Chapter 36
5000 Words
Chapter 718: Face-Slapping pt.3
Lauren’s pupils shrank.
The biggest humiliation of her life was when she involved herself with Herman’s marriage and became the third party persecuted by everyone. Whenever people talked about her these days, they always called her the homewrecker who had successfully become the lawful wife.
Yet Nora had brought it up in public in front of everyone. It was simply infuriating.
There was anger all over Lauren’s face. She demanded, “What’s the meaning of this, Ms. Smith?”
“You don’t dare to make the bet with me?”
Nora raised her brows.
Pushed into a corner, the angry and anxious Lauren could only say, “Fine.”
She clenched her fists tightly.
In order to return to the Hunt Manor, as well as to return to the pinnacle of status in New York, she was really holding nothing back. When she thought about it carefully, though, nothing could go wrong with that pot of flowers anyway. Nora was at a complete disadvantage when she made the bet with her.
To be honest, the moment Nora said that the ingredient was too strong, Lauren had already felt a little guilty. She’d actually had some takeaways from her time studying medicine abroad over the years.
However, she strongly believed that even if something were to really go wrong, it would only happen at a later stage.
It was impossible for that to happen within an hour.
She was sure to win the bet.
When she thought about it this way, Lauren didn’t feel so unhappy anymore-because the bet was clearly to Nora’s disadvantage.
After the two parties made the bet, Lauren summoned some people and instructed, “Keep a close watch on this pot of Ghost Orchids. If anything goes wrong, you must notify me immediately!”
No matter how rare the Ghost Orchids were, they were nothing more than a pot of flowers for Lauren. What she cared about was not the flowers but winning the bet.
She spoke very loudly, everyone heard her. Lauren explained with a smile, “We’ve already made the bet, after all. I’m just afraid someone would deliberately spoil the flowers within the hour because they are sore losers. It would be terrible if people refuse to pay up when that happens.”
Iris, however, ignored her. Instead, she pulled Nora to the side, lowered her voice, and asked, “Tell me the truth, are you Orchidiance?”
Nora’s lips curled into a smile and she nodded.
Iris: “…”
She stared at Nora with a dazed look on her face. “Orchidiance is the only person capable of curing Matthew’s flowers, why didn’t I think of that? No, it’s because you are too young. I didn’t expect Orchidiance to be so young, I always thought that she would be as old as me, or perhaps even older.”
Nora looked at her.
After speaking, Iris’s immediate thought was not that she now had someone to treat the flowers in her greenhouse, if anything ever happened to them.
On the contrary, she heaved a huge sigh.
She said, “I originally thought that there are only so few people in this world who can cure Matthew’s Ghost Orchids because those flowers are really very difficult to treat. When you said that you can cure them, I thought that you were just taking a gamble. But I didn’t expect that what was just a one in ten thousand probability for me, would instead be a 100% sure-win probability for you.” Nora replied, “Therefore, you have to tell your story now.”
Iris was taken aback for a moment. In the end, she waved and said, “Ah well, never mind, this is all meant to be!”
She had also thought things through herself. By taking a gambler’s mentality with this, she was also just trying to give herself a ray of hope in the future.
She didn’t want to age and die in that suburban villa and be separated from Justin for the rest of her life, either.
All of this had been predestined a long time ago, that was all.
She said, “I hope the two of you won’t hate me after you hear my story.”
Back then, she had shielded Justin from everything. Now that her son had grown up, it was ultimately time that he paid his debt.
Iris sighed.
Nora patted her shoulder. “We’re not afraid.”
When one was young, their mother was an almighty figure that shielded them from everything Now that they had grown up, they were willing to be that almighty figure for their mother.
The two chatted for nearly an hour. When the hour passed after they made the bet, Lauren glanced at the orchid. When she saw that it was still blooming beautifully, she heaved a sigh of relief at once.
She then went up to Iris and Nora. “Ms. Smith, you’ve lost.”
Nora looked at her. “There are still two minutes to an hour.”
