Lisa's parents hastily replied, "Pleasure... to meet you too."Her dad then invited Terry to take a seat while her mother pulled her aside and asked her, "Is that really your boyfriend?! You didn't hire an actor to pretend to be your boyfriend, did you?"Lisa rolled her eyes, "Maybe I did do that, Mom.""Silly girl!" Mrs. Quest snapped angrily. "How could you say things like that?! Go on, go make us some tea."After that, Mrs. Quest changed into her warm and welcoming expression as she walked over to Terry.Having been reduced to a waitress, Lisa stomped into the kitchen to brew some tea. When she reemerged in the living room with a tray of tea and cups in her hands, her parents and Terry seemed to already be getting along swimmingly in a cheerful conversation."So," said Mrs. Quest, "you said you met Lisa abroad, didn't you, Terry? Does that mean you two have been in contact all these years?""No," Terry replied. "I happened to bump into her when I returned to this country not
"I guess I can do whatever you want," Lisa said. After all, she had no money to offer him nor had anything else but her life to give."Okay," he said.She was stunned. Did he just... agree to her request? Was that not too easy?"How's your hand?" He asked as his gaze fell on Lisa's hand which was still held under the cold running water. "Does it still hurt?""Not anymore," she replied. "It's been under the running water for quite a while, so I think I should be fine now."He turned off the tap, pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, and used it to pat her hand dry."Is there any medicine in your house?" he asked. "Your hand is still a little red and swollen. I think we'd better apply some medicine on it.""Umm, I think there is.""Go get it, then."Lisa hurried to her own bedroom and quickly got the ointment for burns. It was only then that she suddenly realized what she was doing. Why had she been so obedient in following Terry's orders?!Still, she shook off the thought
"I have some half-brothers and half-sisters," Terry replied. "My father had a lot of mistresses, so he naturally had many children as well."Lisa's parents did not expect this kind of answer at all. They turned awkward and had no idea how to continue the conversation.Seeing this, Lisa did not quite know why, but she quickly responded, "Mom, Dad, what his parents did has nothing to do with him! He's his own person! He's not his parents!"Terry turned to Lisa in shock, but there was a tinge of warmth in his eyes that even he did not notice.Luckily, Lisa's father came back to his senses and echoed her, "That's right! He's not his parents. So... Terry, what kind of work do you do now?""I'm mainly responsible for the management of a corporate group.""Management... of a corporate group?"Lisa's father looked like he doubted what he had just heard. He continued, "What kind of company do you manage? You're only 29 years old, aren't you?"In Mr. Quest's mind, a 29-year-old would hav
"Really?" He murmured, staring intently at her flushed cheeks, looking as if his mind was full of thoughts.Ding dong!The elevator had arrived downstairs. They both walked out and headed toward the spot where Terry parked his car."Well, then," said Lisa, looking very keen to send Terry off. "Goodbye!"She then turned around and was about to leave, but he quickly grabbed her arm, and with a single pull, he dragged her into his arms."Ow!" She cried out as her nose bumped into his chest.It was really painful! She was starting to get worried about her nose now that the same thing had happened over and over again. No matter how sturdy her nasal bone was, she was not sure if it could withstand such a bump so many times!Terry leaned down and inched his face next to Lisa's ear before saying, "Didn't you tell me that you'd do whatever I want if I keep what happened that night at the hotel a secret?""What..." She licked her dry lips and asked, "What do you want me to do?""I want
Before Serenity got off work, she asked Clara, the restaurant owner, "Could I take half a day off tomorrow, Clare? I'd like to visit my mother's grave."Although it was Memorial Day tomorrow which was, in fact, a national holiday, the restaurant would still be open, and it would definitely be even busier tomorrow since many people would have a lot of free time. The restaurant even stayed open during festive seasons as well.Clara was a little taken aback. She never knew that Serenity's mother had already passed away, so she told her, "Okay, no problem. You can get the kitchen to prepare some dishes for you to take to your mother's grave before you leave tomorrow.""It's fine," Serenity replied, "Thanks. I'm going to prepare the food myself."She really looked forward to preparing some food to take with her to her mother's grave. She had been very young when her mother died, but now, she was all grown up, and she even knew how to cook. She wished to let her mother see that."I'm le
Once Serenity had put all the groceries in the fridge, she turned around and discovered that Jackson had been leaning against the kitchen door and staring at her, seemingly with his mind full of thoughts.She turned away disconcertedly, trying to evade his eye contact, but as she walked out of the kitchen, there was simply no way for her to avoid him. He grabbed her arm and said, "You haven't said good night to me yet."She was startled, but then quickly said, "Good night."He stared at her and suddenly smiled, saying, "Your good night wishes are starting to sound more and more forced and hollow, Sis.""..."Serenity's chest tightened, unable to find the right way to respond to him."Someone suggested," Jackson said, "that if I want to make you like me, I should try to please you."He then bent down so that his eyes were on the same level as hers, and he added, "What do you think? Would you really like me if I tried to please you?"Serenity almost bit her tongue as her eyes wid
