Chapter69

Around the round table, the family was lively and noisy.

Ellsworth asionally picked up food for Harriet, and Harriet politely thanked him.

Sitting nearby, Kathie watched the scene and felt there was something fishy between the two.

Across from Harriet, Patsy watched the scene with great

satisfaction, thinking the two of them would never separate.

After nine o’clock, dinner was over. The elders were chatting,

and Ellsworth received a work call, which he took outside in the

yard.

Harriet and Kathie were still sitting on the living room sofa,

chatting.

The two sat shoulder to shoulder. Kathie ate potato chips, her

eyes on her phone, but out of the corner of her eye, she looked

at Harriet and asked, “Hara, what’s going on with you and Ells? I

saw him pick up food for you several times tonight.”

Peeling an orange, Harriet smiled faintly and said, “With so

many people at home, he has to put on a show, make it look

good.”

Ellsworth did pick up food for her tonight, and he took care of her when she was sick, but that couldn’t make her forget how he shook off her hand when he saw Kelsey.

Hearing this, Kathie suddenly understood, “That’s true. My parents and grandparents have been watching closelytely.”

Harriet just smiled and said nothing more. She didn’t mention what happened at the meeting, nor how he shook off her hand,

or the lipstick mark on his shirt.

At this point, none of it mattered anymore.

***

Meanwhile, outside in the yard.

Ellsworth had just finished his call when Keh came out of

the vi.

Moonlight spilled over the yard, making it especially bright. The

flowers and nts around were full of life.

Seeing Kehe out, Ellsworth put his phone back in his

Chaptere

pocket and greeted him with a smile: “Bro.”

Keh walked over, not beating around the bush, and got straight to the point: “What’s going on with you and Hara? nning to get a divorce?”

The yard light cast long shadows of the two men. Hearing this, Ellsworth immediatelyughed and said nonchntly, “Nothing

like that.”

Keh frowned and looked at him. “Then why did Hara say

that after you’re done with work, you’ll go handle the

paperwork?”

Hearing this, Ellsworthughed even more.

Afterughing, he took out a cigarette and a lighter from his

pocket, looked at Keh, and asked, “Bro, do you smoke?”

Keh replied righteously, “I don’t smoke.”

Since Keh said he didn’t smoke, Ellsworth shook a cigarette

out of the pack and bit it between his own lips.

Shielding the wind, Ellsworth lit the cigarette, took a deep drag, and then, with a hint of roguishness, satzily on the bench

behind him.

Chapters

His legs spread loosely, head tilted back slightly, he blew a faint

smoke ring toward the sky and said with a smile, “If I didn’t fool

her like this, wouldn’t she pester me every day?”

Before Keh could speak, Ellsworth flicked the ash from his

cigarette and said calmly, “Never thought about divorce. I

promised Grandpa I’d marry her, so I never considered it.

Besides, the Ells family doesn’t have that kind of tradition.”

After hearing this, Keh sat down beside him and looked at

him. “If you never thought about divorce, then what do you call

these past three years?”

Ellsworth just smiled at that, took another drag, and fell silent.

The night was very quiet. The two brothers sat side by side on

the bench. It had been a long time since they had talked like

this.

After a long silence, Ellsworth spoke gently: “I thought she was

simple, pure. I was wrong about her.”

Keh found it odd. “How is Hara not simple? How is she not

pure?”

Since Keh asked, Ellsworth didn’t hide it and said bluntly,

“Back then, Grandpa actually wanted to set you up with her. Bro,

(hapter

you turned him down, didn’t you?”

The two brothers had always been close, so Ellsworth didn’t beat around the bush. He figured Keh had seen through it long ago, which was why he didn’t agree, and the matter ended

up falling to him.

Ellsworth’s words almost made Kehugh. He said,

“Grandpa wanted to set me up with Hara because it’s hard to find a partner in the army. I turned him down because Hara

liked you. She was more suited to you.”

“Liked me?” Ellsworthughed. “Ken, there’s no one else here.

You don’t have to save my pride. She gave that impression

because she didn’t want to go to the army with you. She wanted

to join thepany. What she wanted was very

straightforward.”

Hearing Ellsworth say this, Keh understood.

He thought Harriet was after the Townsend family’s wealth and

power.