Ch 142 - The Setup

Alex slowly got up. However, he couldn't do anything about this weird grandma.

"You've got a pretty strong body." She looked at him without a shred of apology and there was a trace of a smile on her face. Meanwhile, he eyed her speechlessly.

Alex had let go of the chicken as he hit the wall and landed on the ground. The rope that tied its feet broke, so the chicken flapped its wings and flew toward the window.

Grandma's eyes froze. She stretched out her hand, and a thin blade appeared in her palm. With a whoosh sound, the flying chicken fell to the floor. It looked like its neck had been cut off.

The old woman reached out her hand again, and the dead chicken flew toward her as if it were being pulled by a rope. She yanked the neck apart and began to suck out the bird's blood.

"Grandma, I'm leaving." Alex felt disgusted and scared at the same time. He lowered his head and walked out of her room.

Only when he had left did he realize that he had forgotten to mention that there would be someone at the villa the next day. But he was sure that she wouldn't be foolish enough to come out of her room, so it was unlikely that she would scare the people. After thinking it through, he went into his own room.

**

The next day, Alex received a call from Sue and then went to the university's south gate to wait for her.

After a while, a taxi arrived and stopped by the gate. Sue got out.

That day, she made Alex's eyes light up. She wore a black and white striped dress, and her hair flowed in loose waves. She looked just like a model.

Sue glanced at Alex and sighed. She walked over with a shopping bag in her hand. "You're going to be cursed to death by my mother!"

"Heh, you know that I'm just a poor student. I don't have any good clothes." Alex scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.

"Thank goodness I prepared for this. Here, you can put these on." She handed him the shopping bag.

"You didn't buy me clothes, did you?" He slowly took out the items in the shopping bag and was surprised. There was a nice summer suit, a pair of shoes, and an expensive-looking watch. Although they were not particularly extravagant items, they still looked expensive. "Where did you get this much money from?" he asked.

Alex's first reaction was that he was being cheated by Sue. How could she afford such nice things and not be able to pay rent? Did she lie about losing her job? Alex hated it when others lied to him. He would definitely throw these things on the ground and leave without looking back if she had lied to him.

"I rented these clothes for thirty dollars for the day. I'll return them after you come back to my place. Do you really think I have the money to buy these things?" Sue whispered as she moved closer to him. She was a bit embarrassed, so she was secretive and afraid of being overheard.

"Huh?" He really didn't expect her to come up with such an idea. He looked at the items again. He wasn't sure about the clothes and shoes, but the watch was undoubtedly fake because the hands stood still.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and put on the clothes. We need to get going!" Sue pushed him a little, so he quickly went to a nearby men's room to change.

"That looks much better." Sue nodded with satisfaction when she saw him walking over wearing the outfit. She gently fixed the collar of his rented shirt. "Remember, your identity today is a young man from a pretty good family. Your family has a small online company."

"Do we really need to do this?" Alex was a bit worried about being a fake boyfriend.

"What do you mean? My mom has her eyes on a man's family. If your family isn't good enough, she definitely won't like you. She'll push me into dating the other guy. Our mission today is to let my mother compare you with the man she found for me. She has to feel that you and I are the perfect match. Do you understand?" Sue explained.

"I understand, but what about after that?" Alex still was a little worried. Since he was helping Sue this one time, would she be causing trouble for him from then on, like Karen did?

"I'll just make up a reason in the future to say that we broke up. Don't worry, I won't lie to you." Sue was still a little disappointed.

What did he mean by that question? He thinks he's not worthy of a girl like me, she thought.

"Let's go." Sue didn't think too much about it. She and Alex waved down a taxi and went to her mother's house.

**

A young man named Garry sat on the sofa at Sue's mother's house and chatted with her mother, Sara .

"Garry, Sue is happy to be working in journalism. What about you?" Sara asked with a kind smile. Garry had been introduced to her by her sister, and she had heard that his family background was very good.

"Oh, you likely already know about the special movie town that's been set up next to the science park, right? I feel that over the past few years, our country's film industry has been a treasure trove, so we've started a company to do some side films and TV dramas. We also provide props for the various production teams. We've done well, and over the past year, my own net income has been close to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars," Garry said humbly.

