Sophia took off his socks, squeezed the sole of his foot, and hummed, “Here I am, carrying out my daily ‘elder abuse’ routine! I’m warning you—don’t resist! If you do, I’ll use my tri-edged needle on all ten of your fingers and toes. You’ll be screaming in pain!”
The old master was furious and muttered about how unfilial she was.
It was the first time Sophia had seen such a childish side of the old master, and she found it amusing. The old lady, watching from the side, smiled warmly. She had raised so many children and had so many daughters-in-law, yet most of them only wanted benefits from her and rarely showed genuine care. Occasionally, they would buy gifts to please them, but at their age, material gifts meant little. Sometimes, when they saw other families with devoted children and grandchildren, they would feel envious. Unexpectedly, now they could experience that feeling themselves.
After massaging the old master, Sophia performed acupuncture to stimulate the acupoints in his legs, aiding his recovery.
Given the old master’s age, his mobility was already impaired. If he didn’t recover well, he might be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Truthfully, he didn’t have many years left.
But Sophia still believed that spending his remaining days lying in bed, only able to see a small patch of sky through the window, was too dull.
She did everything in her power, hoping to heal his legs, clear his blood clots, and maybe, with support, help him walk a little. That would be the best outcome.
Although her pregnancy wasn’t showing yet, she could already feel it. In particular, the fatigue of early pregnancy hit her hard.
After finishing the massage, she was sweating profusely. The old master frowned and stared at her.
Sophia smiled. “I’m fine, just a little tired.”
When she stood up, she instinctively supported her waist. The old lady noticed something off. More importantly, a woman’s figure subtly changes when she’s pregnant, even from behind. No matter how she looked at it, the old lady felt that Sophia might be pregnant.
But she also thought it was unlikely—if she really were pregnant, how could Livinus not say anything?
—
“President Scott, the post has had the desired effect. With the efforts of the Scott Coporation’s public relations team, our stock has started recovering in recent days,” Fidelis reported in a deep voice.
Livinus stared at the post’s statistics and nodded. “Keep monitoring it. Control public opinion. Since Richard enjoys waging war online, we have no reason not to fight back.”
Joanna remained silent. Livinus was ruthless—he had directly exposed the Scott family’s inheritance dispute and even called out Richard by name. Even Richard himself probably hadn’t expected Livinus to be so blunt, making the situation embarrassingly clear without a hint of concern.
As a result, netizens reached a consensus: Richard had been scheming against Livinus and the Scott Corporation all along. Since his past “grandfather-granddaughter relationship” scandal had already left a bad impression, this revelation made everyone even more disgusted with him, calling him an ambitious traitor.
The backlash immediately put Richard in a disadvantageous position. Now, everyone knew he was fighting for the inheritance.
Even the street-sweeping aunties looked at him strangely.
Everything had caught Richard off guard. He had clearly held the upper hand—so how had this post appeared out of nowhere, spilling supposed inside information?
“Damn it!” Richard was furious. After work, he rushed to Emily’s place to lay low.
Emily was holding their baby and said, “The baby and I support you. Even if you fail, I can still earn money to support you.”
Richard was amused. “How would you support me?”
“I can go get a job! I can be someone’s secretary—I’m sure I can earn enough to support you and the baby.”
Her innocent words made Richard laugh. It had been a long time since he had seen the baby. Looking at the child now, he realized how much had changed—when the baby was just born, it had been wrinkled like an old man. But now, the little one was fair-skinned, with bright, curious eyes, staring at him inquisitively.
“Baby.” Richard called out, feeling an odd sense of fate, as the child shared his birthday.
Emily smiled. “See? Isn’t this nice? You should just stay home and play with the baby. I can earn money to support you, so don’t stress over these things. I just want you to be with me and the baby—that’s enough for me.”
She hugged Richard, and his heart wavered. This girl was so naive it made his heart ache. She never fought for anything—she only wanted to live a peaceful life. Unlike Andrea…
Without thinking, Richard blurted out, “Don’t worry! Once I get my share of the inheritance, I’ll set aside some for you and the baby.”
Emily shook her head with a smile. “What’s the use of that? I only want you.”
At that moment, Richard once again felt the warmth of true love. He was overjoyed and spent the night at Emily’s place.
