Chapter 2

"You fart. Grandma hasn't drunk any tea for the past two years. Why would I even harm her?" Harvey said with a panicked expression and seemed anxious to defend himself, which gave people the impression that he was hiding something.

"Oh, so that’s it." Samuel nodded, then remarked as though he had a sudden realization, "You know that grandma doesn't drink tea anymore, so you’re using counterfeit goods to dupe an old woman like her. That eight hundred and eighty thousand bucks probably entered your own pocket."

There was trepidation in Harvey's eyes. He looked as though he had a guilty conscience because Samuel’s remarks hit the nail on the head. Indeed, he bought some low-quality tea, but he was certain he would not be found out because his grandmother no longer drank tea anymore.

He never expected Samuel to expose his lie when he showed off in front of Samuel and made a joke of Samuel in front of all his relatives!

"Everything said by a piece of trash like you is nothing more than a made-up story. What would a person like you know about tea?" Harvey pretended to be calm.

After hearing that sentence, the relatives who were earlier suspicious of Harvey realized that they were nearly fooled by Samuel’s words.

How could he—a man who lived off a woman—understand anything about high-end products?

"Samuel, shut your mouth if you don't know a thing. Don't slander Harvey."

"Exactly. Who do you think you are? Pretending to be professional and all. Can you even distinguish what’s good and bad?"

"You only know the difference between salt and MSG. After all, you’re the family cook."

Another roar of laughter soon ensued and it was especially harsh.

Samuel did not justify himself. When he was still in the Hannigan family, he got to know a tea ceremony professional who was also a tea cake collector. No one could rival Samuel’s understanding of tea.

Anyone else who was unacquainted with it would know nothing, so it was useless to explain it to ignorant individuals.

"What's all this noise?" At that moment, an old voice came, and Grandmother Sue finally appeared.

The crowd of relatives got up one after another with a respectful attitude.

Grandmother Sue had been in control of the family ever since the death of Grandfather Sue. Her position was practically like a Queen, and any matter regarding the Sue family had to go through her. Everything that the Sue family had at that point was all because of the control that Grandmother Sue wielded.

Some people hoped that Grandmother Sue would die as fast as possible so they could share her absolute power, but she was physically strong. Those who hoped for that to happen might not see their wishes realized in the coming years.

"Grandma, Harvey gave you a cake of aged Pu'er. You can take a look for yourself if it’s authentic or not." Yvonne glanced at Samuel, but for some reason she believed Samuel's words. Perhaps deep down, she was also hoping that the lie would be exposed.

Harvey panicked when he heard that.

Other people might not be able to tell the authenticity of that tea, but Grandmother Sue had been drinking tea for decades. She would most certainly be able to see through it and tell of its authenticity. Was he not heading for the guillotine if he allowed her to take a look?

"Really? Let me see it," Grandmother Sue said.

Harvey looked devastated and appeared as though he was going to an execution ground. He then handed the tea cake to the old lady.

Yvonne wanted to help Samuel gain some credit, so she said quickly, "Samuel was the one who spotted it."

Grandmother Sue’s face wrinkled up and put on an unhappy look. Harvey did not want to die. Even his parents’ face paled too. If it really was a fake, the old lady would make a note of that unhappy incident. It was likely that they would get a lesser share in the family’s assets next time.

Yvonne glanced at Samuel and thought that he had finally done something for the family. If Grandmother Sue praised him, she would be a little kinder toward him in the future.

However, Grandmother Sue’s words poured a bucket of cold water on Yvonne.

"This is real. Why are you slandering Harvey?" the old lady asked Samuel directly.

Samuel was stunned. There was obviously something wrong with that cake of tea. He knew that the old lady was a person who knew tea very well, so how could she not see it?

Harvey was stunned too. Did he pass that hurdle by mistake? Was it because his grandmother was too old and her eyesight was getting bad?

