Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
After a moment, the dishes were served and Jasper was eating when she suddenly noticed William’s gaze through the floor-to-ceiling window next to them, looking outside.
“What’s wrong? What are you looking at?” She followed his gaze outside, but there was nothing special, just pedestrians, vehicles, and two elderly scavengers rummaging through the trash cans.
“It’s nothing!” William quickly said. “Let’s eat, or the food will get cold.”
He lowered his head and started to eat, using it as a cover for his current anxiety.
Jasper didn’t think much of it and continued eating.
After finishing the meal, Jasper got up to go to the restroom.
When she returned, she found that William was no longer in his seat.
She looked around strangely and saw William outside the shop on the roadside, seemingly talking to the two elderly garbage pickers she had seen before. After a moment, William opened his wallet and took out all the money inside, handing it over to the two old men.
Two elderly people took a while to take the money, while William turned and left. The two elderly people seemed to shout something, but Jasper didn’t hear anything because of the glass and the distance.
When William returned to the store, he said to Jasper, “Let’s go, I’ve paid the bill.”
“Okay,” she replied and followed him out of Deer Tower and into the car.
As the car drove towards the Barlow House, Jasper asked, “By the way, those two elderly scavengers you gave money to seemed quite pitiful. I wonder if they have children. They looked quite old, with gray hair, and they were digging through the garbage in such cold weather…”
Jasper’s words were just casual conversation, but William’s face suddenly changed, with a hint of panic in his expression. “You…did you see it?”
“Well, I saw it when I came back from the restroom,” Jasper said, noticing that William’s face didn’t look right. “What’s wrong? I’m not going to judge you. I also think those two elderly scavengers are quite pitiful. There’s nothing wrong with giving them money!”
“Is… that so?” William murmured.
“However, giving them money is only a temporary solution. Why not help them contact the government relief center and see if they can arrange something to provide the two elderly people with a more secure life?” Jasper suggested after thinking for a moment.
“No need!” William quickly said.
She looked at him strangely and asked, “Why not?”
“They should have already applied for government relief, but sometimes, government aid is just a drop in the bucket,” he said.
“How do you know they’ve applied?” she asked in confusion.
“Just now, when I gave them money, we chatted a bit and they mentioned it,” he replied.
“Well, what if we think of another way to help them?” she suggested.
William took a deep breath. “Jasper, everyone has their own way of living in this world. If we try to help everyone completely, we’ll never have enough time. We gave them money just now, and that should at least relieve their financial worries for a while. We can’t be responsible for their entire lives.”
Upon hearing this, Jasper let out a sigh.
Although his words may sound harsh, she also knows that he is speaking the truth.
That evening, Jasper stayed at the Barlow House.
At night, she couldn’t sleep and got up to leave her room. She went to William’s bedroom to check if he was asleep, but when she opened the door, she didn’t see him inside.
Jasper felt a strange sensation in his heart. It was already quite late and he couldn’t find William in his room. Where could he be?
He left William’s bedroom and caught a glimpse of another room not far away from him from the corner of his eye.
It was… the music room.
Could William be in the music room?
As far as Jasper knew, William didn’t play the piano very often these days. He only played it occasionally.
Despite this, Jasper still walked up to the door of the piano room and gently pushed it open.
Intense piano music suddenly filled her ears.
Jasper couldn’t help but frown. The piece William was playing now had a fierce and gloomy tone, filled with a sense of contradiction that could even give someone goosebumps involuntarily.
She rarely heard him play such pieces because she preferred light and bright or lyrical music, which was what he usually played more often.
At this moment, he was bowing his head, his fingers moving quickly on the keys, as if he was completely immersed in the music and hadn’t noticed Jasper’s arrival.
At first, Jasper thought that William was simply playing the piano, but later she realized that he was repeatedly playing the same piece of music, and even…if you looked closely, you could see a pained expression on his face.
“Enough!” Jasper stepped forward and pressed her fingers on the keys, stopping him from playing.