Lauren smiled and said, “There are only two minutes left, but that pot of flowers is now blooming even more beautifully than before. There is no risk of it wilting at all, so you two are losing for sure.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Nora stood up and looked down at the time on her cell phone.
Lauren curled her lips disdainfully and said, “Ms. Smith, to be honest, we are all family. How can there by any grudges among family? Why do we have to draw such a clear line between us? Why don’t we just forget about the bet? Lest it reflects poorly on us. I’m not someone who would hold grudges against my young ones either. The old madam is getting on in years, though. Herman has always wanted to be filial to his mother and be by her side, so let’s not have the Hunt's stop him anymore.”
As soon as she said that, a security guard rushed over in a panic and said, “Mrs. Hunt, this is terrible!”
Lauren was taken aback. She turned around and saw that the security guard was actually the one whom she had instructed to keep a close watch over the Ghost Orchids just now!
Chapter 719: Face-Slapping pt.4
Lauren frowned. “What are you doing? This is outrageous, why are you in such a panic?!”
The next moment, the security guard said, “The Ghost Orchids are dead!”
Lauren was stunned. She frowned and said, “That’s impossible!”
The security guard pointed to where the Ghost Orchids were and swallowed hard. “I-it’s
true!”
Lauren strode towards the Ghost Orchids.
Iris and Nora looked at each other. They smiled at each other and followed after her.
As soon as she walked over, she saw that the pot of Ghost Orchids, which had originally been beautiful and charming, had wilted. As though it lacked water, the flowers were slowly drooping
Additionally, it was also visibly withering.
Lauren stared at the Ghost Orchids in shock. At this time, Nora looked down and glanced at the time. She said, “59 minutes and 20 seconds. Mdm. Lauren, you’ve lost.”
Calling her Mdm. Lauren and not Mrs. Hunt, this was no different from slapping Lauren in the face.
Lauren couldn’t be bothered to care about something like her name at the moment, though. She stared at the Ghost Orchids and muttered to herself, “That’s impossible… Absolutely impossible… I have tried that prescription on so many orchids before, and nothing like this has ever happened!”
Those orchids had all survived. Even the one in the poorest condition had survived for half a month.
More and more people were gathering around them.
Seeing that everyone had come over, Lauren felt even more embarrassed. Suddenly, she turned to Iris. “What did you do to the orchids?”
Iris: “?”
She raised her eyebrows, a smile forming on her lips. “That’s really interesting. From the moment we made the bet, we have been sitting in the corner. There are so many people here who can testify to that! Besides, isn’t the security guard keeping watch over the flowers someone you had found? Are you saying that your security guard didn’t keep a good watch on the flowers?”
The security guard panicked when he heard her. He hurriedly defended himself and said, “Yes, I did. I was staring at this pot of flowers the whole time. How would I dare to leave its side when it’s worth more than a million dollars? I didn’t even dare to blink the whole time, for fear that something would go wrong. I can guarantee that everyone had stayed far, far away from the flowers and did not come close at all during this period of time.”
Everyone at the flower exhibition was from wealthy families, and all of them were very smart and shrewd. Lauren had already made it clear that she was using the pot of flowers to fight with Iris. No one would be blind enough to go forward and mess with the flowers.
Lauren panicked. “Why would something go wrong with the flowers when no one went near it? It must be because you didn’t watch over it properly!”
The security guard panicked even further. He pointed to the surveillance camera at the side and said, “There is surveillance camera footage as proof!”
At last, Lauren couldn’t find anything else to blame it on, so she could only look at the orchid again.
At this point, Nora said, “I told you, that ingredient you added can indeed speed up the Ghost Orchids’ recovery, but it’s just like how a person would suddenly be in very good spirits before their death. You have made the Ghost Orchids spend all of its future vitality in just one day, so it withered faster than before!”
Lauren shouted, “But my prescription has been verified to be useful! All the other orchids were fine!”
