Chapter 97

The patriarch of the Stone family had known about this for a while.

Just last night, he had come over for dinner, yet he hadn’t mentioned a word about Sophia Green.

Clearly, John Stone Sr., the village chief, held a deep-seated grudge against Emily.

No wonder—since marrying Michael Stone, Emily hadn’t worked a single day in the fields.

All the work points had been earned by Michael alone.

No surprise he wasn’t pleased.

"Didn’t Mrs. Wilson make a scene?" Emily lowered her voice.

Daisy Miller leaned in closer. "She fell ill after her youngest son’s accident. Otherwise, she would’ve stormed the知青院 long ago. She wanted to come here, but with your husband back, she didn’t dare."

"Oh," Daisy suddenly remembered, "your husband gave my husband a bag of candy as thanks for taking you to town."

Emily finally understood.

So the man who drove the ox-cart that day was Daisy’s husband.

No wonder he wasn’t afraid of Michael—his reputation in the village wasn’t exactly stellar.

"That’s only right," Emily smiled faintly.

After seeing Daisy off, little David immediately ran up. "Mom, is Sophia really gone?"

His eyes sparkled.

If Sophia had returned to the city, she wouldn’t keep urging Emily to leave.

And Emily wouldn’t get angry at them for stopping her.

"I’m going to read," Emily said, turning to go inside.

Up on the roof, Michael worked even faster.

"Sweetheart, I’ll cook later!"

His booming voice carried across the yard.

The neighboring women couldn’t help but gossip:

"Michael sure dotes on Emily."

"Can you blame him?"

"How many college students are left in the village?"

"Some abandoned their families just to return to the city."

"If Michael doesn’t treat Emily well, who knows when she might—"

Emily, of course, didn’t hear any of this.

She was preoccupied with lunch.

"We’re out of eggs. I’ll go get some," Michael said, dusting himself off.

Soon, he returned with over twenty eggs.

"Tomorrow, I’ll help my brothers build their houses," he said while washing his hands.

"They’ve split from the family?" Emily was surprised.

Michael nodded. "Father and Mother divided the property to stop William from complaining about favoritism."

Favoritism?

Hearts were naturally biased.

"Adobe or brick houses?"

"I’ll ask," Michael dried his hands. "If they need bricks or tiles, I can help arrange it."

After all, they were family.

Life seemed to settle back into peace.

Both Robert and William had chosen their homestead plots.

One day, Robert came by:

"Michael, we were thinking of getting some bricks and tiles..."

His eyes filled with envy as he looked at his younger brother’s brick-tile house.