CHAPTER 27-28

Ava turned to glance at her, asking with a fake smile, “Auntie, what’s wrong? You can’t even hold your chopsticks properly? Could it be that you ate too much of the medicine brought back from overseas?”

“What are you saying, Ava. My hands accidentally touched the hot bowl of soup and trembled for a moment, that’s all.” Jessica placed her chopsticks down, smiling at her calmly. “Ava, in the past didn’t you always sit on this side? Auntie especially sat here so that I could chat with you while we eat.”

In her previous life, whenever she ate at the Clifford home, she would always sit as far from Henry as possible. She caused Henry to be upset every time, and he would criticize her to no end at the table. Their father-daughter relationship kept worsening that way.

“Sitting here is quite good, I can chat with my father.” Ava saw that the helper had brought the white wine Henry often drank and immediately reached out to block the bottle.

“Dad, when mom was alive, she often said that your stomach is not good. It’s fine if you have no choice but to drink some when you’re working, but you can’t keep drinking at home!” as Ava spoke, she turned to the person behind her, “Auntie Mia, bring this wine away. In the future, if my Dad wants to drink during meal time, repeat every line of the words that my mom said to him back then!”

“All right, all right.” Auntie Mia rushed over to take the wine away.

Henry wanted to drink the wine, but Ava, that brat, has never cared so much about him.

He clicked his tongue. “Drinking is my only hobby in my entire life. You are even interfering with this!”

“Aren’t you clear about how your own health is like? With your body, you obviously can live to a hundred. For the sake of a few mouthfuls of wine, you want to reduce several tens of years from your lifetime, would that make you feel good?” Ava furrowed her brows as she said, “What’s the point of eating body supplements. I think if you don’t drink so much alcohol, everything will be fine!”

“Fine, fine, fine, you child. Either you act completely immature, or the moment you become mature, you can’t stop nagging.” Henry helplessly waved his hand, signaling for Auntie Mia who was at the side to bring the wine away.

Jessica, who could not get a word in for half a day, suddenly smiled and said, “After returning this time… Ava has really changed quite a bit…”

Ava coolly glanced at her. “Auntie, you’ve already been married to my father for so many years. Not only do you not care about his bad habit of drinking, but the relatives from your Brown family are also always sending wine here. Are you planning not to let go of my father’s stomach?”

“Ava, you’ve misunderstood. You should also understand how stubborn your father is. How could I possibly have persuaded him…” Jessica maintained her smile but felt a greater apprehension toward Ava.

Earlier on, Ava even brought up her birth mother who had already passed away for so long. Although her words did not sound sharp, it was clearly meant to bring trouble for her!

Ava curved her lips coldly. “Oh, you can’t persuade him to drink less, but you persuade him to take more medicine? I remember that your family is well-versed in medicine. You should know that taking too much medicine is bad for the body.”

Jessica could not hold on well to her expression.

This Ava was really strange!

In the past, even if she did not like her as a stepmother, she never cared much about Henry. When she was at home, she would always do her own thing and would never speak to her like this.

“Eat, let’s all eat. Ava dear, don’t start bickering with your Auntie the moment you come back.” Henry glanced at the table bereft of wine bottles and held in the thought to ask Auntie Mia to bring it back, quickly moving his chopsticks.

Back when Ava stayed at the Clifford home, whenever the fight began it was always between him and Ava. Normally, Ava did not even look at Jessica.

Now that Ava was suddenly against Jessica, as the head of the family, Henry really could not take the way these women argued with hidden words.

Jessica smiled. “That’s right, Ava, your words are full of attacks. I find it hard to adjust all of a sudden. Your words are usually straightforward and sudden. I guess I’m used to that.”

“Dad, I’m just nagging for Auntie to care more about your health, how is this bickering? Isn’t it all for your own good?” Ava glanced at him with a face full of sincerity. “Are you unhappy that I’m worried for you?”

Henry’s lips trembled. “All right, the problem is on me. I’ll drink less from now on.”

Seeing that this family’s father and daughter were getting along so well, Jessica gripped her fists tightly under the table.

Originally, she had thought to use the opportunity to let Henry lecture Ava for a bit. However, this Ava was becoming harder to predict. Her words always skipped past the real issue and made Henry who rarely put down his ego to become soft with his daughter.

