CHAPTER 145: CHAPTER 144: MR. FORRESTER—DUMB BUT RICH

Sienna Thornton arrived at the car, and Simon Forrester got out.

She came up to him and smiled, "Shall we head back?"

"Whose car will you ride in?" Simon Forrester took her hand and asked.

"I’ll go with you. Maeve needs to return home for a bit."

South Bay is also a three-hour drive from Z City. Maeve was eager to return because she wanted to find the real estate agent who helped her find the land back then, hoping they could find a good buyer for the inn and quickly sell it for cash.

After Sienna Thornton got into the car, she hesitated when thinking about discussing this decision with Simon Forrester, as he had indeed put a lot of effort into it at the time.

She didn’t speak, and Simon Forrester didn’t ask what she talked about all afternoon, just held her hand as much as possible to prevent her from feeling lonely.

Halfway through, Sienna Thornton finally mustered the courage to say, "I want to sell the inn, cash it out, use it to pay the plaintiff’s compensation and repay the bank loan. What do you think?"

Simon Forrester wasn’t too surprised.

He initially wanted to suggest handling the compensation and bank loan himself, but knowing how independent and strong-willed Sienna Thornton was, he kept quiet about it.

"That’s probably the right thing to do. It’s reached this point, it’s obviously not operational anymore, and there’s no use keeping it." He said, glancing back at Sienna Thornton.

Sienna Thornton felt relieved, her expression relaxed a bit, and she continued, "You have a twenty percent stake in this, and when the time comes, I’ll convert the remaining money into cash and give it to you according to the proportion."

In fact, what she should give Simon Forrester was much more than that twenty percent stake, and she had decided that besides what needed to be given to Maeve, the rest would all go to Simon Forrester.

And Simon Forrester, knowing her personality, didn’t say much on the matter, only saying, "We’ll talk about it then."

As the case was concluded, the long-standing gloom hovering over Sienna Thornton finally dispersed.

With the inn gone, she had to reconsider her work situation.

That evening, while Sienna Thornton was in the middle of a conversation with a familiar headhunter, Maeve called to say someone was interested in the inn and planned to offer fifty million to buy it.

Sienna Thornton was shocked, thinking there might be something suspicious about this. So she told Maeve to hold off and wait until she discussed it with Simon Forrester.

Later in the evening, Simon Forrester returned with a bag of food and said upon entering, "Let’s have hotpot tonight, shall we? I bought lamb spine."

Sienna Thornton was not at all concerned about the lamb spine, and she approached, grabbing his arm, asking, "How much did it cost to build the inn back then?"

Simon Forrester changed into slippers, took the food to the kitchen, washed his hands, and said, "I forgot, didn’t you sign the contract? Just take a look."

"Don’t mention the contract to me," Sienna Thornton pinched his arm, "Do you think I don’t know there’s some padding in that contract amount?"

"Huh?" Simon Forrester chuckled dryly, surprised that she figured that out.

"Hurry up and tell me!" Sienna Thornton pinched his arm again.

He swatted her hand away and went to change his clothes.

Sienna Thornton followed, leaning on the door as she watched him take off his white shirt and slacks and change into a T-shirt and sweatpants.

"Are you going to tell me or not? If you don’t, you’ll be sleeping on the sofa tonight!" she threatened fiercely.

"What was the amount on the contract again?" Simon Forrester tossed his clothes into the dirty laundry basket, then said, "Hey, let me tell you, my shirt can’t be machine washed!"

He said as he took the dirty laundry basket to the balcony.

Sienna Thornton followed him.

Simon Forrester was soaking clothes in a bucket when she pulled him aside seriously, "I’ll wash it by hand for you later. The contract amount was eleven million."

Simon Forrester gave an "oh" and, realizing he couldn’t get away, feigned deliberation, "Hmm? Didn’t we say you’d get a twenty percent discount? So that’s about less than fifteen million."

"Really?" Sienna Thornton looked at him suspiciously.

"Really. Why would I lie to you?" he said, not giving her time to react, quickly ducking into the kitchen to wash vegetables.

Sienna Thornton followed him, leaning against the fridge, furrowing her brows, "The land cost over seven million, and the building cost fifteen; together, that’s only twenty-two million. Now someone wants to buy it for fifty million, I’m worried there’s something wrong."

Simon Forrester grabbed a cutting board and tapped her forehead heavily, "You think fifty million is too much? Do you think people are just foolish with too much money? Isn’t it because this house was designed by someone with the last name Forrester?"

"Oh, I get it now!" Sienna Thornton suddenly realized and jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss, "What you said makes perfect sense! Thirty million for your design is a steal! That’s not right, I now think fifty million is too low, I’ll tell Maeve to say sixty million!"

She said, giggling, as she ran out.

Simon Forrester: "..."

Three black lines appeared on his forehead, but his lips were curved into a smile.

He turned around and continued washing vegetables, shaking his head with a smile, realizing he was getting better at self-deprecation.

Foolish with too much money?

Ha!

Isn’t that the case?

...

After Sienna Thornton called Maeve, she quickly received a reply that the buyer negotiated the price down by fifty thousand and finally decided to settle at fifty-nine million five hundred thousand.

She quickly did some calculations. After compensating the plaintiff with more than one million two hundred thousand and repaying the bank with over ten million, she would still have about forty million left.

She was extremely happy and proudly told Simon Forrester during dinner that she would be able to give him twenty million in the end.

Simon Forrester didn’t ask how she got that twenty million, just said, "A twenty percent stake is worth that much, huh?"

She laughed awkwardly to brush it off.

Of course, she couldn’t tell him that she kept nothing for herself and gave it all to him.

The hotpot that night was lively and energetic.

It was a double-flavor pot, half spicy, half not.

Having hotpot in the middle of the summer was already intense, and Sienna Thornton was eating the extra spicy side.

She drank beer, ate lamb spine, and chatted with Simon Forrester. It started cheerful but soon turned into tears.

Simon Forrester quickly set down his chopsticks, went over to her, and held her close, wiping her tears and comforting her, but the more he comforted, the harder she cried.

Amidst her heavily nasal-toned confessions, Simon Forrester vaguely heard her say, "With the inn gone, the ones I feel sorriest for are you and Maeve. That piece of land, Maeve bought with the inheritance her father left her. And the inn, you built it yourself. It’s the place that witnessed our love, with so many of our memories. But all of this was ruined because of my youthful recklessness..."

Hearing her words hit Simon Forrester’s heart hard.

Yes, it was indeed the place that witnessed their love.

So he had put it aside for now, planning to return it to her in the future.

But he couldn’t tell her that. Watching her cry, he could only pretend to comfort her lightly, "I just drew the designs, you’re making it sound like I was laying bricks myself..."

Then he clicked his tongue, "Besides, Maeve bought the land for a few million, and within a year, it’s worth over twenty million, and you think she lost out?"