Daddy! Come Home for Dinner!

Upon hearing Wendy’s words, Christy Xenos felt more at ease.

Joshua Clarke was somewhat swayed by Wendy’s words, but still felt uneasy.

He hesitated, opening his mouth as if he wanted to change his mind.

Wendy stood up directly: “I’m too tired after being busy till now, and I still have to go to the restaurant to deal with things in the morning. I’m going to my bedroom first.”

She forcibly prevented Joshua from speaking further.

“Oh, Mom, have you packed all your luggage?” Wendy asked again.

“Not yet. We had to rush out after getting the call about the restaurant incident, so we didn’t know exactly what was going on. We only packed half of our luggage and didn’t dare to pack any more,” Christy explained, “But since the plan hasn’t changed, I’ll have to go back and finish packing.”

“Alright, you guys hurry up and pack,” said Wendy, before heading to her room.

As she left, she secretly made a gesture to Christy.

Christy might not understand much, but she knew Wendy’s gestures too well.

After Wendy left, Christy and Joshua returned to their room as well.

“You pack your stuff first, and then I’ll pack mine when you’re done,” Christy said.

Joshua hesitated again: “I still think it’s not quite right for us to go tomorrow.”

“Why are you going back and forth? You’re a grown man, can’t you be more resolute? At least stick to what you say! Don’t keep changing your mind. One minute you want to go, the next you don’t. The next second you want to go again,” Christy said impatiently.

Distraught, Christy turned around and left the bedroom, heading to Wendy’s room around the corner.

“Wendy,” Christy knocked on the door and called softly.

Wendy opened the door and let Christy in: “Does Dad know you’re here?”

“He just started hesitating again. We had it all figured out, but then he said he didn’t want to go. I took the opportunity to argue with him and then came here,” Christy explained, getting angry just talking about it, “Your dad can’t make up his mind and keeps changing; it’s so frustrating.”

“He’s just talking. He won’t stick to what he says anyway. Even if he regrets it right before we leave tomorrow, can he really not go?” Wendy didn’t take Joshua’s attitude to heart, “He’s acting like he doesn’t want to bother Cindy, as if he’s the only one in this family who cares for her.”

“That may be true, but isn’t he still siding with us in his actions? If he really cares about Cindy and can’t bear to scheme against her, then he shouldn’t join us, and he should try to stop us.”

“If he could stop us, would Cindy have cut contact with him for five years?” Wendy scoffed, “Cindy actually sees through him. She’s avoiding us because she knows contacting him will get our attention, so she doesn’t contact him.”

“He still doesn’t get it, always playing the good guy, thinking that Cindy doesn’t understand what kind of person he is. In the end, he’s only deceiving himself,” Wendy sneered, “Hypocrite.”

“So why did you want me to keep it from him and plan together secretly?” asked Christy.

Since Wendy had already seen through Joshua,

Even if she told him in front of his face, and he found out, he would just talk but not actually do anything.

“Even if he does nothing, just listening to him talk annoys me,” said Wendy. “Besides, Dad is easily influenced. He may agree with us here, but once you meet Cindy in Belfard, she could manipulate him too. If he hears our plan and then tells it to Cindy, what do we do?” Wendy explained to Christy, “That’s what I’m guarding against.”

Christy thought that Wendy’s concern wasn’t unreasonable.

Joshua might really be capable of doing that.

So, Christy nodded and said, “Right, we need to be cautious.”

“By the way, you asked me to come here secretly. What’s the reason?” asked Christy.

“Mom, once you find Cindy, figure out a way to get some money from her,” said Wendy.

“Of course, even if you hadn’t said it, I’d definitely ask her for money,” Christy replied.

“I mean, besides the money we initially wanted, ask her to take out all her savings as well. No matter how much money she has, don’t leave her a penny,” Wendy continued.

“What? That wasn’t the plan before,” Christy was surprised, “Wasn’t our previous plan to gradually scrape her money? She owes the family five years of living expenses, plus another 19 years of upbringing costs that she should pay back.”

“Our previous plan was based on Cindy’s temper and her unwillingness to give back to the family. So we could only take it one step at a time. First, get this money back and then figure out the rest,” Christy said.

She and Wendy knew Cindy’s temper all too well.

Cindy was stubborn and uncompromising, much to their chagrin.

They tried to get her to change her college intentions, but she refused.

Christy, as Cindy’s mother, couldn’t hit her, so she bore the brunt of it.

Even when Christy used a feather duster to whip her, leaving her body-bruised, Cindy never gave in.

Finally, Christy secretly changed her college application, and Cindy reluctantly went to Nork University.

So, Christy and Wendy knew that getting money from Cindy this time wouldn’t be easy.

Though they verbally demanded repayment for all the years of expenses,

They knew that Cindy wouldn’t easily submit to their demands.

So they were prepared to wear her down.

However, their ultimate goal was to take all of Cindy’s money, leaving her nothing.

They also wanted her to become their personal ATM and money-making machine.

But they didn’t expect Wendy to be so impatient now.

“Isn’t the situation different now?” Wendy explained to Christy, “Before, our restaurant was running smoothly, and there was no financial crisis.”