Lily's Hometown

It just so happened that Charlotte overheard.

She was at a loss for words.

What genetic mutation?

They had inherited their good looks from their father!

One had to know that their father was the President of the famous Stevens Corporation.

Charlotte felt that if she revealed the eight babies' biological father, the people in her hometown would be shocked.

And perhaps they would all suck up to her.

Right now they were treating her like an invisible person.

But she wouldn't reveal the father.

If she had to choose, she would rather have her eight children by her side than everyone's flattery.

"So what if they are good-looking? Standard of living matters more." Someone saw Charlotte and said loudly, "Raising a child now is no less expensive than in the past.

It costs money!"

"If Lily gave birth to a child, she could send him to the best school to receive the best education. Could Charlotte say the same?"

The person next to him immediately agreed.

"Yeah, that's true. It's useless to look good. You have to have rich parents!"

"If Lily gives birth to a child, that child will be an elite among elites."

The discussion of the crowd attracted Lily.

She walked over, playing with her hair. "Oh, my boyfriend keeps urging me to have children," she said. "He says that as long as I give birth, the children will be treated like princes and princesses. But I don't want to have children. After all, I want to stay in shape."

Suddenly, a fluffy head popped up.

It was Octavia.

She said in a small voice, "A truly beautiful woman will still have a good figure even after she gives birth, such as my mom! If you don't have a good figure after giving birth, then it means that you aren't really a beautiful person!"

Lily's face suddenly darkened.

But she now had to maintain the image of a sophisticated socialite, so she couldn't have an outburst toward a little girl in public. "Little girl," she said, "you are so beautiful."

Octavia felt smug.

She liked others praising her for being beautiful.

"But acquiring feminine beauty still requires money," Lily said scornfully. "Your mother has no money. How will she dress you up in the future? It's useless to look beautiful and be broke."

Octavia shook her head repeatedly. "No, truly beautiful people don't need money, like Mom and me."

After a pause, Octavia looked at Lily again seriously. "Auntie, do you need money to be beautiful?" she asked. "Then you are not a real beauty. You are an artificial beauty."

She had seen this on TV.

Artificial beauties needed surgery, which cost a lot of money.

Lily's face changed when she heard this.

D*mn it!

How did this wretched girl know that she'd had plastic surgery?

She had borrowed money many years ago to get double eyelids and a nose job as well as change her jaw.

Lily didn't say any more. She just glared at Octavia with cold, bitter eyes.

...

The villa that Lily had built in her hometown was amazingly lavish, with playrooms, gymnasiums, and audio-visual rooms all available.

The crowd attending the birthday party either brought their children to play in the playroom, watched TV in the audio-visual room, or got together and chatted in twos and threes.

Only Charlotte, squatting in the corner of the yard, was alone.

Her mother had taken the children to the playroom.

She wanted to sit down alone because she suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

It wasn't because everyone ridiculed her and kissed up to Lily.

It was because those people had said that it took money to educate children.

Indeed.

Who didn't want their children to go to the best school and eat the best foods?

She could not do so for her eight children.

Even if she worked hard and took on all kinds of part-time jobs, all she could afford for them was a normal life.

She could give them nothing better.

But her eight children were so cute and adorable. She wasn't willing to let them suffer.

Charlotte's eyes suddenly became red.

At that moment, Quinto came over.

He sat next to Charlotte and leaned against her. "Mom, is it true that what those people said made Mom a little sad?"

Charlotte shook her head. "No," she said against her will.

But she knew that she still couldn't fool Quinto.

Quinto was good at peering into people's hearts.

"Don't be sad, Mom. The eight of us are born geniuses," Quinto said confidently. "We can become the best without spending much money!"

These words made Charlotte feel more at ease.

But she thought about it for a moment and asked, "Quinto, if I said I was going to send you to live with a rich person, and you would be able to eat the best foods and get everything you want in the future, would you be willing to go?"

"Will Mom also go?" Quinto stared at her with his big, clear eyes.

Charlotte shook her head.

That was impossible.

Once she exposed Henry, he would take the eight children away and deprive them of their birth mother.

"Then I'm not going," Quinto said firmly, "because what we need more than anything is Mom's love!"

He stretched out his hands. "Mom, being by your side is our greatest happiness!"

Charlotte's heart felt warm.

She hugged Quinto. "Mom will always be by your side!"

