Chapter 535: Werewolf Old Mrs. Xavier
Phoebe Huxley shot her a look. "What are you talking about? Let me finish. How could he not be Anton Xavier’s son? Storm Xavier looks just like him."
"You mean Anton Xavier had him with some other woman? I heard he fooled around a lot and had plenty of women on the side; he just never brought them home." Patricia Jacobs’s tone was indignant. It made her think of her own husband. He had straightened up now, but he used to mess around all the time, even brazenly taking on concubines.
Thanks to the New Society, she no longer had to put up with the grief those concubines gave her.
Phoebe Huxley continued, "Anton Xavier didn’t usually live in Xavier Village. He lived in Tristone, where he had a concubine. I heard she was a student from Aethelgard University. She came to Xavier Village once, and Anton Xavier wanted to hold a banquet to make her official and add her to the family registry, but Old Mrs. Xavier refused. So, the whole thing fell through. But people say that concubine was already pregnant at the time. The child she gave birth to was Storm Xavier, and Old Mrs. Xavier brought him here to raise."
"Couldn’t she have children of her own?" Raina asked. "You’d think she’d be disgusted, raising her husband’s mistress’s son."
"She must not have been able to," Patricia Jacobs sighed, feeling quite sympathetic toward Old Mrs. Xavier. "Old Mrs. Xavier’s health has always been poor. She probably had some condition that kept her from having children. Sigh... Men go out and have their fun, while their wives live like widows at home."
This was a story from way back, and not many people knew it anymore. Fiona Rhodes and the others had never heard it before, so they were extremely interested.
"An Aethelgard University student acting as a homewrecker... How shameless," Fiona Rhodes said with disdain.
Phoebe Huxley snorted. "That slut Phoenix Golding is a teacher, isn’t she? And she’s still a tramp. Being educated doesn’t mean you have good character. My dad always used to say that the most faithless men are often the educated ones."
"Exactly. Some educated people are truly shameless. Utterly depraved, none of them are any good."
Patricia Jacobs got worked up, cursing along with them while silently grumbling to herself. ’Including that old bastard of mine. He’s even more shameless. I was just young and naive back then; that’s how that old coot managed to trick me.’
"So what happened to Anton Xavier and that concubine? Are they dead?" Fiona Rhodes asked.
"Only the good die young. They’re living just fine," Phoebe Huxley said. "They went abroad before the Liberation, and he only took the concubine with him. Old Mrs. Xavier stayed behind with the son. They used to send letters back, but there haven’t been any in years. No idea what their situation is now."
"Men are all heartless. He didn’t care if his wife lived or died, but he made sure to take care of his mistress. What a bastard!" Juliana Rhodes said indignantly. Her hands never stopped, methodically working the pedal of her sewing machine.
Everyone agreed with that sentiment, especially Raina. Thinking of her second son made her heart ache with bitterness. She muttered under her breath, "The moment he got a wife, he forgot all about his own mother. What a piece of work."
Phoebe Huxley heard her but pretended she hadn’t. Raina had complained about this hundreds of times; Phoebe was sick and tired of hearing it. Making money was more important. She was a capable woman who could now skillfully make ten articles of clothing a day, earning six yuan. There was no point in wasting time on such petty matters.
The conversation soon shifted to a new piece of gossip, but Tang Xiaonan’s mind was reeling. Her question had finally been answered. ’So, Storm Xavier really isn’t Old Mrs. Xavier’s biological son. That look in her eyes was all wrong. It wasn’t the way a mother looks at her son at all.’
’Because he’s her rival’s son, that’s why Old Mrs. Xavier looks at him with such loathing. And all this time, she’s let Storm Xavier run wild without any discipline, while being so strict with her grandson, Clayton Xavier. Could it be that Old Mrs. Xavier intentionally raised Storm Xavier to be a failure?’
’You stole my husband, so I’ll ruin your son!’