Francis looked down at the vegetable in his hands. 'Did I do something wrong?'
"What's wrong?" he asked innocently.
Looking at his handsome face, Ellie couldn't find the words.
"Ellie, what's the matter?" Ashley came in from the living room. When her eyes fell on the vegetable in
Francis's hands, her mouth twisted. She had been away to fetch something just for less than a minute.
How could he mess up a simple job of washing vegetable?
Only the stems remained in his hands and the leaves were torn into pieces and scattered all around.
"Can you tell me what kind of vegetable you are washing?" Ashley came over and looked at the stems
in the basket. She stared at his innocent face resisting the urge to punch it.
"Isn't this how you're supposed to wash it?"
"Then what is it?"
Francis looked at the pile of leaves in another basket and said, "Oh, you meant these? These can't be
eaten, right? I have removed all the leaves. I will throw them away."
"Who told you those can't be eaten?" asked Ashley.
"But I have never eaten those. Can they really be eaten?"
Judging from Ashley's and Ellie's expressions, Francis could tell that he must have goofed up.
Ashley slapped her forehead. "Okay, I will take it from here. You go rest in the living room," she said in
resignation.
And this time she didn't listen to Francis' explanations. She just pushed him out of the kitchen. If she
allowed him to stay in the kitchen any longer, there wouldn't be any dinner today.
Francis was puzzled at being pushed out of the kitchen. He asked Ashley for the name of the vegetable
and searched it online.
"Water spinach, also called water convolvulus, angiosperm, known to have hollow stems…"
There were many recipes too on the Internet. You could cook the leaves, or you could also remove the
leaves and cook the stems.
Francis mumbled, "So what's the problem?"
After a short while, the food was ready. It was arranged beautifully on the dinner table and looked
delicious. Francis got a whiff of the aroma, and he took a deep breath. As it was all homemade food, he
had never seen these kinds of dishes before.
He picked up a small piece and tried it. His eyes lit up. He turned to Ellie and said, "Ellie, this is really
yummy."
Ellie glanced at him briefly but didn't say anything.
Ashley interjected, "Eat more if you like. We have work for you to do after dinner."
But Francis didn't hear her. He was totally immersed in the food.
After stuffing himself to the gills, he spread out on the couch in the living room feeling lazy and
satisfied. He had tasted all kinds of delicacies but for some reason, he still felt that the food he ate
today was the most tasteful.
"So you have eaten so much for free. Are you going to do something to repay us?" asked Ashley.
Francis sat up and replied immediately, "I'm always at your disposal."
Ashley looked at the dishes on the dinner table and flashed an irresistible smile. "Do the dishes."
Francis went into the kitchen to wash the dishes, while Ashley and Ellie sat on the couch comfortably
and started watching TV. Ashley stroked her stomach and said, "I think I ate too much. My stomach is
feeling uncomfortable."
Ellie curved her lips and said, "You deserve it. Why did you compete with him at the dinner table?"
Nevertheless, she started rummaging through the drawer trying to find medicine for Ashley.
When Ashley had seen Francis eating so much and so fast, she, too, was infected by his zest. She
ended up eating more than she usually would and it became a bit too much for her tiny stomach.
Ashley noticed that Ellie kept looking in the direction of the kitchen from time to time. She was amused.
"Why? Are you worried about him?"
Ellie rolled her eyes at Ashley and said, "Why would I worry about him? I'm just worried about my
kitchen and my dishes."
"What could happen? He's just washing the dishes. He won't create any trouble."
No sooner did she say this than there was a loud crash from the kitchen. Ashley said, "Maybe it slipped
from his hand."
But before she could finish her sentence, there was another loud smash in the kitchen. And another.
It was almost a slap in her face.
Ashley and Ellie ran to the kitchen and found Francis standing in front of the sink with a pile of broken
dishes on the floor.
Seeing Ashley and Ellie, Francis moved away from the broken dishes and said, "Ashley, your dishes
are poor in quality. They break as soon as they are dropped to the floor. Next time I will buy something
better for you."
Ashley shook her head. Francis was a genius in coming up with excuses.
The quality was not good enough? They broke when they were dropped to the floor? What the hell kind
of excuse was that?
After they cleaned up the kitchen, Francis left. Before leaving, he asked Ellie to think of him.
Ashley was so angry that she slammed the door after he exited.
How could he make such a brazen request to Ellie when she hadn't even agreed to be his girlfriend
yet?
In the Luo family's house
Clyde sat on the couch, supporting his head in both hands, looking extremely worried.
Cora, who was sitting beside him, wore a similar expression.
"Has he come back?" Clyde asked Cora in a low voice.
"I just called Raymond. He is probably on the way. He should arrive soon," she replied.
Cora looked at Clyde and asked, "Is it really him who is responsible for this? Why does he have to be
hostile to our family? Does it have anything to do with Ashley?"
After the birthday party, the stock price of the Luo Group kept dropping drastically and even those
companies who had agreements with them wanted to terminate the contracts.
Some companies' projects were already halfway complete. They would lose a lot of money for
terminating the agreements. But it seemed that they didn't care about that as even those companies
insisted on ending the business relationship. Who could afford to do that? There was only one person
who could do this.
"Mom, Dad, what's wrong? Why did you ask me to come back in such a hurry?" Raymond walked into
the house and a servant took the coat from his hand.
"How dare you ask me what's wrong! Look at what you have done!" Clyde flew into a rage when he
saw Raymond and thought of the dilemma faced by the Luo Group.
When Raymond came close, he slapped him! Thwack! The sound was extremely loud in the quiet
room.
It looked shocking but it wasn't that hard. After all, he was his own son. He didn't have the heart to hurt
him.
Raymond was flummoxed. He couldn't understand what was going on. Why was he slapped by his
father the moment he stepped into the house?
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