A Crazy One-night Stand

Wilson held Alina's hand as they walked back to where the people were gathered. He whispered to her, "Lina, we might need to mention the Pines and Cranes jigsaw puzzle later. Remember, regardless of whoever questioned you, just say that you were the one who completed the puzzle. Do you understand?"

Alina pouted. "But you're the one who did more of it!"

Wilson responded with a smile, "Silly girl, just listen to me. If anyone asks you about it, tell them that you solved the puzzle all by yourself."

"Okay," Alina agreed reluctantly.

The two of them walked quietly in comfortable silence. From a distance, Silvia ran up to Wilson. When she saw the two of them hand in hand, she glared at Alina with dissatisfaction and cursed, "What a shameless woman!"

Wilson immediately frowned and warned her, "Silvia, if you disrespect your sister-in-law one more time, don't blame me for punishing you later."

When Silva heard Wilson's harsh threat, she burst into tears. Wiping her tears away, she stamped her feet indignantly. "Wilson, how could you!"

Pointing angrily at Alina, Silvia couldn't speak another word and ran away in a huff.

Alina frowned, her heart pounding.

Alina knew that this path was destined to be rocky and many obstacles awaited her.

But she had already chosen to be with Wilson, hadn't she?

Hadn't she already decided to stick with him? No matter how difficult it was, as long as Scumbag did not let go of her hand, she would try her best to be worthy of him. She would muster up all her strength, weak as she might be, to shelter him from the storms of life. She wanted to be there to support him, like a sunflower that follows after the sunlight.

Alina grabbed Wilson's hand and smiled brightly at him. "I'll do my best!"

Wilson nodded.

He knew that he had chosen the right person to be his wife!

When they came nearer to the crowd, the housekeeper was already busy seating the guests. "Thank you all for coming to Mr. Lincoln Scott's birthday celebration. Please take you seats as the dishes will be served right away."

After the announcement, people who were still socialising began to take their seats one after another.

Today's birthday celebration was a great opportunity for these businessmen. They could network, share insider information with each other, or even end up with a collaboration with other companies. When the housekeeper saw that everyone was getting seated in an orderly manner, he announced in a loud voice, "The relatives of the Scott Family, please take your seats at the small courtyard on the west side. Four tables are set up there."

When Alina heard the housekeeper's words, she looked at Wilson in surprise. "Are there so many people in the Scott Family?"

Wilson explained with a smile, "Grandfather has two younger brothers and one younger sister. Although they have passed away, their children and grandchildren are here. To be honest, it might get quite crowded with only four tables."

"I see." Alina nodded her head with understanding.

Who wouldn't want to suck up to rich relatives? Besides, these guests were already regarded as close relatives. As Scumbag mentioned, if they announced the birthday celebration publicly, many people would rush and try to squeeze through the Scott Family's doors to join the event.

Wilson took Alina's hand and walked to the courtyard on the west side according to the housekeeper's instructions. He said to her, "None of the distant relatives are invited to join at the private tables. Most of the Scott Family's relatives work within the companies under the Scott Group. As long as they have the ability, many of them are placed in managerial positions."

At that moment, Wilson seemed to walk a little taller and straighter to Alina as her eyes shone with admiration. He was actually really considerate about others.

They walked all the way to the courtyard on the west side which was decorated with large chrysanthemum flowers. There were four large tables set up in the middle of the courtyard.

There were 15 chairs at each table. Half of the seats were already taken by other relatives walking in.

Lincoln sat at the head of the largest table. Today, he was dressed in a red suit, which made him look young and energetic.

Wilson's family and George's family were seated at the same table as Lincoln.

There were two empty seats on Lincoln's right while the seats on his left were occupied by George and his wife, Rainee. Seeing Wilson walk in with Alina, Lincoln waved his hand and said with a smile, "Wilson, Lina, come and sit next to me." Hearing his words, everyone in the courtyard looked up at the two of them.

Most of them gave Wilson and Alina looks of jealousy and hatred.

Why did Lincoln favour Wilson and chose him out of all the other younger generations of the Scott Family?

Wilson led Alina to his grandfather's side and sat beside him.

Wilson's parents were extremely displeased when they saw Alina invited to the celebration as Wilson's partner. However, they didn't dare to say anything when Lincoln was present. Anyway, today his 80th birthday, they couldn't spoil the merry atmosphere. So regardless of how dissatisfied they were, they had to endure it.

Wilson's parents could swallow their dissatisfaction, but it was another story for the other relatives.

For example, George's family couldn't stand the blatant favouritism.

Rainee, George's wife, spoke up. There was a hint of annoyance in her tone as she asked Lincoln, "Dad, you're being biased. Isn't Lucas the eldest grandson?"

Lincoln smiled. "Ten years ago, when I sat at this very table, I said that I will favour any grandson who announced their marriage first and bear a great-grandson for me."

Upon hearing his words, Rainee was even more vexed. She complained, "Lucas already has an official girlfriend. Dad, don't you know about this?"

"Has the wedding been announced to the public?" Lincoln raised his eyebrows.

Rainee had nothing else to say.

She glared at Caitlin angrily.

Initially, she wasn't fond of Caitlin and looked down on her status as an illegitimate daughter, even though she had the Brooks family name.

