Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

In the early 1980s, Beijing was at the forefront of the reform and opening-up movement.

Attracting investment has become the top priority.

Those capitalists who once left their hometowns have now transformed into highly sought-after figures in the eyes of leaders at all levels.

Lou Bancheng, also known as Lou Xiao'e's father.

With Zhang Huaimin's secret assistance, he made a clean getaway with a large sum of money and settled down in Hong Kong.

More than a decade later, the Lou family has become a powerful force in Hong Kong's real estate industry.

Furthermore, it has established a massive multinational shipping fleet, becoming a veritable conglomerate worth hundreds of billions.

This time, the Lou family returned to Beijing as a key Hong Kong business delegation to invest, and the city directly dispatched the highest-level reception team.

Even the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse has specially vacated several villas.

however.

Lou Xiao'e is now the de facto head of the Lou Group.

However, upon arriving in Beijing, he immediately declined all the lavish welcome banquets offered by municipal leaders.

She gave only one order: Go to Nanluoguxiang!

"Creak—"

The heavy Rolls-Royce doors slowly opened.

Lou Xiao'e's foot, clad in a black pointed high heel, landed steadily on the somewhat uneven bluestone slabs of Nanluoguxiang.

A cold wind swept by, lifting the hem of her expensive white mink coat.

She took off the sunglasses that almost covered half of her face.

She revealed a face that still vaguely showed traces of her former gentleness, but whose brows and eyes had long since settled into the look of a decisive and aristocratic female CEO.

Time seems to have left few marks on her face; instead, it has given her a more mature and charming aura of authority.

"Chairman, the road ahead is too narrow for the car to pass."

A burly bodyguard captain, dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, bowed slightly respectfully to report.

"It's alright, I'll go in."

Lou Xiao'e waved her hand.

She looked at the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar alleyway in front of her and took a deep breath of the slightly chilly early spring air in Beijing.

It's been more than ten years.

She has finally returned to this place.

That cage that once subjected her to humiliation and brought her to the brink of despair.

It was also the blessed place where she met the greatest benefactor in her life.

"You guys, take the stuff and follow behind."

Lou Xiao'e gave an order, then strode forward, surrounded by a group of bodyguards in black.

They marched in a grand procession toward the gate of the Hongxing Courtyard.

at this time.

At the entrance of the courtyard house.

Yan Bugui was so excited after watching the TV show that he couldn't sleep.

Wearing a cotton-padded coat and holding a chipped broom, he symbolically swept the remaining snow at the doorway, as if to aid digestion.

Sudden.

He heard a series of neat and heavy footsteps.

I looked up.

Then they saw a group of burly men in black surrounding a woman who looked like a noblewoman, walking over as if she were the center of attention.

This display is on a completely different level compared to those thugs wearing red armbands back in the day.

It was a sense of oppression built purely on money and status!

"Which high-ranking official has come incognito to visit the grassroots?"

Yan Bugui was so frightened that he dropped the broom in his hand with a "thud".

He quickly took off his gold-rimmed glasses, wiped them vigorously with the corner of his clothes, and put them back on.

When he saw the face of the woman walking at the front.

Yan Bugui was completely stunned, as if struck by lightning!

"Lou...Lou Xiao'e?!"

Yan Bugui gasped in shock, his voice cracking.

He simply couldn't believe his eyes!

This...this is still the same girl who was beaten and scolded by Xu Damao in the yard back then, and mocked by Jia Zhangshi as a "hen that doesn't lay eggs".

Was she ultimately forced to leave with nothing and flee in a sorry state?

The person in front of me.

Wearing a mink coat and exquisite makeup, she was followed by eight black-clad bodyguards who looked like men to be trifled with.

That aura was even more impressive than that of foreign queens in movies!

"Uncle, it's been many years. You're still in good health."

Lou Xiao'e walked to the front gate and stopped.

Seeing Yan Bugui staring in disbelief, she smiled elegantly and calmly.

There was no resentment, nor the arrogance of a petty person who has achieved success.

Some possess an absolute confidence and composure that comes from having weathered countless storms and regarding the past as insignificant.

"It really is Xiao'e!"

Yan Bugui swallowed hard and stammered:

"You...you've struck it rich! Look at this spectacle, this grand entrance..."

"Oh my! Quick! Honey, come out and see! Lou Xiao'e is back!"

Yan Bugui's shout immediately brought out all the neighbors who were still reminiscing about the TV program in the main room of the Yan family.

Everyone rushed to the front yard.

When I saw Lou Xiao'e standing at the door, exuding an aura of power, and the row of black Rolls-Royces behind her.

Everyone reacted in the same way as Yan Bugui.

His jaw dropped to the floor, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"My goodness! This...this is Lou Xiao'e? This is clearly the air of a capitalist's daughter!"

"What capitalist! He's a Hong Kong businessman now! A big boss who came back to invest!"

"My goodness, how much money must they have made to afford so many bodyguards!"

The neighbors whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with awe and deep envy as they looked at Lou Xiao'e.

Behind the moon gate of the Intermediate People's Court.

Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu also secretly peeked out.

Looking at the radiant Lou Xiao'e.

Their hearts were filled with a mixture of emotions, like a jumbled mess of flavors—sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty.

Especially Qin Huairu.

Looking at Lou Xiao'e's expensive mink coat, and then at his own faded and tattered cotton-padded jacket, he thought to himself.

I was so jealous I almost broke my fingernails.

Back then, she looked down on Lou Xiao'e the most.

She felt that although she was rich, she couldn't hold onto a man's heart and was a useless woman who couldn't even have children.

But now?

She transformed herself into a high-ranking female CEO.

But she herself became a pitiful creature who could barely afford to eat and whose son had become mentally challenged.

This contrast made Qin Huairu wish she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into and never come out again.

Lou Xiao'e ignored the complicated gazes around her.

Her gaze swept past the crowd and landed directly on the quiet east wing in the front yard.

That house was heavily guarded by fully armed bodyguards.

"Third Uncle".

Lou Xiao'e withdrew her gaze, looked at Yan Bugui, and said with a smile:

"I'm not here to visit relatives today."

"I've come to find Huaimin to repay a debt of gratitude."

Repay kindness!

The moment those two words were uttered, the entire hospital was once again shocked.

Lou Xiao'e's grand entrance and high status—was it all just to repay Zhang Huaimin's debt of gratitude?!

really!

Anyone who gets involved with Consultant Zhang is guaranteed to take off!

Amidst the awe and envy of the crowd.

Lou Xiao'e took an exquisitely crafted box made of golden nanmu wood from the bodyguard behind her. The box exuded a faint fragrance.

She straightened her clothes.

With an almost reverent devotion, I slowly walked toward the door of the east wing.

At this time.

At the very back of the courtyard, next to that dilapidated, drafty woodshed.

Xu Damao was wearing a tattered set of work clothes that reeked of a foul odor.

He was carrying a dirty wooden bucket full of swill and excrement, preparing to dump it in the front yard.

He heard a commotion in the front yard and vaguely heard the name "Lou Xiao'e".

Xu Damao shuddered, and like a thief, he furtively poked his head out and peered ahead.

When he saw the woman surrounded by bodyguards, wearing a mink coat, and looking as noble as a queen.

Xu Damao's pupils contracted sharply, and he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

"E...E'zi?!"

Extreme shock, regret, and a profound sense of humiliation at being cruelly mocked by fate.

It instantly pierced Xu Damao's heart.

His hand went limp.

"Splash!"

The wooden bucket full of filth slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

Without any mercy, a large bucket of foul-smelling swill was poured over his tattered rubber shoes and trouser legs, which were covered in chilblains!