...

After they hugged, Charlotte remembered that she had another question.

She asked how Quinto had seen through her brother and his wife's scheme.

Quinto said, "When Auntie gave Grandma the necklace, she held onto it very tightly, proving that she had no intention of giving it up."

"So she didn't really want to give it to her," Charlotte said thoughtfully.

"But at the same time, her eyes were always shifty," Quinto said. "She looked very guilty, even scared. Then I looked at her outfit. It was very shabby. She didn't look like someone who would be willing to buy such an expensive necklace."

Charlotte was silent.

Indeed, Nina and Walker had lost a lot of money doing business.

"How did you know the receipt was in the bag?" she asked.

Quinto laughed. "Because after I said that her necklace was fake, she suddenly grabbed the bag with her other hand and glanced down at it."

Charlotte was speechless.

God!

Quinto was a genius.

"And then there was the cell phone she used," Quinto said.

Charlotte wondered.

What did this have to do with Nina's phone?

"She should have had her phone for quite a while now," Quinto explained, "but she hasn't taken off the protective film, which proves that she is a person who cherishes things very much. I thought that if she had bought a fake necklace, she'd probably kept the receipt, and the receipt was most likely in the bag."

Charlotte was amazed.

"I deliberately stared at her bag to make her guard me," Quinto said. "I know Octavia's character. I knew she would grab the bag. I thought if Auntie was guarding me, she wouldn't notice Octavia."

That was why Octavia had succeeded in snatching Nina's bag.

Charlotte looked at him in silence for a moment.

Quinto was simply too impressive.

He had even taken Octavia's actions into consideration.

Charlotte gave Quinto a thumbs-up. "Quinto, with your IQ, you will definitely be admitted to Harvard in the future!"

Quinto said, "After I get into Harvard and make money, I will let Mom enjoy life and make Mom the happiest woman in the world."

Charlotte laughed. "With you all, I am the happiest woman in the world."

...

At the Stevens Corporation...

Although it was the weekend, Henry, the President, was still working.

Merry, the secretary, was also working.

She had just delivered documents to Henry.

Today, Merry had changed her outfit a lot.

She was wearing heavy makeup and ten-centimeter high heels, and she had her hair in huge curls.

She had gone with a "nude" makeup look. She had her hair in a high ponytail and was uncharacteristically wearing a pair of flat shoes.

If one looked carefully, one would see that these flat shoes were the same as Charlotte's.

Merry had deliberately copied Charlotte's look.

She had thought for a long time about the reason the President turned a blind eye to her, even when she was so beautiful and sexy, while he was so attentive to Charlotte.

After considering it, Merry thought that maybe the President liked the unstylish way Charlotte dressed.

After all, if he frequently saw many glamorous women, he might find the girl-next-door type attractive.

Merry imitated Charlotte.

After delivering the documents, Merry didn't leave.

In Henry's office, hoping that Henry would notice her, she was diligently wiping down the desk.

Additionally, since she was wearing flat shoes, her movements were extraordinarily light.

In her head, she was humming.

Spin, jump, close her eyes...

Oh, the President sees me, the President sees me...

Henry finally saw Merry.

She had been flying around him like a fly, after all.

Henry's face darkened. "Why haven't you left yet?"

Merry hesitated.

Why was the President's voice still so cold and aloof?

Hadn't he noticed her distinctive outfit today?

Merry softened her voice and said, "Mr. President, I just want to help you clean the office."

"Then you don't have to be a secretary anymore," Henry sneered. "You will be transferred to the cleaning department tomorrow."

Merry froze.

"I'm going," she said frantically. "I'll go right away."

Merry slipped away in a panic, and Henry was about to withdraw his gaze. Suddenly,he glanced at Merry's feet inadvertently, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

He suddenly remembered.

Charlotte also wore flat shoes.

A white light flashed in his mind.

He remembered something.

During these four years, he had also had the desire to go to the villa to see Charlotte.

Once, he had come to the door of the villa only to see an ambulance roaring by.

The butler said that a servant had upset Miss Johnson, and she had used the high heels she had just bought to hit the servant over the head.

She had beaten the servant to a pulp.

Henry had immediately lost interest in seeing her.

When he left, he had heard the butler whisper, "Miss Johnson only shops for high heels all day long. She has so many of them that she could open a store."

...

Thinking of the past, Henry frowned.

