DING. Nina Walsh’s phone chimed with a new message. It was from Wendy Sheffield:

"Nina, my brother is off next weekend. You should come over and hang out."

A smile touched Nina Walsh’s eyes. She immediately replied, "Okay, Wendy. Thanks for the invitation. I’ll definitely be there." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After sending the message, Nina Walsh felt the humiliation she’d endured at Melody Summers’s house completely vanish. She looked up at Caleb Summers and Mindy Walsh and said, "Mom, Dad, don’t worry. I will definitely marry into the Sheffield family!"

Mindy Walsh lovingly stroked her daughter’s head and said with a smile, "Of course, Mom knows. Our Nina is so pretty and sensible, who wouldn’t like her? Not like that Melody Summers, who’s just an unwanted shrew!"

Filled with confidence, the mother and daughter slowly walked out of The Metropolis Residences.

*

In the Summers Villa, Grandma still hadn’t calmed down.

"If those two ever show up again, none of you are to open the door. Just call security and have them thrown out," Grandma said angrily. "Besides, Caleb’s family has wanted to cut ties with us for a long time. From now on, consider the relationship severed!"

Grandma couldn’t stand the way Caleb Summers and his wife behaved. They hadn’t been in touch for over twenty years, and the moment they re-established contact, they tried to sell off her own granddaughter. ’Are they even human?!’

"Caleb has been like this since he was a boy. He’s smart, but it’s all just petty cleverness," Miss Lowell sighed as well. She then comforted Grandma, "Forget it. As the saying goes, you have to let your children make their own way. You shouldn’t worry so much."

Melody Summers nodded in agreement. "She’s right, Grandma. From the looks of it, my second uncle’s family is doing just fine. From now on, we’ll all just live our own lives and not bother each other. That sounds great to me."

The current daily water supply was only enough for drinking and cooking. For ordinary people, even taking a shower was a luxury, let alone washing clothes.

But Caleb Summers’s family was dressed in clean clothes and looked refreshed, which suggested they had decent jobs that allowed them to live well even during these calamitous times.

Grandma nodded. Before, she could never stop worrying. After all, Caleb was her own flesh and blood, the child she carried for ten months. But after today, she was completely done with her second son.

Colin Summers sighed and complained, "That kid has looked down on me, his older brother, since we were young. But back then, when he was in school and I was working, he’d always come to me for money whenever he needed anything! One time, he said he was short on cash at school, and I walked over ten kilometers on a mountain road by myself to bring him money. Then, after he graduated, found a good job, and a good wife, the first thing he did was block me."

"If they look down on us, then we won’t go begging for their attention. It’s better this way, with no contact." Grace Sutton patted Colin’s back, then turned to comfort Winnie. "Winnie, our second brother has always had a foul mouth. Don’t you take anything he said to heart."

Winnie shook her head. Over the years, she had fought her way up all on her own, and she had heard far worse things. She was long since immune to such words. "I’m fine, Grace," she replied. "I’m just afraid they won’t give up and will keep harassing Melody."

Melody Summers smiled. "Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll talk to the security guards. I’ll tell them these people are here to cause trouble and not to let them in if they see them."

Colin Summers nodded as well. "With Caleb’s scrawny build, if he dares to come back, I can throw him out myself!"

Colin’s words made the family laugh, and the heavy atmosphere in the room lightened considerably.

*

「The Sutton Residence.」

Ethan Sutton came home today with a dark expression on his face. He didn’t know who started it, but now everyone was saying that Sylvia Lancaster was the adopted daughter of the Lancaster family.

Unlike the previous whispers, many people were now claiming with certainty that they had seen the Lancasters’ biological daughter, saying she was the spitting image of Mrs. Lancaster, Elaine Hughes, and was clearly their real child.

Normally, Ethan Sutton wouldn’t have cared about such things, nor would he have stooped to dwelling on them.

But now, with the Sutton family business in trouble, he was already on edge. When people discussed the matter, the mockery was plain on their faces, as if they were laughing at him for marrying an imposter.

Agitated, Ethan Sutton immediately took his anger out on Sylvia Lancaster the moment he got home. "Do you have any idea how people are looking at me out there?!"

Sylvia Lancaster’s face went pale at his words. The rumors circulating these past few days had already made her miserable; she never expected Ethan Sutton to berate her like this instead of offering comfort.