"Have you forgotten what happened to your father in the end?" asked Zack, back to singing his old tune."I'll never forget about that," replied Jackson, "and as I've told you before, I will never repeat my father's mistakes.""If that's true," his grandpa snapped angrily, "You should kick that woman out of Valor Residence now and never let her back into your life ever again!""I'm afraid I can't do that," said Jackson, his eyes dark and gloomy. The second he heard what his grandpa said, his heart tightened suddenly, as if he instinctively rejected the notion right away, so much so that he was not even willing to think about it."You–" Zack almost choked on his breath as he glared at his grandson."I'll never repeat the same mistake my father made, Grandpa, so trust me when I say that I'll have everything under control. I'll make sure that Serenity gets used to my existence to the point where she won't be able to leave me."Jackson then smiled, but there was no mirth in his eyes,
It was usually a difficult journey to the graveyard, not to mention a time-consuming one. In fact, even the grave was cracked in many places, and fixing it would require a big undertaking, so Serenity felt that it would be much better to just move her mother's grave to a proper cemetery.Alas, just as she was planning to do so, she had been thrown into prison and forced to abandon the idea temporarily. When she was finally released, she found herself penniless. She could not afford to pay the workers to relocate her mother's grave, much less buy a spot in a cemetery.As she walked to the foot of the hill, she saw the graveyard administrator working the registration in the shed that was set up there. There were many people who had gotten there earlier queueing up to register one after another.Serenity joined the queue, and when she got to the front to register her mother's grave number, the administrator noticed it and quickly asked, "What are you doing here? This grave has been mov
“……” Morgan suddenly found himself unable to retort. She... wasn't wrong. “But when you play house, you can pretend to be parents with one person today and another person tomorrow. Real marriage is different; you can’t choose someone else.”Renee widened her eyes, listening intently.“The only person you can choose is me. Do you understand, Renee?” he continued.She nodded vigorously. “I understand!”“Do you really?” Morgan asked, a little skeptical. He was already fifteen, so he could grasp the concept of marriage, but she was only eight. Could she truly comprehend it?“So, in the future, I can only marry Morgan and be your bride, right? I can't be someone else's bride, right?” she asked. “I don’t want to marry other boys anyway. I like you the most, Morgan. Of course I’ll only be your bride!” she happily declared, her worries fading away.So she could be Morgan's bride when she grew up! That's great!After finishing another piece of snack, Renee thought of something. She put o
Despite her unease, she couldn’t resist when she saw the sweet desserts. She indulged herself.However, as she ate, her eyes remained fixed on Morgan, clearly still waiting for him to clarify Lucy’s claims.“You want to know if you’re a child bride, right?” Morgan began.Renee nodded.“Do you know what a child bride is?” he asked.She blinked. She had a vague idea, but not enough for her to articulate it.“To put it simply, a child bride is a girl raised by a boy's family. The girl will marry the boy when she comes of age. In the old days, some families were too poor to raise their daughters, so they would sell their daughters to become child brides for richer families,” Morgan explained.Renee blinked. “But my parents aren’t poor, and I'm raised by them, not by other people. That means I’m not a child bride, right?”“Correct, you are not,” Morgan affirmed.She breathed a sigh of relief, and a bright smile spread across her face. “I knew it! My parents would never sell me! The
"Morgan!" Renee turned to Morgan, unease etched on her face."The Moon family, eh? I'll remember this," Morgan replied calmly, then lowered his head to meet Renee's anxious and confused face. "Let's go, Renee. I’ll tell you what you want to know later."He led her away holding her hand.Benson looked worried. "Miss Lucy, how could you say that?""It's the truth!" Lucy shook off her fear and spoke defiantly. "Daddy and Mommy said she’s a child bride. A child bride is a girl sold by her own parents!""But the White family is not like that. Those things only happened to daughters of poor families in the old days," Benson explained. "You really shouldn’t have said that, Miss Lucy. You shouldn’t do that again.""Why do I have to listen to you?" Lucy retorted, displeased.Benson was too ashamed to tell Lucy in front of others that the Moon family simply couldn’t afford to offend Morgan. Dealing with the White family was already a headache, and Morgan's background was even more formi
