Caroline Lewis had once seen Henry Stevens at a family gathering.
"President Stevens!" Caroline shouted. "You have to help me get justice for my husband! Your employee killed him! My husband was related to your cousin.
President Stevens, we are all a family. You can't let your employees get away with committing crimes!"
Henry's dark eyes flicked to Caroline. "Why would she kill your husband?"
"Because she wanted to seduce him!" Caroline said. "My husband only loves me.
She killed my husband because she got angry when she couldn't seduce him."
"Then she definitely didn't kill your husband," Henry said slowly and matter-of-factly, "because she is very ambitious. If she wanted to seduce someone, she would seduce me."
Caroline was suddenly at a loss for words.
Charlotte did not say anything, either.
...
Since Henry had spoken, Caroline didn't dare to cause any more trouble. She stormed off.
Charlotte felt that it was necessary to explain a few things.
"President Stevens, you misunderstand," she said. "I don't want to seduce you."
Henry looked as if he had already seen Charlotte. "You don't need to explain," he said. "Your explaining is just an attempt to cover up your true motives."
Charlotte frowned.
"I really don't want to seduce you."
"Spare me your little schemes," Henry said. "I don't have any interest in you."
Charlotte did not reply.
Fine. Then she wouldn't explain.
In the distance, Merry stomped her foot angrily.
Not interested?
She had seen that the President was very interested in this woman!
She had been at the Stevens Corporation for a long time, but she had never seen the President talk to a woman so much.
Plus, this woman had caused so much trouble, yet the President hadn't even fired her.
It was simply unprecedented!
...
Charlotte returned home.
Quarto was gone.
In a panic, Yolanda told her that the police had invited Quarto to assist in the investigation of Jack's murder.
Charlotte did not know what to say.
Quarto was only a four-year-old child, so what would he know?
They had specifically asked him to investigate the murder?
The police are so hilarious nowadays.
Just as Charlotte was about to go to the police station to find Quarto, Quarto came home.
With Quarto was the detective Henry had found for her before.
Upon seeing Charlotte, the detective exaggeratedly praised Quarto.
It turned out that the police had taken Quarto to the station at the detective's request.
The detective said that Quarto was a genius. He could help him find many clues and get to the bottom of the case as soon as possible.
Charlotte said nothing.
She knew that this detective was quite well-known internationally.
But for such a famous detective to ask Quarto to assist in investigating the case...
Charlotte simply couldn't believe it.
"Ms. Johnson, did you take a bus as a means of transportation to the hotel?" the detective suddenly asked.
Charlotte nodded.
Quarto said, "My analysis was correct."
The detective gave Quarto a thumbs-up.
"Mom, within three days, I will find the real murderer behind the scenes who framed you!" Quarto said.
Charlotte was a little taken aback.
Someone had actually framed her for Jack's death behind the scenes?
That didn't make much sense.
She had never had animosity toward others, so who would want to frame her?
Charlotte was about to ask Quarto this, but Quarto had a mysterious expression on his face. "I can't tell you now," he said, "because Mom is too simple-minded. If I say something now, I'm afraid the information will be leaked, and the real murderer will be alarmed and run away."
Charlotte was silent.
The ways of this world have changed.
Her four-year-old baby boy had just said that she, an adult, was too simple-minded.
The detective turned to leave first.
Before he left, he asked, "Ms. Johnson, do you know Mr. Noel Harrison?"
...
Charlotte shook her head.
Who was Noel Harrison?
She didn't know.
The detective smiled.
He was thinking too much.
While working with Quarto today, he had noticed that the more he looked at Quarto, the more Quarto looked like Noel Harrison.
After the detective left, Charlotte looked at Quarto thoughtfully.
Quarto was much smarter than she had thought.
No, all of her eight children were very smart.
She had always felt that her eight babies' cleverness was just the cleverness of ordinary children.
But now...
Considering that the famous Henry Stevens had turned out to be the father of her children, Charlotte thought that her eight children might be geniuses.
After all, she had heard that Henry was a member of the Mensa High IQ Society.
"Mom, in three days, you will be found completely innocent!" Quarto said, full of confidence.
Charlotte hurriedly hugged Quarto.
"Just let the police detective investigate the murder," she said. "Don't participate in it, Quarto. It will be dangerous for you."
Quarto saw that his mother was worried about him.
He smuggled into Charlotte's arms. "Mom, you're so good to me."
Suddenly, a pair of chubby hands reached out.
They belonged to Octavia.
Octavia stretched out her arms for a hug.
Charlotte took Octavia into her arms.
Charlotte patted Octavia's soft little head. Octavia said in a small voice, "I'm Mom's darling."
"We are all Mom's darling!" The other seven children's voices sounded in unison.
Charlotte felt like her heart was about to melt.
Although so many annoying things had happened today, now that she could see her eight adorable children, she felt as if all her troubles were gone.
...
The next day came.
It was the weekend, so Charlotte didn't have to go to work.
Early in the morning, Yolanda told Charlotte that they were going back to their hometown.
It was Lily's mother's 60th birthday, and everyone in their hometown was invited to celebrate.
