The black sedan was driving down the hill as Justin and Rachel’s conversation continued.
“By the way, how did you deal with those things in the secret room?” She asked about what happened after.
“I had it all buried.”
“Buried? Where?”
“The Hudson Cemetery.”
She was caught off-guard when she heard his words. In disbelief, she asked again, “Where?”
“The Hudson Cemetery. Or should I say, Jefferey Hudson’s grave.”
It took her a while to finally recover.
She had already known what a black-hearted man Jefferey was from a long time ago, but she had never expected he would take an eye for an eye with this kind of feudal superstition.
Since he thought that those things could be used to hold down one’s soul, they might as well place the things he used to ‘suppress’ others when he was alive on his remains so that he could get a taste of his action too.
“Don’t tell me that…” Something seemed to have suddenly come to Rachel’s mind. “Could it be that the manor wasn’t broken into by a burglar? The reason for the mess inside is because…”
Justin glanced at her with a matter-of-fact look on his face and nonchalantly admitted, “It was me.”
His straightforward answer seemed to echo off the interior of the car.
“Didn’t you know where the secret room was? Why did you let your men leave it in such a mess?”
“I fabricated a fake scene to eliminate suspicion.”
Rachel sighed at that. “I am glad you are not a criminal, or else Janice and her subordinates would have had a hard time solving cases.”
To be fair, it was completely understandable why Justin would do something like this.
The Hudson Manor had been put up for auction by the court. It was only a matter of time before it had its next owner. If the place was ever renovated in the future, the secret room in the study would inevitably be discovered. By then, the court would definitely investigate why the room was empty. It was better to make it look as if burglars had ransacked the place. It wasn’t like they had lost anything of value too.
However, none of these mattered. The Hudson Family had already been ruined. Even though the current Hudson Pharmaceuticals was still in the hands of Rachel, it no longer ran on the previous ‘family business’ business model.
The most important thing was to quickly find the sum that Jefferey had transferred.
“You are sure there wasn’t anything special in the study, right?” she asked again.
“Frankie brought some men with him to go through the place. They didn’t find anything out of place there.”
“Weird. Just where is the three billion Jefferey took?”
“Maybe we can investigate who Jefferey met after Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ financial audit last year, and if there were any changes to his and his family’s personal accounts.”
“That is the only thing we can do now.”
It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but it was still better than doing nothing at all.
“Don’t worry,” Justin consoled her. “I will be by your side to get you through this hurdle no matter what. I won’t let Hudson Pharmaceuticals go bankrupt.”
At his words, Rachel turned to look at him, only to see a determined look on his chiseled features. She felt her heart ease a great deal at that instant, and she hummed in reply.
“How about we think about what is for dinner?”
“I’m not hungry.”
She subconsciously uttered those words, but her tummy chose that moment to let out a loud gurgling noise as soon as she said that. It sounded especially clear in the quiet car.
How embarrassing!
“Not hungry?” Justin smiled. “It’s okay. I am, though. Help me think of what I should have for dinner.”
Rachel would love to find a hole to burrow herself in right this moment.
She had embarrassed herself more times than she could count today.
Seeing the amused look on his face as he teased her, she finally gritted out, “Let’s have mutton noodle soup.”
She knew that Justin loathed gamy food like mutton. He usually never bothered taking even one small bite despite how delicious it might be.
As expected, he pulled a frown at her suggestion, but still he unhesitantly answered, “Sure.”
Night had already fallen by the time they reached downtown, and night market stalls were appearing one after another.
Rachel and Jolly had a stall they frequently went to near the company that sold mutton noodle soup. The stall would open until late night, and it sold the freshest mutton one could find. However, it would only operate during the winter, and would be closed once the season had passed.
“Why, hello there, Miss Hudson!” The stall owner greeted them in a friendly and familiar voice. “Is Miss Carter not here today?”
Rachel had to come up with an excuse then. “Jolly said that she is trying to lose weight. You can just chase her away if she comes here next time, or else she will blame you for giving her too big a bowl of noodles everytime she has had your food.”
Even though the enthusiastic stall owner wouldn’t do that, it still felt nice for Rachel to vent her anger after what had happened earlier.
The stall owner then smilingly gazed at the man behind Rachel. “Who do you have here with you?”
“He is—”
“Hello. I am her husband.”
The stall owner was visibly surprised to hear the introduction. “You’re married, Miss Hudson? When did you get married? Why didn’t you say so? Your meal today is on me! Take it as my congratulations for your marriage.”
Rachel quickly waved her hand in rejection. “No, no. There’s no need for that. We are not newlyweds.”
“Oh? Is it a remarriage, then?”
The stall owner was a northerner who characteristically spoke without beating around the bush, making Rachel not know whether to laugh or feel upset about it.
The clear male voice rang out from beside her. “Madam, our children are already elementary school students.”
“You have been married for a long time, then. I always thought that Miss Hudson was a single lady. I even kept an eye out for customers that come here for her. Why have you never come here with your husband, Miss Hudson?”
Justin only cast a glance at Rachel and he waited for her to answer.
“He doesn’t like mutton,” Rachel calmly said.
She wouldn’t be the one to feel embarrassed as long as she was able to push it onto someone else.
Just like she thought, the stall owner looked dissatisfied with Rachel’s answer. “How can you not like mutton? Don’t you know how nice it is to have a bowl of mutton soup during winter? I have never met someone who doesn’t like the mutton soup that I cook.
“Try it, sir. I won’t charge you if it is not delicious.”
Meanwhile, Justin didn’t reject it. “Okay,” he replied shortly.
“Great. Is there anything else you don’t eat? Green onion or ginger, or maybe garlic? Anything?”
“Too many to count.” Rachel blinked. “Madam, please don’t put any of those in his portion. Exclude the chilies too. He doesn’t take all that.”
“A pure mutton soup with nothing else? Are you sure? Where is the fun in that?”
It was the stall owner’s turn to be caught in a dilemma. As though asking for an opinion, she turned to look at Justin. “I can’t guarantee it will taste good that way.”
The man maintained his impassive expression and assured, “Don’t worry about it. Just prepare one for me as the missus said.”
“Got it! Please wait for a moment.”
Rachel and Justin then found a table to sit.
As it hadn’t been long since the stall was opened, there were still many seats available, given how few customers it had now.
“Jolly and I always come for the mutton noodle soup here. It is always crowded during the coldest days of winter, but the lady boss doesn’t do takeouts. You will have to stand and eat if you can’t find a seat here. There was once when Jolly and I were holding our bowl when we turned around and bumped into another customer. We were drenched in soup then.”
Rachel continued to vividly describe to him the situation. “We were supposed to apologize, but Jolly started being unreasonable, and it ended up with them compensating us with the mutton noodle soup they lined up to get.”
Justin only quietly listened as he busied himself with getting her a disposable fork.
Seeing the gauze wrapped around his hand, Rachel lost the smile in her eyes a little. Although no one mentioned it again, she felt upset every time she looked at it.
