Chapter 168 – Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

“Thank you for your understanding, madam!” Martha, feeling grateful, shot a defiant glance at Mirabella, as if to say, “What can you do to me?”

Mirabella curled her lips slightly, as if everything was going exactly as she expected.

“As for you lot, you got so carried away with your snacks that you forgot to clean up, causing Serena to fall and nearly causing Mirabella to be misunderstood. I’m docking two months‘ pay from all of you!”

“Thank you for your understanding, madam!” The servants felt grateful and relieved that they weren’t being fired.

The Collins family was known for their generous treatment of servants!

“And you!” Louisa’s gaze landed on Lily. “You know exactly what you said just now!”

Lily quickly knelt down. Madam, it’s all my fault. Serena’s been so good to me all these years, and seeing her get hurt like that, I panicked and misunderstood Ms. Bella. I’ll apologize to Ms. Bella!”

She had said earlier that if she really misunderstood Mirabella, she would bow in apology!

Now, she walked up to Mirabella and said, “Ms. Bella, I misspoke out of anxiety earlier, please forgive me! I’m from a rural area, and I didn’t receive much education! Please, I beg of you, in consideration of the twelve years I’ve worked for this family, forgive me this once. I bow in apology to you!”

Lily really bent at the waist in apology, bowing deeply and not straightening up for a long while!

No matter what, keeping her job was the most important thing.

Mirabella looked at her indifferently, her lips curling slightly. “Lily, when you deleted the surveillance footage, did you think about how I would be misunderstood, despised, and looked at with strange eyes?”

Everyone was shocked and turned to look at Lily! She deleted the surveillance?

Lily was also shocked for a few seconds. How did she know about this?

“Because this high–end surveillance device, to prevent people with ulterior motives from deleting surveillance, automatically takes a photo with the front camera when deleting, you deleted the half–hour surveillance content but forgot to delete your own photo.”

Lily was completely stunned. She had overlooked one detail and ruined herself!

“Ms. Bella, I was wrong; I acted impulsively; please forgive me.

Inside, Martha was extremely anxious because the surveillance device actually didn’t have a front camera. Mirabella was just bluffing. But Lily was too naive and got scared into confessing.

“Even now, you’re not going to tell us who was pulling your strings?” Mirabella looked relaxed, her voice calm and collected.

Lily, however, was scared out of her wits and broke out in a cold sweat, her gaze falling unconsciously on Martha and Serena.

Both of them were also nervous and anxiously watching her, as if to say, “Don’t tell, don’t betray us!”

Kenneth and Louisa exchanged a glance, both looking a bit puzzled. Was all this being manipulated behind the scenes? And if so, who was the puppeteer? Who was making Lily do all these things? Who was trying to frame Mirabella?

Lily dropped her head and cried, “I messed up. I saw Ms. Bella coming back to this house, and it seemed like Serena was being overlooked, so I held a grudge against Ms. Bella. I wanted to make her look foolish. I just wanted her to take a little tumble, but in the end, it was Serena and Martha who fell.”

After saying all this, she knelt crying in front of Serena and said, “I’m so sorry, Serena. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m truly sorry.”

She took all the blame for herself.

With a pained heart, Serena said, “Lily, your way of showing affection is wrong. I was never neglected in this house. Mom and Dad are great to me, and so is my sister. You misunderstood my sister and made our parents mad. You really let me down!”

“I’m sorry, Serena. I disappointed your kindness.”

From the side, Martha also reprimanded, “Lily, you shouldn’t have deleted the surveillance footage. You’re just making it look like I deliberately spilled the oil and colluded with you. You deleted the footage to frame Ms. Bella. If that’s true, I can’t let it go.”

“I’m sorry, Martha. I messed up. It has nothing to do with you.”

Knowing that Serena would make it up to her, Lily took all the blame: “No one put me up to this. It was all on me. I was just jealous of Ms. Bella and wanted to get back at her. It has nothing to do with Serena or Martha.”

“You can leave now. This family won’t keep you around anymore, and none of the Collins family’s–businesses will welcome you or your family!” After saying these words, Louisa turned to Holly and said, “You should leave too. Whoever dares to disrespect Bella will suffer the same fate!”

“Yes!” The other servants all lowered their heads, thinking, ‘The lady really cares for Ms. Bella!‘

Tears streaming down their faces, Lily and Holly thanked the Collins couple for their leniency, bid Serena farewell, apologized to Mirabella, and then went upstairs to pack their things.

“Now, it’s time to settle your score.” Louisa’s gaze fell on Serena with a hint of frostiness.

