Since it was summer break, there were no classes to attend. Trying hard to act like a dutiful wife and loving mother, Sophia left home for work at 8.30 AM sharp and parked her motorcycle in the garage at 6.30 PM every day after finishing work. Moreover, she would leave home with Michael for a walk every weekend.
Celine acted as if nothing had happened after Michael caught her in the act that day; she still acted without restraint as if wanting to retrieve the seven youthful years that she had lost.
Her life was colorful as she spent every day clubbing, flirting with ladies, and beating up high school students. As a result, scandalous titbits about Taylor were updated regularly in the entertainment news like a serial novel, with daily stories about him picking up girls, engaging in illegal racing, fighting, and getting into brawls…
These days, many underworld gangs recruited members who were still studying, especially middle school kids. Teenagers were hot-blooded and gullible; since they were relatively weak in distinguishing right from wrong, they would think that it was cool and respectable to be gangsters.
Celine had been picking on these student gangs recently. Firstly, it was because such gangs were relatively weak and were convenient tools for her to train the tenderfoots with. After all, these gangs infiltrated schools to trick students into joining them because they were weak. Secondly, the members of such gangs were all teenagers, making them easy targets to beat up—she could do whatever she pleased with them while she was at it.
Thirdly, underworld gangs should be nipped in the bud. Students should go back and study instead of joining the underworld!
Celine thought she had done a great deed by giving these teenage gangsters a beating and telling them to return to school and study!
Meanwhile, Sophia had been acting like a dutiful wife and loving mother for several days before Stanley asked her in secret, “Aunt Celine is going to have another fight with some gangsters at 12.00 PM tomorrow, Aunt. Would you like to join us? It’ll be exciting!”
Sophia quickly waved her hand and conscientiously worked in her office with her glasses on. “No, I’m not joining! I’m never going to join you guys ever again; your uncle had been really angry the last time.”
Stanley assured her, “Don’t worry! This time, I’ve already asked around—Uncle Michael and Mr. Harry will be having a meeting to discuss their scripts tomorrow. They’ll begin filming soon, and they’re bound to be busy. We’ll go secretly and end the fight within two hours. This time, we’re going to beat up a sc*mbag named Ben in Riverdale. He has quite the influence over there and has amassed a gang of high school students to act like tyrants everywhere. He provoked Aunt Celine the night before yesterday.”
Sophia pricked up her ears upon hearing the word ‘Riverdale’, and the name ‘Ben’ resounded in her ears.
She exclaimed, “Are you talking about Ben Oak?”
Stanley answered, “That’s right! It’s him that I’m talking about. You must know him since you grew up in Riverdale!”
He’s more than someone I know! Sophia thought to herself.
Having quite some influence in Riverdale, Ben had more than 200 underlings. Most of them were undergraduates and high school students.
It could be said that Ben’s name resounded in the students’ ears back when she was studying at Riverdale High School. Everyone spoke of him with either a look of admiration or a look of terror on their faces.
To Sophia, Ben’s name used to be associated with several past events that she couldn’t bear to recall…
She had just been admitted to Riverdale High School back then, and the school principal specially approved the waiver of her tuition and accommodation fees. Besides the living allowance that was credited to her meal card every month, the school principal gave her some pocket money out of his own pocket every month. She also earned extra income by doing part-time jobs in school, such as delivering barreled water and sweeping the floors. She was also awarded a yearly scholarship, so she never had to worry about spending money on food and clothing—she could even save some money occasionally.
Sophia had forced herself to become stronger to reward the school principal for recognizing and appreciating her talents. She finished in the top five of her class during every exam; she usually had the best grades in her class, but there were also several occasions where she had the second or third best grades.
She heard of Ben’s name for the first time when several dozen female gangsters blocked her in the toilet one day before her sophomore year’s second end-of-term exam.
Her head was pinned against the toilet seat cover as the female gangsters stripped off her school uniform shirt. Then, they stubbed out a few cigarette butts on her back. It produced a sizzling sound and the smell of burning flesh, which formed an extremely strange smell when mixed with the weird odor in the toilet. Sophia shed tears of pain but didn’t dare say a word.
“You b*tch, you should have asked around outside! Rosie is Ben’s younger sister! Do you know who Ben is?”
“You should feel honored that Rosie wants you to pass the exam questions’ answers to her, so don’t be ungrateful by turning her down!”
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