Chapter 537: Divorce
"Go to sleep!"
The old madam wiped her hands with a silk handkerchief and looked at Storm Xavier with cold indifference, her eyes filled with unconcealed disgust. ’Her grandson has a bright future now. This good-for-nothing has no reason to exist anymore.’
’She had endured for forty-five years, and this day had finally come. It was just a pity that bitch couldn’t be here to see it. That was her only regret.’
’But she didn’t have much time left. In her current physical condition, she had no idea how many more years she could live. Before she died, she had to get rid of this waste of space. She couldn’t let him hold her grandson back.’
"COUGH, COUGH... You... you’re so heartless... I’m your son!"
Storm Xavier tried to spit out the medicine, but it only brought on a more violent fit of coughing. It felt like he was coughing up his lungs. A dull pain bloomed in his chest, and he could taste a coppery sweetness in the back of his throat. Despair washed over Storm Xavier.
’He feared he wouldn’t live to be reunited with his father.’
’He wouldn’t be able to rest in peace!’
The old madam sneered, giving him a mocking look. Without a word, she took the empty bowl and left.
Storm Xavier coughed for a while longer before drifting into a heavy, dazed sleep. He lay on the bed, utterly still, looking for all the world as if he were dead. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive.
「The days passed, one after another.」 Adrian Hawthorne’s stay in Capria was dragging on this time. More than half a week had passed, and he still hadn’t returned. On Millstone Peak, preparations for the busy harvest season had already begun. The rice paddies were a sea of gold, the heavy heads of grain bowing low. It was going to be another year of bountiful harvest.
Phoenix Golding hadn’t left her house, and it was as if she had been completely forgotten. No one mentioned her, and she no longer appeared in public. Only Jacqueline Spann was seen from time to time, and even she was cautious and discreet.
Tang Xiaonan hadn’t seen Ulysses Spann for several days, and only later did she find out that he had been given away. It was Linden’s mother who had found him a family in the county town. Although Phoenix Golding couldn’t bear to part with him, she truly couldn’t afford to raise him anymore and had no choice but to give her precious son away. ’Once I make my fortune,’ she planned, ’I’ll bring him back.’
Still, a major event did take place on Millstone Peak: Phoenix Golding and Vernon Spann got divorced. Divorce was an absolute novelty back then, but Phoenix’s divorce was hardly a surprise to anyone. What man would be willing to stay married to a tramp?
"Phoenix Golding was the one who initiated it. She’s keeping Jacqueline Spann, and Vernon Spann got kicked out. Now he doesn’t even have a roof over his head," the accountant’s wife reported, sharing the latest news.
"That hussy lost her salary and isn’t earning any work points. How does she have the nerve to ask for a divorce?" Phoebe Huxley couldn’t figure it out. ’Shouldn’t she be clinging to Vernon Spann for dear life right now?’
The accountant’s wife scoffed, "The work points that half-dead Vernon Spann earns aren’t even enough to feed himself. What good is he to Phoenix Golding? She’s better off keeping the daughter. In a few more years, she can marry her off and collect a bride price."
"That’s true. Jacqueline Spann is ten and can already work. She’s not losing out by keeping the daughter."
Juliana Rhodes suddenly chimed in, "I heard Linden’s mother is trying to find a new husband for Phoenix Golding."
Tang Xiaonan perked up. ’So Phoenix Golding is planning to remarry?’
’No wonder she kicked Vernon Spann to the curb. But what man would be enough of a martyr to marry a woman with a reputation as bad as Phoenix Golding’s?’
"One of the nieces from Linden’s mother’s side of the family is married and lives in a mining town in Rhydan Province," Juliana Rhodes said softly. "Apparently there are a lot of bachelors there, and the wages are high. Linden’s mother wants to send Phoenix Golding over there."
"Who’d you hear that from?" the other women asked curiously. This was news to them.
Juliana Rhodes smiled, pursing her lips. "Linden’s wife told me. She overheard Linden’s mother talking to Silas Golding about it."
Although she and Phoenix Golding didn’t get along, she was on pretty good terms with Linden Golding’s wife, which is how she got the inside scoop.
Phoebe Huxley slapped her thigh in anger. "That bitch is getting off easy!"