Chapter 63: Chapter 60: I’m Such a Spendthrift

When Sue Quinn arrived, the blankets and pillows from the bed had been thrown all over the floor.

“Ma’am, why must you torment yourself like this?”

Hailey Gordon, her eyes red-rimmed, yelled furiously, “He’s just a good-for-nothing! He’s the eldest son, but he can’t stand on his own two feet at all, leaving us to suffer and be humiliated. You didn’t see it last time, outside the hospital room, how they trampled all over us. When have I, a daughter of the prestigious Gordon Family, ever endured such disgrace?”

Sue Quinn understood how she felt. She would never forget the humiliation Aurora Sinclair had dealt her at the Quincy family’s home. Just thinking about it felt like a hundred ants were gnawing at her heart, making her wish she could just strangle Aurora on the spot.

“Ma’am, you can’t be rash. No matter what, Sir is still the current heir to the Sinclair Family. You must not become estranged from him. Don’t let those tramps on the outside benefit.”

At this, Sue Quinn grew worried for Hailey Gordon. Linton Sinclair might seem like a coward within the Sinclair Family, but on the outside, he was still a “master” who had people fawning over him.

Some business partners, trying to curry favor, often threw women at him. Hailey Gordon was powerless to stop it and, to maintain her own dignity and composure, could only fume in private at home.

“Those shameless vixens. I’ll deal with them sooner or later!” Hailey Gordon said viciously, her face taut with anger.

Seeing her mood calm slightly, Sue Quinn took the initiative to report the news she’d gathered from Tanner Sinclair’s house. “Ma’am, the little monster’s junior sister and brother arrived today. I hear they’re planning on a long-term stay. Master Sinclair probably wanted to see Sir about this.”

Hailey Gordon gritted her teeth again, her sharp nails digging into her palms. “Shameless paupers. Do they really think the Sinclair Family is a cash cow?”

Sue Quinn chimed in, “Ma’am, isn’t that to be expected? Now that they know the little monster is one of the Kingsford Sinclairs, of course those mountain folk would come flocking. It’s not an exaggeration to say that even the scraps from the Sinclair family table would be a feast for them…”

“Hmph… a bunch of stinking beggars, dirtying the Sinclair’s home.” Hailey Gordon sneered, her eyes filled with disgust. “You keep an eye on them…”

Sue Quinn nodded in agreement, then gathered the scattered pillows and blankets from the floor, preparing to take them out to be replaced.

Just then, as if remembering something, Hailey Gordon suddenly lowered her voice and asked, “Sue Quinn, has the situation with the gossip accounts been handled?”

Sue Quinn’s hand, about to open the door, paused. She immediately turned back. “Rest assured, Ma’am! I’ve cleaned up everything. They won’t be able to trace it back to us.”

“Good. Make sure the video is completely deleted. Leave no trace.”

“Yes—”

Hailey Gordon watched Sue Quinn’s departing figure, the frantic hatred in her eyes suppressed.

’I refuse to believe I can’t get rid of that little monster forever!’

***

Hiding on the other side of the hallway, Stella Sinclair stood silently against the wall. She only stepped out from the corner after Sue Quinn’s footsteps had faded away.

Her face was unnaturally pale, her eyes hiding a storm of suppressed emotions.

She had just overheard her parents arguing, heard her father’s phone call to his mistress in the hallway, and listened to the conversation between Sue Quinn and her mother.

’So Father betrayed Mother and our family a long time ago.’

Stella Sinclair swayed as she returned to her art studio. Gazing at the unfinished competition piece on her desk, she angrily snatched the Xuan paper, tore it to shreds, and threw it on the floor.

The studio’s tiled floor was already littered with many shredded pieces of Xuan paper, all of them unfinished paintings.

There were only three days left before the submission deadline for the National Youth Calligraphy and Painting Competition, yet she didn’t have a single piece she was satisfied with.

Now, with her parents’ relationship in crisis, she was in no mood to paint. Her mind was endlessly replaying her mother’s furious shouts at her father, and the gentle tone he used when speaking to his mistress on the phone.

“Shannon, take good care of yourself during the pregnancy. I’m on my way to see you and our son now…”

’Damn it—’

A towering rage slowly kindled in Stella Sinclair’s eyes. She clenched her fists furiously, the small bones in her hands turning white as they strained against her skin, looking as if they might burst through.

Suddenly, the phone on her desk rang. It was a text from her senior sister, complaining.

[Our teacher is really losing it. He keeps going on and on about that traditional painting genius from Arcadian University, saying he’d have no regrets in life if he could just find that person…]

This sentence was the final straw that snapped her sanity. Stella Sinclair snatched her phone in a rage and slammed it onto the ground.

The screen shattered on impact, the cracks like lightning frozen against a black sky—a shocking sight. The lit-up screen continued to flash with her senior sister’s messages, a vicious mockery that filled her with extreme hatred.

Stella Sinclair strode over and stomped on the screen like a madwoman until the phone finally went dark and silent.

’The Arcadian University painting genius, Aurora Sinclair… No one is allowed to surpass me!’

’I am the most talented one!’

Stella Sinclair’s eyes were red-rimmed and filled with malice. She walked quickly to a specific spot on the studio wall, pressed a section of it, and a hidden compartment slowly slid out.

