"Cedric, what’s wrong?"

As Joanna Sherman came downstairs, she keenly noticed Cedric Grant’s crestfallen expression and asked.

"It’s nothing."

Cedric Grant shook his head, forcing a smile.

It wasn’t until after they had dropped Joanna Sherman and her daughter home that Cedric Grant spoke awkwardly to Vincent Grant. "Dad, I just saw Mom."

Hearing him mention Sophia Shaw, Vincent Grant’s hand on the steering wheel wavered slightly, but he kept his lips pressed together and didn’t ask anything.

Cedric Grant clutched the hem of his clothes in frustration. "Mom is getting more and more unreasonable! I was just trying to help her by reminding her not to use Grandpa’s connections, and she got mad at me."

’If something happened to Dad and Grandpa, she’d suffer a huge loss too.’

’How can she not understand something so simple?’

The more Cedric Grant thought about it, the angrier he got. "But the most unreasonable thing about Mom is that she actually said she’s... Rocket Planet!"

Vincent Grant freed a hand and placed it comfortingly on his son’s shoulder.

"Your mom used to work in the company’s publicity department. She knows a lot about rockets, so it’s not impossible that she’s Rocket Planet."

Vincent Grant knew Joanna Sherman wasn’t Rocket Planet.

For over a year, the two of them had been busy developing rockets; they definitely wouldn’t have had time for something like this.

With Vincent Grant’s reminder, realization dawned on Cedric Grant.

’Oh, right, how could I have forgotten?’

’Back when Mom was still at home, he’d seen her on the computer several times, adjusting something that looked like a rocket model.’

’Sometimes she’d even take out camera equipment to film it.’

’He had always just assumed it was some work assignment the company had given her.’

’Seriously, Mom had been doing this for so long, and he never once asked about it.’

’And he just kept telling her to learn from Rocket Planet.’

Cedric Grant hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. The hand Vincent Grant had on his shoulder suddenly felt as heavy as lead.

’But it wasn’t his fault, was it?’

’Mom was clearly the person behind Rocket Planet, but she never said a word about it.’

’She was intentionally being all mysterious.’

’Besides, the only reason she could make Rocket Planet so good was because she got firsthand information from Grant Interstellar.’

’And all that information came from Auntie Joanna.’

’Mom got so much information from Auntie Joanna, but instead of being grateful, she nitpicked everything Auntie Joanna did!’

The more Cedric Grant thought about it, the angrier he became.

Even angrier than before.

He had originally planned to call and comfort Sophia Shaw, but now he made a decision.

For one month, he wouldn’t call his mom, nor would he answer her calls. He had to make her reflect on her actions and learn the meaning of gratitude!

"The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable."

Sophia Shaw’s brow furrowed as she stared at the number she had tried calling several times without success.

Although she no longer called Cedric Grant every day like she used to, she still called every few days.

Cedric Grant was her son; that blood tie was unbreakable.

Sophia Shaw would never completely abandon him.

The line being unavailable had never happened before, so Sophia Shaw couldn’t help but worry.

She had already uninstalled the monitoring software, so she had no way of seeing what Cedric Grant was doing.

Fortunately, she had set up a messaging account for Cedric Grant.

Sophia Shaw sent him a message.

Just as the message was sent, a red exclamation mark popped up on the screen:

You are not friends with this person...

She sucked in a sharp breath.

Cedric Grant... he had actually blocked her!

So, it wasn’t that the phone had no signal—he had blocked her number too!

Sophia Shaw pressed her lips together, wracking her brain. She couldn’t understand what heinous crime she had committed to deserve being blocked by her own son, for him to sever ties with her like this.

The child she had carried for ten months, a part of her own flesh and blood, was supposed to be the person closest to her...

The wall lamp shone on her knuckles, which had turned white from how tightly she clenched her fists. The beauty mark by her eye quivered uncontrollably as a shadow of profound sorrow fell over her gaze.

Even her abdomen began to ache faintly.

It was as if she had been transported back to the day she gave birth to him.

Nothing but pain, only pain!

But this time, Sophia Shaw didn’t endlessly search for her own faults, constantly reflecting and criticizing herself as she had in the past.

Within just a few minutes, she accepted the reality of the situation.

