A Replacement Bride

Chapter 345

As if not noticing their facial expressions, Katherine took the bags Hera was carrying before showing them the door in a natural way, saying, "Dad, Mom, Grandma, I'm grateful to you guys for coming to visit Noah, but she's now asleep and isn't available for a visit. Now that you all have seen her, why don't you guys go back first? Grandma is quite old, after all; it takes her a lot of mental and physical effort to come out, so it's better for her to go back early for some rest."

Not expecting her to turn them away in a few words, the Levisay trio turned even surlier.

Having suffered at the young lady's hands a couple of times, Elizabeth was already seething with fury, so she was the first to lose her cool. Her face darkened as she reprimanded, "Katherine, however much you dislike us, you don't have to go so far as to chase us away with such impatience, do you?! You've married into our family, which makes us your elders. It's unreasonable to chase your elders away as soon as they arrive, no? And besides, we're here to visit my great-granddaughter! What's the matter with you? Won't you even let us take another look at her?"

Upon seeing how the old woman condescended to her like an elder, Katherine raised an eyebrow and carelessly tossed the bags aside as a smile slowly spread across her face. "Grandma, what are you talking about? I'm just worried about your health. After all, you're already getting on in years and have one foot in the grave, so you've got to be careful. Otherwise, it'll be too late for regret if anything bad happens to you," she replied with a nonchalant air.

Elizabeth had steam coming out of her ears, though. "What do you mean I have one foot in the grave?! How… How dare you say such a thing?!"

Katherine blinked with fake innocence while pretending to be puzzled. "Am I wrong, Grandma? You know your own health condition better than anyone else. I did do acupuncture on you before, but it only

alleviated the pain that had been troubling you. I'm not very skilled in medicine and could only do so much, but you're already in your twilight years. Even if I stick needles into all parts of your body, there's no way your body parts can go back to the way they were in your prime. Without careful maintenance, they'll have no choice but to stop working, upon which you'll turn up your toes," she said, ignoring Elizabeth's face, which turned livid with anger. Then, she smiled apologetically and continued, "Grandma, I'm bad at talking, so what I say may sound unpleasant, but I'm just speaking the truth. Surely you won't be mad at me for this? You've got such a kind heart, after all."

As Joaquin listened to this from the sidelines, the corners of his mouth turned up; he had to restrain himself in order not to burst out laughing.

Keith even began applauding his sister in his mind.

As for Elizabeth, she nearly passed out in anger, her age-spot-covered hands tightly clutching the armrests of her wheelchair. Bad at talking? This darn little girl clearly has a clever tongue, doing all the talking while shutting me up with every word she says!

Hera and John's expressions were strained as well. Unable to stand Katherine's words any longer, he finally cleared his throat and said in a grim voice, "That's enough, Katherine! Just shut up instead of talking back to your grandma like that." Then, he turned to face Joaquin. His gloomy eyes were full of displeasure, but as he recalled his purpose in coming here, he had no choice but to suppress his emotions for the time being. Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

Feigning solicitude, he continued, "Joaquin, I've heard that you were taken away for questioning by the authorities a few days ago. Had I not seen the press briefing held by Katherine being mentioned on the internet, I would've been still in the dark about this. The last couple of days must've been tough on you."

This was the first time Joaquin had ever heard such 'caring' words from the man, which he couldn't help but find amusing.

At once, he replied indifferently, "Well, you're pretty ill-informed indeed. Noah has been staying in the hospital for such a long time, but only now does it occur to you guys to come over and take a look. I guess it's an improvement that you learned about the press briefing just a few days after it was held by Kathy. That being said, you guys haven't laid eyes on Noah even once since coming in here, which proves that you guys aren't really here to visit her. Since you guys aren't here out of sincerity, you don't have to stay here any longer. Just go about your business instead."

Not bothering to continue playing nice with them, he spoke his mind right away.

John's face instantly turned as dark as thunder. "What are you talking about?!"

At this moment, Joaquin stopped feigning politeness toward them. He said with a snort of laughter, "I'm still being nice to you, but it may not remain so later if you guys insist on staying."

"How dare you—"

Seeing that John was on the verge of blowing up, Hera hurriedly stopped him for fear of messing things up. "Okay, enough already! Why argue like this? We're a family. Can't we talk nicely to each other?" she said before pretending to shoot a glare at John in displeasure. "And you, too! It's not like you have no idea about our son's temper. How could you actually get angry at him?"

John's cheeks puffed up. Apparently, he was still in a rage, but he suppressed his anger nonetheless.

Katherine couldn't help but click her tongue in wonder while coolly watching the scene. This stepmother of Joaquin's is the best when it comes to pretending. Immediately, she said with a smile on her face, "Indeed, Joaquin is even worse than I am at expressing himself. We just thought the room was small,

so we were afraid that we'd be a bad host to you guys. We can't even serve you guys drinks since it's not convenient at the moment, so please don't take it to heart. Now that you've seen us, there's nothing else left for us to talk about. Let's gather again as a family when we have time."

When you have time? When will you ever have time for that? We wouldn't have bothered to come all the way here if you two hadn't been so elusive!

Just then, Hera's eyes flickered, and she pretended to suddenly recall something. "Kathy, you're the most sensible, after all. By the way, speaking of it, there's one thing that we haven't mentioned to you before. Since we've met today, let's talk about it and spare the trouble of meeting up again next time. The Levisay Group is keen on collaborating with W Co. lately. We were thinking of finding time to contact the company, but who would've thought the company's president would be a member of our family? What a coincidence, don't you think? Well, it saved us a lot of trouble."

She smiled ingratiatingly, but her smile looked somewhat strained to Katherine. "Oh, really?" she asked. In reality, she'd long figured out these people's purpose in coming here, so she wasn't surprised to hear this. Instead, she merely found it amusing. "I truly had no idea."

At this moment, John put on a straight face and said in a grave voice, "That's right. Actually, the Levisay Group has always been interested in working with W Co.. It's just that we never found the right opportunity before. I hear that W Co. is going to move back into the country and base itself in Hovington, which is a good thing. Hovington isn't as prosperous as Kyoland, but it's developed rapidly over the last few years and has a lot of room for development. You've made a good decision."

Hearing the man's deadpan comment amused Katherine even more. She slowly walked to the couch and sat down right in front of the trio. Leaning back against the couch, she held her head up slightly in a leisurely and comfortable posture that somehow gave off a feeling of superiority. Then, she slowly replied, "Yeah, I also think it's a pretty good decision."