It was only then that William seemed to snap out of it, looking up at Jasper with a bewildered expression. “You…what are you doing here?” He took a deep breath, as if trying to regulate his emotions.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I came to find you and saw you playing the piano,” she said, taking his hand and noticing that his fingertips were slightly red.
He must have been playing for a long time!
“What’s wrong? Did something happen? You rarely play this kind of music, and you keep repeating it,”
Jasper asked.
William’s eyes flickered, and he nervously withdrew his hand from hers. “Nothing happened, I…I was just playing randomly,”
he said.
“You’re lying!” she said.
He was startled, and his hands involuntarily clenched into fists as he nervously looked at her.
Did she…notice something?
Did she…notice something?
But her next words made him breathe a sigh of relief.
“You’re worried about your grandfather’s illness, aren’t you? I think he’s in good spirits, and the doctor said his physical condition is good. He just needs to stay in the hospital for a few more days and then he can come back.” Jasper said.
He was taken aback. Did she think…he was playing the piano so late at night because he was worried about his grandfather?
But it was fine, at least he didn’t need to come up with any more excuses.
So William nodded and said, “I…am worried about my grandfather.”
“Okay, don’t worry! Otherwise, I can ask my dad to find some experts from Emerald City to consult with your grandfather?” She said, comforting him like a child and patting his head.
“That’s not necessary. Since the experts from Deer Capital said there’s nothing serious, then it should be true.” William let go of Jasper’s hand and placed it on his cheek.
Her palm was warm, which made him feel at ease.
“Jasper, thank you.”
She chuckled, “What are you thanking me for? I haven’t done anything to deserve your thanks.”
“Just being here with me is enough for me to thank you,” he said.
He was grateful for her presence, which kept his emotions from spiraling out of control.
Without her, perhaps his emotions would have been even more overwhelming at this moment.
She smiled, “Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s both go back to our rooms and get some sleep. I want to visit my grandpa at the hospital again tomorrow!”
“Okay,” he responded.
After sending her back to her room, he returned to his own room.
Entering the bathroom, he looked at the mirror on the sink, reflecting a sharp and handsome face.
Although many people said he looked like his father, he knew that there was also a shadow of the woman who gave birth to him in his appearance.
Lily… the former superstar who ended up dying in prison!
Her life was full of heinous crimes, but it was also like a joke!
He wished he didn’t look anything like her.
He thought that after so many years, he could finally get rid of her little by little.
But the two scavengers he met today seemed to shatter his hopes.
Those two old people were… Lily’s parents! The people he should call his grandparents!
A few years ago, he had investigated and knew that their lives were not easy, but at that time, he did not go to see them because he did not want to have anything to do with the Atkinson family.
But he didn’t expect that they would come to Deer Capital, and their lives were even worse than what he knew from his investigation.
So he unconsciously walked over and gave them some money.
And they… knew him, knew that he was now the young master of the Barlow family and that he was doing well.
They said that they came to Deer Capital not to disturb his life, but just to be closer to him.
But they didn’t even know that he was now in Emerald City, not Deer Capital!
He knew that his grandfather was an accomplice in Auntie Grace’s wrongful imprisonment. He hated his grandfather for doing such a thing.
But today, when he saw his grandfather, he felt an indescribable sense of sadness.
Perhaps… blood ties were something he could never truly escape from in this lifetime!
Even if he hated them, he couldn’t help but give them money today, and even Jasper saw it!
If Jasper knew their identities, how would he look at him?
No, he must not let Jasper know. This matter should be kept as a secret and buried forever.
He didn’t want to break the current peace, nor did he want any waves to disturb it.
The next day, Jasper and William came to the hospital again to visit the old Mr. Barlow.
Many people came to visit the old man while he was in the hospital, and Jasper had already seen two groups of visitors that morning.
After the visitors left, William helped to see them off.
Finally, the ward became quiet, and the old man smiled and said, “Since you’re in Deer Capital, just have fun with William. You don’t have to come and accompany this old man every day.”