Sudden Change

Royce introduced her, a cousin of his friend.

She lacked skills, talked too much, and though she wasn't satisfied with her, she couldn't dismiss her due to the high salary she paid. Out of respect for Royce, she tolerated her, both sides enduring each other.

After falling out with Royce, she intended to fire her, but a slew of issues made her forget.

On Aria's first day as her manager, she took over her Weibo account with just two thousand followers, dormant for a year.

"From now on, your Weibo is under my control. You just focus on taking pictures; I'll handle the uploads and boosting your followers."

Thus, Lily spent her time fully immersed in creating content, constantly out and about. Though her inspiration wasn't fully back, it was much improved, allowing her to produce work she was reasonably satisfied with.

Despite the exhaustion, without any distractions, she was quite content.

This pleasant life abruptly ended when Brooks called.

He had a knack for timing; her birthday was on the Dragon Boat Festival, and a week before, he called her, just as her studio was about to open, purely to unsettle her.

Celebrate her birthday? How could he dare bring it up? How could he dare? Were they not satisfied until she lost her mind? Did they want to provoke her to violence? ...

When Aunt Fang called, Edmond was playing cards with Alistair and others at the Pingxi Club.

After the amusement park project was secured by Jingxiu, many were envious. A friend of Alistair's, whom he had known for the past two years, wanted a piece of the pie and asked Alistair to set up a meeting.

Edmond, giving face to Alistair, agreed to a dinner, which went well, leading to the card game at the club.

Edmond always answered calls from home immediately, as they wouldn't call unless it was urgent or important.

Five seconds into the call, Edmond threw down his cards and headed out, calling Franklin as he neared the door.

Franklin, at another table, was also playing cards in a more relaxed atmosphere, boasting about his drinking capacity when he heard Uncle Edmond call him, prompting an instinctive response.

"Huh?"

Turning around, he saw Uncle Edmond leaving with a stern face and quickly stood up.

Tonight, Uncle Edmond had brought him along to introduce him to some friends, essentially to build his network.

What happened? Franklin glanced at Alistair for answers, but Alistair looked equally puzzled.

Edmond's sudden departure left everyone bewildered, especially the friend who had hoped to secure a project, now panicked, thinking he had somehow offended Edmond.

Edmond's departure prompted Alistair to check the caller ID, recognizing Aunt Fang's number and realizing something must have happened to Lily.

He contemplated following but decided against it, concerned about encountering Aria, who had recently agreed to annul their engagement, despite his family's disapproval.

Franklin followed Edmond into the car, which quickly sped away, crossing two red lights and merging onto the highway.

Franklin, sitting in the passenger seat, glanced at Edmond in the rearview mirror, noting his grim expression, and grew increasingly uneasy.

Edmond had mentioned the address of the Jian family's old residence.

Why was Uncle Edmond heading there so late? Franklin texted Lily but received no reply, increasing his anxiety.

Unable to bear the tense silence, he turned to Edmond.

"Uncle Edmond, did something happen to Aunt Lily?"

Edmond leaned back, his rigid posture reflecting his worry.

Aunt Fang had explained on the call.

"Madam came home late tonight, said she only had a corn for dinner, and asked for some beef noodles. She had just taken a couple of bites when her phone rang."

"I was nearby; she called out for Mr. Jian. I overheard words like 'birthday,' 'grand celebration,' 'Dad will host it.'"

"She suddenly smashed her phone, didn't finish her noodles, grabbed your baseball bat, took her car keys, and left in a bad state."

Edmond pieced the situation together. Brooks had called Lily, intending to celebrate her birthday with a grand event.

Damn Brooks.

Lily's birthday was on the Dragon Boat Festival, and Alistair had suggested a grand party at the club, which Edmond declined, knowing that the Jian family had stopped celebrating her birthday since she turned ten.

He had asked Aria about it, who, infuriated, had revealed the truth.

"It's that damned Zoya! Coincidentally, her father's death anniversary is on Lily's birthday."

"When she first joined the family, things were fine. But starting from Lily's tenth birthday, she would go crazy, screaming and even jumping off the building."

"Lily's father, a superstitious man, believed it was a bad omen and insisted on not celebrating and eating vegetarian on that day."

"Isn't it ridiculous? Just because of an adopted daughter, they treated their biological daughter so poorly. If they truly believed in such superstitions, why not send Zoya away? Her arrival ruined everything for Lily."

Aria also mentioned Lily's senior year incident.

"Lily's grandmother felt guilty about the birthday issue. On her deathbed, she made Lily's father and uncle promise to throw a grand celebration for her 18th birthday, which they agreed to but failed to fulfill after her death."

"Instead, they wanted to take back the inheritance meant for Lily's birthday gift—a whole street, which the grandmother left to make up for all the missed birthdays."

"Lily is soft-hearted. She resents ill-intentions but is easily swayed by a little kindness."

Aria's words echoed in Edmond's mind as the car sped toward the Jian family residence.