’Blocked is blocked, then.’

’If this was his choice, she was willing to go along with it.’

She had called him tonight not only to fulfill her duty as a mother, but also because her own mother had sent over some Shine Muscat grapes, Cedric Grant’s favorite.

Ever since she learned that Cedric Grant liked them, her mother had personally planted and cared for several Shine Muscat grapevines in her yard.

To ensure her great-grandson could eat clean, sun-ripened grapes, she forbade the use of pesticides and wouldn’t even allow plastic bags over the bunches, instead catching the bugs on the vines by hand, one by one, every day.

No matter how detestable Cedric Grant was being, her mother’s heartfelt effort couldn’t go to waste.

After some thought, Sophia Shaw drove to their marital home.

Cedric Grant was staying there tonight.

"Abbott, is Cedric in?"

Sophia Shaw ran into Vincent Grant’s driver at the front door.

Ever since she had stopped personally taking care of Cedric Grant, Vincent Grant had assigned Abbott to him exclusively.

"...He’s not here."

An awkward expression froze on Abbott’s face.

He knew it was wrong to lie to Sophia Shaw, but Cedric Grant had given specific instructions: if she came looking for him, Abbott was to say he wasn’t home.

Sophia Shaw glanced at the lights on the upper floor; she knew Cedric Grant was home.

She didn’t call him out on it, simply handing the box in her arms to Abbott. "Please take this inside. When Cedric gets back, tell him these are the Shine Muscat grapes his great-grandmother grew herself."

"Okay."

Abbott took the cardboard box.

It only weighed a few pounds, but it felt incredibly heavy.

"Ma’am, aren’t you coming in?"

"No."

Sophia Shaw turned, got back in her car, and left.

Abbott stood frozen in place, staring blankly.

’Ma’am... just left? Like that?’

In the past, if she happened to miss Cedric Grant, she would always wait and wait. If she was in a hurry, she would leave a long list of instructions with him.

This was the first time Sophia Shaw had ever left so decisively.

"Young Master, these are the Shine Muscat grapes your great-grandmother grew. Ma’am brought them over especially for you."

Abbott went back inside and placed the box on the table.

Cedric Grant quickly ran over, took out a bunch of the Shine Muscat grapes, and seeing that they were already washed, started eating them right away.

His eyes lit up, and he was in a particularly good mood.

’See? He’d only blocked his mom for a little while, and she was already scrambling to make nice.’

’Auntie Joanna was right. You can’t be lenient with wrongdoers. You have to make them realize their mistakes and admit them on their own.’

’Once Mom admits she was wrong, he would have a good talk with her about Auntie Joanna and his little sister.’

’And he would make her send that adopted daughter back!’

Just the thought of Bun made uncontrollable resentment well up inside Cedric Grant.

’Bun not only stole the motherly love that should have been his, but she was also a weapon Mom used to provoke Auntie Joanna.’

’He didn’t like her.’

’He hated her.’

’She had to be sent away!’

Besides, he believed his mom had a good head on her shoulders; she knew who was more important between her biological son and an adopted daughter. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’She would definitely make the right choice!’

「The next day.」

Sophia Shaw was tickled awake by a pair of soft little hands.

Opening her eyes, she saw Bun blinking her big, glass-bead-like eyes at her with a smile. Her chubby little hands patted Sophia’s eyes, then her nose.

Her little mouth, meanwhile, was trying to latch onto her chest.

Sophia Shaw had breastfed her for a while, and the little one still remembered.

Holding her little hand, Sophia Shaw picked her up. "Are you hungry? Mommy will get you some milk."

Sophia Shaw prepared the formula and brought the bottle to her lips.

The little one reluctantly opened her mouth to take the bottle, but her little eyes kept glancing at Sophia Shaw’s chest.

She wanted Mommy’s milk.

Her heart melted at the sight, and she patted the baby’s back apologetically.

She knew that breast milk was better for a newborn than formula, but the shocks she’d endured during her postpartum confinement had caused her milk to dry up completely, forcing her to use formula instead.

Sophia Shaw came downstairs.

There, she saw Levin Sawyer sitting in the living room, flipping through a magazine she had left on the arm of the sofa.

"What are you doing here?"