Ruoxi looked through the photos. "It's indeed strange. Why would someone do such a thing? Unless she is trying to replace Meili?"

Lin Lihua chuckled. "As if anyone can replace her. No one knows how much she has been through to get to this level. Why would they want to ruin all her hard work?"

She took back those photos. "The most weird thing is that Small Xixi was the only one who saw Meili's costume, and it was copied too."

Ruoxi frowned. "She was bugged too?"

"I don't think anyone would be that idle. How would they know that Small Xixi would see Meili's costume?"

Lin Lihua took another sip of her terribly bitter coffee. "But if I remember correctly, Small Xixi would never leave Southside Villas without saying hi to our family and Lu Shaoting's."

Ruoxi jolted. "That's right! Perhaps she mentioned Meili's dress in passing and someone who didn't want her to pass her audition gave the information to Annie Lan. Who could it be? Lu Shihan? Lu Shichen? That's rather impossible. Why would boys do that?"

Lu Shihan and Lu Shichen were Lu Shaoting's twin sons. They were only two months younger than Lu Xian Li because the latter was born premature.

Aside from the fact that they were Su Ling's only children, there was nothing interesting about them.

Presently, Lin Lihua definitely understood what Ruoxi was driving at. Coincidentally, Katy Blanc had just returned from Le Blanc Group and arrived at that moment.

"Katy, come here." Lin Lihua called before she got past them.

Katy wasn't too happy about being called by Lin Lihua in Ruoxi's presence. It obviously spelt trouble. But, she still went over. "Mother, is there anything I can do for you?"

Lin Lihua ignored this "mother" address. She had long decided to turn a deaf ear to it. "Small Xixi was here last night."

"And?"

"What did you guys talk about?"

Katy shrugged. "Nothing particulary. I'm too old to hold a discussion with a 21 year old." What would they talk about, stuffed toys and first crushes?

Ruoxi interjected. "But I overheard…"

"What?" both Lin Lihua and Katy asked.

"Nothing…" Ruoxi held a hand over her mouth.

Katy smiled bitterly. This Ruoxi was messing with her yet again. Hadn't she had enough? "If there's nothing else, I will go to sleep. I had a terribly long day today."

When Katy left, Lin Lihua looked at Ruoxi. "Just now…"

The girl hurriedly took Lin Lihua's hand. Those who didn't know would think she was distracting Lin Lihua to help Katy out. But in real sense, she was letting Lin Lihua know that there was something to hide. "Mother, do you remember Doherty? He used to visit us in school when we were kids."

"What about him?"

"One time, he jokingly told me that he was unmarried because he was in love with you. But now that I'm a grown woman, I finally found out that it was not a joke. He is still unmarried. Poor him."

Lin Lihua chuckled. "You brat. Are you too idle lately?"

Ruoxi laughed along. "Not exactly. I'm only thinking about our future. There's only a few weeks left before you divorce Henry. It won't be long before I want to get married. I don't want you to be lonely. Actually, Doherty Isn't half bad." Right after saying this, she scurried away.

Katy Blanc was not too far. She had forgotten to say something to Lin Lihua and on her way back, she heard Ruoxi mention Doherty.

It was no big deal.

However, were her eyes and ears playing tricks on her?

If she was not dreaming, as soon as Ruoxi left, Lin Lihua's smile turned into a dangerous smirk, one that spelt doom.

Not only that, she also clenched her fists and spat out two words bitterly. "Venomous snake."

Katy's eyes went wide with shock.

What did Aunty Lihua mean? Was she scolding Ruoxi as a snake? Could it be...?

No. That wasn't possible. She loved Ruoxi beyond redemption. She couldn't possibly scold her, much less using such a bitter pair of words. Her eyes and ears were probably playing tricks.

Katy didn't go downstairs anymore. She hurried to her room and locked herself in.

___

Following the predicament that happened on the day of Lu Meili's audition, she and Xu Tang didn't see eye to eye for the next few days.

Lin Lihua had already taken the only copy of the surveillance footage. Although Xu Corporation was his company, it was such a pity that he couldn't get his hands on it.

Lin Lihua had only promised Lu Meili that she would take care of Annie Lan. However, she did not remember to mention the fact that Annie Lan had sneakily bugged Xu Tang, and that Small Xixi had unknowingly helped the orchestrator.

Too bad, Lin Lihua had probably forgotten that the star of this twist was not Lu Meili but Xu Tang. The poor man had been misunderstood to the point of not being spoken to. Every time he tried to speak to her, he would be heartlessly ignored or, if Lu Meili was in a bad mood, scolded.

Small Xixi wasn't spared a glance either.

"I'm not going to speak to either of you. The Xu family is a cluster of traitors. The only good person from that family is Grandpa Yang." She once said when the Xu siblings both tried to speak to her.

Xu Tang was irked. "Now we are all traitors, huh? And what's the deal with that old man? He only needs to sit on his wheelchair and do nothing for him to get Meili's love."

Small Xixi blinked her eyes. "Is there anyone who speaks that way of his grandfather?"

"Yup. There's one right in front of you." Scolded best friend over here, can't you see me?

Small Xixi chuckled. Was that jealously she detected in her brother's eyes? He was jealous of their maternal grandfather for being praised by Lu Meili? There was something good coming out of this after all."