Sitting across from her, Matthew had a clear view of what Erica was doing and did nothing to stop her. On the contrary, he just quietly observed as she washed the bowl and chopsticks she had used.
After a while, he suddenly asked, "When did you learn that?"
"Learn what?" Confused, Erica took a cloth and wiped the water she accidentally splashed near the sink.
"Washing the dishes." Before she left him, she wouldn't even get near the dishes, let alone wash them.
Erica thought about it for a moment before answering casually, "Well, Tessie couldn't handle everything on her own, especially after the children were born. So I had to help her, right? I learned a lot while I was away."
At that time, she soon realized that she wasn't really unable to do the housework. Given no other choice, she had to learn how to get by on her own, and so she did.
No matter how foolish she was, she could do some simple housework without any maids at her disposal.
Once she finished cleaning up the kitchen, Erica turned off the lights and stretched out her hand to the man who was still at the table. "Let's go upstairs and have some sleep!"
Matthew looked at her hand. It used to be so smooth, but now it had some calluses that weren't there before.
He met her eyes again and couldn't help getting a little angry. In a cold voice, he said, "Erica Li!"
"What?" Picking up on his anger, Erica was confused. Why did he suddenly get so mad to the point of calling her by her full name?
Rudely, he grabbed her hand and raised it to her eye level. "Look at your hand. It wasn't like this when you left me. Look at those calluses! I demand that you take care of your hands and have them healed in a month!"
Erica rubbed her hands together. She didn't notice that indeed they were covered with calluses until now.
"Even if I don't do the housework, I still have to use my camera," she answered dully. She couldn't get rid of her camera. She took pictures almost every day with it.
"Then don't take any pictures for the time being! And don't do any housework! Not until you get your smooth hands back!" he ordered.
For Erica, his overbearing behavior was a sign of the love he had for her.
So holding his neck, she coaxed him, "Okay, I'll do as you say. But don't be angry! It's just that the living conditions in Tow Village are not that good. I'll be fine now that I'm home."
"Since you are aware of the poor living conditions in Tow Village, why did you lie to those women and told them to drink the magic water from the river there?" he asked. It seemed that his wife was getting more and more naughty.
"What? How do you know about this? Were you eavesdropping?" Erica smiled awkwardly before burying her face on his shoulder.
Matthew sighed inwardly and shook his head, realizing that her facial cream would leave a stain on his clothes again. Nevertheless, her words still amused him. "Almost everyone at the party knew about it. How could I not?"
Erica had underestimated her influence. According to Matthew's estimates, many women must have already booked air tickets to K Country by now.
"Oh, some of the guests at the party were good friends with Camille and Phoebe. I just wanted to make fun of them. Who knew they would be so stupid to believe my tale of the magic water?" Erica was shocked to learn that people really bought into her nonsense and even booked air tickets to K Country.
Helplessly, Matthew stood up and grabbed her hand, leading her upstairs. "This will be good to teach them a lesson, so they won't rely on every word you say in the future!"
Holding his arm, Erica wanted to prove her loyalty to him. "Matthew, you have to trust that I won't lie to you!"
He didn't say anything. Based on her IQ, he knew that she couldn't deceive him anyway.
When they got to the bedroom, Erica immediately turned to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. While she rubbed the cleanser on her face, she kept chatting with the man in the next room, "You tore my dress. You must make up for it!"
She really didn't understand Matthew. Why did he have to tear her clothes before making love to her? It was sad to see such a beautiful dress being so easily turned into rags.
"Okay." He was willing to buy her ten dresses if she thought it would make up for the other one.
She turned on the tap and washed the cleanser away from her face. Looking at herself in the mirror, so fair and clean, she was quite pleased with the result.
The next day, Erica was still asleep when she turned up in the top list of all the search engines on the Internet.
Chantel didn't waste any time when she decided to call Erica to make fun of her.
"You've barely returned to Y City, but you're already the hottest topic on the Internet! You didn't see it yet, did you?"
"Why am I on the Internet? I was sleeping." Erica yawned.
Suddenly remembering where she was, Erica stretched out her free hand and felt the hard chest of the man lying beside her.
She smiled and moved closer into his arms as she continued to talk to Chantel over the phone.
Chantel chuckled. "The paparazzi took pictures of Noreen's swollen face after she was stung by the bees, and then they said it was your doing. According to the press, Noreen had been trying to get her claws into Mr. Huo and become his mistress to promote herself. But then, you, Mrs. Huo, decided to teach her a lesson."
Moreover, the photos of Noreen falling to the floor at the party were also all over the Internet.
Despite Noreen's efforts and money to have all the latest news related to her removed from the websites, it was too late.
People had already reposted and commented on the news. She had spent millions of dollars and yet, it didn't have much effect.
Only then did Erica realize that she might be in trouble.
Her eyes flared open, and then she looked at the man apparently still asleep on her side. She poked him in the chest, but there was no response.
Sitting up in the bed, she whispered, "Then I'm in great trouble, aren't I?"
"What are you worrying about? It was Noreen who was trying to become Mr. Huo's mistress. She's the one in a tight spot. It comes as no surprise that you, as Mr. Huo's legal wife, would want to teach her a lesson!"
"Oh, that's good to hear. I'll check it out online and read the comments," said Erica.
"By the way, I took a flight from Y City to M Country. I'll be there for half a month. Take care of... You know what? Never mind. I'm relieved now that you're with Mr. Huo." Chantel had become used to reminding Erica to take care of herself, but now that she was back with Matthew, she didn't need to do it any longer.
"Got it." Erica yawned again. "Then take care of yourself. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay, bye!"
After hanging up the phone, Erica lay back down in the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she felt the weight of a heavy arm on her waist.
She quietly glanced back at Matthew and found that he still had his eyes closed. Unconcerned, she opened Weibo and began to browse the news of the day.
'Wait! It's already eight o'clock. Why is Matthew still asleep? He would always get up at five or six at the latest.
Has he developed the habit of sleeping late in the past few years?' she thought.
Before Erica could think it further, however, the word "hot" displayed on the screen and quickly grabbed her interest.
The topic "Mrs. Huo Came Back With Her Four Sons" was followed by the word "hot" all in red.
Below she found the topic named "Erica and Noreen" also followed by the word "hot."
And although this time the word "hot" didn't follow it, the topic "Erica and Lucia" could also be found on the list of the hottest news.
A reporter had also photographed Erica in her red evening dress on the ship.
Erica was glad to see that the photo had been filtered before it was posted. That woman in the photo looked much more attractive than she was in real life. Once she realized this, she hid beneath the quilt and snickered.