Chapter 11 Aiden Finnegan, What Are You Doing?

“W-What do you want?” the seller stuttered, staring warily at the young man dressed in a suit. That was because, in their line of business, they often run into people who would insist on a refund after a purchase. “Hello, sir. Did you previously collect an unwanted item from the Thatcher Manor? A porcelain vase replica!” the young man in the suit asked anxiously. “Don’t be afraid. I really need this item, and I can buy it from you no matter the cost!” The vendor was startled by his words and thought, Is he speaking about the vase I just sold to that dumb guy? “I’ve never picked up something like that! I only sell genuine antiques here and don’t collect rubbish!” As the vendor had run into such situations one time too many, he wasn’t going to take the young man’s words at face value. “I really need it,” the young man insisted in a panicked tone. “It’s not anything valuable, but you can just name a price. I’m very sure you’re the one who picked it up!” While he spoke, he frantically fished out a wad of cash from his pocket and stuffed it into the vendor’s hands. “Is this enough? You can have all of it!” When the vendor saw that the young man forked out such a sum in one go, he reckoned that the other party wouldn’t hurt him over one vase. In addition, he had repeatedly checked that vase carefully and was sure that it wasn’t an antique. After he considered his options, he finally admitted, “I just sold it to a young guy earlier!” “You sold it? Do you know where he went?” the young man asked impatiently. “I don’t! You can’t expect me to do a background check on my customers, can you?” the vendor snapped, rolling his eyes. When the young man heard the vendor’s words, he ignored him and stood at the same spot, contemplating what he should do next. “Young man, why don’t you check the surveillance footage? Maybe you can replace that guy through that avenue. He looks like a nice enough fellow. If it’s so important to you, he might let you have it,” an old man at the side suggested. “Yes, that’s right! The surveillance footage. Thank you, sir!” the young man said, delighted. After he thanked the old man, he hurriedly ran toward the management office of Antiquities City, leaving the vendor in utter shock. “He gave me all this money for one question?” the vendor blabbered in disbelief, staring at the cash in his hands. Just then, a middle-aged man said, “I think that man earlier is the young master of the Thatcher Family. Yes, it’s him, alright! I saw him on TV before!” Meanwhile, at the Gray Family, Angelina was taking out her anger on the pillows when she thought about the books on traditional medicine and the porcelain vase that Aiden bought. In their three years of marriage, it was true that he was good to her, and no matter how aloof she was to him, he was always loyal to her. But marriage simply couldn’t work out with just one-sided affection. The boyfriends and husbands of her close friends all had successful careers, and compared to them, Aiden was the only one who stayed home all day doing house chores and building castles in the air. At the same time, Aiden checked the time, then went to the small park behind the neighborhood. As this spot was somewhat secluded, it was rare to even spot a few stray passers-by. After he found an even more secluded spot, he raised his palms and started practicing a set of techniques. In the beginning, his movements were slow, but he gradually gained speed, and the fallen leaves around him—charged with his energy—formed a wall of leaves circulating him. All of a sudden, he slammed a huge tree next to him with his palm. A loud boom was heard, and the huge tree broke apart! Aiden nodded in satisfaction as he laid his gaze on the tree. I’m finally back to the realm of martial arts master, he thought. With the skills from the jade pendant, he was also confident that he could soon reach the martial arts peak. Earlier, when he was practicing the palm technique, he could feel that he was close to achieving that goal. Meanwhile, at home, Linda sneaked into Aiden’s room after seeing that he had gone out. Then, she swept a disdainful gaze across his humble room as she started searching. Finally, she found the porcelain vase he had just bought and murmured hotly, “You only have yourself to blame for being a spendthrift! I’ll chuck this out!” She intended to do just that as she left his room with the vase in her hands. Alas, she bumped into Angelina, who happened to be going out, in the hallway. Angelina naturally noticed her holding the vase and asked with a frown, “Mom, why did you go into Aiden’s room without permission?” “That useless bum bought this piece of junk back home. If your aunt sees this one, she’ll definitely make fun of us for being so poor that we’re collecting junk! I need to throw this out!” Linda growled. Angelina said in resignation, “Mom, I’ve told you so many times not to keep in contact with Aunt Corina and the others. You know how they’ve been treating us ever since Grandpa’s death. Their behavior is far from how a close relative or even a decent one should act!” “Just the mention of your grandfather makes me mad. You’re the one he doted on the most when he was alive. He even wanted to hand over the president position at Gray Enterprise. But what happened in the end? He got you a useless bum as a husband instead! If it weren’t for that leech, our family wouldn’t be a joke, and your father wouldn’t be transferred to such an isolated place, either!” Her rage built up with every word she spat, and if it weren’t because she was worried about ruining the floor, she would have thrown the vase in her fury! Even though Angelina knew that everything Linda said was true, there was nothing she could do since things had already happened. It also baffled her why her grandfather, Ronald, wanted her to marry Aiden because she couldn’t replace anything remarkable about him at all. After Linda had said her piece, she bypassed Angelina, went downstairs with the vase, and tossed it into a trash container outside. Then, when she heard the sound of shattered porcelain, she smiled smugly and returned home. Unbeknownst to her, the vase in the trash container didn’t shatter, but only a tiny part in the corner had been slightly chipped off, revealing another layer underneath! Back home, Aiden didn’t return to his room immediately, so he had no idea that Linda had already thrown out his vase. After dinner, he cleaned up everything and returned to his room only to replace that his vase was missing. He had an idea of who the culprit could be. So, he knitted his brows tightly as he came downstairs and asked Linda, who was watching TV on the couch, “Where’s the vase in my room?” She raised her head, glanced at him mockingly, and said with ridicule, “What? You think you can be rude to me after you conned the Webbs a hundred thousand?” “I’m asking you, where’s that vase?” he repeated coldly. “It hurts my eyes to see it in the house, so I threw it out!” she said nonchalantly. “You! Where did you throw it?” he demanded. “I can’t remember!” Linda deliberately didn’t want to tell him where she threw it and tossed him an indifferent look. Aiden finally lost his temper and glowered at her as he clenched his fists tightly. “Where’s. The. Vase?” Linda was frightened when she saw the frigid anger brewing in his eyes and thought, Why does he have such a terrifying stare? He’s not going to beat me, is he? Just then, Angelina, who was about to get a drink, stood at the top of the staircase on the second floor and shouted, “What are you doing, Aiden Finnegan? What kind of tone are you using with my mother? Are you yelling at her over a vase?!”