When he saw the report, Joel held his breath. He finally knew the reason. The person who had controlled the Smiths for many years now lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong. He anxiously explained, “Uncle, I…”
“Smack!”
Ian threw the report on the ground as if he was venting his anger. Then, he closed his eyes tightly as his chest heaved rapidly.
Seeing him like this, Joel was extremely nervous. He took a step forward again. “Uncle, I didn’t let you see it because I was afraid you would be angry. Please calm down…”
Ian took a few deep breaths before suppressing the anger in his chest. His fingers trembled slightly. “You shouldn’t have hidden it from me.”
Joel sighed. “I was afraid your body couldn’t take it.”
Ian closed his eyes. “That’s not why you hid it from me.”
Joel lowered his head respectfully and did not say anything else.
After a moment, Ian waved him away. Joel looked at him and turned to leave the ward.
He went out the door. At this moment, Quentin stepped forward and asked, “How is Third Uncle?”
Joel frowned at him.
Quentin immediately waved his hand and said, “Don’t look at me like that. Third Uncle wanted me to report it to him, I couldn’t possibly defy him.”
The entire Smith family was able to reach this stage because of Ian.
Ian’s status in the family could be seen from Joel’s attitude. Although he had already retired from power many years ago, no one in the Smith family dared to disrespect him as everyone knew Ian’s methods back then.
Joel took a deep breath. “He’s alright.”
Quentin was relieved to see that he was not being held responsible.
After a while, he suddenly asked, “What should we do now? That Nora… should we bring her home?”
Joel frowned and looked at him unhappily. “We’ll wait for Third Uncle to decide, what we need to do now is find Anti!”
“…Yes.”
—
Nora brought Cherry home. After entering, she went upstairs to wash up and prepare to sleep. Cherry quietly climbed onto her bed and looked at her with a pair of dark eyes filled with resentment.
Nora yawned and asked, “If you have something to say, say it.”
Cherry sighed and held her chin with both hands. “Mommy, did you forget something?”
Nora raised her eyebrows. “What?”
Cherry sighed again like a villain. “Did you help me look for my Sponsor Grandpa?”
Nora, “??”
She seemed to have really forgotten about this.
Initially, she thought that it was just a game between children and would be over in two days. She did not expect her to be so persistent. Nora stretched lazily and said, “I’m tired today. I’ll help you find him tomorrow.”
Cherry, “…”
She climbed out of bed silently and walked to the study room. She took out her phone and called Solo, who was overseas. “Hello, Uncle Solo!”
“Cherry, what’s wrong?” Solo was clearly still sleepy.
Cherry asked, “Can you do me a favor?”
Solo asked subconsciously, “Where’s your mom? Why are you looking for me?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“… Okay, I understand.”
After telling Solo her request, Cherry did a live-stream for a while. The second-best, Sponsor Daddy, came to her live-stream as always and gave her some money. He even asked her what she had eaten for dinner.
Cherry replied, “I ate soup dumplings. Aunt’s cooking is too delicious!”
JH: “Yes. Has your mom eaten?”
Cherry replied, “No, she’s sleeping.”
JH: “…”
—
The next day, Cherry woke up in the morning and sent a message to Solo asking about her Sponsor Grandpa.
Unfortunately, Solo’s reply disappointed her.
[I haven’t broken through the other party’s firewall. Do you think I’m that skilled?]
Cherry could only put down her phone silently. She went to the kindergarten that she had not attended in a long time.
At the kindergarten.
“Miss Lily, do you feel like Cherry has been much quieter lately?”
Miss Lynn asked the other teacher in their class worriedly.
Miss Lily nodded immediately. “You noticed it too? In the past, Cherry had always been very lively. She had always smiled at everyone and spoken sweetly. But now, she seems to have become much quieter. Is it because Terence said that she doesn’t have a father? Has she suffered a blow?”
Miss Lynn immediately said, “Why don’t we look for the school doctor to give her a psychotherapy session later?”
“I think it’s very necessary!”
As the two of them chatted, Tanya arrived with Cherry.
The little girl was wearing a small dress. She skipped as she walked, and her short hair moved up and down with her movements. She was lively and adorable like a little sun.
The moment she entered and saw the two teachers, Cherry extended her hand and greeted them. “Hello, Miss Lynn~ Your earrings today are really beautiful! They make your face look so small!”
Miss Lynn was overjoyed.
Cherry then said to Miss Lily, “Miss Lily, have you lost weight again? This dress is getting bigger!”
Miss Lily, who was on a diet and was feeling depressed from hunger, also felt more energetic after hearing this.
After greeting them, Cherry skipped to the classroom, leaving the two teachers to look at each other and smile.
“Cherry is fine!”
“I don’t think she needs to see that psychiatrist anymore!”
—
In the classroom.
As soon as Cherry entered the classroom, the children around her surrounded her.
Cherry was very happy to see her friends, whom she had not seen in a few days.
But the children were worried about her.
“Cherry, did you offend Terence again? He said that your father is not Justin, and is going to teach you a lesson today!”
“Cherry, you’re in trouble! Jimmy has a good temper and Terence is famous for being a devil incarnate! Jimmy’s father only raised one man-eating tiger, but Terrence’s father has raised several!”
“I also heard that Terence’s father would stuff a lot of rats into a person’s stomach and let them crawl out. It would be so painful that you would rather die!”
“Cherry, you’re in big trouble!”
Just as everyone was discussing fervently, Terence suddenly appeared at the classroom door.
When they saw him, everyone instantly became nervous and stood in front of Cherry.
“Terence, you can’t bully Cherry!”
“Even if Cherry’s father isn’t Justin, you can’t bully her!”
“Yes, Mia was the one who said that Cherry’s father was Justin. If you want to blame someone, then blame Mia!”
“Hmph, he’s bullying Cherry because he doesn’t dare to bully Mia!”
Cherry, who was protected by everyone, was speechless.
She blinked her eyes and patted the students in front of her. “Get out of the way. I’m fine!”
However, the students were worried.
“No, Terence is half a head taller than you. You can’t beat him!”
“Let’s go get the teacher!”
“Cherry, don’t be afraid!”
Amidst the chattering students, Terence’s lips twitched.
He was just here to apologize and not eat her up. Was there a need to be so agitated?