Clutching her leg, Serena cried out, “Mom, let me explain! I did have a crush on my brother–in–law because he’s been my betrothed since we were kids. It’s normal for me to have feelings for him. But then, one day, my sister showed up.”

Tears streamed down Serena’s face. “I couldn’t control my feelings for him and impulsively said things I shouldn’t have. Afterwards, Martha scolded me harshly, and I realized my mistake. I swear, from now on, I’ll treat him as my brother–in–law! You can ask Martha; I haven’t even seen him lately! How could I be all over him?” Martha quickly defended, saying, “Ma’am, everything Serena,said is true. Since then, she’s got a boyfriend.”

This news stunned Serena and everyone else.

Kenneth and Louisa were even more surprised: “A boyfriend?”

“Yes, the heir of the Cooper family, Martin Cooper. He’s been pursuing Serena since middle school, for a full six years. Recently, Serena was moved by him and agreed to give him a shot.”

Martha spoke in a sincere tone: “Since we’ve only been dating for a few days and there’s a lot of uncertainty, I didn’t tell you about this yet, not because I wanted to hide it”

“I planned on telling you guys after the summer holidays.” At this point, Serena’s face showed the unique bashfulness and sweetness of a young girl. Clearly, she had really fallen for Martin.

“You and Martin are really dating?” Louisa asked doubtfully.

“Martha!” Serena pretended to scold Martha for revealing her secret.

Martha quickly explained, “Serena, you’ve got someone who cares and loves you; your mom would be happy for you too. It’s okay to say it. Mister, Lady, if you don’t believe me, Mr. Cooper will come tonight. He said he’s taking Serena to the movies; you’ll know then if what I’m saying is true.”

Kenneth and Louisa exchanged glances, thinking, If Martha or Serena were lying, what were the odds they’d mention that Mr. Cooper was taking Serena out to the movies tonight?

They must really be dating. If Serena really had someone she liked, that’s a good thing. She would finally move on from Romeo.

They knew Serena; if she really couldn’t let go of Romeo, she wouldn’t accept another boy’s pursuit, let alone be with him.

It seemed like they’re really dating.

Edith couldn’t help but say, “Just now Lily had Ms. Bella call Mr. McMillan to prove her innocence; can Serena also call Mr. Cooper to confirm their relationship?”

“Edith, do you not trust Serena? Or do you not trust me? Do you think I’m making up a person? Even if Tmade up a person, how could Serena just casually date someone? Serena is a person with standards! Plus, how would I know that this person I supposedly made up is free to take Serena to the movies tonight?”

“Besides, Serena and Mr. Cooper have only been dating for a few days; if you call now, it would just be weird and could affect their relationship!”

The Cooper family was also quite well off; although not as wealthy as the Collins family, the gap wasn’t large. Martin was a good–looking and understanding lad.

Louisa asked again, “Then why did you bully Mirabella?”

“Lady, you’ve really misunderstood!” Martha took over the conversation again, explaining, “Lily did that on her own because she didn’t like Ms. Bella. You can’t blame Seréna for that.”

“Just because Lily treats Serena well, you can’t pin her wrongdoings on Serena; that would be too unfair!”

Mum, dad, if I really treated sis poorly, I would be severely punished!” Serena didn’t believe in karma, but she knew her words wouldn’t come true, so she spoke more fervently: “I would be hit by a car when I go out, choke when I eat, and get hit by something falling from above when I walk,”

“Enough!” Louisa couldn’t listen anymore. “If you don’t have any other intentions towards Romeo and you didn’t let anyone bully Bella, we’ll let this go. But if I find. out you’re bullying Bella and still harboring illusions about Romeo,”

“Don’t worry, mom, you’ve raised me for eighteen years; I won’t bite the hand that feeds me.” Serena expressed her feelings once again with deep affection. Just then, Dr. Zoe came in. Serena immediately pretended to be in pain, putting on a look of grievance as she complained to Louisa, even bringing up her childhood.

Hans just got back and, seeing the scene, couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”

“Bro, I accidentally took a tumble.” Serena, supported by a servant, lay down on the sofa, looking pitiful.

“How did you fall?”

Before going over, Hans put down the things he bought on the way in front of Mirabella and asked, “Do you like them?”

“Bro, you’re so unfair, Sis gets new stuff and I get nothing!” Serena pretended to be jealous, pouting and looking very affected.

“What haven’t you had before?” Hans said, then added, “Besides, you can’t use this anyway.”

What can’t she use?

Serena widened her eyes in surprise.

Mirabella opened the small gift box; it was a set of limited–edition lipsticks.

“Bella can use these at work; I heard a lot of girls are scrambling for this set.”

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