After ranting for a while and blowing off some steam, Raina started discussing Storm Xavier with Phoebe Thorne.

"He’s so shameless. Verna gave him such a wonderful son and slaved away to support the family. What gives him the right to go out and find another woman?" Phoebe Thorne said indignantly, feeling a little relieved as well.

Thank goodness her parents had stopped her back then, or she would have been the one jumping into that fire pit.

The Chapman family was a fire pit too, but compared to Storm Xavier, Brian Chapman’s was a bit smaller. At least he contributed over thirty yuan a month from his salary, and there were even holiday gifts!

"It’s just because he doesn’t think Verna is pretty. How many men actually have a conscience? They’re all the same rotten bunch."

Raina scoffed. She’d seen it all. ’Nine out of ten men cheat.’ Didn’t Byron Thorne have a wandering eye back in the day? But she straightened him out with force. As for Shane Thorne, Hmph, that guy still hadn’t settled down at his age.

"If Verna were pretty, she wouldn’t have married Storm Xavier in the first place. Sigh, she has such a hard life. At least she has a good son, and her mother-in-law is decent. If she can just hold on for a few more years, her life will turn around."

"The son is good, but I’m not so sure about the mother-in-law."

Raina gave a cold laugh and said no more. The water in the pot was boiling. She cracked two eggs into it, and they solidified instantly. The pristine white whites enveloped the orange-red, soft yolks, tumbling in the water like flowers.

After a few minutes of boiling, Raina scooped out the eggs, added a large spoonful of white sugar, and handed the bowl to Phoebe Thorne. "Hurry up and eat."

Phoebe Thorne spooned up an egg to feed Tang Xiaonan, but the little girl clamped her mouth shut and shook her head vigorously. ’I really don’t like boiled eggs like this; I always think they have a weird, fishy taste.’ But in these times, a soft-boiled egg like this was considered a top-tier nutritional food.

"You eat it. Xiaonan can have a cookie."

Raina went upstairs to get a cookie that Frederick Thorne had brought over last time. The light in Phoebe Thorne’s eyes dimmed for a moment, but she quickly composed herself and lowered her head to eat her eggs.

’I should be grateful that Mom and Dad took my daughter and me in. They do their best to care for me and pay for Amanda’s schooling. And it’s only natural to favor your son’s child over your daughter’s. Mom is just reluctant to give the cookies to Amanda, but she makes sure we get three square meals a day, which is much better than my mother-in-law.’

’The Chapmans are the only ones to blame. If I wasn’t worried about my daughter suffering in their house, why would I have bothered bringing her back to my parents’ home to live off their charity?’

Tang Xiaonan took the cookie but didn’t eat it, instead stuffing it into her snack bag to give to Amanda Chapman later. ’Knowing Grandma’s stingy ways, she would never give one to Amanda.’ Tang Xiaonan had seen the fleeting change in her Aunt Phoebe’s expression just now.

"Grandma, I’m going to Grandpa Tate’s to study."

"Go on."

Tang Xiaonan skipped away. She was going to find Adrian Hawthorne to ask how his business had been the last few days. She also wanted to learn foreign languages with Grandpa Tate and listen to his stories about the amazing world outside—the old gentleman had been to so many countries.

Adrian Hawthorne was now helping Old Master Tate look after the brigade’s few cows, a cushy job that Byron Thorne had secured for him. The grass on the mountain was fresh and tender now, so all they had to do was herd the cows onto the hillside. At night, they would cut some grass to feed them, and he even earned more work points than before.

What Adrian Hawthorne liked most was the freedom. Old Master Tate was all that was needed on the mountain, and in a pinch, they could ask Rosalind Green to help watch the herd. The grass could be cut in the morning—he could get it all done in one morning—leaving him the rest of the day for his own business.

Over the past few days, Adrian Hawthorne had made a few more trips to the city. He sold many movie stills, not only from *Painted Skin*, but also from *The Three Smiles*. Old Master Wood at the movie theater had gotten him a lot of posters. With the help of the local toughs he’d befriended after a few scuffles, Adrian Hawthorne had earned over one hundred and twenty yuan in just one week.