"What can I do about what people are saying?" Tears streamed down Sylvia’s face like pearls from a broken string. "Besides, you’ve known this for a long time, haven’t you? Didn’t you say you didn’t care about my background?"

Seeing Sylvia’s tears, Ethan Sutton could only let out a helpless sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said in a low voice, "Just stay home for the next few days. Otherwise, my parents are going to get upset again."

Ethan’s parents had already spoken to him several times over the past few days, wanting to use the rumors as an excuse to announce the engagement was off and send Sylvia Lancaster back to the Lancaster family.

Mrs. Sutton had even started looking into other wealthy heiresses for Ethan, from families even better off than the Lancasters.

At first, Ethan Sutton had firmly refused. But with the recent decline of the Sutton Group, his family had been forced to sell off numerous assets to repay bank loans. Meanwhile, the Lancaster family kept borrowing money from him. For Sylvia’s sake, Ethan had secretly given them several payments without his parents’ knowledge, but every single one had vanished without a trace.

Although Ethan was now tempted by his mother’s suggestion, he considered himself a devoted person. He just couldn’t bring himself to abandon Sylvia now.

Sylvia Lancaster pretended to wipe away her tears, concealing the resentment in her eyes. When she looked up again, her usual gentle and considerate expression had returned. She said softly, "I understand. I won’t go to the gatherings my friends invited me to, either. Ethan, please don’t be angry. We went through so much to be together. We can’t let other people make a joke out of us."

Ethan Sutton looked at Sylvia’s pale face and nodded helplessly.

"So, our wedding..." Sylvia reminded him hesitantly in a low voice.

They had been engaged for two months. Tradition dictated that the wedding should take place in the same year as the engagement, so by rights, it was time to start planning the wedding date. However, the Sutton family had never once mentioned it to her.

Sylvia knew the Lancaster Group was on the brink of collapse. Living with Ethan Sutton as just his fiancée made her feel insecure. She wanted to get married before the Lancaster family went bankrupt. That way, even if she could no longer be the young lady of the Lancaster family, she would still be the Sutton family’s daughter-in-law.

Ethan Sutton paused, then said vaguely, "We’ll see. We’ve only been engaged for two months. Let’s talk about it in another two." With that, he turned and went into the study.

After Ethan left, Sylvia’s expression darkened. She stared resentfully in the direction he had gone, struggling to control the urge to smash the cup in her hand.

*

By October, the weather hadn’t cooled down. In fact, it was even hotter than it had been in July and August.

For the past month or so, Melody Summers had been busy in her space. Every day after breakfast, she would go to The Arcadian Woods to pick mushrooms, harvest honey, and gather fruit.

Then she would go to the farmland to harvest crops.

Albus was also busy every day, managing shipments from the space.

During this time, the miniature pigs had given birth to over twenty piglets. Melody Summers also slaughtered three boars and sent them to the processing workshop. After the automated processing, Melody obtained a pile of pork offal, three pig heads, and six sides of pork.

Melody kept two sides of pork and listed the remaining four, along with the pig heads and offal, for sale. The pork offal was priced at 200,000 per portion, and the four sides of pork were priced at 300,000 per side.

They sold out almost immediately after being listed.

Melody checked her account. She had successfully saved 90 million, just 10% away from her goal of 100 million.

The vast majority of that 90 million came from the wild mushrooms in The Arcadian Woods. Customers constantly asked her how she managed to grow matsutake mushrooms indoors.

One person even claimed to be a researcher from Rhodes Enterprises and wanted to discuss a partnership with Melody. They offered a price of 500 million in exchange for the technology to cultivate matsutake and other mushrooms indoors.

Melody didn’t dare reply to any of them. She didn’t know any indoor cultivation techniques; she was just an ordinary harvester.

Moreover, Melody noticed that the items for sale on the online shopping platform were getting wilder. Even things like tear gas and Molotov cocktails were appearing. Thinking of the endless winter and rampant chaos that would come in a few months, Melody also placed an order for some tear gas, Molotov cocktails, crossbows, and other similar items.

She set the delivery address to the entrance of the mountain loop road behind The Metropolis Residences and added a note: "When the goods arrive, just leave them in the woods next to the intersection. No need to wait for a signature."

The delivery person was very cautious. They drove up late at night, dropped the items off as Melody had instructed, and left immediately. Melody watched from a distance, and only after making sure no one was around did she go forward and move the items into the Arcadian Space.