Erica's eyes lit up. "Of course, I'll go with you. I haven't seen my brother in such a long time. Besides, I'm all out of money. I need his to replenish my allowance," she said, winking at Sheffield. She was actually desperate for some financial support. Her father was strict and wouldn't give her a penny more than her monthly allocated allowance.
Sheffield was surprised. As far as he knew, they were a military family. And Gifford was loaded. How could Erica not have any money?
"Really? Do you need a loan? I can help," he offered.
"No! Thanks, though. You just need to take me to my brother. I can get some from him."
Gifford hadn't told her that he was on leave. Now that she knew he was back, she would show up to surprise him.
"All right, I'll take you to him," Sheffield nodded in agreement. He turned to Matthew. "Matthew, join us."
Matthew asked instead, "What's Evelyn's plan this afternoon?"
"She is coming with me." "
Fine, then."
After spending some time at the apartment, at noon, the four of them went to Orchid Private Club. When they arrived, they found Gifford and Joshua lying lazily on the sofa, talking.
"Evelyn!" The two gentlemen shot up to their feet and greeted her.
Evelyn smiled and said playfully, "I'll be intruding on your guys' get-together this time."
"Please, you are always welcome. You're one of us. We haven't had the chance to meet in a long time. Come, sit with us," Gifford said with a grin. His white teeth shone brighter against his tanned skin.
As he was about to settle down on the sofa, a clear voice came from behind them, "Gifford! My dearest brother, I've missed you so much!" Erica stormed into the room. She grinned widely at him, thinking, 'Ah! There is my dear allowance!'
She passed through the crowd and threw herself into her brother's arms.
Gifford was dumbfounded. Holding his younger sister in his arms, he wondered how she had gotten wind of his return. The corners of his mouth twitched. "How did you know I was here?" he asked.
'She definitely has an ulterior motive for addressing me so nicely.'
Erica blinked innocently. "I came back with Mom and Dad."
And how lucky she was. If she hadn't come, she would have no idea where to get her allowance from. It had been a long and painful process to persuade Wesley into bringing her along. Now that her brother was here, she was filled with hope once again. Clearly, God couldn't bear to see her suffer.
Gifford released her. "Where are Mom and Dad?"
"They went to meet Uncle Carlos and Aunt Debbie."
"Right, okay."
The six of them sat down and caught up on their lives for a while. Erica was much younger than the rest, so while the adults talked about the murder attempt against Sheffield, she ran along to play golf and tried some of the other games in the room. Soon, she got bored. "Gifford, Evelyn, I want to go."
Gifford was the first to ask, "Where do you want to go?"
"To Mom and Dad," Erica replied with a bored face.
Gifford heaved a silent sigh of relief. He said, "Okay."
Evelyn walked to her and held her hand. "Won't you wait a little longer?"
"No. You guys have fun. I'll see you at the manor." Erica hugged her tight.
Evelyn was her muse. She hoped to become as dignified and graceful as Evelyn when she grew up.
Gifford stood up to see her out. "I'll ask someone to drive you there."
"Okay." This was her chance! She was hoping to talk privately with Gifford. How else could she mention the money?
In the corridor outside the private room, Erica grabbed his arm. "Gifford, are you in a good mood right now?"
"How much?" Gifford asked point blank. He already knew what his sister was up to.
There was a tacit understanding between them.
"We can talk about it another day if you are in a bad mood," Erica said.
"Is $10, 000 enough?" Gifford asked, ignoring what she said.
"Hmm… Would that be really enough?"
Gifford knew his sister too well. "$20, 000! No more!"
"You know, Brother, if I get into a bad mood, you might end up in a bad place as well." Erica's eyes twinkled with mischief.
It was a threat. 'This little witch…' Gifford gritted his teeth and finally said, "$50, 000!"
"Deal!" She laughed in triumph.
Grunting, Gifford took his cellphone out of his pocket and transferred the money to her. "You didn't come here to visit your brother out of love. You just wanted the money!"
Wesley was stricter with Erica than to his other kids. He had set a limit on her monthly allowance. But every month, she would run out of money before the end of that month. And she would either go to Yvette or Gifford for help.
Erica didn't know about it, but everyone, including Wesley, was aware of her little tricks.
So, Wesley would find ways to make up with the disparity in Gifford's and Yvette's accounts every month.
Gifford wasn't married and had no other expenses. So, he was willing to give his money to Erica without taking the compensatory money Wesley offered to give him.
Yvette, on the other hand, was a different case. She was a college student, and university was expensive. But even so, every time Erica asked her for money, she would give it. And unlike Gifford, when Wesley gave her money, she would take it without hesitation.
"Brother, you are the best! Oh and, don't tell Dad," Erica warned Gifford with a stern look.
"Have I ever?" Gifford asked, as he raised a brow at her and said in his head, 'He already knows, dumbass!' Erica still thought that she was fooling their father. She was forgetting that her father was the famous Wesley Li.
All Erica cared about was that her brother never snitched on her, because Wesley had never questioned her about taking money from her brother and sister.
She held his arm tight, fawning on him. "It's so good to have such loving siblings!"
"Oh, knock it off. Where does all this love go when you try to trick us?" Gifford was always being set up by this little devil of a sister. Yvette was somehow spared most of the times.
"What? Me? When did I ever trick you?" Erica asked, feigning innocence.
Gifford didn't want to argue with her any more. He watched her get into the car and asked the driver to take her to the Huo family manor.
In the private room
After seeing his sister off, Gifford went straight to the restroom. By the time he was done, three of the others were already at the automatic mahjong table.
The seat opposite Joshua was empty.
Matthew was sitting on the sofa busy on his cellphone. Gifford asked him, "Matthew, don't you want to play?"
"I have something to deal with. You go ahead," Matthew said without looking up from his phone. Since he was not in the office, he had to deal with all his business matters on the phone.
"All right!" Gifford took the empty seat.
After Sheffield briefed Evelyn about the rules, including what was a win and what was a pung, they started to play.
The game-play went normally at the beginning.
But Evelyn had never played mahjong before, so she continued to lose.
Sheffield felt heartbroken seeing her lose again and again, so he sneaked up to her when she went to the ladies' room and whispered a trick in her ear.
Half an hour later Evelyn cleared her throat and announced, "Sheffield cooked fish for lunch today." Both Joshua and Gifford looked at Evelyn, confused.
Sheffield, who was sitting opposite her, discarded a tile. "One Bamboo!"
Evelyn was quick to react. "Pung!"
Meanwhile, she discarded a tile too. "Two Bamboo." Joshua and Gifford had no idea what was going on. Since she was trained by Sheffield, she had his M.O.
After a while, Evelyn said, "The earrings I bought the other day look great."
Sheffield discarded another tile. "Three Character!"
"Kong!" Evelyn called. She grabbed the three-character tile and put it next to her own three three-character tiles, all face-up.