Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 197 - 195: Old Master Forrester’s Granddaughter-in-Law
Realizing the old man was trying to change the subject, Simon Forrester picked up the napkin beside him and wiped the corner of his mouth before steering the conversation back: "I’m not short on money, just think that too many people at the firm affect the air. It’s best if Nina Sinclair leaves on her own accord, otherwise it’ll be pointless once the company lets her go."
His tone was somewhat serious now, lacking the cuteness and playfulness from earlier. The old master knows all too well the temperament of a grandson he’s raised himself.
The old master slowly peeled the peanut skin, fretting: "Your mother really likes the Sinclair girl, you want me to handle this? What if she finds out, how am I going to explain it to her?"
"Would my mom really abandon you over this?" Simon retorted angrily, "If she truly ignores you because of this, then I’ll handle it!"
The old master smiled at him: "How will you handle grandpa, kiddo?"
"I’ll move in with you, won’t I? And even give you a great-grandchild!"
This hit the old master right in the heart, and he immediately grasped his grandson’s hand and laughed squinting: "That’s good, that’s good! I’ll go to the Sinclair Family this afternoon!"
Achieving his goal, Simon felt half of his impatience dissipate, and resumed eating with his chopsticks.
While eating, the old master suddenly leaned over and asked unexpectedly: "I say, have you got a girlfriend? From which family? When will you bring her over to show me?"
Caught off guard, Simon swallowed his food quickly and replied: "No, not yet."
The old man ignored this, asking instead: "Is it that female lawyer you brought to The Forresters?" Then he added, clicking his teeth, "What’s her name? Tang something?"
"Sienna Thornton." Mentioning her name, Simon’s anxious expression softened.
None of this escaped the old master’s keen eyes.
He added a piece of beef into his grandson’s bowl, smiling: "That girl seems nice."
Thrilled by his grandfather’s words, Simon was about to agree, but hesitated, sensing something amiss, and probed: "In what way?"
"That girl has a sharp mind, looks very proper, with great image and temperament, but... "
"But what?"
The old master stopped, serving Simon a bowl of soup, urging: "Jules, drink some soup, you’ve lost weight again, you need nourishment."
"..." Simon, frustrated, pushed the soup away, "But what exactly? Grandpa, can you finish your sentence once?"
The old master pushed the soup back, coaxing like he would a child: "You drink the soup, then grandpa will tell you."
"..." Simon had no choice, picked up the bowl and drank it all in one go.
While drinking, he thought, there are only two people in the world who can grind him down: one is his family’s old man, the other is Sienna Thornton.
Soup finished, the bowl was placed back on the table, neither lightly nor heavily.
The old master served him another bowl, then laughingly said: "But that girl looks too thin, might have trouble with pregnancy in the future, right? Let me tell you, one of my requirements for a Forrester granddaughter-in-law is to give me three grandsons..."
Before finishing, Simon interrupted irritably: "Grandpa, are you treating us like baby machines?"
Realizing his comment was inappropriate, he quickly regained composure: "Fertility isn’t directly related to body type. Plus, the state currently only allows two children, you want three, are you disregarding the policy? Be careful someone might report you! I’ve heard that for overbirths, the elderly people at home get taken to detention directly!"
The old master was unconvinced, angrily threw his chopsticks, glaring at Simon defiantly: "Who said that? Neighbor Grant’s got four grandsons, why haven’t they been taken away? Huh? They have four and no detention, while we have three and get detained? These people have gone mad!"
With an expression like he was about to be detained himself, the old man was so furious his beard bristled and eyes glared, hands even shaking.
Simon realized things weren’t right, quickly appeased: "No, no, I was kidding, alright, alright, three it is, no detention, no detention."
-
Simon left the old residence with a bigger headache.
The old man agreed to negotiate with the Sinclair Family but now knew about Sienna’s identity, if anyone else from the Forrester Family found out, there would be trouble.
Meanwhile, Sienna might have some scores to settle with him tonight. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Why are there always so many issues?
Simon’s mood was foul until he entered the design office, his face still dark.
Seeing him go upstairs to the third floor, Harrison Rowe quickly followed, closing the office door, immediately reporting: "Mr. Forrester, Lawyer Thornton came by at noon but left after waiting for you for a while."
"When did she leave?" Simon quickly picked up his phone, checking if Sienna had messaged him.
Harrison hesitated whether to report what happened at the Legal Department noon, stalled for a bit, finally mentioned it.
Simon, his emotions mixed, waved Harrison off, signalling him to leave.
In the evening, the old master called, saying he’d already spoken with the Sinclair Family’s grandfather, who agreed to persuade Nina to study abroad.
Simon grew suspicious, asked how the old master talked to the Sinclair Family.
The old master said: "I just told Old Master Sinclair that my requirement for a granddaughter-in-law is at least a doctoral degree to match my doctor grandson. So Old Master Sinclair immediately agreed to send his granddaughter abroad to get a doctorate. That’s all there was to it."
Simon’s head ached even more, rubbing his throbbing temples, weakly: "The way you said it, people will misunderstand that once Nina gets a doctorate, she can marry into our family..."
Laughing over the phone, the old master said: "Do you think your grandfather is a fool? I said she must get a Harvard doctorate before we would accept! And tell me, is a Harvard doctorate easy?"
Saying this, he chuckled happily to himself.
Simon silently hung up the phone.
Feeling gloomy and anxious, he couldn’t focus, and by three in the afternoon, went home, first going to the fresh market for ingredients to wash, slice, and prepare, then washing and hanging the dirty clothes he and Sienna had worn the night before.
By five, he started cooking, hoping that Sienna would find hot meals ready at six when she returned.
After an hour of busy work, lamb spine hotpot was on the table, along with five or six side dishes.
When Sienna returned, he had just finished setting the table, and seeing her sour face, knew the night wasn’t going to be good.
He eagerly walked over to take her bag, cheerfully saying: "Back home? Hungry? We’re having lamb spine hotpot tonight."
Upon hearing this, Sienna’s stern expression finally softened a bit, but still did not look directly at him, changed her shoes and went into the room.
Afraid she was packing to leave, he nervously followed her, watching her change out of her suit and into a pink bunny home outfit, the aura of a strong woman instantly wiped clean.
His anxiety instantly reduced by more than half.
Changing into home loungewear meant she would stay for the night, as long as she stayed, there was still hope.
Whatever it took, tonight he would make sure she cooled down.
