Chapter 04: It was a cool day
The Lee family was wealthy, something Cherry Adams had always been aware of.
Still, she did not enjoy a few years of luxury.
Lee's father and mother were in a plane crash.
They died in the plane crash.
This is ridiculous, I don't know what to say. Did the Lee family insult someone? Could that person be so powerful that he could cause a multinational flight to crash? Come to think of it, it's unlikely. Life is not a novel. It's not like some overbearing CEO is going to bankrupt the Lee Group the minute it gets cold.
But the Lee Group did go bankrupt.
The Lee family was in chaos.
Cherry Adams was informed only after she entered the Lee family. Today was the day that Lee's father was to return, and she had just proposed to the other party that she wanted to leave the Lee family. However, her idea was left there, and the person she needed to discuss it with had already left. The housekeeper revealed the current situation, and the Lee family was now in danger.
The Lee family is finished. How did this happen all of a sudden? This was beyond Cherry Adams' knowledge. Didn't wealthy families have such wills? Trust funds? What about insurance? At the very least, they had relatives to take care of them. Even if a bankrupt group died out, they were still bigger than a horse.
It was very complicated, and not something Cherry Adams could understand.
The internal struggles of the Lee family were bloody.
I heard that with a new person in power, the Lee family's relatives in the United States had to go to court, so all the assets in this mansion had to be mortgaged. The servants were all dismissed, leaving only a few old people. Cherry Adams' first thought was: What about the Lee brothers?
Their parents were dead.
They had lost their house.
They had lost their money.
Maybe it was retribution, maybe not, but Cherry Adams had not disliked the two brothers after spending two years with them. Although Jasper Lee and Pascal Lee were temporarily listed on the same household registration as her, they came from two different worlds and would not be in the same class in the future... That had been the case in the past, but it was hard to say for sure now. Now, the older one was fourteen and in the second year of junior high school, while the younger one was only ten, and the most important task was nothing more than entering junior high school.
What will their lives be like in the future? Cherry Adams thought to herself as she searched through the family's remaining belongings. Li's parents' room was empty, and since the mortgagees had not arrived yet, everything had been taken. It was obvious that the servants had looted the house and then scattered.
Cherry Adams found some earrings in the seams of the bed, perhaps left carelessly by Li's mother. The gems on them were quite large and should be able to fetch some money. She searched a few more rooms, the Lee family was wealthy and there were still some valuable things left behind.
Coming down from the second floor, Cherry Adams saw the Lee brothers in the living room. They just stood there with blank stares, letting people come and go.
Children were now the least valuable thing in the Lee family.
Cherry Adams didn't look at them again, but turned and walked away.
She had no regrets, just like when she arrived in the capital, she was carefree when she left. At this point, Cherry Adams once again regretted her own cold-heartedness. Perhaps she had indeed inherited her mother, except for her appearance, which was the only thing her mother had given her, and a weapon to protect her.
Cherry Adams stayed in the capital for a few more days, pawning her belongings and getting 70,000 to 80,000 yuan into her account. The Lee family's funeral was held only after their local friends had raised enough money. Cherry Adams didn't go because she would have had to pay her respects, and she didn't know in what capacity.
Maybe she felt a little guilty about the Lee family. She stood in front of the cemetery for a while, bidding them farewell and thanking them for taking care of her for the past two years.
The rest, what about the Lee family, what about the Lee brothers?
No, that was not for Cherry Adams to worry about.
Cherry Adams returned to Seoul. Her driver's license was valid for one year and she was allowed to drive on the highway. She drove off alone. The day she left, the wind was light and the sky was clear, without an overly glaring sun. It seemed as if everything was bidding her farewell. Some of her fellow villagers were also leaving, so they formed a temporary convoy.
Everyone called and chatted with each other along the way, asking where they were and where they were eating. They were all young people, laughing and joking, and their cars were much better than Cherry's, but they were willing to give her a ride. When they arrived in Wuhan, Cherry Adams exchanged contact information with each of them.
Cherry Adams returned to the old neighborhood and the old house on Youyi Road.
The neighbors saw that she was exhausted and asked her why she had returned.
"Well, when it's time to come back, I'll come back," Cherry Adams said, avoiding the question, "Zhang Jie, I can smell fried food cooking in your house.
You have a nose like a dog, the oil has just been heated," the neighbor laughed, "when it's done later, you can take two bags home to eat."
Cherry Adams took the key to open the door, and dust was flying, so it was time to clean up.
She stood in the living room in the afternoon sun for a while.
The last two years of her life seemed like another world.
Cherry Adams had the compensation from Xie Xue's accident, what she had saved from the Lee family over the past two years, plus what she had pawned, and even after buying a car, there was still 200,000 yuan in her account. This amount of money was more than enough to support her through college and to travel the world with her friends during vacations.
Cherry Adams spent her days at home doing nothing, waiting for the results of the college entrance exam. She really wasn't cut out for college, and she ended up getting into a second-tier local railroad college. Fortunately, her friends weren't much better off.
Children who study together on the road of friendship, from the same kindergarten to the same high school, will inevitably take root in this city in the future.
Cherry Adams transferred to high school two years ago, and when she returned, she was still welcomed by everyone. The college entrance exam results came out, and some were happy, others sad. Everyone gathered for dinner, from watching a movie to eating hot pot, and then went to a KTV box to sing in the evening. Vocational students and undergraduates raised their glasses together to celebrate.
