As the crowd of onlookers started to murmur, Crystal Lynch, who knew the real story, shouted anxiously, "Don’t believe this woman’s one-sided tale! She got the four million to buy a home in a good school district! It was a legitimate property sale, but she’s twisting it into some kind of free gift. She’s just trying to manipulate you all!"

When Mrs. Hale saw the crowd’s expressions souring, she immediately pointed at Melody Summers and retorted, "My son bought that house to marry her! Otherwise, why on earth would he buy a house? If he hadn’t, would my son and I be living such a difficult life right now?!"

Crystal Lynch’s face flushed red with anger at her words. She yelled at Mrs. Hale, "What nonsense are you spewing, you old hag! Didn’t your son buy that house for the woman he was cheating on Melody with? I personally saw her showing off the deed in our university’s main group chat. You’re shamelessly slinging mud!"

Melody Summers held back the fuming Crystal Lynch, who looked ready to attack. She smiled at Mrs. Hale and said, "Go on, then. Sue me. We broke up because your son cheated, and he was the one who practically begged me to sell him the house. See if the court will even give you the time of day."

Seeing that Melody couldn’t be swayed by threats or reason, Mrs. Hale gritted her teeth and glared at her. "You little bitch. I tried to be nice, but you’re shameless. Fine! You forced my hand!"

Seeing the vicious look in Mrs. Hale’s eyes, Melody didn’t know what she was about to do. She warily touched the stun gun she was holding.

A twisted, triumphant smile appeared on Mrs. Hale’s face. She pointed at Melody and shouted to the crowd, "Everyone, take a good look at this woman! She was already sleeping with my son right after she started university! This girl has no decency, she’s a total slut! You all better keep a close eye on your sons, don’t let them pick up this kind of trash!"

Having said her piece, Mrs. Hale glanced at Melody with a smug look. ’No girl can be indifferent to her reputation,’ she thought. ’Once Melody’s name is ruined and no one wants her, won’t she have to come begging for my son to marry her?’

’Then, as long as Melody’s family knows what’s good for them and signs their villa over to my son as a dowry, I might just be merciful enough to let her marry into our family.’

Veins bulged on Colin Summers’ forehead in a rage. He strode forward and slapped away the hand Mrs. Hale was pointing at Melody. Forgetting any niceties about manhandling a woman, he grabbed the thin fabric of her clothes and started dragging her toward the door.

Winnie Summers’ face also turned beet-red with rage. She lunged forward to slap Mrs. Hale, shouting, "How dare you say such lies! I’m suing you for slander!"

Finn Lynch and Shawn Lynch, who had been standing by cautiously, quickly rushed forward to help. Each grabbed one of Mrs. Hale’s legs, helping Colin Summers drag her outside.

Mrs. Hale, however, started to thrash about and cause a scene. She kicked violently at the Lynches and Colin, screaming, "Help! Assault! Where are the police! Somebody, please call the police!"

Mrs. Hale then turned and pointed at Melody again, yelling, "You promiscuous little bitch! You’d better think carefully. Everyone knows what you are now. Besides my son, no one will ever want you! You either beg my son to marry you, or you’ll die an old maid!"

After her tirade, Mrs. Hale stared intently at Melody’s face, expecting to see a look of panic, shame, or humiliation.

But Melody just watched Mrs. Hale’s theatrics with a faint, unreadable smile, calmer than anyone else in the room.

Mrs. Hale’s shaming tactics might have worked on someone else, but they had absolutely no effect on Melody.

She gave a careless laugh and said to Mrs. Hale in a measured tone, "I’ve never slept with your son, because he doesn’t have that... function. You probably don’t even know your own son is impotent, do you? And I’m not just making this up. Your precious future daughter-in-law, Joanne White, left him because he can’t get it up."

Meeting Mrs. Hale’s shocked and furious stare, Melody added loudly, "I did hear, however, that your son and his college roommate had a thing going on. The roommate even said your son’s body is softer than a woman’s."

The entire supermarket went dead silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted into boisterous laughter.

