Sonny refused Duncan and slid out of bed himself, looking for his mother while crying. When he searched the house but still did not find Liberty, he cried even harder.“Sonny, do you want some candy? Don’t cry. Dunc will give you candy.”Duncan tried to coax him.“I don’t want candy. I want Mommy...”“I’ll bring you outside and buy you a windmill, okay?”“I don’t want windmill. I want Mommy...”Sonny’s cries grew louder.Duncan was unable to soothe Sonny no matter how he tried. He did not know how to coax children.In the end, he took out his cell phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Sonny. “Don’t cry, okay? Come here, I’ll let you play with my phone. We can watch cartoons.”Sonny slapped his phone away with one hand.“I don’t want phone.”Duncan scratched his head, feeling a headache. “I thought children these days could be dealt with easily if they have a phone to play with.”Sonny did not want to play with his phone.However, there were many harmful effects of children
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m mainly concerned about Zachary and his wife,” Duncan said frankly, seemingly worried that Liberty would misunderstand him.“You went to visit them, so how are they now?” Duncan asked concernedly.Liberty sighed before she said, “You and Zachary go a long way back, don’t you? In fact, both of you are good friends and aren’t simply related in business. Mr. Lewis, even you side with Zachary to deceive us.“You know Zachary’s temper more than I do. He obstinately insists that things will be fine as long as he keeps Seren there. He won’t even allow Seren to walk out of his villa. I noticed that he’s quite weary, whereas Seren is slightly disheartened.”Duncan opened his mouth as he wanted to speak up for his good friend. However, he had no idea what to say. He had said good things about him countless times. He said so much that he felt thirsty and drank quite a lot of water at Liberty’s place.“Zachary has to come around to it now, otherwise we won’t be
Nevertheless, before the couple could celebrate, Hank’s boss had urged him to return to the office and continue working.After that, Hank caught sight of the interview regarding how Mr. Zachary pampered his wife.Serenity’s husband, Zachary, turned out to be that Mr. Zachary York. Hank did suspect that before, but Zachary denied it.In the end, Zachary was really that Mr. Zachary York.When Jessica learned the news, she was madly jealous. She was jealous of how fortunate Serenity was to be able to rise from rags to riches. Previously, Jessica was also jealous when she found out that Mrs. Stone was Liberty and her sister’s aunt.Jessica had been consumed by jealousy the entire afternoon, which caused Hank to feel unhappy.It was Serenity’s business to marry Zachary. Was Jessica jealous because she looked down on Hank?“Liberty!”Hank finally spoke and started bombarding questions at Liberty, “Is that man Mr. Lewis? Mr. Lewis walked out of your house. What did both of you do? I
Liberty stared at her ex-husband grimly and said, “Serenity is too busy to meddle in your affairs. Now that your career hasn’t been smooth, it shows that there are issues with your ability. Don’t shift the blame onto other people. You should identify your own problem.”Only now did her sister find out that she was married to Zachary. How would her sister have the time to trick Hank?“It must be either Serenity’s or Zachary’s doing. I’m sure Serenity had Zachary trick me, which caused Jessica and me to be down on our luck at work.”Hank’s eyes were filled with hatred.He was no fool. Just as he divorced Liberty, his career took a downward spiral. Every day, his boss would tell him off. With all his reward this month deducted, he could only receive his basic salary. He could no longer stay in Waltham Electronics.Currently, everyone in the company was looking forward to his leaving.If no one had tricked him, his life would not have gone downhill all of a sudden, considering that h
Jessica was aware that Hank attended a social function, so he must have drunk a lot of alcohol. She called to remind him to drive carefully on the road, but she did not remind him not to drive after he had alcohol.Hank grew upset when comparing Jessica with Liberty.All he could do was delude himself. ‘Jessica is still young, so she doesn’t know how to be concerned about others. She’ll gradually get better at this.’Hank fixed his eyes on Liberty’s rented apartment for a long time before he drove away. He even deliberately went to a florist’s shop to buy a bouquet of flowers and brought it home.He returned to his rented apartment and opened the door, only to see his mother seated on the couch with a furious look. His father and Jessica were nowhere to be seen in the living room.Chelsea’s family had returned to their hometown after the kids’ school reopened.However, both Chelsea and his brother-in-law lost their jobs. They requested Hank to look for jobs for them.At this poi
“Hank, you’ve forgotten about me after marrying your wife, huh? This isn’t how you behaved in the past. You must be bewitched by that mistress so much that you want to abandon me. What a tough life I have. Why did I give birth to such a son who married a mistress?“Liberty, I regret it. I’ve learned from my mistakes. You’re still better. You could cook and do household chores. You also treated me well and brought good luck to your husband. When you were around, Hank was doing well in his career. He was lucky and wealthy. Our family was living in happiness.“Once you left, Hank started to be down on his luck in his career. His income has reduced greatly. Even Chelsea and her husband have lost their jobs. As for me, I’ve been bullied every day… I regret it. I regret it so much!”While bawling, Olivia criticized her son for being unfilial. She recalled how her family was living well when Liberty was around.However, tears did not flow out of her eyes. She was merely wailing.Indeed,
