Nora’s pupils shrank upon hearing what he said, and she looked at him abruptly.
It was completely impossible to make out the man’s facial features, and his entire self looked rather savage and terrifying. The skin around his eyes was all burned, so he had only two dark holes to see with.
Ordinary people would surely be shocked at his appearance.
However, Nora had seen much scarier things on the operating table, so she merely raised her eyebrows calmly and asked, “Why do you say that?”
The man tilted his head. As though he was crazy, he replied, “Because you don’t look like Ryan! You look like Ian!”
Nora: “…”
Her looks mostly took after her mother, so she only slightly resembled Ian. Moreover, it was said that the slight resemblance also looked very much like Ryan.
Besides, even if Ian was her uncle, it was normal that they would resemble each other a little.
Just as she was about to say something, the man jumped and exclaimed, “Haha! You are Ian’s daughter! Ian has a daughter now! The Smiths also have a daughter now! This is awesome…”
Nora was about to speak again when the butler in charge of the Smiths’ external affairs rushed in with a few men. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him. “I finally found you!”
He rushed over, and a few security guards held the man down.
The external butler looked at Nora nervously. “He didn’t offend you, did he, Ms. Smith?”
Nora: “?”
The puzzled woman asked, “He is?”
The butler sighed. “He’s a madman, we all call him Old Maddy. A few years ago, he came to our door to beg, and we simply couldn’t drive him away, no matter what we did. He just kept staying outside stubbornly. If we called the police, he just came back again every time the police took him away. He even asked for delicious food. In the end, the old sir told us to let him stay and give him some food, and just take it that we’re doing a good deed. We arranged for him to stay in a small house in the yard, but for some reason, when he heard today that a new young lady of the Smiths has come, he started to shout excitedly that the old sir has a daughter now, and broke in. He has always been well-behaved and has never given anyone trouble all these years, so I didn’t think that he would suddenly go crazy and run up to your door. I’m really sorry.”
Nora waved. “It’s fine.”
She looked again at the madman that had been held down. As the skin on his face was all burned, one couldn’t tell what he looked like or how old he was. Judging from the wrinkles on his hands, however, the man was likely quite advanced in age and was at least fifty years old.
As she walked toward the lower floor with the butler, she asked, “What is his background?”
The butler replied, “He’s just a beggar. The ID card we found on him stated that he’s from a small town near the mountains. A huge fire burned down his home, so he came out to beg when he had no way out… The old sir said that he definitely wouldn’t have taken him in if he were mentally sound—after all, he’s physically able to make a living for himself—but since he is in this state, then it was alright.”
Nora looked at the madman again while listening to the butler.
The man’s hair was dirty, and he looked like he hadn’t had a bath in a very long while. Although his clothes were intact and didn’t have any patches, they were also dirty and covered in dust and dirt.
One could tell that the Smiths hadn’t abused him. It was just that he was mentally ill, so he was dirtier than ordinary people.
Perhaps because he sensed her disdain, the butler explained, “He has burns on his body, so his skin has always been in poor condition. It’s very uncomfortable for him if he takes a hot bath, so he runs off and kicks up a fuss as soon as we give him a bath. As a result, we only give him a bath once a month. It’s also mainly because he usually lives in an empty small house in the yard, and doesn’t meet with anyone.”
Nora nodded.
The butler asked the security guards to take him away. Even when they had walked a distance away, she could still hear the butler threatening him. “If you run in there again, I’ll kick you out! And I won’t give you burgers anymore! You hear me?”
“Burgers! Burgers! I wanna eat burgers!”
The madman jumped around and followed the few of them.
Nora narrowed her eyes.
Then, she shook her head and paid no further attention to the matter. She turned and walked into the living room.
Warren and Maureen were both on the sofa. Their necks were craned as they looked at the door anxiously. Obviously, they were also waiting for Brandon to return from school.
Although the boy was all brawn and no brains, he was born into a rather blissful family.
While Nora was thinking about it, Maureen saw her. She waved at once and called out, “Nora! Let’s go downstairs and have dinner together?”
Nora shook her head. “I’m waiting for Cherry, we’re going out for dinner.”
Maureen suddenly winked at her. “With Mr. Hunt?”
“Yeah.”
After Nora answered her, Warren gave the crayfish and pasta plates in front of him a small push and snorted. “Are the Smiths unable to feed you? Do you have to go out for meals every day? Or are the Smiths giving you too little pocket money that you have to get Justin to treat you to meals? Are the Hunts’ meals better than the food at home?!”
Nora: “??”
She raised her eyebrows, but before she could speak, someone had smacked Warren on his head. Maureen chastised him angrily, “Can’t you speak properly?”
Warren rubbed his head and glared at Maureen. “What are you doing?”
Maureen ignored him and looked at Nora instead. “Don’t mind him, Nora. He’s in a panic and in a bad mood because a game developed by the company has a major bug that can’t be fixed, that’s why he’s talking as if he has just eaten a whole load of gunpowder. Just ignore him. He actually does care about you. He bought the crayfish and pasta for you.”
Nora: “?”
Warren looked as if he wanted to explode, though. He said, “Who says I bought it for her? You’re obviously the one who likes it, so why are you saying so much?”
“… Okay, okay. I’m the one who likes it, okay?” said Maureen.
She sneered, “I wonder who it was that saw her eating crayfish so happily yesterday and traveled a long way to buy the best crayfish in New York!”
Nora: “!!”
She tilted her head to the side and thought about it. She had indeed eaten crayfish and pasta the day before, but this didn’t mean that she liked eating them!
Why was Warren behaving so strangely?!
Warren snorted and continued to hold his laptop. He stared at the programming code on the screen and muttered to himself, “It doesn’t look like there’s a problem, so why is there a bug?”
Maureen said, “What would someone like you who only knows a little about programming know? You might as well leave it to a professional to solve it!”
Warren snorted. “Don’t you think I’ve already done that? There are so many technicians in the company, but they still haven’t found it even after searching for a whole day and night! Our game has only just launched. If this continues for one more day, all of our users are gonna disappear!”
Nora subconsciously glanced at his computer.
Warren, who caught her action, sneered, “What are you looking at? Can you even understand what this is?”
The corners of Nora’s lips spasmed and she answered earnestly, “I… do understand what it is.”