Hayden’s supper was no less impressive than dinner. Six beautiful plates were served on the table.
There were shredded carrots and cucumbers, cooked peanuts and peas, and the most fragrant of all, a
bowl of fried bean and meat sauce. The fragrance of meat was overflowing.
She prepared a large bowl of noodles for Joseph, with sauce and side dishes. She served it to him and
casually told him, “You mix them up yourself. This is extremely delicious.”
After saying these words, she rushed off to prepare her own noodles.
Joseph pressed his palms against the bowl of noodles. It was a little burning. Even his eyes, which
were looking at the busy woman beside him, started burning a little.
It’s rare for a person from a rich family to have the opportunity to see his own family members
preparing food themselves. His house was full of servants and maids, and everything was prepared by
them.
He had lived like this since he was a child, but this scene in front of him resembled some images from
his childhood, triggering memories and at the same time triggering some old scars.
Hayden took a few big bites, and only half of the bowl of noodles was left. She felt satisfied. She
glanced to the side and saw that Joseph’s bowl still looked colorful, which looked the same as when
she served it to him.
“Why aren’t you eating yet?” She asked confusedly. After a moment of silence, she asked softly, “You
haven’t eaten noodles with fried bean and meat sauce before?”
“Is it weird that I haven’t eaten it before?” Joseph asked her back.
Nanking is in the South, noodles with fried bean and meat sauce are unique to the North. Although they
are also common in the South, they are generally found at street stalls. The private chef wouldn’t serve
noodles with fried bean and meat sauce to Joseph during his meals, and he would be even less likely
to eat at a street stall.
“Uh, not weird, not weird.” Hayden forced a smile and stretched out her hand in a flattering manner.
“I’ll mix them up for you.”
“No need,” Joseph held his chopsticks and stirred them up by himself. His movements were not quite
skilled, but not clumsy either.
“I actually understand you quite well.”
Hayden tried to make up for her rudeness just now.
“When I was still the second daughter of the Downey family, as long as I was at home, no one at home
asked me to work. My stepmother and sister also didn’t work at all. So something like noodles with fried
bean and meat sauce, I guess Chelsea would never eat in her life.”
Seeing that she didn’t mind talking about her family, Joseph showed a slightly surprised expression.
But, his expression returned to normal after a split second, and he asked, “Your stepmother treated you
well?”
“What do you think?”
Hayden rolled her eyes.
If her stepmother treated her well, would Chelsea treat her so badly at Kingsley and Michelle’s
engagement party? Like mother like daughter, it was so obvious.
Joseph frowned and asked again,
“You don’t seem to mind?”
“I don’t mind,” Hayden took a big bite of noodles and said in a slurred voice, “To me, the people who
were good to me and really important to me have all passed away. The ones left are unimportant and
don’t matter much.”
Joseph was slightly stunned, thinking that he touched her sore point. He felt a bit guilty, “Sorry.”
“What do you have to be sorry about?”
Hayden twitched the corners of her mouth, smiled in a self-mocking way.
“You know what? My father always told me that my mother passed away due to illness. The whole
Downey family and even my grandfather said the same thing. But if my father really didn’t let my
mother down at that time, how could have Chelsea been born before her mother was married into the
Downey family? She was even two months older than me.”
Adults think children are easy to fool. But although children are childish, they are not stupid.
“You hate your father?”
Hayden nodded once but then shook her head.
“I can’t say. If he had treated me worse, I would have hated him. But since I was a kid, he never hid his
preference for me. Then I figured out that my father actually hadn’t done anything wrong towards me.
After all, I just felt resentful for my mother and my grandfather.”
The Downey family was built up from scratch by Hayden’s father. At that time, it was the generous
dowry from Hayden’s mother that became his first startup capital. Otherwise, how could the Downey
family have become what it is today?
“So you don’t hate your father.”
Joseph looked at Hayden with an indescribable feeling in his heart.
“Not really. That is a matter between parents. We, as children have no right to interfere.”
Hayden raised her eyebrows and tried her best to look indifferent, “Besides, I don’t live with them now.
If it were you, would you do anything?”
“If it were me.”
Joseph lowered his voice, which inexplicably sounded cold, “If it were me, I would have made him get
the hell out of the house along with his mistress.”
Hayden was stunned, looking at Joseph in surprise.
“I’m full.”
He placed his chopsticks on the table with a slight thud. Although it was not loud, it gave the impression
that he was angry.
Joseph’s quickly left the room on the second floor, and Hayden felt baffled.
What did she do to upset him?
In the master room on the second floor, the light was dim. Joseph flipped open a book on the bed.
There was a photo that was torn in half sandwiched in it. Half of it had been crumpled, and another half
was a young boy riding on the shoulders of a handsome man in high spirit.
Joseph held the photo. His thumb was picking at the edge of the photo. His finger exerted so much
pressure that the edges were almost torn. Light shined on his face. He looked a bit agitated.
All these years, he never admitted that he had done anything wrong back then.
It was that woman who had betrayed his father and had been with another man behind his father’s
back. She even indirectly killed his father because of it. So even though she was his mother, there was
nothing wrong with him throwing her out of the house with his own hands.
But Hayden said that it was a matter between parents, and children had no right to interfere?
The next day, when Joseph woke up, Hayden had already made breakfast and was eating at the table
with her two children.
“You woke up, let’s eat.”
Hayden looked at him and said with a smile,
“I made porridge with red dates. It’s good for your health.”
Joseph did not answer. He pulled out the chair and sat down. His attitude was obviously colder than
before.
Hayden noticed it too and felt a little awkward, but she didn’t understand what she had done to provoke
him. She would be glad if she didn’t have to live here, but she couldn’t let her work got affected.
The maid served the porridge in front of Joseph. He lowered his head and tasted it. He didn’t say
anything and drank up the bowl of porridge. Hayden was then relieved.
It’s true that you have to bear with others’ temper when you live at their house.
It’s better to finish the work as soon as possible.
After that day, Stella kept staying at Imperial Villa. Hayden and Joseph sent the children to school
together in the morning, and Joseph went to pick them up himself in the evening.
The private chef at the Imperial Villa seemed to be able to pinpoint the time when Hayden left work in
the evening. Every time she was early or late, she was just in time for dinner.
It took half a month to set up the festival venue. It was officially wrapped up on the Friday after half a
month. Hayden arranged for the treasurer to settle the bills for the temporary workers.
When she was considering whether she should leave work early to pick up Stella, her phone suddenly
rang.
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