Chapter 8 Giving You Some Noodle Soup

"But there is nothing to be done. The agreed betrothal stipulates that the eldest daughter should marry into the Mu clan. If Lady Lisa could marry instead, His Lordship would not have gone to such lengths to bring Lady Linda home."

"Indeed. If there were nothing in it for His Lordship, he would not have tried to find her, not after so many years."

"It is said that the Xia clan is going through a financial crisis and is seeking to regain its footing by this marriage with the Mu clan. But the Mu clan will accept nothing short of the eldest daughter of the Xia clan."

Nodding as she listened at the corner of the wall, Linda had now gotten the full picture.

With this useful info at hand, Linda hurried back to her room and sifted through the online info. Coupled with the information she had garnered all those years, she now got the gist of the situation.

A portion of the properties of the Xia clan was registered under the name of Linda and her biological mother. May Shen had always wanted to seize those shareholdings, but she didn't expect to find that the financial situation of the Xia clan had been worsening over the past few years.

Johnson Xia was left with no choice. After negotiating with the Mu clan, he found out that the Mu clan was willing to uphold their end of the deal, provided that the bride was the eldest daughter. That was the reason why Johnson began to find Linda who had been out in the world for so many years.

There are no family love but commercial interests for the wealthy clan.

Linda sighed, both for her biological mother and for herself.

However, she had come too far to turn back now. She must follow it through.

She treated herself to a solid good sleep. By the time she woke up, Johnson Xia had already had servants prepare materials necessary for her biological mother's death anniversary.

Afterwards, Johnson led Linda to the mausoleum to make offerings to her biological mother.

Linda, as well as her father who was carrying a heavy heart, did not speak much along the way. They returned with the same silent awkwardness.

Just when Linda thought that nothing had happened, Johnson handed to her a few real estate papers when they got back.

"You have been out there for so many years and I have nothing to make it up to you. Those houses are but a mere token of my sincere apology. I do not know any other better ways to make amends."

"Thank you, father."

"By the way, as for your sick foster mother, I have heard about her conditions and have already had her admitted to the finest hospital in town to receive the best treatments. You can ease your mind. But oddly, she refused to meet with me..., I wanted to thank her for all these years she spent raising you up."

After hearing that her foster mother could receive the best treatments, Linda felt relieved and gave little attention to the part where her foster mother refused to meet with Johnson Xia.

Drops of tears kept rolling in the eyes of Linda until Johnson left the room with a heavy heart. It was only then did Linda throw those papers onto the desk.

She did come back. If she married into the Mu clan, then the strength of the Mu clan would be enough to restore the Xia clan to its former glory, and perhaps made it even more prestigious.

And the shareholdings under the name of Linda and her biological mother would once again become lucrative.

If she were to want something from the Xia clan, she would not settle for these mere houses.

Nonetheless, Linda was still somewhat touched by Johnson's remorse.

After all, Johnson was not responsible for what had happened back then. What Linda truly wanted was to find out those who were responsible. Moreover, the death of her biological mother seemed far more complicated than it appeared.

After that night, Linda would head out to the Mu clan with Charles Mu, so it was sort of the last night she spent in the Xia clan.

Although Linda had never met her biological mother, nor did she have a strong bonding with her, the natural feeling between a daughter and a mother had kept Linda's spirit low to an extent that she could barely eat any food.

By the time the night fell, her stomach had been growling in protest.

Linda crept out of the room and went down to forage in the kitchen.

As she opened the door of her chamber and prepared to go down, Linda accidentally kicked a flowerpot placed at the doorway, which gave out a slight voice that scared the hell out of Linda. She glanced around and spotted no one. Everyone should be sound asleep at this time of the day and no servants were around in the villa.

After putting back the flowerpot, Linda tip-toed towards the kitchen. It was midnight, and the cook and kitchen maid, as well as all the servants were all in bed.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Linda heard a noise inside.

It sounded like the voice of May Shen.

"You should speed up that thing I entrusted you with. No more delay. I don't want any surprises. That girl Linda is a bit hard to handle."

...

"Well, it is settled then..."

...

Intermittently Linda could hear some voices, though those voices were a bit unclear.

But judging by the words of May Shen, Linda knew that this woman was up to no good! Why else would she come down to the kitchen where no one would go at this hour.

There was a sound of footsteps from the kitchen, a clear sign that May Shen had finished her call and was about to leave.

Linda hurriedly hided aside, waiting for May Shen to leave before entering the kitchen.

The Xia clan was a prestigious clan in SH City with chefs recruited from five-star hotels. One could find no shortage of food ingredients inside the kitchen... Leftovers would be thrown away without seeing the inside of a fridge...

After rummaging through the kitchen, Linda sighed and prepared to cook herself.

She is very independent growing up as her foster mother was very busy at work to provide for her and her sister Cindy Xie. Therefore, most of the cooking fell on the shoulder of Linda, who had become quite a skilled cook herself.

After she turned on the tap to wash some vegetables and got some meat pastas to make meat pasta noodles, Linda spotted Charles Mu, who was leaning against the kitchen door, looking at Linda with a mocking face.

Linda felt blue the moment she spotted him. Although he was a fairly handsome man, but given what had happened back then, Linda could not help but roll her eyes every time she saw him.

"Aren't you in good spirits, coming down to the kitchen to cook yourself in the middle of the night?" said Charles Mu.

Linda gave Charles a look, then she fetched some minced meat and returned to making her meat pasta noodle. "My spirits are nothing compared to yours. Coming to the kitchen in the middle of the night just to watch someone else cook?"

Not affected by her taunting remark, Charles sauntered up to Linda, "Tsk, tsk. Aren't you going to make some for me?"

Linda rolled her eyes at Charles before immediately putting on a smiling face. Seeing that smile, Charles felt a sudden hitch in his heart, which felt rather odd.

There was something between captivating and innocent about her magical smile that made her stand out from the crowd.

However, the following remark made Charles feel like punching her.

"Want to eat? You can beg me for it. Maybe I will give you some noodle soup."

Linda was not interested in this egomaniac. She turned her back on Charles and got back to making her meat pasta noodle instead.

As we all know, putting food in the belly comes before everything.

After finishing making the meat pasta noodle, Linda then rinsed some cherry tomatoes for dessert. Although devoid of any ready-made food, the kitchen of the Xia clan offered a slew of food ingredients.

All the while, Charles had been sitting quietly on the chair next to her and stared at Linda with tilted head.

Linda felt a numbing chill running through her back, which made her very uncomfortable. "Young Master Mu, don't you have better thing to do than watching me eat? Is that your thing? Watching other people eat?"