The Bigshot Married Himself to the Heiress

As soon as she got back to the Johnson Family home, Sienna Johnson went to see the two kids first. Curly had finished her homework and was on the bed playing with Sheehan.

Curly tossed a ball a short distance away and had Sheehan crawl over to fetch it. The siblings had always been obsessively into this game, and to Sienna it looked a bit like her son was being bullied.

"Why are you picking on your brother again?" Sienna walked in and said to Curly.

"I’m not bullying Little Monster, I’m playing with Little Monster." Curly looked at Sheehan, who had just brought the ball back, and said, "Mom, look, he’s really happy."

Curly threw the ball out again, and Sheehan spread his legs and crawled toward it.

Sienna sat on the edge of the bed and watched them play for a while, then said, "You play with your brother, I’m going to check on Dad."

"I’m going too."

"Okay."

Sienna had Sally carry Sheehan, while she took Curly by the hand and went to see Adrian Desmond.

On the way, Sienna kept a thin strand of wishful thinking in her heart, hoping that when she pushed the door open Adrian would already be awake, would smile at her, would walk over and give her a kiss...

She pushed the bedroom door open and they walked in. Curly called out, "Dad, I’ve come to see

you."

Adrian lay there, perfectly still, still not awake. Sienna stood there, feeling nothing but ash-gray despair and sorrow inside.

When was he ever going to wake up?

"Dad, how come you still haven’t woken up?" Curly touched her father’s face, and the disappointment in her eyes was impossible to hide.

A dad who’s always sleeping is no good. A sleeping dad can’t play with her, can’t chat with her...

Sienna walked over and saw stubble sprouting along Adrian’s jaw. She reached out and touched it, feeling a prickle in her hand.

"Your beard’s grown out again? If you still don’t wake up, I’m going to let you keep a big beard." Sienna said.

Curly said, "No! I don’t like Dad with a big beard, it’s not handsome!"

"Your dad with a full beard is handsome too."

Curly stuck out her tongue at her mother. "Not handsome at all, it’s super ugly. And when you kiss, the beard pokes and hurts."

Hearing her daughter say that, Sienna’s heart gave a jolt. "How do you know that when a man has a beard, kissing will poke and hurt? Has some bearded man kissed you?"

"Dad, duh. Once Dad came back from Abyanabad and hadn’t shaved, and when he kissed my cheek, it hurt."

Sienna let out a breath of relief. This little girl had scared her half to death; she’d thought some man had "taken advantage" of her.

"Madam, Sabrina Conner wants to see you." Melly came in and said to Sienna.

This time, Sabrina had messed up handling Ivy Evans’s matter and brought a whole pile of trouble down on Sienna. Sienna wasn’t planning to use Sabrina anymore, so she didn’t intend to see him. She said to Melly, "Just tell him I don’t have time."

"Yes, Madam."

Melly glanced at Sienna’s expression, then went out to meet Sabrina.

Outside the room, Sabrina’s face was grim. When he saw Melly come out, he moved to push the door open and go in, but Melly stopped him.

"Madam said she doesn’t want to see you." Melly conveyed Sienna’s message to Sabrina.

Sabrina’s brows knit tight. "Why?" he asked.

Melly stood there and said, "Sabrina, you botched things and caused Madam a lot of trouble. Madam doesn’t want to see you right now. You need to reflect properly and figure out where you went wrong."

"I didn’t do anything wrong!" Sabrina had thought it over for a long time after he went back; he didn’t think he’d made a mistake.

He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why should he admit fault? Even if that person was Sienna, he still wouldn’t!

Melly gave a small laugh. "If that’s how you feel, then why have you come looking for Madam?"

"Why isn’t Madam assigning me any work anymore?" Sabrina had no intention of just sitting around freeloading.

"Isn’t that perfect? You can take a break."

"I don’t want to rest."

Melly wasn’t about to waste words on this clueless brat. This time she and Sally had followed Sienna the whole way cleaning up the mess Sabrina left, and only then did they realize how big a disaster he’d caused.

If Sabrina still didn’t know to reflect or repent, how could Sienna possibly keep using him?

"Madam won’t be having you do things anymore. If you don’t want to rest, you can find a new Boss."

Sabrina ground his teeth and said, "I belong to Sixth Master!"

"And Sixth Master belongs to Madam!"

...

Back at the Johnson Family home, Sienna coaxed the children to sleep, then took Sally and Melly to the Johnson Family storeroom to pick gifts for the Briggs Family.

Melly said, "Madam, if you want to send gifts to the Briggs Family, you don’t have to rush it tonight. It’s not too late to choose them tomorrow."

"Some things you have to strike while the iron’s hot. Sending gifts early or late isn’t the same; it represents an attitude."

No one’s an idiot. Grandpa Briggs has lived to such an old age; what sort of people hasn’t he seen, what sort of things hasn’t he been through? Her little tricks had long since been seen through by Grandpa Briggs.

That day when he called her into the study, it was definitely because she’d leveraged the Briggs Family and angered him.

Sienna admitted she’d played a bit of a game, but she wanted to tell Grandpa Briggs that yes, she had her little calculations, her little submission, but she wasn’t a bad person, wasn’t some sly, shameless type. She knew how to feel grateful, knew how to repay kindness.

So Sienna planned to send gifts to the Briggs Family to express her thanks.

The gifts needed to make the people receiving them feel her sincerity.

Melly said, "Ugh, this all feels so complicated."

Sienna earnestly taught Sally and Melly, "In Orienta, dealings between people are a discipline in themselves. You two still have a lot to learn.

Before you do anything, you need to think through all the interests and consequences involved, then act.

For example, this time Sabrina handling Ivy Evans’s matter.

Sabrina isn’t afraid of the Jones Family, so he doesn’t care if Ivy Evans and Madison Jones know who he is. But I do care!

I’m not alone. Behind me are the tens of thousands in Eastminster Group, and the Johnson Family. I have to think for them.

This time, if I hadn’t gone to the Briggs Family to ask for help, Eastminster Pharmaceutical Factory would probably have had to halt production."

Melly said, "Mm, that Sabrina really is so immature."

"Abyanabad and Orienta aren’t the same. In Abyanabad, you can settle everything with your fists; in Orienta you can’t. In future, when you two handle things, you need to think more too."

"Yes, Madam." Sally and Melly answered in unison.

...

Serenora City, a heavy snow fell all night.

Grandma Briggs said, "There’s really a lot of snow this year. I remember last year, it hardly snowed at all."

"A good snowfall is a sign of a bountiful year. Having more snow is a good thing." Grandpa Briggs was playing with the lark he kept.

"What did you say to Sienna when you called her into the study that day?" Grandma Briggs asked.

"I’d planned to warn her not to play tricks on me, but in the end I didn’t say it. We ended up talking about our daughter instead."

"You think Sienna was playing tricks?"

Grandpa Briggs glanced at his wife. "Sienna is sharp. With the Jones Family business she calculated not just the two of us, no—she calculated the entire Briggs Family into it.

You don’t really think those surveillance videos were actually obtained from the Police Department, do you?"

"They weren’t?"