Mrs. Hale froze for a full five seconds, stunned by Melody’s words. Then, amid the roaring laughter of the crowd, she erupted in fury. She shot to her feet and lunged, trying to claw at Melody’s face. "How dare you say that about my son?! I’m going to tear your mouth off!"

Just then, Officer Tristan Tanner, who had arrived after hearing the commotion, stepped in and blocked Mrs. Hale. "Ma’am, this is your first warning. I need you to leave the premises immediately!"

Her face flushed with rage, Mrs. Hale roared at Officer Tanner, "I didn’t do anything! What right do you have to warn me? That little bitch was just spreading rumors about my son! I want to press charges! Arrest her! Arrest her now!"

As she spoke, Mrs. Hale began to struggle violently. Melody’s words had clearly struck a nerve, and she was too incensed to think rationally.

In her struggles, she managed to slap Officer Tanner several times, her sharp nails leaving bloody scratches on his neck.

Officer Tanner frowned. "You are now assaulting an officer and causing a public disturbance. Please come with us."

Without another word, Officer Tanner ignored Mrs. Hale’s struggling and, with the help of a few security guards, dragged her out of the supermarket.

After Mrs. Hale was dragged away, Winnie Summers addressed the crowd, slightly embarrassed. "I’m so sorry, everyone. Please, carry on with your shopping."

The shoppers just shook their heads and instead offered words of comfort to Winnie and Melody. All the residents knew that Winnie was a kind, gentle person who often helped her neighbors and didn’t even mind when they occasionally came by just to enjoy the air conditioning. There was no way they were going to side with Mrs. Hale.

And so, Mrs. Hale received the same type of warning her son had. A second warning would get her banned from all supply points.

Furious but helpless, Mrs. Hale could only leave The Metropolis Residences in disgrace.

*

The Desert Vine spread rapidly. Even though Melody’s yard was enclosed, vines still managed to sprout from every corner. Her grandmother and Miss Lowell had to inspect the yard daily, carefully pulling them out with gloved hands.

Today, Melody went straight to the Arcadian Space to get to work right after breakfast.

Her first task upon entering the space was to harvest produce from the fields and woods to fill her backlogged orders. Business at her online store had been booming lately, and she could barely keep up with the demand for her vegetables and fruits.

Before, many of her fruits and vegetables were permanent listings, available for purchase at any time. Now, Melody had to take them all down, only relisting them in batches as they ripened.

Melody picked some honeysuckle and isatis root, then planted some mint and mugwort next to the honeysuckle patch.

She had caught most of the fish from the stream, and she’d sold through several batches of chickens, ducks, and rabbits. Melody decided to delist the livestock to let their populations recover, planning to put them back up for sale once a new generation was ready.

After refilling the feeders in the livestock area, Melody glanced at the thirty-odd miniature piglets scurrying about. She had sold all the adult pigs except for one boar and two sows, so now she just had to wait for this new batch to mature.

The cows and sheep were both pregnant for the second time. Because their reproductive cycles were long, Melody hadn’t been willing to sell any yet. She planned to let them multiply further and would only start selling once the young calves and lambs were grown.

Once she was done with all that, Melody grabbed a pickaxe and headed to the Arcadian Mines to do some digging.

Melody had already figured out the pattern: if she saw a faint golden glow, digging toward the light would almost certainly lead to a gold deposit.

A faint black gleam usually meant coal, while a silvery-white light was most likely silver, though it could sometimes be another precious metal.

Today, however, as Melody was digging, she saw a faint pink halo glowing ahead of her.

Instantly curious, she immediately began to dig downward, following the pink light.

As she dug, the pink light grew stronger until finally, a stone the size of a duck’s egg, containing what looked like a pink crystal, fell at her feet.

Melody picked up the stone and turned it over in her hands. It was a type of mineral she’d never found before. ’You really can dig up anything in these mines.’

She studied the stone with a puzzled expression and murmured to herself, "Is this... rose quartz? Or maybe pink chalcedony?"

Melody knew nothing about gems, so she took the stone, left the mine, and went to the workshop, where she placed it into the ore processing machine.