Charlotte's appearance when she arrived at the office came to mind.

She wore flat shoes and no makeup, and she seemed to have a good temper.

Except for Jack, he had never seen her in conflict with other people at the company.

She wasn't the same as the arrogant, domineering, vain woman that the butler had mentioned.

After considering this, Henry called the butler.

...

The butler was taking a bath in the villa at the moment.

Ah!

Life was so comfortable without Miss Johnson.

Seeing Henry's call, the butler immediately dried his hands and answered the phone. From the other end, a voice asked, "Are you sure that the woman I told you to pick up is called Charlotte?"

The butler was silent at first.

He had always called her Miss Johnson. He had never asked for her full name.

Besides, when he had picked her up, she had been wearing Henry's watch.

He couldn't have been wrong.

The butler did not dare tell Henry that he had not even verified Miss Johnson's name.

Afraid of angering Henry, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Yes."

"She has been in her hometown all this time?"

"Yes, sir," said the butler. "Ms. Johnson asked me to take her back last time. She said that she would stay in her hometown for a while."

After a pause, he continued, "She must be there today because her mother is hosting a birthday banquet."

"How do you know?"

"Miss Johnson called yesterday," the butler said. "She said that she wanted to let the hillbillies in her hometown see the world during the birthday banquet and asked me to send her all the finest seafood."

The butler repeated what Lily had said.

Henry's brow furrowed deeper.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Take me to her hometown now."

...

They drove to Lily's hometown in a Rolls-Royce.

The area 100 meters around Lily's house was festooned in lights and festive decorations for the birthday banquet.

The car couldn't get in at all.

The butler turned his head to look at Henry. "Sir, I can't drive through this," he said.

"How about we walk over since it's just ahead?"

He pointed to an extravagant villa in front of him.

Henry glanced at it and nodded.

The car door opened, and a pair of long legs swung out steadily.

Henry stepped out of the car.

The butler also got out of the car. As he set foot on the road, he tripped and fell.

He sat there without saying anything.

Henry looked at him. "You sit here and wait."

...

At the same time, Charlotte was squatting in the yard and pondering something.

She was thinking about how to make more money.

Her babies were smart, so she had to make more money to get them a better education.

While she was thinking about it, she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

The footsteps were calm, powerful, and dignified.

Charlotte raised her head without thinking, and she was taken aback.

My God!

That was Henry!

No way!

How could Henry be here?

Charlotte rubbed her eyes vigorously.

She was right. It was Henry!

Charlotte suddenly thought of the six children in the villa.

Oh no!

She couldn't let Henry see them!

Charlotte immediately ran out of the villa and rushed toward Henry.

When he saw Charlotte, Henry felt a whirlwind of complex emotions.

He couldn't explain his ambivalence.

He had expected this a long time ago.

But he had still felt a hint of hope.

Unexpectedly, his hopes had been dashed.

He had not been mistaken.

This woman's actions at the Stevens Corporation were probably just part of her calculating methods.

Charlotte stopped in front of Henry.

Because she had been running, she was breathing a little hard, and her chest heaved up and down.

Henry's gaze lowered, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

D*mn it!

Despite knowing that this woman was hateful, he was still unable to control his desire for her.

"Mr. Stevens." Charlotte smiled dryly. "Why are you here?"

Henry scoffed. "What does that have to do with you?"

Charlotte said nothing.

In her head, she said to him, "If it weren't for the fear that you would see my six darlings, it would have nothing to do with me, no matter what you did!"

"Mr. Stevens, perhaps you should leave," Charlotte said, hoping he would do so.

"This place is not suitable for a distinguished person like you. You should be sitting on the sofa, enjoying the air conditioning, and drinking champagne."

Henry sneered. "Yes, this kind of place is only suitable for a hillbilly like you."

Charlotte stared at him.

Did Henry have some sort of grudge against her?

Why did he have to keep ridiculing her?

Who was he kidding?

He had taken advantage of her back then.

She had lost her precious virginity.

If it hadn't been for this man's amazing fertility, which had given her eight babies, and the Stevens Corporation's high salary, she would have slapped him.

Charlotte repeatedly told herself to calm down.

However, there was no way.

She couldn't calm down.

This man had spoken too harshly.

In the end, she couldn't help but retort, "Yes, I may be a hillbilly, but you are the onewho keeps seeking me out again and again!"