A Graduation Gift

Jill, with her towering fury, stood up angrily and pushed the dining chair back. She went on with the heated argument with Rufus. She was shouting mean words towards him like a shrew.

"That's enough!"

Horace slammed his heavy hands down the table. His roar-like voice made Cassandra jerk.

"Jill! I'm warning you. Rufus is my son and a member of the Tang family. If you continue on humiliating him, I will definitely drive you out of this house! Then we'll see who will be no longer part of this family!"

Jill's pale face quivered with embarrassment. She knew for sure that he meant what he had just said. It was for real and not a threat as Horace bristled with anger. She deemed it wise to just stop and take her seat, or else she would be an outcast in no time.

Her retreat, however, didn't mean that she had admitted defeat. She glared at Rufus silently and sat back in her seat with a sinister plan of revenge running on the back of her mind.

A servant hurried towards Rufus and cleansed his wounds with some disinfectant and wrapped it neatly with white gauze. After that, he turned towards Horace and bent over to whisper something in his ear, "Mr. Tong called and said he would come over because he had something urgent to discuss with you. He also added that he would come personally to check on Mr. Luo's injuries."

Upon hearing the news that Jenks was coming, he turned to the servant and ordered, "Tell the chef that Jenks is coming. I have oriented him about his favorite dishes last time. Make sure he cooks something he likes."

The servant nodded. Cold sweats were popping out of his forehead.

Horace was naturally strict at ordinary days, but it was very rare to see him so upset. He was so infuriated that the heavy and raspy yell he had made earlier veiled a mask of fear to everyone at the house.

Everyone knew well that the reasons for it all were Jill and Rufus, but no one dared to point it out. The fear of Horace weakened the strength out of them.

Jill had been difficult to get along with. Over the years, she had been peevish and grew fond of criticizing and finding faults with the servants' work for no reason whatsoever. Every servant was afraid of her, but they were like a dumb man eating the bitter herb - suffering in silence.

However, Jill was a great pretender. She always wore a smile in front of guests as if everything was fine with her. Especially when Horace was around, she would transform into an elegant, sophisticated, well-mannered woman and act like everything was perfect and orderly fine.

Nonetheless, misunderstandings had habituated the household recently. It started the moment Rufus moved in together with the Tang family.

Ever since Horace learned about Rufus's existence, he had done everything possible for Rufus to be accepted to the family.

Rufus was his biological son, and he owed Rufus's mother a lot. His conscience smote him for not providing and taking care of them in the past.

When all his plans for Rufus were set, he pulled all the courage he had to tell Jill about his son from another woman. Jill was so mad, but Horace was confused if her madness was genuine or not.

all her efforts were in vain. Horace had made up his mind and it remained unchanged. He brought

Luo. He had sworn to marry her despite all the odds, but fate forbade,

forth a blessing. She gave birth to Rufus, the testimony of Horace's

expectations. The Tang Group was prospering with each passing day under

she originally belonged to had gone to pot for years. She had lost their support and

not as steady

argument. He broke a wine glass and blamed Jill for her bad taste in choosing cheap wine glasses. He emphasized that the wine glasses she chose were not the best in quality and suggested she should replace them. Ironically, the

some respect and call her 'mother'. As the argument heightened, Horace

to anyone. Rufus's

more disheartened when she saw that Lionel turned a blind eye

so she kept herself out of the fight of the Tang family. She was only worried about Rufus's wound. She grabbed hold of his hand dressed with gauze while tears were falling on her face. The sight of the wound broke her heart

very painful. Let me blow on it. When I was a child, I fell down and scraped my

hand. He stared at her features

was Cassandra who was holding his hand and comforting him now, the pain wouldn't trouble him

They had to pretend to be

and responded gently to Cloris,

seated himself on the far end of the table with a calmer expression on

watched Cloris carefully holding Rufus's hand. Her

were attentive that she could still hear what Cloris was saying to Rufus.

feelings for Rufus were clearly obvious, and Rufus didn't refuse her show

her mother would gently blow on her wound when she got hurt, Cassandra's nose

her memory of the small

lady. She granted Cassandra whatever she asked for

alone in the small town, while her sister Cloris could spend her childhood with them. She wasn't able to live with the Qin family until she

house and the many rules of the Qin family when she went back from the town. She became aloof and didn't talk much

it was

why her parents had treated her and Cloris differently. She dared not

parents loved Cloris more, how should she face them? The thought complicated

parents focused on Cloris because she was younger. So she should be so understanding and humour her little sister.

to give Rufus up to Cloris one day too?