For dinner, Sienna Johnson personally prepared a table of Northeast dishes. Her best dish was pickled cabbage fish. The pickled cabbage was personally pickled by her adoptive mother, and it emitted a strong and appealing aroma as soon as it was cooked.
The heated kang bed kept the room warm, and Marvin Rafael opened a bottle of white liquor. He and Lucas Robertson drank together, and as a result, all the family members had rosy cheeks from the food and drink.
"AH, EE YA... AH AH AH AH..." Curly Baby, seeing so many people, was also very excited. Her chubby little legs bounced, her mouth wide open, and saliva dribbled out whenever she giggled.
With a mask on, Rose Collins, who was holding Curly Baby, had her eyes crinkled from laughter. "I’ve never seen such a lovely baby."
Sienna, thick-skinned, said, "Mom, don’t you know who gave birth to her?"
Rose Collins glared at Sienna and said, "You were the one who gave birth to her. Yet she doesn’t resemble you."
This was Sienna’s eternal sorrow. She had worked so hard to give birth to a daughter, only for the child not to resemble her, but instead look more like that "heartless man".
Kiki bit her chopsticks, defending Sienna, "The baby’s mouth resembles Sienna’s."
"The ears too!" Sienna brushed her hair behind her ears, leaning in to compare hers with her daughter’s.
"Go on with you. Her earlobes aren’t like yours," Rose Collins said. "Yours are thin, but look, my granddaughter’s earlobes are thick. One look and you can tell she’s destined for good fortune."
A local custom was to predict a child’s fortune based on the thickness of their earlobes. The thicker the lobe, the greater the child’s good luck.
Rose Collins, despite not feeling well, steamed an egg pudding for Curly Baby. She added wild honey and sesame oil from the mountains. Curly Baby loved it so much that she even refused her milk powder, opening her mouth wide like a hungry fledgling, waiting to be fed spoonful after spoonful.
「Abyanabad, A&K Club.」
The A&K Club, which raked in big cash daily, was closed for the day. The reason? It was Dan Taylor’s birthday, and Adrian Desmond’s gift to Dan was all the women in the club, free for him to enjoy. Official source is N0veI.Fiɾe.net
This gift had Dan over the moon.
A dozen beautiful women, of all shapes and sizes and with varying skin tones, surrounded Dan. His face beamed like a flower.
"Adrian, you’ve outdone yourself. I love your present," Dan laughed, holding one of the Goldland girls in his arms and giving her a kiss.
Trevor Harrington winced. "Dan, you really have some strange tastes. You’re even into dark-skinned girls."
"The darker, the better, HAHAHA..." Dan wasn’t ashamed of his actions, doing as he pleased despite the many eyes upon him.
"Anyone who falls for you is truly unlucky," Trevor Harrington sneered, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
Dan glanced at the cold-faced Adrian and said with deep feeling, "I never fall for women. I only go after their bodies, not their hearts. The moment you let your heart get involved, you’re bound for heartbreak."
There were no women beside Adrian; everyone knew better than to push any in his direction. Adrian was now "celibate."
Owen Hunter also had no women by his side. Watching Dan, he said with dissatisfaction, "If I’d known you were so easy to please, I would have just sent a few beautiful women your way instead of wracking my brain for a gift."
"My only lifelong passion is beautiful women. Next time you encounter any stunners, be sure to introduce them all to me." Dan welcomed all comers.
Owen Hunter scoffed, "I’m not a pimp."
Dan lifted his head from amongst the beauties and retorted, "Owen, why aren’t you at home with your wife and child tonight?"
"My wife took our son to her parents’ house."
Adrian increasingly disliked hearing Owen talk about his wife and child. The happier Owen’s family seemed, the more desolate and pitiful Adrian felt.
It had been a whole year, and still no sign of that woman. What drove Adrian mad with fury was that the trail had gone cold; he didn’t even know where to begin searching. One year, two years, three years... He was terrified he’d never find her in this lifetime. If he couldn’t find her, he thought, he would never rest in peace, not even in death.
"...to Sileria City," Owen continued. "Sileria City is a very beautiful place. The winter snowscapes are particularly stunning. I’ll treat everyone to a trip there this winter to see the snow and ice sculptures!"
Andre Graham, sipping his drink, said with a lazy yet cold gaze, "I’ve never seen snow in my entire life."
They all lived near the equator, where there was no winter. Unless they traveled to other countries, they would never see snow.
"Let’s all go there this winter, okay? I’ll cover the flight expenses," Owen Hunter suggested generously.
Andre Graham looked at Adrian and advised, "Adrian, today is Dan’s birthday, not his death anniversary. Could you please try to smile?"
"Bastard, you’re cursing me!" Dan kicked Andre Graham. Andre, not known for his good temper, still had half a glass of wine and SPLASH! He threw it at Dan. Dan, who had been blissfully lost in the bevy of beauties, was suddenly drenched.
"Andre Graham, you’re asking for it!"
Suddenly, Adrian stood up. "I’m heading home. You guys have fun."
Adrian’s words made everyone look over. Dan pushed away the women clinging to him and approached Adrian. "Don’t go! It’s my birthday today, a get-together for us guys. I still want to watch the fireworks later..."
Andre Graham scoffed, "You’re a grown man. Why the hell do you want to watch fireworks?"
"You sissy, get lost!" Dan shot back. "*I* watch fireworks, and *I’m* still a real man. Unlike you, looking neither like a man nor a woman. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you’re from Cagalanga."
Andre Graham was an actor, and his family owned a media company. The influential newspapers, magazines, and TV channels in Abyanabad were all monopolized by Andre’s family. Andre, the only son, was known for his bad temper.
Hearing this, Andre Graham moved to attack Dan. "Tonight, if *I* don’t fuck your ass up, *I’ll* take your last name!"
"Please don’t. I don’t want a son as old as you!"
Owen Hunter snapped, "Hey, can you two cut it out?!"
The two men faced off like a pair of gaudy fighting cocks, glaring daggers at each other. Owen Hunter watched them, a headache blooming. Even my own son isn’t this much trouble.
The other two finally registered that someone was missing from the private room.
"How did he just leave?" Dan asked.
"I want to leave too!" Owen Hunter exclaimed. He looked at the two of them. "Have you both forgotten what we agreed on?"
Feeling somewhat guilty, Dan and Andre exchanged glances. Dan then said, "...The rest of the activities were planned for him. How could he just leave?"
Nominally, it was Dan’s birthday, but everyone was actually trying to cheer up Adrian. His misery over the past year had been hard for them to witness.
"Women are nothing but trouble," one of them muttered.
"My wife isn’t." Thinking of his wife and son in Sileria City, a happy smile spread across Owen Hunter’s face.