Who Cares About Him When I'm Married to the Richest Man?-Chapter 170: An Unconditional Gift for Her Alone
After having a meal, Cece walked back with more than six million bank cards in her pocket, feeling completely bewildered.
Before, she always thought that some things were inappropriate to ask about. Asking too much made it seem like she was after something, but at this moment, she couldn’t help but ask.
Because what happened tonight was really off.
She could understand receiving a house as a wedding gift from the groom’s family as part of the process, but having one or two new wedding gifts as bank cards with so much money was really not right.
In ordinary families, when a child gets married, the elders might give tens of thousands which is already a lot, especially if they seem not very close, yet they casually offer hundreds of thousands... this can only mean that hundreds of thousands are small change to them.
Cece struggled internally for a long time before finally mustering the courage to look at Zion Fitzwilliam and commenced, "Your Dad—"
She paused for a second, then corrected, "Our Dad, what does he do?"
Upon hearing this, Zion Fitzwilliam’s hand froze slightly on the steering wheel, then replied calmly, "He runs a small studio abroad, dealing with the appraisal of artworks and jewelry."
Cece was quite surprised; running an appraisal studio abroad is a pretty high-end profession. She didn’t expect Zion’s dad to be so impressive.
She was a little surprised for a while before saying, "Turns out you’re a rich young man."
She couldn’t quite pinpoint her feelings at this moment — besides being surprised, there was also a sense of ’aha moment’ that everything finally made sense. Zion Fitzwilliam always behaved righteously and kindly, despite seemingly having an ordinary sales job, he never seemed to lack money. Many places regarding him felt inconsistent, and now those inconsistencies had answers.
Turns out his family background is so good.
Cece felt a faint sense of inferiority deep inside, unnoticed even by herself. She just thought her smile forced while clumsily masking, "You’re truly amazing, with such a good family yet still so hard-working." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Zion Fitzwilliam keenly sensed her discomfort, paused, and then pretended to be calm and said, "In my dad’s eyes, my mom’s the only one who matters, I was always the unwelcomed one, and previously because I didn’t get a girlfriend for a long time, my dad even wanted to cut me off and kick me out. Thankfully, you came along and rescued me; they should be very grateful to you."
Cece, who was secretly threatened several times by the beautiful Lucy Taylor: ...
Recognize you want to flatter me, but this statement sounds too bogus.
She squeezed the bank card in her hand and asked, "Then what does your elder uncle and third uncle do?"
Zion Fitzwilliam looked inward contemplatively, "My elder uncle sells coal, my third uncle farms."
Given what happened earlier, he also understood — Cece’s sudden odd demeanor probably came from realizing his family’s affluent background, combined with the impact of three bank cards tonight, possibly making her ponder.
This just won’t do; he defends against her distancing herself from him at all costs. It took him considerable effort to reach this point; his family background must never become their hindrance.
His elder uncle runs two coal mines, saying he sells coal is not exaggerating.
His second uncle possesses a high-end fruit farm, saying he farms is quite fitting.
Of course, their assets are undoubtedly more than just those, but for now, he’s just trying to muddle his wife past this.
Cece felt he was treating her like a three-year-old to coax.
If it were truly as simple as he claims, with Leonard Fitzwilliam and Gregory Fitzwilliam living off selling coal and farming, how could they be clad in suits and offer hundreds of thousands casually?
Likely just like Damian Fitzwilliam, owning a small factory under their name.
Initially, she thought her marriage with Zion Fitzwilliam was evenly matched, well-suited, yet unexpectedly turned out to be a marriage into wealth.
Cece felt quite complex and then stopped speaking.
Back home, Zion Fitzwilliam turned on the light, Cece walked into the bedroom to change, and impulsively took out the property certificate to take a look after changing clothes.
It was her first time seeing a property certificate. Her father’s old house was allocated by the unit and the property certificate had never been done, while her two friends Zara Dalton and Esther Carter were too much of slackers, so she had never seen a property certificate before.
Curiously, she opened the red booklet, her relaxed demeanor instantly shattered upon seeing the owner’s name.
