Christina saw her stepmother flirting with another man with her own eyes, but everyone else turned a
blind eye to it and even told her not to mention it to her father.
"They said flirting with young male stars was just a way to hype the new drama she was in.And my
aunt specifically reminded me not to mention it to my father, or he would be irritated.I really don't
understand what they were thinking of.My stepmother was cheating on him and they just didn't care!"
Christina had been in C City for a week.
To her surprise, Crystal, who she had thought must have gone back to A City, was also here.
Crystal looked radiant.
Apparently, everything had been going smoothly for her recently.
Now that Christina was with her best friend, she couldn't help but complain to her about what had
happened recently.
Crystal, whose face was glowing with happiness, was also surprised about what Christina had told her.
"Your father really doesn't care about it?"
"Actually, concerning Connie's identity, the actress might not be an appropriate job for her.It's strange
that your father agreed her to continue to work in the entertainment industry in the first place"
Christina's face darkened.
"Obviously, Connie somehow managed to trick all the members of the Dickens family people to take
her side.My father is okay with her developing her own career"
"Develop her career?"
Crystal was still a little confused, asking after a moment of consideration, "Wasn't your mother a
pianist? You said that your father made her stop all her performances."
"Yes, it’s unfair!"
Christina got furious immediately.
"Connie can go anywhere she wants and develops her career while my mother was forbidden to do all
kinds of things as soon as they got married.This is the difference between the ways a man treats his
lover and his wife.Hmph!"
Seeing how angry she was, Crystal couldn't help but laugh.
"That's not what I meant."
She felt that it was difficult to talk with Christina about things concerning relationships between
humans.
"Logically speaking, your father was not good enough for your mother when they got married because
she was from the Eisenhower family and, according to her photos you once showed me, she looked
really noble and beautiful.How could he actually forbid your mother from doing the things she liked?"
Christina's biological mother, Mary Eisenhower, was an internationally renowned pianist.
As a woman with outstanding looks and brilliant talents, she was very influential in the country and had
countless pursuers, who, however, ended up marrying a poor young man and disappearing from the
public ever since.
Many people sighed about her life choice.
"My mother married the wrong person."
Christina was no longer so resentful when recalling the past.She just complained, "And my grandfather
was always partial towards my father.I don't understand why”
Crystal looked at this from a different angle.
"Your father must have been under a lot of pressure to marry your mother back then."
"I don't know."
Christina suddenly realized that she actually knew nothing about her previous family.Her parents never
quarreled in front of her and her grandfather always took her to live with the Eisenhower family.
Therefore, she didn't know much about her parents.She was a little annoyed.
"Whatever, my aunt also told me to stay out of this."
Seeing how depressed she was, Crystal did not ask further.
Donald's condition had stabilized.
The hospital said that he would be discharged in two days, so Christina was thinking about when she
should go back to A City.
"Crystal, how long are you staying here?"
She wanted to ask Crystal to return to A City with her, but Crystal looked guilty when she heard this
question, "Maybe in a few days."
There was a moving milk tea stall on their right.
Crystal escaped immediately by rushing there to buy some drinks.
Christina wasn't a sharp person, but she could feel that Crystal was hiding something from her.
"Crystal, who are you with these days? What are you doing in C city?"
Crystal handed her a cup of milk tea in original taste and lowered her head to drink the one in her
hands.She took a guilty breath and confessed in a low voice, "Actually, I didn’t come here alone..."
Christina frowned.
"You're with a man?"
Crystal stammered nervously.
"It was just an accident at first.I don't know why it turned out like this..."
Her secret was discovered! "Christina?"
A middle-aged woman in the milk tea shop shouted in surprise, interrupting their conversation.
Christina turned around.
It was an acquaintance of her.
"Aunt Zamani, why did you move your shop here?"
Christina stopped questioning Crystal for the time being and walked up to greet the owner of the milk
tea stall.
She asked directly, "Weren't your shop at the school gate? Business there should be better”
Aunt Zamani made up an excuse with an awkward smile.
"No, the business didn't go well there.Change of places, that's quite common for us."
"Hello, Aunt Zamani""
Crystal also recognized her.Her milk tea shop had been a success in the past.
It didn't seem possible that such a shop could have closed down.
Both Christina and Crystal noticed that Aunt Zamani was much thinner than a year ago.
The rents of the mobile stalls here were cheap, but she had to do everything herself.
Bathed in heat and rain, she looked much older than her actual age.