“Mom, you’d better not go to Liberty and pour out your feelings. Don’t wash our dirty linen in public. You’re already so old, yet you’re under the impression that Liberty will take pity on you if you vent to her. All she’ll do is gloat over it.”Hank expressed all his dissatisfaction in one go.His words made Olivia grimace, and she was at a loss for words.“Mom, think about it.”With that, Hank turned around and walked away.“Where are you going?”Seeing that her son was about to go out, Olivia asked him.“You stomped on the flowers that I planned to give to my wife. I’m going out to buy a new bouquet of flowers.”Olivia was speechless.Hank left without looking back. He went out to buy Jessica another bouquet of flowers.When he returned, he saw his mother weeping on the couch. Distressed, he ignored his mother. He entered his room with the new bouquet of flowers.Jessica was watching a video using her phone on the bed. She would chortle from time to time.At the sight of
Upon hearing Jessica’s words, Hank hugged her. He lowered his head and kissed her on the face. “Darling, thank you for being considerate.”“We’re a married couple. I just want us to live much better than you and Liberty did.”At the mention of Liberty, Hank clearly stiffened. Nevertheless, he did not say anything. He soon carried Jessica to bed.Every moment of the wedding night was precious indeed.On the other hand, Serenity strolled outside the hilltop villa. Only when her legs were tired did she return to the house.Zachary silently followed behind her.Every time he wanted to speak to her, she would say, “You liar, stay away from me. I don’t want to talk to you now.”This caused Zachary to become submissive. All he could do was silently follow behind her.By the time Serenity returned to the house, her phone was already fully charged.She unplugged the charger and picked up her phone, only to see many incoming missed calls and WhatsApp messages. There were also text messa
Serenity laughed and said, “I hope I’ll be toasting at your wedding soon.”Peter replied, “I think I'll get married before Dylan does.”Dylan’s romantic path had been much more complicated because he had not wanted to follow the smooth, well-paved road that Grandma May had arranged for him.“We have lots of happy occasions lined up after Christmas, then,” Camryn remarked.“Yes, lots,” Serenity agreed.The courtyard was lively, with the elders occasionally joining in on the fun. Meanwhile, inside the house, Dylan was thinking about what Serenity had told him. She had repeatedly said that the person Grandma May picked for him would definitely be the right one, someone who would suit him well.She also suggested that he look into Imogen and that there might be a pleasant surprise in store for him, but that he was not to let Imogen know. The implication in Serenity’s words was that Imogen might be Fox and that Fox’s real identity was Imogen Doyle herself.After understanding Serenit
Dylan frowned as he pondered deeply.“The scent from outside is wafting in. I think the food’s ready. I’m going out to have a couple of skewers to satisfy my cravings. You can stay here and think things through.”Seeing that Dylan had finally grasped the main point, Serenity stopped the conversation and went out to have some barbecue. It had been a long time since she had eaten barbecue.After getting pregnant, although she was not as strictly monitored as Jasmine was, she still paid close attention to her diet and would do her best to avoid things she could not eat or had to limit. Liberty called her every few days to remind her to be careful.When Zachary saw Serenity come out of the house, he immediately picked up a plate of freshly grilled skewers to his beloved wife, saying, “I deliberately used less seasoning on these for you, so you can eat them with peace of mind. Sonny’s asleep now, right?” “He fell asleep long ago, after playing so hard today,” Serenity replied, then gr
In that case, Grandma May would not even need to step in to teach him a lesson. His older brothers would beat him up multiple times for tarnishing the York family’s reputation and dragging their names in the mud with his own.“Dylan, I told you that if you didn’t trust Nana, you’d face the consequences. Look, you’re starting to suffer now, aren’t you?” Serenity said. Who was Grandma May? She was a kind-hearted but cunning old fox who could sell someone out and still make them feel grateful for it as they counted the money she made for her. How could she pick a bad match for her grandsons? There was no way they would be unsuitable. “Serenity, it’s not that I don’t trust Nana, it’s just that I really couldn’t fall in love with Imogen. I feel like if I couldn’t fall for her in almost three months then I just won’t. And I always thought about Fox when I was with Imogen. I’m not some naïve kid who doesn’t understand what that means.” Dylan smiled bitterly. His family always compla
