Meanwhile.

Sophia Shaw looked Lillian Forrest up and down.

"Does it look weird?" Lillian Forrest asked nervously.

Her hands fiddled with the dangling earrings.

It was her first time wearing earrings, so she felt both a novel excitement and a sense of anxiety.

"Not at all. They’re very pretty."

Sophia Shaw had a different temperament from most people.

She didn’t believe girls in their mid-teens should have to dress plainly. On the contrary, she felt that an appreciation for beauty should be cultivated from a young age.

As long as it was something they liked and wasn’t excessively extravagant or flashy, they should be free to try it.

Lillian Forrest had overheard many girls in her class talking about makeup and jewelry. A lot of her classmates had even bought their own pieces, and she wanted to try them too.

Now that her little dream had come true, and with Sophia calling her pretty, she felt a mix of shyness and happiness.

"Let’s go find Bun and the others," Sophia said, seeing that Lillian Forrest was about done with her shopping.

"Okay."

The two had just started walking when someone blocked their path.

The man had red hair, and the look in his eyes was exceptionally lewd, making them uncomfortable no matter how they looked at him.

Sophia tried to walk around him.

The man sidestepped to block her again. "Mrs. Grant, don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Let’s chat."

"I’m very good friends with Vincent. My surname is Judd."

Young Master Judd’s gaze slid from Sophia to Lillian Forrest and back again.

Both women were very beautiful.

But Sophia had a more mature charm, which he preferred.

Young Master Judd couldn’t stop his eyes from drifting toward her chest and waist.

Her bust-to-waist ratio was particularly stunning, and Young Master Judd couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Sophia saw his lecherous stare and was utterly disgusted. "Get lost!"

Young Master Judd quickly said, "I don’t mean any harm. I just think it’s unsafe for two beautiful ladies like you to be out so late at night. I wanted to offer you a ride home."

"We don’t need it."

Sophia took Lillian Forrest’s hand and walked past him.

Young Master Judd was about to block them again when Ms. Archer walked over, holding Bun, with Ma Lane in tow.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Ms. Archer asked, looking at Young Master Judd warily.

Seeing more people had arrived, Young Master Judd didn’t dare to cause any more trouble. He waved his hands. "Nothing, nothing."

He quickly left.

The memory of Young Master Judd’s disgusting gaze lingered, and Sophia quickly took Bun into her arms to quell the churning in her stomach.

Ma Lane glanced at what Lillian Forrest was wearing. "I’ve said it before, girls should dress modestly. Dressing so flashily, it’s no wonder men come over to hit on you."

"Ma Lane!"

Lillian Forrest usually put up with Ma Lane’s passive-aggressive comments.

But she couldn’t believe she would say something like that in front of the person she respected most.

Ma Lane fell silent, but her lips were pursed in a high pout.

’I didn’t say anything wrong,’ she thought.

’The women in my village were all dutiful and dressed plainly their entire lives, weren’t they?’

’They didn’t wear rouge or powder. They just honestly worked like oxen for their husbands’ families, bearing and raising children.’

’Painting your face up like a flower... aren’t you just asking for men to come sniffing around?’

’Shameless!’

After helping Lillian Forrest finish buying clothes and jewelry, Sophia also bought several sets of baby clothes for Bun and two sets of silk loungewear for Ms. Archer.

They were cool and refreshing to wear, perfect for the summer.

Ms. Archer insisted on paying, but Sophia wouldn’t let her.

If Ms. Archer weren’t helping her take care of Bun, she wouldn’t have been able to focus on her work.

Ms. Archer didn’t lack for clothes, but this was a gift from Sophia.

It represented Sophia’s appreciation for her.

It also meant that Sophia considered her part of the family.

Ms. Archer put on the clothes right then and there, beaming so brightly she looked like she was about to blossom.

Ma Lane watched from the side, her lips curling in disdain.

"Silk clothes are for the dead."

"And that pattern makes you look old."

