Little Loli's body jumped into the air and directly landed on the cliff. She then easily plucked several Blood Lotuses and passed them to Jungkook.
He then motioned for one of his men,
"Pack them up."
After the Blood Lotuses were packed, all of them headed to the valley that he had mentioned earlier, and a helicopter soon arrived.
Lisa glanced at him, and he nodded back. Following that, she and Little Loli got on the helicopter.
When the helicopter arrived at the capital, it was already the next day.
It was currently 9 a.m in the morning and the helicopter had directly landed in the backyard of Jungkook's villa.
The housekeeper was already waiting there for her arrival.
The moment he saw Lisa alighting, he immediately went over and took her luggage.
"Miss Zi, welcome home."
"Long time no see."
Just then, Little Loli who alighted next had also greeted the housekeeper.
"Hello!"
The housekeeper had never seen Little Loli before and he was thinking deep down,
"Where did Miss Zi find such an adorable girl from."
Lisa said,
"She's, my robot."
The housekeeper was surprised, and he carefully sized up Little Loli.
Little Loli allowed him to check her out and even deliberately did a twirl around.
The housekeeper exclaimed,
"This robot is too humanized!"
"Hehe."
Little Loli was delighted at his compliment.
Lisa said,
"Go back to my courtyard and drive out one of the cars to return to the bar."
"Yes, Master!"
Little Loli immediately left after that.
She and the housekeeper went towards the door.
While walking, the housekeeper explained to her about what happened after she had left. "There were some express delivery packages that arrived after you left. I got the robots in the courtyard to move them down to the basement."
She nodded in acknowledgement.
After arriving at the living room, breakfast was already prepared and served on the dining table.
The housekeeper said,
"Miss Zi, you must be tired after sitting in the helicopter for a long period of time. You can eat something first. Your rooms in the villas have been prepared and so you can take a rest after breakfast."
She was indeed somewhat tired and nodded at him.
After breakfast, she returned to her villa to take a nap for several hours.
It was already past 2 p.m in the afternoon when she woke up.
Lisa directly made her way to the bar after waking up.
As she had left for more than twenty days, the renovations of the bar were basically complete.
She was very satisfied after she took a tour around.
Little Loli tagged behind and asked expectantly,
"Master, since the renovations are complete, when will we open for business?"
She thought for a moment and said,
"In a few more days' time. During these two days, you shall lead everyone around to learn various skills."
"Yes, Master!"
Lisa stayed in the bar until it was about dinner time before she then drove to a cake shop near the downtown area. She merely pondered for two seconds and parked her car in the parking lot outside the store.
After she alighted, a young man who was waiting for the traffic to stop so he could cross, while whistling in a good mood, suddenly saw her from the corner of his eyes.
He hastily stretched out his neck to double check if it was her. After confirming, he took out his phone and dialed a number.
"I saw the woman you talked about... Just wait and see, I'll help you deal with her... Rest assured, I know my limits."
...
It was the weekend and there were many people in the cake shop.
When she walked in, there was also a long queue.
The moment everyone saw her, all of them were amazed by her appearance.
"What a beautiful girl."
There were many who subconsciously took out their phones wanting to photograph her. Zi Yi gave them a cold glance and they guiltily put away their phones.
Only then did she walk over to the queue and line up.
When she bought the cake and walked out the shop, she discovered a large crowd of people around her car.
She frowned at the scene and walked over in large strides.
After she came closer, she realized that her car had been bumped.
The frown on her face deepened. She had parked her car in the parking lane and yet there was still someone who had bumped it.
The crowd were all engrossed in their discussion and Lisa could not be bothered to get them to move. She directly pressed on the car keys.
The moment the headlights flashed, everyone subconsciously turned to look at her.
When they saw her holding onto the car keys, they were momentarily dazed before they subconsciously made way for her.
Lisa discovered that the person who bumped her car was a man with bleached ash grey hair who was wearing a flowery t-shirt. His style was basically publicizing to everyone that he was a young man.
The moment he saw her walking over, he insincerely asked,
"Hey, is this racing car yours?"
When he asked that question, his pair of eyes was quickly scanning Lisa from head to toe.
She coldly glanced back.
"Yes."
The young man did not show the slightest bit of guilt from bumping her car.
