Chapter 501: Chapter 501: This Suits You
At the same time.
Ann Vaughn used the excuse of not feeling well to narrowly escape a predicament. Coincidentally, Cyrus Hawthorne’s phone suddenly rang, finally giving her a chance to breathe.
"Speak," Cyrus coldly uttered a word, keenly sensing Ann’s attempt to escape from his embrace, and with one hand, he caught her shoulder and pinned her against the wall.
A punishing kiss fell on her tender neck the next second.
"Mm!" Ann’s shoulders trembled slightly, her bright eyes widened in shock, never expecting him to act so recklessly while on the phone.
Fortunately, the person on the other end of the call didn’t notice what was happening and respectfully reported to Cyrus Hawthorne, "Family Head, the Madam has been plagued by nightmares for the past three days, claiming she hears a baby’s cries in the middle of the night."
"We’ve searched everywhere but found nothing unusual, yet the Madam insists that someone is trying to harm her."
Given the close distance, Ann could clearly hear every word from the phone without missing anything, even without trying deliberately.
Upon hearing the words "plagued by nightmares," her red lips curled slightly, a trace of mockery flickering in her bright eyes.
Cyrus looked down slightly and caught the fleeting smile on her lips, slowly relaxing his slightly furrowed brows, "Tell Lucas Kane to go take a look."
"Yes."
After the call ended, the room fell into silence for over ten seconds.
In the deathly stillness, silence flowed between Ann and Cyrus, as if the air would solidify at any moment.
They were so close that each breath allowed warm air to brush gently over each other’s skin, adding a touch of ambiguity.
But between them lay an insurmountable rift.
"Do you want to see the book of exotic plants?" After a long pause, Cyrus finally spoke, his cold, magnetic voice breaking the increasingly tense atmosphere.
An... exotic... plant book?
Ann Vaughn’s dim eyes lit up with some brightness; she was about to nod eagerly but realized she seemed overly eager.
After pausing for nearly three seconds, she immediately said, "Yes!"
Cyrus’s thin lips curled as he took her slightly cool hand and led her to the study.
The book of plants was very old; the pages were made from leather and the book was so thick it felt like holding a few bricks in your hands.
However, each page clearly recorded the appearance, characteristics, and functionality of exotic plants, making it very informative at a glance.
Ann clutched the book like Ultraman spotting a little monster, sitting on the sofa as if she had found the love of her life, smiling contently.
The thoroughly ignored great President Hawthorne: "..."
Suddenly, there was a peculiar feeling of having shot himself in the foot.
The plants recorded in the book were almost all ones Ann had never seen before. After digesting some of the characteristics and functionalities of these plants, there seemed to be a sign of loosening in her long-stalled pharmaceutical bottleneck.
Strangely enough...
Many of the plants in the book... seemed somewhat familiar to her.
Where could it be?
A flash of light crossed Ann’s mind, and she immediately stood up from the sofa, struggling to carry the book of plants out of the study.
Running all the way to the glass greenhouse, Ann found Kenny squatting by the flowerbed, watering the plants, and she immediately walked over, "Sweetheart, where are those flowerpots?"
"Mommy," Kenny raised his little watering can proudly, "I’ve planted them all for you, they’re all right here."
"Great job, sweetheart!" Ann ruffled his little head and squatted down to compare them to the plants in the book, and found that most of the plants matched those in the flowerbed!
Wow.
The flowers she had casually purchased turned out to be rare and highly valuable exotic plants.
For a moment, Ann’s mind was blank, and what remained was confusion. If the woman was indeed hiding something, why would she be so destitute as to sell flowers on the roadside in winter?
Most people are unaware of the value of exotic plants, but people from those places would definitely know how precious these plants are.
The woman knew how to cultivate and grow these plants, could she really not know such an important point?
Unless there was an unspeakable secret.
Ann wasn’t very interested in uncovering others’ secrets, but after buying out the woman’s flower stall for the price of a single plant, she felt increasingly guilty.
If she hadn’t known about the value of these plants, that would be one thing, but now that she knew...
She had to do something to make amends.
"Sweetheart, mommy needs to go out for a while. Will you help mommy watch over this book?" Ann gently said as she placed the book of plants in front of Little Dumpling.
Little Dumpling nodded earnestly, and seriously advised her, "It’s cold outside, remember to wear more clothes and don’t get too much cold wind."
"Mommy knows!"
After speaking, Ann went to the garage to get the car and drove out of Number 8.
Using her memory, she found the spot where the woman had previously set up her stall, but unfortunately, neither the woman nor her flower stall was there.
Instead, a young man, completely wrapped in a gray cloak, his head lowered, occupied that spot.
Thinking that the young man might know her, Ann parked her car and walked over, "Hi, do you know the lady who had a stall here a few days ago?"
A flicker of an undetectable caution passed through the young man’s eyes, his lips moved slightly behind the mask, and he curtly said, "No."
"I see." A bit disappointed, Ann looked down and saw the stall filled densely with items, and having waited a while in the car earlier, she hadn’t seen anyone stop to inquire about the prices.
After thinking for a moment, she gently suggested to the young man, "The items on your stall are quite attractive, but if you arranged them neatly and placed a sign next to them, it might be better."
"Those who know their value will buy them; those who don’t can suit themselves," said the young man.
Ann: "..." This guy was quite a character. Could he really sell anything this way?
"Are you here to buy something?" the young man asked again.
"... Yes." Since she was already here.
After picking over the items, Ann wrestled over what to buy, hesitating for quite a while.
The young man glanced at her, then took out a wooden box from the corner and handed it to her, "This suits you."
"... I appreciate that," Ann said, her lips twitching, accepting the dusty wooden box and opening it for a look.
Wow!
Just seeing it nearly made Ann gasp, and she swiftly closed the box tight, calmly asking the young man, "How much for this item? I’ll take it."
"Eighty thousand, cash only."
"Eighty thousand?! That’s daylight robbery!"
The young man’s eyes dropped, showing a sorrowful expression, "My family’s practically destitute. My greatest lifelong dream is to taste just one bite of meat."