A Crazy Night Novel

Barnaby’s emergence gave Timothy a shock, but the latter’s expression turned icy soon after.
“Father, why don’t you head over to the lounge next door to rest? Let me attend to Old Mr. Stone.” Christina proposed, worried
about her father’s health.
“I’ll leave it to you.” Timothy replied before wheeling himself toward the next room.
Barnaby shot Timothy a grim look when the latter left.
From the way he left without even bothering to greet Barnaby, it was clear how much he disliked the latter.
While gripping his umbrella, Barnaby walked up to Christina, his stern, black suit making him look more menacing.
“I’ve been told today is her funeral, Mrs. Hadley, so I’m here to give her a final sendoff.”
“Who have you come to say your farewells as?” Christina asked without mincing her words. “I heard that after she had passed
on, not only did you refuse to make the necessary preparations, but you even spent a ton to suppress any news about her. Your
actions have only proven one thing: you’re trying your hardest to sever all relations with Mrs. Lazuli. If that’s the case, why have
you come to send her off? That’s just incredibly pretentious.”
The atmosphere grew awkward as Christina called Barnaby out on his act.
If he could, he wouldn’t even have shown up. Unfortunately, he had previously made the wrong decision of going against
Sheridan’s words and bringing Azure to a public event, thus disclosing their relationship.
Now, everyone knew that Azure was his first love as well as the woman he was about to take as his second wife.
Even if they didn’t have a marriage certificate, that didn’t stop others from referring to Azure as Old Mrs. Stone.
After much deliberation, Barnaby eventually came anyway. Although he had now lost interest in Azure, they still used to have a
past together. Hence, even though the woman had approached him with hidden intentions while she was alive, he now didn’t
wish to keep scores with a dead person.
“My relationship with Azure can’t be described in a few mere sentences, Mrs. Hadley,” Barnaby responded without a change in
expression. “Since today is her funeral, shouldn’t we avoid disturbing her peace?”

Christina raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. We shouldn’t cause a scene at the mourning hall, so please leave. I don’t think Mrs.
Lazuli wants to see you.”
“You!” Barnaby glared at her in exasperation. Yet, just as he was about to give her a lecture as an elder. several reporters
showed up out of the blue, shutting him up effectively.
It was unknown whether these reporters had been ordered to appear or were simply terrible at reading the room, but their
cameras wouldn’t stop clicking away at Barnaby.
A female reporter stepped forward and held a microphone in front of him. “Old Mr. Stone, rumors have it that you refused to
prepare for Azure Lazuli’s funeral because you wanted to protect your own reputation Why, then, have you come here today?
Barnaby’s driver immediately rushed over to chase the reporters away. “Old Mr. Stone isn’t accepting any interviews, so please
leave this instance!”
With their dreams of snagging some precious scoop on the line, the reporters certainly weren’t planning on leaving so easily.
“Have you come to attend the funeral just to feel better about yourself, Old Mr. Stone?” the same woman asked.
As the commotion here soon became louder than the sounds of wailing inside the funeral hall, Christina stood there like a
bystander and watched the reporters attack Barnaby.
In truth, she had arranged for the media to show up, especially that brazen female reporter, who was a well-known figure in the
world of journalism. This woman had over a million fans online, and every news item she produced would always gain traction.
Aware that remaining silent would only convince the reporters that he had a guilty conscience, Barnaby found his patience
growing thin in the face of all these difficult questions.
“Get out of the way!” he roared, slapping the female reporter’s microphone, causing the woman to lose her balance and fall to
the ground.
With that, Barnaby had successfully sent himself to the top of the trending list online.
All the reporters had captured the moment by the time he realized what he had done. “Make them get rid of every picture and
video they have,” he ordered his driver quietly. “I won’t forgive anyone who publicizes this incident!”
Alas, the reporters turned and fled with their cameras immediately, and the driver was the only subordinate Barnaby brought with
him today.

There was no way the driver could take care of all those reporters alone.
At this point, Barnaby couldn’t be bothered to pay his respects to Azure anymore. All he wanted was to get even with Christina.
“Did you deliberately arrange for those reporters to come?”
“You’ve been getting a lot of media attention lately. If you’re accusing me of trying to bring you down, I have the right to accuse
you of causing a scene at Mrs. Lazuli’s funeral,” Christina objected. “Besides, those reporters might have followed you here from
the start, considering that the venue for Mrs. Lazuli’s funeral was never made public.”
With a few simple sentences, Christina had washed her hands of the matter completely.
Unable to produce any solid evidence that Christina was at fault, Barnaby could only swallow his anger. “You’d better hope I
don’t find out it was you, or I’m going to demand an explanation from the Hadley family,” he scoffed.
“Don’t try to threaten me with the Hadley family,” Christina retaliated. “Don’t forget that I’m their daughter-in-law. Even if I’m at
fault, they’ll still side with me. Complaining to them isn’t going to change anything.”
Then, she added frostily, “Or, you could expose me to the media-provided you have evidence. Otherwise, I can sue you for
slander.”
“The nerve!” Livid, Barnaby turned to leave. Christina didn’t stop him.
Just as the elderly man arrived at the door, a black car stopped right in front of him, and he was stunned to see the man alighting
the vehicle.
“Winston? What are you doing here?”
Christina was just as bemused. Why would this man come to Azure’s funeral?
Winston adjusted his black suit before turning to Barnaby, “I know your son personally, and his mother has passed away, so it’s
only natural I attend the funeral. Is there a problem with that, Old Mr. Stone?” he asked jeeringly.
“If I can’t even enter the hall, what makes you think you can?” Barnaby responded grimly.
Winston chuckled. “You and I are definitely not the same. After all, I wouldn’t try to cut ties with an old flame after her death just
to protect my own image. Heck, even I wouldn’t let you set foot into the funeral hall if I were part of Mrs. Lazuli’s family.”

Barnaby had always looked down on Winston, believing that the latter wasn’t worthy of speaking to him.
Winston was aware of this, so he had intentionally timed his appearance while Barnaby was in a tough spot. He wanted to watch
the old man rear his ugly side and make a fool of himself.
“Watch your mouth, Winston. If I could take you to great heights, I can bring you down the same way!”