“Callum and Camryn came with Trenton, so they’re all having a barbecue together.”Serenity hummed in response. She closed the door to Sonny's room and said to Dylan, “Is it something you don’t want Zachary to know? If so, let’s go to his study to talk." “It’s not that. It’s fine if he knows, but I’ve talked to him, and he couldn’t be bothered. Then I asked Julian, but he said he was busy. He’s taking Ms. Crawford to register their marriage tomorrow. I just wanted a little help from him; I didn’t need him to do it personally.” Dylan grumbled a little about Julian being unhelpful.If Julian could hear this, he would retort, “Why should I help you? Even Zachary isn’t that demanding.”If it were not for the fact that Zachary and his cousin, Josh, were best buddies, Julian would not be so obliging either. Among the Yorks, Grandma May was the person the Buchams most respected. Of course, if it were something important, the Bucham family would definitely help, but Dylan’s request se
“I haven’t felt like snacking lately.”“Is the stuff made at home not to your taste anymore?” Whenever Serenity said she did not want to eat something she usually loved, Zachary would wonder if it was because the chef’s skills had declined, causing his beloved wife to lose her appetite. “It’s not that, I just don’t feel like eating them. I think maybe the baby is like you and doesn’t like sweets.”Zachary smiled. “If our son is like me, that’s fine. He’ll be steady, and in the future, the two of us will protect you.” If they had a daughter, he hoped she would be like Serenity. If she had his personality… Well, it would not be the most charming. Zachary wanted his daughter to be very likable. “I don’t need you guys to protect me, I can protect myself.”“Honey, don’t say that. I’m your husband, your man. You have to give me a chance to show off, or else people will say you married a useless husband. That would be so unfair to me.”Serenity chuckled.“Do you want to go watch So
“I can be just as considerate and attentive to you.”Quinn looked at him and could not help but laugh. “I don't mean anything else by that, you don’t need to be so defensive.”“You envy Serenity,” Julian said. “I don't want you to envy anyone. I want you to be someone others envy.”Uh, this sounded exactly like something Zachary would say. It looked like, occasionally, he really had learned a thing or two from Zachary.Quinn instantly felt smitten. She looped her arm through Julian's and whispered, “I already am someone others envy. I’m not envious of Serenity—I was just making an observation. They say Mr. Zachary dotes on his wife, and Serenity is very lucky. Now that I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes, I believe it. So, I genuinely sighed with admiration. I know I’m very lucky as well. You treat me so well, and I am content. I really don’t envy anyone.”The young couple’s conversation went unnoticed by Zachary. He waited for his wife to settle before answering a call from Dylan.
“Well, Rowan can play for a couple of days, but he has to start working on his homework soon. The college entrance exam is around the corner, and we can't let him relax too much.”“Rowan's grades are very stable and good. It won’t be hard for him to get into college, so don't put too much pressure on him. It's not necessary for him to get into the same university you and the others went to.”Serenity still remembered the pressure she had felt in high school, though it was not as much as Rowan felt, and her sister's expectations for her were more relaxed; she was only expected to do her best. No matter what the results were, Liberty would accept it. Of course, if she could get into an Ivy League university, that would be great. Otherwise, getting into an Ivy Plus university would also be fine. If that did not work out, she could go to a public university or even take a gap year. Liberty would have been okay with any of it. Her sister always told her that as long as she was physica
Zachary would not do such a thing. Julian laughed. “It’s my first time getting married. I’m asking around because I’m inexperienced. That way, I can make a plan.”Zachary turned to look at him. He said, “How many more times do you intend to get married? I didn’t have any experience either back then. It was my first time going to City Hall. Besides, Seren and I got married in a rush and did not even know each other well. After getting our marriage license, I completely forgot that I was a married man.“You’re in a better situation than I was. At least you and Quinn have feelings for each other and a stable relationship.”Julian chuckled. He caught up to Zachary and placed his arm on his shoulder. He said, “We all know what we should avoid after you’ve set an example.”Zachary was speechless. “You and Serenity are an enviable couple now.“I want to learn from you and make people jealous of Quinn as well.”Zachary brushed Julian’s hand off. “I think you’ll do a better job than m
Zachary and Julian exited the house with two housekeepers behind them, holding a tray each with snacks and drinks. The two men had excellent eyesight and quickly spotted the love of their lives sitting at a bench some distance away. Zachary knew that it was because Serenity got tired from walking. In the past, some pregnant female employees would return to work despite being pretty far along in their pregnancies. Their workload was only slightly lighter. Since Zachary had seen those employees insisting on working even though they were pregnant, he used to think being pregnant and giving birth were not that difficult. He had never put himself in the shoes of the female employees. They insisted on working because they feared being replaced if they took an extended maternity leave. When they returned, they could be discriminated against and had to start all over again. While there were opportunities to be promoted in a megacorporation, one had to climb the corporate ladder ste