Inside was a scroll. The paper it was rolled with felt like high-quality silk paper.

Stella Sinclair put on a pair of white gloves and carefully took the scroll out.

She placed it cautiously on the desk and slowly unrolled it.

It was a painting about two meters long and sixty centimeters wide. The entire work was composed of a series of smaller, individual panels, each with the theme of feeding chickens, like a documentary record of a child feeding chickens.

Opening the coop, scattering rice on the ground, cleaning the enclosure…

Every action and scene was depicted with such vivid detail that it was as if a real child were feeding chickens right before one’s eyes.

There was no signature at the end of the scroll, only a red seal stamped with a unique design.

「Three days later.」 Stella Sinclair submitted her newest painting to the competition committee right at the deadline.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Leigh Miles arrived at Kingsford No. 1 High School’s junior high division with a backpack on, ready to take her placement exam.

This time, Linton Sinclair’s contact with Kingsford No. 1 High School went exceptionally smoothly. Principal Lawson was very enthusiastic toward him, and upon hearing it was about enrolling a student, he told him to bring the person over without a second thought.

He had expected Leigh Miles’s entrance exam results to be as poor as Aurora Sinclair’s. He never imagined Leigh would actually score full marks on every subject and be placed directly into the second-year experimental Class A.

This was incredible to Linton Sinclair. Compared to Aurora Sinclair, her junior sister’s grades were far too good.

He hurried to report this to Master Sinclair, but the old man’s reaction was very calm, as if he had known this would happen all along.

This couldn’t help but make him wonder if Aurora Sinclair had been hiding her true abilities.

When he got home, he mentioned it to Hailey Gordon, but she just sneered contemptuously, “Who knows if Kingsford No. 1 High didn’t just go easy on her? Don’t forget, they still owe the Sinclair Family a favor!”

The incident with Aurora Sinclair and Jean Quincy had put Kingsford No. 1 High School in the wrong, so it wasn’t impossible that they were doing the Sinclair Family a favor this time by going easy on the entrance exam.

Over at Kingsford No. 1 High, however, Principal Lawson was looking at Leigh Miles’s exam paper, his face beaming as he told the head of the second-year students, “We must cultivate this student carefully. Have her matriculate directly into our high school after the middle school exams.”

The grade-level director nodded solemnly.

Originally, Principal Lawson had intended to go easy on the child recommended by the Sinclairs. But the grade-level director had grabbed the wrong exam, and Leigh Miles ended up taking the actual final exam for this year’s experimental class.

No one expected her to get a perfect score in every subject, which caused the homeroom teachers of the two experimental classes to argue until they were red in the face. In the end, they drew lots to decide, and Leigh Miles was placed in experimental Class A.

***

Master Sinclair was delighted by Leigh Miles’s smooth enrollment. He made a special call to Jean Quincy, asking her to take Aurora Sinclair and her junior disciples out to buy some new clothes.

The moment Jean Quincy heard the junior sister had arrived, she excitedly dragged Zeke Quincy over to have a look.

They were extremely curious about Aurora Sinclair’s junior sister and wanted to see what the person who could concoct divine medicine looked like.

But after seeing Leigh Miles’s face, the two of them suddenly began to question their existence.

’Why is the junior sister so young?’

’Is she trying to make the rest of us feel inadequate?’

’Do small towns just breed talent?’

…

It was Leigh Miles’s first time in a large shopping mall, and just like Aurora Sinclair on her first visit, she was curious about everything.

Leigh was a smooth talker and hit it off with Jean Quincy right away. The two of them were like long-lost best friends, leaving Aurora Sinclair and Titus Miles far behind.

The pair visited nearly every women’s clothing store. In just one afternoon, Jean Quincy successfully transformed Leigh Miles from a little country girl into a fashionable young woman.

「But that night—」

Leigh Miles suddenly shrieked and ran into Aurora Sinclair’s bedroom, clutching her little account book with a pained expression on her face.

“It’s over, Senior Sister! Titus and I spent a whole year’s worth of our living expenses today!”

Aurora Sinclair glanced at the little account book in her hand, then reached out and patted her head comfortingly.

Leigh, looking like she was on the verge of a breakdown, shook Aurora’s shoulders and shouted, “Senior Sister, why didn’t you warn me? What do I do? Can I return the clothes?”

“Grandpa’s gift to you,” Aurora Sinclair said, shaking her head.

“Oh my god! Why are clothes in Kingsford so expensive? If I’d known they were this expensive, you couldn’t have paid me to buy them. No, I have to go out and earn money. I can’t keep spending your grandfather’s money… The Radiant Void Sect still owes so much… I’m such a spendthrift…”

Leigh seemed to have entered a rambling mode, completely lost in her own world, which made Aurora Sinclair shake her head.

Finally, Aurora could only reach out and pinch her cheek to get her attention.

“Senior Sister, that hurts…”

Aurora let go and showed Leigh her phone.

The screen displayed a message from Alvin Morgan.

[Morgan: Interested in working for me during summer break?]

[Morgan: Beta Morgan needs a Pharmacist’s assistant, and I need a female bodyguard. How about daily pay?]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep