Chapter 372 Matthew the Lumberjack
Give up his fortune? The four words seemed to linger heavily in the air, shocking both Daniella and Veronica, who was eavesdropping around the corner. Even Matthew was stunned by what he had said.
He wasn’t sure at which point of time he actually fell in love with Veronica, but after getting to know her for the past seven or eight months, he had come to love her enough to put his fortune at stake. This was the first time in his twenty-eight years of life that he knew what it was like to love someone so deeply that he was willing to give up everything to be with her.
Perhaps this was what they meant by falling head-over-heels for someone.
He had been aloof and reserved before he met her but now, that icy heart of his was finally thawing.
“You—”
“You’ve known the brat for less than a year; it’s a little too early for you to make grand proclamations about giving up your fortune for her!” Crayson interjected as he unknowingly showed up in the kitchen, cutting Daniella off and putting Matthew in his place.
Veronica had been so focused on what Matthew was saying that she did not sense Crayson’s appearance as well. She straightened up and turned around to look at him. She pursed her lips and said nothing.
Crayson went on to say, “The brat is too young to be thinking about marriage. If you really like her, then you’ll have no qualms waiting for her for another year or two. That ought to give you both enough time to think things through before moving onto the next step together.”
“Makes sense,” Daniella said approvingly as she glanced over at the old man. Now that she thought about it, he made a fair point. “Veronica isn’t even twenty-two yet, so marriage shouldn’t be on the top of her list at the moment.”
To one side, Veronica stayed silent as she listened to what Crayson and Daniella said.
“Very well,” Matthew replied after a moment of thought. He ought to give Veronica’s family some time to get used to having him around before he brought up the issue of marriage. “Whatever you say is fine by me.” After that, his face lit up with a bright smile as he said to Daniella, “Mrs. Murphy, I’ll be doing the dishes, so you can go out and garden or something if you’d like.”
“Oh! Uh—alright,” Daniella stammered. She stayed in the kitchen for a bit just to watch Matthew work, and she found herself musing that men who were good-looking and useful in the kitchen were rare finds that they had practically turned mythological over the last few years. Roni will be a fool to let such a catch go, Daniella thought anxiously.
Meanwhile, Matthew went about cleaning the kitchen and giving the stove a thorough wipe-down. Before long, the kitchen was spotless.
“My, my, who would’ve thought that you’d turn out to be such an ideal househusband?” Miguel mused in a singsong voice when he traipsed through the entryway and saw Matthew buzzing around the kitchen with an apron on and a rag in hand. With a sigh, Miguel added, “Seeing as you’re so good with house chores, why don’t you just hand Spinfluence Group to your Uncle Conrad and move in with the Murphys? Pretty good option, if you ask me.”
“How much did Uncle Conrad pay you to say that?” Matthew cast a sideways glance at Miguel as a smirk played on his lips.
Even while Matthew was doing humble house chores, there was no hiding the elegance that he possessed. He looked positively regal as he undid his apron and hung it on the side.
“I bet you’re fantasizing about life being like this one day.” Miguel shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers and sighed. “Love makes a man go crazy, I guess. I’ve never seen you lift a finger to clean up anything anywhere, but here you are scrubbing dishes in your future-mother-in-law’s kitchen. I’m telling you, if word of this gets back to Bloomstead, all the women who have their eyes set on you will be devastated, not to mention become extremely jealous of Veronica.”
“Shut your trap,” Matthew drawled. He washed his hands and spun on his heels to leave the kitchen.
However, he had only just reached the living room when Skyler stood up and flashed a mischievous grin at him, saying, “There you are, Matt! Veronica’s father was just saying how we could use more firewood in this weather. Could you run out to the front yard and chop up the pile of wood there? Thanks.”
“Hey, I did not—”
Tony was about to deny this when Caleb interrupted him, “Yeah, I heard Master Crayson mention that there isn’t enough firewood, too.”
Thermostats were uncommon in small towns like these, so to keep out the cold, most houses here had closed furnaces installed with a pipe that vented out the smoke through a hole in the wall.
“Works for me,” Master Crayson said nonchalantly as he took a long drag of his cigarette. He looked at Matthew steadily and added, “Your buddies were telling me how much you wanted to experience life in a small town, so here’s your big chance. Go out to the yard and chop up some firewood.”
“Huh?” Veronica gaped at Crayson in astonishment. No matter how she looked at it, the old man was picking on Matthew for the sake of amusement. She immediately stood up and said, “Master Crayson, you can’t possibly have a guest do the work, can you? Dad wouldn’t like it.”
It was hard to imagine someone like Matthew, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, chopping up firewood. The thought of it was absurd, and more importantly, Veronica couldn’t bear to have him go through the labor.
“He might be a guest, but you’re my disciple, you brat! He’ll have to go through me if he really likes you. I have no plans on letting the both of you see each other if he can’t do a simple job such as chopping up firewood!” Crayson huffed as he waved his hand dismissively, then looked away without saying anything else.
He had made his intentions clear, and even Daniella did not bother countering him. She knew how much Veronica meant to him and that he saw her as his own daughter. Thus, it was only normal that he would try to gauge just how far Matthew was willing to go to prove his feelings for Veronica.
Daniella had to agree that this was a clever way of going about assessing someone.
“What? He likes Roni?” Tony was the only one in the house who had no idea of this, and it showed. He shot a blank look in Crayson’s direction, then at his wife. Finally, he gazed at Veronica and Matthew in confusion, then asked, “Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Because all you ever care about is food,” Daniella pointed out in mock exasperation as she glowered at him.
“Master Crasyon, you—”
Veronica began to protest, but Crayson snapped, “Keep quiet and stay out of this!”
“It’s fine. I’m always up for a little exercise, anyway.” Matthew suddenly spoke up, not at all bothered. He asked Veronica, “Where do you keep the ax?”
“I…” She wanted to dissuade him from going through with this ridiculous demand. She was only too aware of the discrepancy between her social status and his. If he was the one who was out of her league, then there seemed little point in testing him this way.
“Could you show me where you guys keep it?” Matthew went on to ask, sounding completely unfazed. As courteous as he was, she did not miss the authoritative tone underlying his words.
“Okay, come with me,” she said, finally caving in.
She led him out of the living room and into the store room, then found the ax. She passed it to him, but when he grabbed the hilt, she did not let go. Instead, she eyed him gravely and said, ‘You don’t have to listen to Master Crayson, you know. My parents would never let you do something like this, so why are you going through with this just because he asked you to?”
Matthew’s obsidian eyes glittered with amusement as he reached out and tousled her hair gently. “Because I want to be with you and I want your family’s blessings, including Master Crayson’s.”
Crayson had seen Veronica grow up, and he had trained her in martial arts as well. He deserved every bit of respect as a parent would.
“That’s fine and all, but you’ve never worked a day in your life. How are you going to chop up firewood? You don’t even know how exhausting it is.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a first time for everything, right?” Matthew pried her fingers off the hilt of the ax and walked out toward the fence at the front yard.
There was a huge stretch of concrete land to the left of the entrance, but to the right was earthy ground where a pile of thick logs were laid. On top of these was a canvas tarp weighed down by snow.
Matthew found a level spot and propped up a chopping block. He placed a log on it, then swung his ax down and split the wood.