Cece stared at her own name written on it, stunned for at least a minute.
Wasn’t it said that Zion Fitzwilliam’s family gifted her and Zion Fitzwilliam the wedding house? But why did the property certificate only list her name?
If that were all, she could still comfort herself, saying post-marriage gifts even if listed under one name, were given to both, maybe Zion Fitzwilliam was just being convenient, no need to overthink.
But within the property certificate was even a notarized gift statement.
It clearly stated in black and white that this property was unconditionally gifted to Cece alone.
Unconditionally, gifted to her...
This isn’t just a cabbage on the street, it’s a property worth over ten million!
She grabbed the property certificate and ran out to find Zion Fitzwilliam, "What’s going on here?"
Zion Fitzwilliam looked at it casually, "Oh, our family has a tradition where before marrying, one must think carefully about it, once married divorce is not allowed. Because women in marital relationships, due to bearing children and tending to the household, inevitably sacrifice more than men, our family practice gifts the property under the woman’s name as compensation and promise to her."
Cece’s pupils trembled, "... Is it really possible?"
She never knew that wealthy people could act like this.
She thought all wealthy people were like the Jacobs Family, guarding family wealth fiercely, marrying in meant working oneself hard, receiving meager allowances monthly, and frequently being scolded as useless leeches.
Zion Fitzwilliam nodded indifferently, "Yes, this rule was set long ago."
Probably over thirty years ago, his dad set it when pursuing his mom.
As the son, he naturally inherited and carried it forward.
Over thirty years.... Why wouldn’t it be considered a long time ago?
Cece wasn’t aware of the wordplay inside his words — she simply felt his family was great, respecting women was not just lip service, but thoroughly practiced.
She had a tiny bitter smile, "Looks like I’ve stumbled upon quite a lucky streak this time."
Zion Fitzwilliam said, "It’s ordinary, generally, people would do this."
Which means the ones you encountered before weren’t normal people; it wasn’t your fault.
Cece also caught the underlying meaning, merely smiling, without speaking.
At night, while sleeping, she lay on her side as usual, pondering having a meal with Esther Carter tomorrow. The information intake from today was too overwhelming; she needed to talk it out...
As she was lost in her thoughts, Zion Fitzwilliam turned off the bedside lamp and suddenly moved closer to her.
Elara’s body stiffened involuntarily. What was he thinking of doing?
She became tense in an instant, her heart pounding wildly, yet she didn’t dare to turn her head to look or ask.
Until Zion stretched out his arm and pulled her into his embrace, sensing her rigidity, a barely noticeable smile flickered in his eyes.
He explained earnestly, "I think if we’re going to develop feelings, we should start with small everyday things, like physical contact. So I suggest that starting today, we sleep hugging each other. Maybe over time, we’ll feel differently."
Being held in his arms, Elara felt a rising heat all over her body. She thought there seemed to be something off about his words, but they also seemed to make a lot of sense.
When he saw her silence, Zion coughed lightly and added, "We’re in for a lifetime together, so we need to try our best to harmonize. What do you think?"
Elara’s mind turned to mush, and she pondered foolishly: Does trying to harmonize mean sleeping hugged up?
After sleeping hugged up, what’s the next step?
She didn’t know the answer, nor did she have time to delve into it. The key point was, she liked this man and didn’t reject his touch.
Zion’s arm crossed over her body, half of him pressing against her, and he turned off her bedside lamp.
The room suddenly went dark.
He returned to pull her back into his embrace.
In the darkness, the man’s breathing was slightly heavier, while the woman’s was very light. Intertwined together, they both clearly knew the other wasn’t asleep.
Both Zion and Elara felt this was already a significant progress and were satisfied with the current situation.
However, compared to Elara, Zion found it a bit more unbearable.
With the warmth and softness in his arms, the person he liked being so close to him, saying he had no reaction would be lying.
Yet he didn’t dare to react; just being able to hold her today was enough for him. Asking for too much might bring consequences.
Sweet dreams all night.