Nora said coldly, “It’s not that they are fine, it’s just that nothing has happened to them yet! Ghost Orchids are more delicate than other orchid breeds, and there are only a few pitiful varieties of them. Different orchids are like different people, so the dosages they are given would definitely have to be different. All the orchids you used the prescription on should have withered within half a month to a month’s time.”
Before returning to America, Lauren had already known that Matthew was looking everywhere for someone to treat his pot of Ghost Orchids. Thus, when she was still abroad, she had already figured out the prescription and tested it on numerous pots of orchids.
She had only returned after she verified the prescription.
But little did she think that her plans would actually fail because of the Ghost Orchids?
While she was thinking, her cell phone rang. When she answered, her domestic helper from abroad said, “Ma’am, two of the orchids that you cured have withered in the greenhouse!”
Those words were just like a slap in her face, making Lauren finally realize that there was indeed a problem with her prescription.
At this point, Matthew had also heard the commotion. With the help of someone, he walked over unsteadily.
Matthew was already here a long time ago. He wanted to watch over his Ghost Orchids, but because he was already so old, after he came and put the pot of Ghost Orchids down, he had gone to the VIP lounge upstairs immediately.
When he saw the Ghost Orchids’ condition, he panicked at once. He looked straight at Lauren and demanded, “What’s going on? You’d best give me an explanation for this!”
Lauren swallowed and clenched her fists. She could only grit her teeth and deny it. She said, “Matthew, your flowers were incurable from the start. My prescription had at least allowed it to recover for a day. Besides, when you passed me the flowers, I was already just making a Hail Mary effort. I also feel very guilty that they didn’t recover, but there is really no other way around it.”
She sighed quietly and added, “I’m sure you have also already exhausted all the solutions you could think of during the last few months, that’s why you could only give Orchidiance’s method a try in the end. I have also really tried my best, Matthew. You won’t blame me for it, right?”
Lauren was slinging accusations when she was the villain herself. However, her words indeed shut Matthew up.
He had indeed tried all sorts of ways to cure the Ghost Orchids, but they had all failed. In the end, he could only try treating them with Orchidiance’s method.
But how many people really knew how to do that?
When he chose to give Lauren’s method a try, he had been taking a gamble.
In all honesty, though, if Lauren hadn’t looked so confident at the time, how could he have allowed her to try treating his orchids so easily?
Come to think of it, although Lauren had been very confident that she could cure the flowers, the things she said had been very watertight. It was true that she had never promised that she could cure the orchids.
When he thought of this, Matthew was so angry that his chest felt all tight as though he couldn’t breathe. He looked at the pot of Ghost Orchids in distress and said, “Why can’t it be cured? Why can’t it be cured?!”
Lauren tried to counsel him. “Matthew, I’m afraid that there’s really no cure for that pot of flowers anymore. Even if Orchidiance were here, she probably wouldn’t be able to do anything, either.”
Would Orchidiance also be unable to do anything about it if she were here?
Lauren sighed. “I have already thoroughly mastered Orchidiance’s method, so I am sure that I was indeed using Orchidiance’s method to treat the flowers. I’m really sorry for your loss!”
Matthew hung his head in frustration.
At this time, Nora suddenly said, “It’s not completely impossible to treat it.”
Her one-liner made everyone present raise their heads and look at her.
Matthew also looked up hopefully. Nora stepped forward and stared at the pot of Ghost Orchids. “I do have a solution here.”
Matthew asked excitedly, “What kind of solution is it?”
Nora was about to speak when Lauren said, “Ms. Smith, I’d advise you to be careful when you speak. I told you just now, people good at alternative medicine may not necessarily be able to cure flowers. After all, there is still a very huge difference between flowers and humans. Not everyone can imitate the essence of Orchidiance’s skill!”
The moment she said that, Nora’s lips curled into a smile and she slowly said, “You are right, it is certainly true that not everyone can imitate the essence of my skill.”
Chapter 720: I’m Here To Listen To The Story
The place suddenly fell silent.