Early in the morning, Cherry Adams staggered home.
As she reached the second floor, she noticed a dark figure on the stairs.
"Hey!" she called, turning on the voice-activated light in the hallway.
Jasper Lee, holding his frail younger brother, looked her in the eye.
But the story of how the two Lee brothers traveled thousands of miles to Wuhan, and the hardships they endured along the way, must begin that day.
Early in the morning, Jasper Lee was practicing the piano in the large music room. His younger brother, Pascal Lee, was reading in the morning, turning the pages of the music for him. Suddenly, the butler came in with a serious expression on his face, sent the puzzled pianist out, and then said something to Jasper Lee.
The piano stopped playing and Pascal Lee looked over in confusion.
He saw that Jasper Lee's face had lost all color.
Pascal Lee saw that his normally composed and dignified brother had reddened his eyes. "You mean both parents..."
Soon, the younger brother also learned of this tragic news. It was as if the sky had fallen and he immediately burst into tears.
The housekeeper knew, the servants knew, and more than 50 people in the Lee household knew. In an instant, people left and cursed. It was the end of the month and wages had not been paid! The angry workers demanded compensation, which soon turned into unruly looting.
Pascal Lee wept as he went out to stop them. In his room, the cherished books and figurines, as well as the large astronomical telescope, were all seized by the servants. He was pushed to the floor and watched as these people left. Jasper Lee came over to help him.
"Brother...brother..." he sobbed.
Jasper Lee could not find the strength to comfort his brother.
He called his uncles and aunts, but none of them hung up when they heard his voice.
Jasper Lee was at a loss for words. There were too many people on the second floor, so he had to take Pascal Lee, who was crying himself to death, down to the first floor.
It was then that Cherry Adams returned.
When she heard the news, her face fell. Jasper Lee thought she was heartbroken, too, but he didn't expect her to go upstairs with such a look on her face and take the loot and then leave.
Only then did Jasper Lee finally realize the difference between Cherry Adams and them as children of the same father.
Cherry Adams had her own way out.
The Lee brothers had none.
By evening, the Lee family had emptied out, leaving the two brothers alone in front of the house. The old butler, who had been like family, had also been taken away by the family, and before he left, he gave them a handful of red banknotes and sighed with tears in his eyes. Jasper Lee took the bills with trembling hands.
Jasper Lee's initial sadness had turned into outright anger. After seeing everyone turn their backs on him, he grabbed the money from Jasper Lee's hand and smashed it into the dark sky, "Get out! All of you! Who needs your stinking money!
" A gust of wind blew and the money flew away.
Shadows fell on Jasper Lee's deep, somber face.
"...Pascal,"
he said to his younger brother.
"Pick up the money."
Pascal Lee's lips trembled as he stepped forward and grabbed him. "Brother, you don't really believe what those people said, do you? Is it possible that Mom and Dad..."
Jasper Lee shook his head with the courage to face reality.
At that moment, Pascal Lee knew it was impossible.
A loud noise exploded in the ten-year-old boy's head, and the castle in the air that he had relied on for so many years collapsed into reality.
Pascal Lee bent stiffly and picked up the crumpled bill. Jasper Lee carefully put the money away, took his brother's hand and walked down the street.
At that moment, Jasper Lee suddenly thought of Cherry Adams, her pair of piercing and shining eyes and her sharp and mercenary heart.
The one who could easily survive in society.
For two years, his sister who was always so cold and indifferent,
.
Jasper Lee thought of Cherry Adams for only a moment.
At that time, he did not feel that Cherry Adams was someone he could rely on.
He took Pascal Lee to the police station to report the case, and the police helped them solve the problem, following the legal procedures, of course.
Going up the Lee family tree, the grandparents had been dead for many years, and the rest of the relatives could not be contacted.
Going down the Lee family tree, there was only an eighteen-year-old Cherry Adams, an older sister who was not related by blood.
"Where is your sister now?" the officer asked. "If she can pay..."
"No," Jasper Lee had long since seen Cherry Adams' true face, "and she's not going to support us either.
In this situation..." the policeman weighed his words, "I'll get you something to eat first, and then I'll ask the neighborhood committee."
A few days later, the results were in: Jasper Lee and Pascal Lee were taken to an orphanage and then transferred to a nearby orphanage. They became part of an extended family.
Pascal Lee has been in tears for days, sometimes crying and sometimes cursing. He is so young that he cannot accept the sudden change from a young master to an orphan, and his health is deteriorating.
Jasper Lee and the director of the orphanage reported that the director did not take Pascal Lee to the city hospital, but to a nearby pharmacy.
"This happens every season. The children have weak immune systems. It must be just a cold. He'll be fine with some medicine."
Pascal Lee took the medicine, but he did not get better. He coughed and wheezed all day, couldn't eat, and his face was red. Jasper Lee was also worried and wanted to take Pascal Lee to the hospital, but the kind director stopped him.
Jasper Lee took out a handful of red banknotes from his tattered pocket: "We have money..."
The director was overjoyed to see the red banknotes, took the money and said he would drive them to the hospital.
In the desolate fields, only the wind blew. The van drivers made contact, and the rest of the children were still in the car.
Jasper Lee looked at them.
They looked back at him.
Three seconds later, Jasper Lee responded.
He picked up his feverish son, Pascal Lee, and ran.