Aunt Zamani had helped Christina a lot when she was working part-time at her shop.
"Wasn't the shop also your house? How could it be?"
Christina asked in confusion as she knew very well that in the three-story house, the milk tea shop was
on the first floor while Aunt Zamani lived on the second and third floors.
"The house has been sold"
Speaking of this, Aunt Zamani could not hide her sadness.Christina thought of another woman
immediately.
"Was Cecilia too extravagant and forced you to sell it?"
Aunt Zamani had always been thrifty.
Other than her star daughter, Christina couldn't think of any reason for Aunt Zamani selling her house.
"Christina, it's your fault that my mother sold her house!"
Suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared on the left.
Cecilia looked aggressive with her designer bag and high heels.
"Okay, stop it"
Aunt Zamani stopped her daughter at once for fear that she would cause trouble.She turned to
Christina with a complicated expression.
"Christina, I'm sorry.Cecilia is in a bad mood.She was just talking nonsense..."
"Nonsense?"
Cecilia scolded angrily, "Wasn't the house forcibly taken away by Patrick? It was all because of
Christina's pillow talk..."
"Cecilia, don't make any more trouble.You promised me to behave yourself.It's us who made the
mistake first"
Aunt Zamani held her daughter tightly with her old and rough hands as she looked at Christina with
guilt and helplessness.
"Christina, I hope you forgive us for what we've done in the past.Cecilia grew up without her father and
I'm also an incompetent mother.That's why she has a bad temper.Please don't take her words
seriously.We just want to live a peaceful life."
Aunt Zamani's eyes turned wet.
Christina stood still, not knowing what to say.
Crystal tugged at her arm.
"Christina, let's leave first."
Otherwise, Aunt Zamani would be having a difficult time.
They turned around, leaving with heavy footsteps.
"Christina, I'll let you pay for it! You won't be able to get away with that!"
Behind them, Cecilia was cursing at their backs like a ferocious, trapped beast.She had been jobless
for a long time after Patrick had rested her.
Ever since Cory became her backer, she had been looking forward to seeing Christina being
abandoned.
But recently, for some reason, Cory treated her indifferently, making her feel that her life had been
overshadowed by Christina.
Christina was in a bad mood.
Crystal accompanied her wandering aimlessly until it was almost night.
The two of them leaned against the railing by the river.
The night wind in this season was extremely cold.
Christina's face turned numb in such wind but her heart was still stuffy.
"Some people have to do their best just to make a living.They work hard for most of their lives and save
money little by little, and when they finally reach the age that they think they could have a rest,
someone takes away everything they ever had..."
She muttered to herself.
"Crystal, I really don’t know what Patrick did"
Remembering Aunt Zamani's old and helpless eyes when she was holding back her tears, Christina felt
so guilty.
"Aunt Zamani did almost cause me to miscarry, I didn't get hurt in the end...She had been working hard
and he just took everything from her by a word."
"Maybe Patrick has his own way of dealing with problems." Crystal didn't know what to say.
"He's always like this.Arrogant and domineering.He never listens to others’ advice or discusses
anything with others.And he lies to me for so many times!"
Christina tried to control herself but she just got more and more irritated.She couldn't help but shout at
the river, "Does he really think that I know nothing? He lives upstairs above my apartment.He put those
roses in my house.And he sneaked into my house in the middle of the night! I know it's him! He is the
one who knows nothing.He doesn't know I've been waiting for him all the time.I'm waiting for him to tell
me why he did all of this after he's done with all his boring tricks.But when will he be done?!"
Crystal did not understand what she was saying, but she could feel that Christina had endured it for a
long time alone.
Her stubborn eyes were full of pain but she was pretending that she didn't care.
"Christina..." Crystal said slowly.
Christina's eyes were a little red.
She finally calmed herself down and said to herself in a low voice, "If I catch him doing bad things to
others again, I won't forgive him: Crystal could not hear her words clearly.Suddenly, a dazzling
headlight shone on them from the dark.As soon as Crystal saw where the light was from, her face
changed at once.A white car in front was rushing straight towards them.
"Christina, watch out!"
With a scream, Crystal pushed her away.
Christina fell to the ground and turned around immediately to see what was going on.She was stunned.
The car was rushing towards Crystal at an extremely high speed.
The driver was honking frantically, making loud and grating noises.
Carrie was delirious with empty eyes, cursing like crazy, "Cecilia Jones! Bitch! Go to hell! Go to hell!"
Bang! The car crashed so violently that its whole body was twisted.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda