"Do you think that I, Richie Lind, am short of money? Both of us agreed when we made the agreement. Naturally, you're not the only one who has the final say in breaking the contract now!"
"That agreement doesn't have any legal effect at all. If I insist on not fulfilling it, you can't do anything about it."
Yasmine Taylor really did not want to fall out with him, but in this situation, she had no choice if she wanted to solve the problem.
"Yes, I can't do anything to you, but it's not necessarily the case for your uncle."
Richie looked at Chuck Lorris with a confident look while Chuck looked like a deflated ball with his head drooping from his shoulders as he dared not look at his niece.
"What do you mean?"
"You can ask your uncle to tell you the reason. I have to catch the plane back to T City in the afternoon. You and your uncle can give me an answer after discussing it. If you don't come back to see Leighton before the 20th this month, don't blame me for being rude."
Richie issued an ultimatum, got up, and strode away like he was an upstart.
For several minutes, Yasmine did not say a word and just glared at her uncle. Finally, Chuck could not take it anymore and said, "Yasmine, don't look at your uncle like this, okay? You're giving me the willies."
"Are you scared or guilty?" She asked sharply, "What is he threatening you with?"
Chuck sighed deeply and said in an annoyed tone, "I was tricked by him. Somehow, he heard the news of your marriage last month, and he predicted that you might break the agreement. Then, he found me and said that he would give me a way to make a fortune and even lend me a large sum of money. I didn't think much at that time and agreed happily. Who would have thought that it was his trap? He deliberately arranged for the person who made the deal with me to record the whole process of our transaction..."
"Deal? What kind of deal?"
Yasmine asked with a livid face.
"It's a deal for selling cigarettes," Chuck answered in a low voice.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's not illegal to sell cigarettes."
"But..."
She was rattled again after she had just relaxed. "But what?"
"The cigarettes were mixed with some special substances."
"What?!"
Yasmine suddenly stood up and said, "You're selling..." Before the word "drugs" could be uttered, Chuck covered her mouth in panic. "Keep your voice down, it's deadly!"
She was going crazy. Yasmine was so infuriated that her eyes dimmed and her whole body was trembling. She took a long time to calm down and told him clearly, "This time, I'll not care about you anymore." She picked up her bag and went out of the tea house angrily.
"Yasmine, listen to Uncle's explanation. I have my reasons..."
Chuck chased after her and pitifully pulled her sleeve.
Yasmine flung his hand off her angrily. "You always have reasons, don't you? I've heard enough of them!"
"But this time I really have difficulties. Your Auntie has liver cancer and the surgery costs a lot of money. I only fell into Richie's trap because I had no other choice. I have no children so the only person who can keep me company is your Auntie. I can't watch her die no matter what. I believe that you understand the pain of losing your closest relative more than anyone else..."
"Uncle, you're really hopeless." Yasmine hatefully criticized, "You're cursing your wife with a terminal illness just to earn my sympathy."
Hearing this, Chuck burst into tears and said, "Yasmine, why don't you believe your uncle? If you don't believe me, come home with me and see for yourself."
"There's no need. I'm completely disappointed in you and Auntie."
Like the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, no one would be repeatedly tricked.
Yasmine left resolutely, but Chuck yelled behind her, "Who are you to hate your father? You're both coldblooded people."
She stopped, slowly turned around, and sarcastically asked, "Do you expect me to sacrifice the happiness of my entire life in order to satisfy your selfish interests?"
"How happy can you be, being married to a man who has divorced six wives?"
"At least, happiness is my own choice."
"No one forced you back then."
A trace of sadness flashed through Yasmine's eyes. "Yes, no one forced me back then. But in that situation, what else could I do?"
"Still, you can't go back on your word."
"It's my fault that I breached the agreement, but I didn't want to keep my promise from the start." She paused for a moment and said in distress, "So, I'm sorry, Uncle. This time, I will really give up on you."
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Chuck could not help but panic. "Yasmine, you can't do that. Now your uncle's life is completely in your hands. If you let go of him, he will definitely die..."
"If you had known the consequences, why did you do what you did in the first place?"
Looking at her only relative in front of her, she was exasperated and disappointed. She was determined and she finally hailed a taxi and went away.
When she got home, it was already late at night. After parting with her uncle, she went to her mother's cemetery and talked to her mother for a long time.
"Yasmine, what's wrong with you? Why is your face so pale?"
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