Happy Birthday, Ge!

Despite having just told her brother that he was not allowed to be in her apartment, somehow, she wanted to let him know her whereabouts. But, she also knew that she would regret it so, she could not. A mistake committed once and not pleading wrong, will be committed again.

Despite that, she agreed to attend his first birthday party, so she had to go to the mall and buy a new outfit. Qin Xifeng had already told her that everything in the penthouse was removed, resold, or destroyed. Though all the things in that penthouse were expensive and made of high-quality material, she did not really care for it.

With all these thoughts running in her head, she was already at the mall. Since she was a very famous figure in China, the many retail stores that she went to were very respectful and polite when greeting her and helping her. However, this was one point she hated.

The many workers in these stores were only polite to the rich and famous figures but were not fully committed to their jobs when it came to the common standing person. She had only been able to become rich due to the support of her last name but had she been the poor person she was back then, she would not be in this situation.

She was more glad than anything that she had trained her people to be respectful to all standings of people. Whether they were low class, middle class, or upper class. These people were all treated the same way and received the same benefits no matter class.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Setting the last piece of decoration on the golden walls of the mansion, the man said, "Young Master, the decorations are done and the food and drinks are set."

"Okay," Cao Yang said standing back to appreciate the decorations he had bought. "Qiao Guangli, is your sister on her way?"

"She just called me and said that she's just finished prepping and is on her way now," Qiao Guangli answered while sitting on the royal styled golden sofa.

"Good," Cao Yang said with a grin while walking to where Qiao Guangli was sitting at.

"Nothing should go wrong this time, right," Qiao Guangli asked while sipping his red wine in nervousness.

He was worried that things might go wrong this time. His sister had been able to figure out the things that Cao Yang was able to do behind the scenes, so he worried that she might figure out their plans on this night, too.

"Hey! Don't jinx the plans tonight! Last time, you said the same thing and our plan failed," Cao Yang exclaimed remembering the pain of being beaten up by his dad.

"Cao Yang, what I say does not affect the plan. Rather, how much we know about her will affect the plan," Qiao Guangli said, hating the fact that Cao Yang always blamed everything on him.

"Then? Why don't you know that your sister is resistant to poisons," Cao Yang asked sarcastically when sitting down on the opposite couch of Qiao Guangli. "She's your sister and yet you don't know?"

"We were never close," Qiao Guangli admitted, still sitting and drinking his red wine from a bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1951.

"Never close but yet she's willing to come to your birthday party," Cao Yang asked staring at the all-around golden colors that were practically everywhere. "Never close but yet she was okay with you throwing a party in her house?"

"Only she thinks so," Qiao Guangli said uncaringly.

In response to that, Cao Yang said, "You know how to use your step-sister, but you don't know how to use the girls that like you?"

"They are different," Qiao Guangli told him.

"They are the same," Cao Yang said in a strict teaching tone. "They are both girls that like you though in a different form. They are also not related to you in a biological way."

Ignoring what Cao Yang said, Qiao Guangli once asked again, "Nothing will go wrong this time, right?"

"This time, nothing will go wrong. Don't worry," Cao Yang said reassuringly.

"You said that last time, and see where you ended up," Qiao Guangli said with a frown.

Giving a deep laugh, evil laugh, Cao Yang said, "Qiao Guangli, this time my old man is getting involved. Do you really think that something will go wrong this time?"

"Why is he getting involved," Qiao Guangli asked.

"Helping me get revenge," Cao Yang gave an evil chuckle.

Qiao Guangli shivered when hearing what Cao Yang said. He was now not worried about the plan but worried about this person's future. Though they were not close, they were still business partners.

If Cao Yang's father handled everything for him, then how would he grow up? Probably as a spoiled brat.

While they were busy talking amongst themselves, one of the men of Cao Yang's walked in from the entrance area and said, "Young Master, Young Lady Chang is here."

"Ho… Would you look at that," Cao Yang said with a chuckle while staring at Qiao Guangli. "Go tell her what her job is."

After giving Cao Yang a deep stare for a split second, Qiao Guangli finally stood up and left to discuss with Chang Yuan what her duty is, being here in his mansion.

"Li-Ge! Happy birthday," Chang Yuan said excitedly while still standing in front of the gigantic golden entrance doors.