"Give me your phone number. How much is the repair fee? I'll pay you."
She looked at him and detected a glint that was hinting he had done it deliberately.
She guessed that this person must be someone who knows about her and had deliberately approached her to embarrass her.
Someone had come knocking on the door to cause trouble for her the moment she returned, and she was very unhappy about that.
She then sneered and said,
"You don't have to pay."
The young man revealed an exaggerated and unexpected expression.
"You don't need me to pay?"
The onlookers were also surprised.
"Isn't this beautiful lady too generous? That man had bumped her car and she doesn't need him to pay?"
"Perhaps she's a mistress for a rich person. That young man appears to be quite rich and perhaps she might be eyeing up his wealth."
"But she drives a racing car. How could she possibly be a mistress?"
"Pft... these days, mistresses are richer than others."
These days, the number of jealous people has also increased.
She scanned her surroundings, and her cold gaze caused those people who were gossiping behind her back to feel a shiver down their backs and subconsciously shut their mouths.
Lisa headed towards her car and stared at the young man.
"I don't need you to pay me. We'll be even after I bump your car once."
When everyone heard that, they looked at her in disbelief.
The young man had also taken two seconds before he recovered his senses.
"What did you say? You want to hit my car?" He felt that he had just heard a joke and was thinking that he'd like to see if she dared to do so.
At that moment, she had already reached her car. She opened the door and looked at him with a chilly expression.
"I'm not discussing it with you."
Having said that, she started the car and stepped on the accelerator.
BAM!
The sound of the impact had shocked everyone, and their hearts quivered.
The young man was also dumbfounded by her ferocity. He looked at his car whose bumper had a dent and pointed at her in anger.
"You actually hit my car!"
Lisa rolled down the windows and said coldly,
"You can call the police. I will pay what I need to pay then, without a single cent less."
Following that, she stepped on the gas pedal.
When her car roared out, the surrounding crowd had subconsciously made way for her.
The young man's expression darkened and pointed at the crowd as he angrily shouted.
"What are you looking at? Get lost"!
"What a brute."
"He deserves it."
While the crowd was dispersing, they did not forget to complain about him.
After the onlookers had left, the young man kicked the curb in a fury.
"Mf*! How dare she hit my car. Just you wait!"
⁍
Lisa did not even bother to care about that guy. After she drove back to her villa, she went down to the basement to check up on her experiment equipment.
Early the next morning, she called up Dou Xiangling.
Dou Xiangling was pleasantly surprised at the news of her return.
"Lili, I'm currently at the School of Fine Arts in M.Uni. Why don't you come over? I can update you about the preliminary competition for our entries and what to do next."
If Dou Xiangling had not brought this up, she would have totally forgotten about this.
She had mailed out her entry before she left for abroad and the preliminary competition results were released.
Lisa said okay and made her way to M.Uni.
Today was the 11th of August and the school compound was very quiet during summer vacations.
She had directly made her way to the School of Fine Arts.
The surroundings were also quiet, and she parked her car before heading towards the building.
Not long after she started walking, she saw two people holding a variety of painting materials and heading towards the entrance of the building.
Lisa stopped for a moment and allowed them to enter first.
They were holding onto too many art supplies and did not see her.
While walking, they were discussing in soft voices.
Unexpectedly, the target of their discussion was Dou Xiangling.
One of them said,
"I didn't expect Dou Xiangling to be someone like that. In the past, I thought she was pretty nice and had been called back by the professor to teach at such a young age. But now, I realize that she is simply a hypocrite."
The other person's tone of voice was sour.
"She's a young lady from a scholar family and isn't it normal for her to hang around useful people? We can only blame ourselves for having no background. Teacher Zhang merely mentioned wanting to see her paintings and yet Dou Xiangling talked badly about her this way."
"Ha! Does she honestly think she's all that good? If she did not have the strong background of the Dou Family, who would bother to care about her?"
"You two, hold on."
The sudden voice had shocked the both of them who were gossiping about someone behind their backs. They hastily turned around to look at the girl standing behind them,
The moment they saw it was someone unacquainted, they released a sigh of relief.
One of them sized up Lisa and asked,
"Student, are you from the School of Fine Arts?"
"No."
Their expressions relaxed at her answer.
"Student, do you need something?"
