Human Nature

"We'll take it as a souvenir." Shen Yan saw right through what the woman was planning, but he also noticed from Emily's expression that she wasn't entirely sure either, so he decided to just take it.

"Sure, no problem!" The woman's face lit up with glee as she took the envelope from the bodyguard and wrapped up Emily's 'clothes'.

"Hey, Emi, come have lunch at our place!" Just as the woman finished speaking, a few other village women appeared outside and started calling into the room. Each of them had the most welcoming, warm smiles on their faces.

The woman saw what's happening outside and cursed silently. They must have found out somehow about the gift she received yesterday. These greedy sons of a b*tches were just thirsty for money. 

It was ironic the woman did not realize that her curses would include herself.

Emily had never seen such a scene. In the past, these villagers would try their best to avoid her, especially during mealtime. When had they ever called her over for lunch?

"We won't be staying here for lunch, unfortunately. We'll be returning to Cloud City in a short while." Shen Yan's deep voice cut off the village women.

A disappointed expression immediately spread on their faces. However, one of the villagers had very sharp eyes. She caught a glimpse of the clothes that the bodyguard was holding and the envelope in her hand. She immediately yelled, "Emi left some of her clothes at my house too! I'll go and get them for you before you go."

"I'll go too..."

"Me too..."

Everyone rushed back to their own home and brought out all the kid-sized clothes they could find at home. There were dozens of them in total.

Emily's eyes widened. Why didn't she know that she had so many clothes? The only clothes that she could recall owning were the ones given to her by the Shen family which she had just met, and that one set of summer clothing that she wore when she left the village.

"Mr. Shen, take a look. These are all clothes that Emi used to wear. Emi used to be a little overweight so she had to wear these oversized clothes," a plump woman said.

Emily could not believe what she was hearing. She had never been overweight before. In fact, she rarely had enough to eat. However, she did remember that this aunt had two rather chubby children. Their figures were almost exactly the same as their mother. Although Emily was young, she too started to think why this was happening.

"Mister, Young Sir, come take these clothes back for Emi," another woman said.

Seeing the fawning faces of these people, a realization suddenly struck Emily. These villagers just wanted money from Grandpa Shen Yan.

"These aren't my clothes," Emily said with a straight face.

The women didn't take Emily's words seriously. They thought that now that Emily had new, prettier clothes, she naturally wouldn't want these clothes. She was so young. How could she remember how many clothes she had?

"Emi is too young, so she can't remember clearly," the plump woman said with a smile.

Hearing this, Emily pouted her mouth. How could she not remember? She wore the same set of clothing from spring to winter!

"I remember. These are not my clothes. I only have one set of clothes," Emily looked around and said firmly.

Everyone was taken aback by Emily's words. The women were afraid that the money that they were just about to get their hands on was slipping away from their fingers, while the Shen family was shaken by the rapaciousness of these villagers.

"The Shen family's money didn't fall from the sky." Shen Yan lowered his voice. The villagers were all dismayed by Shen Yan's tone. The Shen family had such great influence in the region, even they knew about it. The villagers shuddered at the thought of what the Shen family could do to them if they had enraged Shen Yan.

Shen Xue snorted coldly, "I knew it, no decent person could be raised from this kind of place."

Emily's face turned pale when she heard Shen Xue. She was also one of those who were raised in 'this kind of place'.

Shen Yu's face turned dark when he heard Shen Xue's words, he could hear the hidden meaning behind her words.

"Shen Xue." Shen Yan looked at Shen Xue, warning her to stop talking.

Shen Xue still wanted to say something, but when she saw the expression on Shen Yu and Shen Yan's faces, she immediately shut her mouth.

"Alright, since Emi doesn't remember, then we won't take these clothes," Shen Yan made the final decision.

When the women heard Shen Yan, their smiles turned upside down. It's a great pity that they wouldn't be able to earn the easy money by giving away their kids' old clothes.

"Emi, go out and play," Shen Yan said gently to Emily.

When Emi heard that, she got off Shen Yan's lap and skipped outside happily. Shen Yu decided to stay in the house. After seeing how the villagers were fawning over them, he didn't think the children outside would bully Emi.

The village children saw Emily come out of the house, and quickly gathered around her.

"Hey, isn't the shorty?" The one who spoke was a mean-looking, chubby kid. Her tiny triangular eyes staring at Emily, looked rather amusing on his big round face.

Emily shuddered when she saw this kid. She was the daughter of the plump woman from before, and her name was Cara Mack. Among all the children here, she was the one who bullied Emily the most. In the past, whenever Emily saw her, she would try to hide.

"Oh look! Not only is she still short, but now she's mute too," Cara Mack said mockingly when she saw that Emily didn't say anything.

When the children heard Cara Mack's words, they burst into laughter.

Emily bit on her lips. She knew that these people were mocking her, and she used to just bear it silently, but not this time.

"I'm not short or mute." Emily couldn't take it anymore and retorted with reddened eyes.