As soon as Jolly stepped out of the hospital, she saw Rachel and Justin, who had been leaning against the car doors and waiting for her. From afar, she could see that they were a perfect match for one another when it came to their heights and appearances. It was no wonder that Gloria had been rooting for them over the years, and it was her biggest wish that they would get back together.
Nevertheless, Jolly wasn’t in the mood to think about whether they would get back together. The moment she saw Rachel, she sported a dejected expression and said, “Ryan is probably dying.”
Rachel almost had the urge to spit blood when she heard that. She exchanged glances with Justin, then said helplessly, “Ryan… totally deserves it to have an ex-girlfriend like you to visit him at the hospital.”
She initially wanted to say that he was extremely unlucky, but when she realized that he finally got his retribution, she found it more appropriate to say that he deserved it. Seeing how Jolly appeared crestfallen, she reckoned. that she still had to placate her. “Well, I don’t think he’s dying. The technology is advanced when it comes to heart bypass surgery. Aren’t you aware of it since you work in the medical equipment industry?”
“You have a point, but he’ll really die if the operation fails.”
“Haven’t you always prayed that he’ll die?”
“Now, I don’t.”
“What’s wrong? Have you rekindled your love. for him?”
“Pfft, do I look like someone who’d get back together with her ex-boyfriend?” Jolly rolled her eyes. “I’m just worried that the old bat from his family will never let me off after he passes away.”
“Apart from this reason, I suppose you’re a little worried about him.”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“No means no. I’m not even slightly worried about him. You’re annoying, Chris. Can’t you do something to stop her, Justin?” Jolly was frustrated by her questions. “I’m starving. Let’s get some food!”
After she finished speaking, she immediately got into the car. Rachel put on a smile and shook her head helplessly. In fact, it was expected that Jolly would be concerned about Ryan’s health. Regardless of what happened in the past, they had been in love before. Despite the grudges between them, she wouldn’t want. to see him die. Moreover, he was Samuel’s father.
It was already afternoon when they returned to the summer resort. They had practically wasted the entire morning despite the lovely weather.
After hanging her coat, Rachel was ready to get into the kitchen. Before that, she comforted Jolly by saying, “Alright, stop thinking about it. What do you want for lunch?”
Jolly had been sitting still on the couch for a while since she entered the house. Upon hearing Rachel’s words, she turned her head and revealed the pack of potato chips in her hand. She batted her eyes and said, “I’d like to have some caramel pudding.”
Rachel glanced at the pack of potato chips in her hand that was practically empty as she suppressed her urge to roll her eyes and uttered slowly, “Sure.”
She had underestimated Jolly’s mental strength. Some people could bring her down, but no one in the world could make her lose her appetite. While she was joyous, she had to have an ample meal to celebrate the occasion. Even when she was depressed, she had to wolf down even more food to comfort herself-that was the Jolly they knew.
While Victor helped out in the kitchen, he commented on Jolly’s temperament by saying. “To her, food can solve all the problems in the world.”
“What’s wrong? Isn’t Gloria like that?”
“She’s not.” Victor shook his head. “Gloria isn’t willing to eat anything when she’s in a terrible mood, so I have to hide all the food in the house.”
“That’s because she wants you to comfort her and persuade her to have some food.” Rachel rolled her eyes. “Can you stop being so insensitive? Will you only be happy when she gets mad?”
Victor replied calmly, “Well, I usually put the food in the highest cupboard where she can’t reach, so she can only ask me to help her get the food.”
There was a look of surprise on Justin’s face as he gazed at Victor. Despite his usually calm demeanor, he looked at the other man with admiration as though he had learned something new. Love could indeed make people more mature; even a typical, insensitive man like Victor had learned some tricks.
With that said, the main reason was that they were in love. Even though they could easily see through each other’s tricks, they were willing to make some concessions and reconcile.
While Rachel was busy in the kitchen, she suddenly recalled that she hadn’t seen the kids yet. “Where are Charlotte and Samuel?”
Victor replied, “They’re picking strawberries in the garden.”
“There’s a strawberry garden here?”
“Well, I just discovered it.”
Victor and Rachel turned to look at Justin at the same time.
Justin stopped washing the ingredients and explained helplessly, “I started growing some strawberries in the garden when I had some free time back then. I didn’t expect them to be growing so well. The plants started bearing fruits in the winter for the first time. Although there isn’t a lot, they’ve grown well.”
Victor was shocked. “That’s incredible. You can even be a farmer if you quit being a president. At the very least, you won’t starve yourself to death.”
“I won’t starve myself to death even if I don’t grow any fruits.”
Rachel said with a smile, “He’s just complimenting you. Not everyone can be a farmer, you know. It’s difficult to learn how to grow and harvest crops. It’s a good idea that you’re growing something in your spare time. Anyway, isn’t it a little extravagant for you to be using this resort that’s worth hundreds of millions to grow fruits?”
“Indeed, it is a little extravagant,” Justin replied. “Why don’t I put up a sign at the entrance of the garden so that people can pay a fee to pick the fruits?”
Rachel arched her brow. “That’s a wonderful idea.”
Victor uttered disdainfully, “I’m not going to take part in that. I thought we were only going to participate in that kind of activity where we take the school students out to experience life on a farm. That’s a really odd thing to do in your garden, though.”
It was supposed to be a joke, so no one expected there’d be a specific place in this summer resort worth hundreds of millions that was divided into a greenhouse and an open-air area. There would be a wooden sign in front of every piece of land that stated who the farmer was and what kind of fruit or vegetable they had grown. More and more people would take part in it, and the land would expand continuously.
Presently, two petite figures were walking in tandem inside a greenhouse in the strawberry garden. There was a basket made from rattan in Samuel’s hand. Every time he picked a strawberry, he would put it inside the basket. The moment he did that, the young kid behind him would extend her hand, pick up the strawberry, and stuff it into her mouth.
Every time Samuel picked a strawberry, Charlotte would immediately eat it. The speed at which they picked and ate the strawberries was in sync, so there would always be zero or one strawberry in the basket. After they were done walking around the garden, they finished picking the strawberries that were not abundant to begin with.
Samuel looked down and realized that there wasn’t even a single strawberry in the basket. It wasn’t until this moment that he discovered Charlotte had been stealing the strawberries. “Why isn’t there even a single strawberry in the basket?”
“You’re wrong. There’s still one strawberry left.” Charlotte flashed a smile at him. “Here it is. Do you want to eat it?”
A helpless Samuel replied, “You’ve eaten all the strawberries I’ve picked. What can we bring home? Aunt Gloria said that she’s going to make a strawberry mille crepe cake.”
“Don’t eat strawberry cake, then. We can have mango cake. I love mangoes.”
“Godmother is allergic to mangoes.”
“Huh?” Charlotte was startled. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s fine. I’ve known Godmother for a longer time compared to you. That’s why I know.”
Since there were no strawberries left, a dejected Samuel took a seat on the steps at the entrance of the strawberry garden. Charlotte initially thought that the ground was dirty, but seeing that Samuel had taken a seat, she hesitated for a moment and did the same.
From afar, the petite figures looked like two fluffy snowballs..
