, said you left, how could he not see you off?"
This translation was really not very good.
But at least the meaning was understandable.
So, Ke Muning hadn't seen Sheng Yuxiao! He knew because he had asked Secretary Wang.
"Damn it, chatting is so tiring. Learn English properly." Ke Muning cursed as he ended the call. He thought it would have been better to just say "hello" to him a few more times!
Li Xiaoya stared at the phone, blinking, then turned it off and went to sleep.
When she woke up after a nap, she first called Dou Dawei to ask if he had arrived home safely.
Dou Dawei was very happy to receive the call, saying repeatedly: "I'm home, I'm home. I'll come see you again during the New Year."
He still didn't know why Li Xiaoya had asked him to stay two extra days last time. Was it just to let him experience a five-star hotel?
But it was indeed very enjoyable.
Li Xiaoya asked: "Is it troublesome to come?"
"Not at all, not at all. It's a good opportunity to bring my wife and kids to play in Jin City too. And also... the year-end bonus will be out by New Year's, don't you want it?"
"Wasn't it the gold you wrapped last time?" Li Xiaoya was puzzled.
"How could that be? Haha! That was a personal gift from me and my wife! When you're away from home, you can't be without money, right? Gold is a hard currency, you could use it as money even on a deserted island! You didn't let anyone see it, did you? Keep it safe!"
Li Xiaoya's words of refusal reached her lips but were swallowed back. She responded firmly: "Mm!"
She should accept others' kindness, and then be kind to others in return. This way, everyone would be better off!
After finishing the call with Dou Dawei, Li Xiaoya instinctively went to check the small cabinet where she kept the gold. It was still locked.
Good, very safe.
Grandfather also didn't let the servants touch her things, let alone enter her room without permission.
"Young miss, it's time for school," a servant came to knock on the door.
"Mm." Li Xiaoya responded, shouldering her backpack and heading out.
At school, everyone looked at her curiously.
"Li Xiaoya, you actually skipped a day of school!"
Zhou Xiaoshu, without thinking too much, blurted out: "She went to play with my dad!"
Everyone looked at each other, finding it utterly baffling: "Why did she go play with your dad? Is she... your dad's illegitimate daughter?!"
Just as they were getting excited about this discovery,
Zhou Xiaoshu loudly rebuked: "Don't talk nonsense! I'll tear your mouths if you keep spreading rumors!"
"Then what is it? Tell us!"
"It's because she has shares in my dad's company! She's a major shareholder in my dad's company!"
"Still saying she's not an illegitimate daughter, otherwise why would your dad give her shares?" Others chimed in.
Zhou Xiaoshu couldn't argue against them all, and even thought about immediately going to ask for help from the fourth-grade big sister to deal with these damn kids!
An Ying sighed and interjected: "Couldn't Li Xiaoya have bought the shares herself?"
"An Ying, do you know how much money it takes to buy shares in a company? You think it's just tens of thousands? Haha." One child pointed and laughed at her.
Previously, Li Xiaoya didn't like dealing with the taunts and mockery from the kids at Shitou School.
But now she suddenly realized that she could handle it effortlessly.
She interjected: "Isn't it just a few million?"
"...Huh?" The mocking laughter stopped abruptly.
"Li Xiaoya, are you bragging? How could parents give a child millions to buy shares?"
Li Xiaoya shook her head and said: "It's not just a few million."
"So you admit you're lying?"
"It's fifty million." Uncle said a diamond mine had been transferred to her name, fifty million should be about right, right?
Everyone was stunned into silence.
"Listen to her brag... does she even know how much fifty million is?" Someone still sneered and argued.
"My dad told me to be careful when going out. If kidnappers got me, they might demand a hundred million in ransom," another child chimed in, snorting at Li Xiaoya. Implying, "I'm worth more than you."
An Ying suddenly piped up: "Then you'd better be careful walking around. This morning, my dad was talking about a news story. It said a billionaire was killed on some island abroad. That billionaire was worth five billion. My dad said he was targeted because he was too rich."
The child shuddered and fell silent.
An Ying nodded with satisfaction, thinking to herself that this was for his own good, he had no idea how formidable Li Xiaoya was.
However, Li Xiaoya's attention was now drawn to An Ying's mention of a billionaire being killed on an island.
Was it the one Ke Muning killed?
Li Xiaoya asked: "What was the billionaire's name?"
An Ying quickly pulled out her phone to check the news, saying: "The name's too long, I can't remember."
An Ying turned her phone around, showing them the news content.
"My dad was also talking about this news this morning."
"The news says they found a small floral hat at the scene. Does the killer wear a small floral hat?"
"Dummy! A hat that small must belong to a child."
"Oh, so the killer brought his daughter along."
"That's even more ridiculous, okay? Even more far-fetched than Li Xiaoya's bragging."
Li Xiaoya: "......"
But, that small floral hat.
It seems... it might be the one she lost.