"I'm looking for the Dou Xiangling you two were talking about."
"..."
When she saw the change in their expressions, the corner of her lips curled up and she asked,
"I wonder if you are teachers or students at the school?"
"We are Teacher Assistants."
"Oh, hello TAs. Can you tell me how Dou Xiangling was being hypocritical?"
The two of them immediately looked at her nervously.
Lisa flipped her hair and raised her eyebrow, revealing her playful nature.
"Don't worry, I was ordered to look for Dou Xiangling to help me take the back door. My family wants to meet Professor Dou."
Her tone of voice and expression made her seem like a hedonistic young lady. No one could have imagined that she would have a good relationship with a person like Dou Xiangling.
The both of them directly trusted her words.
"We'd advise you not to look for that woman. Perhaps she might promise you at the start and then renege on her words after."
"Umm... what do you mean?"
"Let me tell you."
That woman deliberately lowered her voice and said,
"Dou Xiangling is a two-faced person. A few days ago, someone asked her for a favor, and she agreed to it at the start. Two days later, when the person came asking for her help, she directly rejected them and helped someone else instead."
"Also, someone merely wanted to see her participating entry work and she had inexplicably accused the person of wanting to commit plagiarism."
Lisa thought for a moment and said,
"It's normal not to show others their work in advance."
"The person who wanted to look at her work isn't a contestant. What does it matter?"
Lisa pretended to think for a moment and said, "It indeed doesn't matter. After all, the participating work isn't yours."
"You... what do you mean by that!"
"I meant literally what I said. I think that it's easy for you to criticize others from the sidelines since it doesn't concern you."
She looked at their expressions that were about to change and impolitely said,
"Just because they aren't contestants, they can view other people's work. Then can you guarantee that the person viewing her work isn't a spy sent by another contestant?
Also, helping others is out of kindness, and not helping others is normal. However, why does it become two-faced when it comes out from your mouths? Were you present then, and did you know why she refused to help that person?
I'd advise you not to badmouth others behind their backs. Otherwise, you'll suffer from retribution."
"You–"
Their faces turned flushed red from Lisa's words, and they were flustered and exasperated.
"Say, student. What do you mean by that? How could we possibly talk without evidence..."
"Then take out the evidence right now,"
She said with a cold expression.
The two of them glanced at each other and flew into a rage out of humiliation. They simply ignored her and walked away while muttering,
"What kind of person is that what an ungrateful b*tch."
Lisa looked on coldly at the two of them and headed towards the building.
When she arrived at Dou Xiangling's studio, she was currently engrossed in painting.
She did not disturb her and simply stood beside her and watched her paint.
She only called out to her after Dou Xiangling finished painting and put down the paintbrush. "Cousin."
Dou Xiangling turned around and immediately revealed a smile.
"Lili, when did you arrive?"
"Not long ago."
"Lili, take a look at my painting. How is it?"
"It's very beautiful."
Dou Xiangling lightly chuckled at her words.
She looked at her and suddenly said,
"I heard someone bad mouthing you earlier."
Dou Xiangling was surprised for a second before she frankly said,
"Let them talk all they want."
She frowned.
"You're not going to retaliate?"
Dou Xiangling raised her hand to touch her head.
"Don't worry. I will definitely counterattack, but it's not the time yet."
She was relieved at her words.
Dou Xiangling started to pack her belongings as she said,
"Lili, hold on for a moment. I'll pack up first and we can go outside to find a place to talk.
"Okay."
After she packed up everything, the both of them left the building.
The two teacher assistants walked out from the corner after Lisa and Dou Xiangling left.
"Ha! I was just thinking why that girl spoke up for Dou Xiangling. So, they're cousins."
"Hmph! Who does she think she is? She merely has the halo of the Dou Family, and I don't believe she can win the top three in the International Painting Competition."
"Also, it's obvious that the cousin of hers isn't any kind soul either. Perhaps she might be a fox who specializes in seducing people."
Lisa and Dou Xiangling made their way to a cafe outside of M.Uni.
Both their entry works had passed the semi-finals. Dou Xiangling had Lisa paint another piece for her as the semi-finals were also graded based on the finished products that were sent.
"Only the final is a live competition. It will be held on the 3rd of October."
Freshmen had military training in September and Lisa could take part in the competition after the military training.