Benson and Lucy were also dumbfounded. Benson started getting anxious. He felt like things were starting to unfold in ways that he did not expect."Mr. Grimes, I..." Benson stepped forward, intending to speak to Mr. Grimes.However, Mr. Grimes moved past Benson without so much as a glance at him. He went up to Morgan and said, "Master Morgan, I apologize for the oversight!"Everyone was stunned to hear that, including the security guards who had been called over. They were secretly relieved they hadn't forcibly removed anyone yet. If they had offended someone Mr. Grimes was showing so much respect to, it would have been really bad for them!Morgan regarded Mr. Grimes with an unreadable expression. He calmly recounted the situation to Mr. Grimes.After hearing about what happened, Mr. Grimes responded, "This set of stamps was not pre-ordered. If you like it, please take it. Feel free to take anything else in the exhibition that catches your eye."This declaration shocked every
"Who are you?!" Benson exclaimed, astonished. The mysterious figure remained silent, simply looking at Morgan.Morgan calmly reiterated to Benson, "I said, wait for Mr. Grimes." He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "I'm Morgan Wood. Please have Mr. Grimes from Lazy Cat Culture come to the Sleepy Cat Exhibition in Solaria. He should be in the area, right?"After ending the call, the person on the other end stared at the phone in disbelief.The Sleepy Cat Exhibition? What's going on?Benson, Lucy, and the staff stared at Morgan in shock, but the look in their eyes quickly turned to ridicule."Ah, a young man's naive bravado – how impudent!" Benson scoffed."Sir, please don't cause trouble," the staff member warned. "Or I'll have to call security."Morgan simply lowered his head to say to Renee, "Looks like we'll be here for a while. If you're bored, I can ask someone to walk around with you."Renee shook her head. "Morgan, what if this stamp set has really been p
Benson's words were not only meant to exert pressure on the staff, but also to inform him that they were on the same side.As expected, when the staff heard what he said, there was an instant change in his expression. He turned to Morgan and Renee and said, "I'm sorry, but it turns out this stamp set has already been pre-ordered by this customer."Morgan saw through the so-called pre-order as nothing more than an act. "When I asked you to wrap it up earlier, I didn’t hear you mention it was pre-ordered.""We forgot to mention that. Our apologies," the staff replied.Lucy, wearing a smug expression, raised her chin at Renee, causing Renee to puff out her cheeks in frustration.Benson calmly observed Morgan and Renee. The White family's White Maple Group had numerous overlapping businesses with the Moon Group. They were often competing with each other. Originally, the White Maple Group’s business activities weren't concentrated in Solaria, so even though there was competition wi
But before Morgan had even finished speaking, a girl's voice piped up, "I want this stamp set!"He turned to the voice and, upon seeing who it was, narrowed his eyes slightly. It was Lucy Moon, the girl Renee mentioned earlier. At the sight of Lucy, Renee immediately reacted like an angry little kitten. "Lucy Moon, why do you always try to take my stuff away?""Your stuff? How is this your stuff? You haven't paid yet!" Lucy shot back, her eyes fixed on Morgan.Morgan was well-known in their class, admired by many girls who claimed he was even more handsome than movie stars. If only Lucy had a big brother like that! She would be the envy of all the girls in class... no, all the girls in school!Unfortunately, her own big brother was not as good-looking.Last time, Lucy had tried to give Renee Sleepy Cat toys, asking for Morgan's email address in return. However, Renee accepted gifts from everyone but her, which infuriated Lucy."But if you want, I can give this stamp set to Re
Unlike many wealthy kids, Renee was quite restrained with her spending. She had never spent recklessly and often saved leftover money. Of course, when she wanted something beyond her budget, she would act cute and ask her Daddy or Morgan to buy it for her.Lisa was the least susceptible to her charms, so Renee didn’t dare to bother her!When they arrived at the exhibition, Renee’s eyes sparkled with excitement. There were so many adorable Sleepy Cat merchandise! They're all so cute! She wanted a lot of them, but realizing her limited budget, she knew she needed a sponsor! The best one was right beside her: Morgan!"Morgan," she said, flashing him a super bright smile.Seeing her like this, Morgan immediately knew she wanted to ask him for something. "What is it? Do you want me to buy you Sleepy Cat merchandise?""You’re so smart, Morgan! No wonder so many girls in our class like you and asked me for your phone number!" Renee praised him.As soon as she mentioned it, Morgan'
"Okay," Renee replied obediently, snuggling up to Morgan and acting cute. "Take me to the exhibition, Morgan! I know you’re the best. You’ll definitely take me, right?"Morgan pursed his lips. At 15, he was no longer a little boy. Although Renee was only 8, she was his destined wife.He had been protecting her since the day she was born. At first, he thought that he would only marry her because according to the family prophecy, she was the one most suitable for him. Over the years, however, he realized that his feelings for her ran deeper than he had initially thought.He found himself wanting to help her fulfill her wishes, and would clean up the mess when she caused trouble. Things had become different from what he had expected, but he welcomed them. He felt grateful that she was the one who was destined for him!With her by his side for the rest of his life, he would never feel lonely."Will you get into fights again?" Morgan asked."No more fighting, I promise!" Renee quickly