At that time, Caitlin often visited the Scott Family. To please Rainee, she gave her presents including cosmetics, jewellery, and some accessories. Caitlin was also rushed off her feet with work. Her contribution was pivotal to Lucas's company raking in profits for the last two years. After Alina came to the Scott Family, by comparison, Rainee could finally accept Caitlin.

She urged Lucas and Caitlin to announce their marriage, but Caitlin refused.

Rainee was so pissed off.

She thought spitefully, "What the hell? Caitlin's just an illegitimate daughter. It's just that her status is a little bit better than Alina. How could she be so arrogant by comparing herself with that penniless girl? Before this, she was so obsessed with getting married to Lucas and tried to obtain my approval in every way.

"Now that she saw that a commoner like Alina could marry Wilson, she changed her tune and insisted on Lucas becoming the president of Scott Group before marrying him.

"Who does she think she is? Does Lucas have to beg her to marry him now?

"Just wait and see. Once Lucas becomes the president of Scott Group, the first thing I will do is to force him to dump Caitlin like a hot potato."

However, Caitlin was still useful for now. For example, she was the one who came up with the great idea of humiliating Alina at the celebration. Under the instructions of Mr. Kyree, the dishes were served.

Several servants entered the courtyard, pushing carts of food. The food was served to the guests as the servants placed the dishes in front of them. One after another, an array of sumptuous food were placed on the table which creaked under the weight.

Another servant came in with wine and drinks. He went around the tables, pouring everyone their choice of drink.

When he came to Alina, Wilson said to the servant, "Alina doesn't drink. Give her some orange juice!"

His words aroused the resentment of other people at the table.

Silvia cast a cold glance at Alina and cursed in a low tone, "That b*tch is just trying to be pretentious."

Selma agreed in a low voice as well, "Who knew that she was from a poor family living in a basement? She's not even married into the family, and yet she thinks so highly of herself!" Rainee chimed in, "What a gold digger!"

Caitlin had cursed Alina countless times inwardly, but she maintained a cordial smile on her face. Her plan was to sow discord between Silvia and Alina. She addressed Silvia with a smile. "Silvia, you shouldn't speak rudely. No matter what, Alina will be your future sister-in-law. What's so wrong with drinking orange juice? It's not that we can't afford it, right?"

Just now, everyone could see that Silvia had an annoyed expression on her face when she muttered curses under her breath. Although other people couldn't catch what she said, it was obvious that Silvia was bad-mouthing Alina.

After hearing Caitlin's words, everyone turned to Silvia in unison.

Initially, Silvia was complaining in a low voice. However, Caitlin's sarcastic tone irritated her and she raised her voice. "What future sister-in-law? She doesn't deserve it! I just mentioned that she's being pretentious. Am I wrong for saying that?"

Wilson's expression suddenly turned cold. "Silvia, I'll never give you any money next month!"

Silvia's eyes widened when she heard Wilson's words. She gritted her teeth in anger and gave Alina a vicious glare as if she wanted to tear her to pieces. "Why did you do that? Dad, Mom, why aren't you saying anything? I'm getting bullied!"

Looking at his sister's hysterics, Wilson felt a bad headache coming on.

At that moment, Lincoln noticed an exasperated expression on Sophie's face as she opened her mouth to speak. He immediately tried to smooth things over. "Alright, today is my birthday, so no fighting at the table. Come, let's have a toast."

Since the man of the hour had spoken, who else could say anything?

Everyone lifted up their glasses. Some had wine, while others had juice.

Caitlin could sense that Lincoln was trying to help Alina and she wasn't happy about it. Nonetheless, she put on a charming smile as she toasted Lincoln. "I wish that Mr. Scott would have a prosperous and healthy life. Many happy returns of the day!"

"Thank you!" Lincoln beamed with joy.

Everyone gave Lincoln their blessings.

"Grandfather, I wish you a long and healthy life."

"May you be wise beyond your years, Grandfather!"

"Thank you for all your wishes. To be honest, I really want to live a long life as well! I want to watch the younger generation grow up, get married, and have children. Furthermore, I would like to pass on my portion of shares in the Scott Group. Come, everyone, enjoy the meal. I'm feeling ecstatic on this auspicious day." When Lincoln mentioned that he was going to distribute his shares, many people started plotting in their hearts to get their hands on the old man's shares.

A cunning look appeared in Lincoln's eyes.

He was already 80 years old. How could he not know what these young people were thinking? Nonetheless, an outstanding grandson like Wilson still needed competition to be on his toes!

Without competition, he would not achieve his full potential.

Over the years, it was Lincoln who had constantly fostered competition between his children and grandchildren, forcing Wilson to become the cold, calculating man he was today.

But Lincoln had no regrets. He only had two wishes in life. One was that the Scott Group would flourish for a long time with strong leadership and foundation. The other was that the Scott Family would grow large and prosperous with many descendants.

In this way, he would not be embarrassed to meet his wife when he finally crossed the rainbow bridge.

Everyone began enjoying the dishes served on the table.

Wilson started peeling some prawns for Alina.

Alina was extremely flustered at his behaviour. She whispered to him in a low voice, "Stop that, I'll do it myself!"

Wilson ignored the resentful and jealous glances around the table. He replied with a smile, "I've promised you that I would peel all the prawns for you from now on."☐☐☐