Adrian Hawthorne stopped what he was doing. He looked at Jacqueline Spann’s anxious face and said coldly, "The money was sent by my father. My family might not be fabulously wealthy, but we can still afford sandalwood soap and a bicycle. As for the photos you mentioned, who saw anything? Have them come and confront me face-to-face."

"But isn’t your father already dead? How could he send you money?"

Jacqueline Spann blurted out the words and immediately regretted them. "I’m sorry... I didn’t do it on purpose. I... I didn’t mean it like that." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"My father is alive and well. What do you mean by cursing him to death for no reason? You can go now. I don’t have time to waste on this nonsense."

Adrian Hawthorne’s face darkened, and he ordered her to leave.

’Even though he also suspected his father might be gone, Jacqueline Spann had no right to say it. He would get angry if she did. If he still had his old temper, he would’ve brought the hoe down on her long ago.’

Jacqueline Spann felt terribly wronged. ’Everyone in the village said Adrian Hawthorne’s father was dead,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, why would he have ignored his wife and child for four years, not caring if they lived or died?’

Besides, she knew perfectly well what kind of life Adrian Hawthorne and his mother used to lead. They didn’t even have enough sweet potatoes and radishes to eat, let alone sandalwood soap—they couldn’t even afford soap for laundry. Why didn’t his father send any money back then?

But this year, he had suddenly started sending money. She wasn’t falling for such a ridiculous lie.

"Adrian Hawthorne, we were classmates, weren’t we? Why are you being so cruel? I just want to wholesale some movie stills to earn money for tuition. It won’t affect your interests at all. Why are you guarding against me like I’m some kind of thief?" Jacqueline Spann looked heartbroken, her pitiful expression stirring one’s sympathy.

"I don’t even know what movie stills are. This is ridiculous."

Adrian Hawthorne stopped hoeing, shouldered his hoe, and started for home. ’I will never work with a two-faced schemer like Jacqueline Spann. I’d rather work with a hoodlum like Winston Lowell. At least guys like him have a code of honor. They aren’t like Jacqueline, who would sell out anyone for personal gain. She’s a treacherous snake you can never tame.’

"Is it because of the Thorne family? What does their feud with my mom have to do with me? It’s not fair for you and Grandpa Tate to treat me this way!" Jacqueline Spann shouted after him, tears streaming down her face.

Her last shred of hope was shattered, and she wanted to understand why.

Adrian Hawthorne stopped in his tracks and turned to her, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Have you forgotten about the soybean field? Standing back and playing innocent while you goaded a fool into stealing someone else’s property. It must have felt pretty satisfying, watching the tigers fight from your mountaintop, huh?"

With that, he strode away. The color drained from Jacqueline Spann’s face, and her lips trembled uncontrollably. Her first thought was, ’How could Adrian Hawthorne possibly know?’

But she quickly composed herself and ran after him to explain. "I didn’t goad Wade Golding on. I was with him at the time, yes, but I didn’t say a thing. You’ve misunderstood me..."

Adrian Hawthorne just gave her a scornful look. Jacqueline Spann trailed off, her face growing even paler, a hint of shame in her eyes.

She was so flustered she had basically confessed without thinking. Adrian Hawthorne’s eyes were like X-rays, piercing straight through to her innermost thoughts. Jacqueline Spann was so ashamed she wished the ground would swallow her whole, but she still wanted to try and salvage the situation.

"I really didn’t mean it that way. I was just asking my cousin about planting beans, I didn’t say anything else. I never thought my uncle and the others would come and try to take your land, really... You have to believe me..."

Jacqueline Spann kept chattering on with her explanation, but Adrian Hawthorne was already far in the distance. Only a fool would believe such a flimsy excuse—even little Fatty Tang wouldn’t buy it. Jacqueline Spann was too clever for her own good.

Watching Adrian Hawthorne’s figure shrink into the distance, Jacqueline Spann sank to the ground in despair. ’But I was so careful,’ she thought. ’How could he possibly have known?’