The next morning, when Elara woke up, Zion was already up. The blanket over her was neatly arranged, clearly indicating he helped with it.
She sat up, slightly dazed, not really understanding the progress between the two. Everything felt natural yet exceptionally bizarre.
She wandered for a moment before getting up to wash. Zion had gone to send Joanne Carter to school, leaving breakfast on the table, still warm.
After Elara finished breakfast, she went to work.
However, before she reached the company, she received a call from an unknown number.
"Elara! Hahaha, aren’t you quite proud? I want to see if you’ll still be so proud if Jasmine dies!"
Elara frowned, "Cece?"
Cece sounded as if she was very drunk, her voice frantic, "You’re really something, I concede, I really concede, Elara, you’re damn forcing me into a corner. Since you’re giving me a hard time, neither of us should have it good!"
Elara deeply furrowed her brows, sensing something was off. Cece’s words were too bizarre. She hurriedly questioned, "What’s wrong with you? What did you do to Jasmine?"
"Hahahaha, what’s the use of her? Why should I keep her? I truly didn’t expect, he went to such lengths just for you! Elara, you’re more capable than I thought, you’ve won! But I won’t just lose like this, I tell you, all of you will regret it!"
Listening to Cece’s words, Elara’s heart tightened. Was Cece going to kill Jasmine?
Or Jasmine was already...
Reason told her not to get involved with this matter. Even if it was Jasmine, what did it have to do with her? They were at most acquaintances before.
When Jasmine abandoned her to choose Cece, all ties between them were severed.
But Elara’s mind kept flashing the image of that child’s innocent face, even when standing by Cece’s side, full of ambition, she was still so innocent.
She’s only ten.
Wanting a better life is not wrong, Elara never blamed her for it. Should a ten-year-old child, with ambition and ruthless means, deserve to die?
Elara’s heart constantly battled with her conscience, and she couldn’t get past her own moral barriers in the end, asking Cece, "Where are you?"
Cece laughed hysterically, "You’re going to find me? Hahaha, you should come. Seeing her corpse, you’ll probably give up."
After she gave an address, Elara told the taxi driver, "Sir, please turn around. We’re not going to the pharmaceutical company, but to Lumire Apartments."
The driver responded, and Elara held her phone, hanging up Cece’s call, then decisively dialed the police.
She relayed Cece’s recent words and her own reasonable suspicions to the police, and provided Cece’s apartment address. The dispatcher said they would send the nearest officers to investigate and should arrive within five minutes, urging her to keep Cece engaged.
But when Elara called Cece again, there was no answer.
Her heart rose into her throat, one moment flashing Jasmine’s ambitious eyes, another moment recalling the smiling eyes when they first sponsored her, making her feel particularly uneasy.
Before she reached Lumire Apartments, she received a call from the police, "Hello Miss Hale, we arrived at the address you provided for rescue but did not find the woman and child you mentioned. The apartment address you gave belongs to a family of three, harmonious and without any anomalies."
Elara’s body froze instantly, her heart sinking.
"She... deliberately set a smokescreen?" Elara’s voice was hoarse, pleading, "Please investigate further. That woman is very crazy and capable of doing anything. I suspect she intentionally gave me a wrong location to buy more time to harm the child..."
The police hesitated, probably thinking her tone didn’t sound like someone deranged, they eventually agreed, "Alright, we’ll conduct further investigation around the apartment. But as you know, this approach is inefficient, so hopefully you can contact the other party quickly, maybe even in time."
Elara understood this point too, but Cece’s phone remained unanswered. What could she do? She agreed to the police, hung up, and continued to call Cece.
Still, it was a long period of no answer.
A bad premonition flashed in Elara’s mind. After a moment’s hesitation, she took Mason Jacobs’ number out of blacklist and called him.
Mason was driving and was somewhat surprised and delighted to receive her call, "Elara, did you change your mind?"
Upon hearing his voice, Elara instinctively chilled her tone, "Mason, Cece intends to kill Jasmine, I’ve already called the police. If you know where she is, hurry and stop her."
