Before leaving, Wesley glared at the troublemaker and thought, 'Well, you thought you could set me up, Erica? Just wait and see.' "Remember to run five kilometers!" he reminded her.
"Okay, Dad!" Erica readily agreed to her punishment.
But she rolled her eyes as she did so. Obviously, she was up to something.
Wesley's tone was harsh and helpless all at the same time. "Don't make any trouble for me!"
"No, I won't. Don't worry," Erica promised quickly.
'Don't worry? How could I not worry?' Wesley was sure that Erica wouldn't run the five kilometers as she was told.
Sure enough, after Wesley came back, he had Wahaha milk in hand. He spent some time making sure Blair was okay. Erica walked in calmly and told him, "Dad, I finished the 5k run like you asked!"
Wesley didn't believe her at all. He stared at her coldly and spat, "I've been gone less than twenty minutes. You sure you finished your run?"
"Yes, I did. Right, Dad?" she asked a figure behind her. It was Carlos, and he stepped forward with his wife.
Carlos nodded and lied. "Oh yeah, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes. Take good care of your wife."
Wesley's mind was blown. He held his wife, who was sucking down her milk, and remained silent.
Well, he realized that he couldn't punish Erica around the Huo family in the future. There were too many people defending her.
After the first lunar month had passed, Erica sent all the evidence of Michel's crimes collected by Matthew and others to the Prosecutor General's Office.
Half a month later, the police officially set up a task force to investigate the allegations against Michel and his companions.
From winter to spring, the police had found more than 30 tons of drugs in Parasol Mountain and more than a dozen drug caches had been uncovered. Smuggling routes had been discovered and closed up. Arrests were made. This was front page news.
Later, Michel and Neville were sentenced to death for their heinous crimes.
In March, Matthew and Erica traveled to M Country. They wanted to visit Orange's tomb and pay their respects.
Orange was buried near his home town, in the country he'd been born in.
Orange had made many friends when he was alive, so his tomb was buried in the myriad flowers and gifts from his friends and allies.
It had been almost a year since Erica had been here.
Last time, after Kirk was arrested, Erica visited Orange's tomb before heading back to Y City.
Placing the bouquet of flowers in front of Orange's tombstone, Erica looked at the photo on the stone and breathed a sigh of relief. "Orange, I'm sorry I didn't come to see you till now. I can't wait to tell you the good news. Michel and his men have been arrested. You've been avenged. If there is anything I haven't done, just tell me..."
After a while, she looked back at the man beside her and told Orange, "This is my husband, you know him. Thanks to him and the other men in my family, Michel and his men were arrested. If it weren't for them, I might still be collecting evidence of Michel's crimes."
Before leaving, Matthew solemnly bowed to Orange's tombstone and silently thanked him. 'Thank you for saving my wife and kids!'
Since she came back from M Country, Erica had devoted all her attention to her photography business.
More people knew that the dark horse in the industry, known by her professional name, EM, was actually Erica, Matthew's wife.
In early summer, Erica asked Matthew to take her horseback riding. He had been in a bad mood, because she was very busy recently and didn't have much free time to spend with him. Now that she finally had time, of course he jumped at the chance.
Two people were at the stables, waiting to mount their horses. One wore black, the other was in pink.
Wearing a black riding suit, Matthew climbed into the saddle of a Ferghana horse first, and a pink-clad Erica did the same. Her horse was white, just as she specified.
She looked valiant and heroic astride her steed. So did Matthew. Before he could say anything, she shouted, "Let's go! I'm the bandit chief. I'm going to find a handsome man to be my husband!" After saying that, she squeezed the horse's body with her calves and heels while tapping its hindquarters with a riding crop. The horse, responding to instructions, cantered away.
'Bandit chief? Her husband?' Matthew's eyes darkened. He cantered after her, impatient to get the animal to full gallop.
Erica was laughing and pulling away from her husband. She turned to Matthew, asking, "Why are you following me all the time?"
"Didn't you say that you were looking for a handsome man to be your husband? Well, here I am!"
In fact, she was joking.
Matthew added, "You're not that good at riding, so your handsome husband is coming for you, bandit chief!"
"Hahaha!" Erica was amused by him and burst into laughter as she urged her horse to a gallop.
For a moment, the vast fields of grass echoed with the woman's wild laughter.
But the laughter didn't last long, because something happened to Erica.
She suddenly slumped into the saddle, and she tried to move her legs into the horse's barrel. The horse, sensing something was wrong, slowed down. Matthew watched as she brought her hands to her belly. "Hurry up. Call the imperial doctor. Ugh! It hurts! I think it's poison. Call the imperial physician!"
She forced the words out through gritted teeth. Her voice was thick with pain. She didn't seem to be faking it. Frowning, Matthew said, "Enough of the bullshit. What's wrong?"
"Honey, I have a stomachache."
She seemed to be in great pain. Matthew's breath tightened and he quickly got off the horse, not caring whether he tied it up. "Let's get you down from there!" He walked over to her white horse.
With his help, she gingerly dismounted.
At this moment, her face was pale and beads of sweat adorned her features. Erica had endured this kind of pain before, and the pain in her lower abdomen was terrible. It was definitely not the kind of cramps she got when her aunt Flo visited.
Under the man's anxious eyes, she slowly spat out a few words. "I think I might be pregnant. The baby...save the baby," she said weakly.
Her words scared the man into a cold sweat.
She had just hit the back of the horse. If she was really pregnant...
Matthew took out his phone and called the ambulance. Then he called the person in charge of the stables and gave him their location. "Send a car here! Now!"
Half an hour later, Erica was on the way to the emergency room again. She was indeed pregnant. She almost had a miscarriage because of strenuous exercise.
It hadn't been long—7 weeks. Erica was busy from dusk until dawn every day, so she really didn't notice anything was wrong.
But she didn't know that her period was irregular because she was pregnant.
When Carlos and Debbie got the news and rushed to the hospital, they found that Erica lying in bed with an IV.
Carlos patted his son on the shoulder and spat, "So Rika's pregnant. Why didn't you pay attention to her? Why did you take her out horseback riding?"
This time, Matthew didn't retort. He silently endured Carlos' nagging.
Erica, who was lying in the bed, explained weakly, "Dad, I insisted on doing it. This isn't on Matthew at all. Don't blame him."
"Rika, you don't have to defend him. He is a man in his thirties. He didn't even notice you're pregnant. It is his fault!" Carlos believed Matthew was to blame, and no one could change his mind.
Debbie sighed. "Simmer down, everyone. Thank God Rika and the baby are all right. It's good news. Don't be angry."
Carlos' face softened when he heard that.
Taking a lesson from the past, Matthew had kept an eye on Erica during her pregnancy. He didn't even allow her to leave Y City, let alone travel abroad. He was afraid she would run away from home again.