Ms. Archer was quite disgusted by Ma Lane’s mouth.

But she didn’t want to bicker with her, so she pretended not to hear.

Sophia then bought a birthday gift for her grandmother.

Only then did the group head home.

「Two days later.」 It was the day of her grandmother’s birthday celebration.

At the same time, she received a call from the government informing her that the competitive selection meeting for her and Joanna Sherman was scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Yancy Shaw knew about this and had specifically rescheduled the birthday banquet to lunchtime.

At her grandmother’s strong insistence, the banquet was not a large affair, with only family members invited.

Leah Evans and Levin Sawyer were in the desert and wouldn’t be back for a while.

However, both of them had sent gifts.

Sophia’s gift to her grandmother was a massage chair that cost over fifty thousand.

Her grandmother was getting older and didn’t like to exercise, so she could both nap and get a massage while lying in the chair.

However, due to some complications, the chair had only arrived at the port from overseas that morning.

Worried that a late delivery would disrupt her grandmother’s birthday banquet, Sophia decided to go to the port and pick it up herself.

The car drove out toward the suburbs. When she reached the port, someone was already waiting for her.

"I’m so sorry, Miss Shaw. Our negligence has caused you so much trouble."

"To compensate for your trouble, the store manager has decided to sell it to you at cost."

The cost price was thirty thousand.

The man’s apology was so sincere that Sophia didn’t feel she could say anything more about it.

After getting the twenty thousand refund, she followed the staff member to where the shipping container was located.

"The item has been left inside for you. Please go in and confirm."

The staff member pointed to the far end of the container.

Sophia climbed up the ladder and confirmed the chair with the staff member.

"Please wait a moment," the staff member said. "I’ll go find someone to help hoist the chair down and load it onto your vehicle now."

"Okay."

After the staff member left, Sophia lowered her head and started looking through the massage chair’s instruction manual.

Suddenly, with a loud CLICK, everything went dark.

Someone had closed the container door!

The abrupt darkness sent a chill down Sophia’s spine. She looked up.

She couldn’t see anything in the darkness, only the sound of approaching footsteps.

Because she couldn’t see, the sound was infinitely amplified.

Each step seemed to land on her heart.

"Who’s there!" Sophia called out, instinctively recoiling.

FLICK!

The person flicked open a lighter, illuminating a powdered face topped with red hair.

"Miss Shaw, we meet again." Young Master Judd’s greedy gaze locked onto Sophia’s body.

’A woman who’s had a child has such full, round breasts, and her waist is so slender and soft.’

Young Master Judd swallowed hard, his intentions perfectly clear.

Sophia shrank back a little further. "What are you doing here!"

Young Master Judd looked at her face.

’Sophia is so beautiful,’ he thought. ’Even when she’s angry, she’s breathtakingly gorgeous. It makes my heart race.’

Young Master Judd had been with many women, but never one as beautiful as Sophia, with such a curvaceous figure and such perfect skin.

His gaze lingered on her face.

Even just having him look at her made Sophia feel sick enough to vomit.

"You’d better leave now. The staff will be back soon," Sophia warned, suppressing her nausea.

Young Master Judd laughed. "Oh, Faye, didn’t the staff tell you? My family’s company made that massage chair you’re holding!"

"If I tell them not to come, they won’t dare to!"

Sophia: "..."

She secretly looked down and tried to use her phone.

No signal!

Young Master Judd held up a small device. "Don’t even think about calling the police. I’ve jammed the signal!"

"Faye, to be honest, I’ve spent the last few nights falling asleep thinking about your body."

"You have such a captivating body."

"I went to all this trouble to get you here just so I could have a real taste of you!"

Young Master Judd moved closer as he spoke his vulgar words.

The only thing near Sophia was the massage chair, but it was too heavy to use as a weapon!

Young Master Judd shoved her down onto the massage chair. "I’ve never done it in a place like this before. Let’s give it a try today!"