“Let’s have a look.” Lily felt interested in it.When they stepped inside, they saw several red sandalwood containers. At first sight, there were little differences from the standard. There were many fake sandalwood on the market, but the ones here seemed very good at first glance. However, they were still not very rare.“What’s so special about it?” Jenny leaned closer to look at the leaves and sniffed them a few times.“You are the experts. Why don’t you look at it yourself?” Ben, who seemed like a simple and honest guy, said with a smile.Lily took a closer look and reached out to pluck some leaves. A bit of sap dripped from the broken stem as a unique smell overflowed. She smelled the leaf and touched the branch. She could see that a part of the branch was clefted. “You guys performed grafting?”“Miss, you have a good eye. You’re the first one among those who came to see this sandalwood who noticed this.” Ben gave her a thumbs up.“Grafting? What plant did you graft it with
“I-I’m afraid I can’t sell it to you. As you know, this is not easy to cultivate. We have spent much time and effort on these. Also, we do not have them in large quantities, so they’re not suitable for purchase.“ Ben refused.“I don’t need a large quantity. I only need half of what you have here. I want the other half, too, but I will leave the rest for now since I will need you to take good care of them. Still, you’re not allowed to sell these to others.”“I’m terribly sorry, but we can’t do that.” Ben still refused and said in embarrassment.“Just name your price,” Jenny said. She saw Lily’s persistence and figured out that she must have a use for them. In addition, grafted red sandalwood was indeed rare. It would be helpful if they could obtain all of them. However, the price would likely be on the higher end.“I-It’s not about money. We put much effort into these, but they’re still incomplete. We are still trying to…”“You can continue your experiment on the remaining half. I
“Sure.” Lily made the decision.“Lily, I think we should reconsider this.” As Lily’s superior officer, Jenny believed it was her responsibility to remind her colleague to be careful. However, she could not reject Lily’s decision, seeing as how Lily was confident enough to the point where she was willing to use her own salary for this matter.“If you feel this decision is not suitable, I could purchase it with my own money under my name.” Although Lily did not have much money with her now, she could borrow a little from a certain someone.“Okay then.” At this point, Jenny stopped persuading Lily and turned to look at Ben. “You must give us the most authentic and best ones you have. We don’t want any low-quality goods, understand?”“Don’t worry about it. We can’t do that even if we wanted to because we can’t find low-quality ones to replace them.”This item was too unique, after all. They would need to breed these plants before using low-quality goods to replace the high-quality one
Melanie only averted her gaze after Lily’s car disappeared into the distance. She turned to hold Frank’s arm as she said, “You promised you would give me what I want.”“What’s wrong?” Frank said, patting her cheek.“I want to ruin Lily so badly that she would never want to be in the public’s eyes again!” Although Lily’s car was nowhere in sight now, Melanie turned again to stare into the distance with resentment in her gaze. Frank’s eyes followed her gaze. Smiling, he said, “I heard you two were classmates before. Is that right?”“Yeah, but I hate her more than anyone.” Melanie did not hide her emotions when speaking to Frank.“Why?”“Back when we were still in university, all my lecturers loved her, and they would give her all the opportunities. Why? I am talented as well! She would always shine brighter whenever we participated in the same contests. Even when it comes to love, she…” Melanie paused for a moment before continuing, “I will never succeed with her around! She will
Before Melanie could finish her words, Frank loosened his grip on her, letting her go. However, displeasure was written all over his face.This sight of him made Melanie even more anxious than before. “Sorry, Frank. I…”He turned to look at her. The rim of his glasses reflected spine-chilling light while his gaze was cold. “Mel, I told you that you must satisfy me if you want your dreams to come true. You’re no fun this way, you know that?”He lit up a cigarette as he spoke. Then he took a puff and exhaled, the smoke circling them, blurring his face from her vision. It made his side profile appear mysterious. The sky was also getting dark, so Melanie couldn't get out of the car and leave the place alone.Besides, she had made many sacrifices, so how could she stop now? Biting her lip, she considered the situation. Then, she said softly, “Don’t be mad, Frank. I couldn’t accept it because it was sudden, but I’ve thought about it, and you’re right. We must live and enjoy the present
”Where’ve you been?” Nathaniel’s voice was sad, and it sent chills down her spine.Feeling guilty, she tucked her hair behind her ear awkwardly. “I-I went on a trip to the nursery today! I learned a lot of things, all thanks to Mr. Moreau.”The gears in her head turned quickly. Instead of covering things up, she thought it was best to tell him the truth, though not entirely. It was better to do so instead of making up stories and appearing guilty. “You’ve gotten quite close to each other,” he scoffed, his tone dark. Melanie was unsure how much Nathaniel knew or how long he had watched them earlier. However, she assumed he could not grasp the situation as long as she said nothing about it.She understood things happened between her and Frank because they had a deal. Frank would not give her the love she wanted, thus they only got what they wanted from the deal. She did not want to give up the fame and wealth Frank could bring her, but she also did not want to give up the man she
He felt that something was out of place, but Melanie’s attitude did not seem any different. He took a quick glance around and noticed her phone sticking out of the bag that had fallen down the side of the large bed. Nathaniel walked over quickly and picked it up after a glance at the closed bathroom door.The lock screen password had not been changed, so he accessed her WhatsApp with no trouble and located Frank's number. The chat was empty, with no messages. He then looked at the gallery, other text messages, and call records, but everything seemed normal. Nathaniel checked every likely location, but found nothing out of the ordinary.Could he be overthinking?Nathaniel felt confused. Right then, the sound of water flowing from the bathroom stopped. He hurriedly locked the phone and put it back into the bag. Turning around, he saw Melanie come out in her pajamas.“Why’d you get dressed so quickly?” He pretended to be nonchalant and stood up. Then he grabbed her into his arms and
After ordering the meal, Nathaniel sat on the bedside and continued holding Melanie’s hand. “Is there anything else that you want to eat or drink?” His voice and actions were full of tenderness.Melanie felt loved but shook her head, “No, I’m only in my early trimester. I am not that delicate.”“Nonsense! Pregnant women are delicate and should take care of their bodies.”When Melanie saw Nathaniel’s serious appearance, she deliberately teased him, “Oh, it turns out you’re only doing this because I’m pregnant. You wouldn’t care if I weren’t, right?”“Why would you think that? You know I’ve always treated you well,” Nathaniel hurriedly explained. When he saw her teasing eyes, he knew Melanie had tricked him. He lightly patted her buttocks and said, “You’re being naughty! How dare you tease me?”Melanie laughed at him while ducking to the side, “No, spare me! I was just kidding. Still, do you think I got pregnant at the wrong time?”“What do you mean?” Nathaniel became unhappy and p