When Carlos heard those words from her, he would be willing to give his own life to Debbie, let alone his real estate.
His immediate reply had somehow made her feel guilty. "Maybe we should wait. I'm not in a hurry."
Carlos nodded and placed some food in her bowl. "Let's have dinner first. Honey, try some of this."
That night, after Debbie had fallen asleep. Carlos called Dixon. The head of secretaries brought a stack of files with him when he came to Carlos' manor, along with some lawyers.
When Miranda came downstairs to drink some water, she saw Xavier. He was just about to leave. "Xavier," she called out in confusion.
"Oh, good evening, Miranda," Xavier greeted her respectfully.
"Why are you here at this late hour? Is something wrong?" Miranda queried.
Xavier shook his head, smiling. "It's nothing to worry about. Carlos is just spoiling his wife."
Miranda was even more perplexed.
Xavier knew that Miranda wouldn't be able to sleep wondering what was going on, so he cleared his throat and explained in a low voice, "You told Debbie to teach Carlos a lesson, right? Well, she's taken action. But Carlos has figured out what she's doing. Even so, he's still willing to give her whatever she wants without any objections."
"Oh, I see. Is she making big moves?" Miranda asked.
Xavier contemplated for a moment and replied, "Not really." However, Xavier didn't tell her that her son just transferred the titles to all his assets to Debbie.
"Okay. Let her," mumbled Miranda. Feeling relieved, she went up the stairs holding a glass of water.
Xavier was surprised by her reaction. He had thought that Miranda would complain about Debbie. He smiled as he watched her climb the stairs, and said, "Debbie Nian is a very lucky woman. She married a man who loves her dearly and spoils her, and has you as her mother-in-law."
Miranda heard what he had said, but didn't turn around. She glanced at a painting on the wall and remembered when Carlos had bought that painting at an auction for six million dollars, just to make Debbie happy. While gazing at the painting, Miranda said, "Debbie has had a rough life. Her own family was torn apart when she was only a little girl. She married Carlos when she was very young. Then he had the accident. She fought tooth and nail against James and went through a lot for Carlos. She also gave Carlos children. Why shouldn't we be kind to her?"
Xavier stood for a moment deep in thought. Then he nodded and replied, "She did struggle. When Evelyn was born, she had to do everything on her own as a single mom. Those were truly tough times for her." He felt compassion for Debbie.
Miranda turned to look at him. "In the following days, if Debbie wants to keep something from Carlos, please help her hide it."
'Keep something from Carlos? That doesn't sound right. Miranda seems to know something, ' Xavier thought, and he had a bad feeling about it.
He started to regret having not kept his distance from Debbie and Piggy in the first place.
When Debbie was eight and a half months pregnant, she found a blonde hair in the passenger seat of Carlos' car. Debbie's hair was black, so it couldn't have been hers.
She could also smell perfume in the car.
She had never worn perfume ever since she fell pregnant because it made her ill.
That was the cause of the following incident.
Carlos had an appointment with the general manager of a company. It was arranged at a place where he had never been before.
When he got there, the general manager, Reeve Quan, received him in person. "Mr. Huo, this place is new and has been open for only a few days. It's said to be very entertaining, and it's hard to make a reservation here," he bragged conspiratorially.
Carlos didn't respond. He looked around the place. The entrance was in a classical style. Above the door was a board with the name of the place on it—Moon Restaurant.
Frankie was with Carlos, and they walked inside.
The pseudo-classic building had three floors. Reeve Quan took them straight to the third floor.
As the wooden door to a private booth was pushed open, delicate music wafted out gently to their ears. A woman dressed in ancient costume was playing High Mountain and Running River* on a guzheng.*
(*TN: High Mountain and Running River is one of the most historically famous Chinese musical compositions, based on the legendary friendship between guqin masters Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi.)
(*TN: Guzheng is a zither-like Chinese plucked string instrument, with either 21 strings or 25 strings. The musical instrument dates back to over 2, 500 years ago.
As soon as Carlos sat down in a wooden chair in a dignified manner, more than ten women dressed in ancient costumes walked into the room, in single file.
The ones dressed in blue were all dancers while the others dressed in white were waitresses. The waitresses busied themselves with making tea and serving fruit as soon as they entered the room.
As the beautiful women danced gracefully to the music, Reeve Quan leered at them. He could have used a coaster for his lower lip. Carlos took a sip of tea, his face betraying no emotion.
Then the lead dancer emerged from an inner room wearing pink and holding an oilpaper umbrella.
Up until then, Carlos had shown little interest in the other dancers. When she leaped to the front of the stage, Reeve Quan noticed that Carlos had looked twice at her. The general manager gave a silent snicker. The first step of his plan was a success.
The sight of that woman took Carlos back to four years ago, when the Solar New Year Gala was taking place in Economics and Management School. Debbie had danced an ethnic dance in an ancient costume.
Back then, Debbie was shy and nervous. She might not have been as elegant as this woman, but she had completed the dance well, and Carlos had been engrossed when he watched her dance.
He had lost her once. Fortunately, he had found her again, and she would be his forever.
The memory brought a smile to his lips.
"Mr. Huo, are you enjoying the show?" came a familiar voice.
Carlos' heart skipped a beat. The dancers were still wriggling their bodies in front of him. 'Crap!' he thought in a fluster.
Carlos stood up and took Debbie in his arms. "Not at all. I only enjoy it when you dance," he said.
"Really? But you smiled. Clearly, you were enjoying it," Debbie argued.
Carlos smiled and explained, "The dance reminded me of you. Four years ago, you danced at the Solar New Year Gala, remember?"
"Humph!" she scoffed.
Frankie gave Reeve Quan a wink to remind him to dismiss the dancers. The general manager had been too indulgent in watching the dancers to even notice when Debbie came in. Ignoring Frankie's hint, he didn't dismiss the dancers. Instead, he leaned in, trying to get a glimpse of the woman in Carlos' arms. However, he didn't manage to.
He then started to cause trouble by saying suggestive things. "Mr. Huo, do you like this dance? Look at the lead dancer. Isn't she beautiful? Why not make her your woman tonight? Haha…"
His obscene laughter and provocation made Carlos' face darken. He tightened his embrace around Debbie and said, "Don't listen to him."
She pried his arms off, clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Mr. Quan, they're stunning. Even I can't take my eyes off them."