“Henry, Ava's words are right. You really should cherish your own body more. Things like alcohol, try to drink less when you can.” Jessica quickly changed her almost angry expression from earlier, suddenly smiling and speaking softly.

Ava glanced at her without a hint of a smile.

This Jessica was also someone who could tolerate. Tolerating for so many years in the Clifford family, was it not all for the final goal of fitting all of the Clifford family’s money into her own pocket?

When she thought of the hatred in her father’s eyes during his last moments, Ava raised her foot under the table harshly kicking Jessica’s legs.

Wanting to pretend that the issue about the medicine was over? As if she would let her stay so calm!

“Ah!” Jessica was defenseless. Her calf bone was in a lot of pain, and she could not help but call out.

“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you eat calmly? At this age, yelling and crying like a ghost at the dinner table!” Henry’s expression was ugly as he scolded.

Jessica never thought that Ava would do this to her. She felt wronged as she said, “Earlier on, I think Ava kicked me under the table. I’m not sure if it was on purpose. It’s because it hurt too much that I…”

“When did I kick you?” Ava’s expression was innocent. She then looked at Henry whose eyes held rage. “Dad, I didn’t.”

“You clearly did! Already twenty-plus-years old and you did such a childish thing! Everyone is sitting here, how could I wrong you?” Regardless of how much Jessica could tolerate, her legs were hurting to the point where she couldn’t take it. Ava clearly did it on purpose, and the area she kicked was the most sensitive area at the calf.

Henry glanced down and saw that Ava’s legs were placed obediently by her chair.

In addition, Ava was wearing a long skirt that covered her legs. The skirt was long, and there were no signs of wrinkles. The skirt made it such that it could not be seen if she was wearing heels, but it indeed seemed like she did not make any large movements.

“All of you eat quietly. You are all grown adults, don’t act like children,” Henry spoke impatiently, glancing unhappily at Jessica.

Jessica was mad to the point where her face almost twisted. The calm expression that she maintained earlier was immediately used up. She harshly gripped her chopsticks tightly.

Ava calmly drank the soup that Auntie Mia served her.

Jessica, in the previous life you caused my father to die alone in the hospital bed. This debt between us, we will slowly repay it.

Stella looked at the scene before her, keeping quiet.

She slowly ate her food, her gaze occasionally landing on Ava.

It seemed like from now on she had to change her tactics. Brainwashing Ava for her to stay away from Antonio and working on plans to help them divorce, would most likely not work anymore.

“Dad, drink more soup. It’s good for the body.” Ava personally served some soup for Henry, placing it in front of him.

Henry saw that Ava had really changed a lot and felt very comforted.

This child was mature right now, could it be that with regards to Thomas’s two companies, she really did have some proper plans?

During this meal, everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts. After eating, Ava originally wanted to make a call to the Bellevue Hill but was immediately called to the study by Henry.

“Speak, what are your plans with those two companies? You are my, Henry Clifford’s daughter. If you become a joke because of this matter, you would be embarrassing me!”

In the noon, before arriving home, Ava had specially printed two sets of documents.

She removed them from her purse, placing them on the table. “Dad, you cannot predict the development of the property market or technology within the country for the next ten years. Simply focusing on the property market alone, the prices of houses and land have been slowly but steadily increasing over the past three years, and this increment will not simply stop here.”

“Right now, several property prices are dropping rapidly, aren’t they? Many experts have predicted that jobs in the property market will soon disappear! The more you invest, the more you will lose!”

“Don’t believe in those so-called experts. Look at the evidence I’ve found for you first. It’s not too late to make a judgment after reading it.”

Henry glanced at the stack of documents and then eyed her. “You’ve really done quite some preparation.”

“This is the first time your daughter is entering the business world. Of course, full preparation and planning have to be done. I have to do it, and I will do it. I promise I definitely won’t embarrass you!”

Henry looked through it for a while before saying happily, “All right, you have the boldness that your father had back when I just started. However, how can you be sure that the direction of the economy in the next ten years would go as you predicted? What if you planned wrongly? Have you thought of the consequences…”

Ava lowered her eyes and smiled.

The changes that the world would experience in the next ten years, including in the business world, were all in her mind. Since her finances and various relationships were stable at the moment, the first thing she had to do was, of course, to take advantage of the stable and profitable property business to come.