Someone beside them, who didn’t understand what Nora meant, kindly explained, “Ms. Smith, Mrs. Hunt is saying that no one can imitate the essence of Orchidiance’s skill, not yours…”
She paused abruptly at this point. Only then did she finally realize something and she exclaimed, “Y-you are Orchidiance?”
Nora glanced at her and said nothing.
Iris lifted her chin and looked at her proudly. “That’s right, my daughter-in-law is Orchidiance.”
In an instant, it raised a huge furor in the entire exhibition. Everyone looked at Nora in astoundment. “Not only is she Dr. Zabe’s disciple, but also Anti the surgeon. I’m actually not surprised at all to hear that she’s also Orchidiance. Ms. Smith’s medical skills are truly amazing!”
“Oh my god, as it turns out, Orchidiance has always been right by our side. Isn’t she supposed to be staying abroad?”
“I heard that Ms. Smith only came back from overseas a few months ago.”
“Yes, now that you mention it, all the facts line up.”
Amid everyone’s speculations, Lauren bit her lip tightly.She still couldn’t believe it,but she also knew that there was no need for someone like Nora to impersonate someone else.
After all,even if she was not Orchidiance,she was already popular enough in New York.
...
Nevertheless, she felt that she couldn’t admit defeat just like that, so she said, “Ms. Smith, since you are Orchidiance, then you should have known that the prescription given to the orchid was wrong from the moment you entered the exhibition. Why didn’t you bring it up and save the orchid then? Instead, you had to wait until it started withering to show off your medical skills? How much do you think the Ghost Orchids have suffered as a result?”
Nora: “?”
Iris sneered and stepped right in front of Nora. She said sharply, “Lauren, you’re being unreasonable. Didn’t my daughter-in-law already say so just now? What can we do when you refuse to admit that your prescription is wrong? Besides, my daughter-in-law has said that the flowers can still be saved!”
Lauren bit her lip. “But I didn’t know that Ms. Smith is Orchidiance. If I had known, I definitely would have agreed to it. I get it now, the two of you just wanted to use that to make a bet with me so that I would admit my mistake. But why bother doing something like that? Wouldn’t you ruin Matthew’s Ghost Orchids by doing that? Iris, if you hate me, then you can just come at me. You are also an orchid lover, how can you treat a pot of Ghost Orchids like this?”
Her fallacious and heretic arguments surprisingly sounded like they made sense at first.
If Nora had revealed her identity the moment she entered the hall,would they have stopped her from treating the orchids? Did she have to wait until the orchids became like this to highlight her abilities?
They were clearly using that pot of orchids to slap Lauren in the face,and also to make the bet with her!
Everyone looked at Iris and Nora.
Even Matthew, who clearly knew that he couldn’t blame the two of them after all,he still had to rely on Orchidiance for help if he wanted to save the Ghost Orchids couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about the situation.
He didn’t like Lauren, because not only did she use the Ghost Orchids to threaten him into selling the Jade Orchids to her, but she even forced him to put his pot of Ghost Orchids on display in the exhibition.
He’d initially thought that Iris was different from her,but he didn’t expect her to actually turn out to be the same type of person in the end.
Matthew sighed.Even the way he looked at Iris had changed a little.An orchid lover beside him couldn’t help but say, “Mrs. Hunt… Everyone here is a flower lover,is there a need to do something like that?”
“Yeah, how can you make that pot of Ghost Orchids suffer such calamity just to vent your anger on someone?Even if it’s cured,it probably won’t be able to return to its former glory, right?”
“Lauren is not an orchid lover anyway,and was just using them to show off. We all despise her in our hearts,but Mdm.Iris, you are not supposed to be someone like that!”
Everyone was reproaching her softly, and their voices were so low that one couldn’t tell who was the one speaking.After all,no one dared to openly offend Iris.
