Even without Grandma’s rules, so many people couldn’t fit into the rented house.
Elizabeth stayed at home while Whitaker Scarlett went to the guesthouse with the others.
Whitaker Scarlett finally figured out why William and Kay appeared together. Although Kay spoke lightly of it, Whitaker Scarlett was drenched in cold sweat in such weather.
If Kay and Leo hadn’t happened to pass by and saved her, would her uncle have bled to death?
When Kay and Leo chased away the thugs for her, Whitaker Scarlett was grateful, but not overwhelmingly so.
A woman’s chastity is important, but if she were truly attacked by thugs, Whitaker Scarlett wouldn’t choose to die. Her uncle, however, was a life; once a life is lost, no amount of hope remains. No wonder Kay said he wanted to go to Sablewick but canceled at the last minute; he was probably at the hospital in Zoriville watching over her uncle.
Whitaker Scarlett was genuinely grateful.
She said “thank you” three times, her voice not loud, but anyone could hear the emotion in her tone.
“Scarlett, it’s the least I could do.”
Even if he were a stranger, Kay would have helped in such a situation. However, if it weren’t for William being the one injured, Kay would have simply taken the person to the hospital and covered the medical expenses. Since it was William who was hurt, Kay had to stay and take care of him, ensuring that William was not seriously injured.
He wasn’t obligated to do this; he chose to do it himself.
Because of Whitaker Scarlett, he formed a bond with William, someone he had no connection with before, and Kay was more than willing to do all of this.
Whether one calls him despicable or selfish, when Kay saved William, he thought it was fate. Who would dare say that Scarlett wasn’t destined to be his wife when he could find her injured uncle on the way?
Kay looked at his future wife, every pore in his body radiating joy.
His obvious demeanor slowly caught the attention of Amanda , who had been distracted.
Did he take a liking to Scarlett?
It wasn’t surprising; she had never seen a young man who disliked Scarlett.
The young man was handsome and had saved William’s life, so Amanda had an excellent first impression of Kay. Carson also looked quite impressive, but compared to Kay, he seemed lacking. People are often superficial; who doesn’t prefer a good-looking son-in-law? Even in the 1980s, a young man with good looks wouldn’t have trouble finding a wife, even if his family was poor.
After all, William had been with them for several days; he should know a bit about Kay. Amanda planned to ask more questions in detail that evening.
Sending people back and forth was troublesome, so Whitaker Scarlett simply booked a room at the guesthouse.
She was going to Sablewick tomorrow, and her train ticket was already booked. William’s sudden injury disrupted her plans. Whitaker Scarlett was torn about whether to cancel her ticket; she needed to have a serious talk with William—she still didn’t know that he was involved in smuggling, but after nearly losing her life on her last outing, she realized her uncle’s way of making money was truly dangerous.
Although some people in later years joked that it was easy to get rich in the 80s and 90s, with all the money-making methods laid out in the criminal law, such jokes also hinted that the early batch of wealthy individuals had all engaged in gray areas… Whether it was gray or not depended on the degree; her uncle’s line of work was clearly life-threatening.
Losing money is not scary; losing one’s life is.
Once life is lost, everything is truly gone.
Should she let her uncle invest in opening a clothing store, with her selling women’s clothing and her uncle selling men’s?
Her uncle was not someone who could be confined to one place, and Whitaker Scarlett herself wouldn’t always be in the clothing business.
She thought about it a lot, tossing and turning for quite a while before finally falling asleep.
…
On the other side of the wall were Kay and Leo’s room, and Kay couldn’t sleep either.
“Leo, once I finish this run, I’m going to quit. We need to discuss what you’ll do next.”
Leo suddenly sat up in bed, “Bro, I’ll listen to you; whatever you say goes.”
“Don’t get too excited. I’m not looking to break up the partnership, nor am I trying to shove someone into our business. It’s just that Uncle’s situation has really affected me. Running the business personally can yield more profit, but you saw how dangerous it is on the road; we won’t always be so lucky.”
Robbers target smugglers, and smugglers often turn on each other. William was risking his life for money.
Robbers would also steal their vehicles; goods worth transporting couldn’t possibly be worthless. How much is an entire truckload of cigarettes worth?
Even if such goods were stolen, they could be sold easily!
Kay was quite self-assured, but he wouldn’t always run with Leo.
Leo wasn’t as meticulous as he was and was far less physically capable.
Leo was still the apple of the eyes of the two elders in the Howard family. Seeing how worried and anxious Scarlett’s family was today, if something happened to Leo, his grandmother would surely not survive.
