The morning after the banquet was deceptively peaceful.
Sunlight spilled across the polished floors of the Feng estate. Birds chirped in the courtyard, and the house staff moved with careful precision, knowing full well the storm that had swept through the night before.
Xiao Xiao stood by the window of her bedroom, a cup of warm tea in her hands. Her red gown was gone, replaced with a soft cream robe that brushed her ankles.
Her grandfather had not spoken much after they returned — but his silence was heavy with thought, not anger.
She knew him.
He was preparing for something.
Something bigger than Madam Lin and Feng Qian…
A soft knock came at the door.
"Jie?" Yichen peeked in, eyes sleepy but bright.
Xiao Xiao smiled warmly. "Come in."
He rushed to her, hugging her tightly.
"I'm not afraid anymore," he said quietly.
"You don't have to be," she promised, gently stroking his hair. "They won't hurt you again. I'll make sure of it."
—
But as peace bloomed in her world, danger gathered in another.
In the Jiang family's private estate, silence ruled like a queen.
At the head of a long conference table sat Jiang Meiling, the cold-eyed woman from the banquet's surveillance.
Surrounded by three men — her younger brothers — and several bodyguards, she reviewed the banquet video on loop.
"She's become smarter," one brother muttered.
"She's becoming a threat," said another.
Meiling tapped her long red nails on the armrest. "A threat… or an opportunity?"
They turned to her.
"The Feng girl has made enemies. And in this city, enemies can be assets."
She leaned forward, eyes glittering.
"Send someone close to her. We'll decide whether to kill the flower… or use it to strangle someone else."
—
Meanwhile, Li Yan received the first whispers from his shadow network.
His subordinate stood before him with a grim expression.
"The Jiang family… they're moving," he reported. "After the banquet incident, someone within their estate ordered surveillance on Miss Feng."
Li Yan's jaw tightened.
"Why would they care about a Feng family scandal?"
The man hesitated.
"Because… it wasn't just about her. Madam Lin has business ties with the Jiangs. Dirty ones. Hidden investments, money laundering, real estate embezzlement."
Li Yan's gaze darkened. "And Xiao Xiao just burned her."
Which meant she had unknowingly lit a fuse buried under a powder keg.
"Watch them," he said coldly. "Every step. Every call. And keep Xiao Xiao safe. I don't care what it takes."
—
But at the same time, Xiao Xiao herself had begun to feel the shift.
At the boutique café near her university, she sipped a light green tea, her eyes flicking to the corner where a man pretended to read a newspaper — for the third day in a row.
Someone's watching me.
She didn't panic.
Not this Xiao Xiao.
Instead, she smiled to herself.
"Let them watch," she murmured. "They'll see exactly what I want them to see…"