Si Yuheng furrowed his brows. This was Huo Family’s territory. The relationship between the Liang Family and Jiayi was too close. If he forcefully did anything to that woman, Huo Shao would definitely intervene, getting in his way.

Letting her escape wasn’t a bad thing either. Once she left this island, it would be much more convenient for him to act however he wanted.

Liang Anya, you think you’ve escaped? In reality, you’ve flown straight into the palm of my hand!

"No need." Si Yuheng reached into his pocket, withdrawing a fine, soft strand of hair between his fingertips. It was as delicate as a fetus’s newborn hair, and this — this was the real reason he came to see that child tonight.

That DNA test? He didn’t believe it.

This woman wanted to play him? It wasn’t going to be that easy.

"This..." His subordinate looked surprised but seemed to understand immediately.

"Run the DNA test again. Immediately." The man’s chilling voice stretched through the night.

*************************************

That night, Liang Anya and her daughter, together with Daddy, Brother, and Jiang Pinhao, boarded Huo Family’s private jet, leaving French Santo Roy Island for A City, China.

They arrived in A City the same day, and Jiang Pinhao temporarily stayed at the Liang Family residence.

Three days later, Jiang Pinhao found an apartment near A City’s coastal area and moved in.

Just as Liang Anya had predicted, Liang Tao really liked Jiang Pinhao.

It was no surprise — young men who were handsome, successful, and had a good personality were always favored by elders.

Liang Tao initially wanted Jiang Pinhao to stay at the Liang Family house. After all, their home in A City was spacious, with extra rooms aplenty — why bother moving out?

Jiang Pinhao, however, politely explained that the coastal apartment would be more convenient for his geological research, graciously declining the offer.

That morning, Liang Jue escorted Jiang Pinhao from the Liang Family residence.

Once he left, Liang Tao couldn’t hold back his admiration for his daughter: "Anya, look at him — now that’s a good man. You’ve finally picked someone worthy this time."

Liang Anya sighed helplessly: "Daddy, what do you mean I picked right or wrong? I already told you, Mr. Jiang is here in A City for marine geology research. There’s nothing between us, and there never will be."

"Alright, alright. Xiaoyi told me something before we left the island that night. She said you once wrote a confession letter to Jiang Pinhao on the school forum. And you say there’s nothing? This silly girl, you’ve liked him ever since you were in school! Stop trying to fool me!"

Liang Anya’s cheeks flushed red as she chuckled in frustration: "That’s such ancient history it’s practically fossilized. It’s been ages, and there’s truly nothing left to it. Besides, didn’t you hear that he rejected me back then? Daddy, please don’t make things up anymore."

"Him rejecting you back then only proves he has good character — respectful as a teacher, upright and principled. But now it doesn’t mean he has no feelings for you. Otherwise, out of so many cities with coasts, why come specifically to A City for his research?" Liang Tao analyzed shrewdly, leveraging his life experience.

"Daddy, enough... Oh, Xiaoxiao is waking up soon and will need her milk; can you help feed her for me? Thanks, Daddy! Mwah! I’m heading to work now!" Liang Anya swiftly nudged Liang Tao towards the nursery.

"This child... Even after becoming a mom, she’s still so fond of acting spoiled..." Liang Tao grumbled, but with a smile, he shook his head and went into the nursery with the bottle in hand.

Taking her chance, Liang Anya slung her bag over her shoulder and escaped.

...

Downstairs, she hailed a cab, jumped in, and exhaled deeply the moment the door shut. Ever since Daddy retired, he hadn’t been able to sit still — looking after Xiaoxiao already kept him busy enough, yet now he had to start meddling in her love life too.

Once she arrived at the office, she clocked in and headed to her desk. Booting up the computer, she immersed herself in work.

After taking a few days off, there was now a mountain of tasks waiting to be dealt with.

In small private companies like this, every position was critical, and it wasn’t as though others could cover her tasks while she was gone. Work had inevitably piled up, leaving her no choice but to tackle it quickly if she wanted to avoid overtime.

She buried herself in work so intensely that for lunch, she merely asked a coworker to bring her back a hamburger. The whole day, she barely left her desk or chair.

By the time she looked up again, it was already evening, and most of her coworkers had clocked out and gone home.

Though her body ached with exhaustion, she felt relieved that today’s workload was completely finished — no overtime needed.

Stretching her stiff body and shutting down her computer, she stood up to clock out, but just then, she saw the company’s boss, Mr. Ma, approaching her.

It was a small private interior design company, and Mr. Ma was the sole owner — the one who called all the shots. Like many small-business bosses, he was notorious for treating his employees like vampires, squeezing them dry and being extremely stingy.

Seeing Mr. Ma come to her at this hour, Liang Anya immediately had a bad feeling.

"Xiao Liang, finished up and ready to head home?" Sure enough, Mr. Ma grinned at her.

"Yes, Mr. Ma."

"Here’s the thing — there’s a client who wants the designer to personally inspect the room before drafting designs. If you’re not in a hurry to go home, could you go take a look real quick?"

Liang Anya felt utterly speechless; she desperately wanted to say she was in a rush to get home.

It seemed Mr. Ma had anticipated her thoughts, as he frowned and said, "You’re still young; don’t tell me you need to rush home to take care of a kid? Besides, you’ve been here a few months and I haven’t heard about you having a boyfriend. You’re single, with no ties — why would you mind working a little extra?"

Since she’d only been at the company for a short time and didn’t want to invite gossip, she had kept quiet about her personal life, including the fact that she had a daughter. Now she hesitated, trying to protect her basic rights: "But it’s already past work hours — this is my private time. Plus, the company never stated that designers had to go to the client’s location..."

The real issue was that Mr. Ma was so miserly he never even paid for overtime hours.

She had no intention of letting him exploit her for free!

Mr. Ma’s expression immediately darkened. "What’s wrong with working overtime? If you don’t want the job, just say so! I should’ve known; your family background is decent, and your father used to run his own company. Since you’re clearly a pampered young lady, why bother working here? Just go back to being a little princess — we can’t afford to keep entitled, spoiled brats here."

A City was a small metropolitan area, nowhere near as abundant in job opportunities as bigger cities. Finding a stable design position wasn’t so easy, and Liang Anya truly didn’t want to lose this job. "Fine, fine — I’ll go, alright?"

Seeing her agree, Mr. Ma immediately broke into his usual smile. "Let me tell you — this client is very generous. They gave thirty thousand as the deposit upfront, not to mention the later renovation fees. Be smart about this; it’s a big deal. If you do well, I might consider giving you a raise at the end of the month."

Thirty thousand just for the deposit? Hearing this, even Liang Anya was intrigued. If the client were truly this well-off, it meant they were big — though she couldn’t help but feel skeptical. Normally, wealthy clients with refined tastes wouldn’t bother with a small-scale firm like Mr. Ma’s.

Oh well!

Regardless, if her designs impressed the client, perhaps she could get this bigshot to refer her for some freelance work. It wouldn’t hurt to earn a little extra income.