There was,however,a straightforward person who stepped forward. She pointed at Iris and sighed. “Mdm.Iris,you have always been a fairy like person all these years, and your love for orchids is also a role model among our peers.All these years,how many potted flowers have you saved from the hands of people who have no love for flowers?Why have you lowered yourself so much that you would fight with someone like her?!And for the sake of fighting, you even used a pot of Ghost Orchids to vent your anger!Sigh!”
Lauren’s countenance alternated between being pale and being sullen as she listened to the remarks.
She’d originally thought that everyone would see her in a different light after she came to the orchid exhibition,but little did she expect that they had never thought highly of her before!
They must have been polite to her only because they were afraid that if they offended her,they wouldn’t have anyone to ask for help when their orchids fell sick,right?
So,now that they knew that Nora was Orchidiance,and knew that her medical skills were not as good as hers, they were starting to voice their real thoughts?
When Lauren saw everyone attacking Iris, she secretly felt very happy.
What kind of person was Iris?
One must know that Iris had been a beauty who was equally famous as Yvette in New York back then.
Yvette owed part of her fame to her looks and the other part to her talent. After all,her amazing talent and brilliance had indeed shocked and astounded many.
But Iris was different.
When one spoke of her, everyone would only marvel at and admire her for her beauty and her ethereal character.She was just like a celestial maiden.Anyone who had seen her wouldn’t be able to describe her negatively.
She was lively and cheerful.
Her voice was as beautiful and pleasant as a bird’s.
Her nimble movements made her look even more like a celestial maiden from the heavens.
Therefore,when Herman and Iris divorced,out of everyone in New York, half of the men had insulted Herman and called him blind while the other half was secretly happy that their goddess was single once more.
In addition,Iris wasn’t fond of disputes.Unlike Yvette,who had made enemies everywhere and become the women’s imaginary enemy,she had a good personality. Moreover,she was simply so beautiful and on top of that, her beauty was not the aggressive kind.Even women were amazed by her beauty.No one would be jealous of her beauty; instead,they would only want to defend and protect her beauty.
But hadn’t she brought Iris down from her exalted position all the same?
In order to fight Iris,she had ended up being criticized by others.When she thought of it that way, Lauren felt a sense of accomplishment again.
She could work with this, too!
At the very least,not everyone would be biased towards Iris anymore whenever the two of them were mentioned.
While she was thinking about it,Nora said, “You’ve misunderstood Aunt Iris.”
She took a step forward and spoke to Matthew. She said, “When I told Aunt Iris yesterday that there was a problem with the prescription, she had wanted to contact you right away.I was the one who stopped her.”
Lauren said, “Ms. Smith, there’s no need for you to shoulder all the responsibility just to protect Mdm.Iris’ reputation.”
Nora looked at her. “I’m not trying to shoulder anything.It’s because it has to be done that way.”
Lauren was taken aback.
The people around them also all looked at her.
Nora lowered her head and said dispassionately, “Matthew said yesterday that the prescription had already been used on the Ghost Orchids,so it was already too late to stop him at that time. Therefore,it was necessary that we wait for the medicine to take effect before further treatment can be carried out.Otherwise,if I use any more medicine on it,the Ghost Orchids won’t be able to handle it,and will end up dying.”
Everyone was taken aback.
Nora looked at Lauren. “Therefore, there is no need for you to slander Aunt Iris here.It is only on Aunt Iris’ account that I’m even here to treat that pot of Ghost Orchids.”
With that,everyone looked at Iris.
Iris stood where she was, her back straight.
In spite of how she was nearly fifty years old,one couldn’t see any signs of age on her at all.She was slim and graceful,as though she had always been that youthful celestial maiden from back then all this time.
Matthew was very ashamed of himself. He hung his head at once and said, “To think I’ve misunderstood you, Mdm. Iris I am so despicable! All these years, you are the only one who has shown true love for orchids!”
The others also apologized.
Iris was a distant and unemotional person,and she didn’t feel much for relationships in the first place. She usually didn’t interact much with them, either,so she merely said dispassionately, “It’s fine.”
In any case,she wouldn’t be taking it to heart at all.