"Grandma, take a closer look. This tea ... "

Samuel still wanted to explain when the old lady interrupted him sharply, "Are you suggesting that I’m old and my eyes aren’t good? And that I can't tell what’s real and what’s fake? I said it’s real, so it’s real. "

"Samuel, grandma already said it’s real. What nonsense are you talking about, Samuel?"

"Don’t get angry, Mom. Samuel is someone who doesn't understand anything. He just pretends to be an expert in front of you.

"Samuel, aren’t you going to apologize to Harvey?"

Samuel looked at the old lady with a wry smile on his face.

It was not that she did not see it, but she simply did not want to expose her grandson.

‘Yes, I'm just an outsider. A good-for-nothing in your eyes. How could you hurt Harvey's reputation because of me?’

Slap!

A loud slap was heard.

Yvonne gritted her teeth, looked at Samuel, and said, "I shouldn't have had any hope for you."

There was a fiery pain on his face, and because Yvonne had long nails, Samuel had several blood marks streaked on his face.

Samuel clenched his fists abruptly but relaxed them when he saw Yvonne’s teary look.

Did she not suffer all that humiliation because of him? There was no reason to be angry with her.

He endured a great deal of infamy and humiliation in the past three years and Yvonne was no different.

It may be hardship for him, but it was truly an unwanted disaster for Yvonne.

"Sorry. I saw wrongly," Samuel said.

Yvonne felt that Samuel had embarrassed her thoroughly and she wanted nothing more than to find a place to crawl in and hide. Things would not have been so embarrassing had he not spoken at all.

"What's the use of apologizing to me? Apologize to Harvey," Yvonne said.

Samuel took a deep breath, walked to Harvey, then lowered his head, and said, "I'm sorry."

Harvey smiled and whispered in Samuel's ear, "Do you think Grandma didn't spot the tea? I’m her grandson after all and you’re just a useless son-in-law. She’ll still side with me even if it’s fake."

Harvey's proud tone was particularly harsh for Samuel, but since the old lady twisted the truth and decided that the tea cakes were real, Samuel could not do anything about it.

That episode did not lower Samuel's status in the Sue family since he was garbage in everyone's eyes anyway and his status was already the lowest.

For Yvonne however, the matter was very difficult to accept, but what she found hardest to accept was not that Samuel embarrassed her.

She discovered a problem when she finally calmed down. The tea’s authenticity was not important at all. The most important thing was that the old lady would never speak for Samuel, which meant that she would still protect Harvey even though the tea was fake and Samuel really did notice something wrong.

When it was almost time for lunch, Yvonne walked up to Samuel and said, "I owe you a slap. You can claim it anytime you want."

"You want to give me that slap?" Samuel smiled bitterly.

"I don't want to owe you anything. You know that we’re destined to be divorced. It's only a matter of time," Yvonne said.

Samuel looked at Yvonne's silhouette as she walked toward the restaurant. He had no idea where his courage came from, but he said, "Do you want me to change? You’re the only one in this world that can make me change."

Yvonne smiled and turned her head. She was smiling desolately.

"Don't forget your status in the Sue family. You’ll never get an important position here. Besides, it’s not like you’re someone who has unrecognized talent."

Everyone was seated according to their families in the restaurant.

Samuel, with his status as a live-in son-in-law, was naturally assigned to the smallest table. It was also the furthest away from Grandmother Sue, and the people with him at the same table were all servants and cleaners of the Sue family.

As they were eating, someone ran into the restaurant in a panic.

"Grandma, someone’s coming to present you with gifts," the person said to the Grandmother Sue.

Grandmother Sue did not invite outsiders for her birthday and that had been the case throughout the years. Moreover, the Sue family was only a second-rate family in Cloud City, so no one would deliberately come to curry favor with them.

"Who is it?" Grandmother Sue asked.

"It’s from some Hannigan family. I’ve no idea. I’ve never seen them before either," the person said.

Hannigan family?

The only person with the surname Hannigan was Samuel, but except for Yvonne—who glanced over at Samuel—the others did not associate the surname Hannigan with Samuel at all.