The machine’s display lit up: [Pink Diamond detected. Removing impurities and cutting.]

A pink diamond!

Melody was stunned. She remembered watching a jewelry auction once where a pink diamond of just a few carats had sold for an astronomical price.

’And she had just dug up a piece this big...’

Overjoyed, Melody scooped up Albus and gave him a couple of kisses. The two of them then happily peered over the edge of the machine, watching as the pink diamond emerged on the conveyor belt.

Melody excitedly picked up the processed pink diamond. The whole gem was about the size of a quail’s egg. The workshop had only performed a basic cleaning and trimming, leaving it in an irregular, uncut shape.

Even with only minimal processing, its brilliant fire was impossible to hide. The pink diamond was crystal clear and exuded a dreamlike aura, like a gem a prince would use to propose to a princess in a fairy tale. It seemed destined to be worn on a princess’s slender, snow-white finger, a testament to a storybook happy ending.

Melody carefully turned the pink diamond over in her hands for a moment, admiring its beauty. The pink hue was perfect, with no trace of secondary color. What was even more incredible was that it was virtually flawless to the naked eye, with no visible inclusions.

After admiring it for a bit, Melody listed the pink diamond in her online shop.

As beautiful as the diamond was, what Melody needed right now was money.

As for the price, Melody had no real frame of reference. After a brief "consultation" with Albus, the two of them gritted their teeth and set the price at one hundred million.

It was the apocalypse, after all, and Melody had no idea if the rich would still be willing to invest in jewelry. All she could do was try.

*

Ever since Elaine Hughes and Mrs. Lawson returned empty-handed from their visit to Melody, the Lancasters had been at their wits’ end.

"And you, you can’t even handle one simple thing!" Robert Lancaster slammed his hand on the table, berating Elaine Hughes. "Do you have any idea how desperate the Lancaster Group is for capital? If the Lawson family’s funds don’t come through soon, we’ll have to declare bankruptcy!"

Due to the Lancaster Group’s cash flow problems, they had been delaying payroll. Numerous employees had filed for labor arbitration, forcing the company to pay out even more money it didn’t have.

The company was spending more than it was making, and the bank was hounding them for loan payments. The Lancasters had no choice but to keep selling off assets to plug the deficit. They had already sold off most of the family’s land and properties. Elaine Hughes sold off much of her jewelry and art collection, and Simon Lancaster even sold off an entire display case of his collectible watches.

But it still wasn’t enough to patch the holes in the company’s finances.

"How is this my fault? I went there in person, but she wouldn’t even let me through the door," Elaine Hughes said, her voice full of grievance. "Mrs. Lawson and I showed up with gifts, and she threw us out without a second glance. She wants for nothing right now. I have no leverage to negotiate with her."

Elaine Hughes felt deeply wronged. Lately, she hadn’t dared to spend a single penny, and she’d even stopped attending her usual high-society gatherings.

Elaine Hughes then looked over at Sylvia Lancaster, who had kept her head down in silence. "Sylvia," she asked tentatively, a hint of hope in her voice, "could you try talking to Ethan again? See if he can lend the Lancaster family some money for now?"

Sylvia tensed up. "Mom, I’ve already brought it up with Ethan many times," she said, looking troubled. "But you know it’s not his decision to make. He isn’t the one running the Sutton family right now."

Simon Lancaster sighed as well. "Mom, the Sutton family is short on cash themselves. Several of their real estate projects have fallen through, and the banks are calling in their debts, too. The Suttons have had to put a lot of the Sutton Group’s assets up for sale. They have their own problems to deal with."

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. ’If I had known the Suttons would end up in this state, I never would have agreed to Sylvia’s engagement to Ethan,’ he thought bitterly. ’What a complete waste.’

Simon glanced at Sylvia’s pale profile and her petal-soft lips. A thought crossed his mind, and he said tentatively, "Since the Sutton family can’t help us, maybe we should just call off Sylvia’s engagement."

Sylvia looked up in alarm, shaking her head frantically. "Brother! What are you talking about?!"