At this point,Nora, who didn’t care about what the others were saying, had taken out a bottle that she had prepared in advance and handed it to Matthew.She said, “This is the medicine that Aunt Iris brewed last night using my prescription. Rub the leaves gently with the solution and water it with 0.1 ounces a day. The flowers will recover in half a month.”
A very grateful looking Matthew took the solution from her with both hands.
At this time, someone looked at Nora and said, “Orchidiance… Ms. Smith, there is a small problem with my orchid. Can you…”
Nora cut the other party off. “Sorry,but if you want a medical consultation with me,then you’ll have to follow my rules.”
The man was taken aback.
Nora said, “I only accept two patients a month. You can contact my assistant to get an appointment and queue up.”
Everyone: “??”
Everyone knew that it was hard to book a medical consultation with Nora. The dates were already full for as long as five to six years in the future. Humans could still afford to wait,but how could flowers afford that?
When they were about to speak, Nora looked at Iris and said, “Alternatively, I visit Aunt Iris on the 15th of every month to check on her flowers for her. You can try then.”
Everyone looked at Iris again as if they had found a savior.
Iris: “…”
Nora was completely pushing her out as a shield.
However, Iris also understood that Nora had blown her own cover in order to intimidate Lauren for her. Additionally,she was also probably making them visit her in order to alleviate her loneliness.
At this moment,Nora looked at Lauren, who was about to walk aside, and stopped her. “Mdm. Lauren,have you forgotten our bet?”
Lauren paused and turned around.
Nora pointed to Iris. “Please apologize for wrecking someone else’s family back then!”
Lauren: “!!!”
She bit her lip hard and looked at Iris,her expression extremely awful.But in front of so many people,she had to take responsibility for her actions.
Thus,she took a deep breath and bowed to Iris. She said, “Iris,Herman and I couldn’t help ourselves from falling in love back then and ended up betraying you.We are truly in love with each other,and we also know very well that we have let you down;that was why Herman had left the family without taking a single cent.If you feel that we still owe you something,then I solemnly apologize I’m sorry!”
By putting a hidden message in her words and mentioning that Herman had left the family without taking any money from them,she wanted to tell everyone that she and Herman had already paid the price for their actions.
Still,no matter what,she had admitted to wrecking someone else’s family!
As a result,she had thoroughly embarrassed herself in front of everyone.
She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Then, she forced a small smile and said, “Alright, it’s okay even if you resent me or dislike me, but since I’ve gathered everyone here,then why don’t you guys enjoy and admire the orchids? I suddenly remembered that I have something to do,so I will leave first. You can direct all matters about the orchid exhibition today to the manager.”
After saying that,Lauren turned and left.
Nora narrowed her eyes as she looked at her from the back.
Lauren’s final move had been very graceful,and she also spoke elegantly. Her words really didn’t seem like something a vicious side character pretending to be a pure and innocent woman would say.
For her to be able to snatch Herman away from the top beauty Iris back then,it seemed that she did indeed have a trick or two up her sleeve.
She lowered her eyes.
For some reason,she couldn’t help but feel that Herman and Lauren’s sudden return to America was a little fishy.
Nora strolled around the orchid exhibition with Iris. The people there were simply too enthusiastic towards the two of them. Unable to bear it,they found an excuse and slipped away.
On the way back to the villa after leaving the orchid exhibition,Iris looked at Nora again and again.However, he didn’t say anything at all. After thinking about it,she refrained from making conversation.
Soon,the two returned to the suburban villa.
As soon as they entered the gates, Iris spotted Justin’s black Maybach parked outside the door. She took a deep breath and entered the house.
Justin stood up.As he stood there and looked at her, Iris asked, “Did you know that Nora is Orchidiance?”
Justin shook his head.
He didn’t know who Orchidiance was after all, he wasn’t knowledgeable about orchids.
However…
The corners of Justin’s lips curled into a smile and he said, “I believe in Nora’s capabilities,so I waited here to listen to your story."
- Writer