Sara's eyes lit up when she heard how much money he earned in a year.

"All right, I think the two of you will have some things in common. When Sue gets here, you should have a good chat with her," her mother said.

"Ding, dong," rang the doorbell.

Sara went to open the door with Garry following behind her.

It was her youngest daughter, Sue.

"You finally remembered to come home?" Sara greeted her with a rebuke. She had three daughters, but this girl was disobedient. Sue was already twenty-six years old, but she still wasn't worried about her future. Since her eldest daughter's daughter was already going to college, how could she not be worried about Sue?

"Come in! Garry has been waiting for you for over an hour!" Sara was in a hurry to get her daughter to meet the young man.

"Mom, I told you, you don't have to worry about me. Don't worry about me!" muttered Sue.

"If I don't worry about you, then who will? If only you would bring home a man, I wouldn't be in such a hurry, right?" Sara's attitude was a little anxious. This daughter of hers was already making her reach her breaking point. How could she not find a husband yet?

Sue pursed her lips and pulled Alex, who was standing beside the door, into her mother's sight.

"Um… Hello," Alex said with an awkward smile.

"Hello. Who are you?" Sara asked with a puzzled expression. This young man seemed to be well dressed and quite handsome. Sara couldn't help but be polite.

"His name is Alex. He's my boyfriend." Sue glanced at Alex as she said this to her mother.

"He's your boyfriend?" Sara was obviously surprised. If Alex had not changed his clothes, she would have died on the spot. However, he looked very decently dressed.

Can it be that this young man is from a good family? she wondered.

"Um," Alex nodded.

"Let's go in," Sue said as she pulled Alex into the house.

"Hello, Sue. My name is Garry!" Garry, who was standing inside the living room, greeted her enthusiastically as she walked toward him. He was extremely excited to meet her. She looked even prettier than in the photos.

"Hello," Sue replied coldly. She motioned for Alex to sit on the sofa while she went to her father's picture to light a candle.

"Garry, look—" Sara felt quite awkward. Sue had already said that Alex was her boyfriend, and Alex looked like he had a pretty good family background. She couldn't push her daughter toward Garry anymore.

However, Sara was still quite cautious. She didn't know which of the two young men was wealthier, Alex or Garry. It was not good for her to express her thoughts too clearly.

"It's fine." It wasn't as if Garry had not heard what Sue had said to her mother at the door. But when he saw Sue's stunning beauty, he had resolved to use all the means at his disposal to snatch her away.

Garry shot an unfriendly glance toward Alex.

Huh? thought Garry. He focused on Alex's clothes and looked him up and down. He nodded his head with a mocking smile in his eyes.

Alex looked down at his outfit, but he didn't see anything wrong with it.

Sue went back to the living room and sat beside Alex.

"Sue, when did you and Alex meet? Why didn't you tell me about him?" Sara's words were meant for Garry to hear, indicating that she didn't know that Sue already had a boyfriend.

"We—" Sue and Alex looked at each other. They could see the nervousness in each other's eyes. Sue flipped back her hair and said, "Several months ago, right?"

"Alex, what does your family do?" Sara asked without hesitation. She wanted to get to the bottom of this right away and compare Alex and Garry to see which one was better. She didn't want to waste the opportunity of meeting the two young men at the same time.

"Oh, we have an internet company. It earns over a million dollars a year. It's not a big company." On the way to the house, Sue had coached Alex quite a lot, so he remembered her instructions quite clearly.

"Oh, Alex is really funny. It's not a big company. Heh, heh." When she heard how much Alex's family could earn in a year, Sara grinned from ear to ear. It seemed that Alex's conditions were even better than that of a high-class family. She started to look at Alex like a mother-in-law would look at her son-in-law.

"Hmph," Garry snorted. He could not help but shake his head and smile playfully.

"Alex might be more capable than me," Garry said. "You probably don't understand. Let me explain to you that he's wearing a suit that costs at least five hundred dollars. It looks like he's wearing designer shoes that cost at least the same amount. That watch is even more expensive. It's probably over two thousand dollars. My clothes are just over a thousand dollars and are nothing compared to his outfit."