With a straight face, he asked her, "Chang Yuan, do you remember what I said on the phone?"

Despite knowing that he ignored her greeting, she answered cheerily, "Yes! Keep Hua-Jie distracted, right?"

"It's good that you understand. After this, pretend that you did not know anything," he told her.

"Okay," Chang Yuan agreed easily and walked into the living room where the party would be most populated.

Feeling assured that Chang Yuan would not go against or act in an unexpected way, he finally walked back to Cao Yang and said, "The girl knows what to do."

"Good, now we just have to wait for Gao Xiaohui and Yuan Wenling," Cao Yang said happily.

Knowing that the girls would be more dependable than Chang Yuan, he did not speak against it and remained silent, waiting for Qiao Jinghua. When it was about seven in the evening, the girls that Cao Yang invited finally came and only his sister was left.

Other than the girls, Cao Yang also invited Li Huiqing however the man had said that he could not make it do to work. It did not make much of a difference to Cao Yang though as the seats for the party were still filled up to the level that he wanted.

They did not want to make Qiao Jinghua suspicious, so in order to balance the number of girls here, they brought only four other men. Despite that, these four men were going to help them knock out Qiao Jinghua and then kidnap her into the van that was prepared.

Also, due to the fact that they did not want the government to get involved with trying to search for Qiao Jinghua, they even found a body double to replace her when finally being successful in kidnapping her. Cao Yang also got his father to block the military's and the police's attempt in searching for her.

As for Qiao Guangli, he knew that Qiao Jinghua's assistant would be able to figure out the difference between her and the body double, so he thought that the best way would just be to make her be put in an accident. If he killed her, it would make it too suspicious to outsiders.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours had passed before she finally made it to the Qiao Mansion. This place was her old home and a place she was most comfortable but also uncomfortable in. Looking at this place now, she could see the many and multiple changes that were made since she moved out.

Somehow, she thought that her brother was very lacking in architecture or designing skills. The mansion that used to proudly stand in its very traditional, but royal majesty, was now decorated in a very brightening gold all around. It did not make the mansion look nice in the least bit, but rather tacky.

She used to look up to her brother but now, she was increasingly looking down on him. Had she never seen the new look of this mansion, he might still be up there. However, this just dampened her mood as she was carrying her gift that did not shine as brightly as this mansion that was repainted.

When entering the mansion, she could see that no workers were there to welcome, so she just carried on without waiting. She did not feel that this mansion was her home anymore, but since he chose to just let her in like this, she would not be polite.

Walking the entrance area and into the living room, she could see the decorations that made the room much less tacky and more fitting with each other. Whoever it was that decorated the party, had a good sense of design.

"Ge," she called out when seeing Qiao Guangli sitting on the golden sofa with Chang Yuan at the side trying to satisfy him with the food on the gold coffee table with glass as the top.

"Xiao Hua, you're finally here," he said with a smile. "Do you know how long Ge has been waiting for you?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I did not think the traffic would be that heavy and I'd spent too much time trying to pick your birthday present."

"It's fine," Qiao Guangli said happily. "As long as you attend my party, it makes me happy already."

Handing him the gift she picked out for him, she said, "I don't know what Ge is lacking in, but I found a watch that I thought was matching for you. I hope you won't be too mad since I know you already have a lot of watches."

"Of course, not," Qiao Guangli exclaimed trying to show her that he was happy with her gift, albeit small.

Heaving a small sigh, she said, "Thank god. I really didn't know what to give, Ge."

"You must be hungry from being busy for me all day long. How about some food and drinks? I asked the chef to prepare some of your favorite foods," Qiao Guangli suggested.

Agreeing with Qiao Guangli, she made her way to have a seat next to him and grabbed a shoutao to bite on. Qiao Guangli really did told the chefs to prepare her favorite foods. There were only traditional Chinese foods and no cakes or western foods here.

It was not that she disliked those foods, but that she loved Chinese foods more than western foods. The traditional taste would never be erased even if thousands of years passed by.

Being comfortable with eating changshou mian and dan, she started to relax and ease her guards. Even after finished with eating those, her brother gave a slice of dangao. Even then, her stomach was still not full.

However, at this moment, she was in imminent danger. With the comfort of food, drinks, and a female that could talk about fashion designs comfortable with her, her natural guard had fallen down to the lowest point to the point that it was practically non-existent.