Charlotte didn't want to go, but Yolanda said that the other party had specifically invited her, so Charlotte had to go.
Initially, they had decided that the eight children would also go with them, but Tercero and Quarto said they wanted to watch TV at home instead.
Charlotte pampered her children, so she agreed.
Except for Octavia, the other seven children had been able to take care of themselves since the age of three.
It was no problem at all for the two children to be at home alone.
Still, Charlotte cooked the day's meals for Tercero and Quarto.
After Charlotte and Yolanda set off with the six children, Quarto and Tercero leaned on the window to confirm that they had left. Their two small faces suddenly became serious.
"The fact that Mom's fruit knife appeared on the body of the deceased proves that someone stole it and deliberately planted it there to frame her," Quarto said.
"Because Mom bought the fruit knife before she left, there are only three areas from which the fruit knife could have been stolen: the supermarket, the bus, or the hotel."
Quarto looked like a tiny detective as he continued to conduct his analysis. "We can rule out the hotel because the murderer didn't have enough time."
"So, the fruit knife must have been stolen in the supermarket?" Tercero asked.
Quarto shook his head. "No, the surveillance at the supermarket is nearly flawless.
However, since there was a problem with surveillance on the bus, the murderer must have taken the same bus as Mom!
"The surveillance problem on the bus proves that an insider at the bus company helped the murderer get rid of the footage," Quarto said. "Of course, this means that the murderer may be a person from the bus company!"
Tercero's eyes widened.
"Quarto," he said, "have you guessed who the murderer is?"
Quarto looked solemn. He slowly whispered a couple of words into Tercero'sTercero's face turned pale.
He was about to cry. "Then it turns out that I caused Mom to get framed!"
...
Charlotte's house in her hometown was very shabby.
It was still a small bungalow.
Charlotte had a younger brother named Walker Johnson.
Walker had married a woman, and his wife's greedy family had asked for an enormous betrothal gift.
Walker had forced his parents to give it to them.
Charlotte's parents doted on their son, so they had used their savings so that Walker could marry his wife. As a result, they had never been able to rebuild their house in their hometown.
Thinking of her younger brother, Charlotte felt angry and helpless.
One of the reasons her mother had come to help her with the babies was that she just wanted to help her. The other reason was that Walker had neglected their mother after marrying his wife.
When Charlotte's parents had gone back home, Walker's wife had rolled her eyes.
Yolanda had simply put her mind to helping her daughter.
...
Next to Charlotte's family's house was Lily's family's house.
Lily's family had been greatly impoverished.
But now, their fortune has skyrocketed.
Lily had built a lavish villa.
Charlotte's family's small bungalow sat next to this villa, and it appeared even more insignificant and shabby by contrast.
On the way to Lily's house for dinner, they could hear the townspeople discussing the birthday banquet Lily had prepared for her mother.
"Lily is so filial. She gave her mother a full set of gold jewelry, from gold necklaces to gold bracelets to gold earrings. Tsk, tsk! How extravagant!"
Yolanda became envious upon hearing that, but she looked at Charlotte and sighed helplessly.
Forget it!
She wouldn't count on Charlotte bringing her such luck in this life!
My daughter gave birth to eight children, she thought, so it would be good enough if she wasn't exhausted to death.
"Grandma, do you like gold too?" Quinto suddenly asked.
Yolanda deliberately raised her voice and said for Charlotte to hear, "How can I not like it? All older people like gold. But I don't have such luck! We are all older people, but we have such different lives!"
Charlotte coughed awkwardly.
If she had money, she would buy gold jewelry for her mother.
But there was no way. Just raising eight children was already very demanding.
Quinto rolled his eyes.
He remembered that soon, it would be his grandma's birthday.
Quinto suddenly thought of a plan.
...
Upon entering Lily's family's villa, everything one saw was luxurious.
Even the yard was covered in thick cashmere carpets.
They had not held Lily's mother's birthday banquet at a hotel. Instead, it took place in the courtyard of her villa.
Lily's choice was meaningful.
She just wanted the people in her hometown to see her big villa.
After all, many people had only seen the exterior of the villa. They had not yet been able to appreciate the luxury of the interior.
Sure enough, when all the people entered Lily's lavish villa, their eyes widened.
"This is the first time I have seen a carpeted yard! How much did it cost?"
"This marble floor looks expensive!"
"Tsk, tsk! The electrical appliances in this house are all novelties. We've never seen them before!"
"The decor in this villa is so nice. It probably cost a lot of money."
Dressed in fancy clothes, Lily sat on the high-end sofa and looked as proud as a princess.
Many people came over to talk to Lily and curry favor with her.
Lily, once ordinary, was now the pride of her hometown.
In response to all the compliments, Lily pretended to be humble. "Don't mention it," she said. "It's not a good thing to have too much money. It can be bothersome.
"I don't like money. Money isn't a good thing, but there's no other way. My boyfriend always gives me money, and he will be anxious if I don't spend it all, so what can I do?
"Ah, well, you don't know the troubles of the rich."
Lily's words suddenly got stuck in her throat. Her eyes widened suddenly, a disbelief flashed across her face.