Originally, she could not find much opportunity to do it. That day when she saw Thomas, she suddenly remembered that two of his companies were about to be sold.

She could make him eat a loss and at the same time push for the gain she wanted. It could be considered killing two birds with one stone.

Given that she dared to stand here right now, she naturally had the ability to convince her father.

—-

After two hours.

Walking out of the study, Ava glanced at the time, “Dad, it’s not early anymore. I’ll return home now.”

Henry had already seen through her documents and heard an overview of her plans. After that, he did not state his thoughts, but he no longer disapproved of her plans.

It could be seen that his heart had already wavered.

“Don’t leave now, just sleep here tonight,” Henry spoke from inside the study. “You’ve just recovered from a cold. At night, the temperature is colder, and the wind is also strong. I’ll have Antonio come pick you up tomorrow.”

After speaking, he immediately gave Antonio a call.

Ava was about to speak up but had to swallow down her words. Since her father said so, if she did not let Antonio come pick her up, he would most likely overthink and suspect that she was lying when she said that she planned to live happily with him.

After a few minutes, Henry walked out of the room. “I’ve already spoken to Antonio. You will stay at the Clifford home tonight. He will pick you up tomorrow morning.”

“He’ll come in the morning?”

“Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re thinking about, you’re worried about delaying his work, aren’t you? You brat, your feelings for him have just improved, and your loyalty has already shifted out of the house!”

Ava pouted, was her current thoughts so obvious?

“Have you been living your days in a blur? It’s the weekend tomorrow! I think your heart has long flown back to the Bellevue Hill. What on earth did Antonio do to grab hold of your heart so well all of a sudden?”

Ava face burned slightly. “Dad…”

Seeing her face turn red, the big worry in Henry’s heart could finally be placed down. She was truly sincere this time.

Right now, his heart could be considered to be filled with comfort.

If she were to stir up so much fuss that the son-in-law that he favored the most was lost and they really got a divorce, they would really be tossing their luck away to some other family’s lady. Just thinking about it caused his heart to hurt.

“The issue about Thomas’s two companies, I can give you an opportunity to test the water, but I have a condition.”

“What condition?”

“If within half a year you are unable to earn the very amount that was invested into the company, then you have to go back to studying finance management obediently!”

The meaning of his words was that if Ava could not rely on her own abilities to earn the money back, she could only obediently stay within the family’s company. He would not give her an opportunity to start her own business.

Henry’s personality has always been stubborn. That he was willing to give in this time was already considered a rather big feat on her part.

Ava was silent for a moment before nodding. “All right.”

——

At night, Ava was in her room. She laid on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

Half a year, thirty-million. To earn everything back was not as easy as it sounded.

In her previous life, ten years ago, which was today, the local property market did have a period of stagnancy and even dropped for a moment, although not by a lot. It was in the next few years that it would rise rapidly. However, right now, she was stuck in the period where the business rates were still rather low.

Considering that, the time limit of half a year was an extremely big test for her.

She really could not sleep. Ava turned back to glance at the time.

It was already past nine o’clock. Was Antonio at the Bellevue Hill or was he still at the company?

After her rebirth, she had not separated from him for even a single night…

Ava tossed and turned for a little while before leaning down in a kneeling position. She picked up her phone, intending to give him a call.

However, her fingers paused for several seconds at the screen. The SLV Corporation had several partnerships overseas. At night, he would often have conference calls at this time with his international partners. If her call arrived while he was busy, would that be bad?

After thinking for a while, Ava decided to send a message. After all, Antonio seemed to rarely check his messages.

Whatever, who cared if he would read it or not. After all, she could not fall asleep. Sending a message would help her settle her thoughts.

Her fingers poked at the screen for half a day: [My precious hubby, I miss you, I miss you, I miss you, I really, really, really miss you…]

The words “precious hubby” was typed in after she thought for a long time. While typing it, she was smiling with a red face.

After sending it, Ava could not control her joy. She turned to lay back on the bed, and then glanced at the message she had sent before bursting into giggles.

Who said that Antonio was the only one who could tease her, she clearly could tease him too…

After sending the message out for several minutes, Ava got up to shower.

All of a sudden, the phone that was placed on the bed rang. She turned back, her heart in shock.

Antonio had actually directly called her—

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