Ch. 1181..1190

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1181

Slap! Sandra slammed her palm hard across Derek’s cheek, leaving behind a scarlet mark.

Instead of fighting back, Derek only touched his face and let out a sigh. “Huh. That was harsh.” Not only was it harsh, but Sandra probably wanted to hit him to death.

Both of them were illegitimate children, but she was being restrained and was struggling with her life right now. Yet, Derek had gone up in the world!

On what grounds? A slap was not enough to express the wrath in Sandra’s heart. Pointing at Derek’s nose, she cursed, “Don’t forget your identity, Derek. Your father is Alex, not Cooper. How can you betray your own father for a traitor? Aren’t you afraid you’d be struck by lightning?”

However, Derek did not want to talk about that with Sandra. After all these years, all that should be said had been said. Whether he was Derek Oak or Derek Mitchell, he had nothing to do with Sandra and Alex.

He turned around and wanted to leave the scene. But, Sandra caught up and stopped him from leaving. Taking out a flash drive from nowhere, she handed it to Derek. Arrogantly, she said, “I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Make a copy of all the confidential info of Dragon Technology. I want all the personal information of the customers, the marketing strategies, and the systems. After you’ve done that, I’ll make sure you’re inside the Mitchell Family’s genealogy record book! I’ll also ask Dad to acknowledge you in public so that you can return to the family.”

Derek took the flash drive and smiled. “Sure.”

Instantly, Sandra was thrilled. As she had expected, no one would be able to resist the temptation of being added into the genealogy record book of the family. Derek was her biological brother, and they were both illegitimate children. Naturally, she knew what Derek wanted. She would wait for Derek to give her a copy of all the information she requested. However, there was no way he would be added to the genealogy record book!

The Mitchell Family belonged to her. If Derek returned to them, there would be one more competitor. His existence was like a reminder to her that she was just an illegitimate child. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to get rid of that pathetic status!

However, at this point, Derek, an illegitimate child like herself, was actually becoming more and more successful. Although he only graduated from university not long ago, he was already sitting in the executive position of Dragon Technology. Who gave him the right?

Just like how she had gotten rid of her uncle and mother, she would get rid of Derek sooner or later. Now that he was still somewhat useful to her, she would not do anything to him yet. To make sure that Derek was appeased, Sandra even patted his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t worry. When we finally take over Dragon Technology, I won’t mistreat you.”

Staring at the flash drive in his palm, Derek turned it over and over again as he observed it. He then noticed the logo of Mitchell’s Technology on it, realizing that it was the new product of the company. Feeling its texture with his palm, he frowned and said, “The core technology of this flash drive was left by Uncle Cooper thirty years ago. It has been so many years since then, and you guys never thought of improving it? I’m starting to wonder how Mitchell’s Technology survived with such old technology.”

“Huh?” Sandra did not understand what he was trying to say.

Derek continued, “Is this flash drive waterproof?”

Not knowing why he asked that, Sandra answered, “Not yet—”

Derek hummed in response before she could finish and threw the flash drive into the water.

When it fell into the water, it only made a small splash because it was so small. Staring at the flash drive that sank into the hot spring pool, Derek laughed heartlessly. “How dare you fool around with technology created thirty years ago? It seems like the Mitchell Family is only basking on Uncle Cooper’s past glory and did nothing to improve at all!”

No, in fact, Mitchell’s Technology did improve themselves, but compared to Cooper’s extraordinary insight and business acumen, the Mitchells were nothing. Although they did have some talents, they did not know how to appreciate them. Instead of their employees’ capabilities, the Mitchells focused on their connections. That was why they could not make their talents stay.

At this very moment, Sandra finally realized that she had been fooled by Derek. How dare a petty bastard like him provoke me? “Don’t forget who you are, Derek! You’re just an illegitimate child. Do you think Cooper will ever appreciate you? You’re as petty as a dog in front of him!”

Yet, as if he did not hear her, Derek walked away casually.

“You’re just an illegitimate child! A bastard! You’ll only succeed in life when Dad acknowledges you. Do you hear me?” Sandra was like a repeater repeating those few words, reminding Derek of his identity over and over again. “Cooper and Alex are at odds, and you’re Dad’s illegitimate son. It’s a matter of time before Cooper gets rid of you!” cursed Sandra viciously.

However, Derek had not heard all those words. He was already enjoying the ice cream he bought from the convenience store.

Illegitimate son? He had never forgotten that he was an illegitimate son, and he had never forgotten who his parents were. No one could choose their own birth. Yet, everyone could choose their own future. He used to surrender to his destiny as an illegitimate son who was invisible and who would be useless for the rest of his life.

But, someone told him that there was nothing wrong with being an illegitimate son. He was not born with one limb less than others, and neither was he dumber than the others. He was perfectly fine!

Sophia encouraged him to go back to school and even helped enroll him into Bayside University, where he had learned a great deal alongside Stanley and Sean. By the time he graduated, he was packed with knowledge and skills. His outstanding ability had been acknowledged by everyone, and he had been directly appointed as a senior executive when Dragon Technology was established.

Even Cooper valued him a lot by entrusting him with important responsibilities; he said that he saw his past self in Derek, who had the talent and drive to do things. Sophia was fond of him, and everyone else liked him too. He served in Dragon Technology, and everyone in the company saw what he was capable of; nobody cared who his parents were. It was too bad that Sandra would never understand that. Since young, she worked hard just to make sure that Alex would notice her and acknowledge her.

Staring in the direction where Derek left, Sandra was so infuriated that her fingertips had gone pale. Very well. Since you’re useless to me, then there’s no reason you should stay alive!

While Derek was enjoying his ice cream, Sophia came. They looked content and there was a lot of physical interaction between them as they were talking. Unbeknownst to them, a camera lens was filming them from afar in secret…

When Derek and Sophia were playing around, they felt like high school students again. Back then, they would study together all afternoon after school.

Derek recalled the days when Sophia wanted to practice speaking with real foreigners. He found a high-end restaurant for Sophia to work part-time serving dishes because most of the customers were foreigners. When Sophia found out, she was overjoyed and went to work several weekends in a row. Apart from that, he bought some textbooks on purpose and gave them to Sophia, and even pretended that those were scraps he collected from back home.

As Sophia was eating her ice cream, she let out a sigh. “I wish we could go back to that time!” Unfortunately, she had forgotten all of it.

When Derek remembered what Sandra said to him earlier, he was worried. “I have a hunch that Sandra might lay a hand on me soon. Dragon Technology is like a thorn in the flesh for the Mitchells. They must be trying to find a way to tear us up from within. I’m probably the pawn they want to use.”

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1182

Derek was Alex’s illegitimate son, so this matter would certainly create a huge impact if it was brought to light. Moreover, this identity of his would have miraculous effects if it was used well.

To his surprise, Sophia didn’t care about it at all. She said, “That’s not a big deal. I’ll find you a super invincible bodyguard!”

A super invincible bodyguard! Derek was a little hopeful. Could the bodyguard be the secretive Hale or the two-meter-tall Roger?

Sophia told Michael that she would like to find a bodyguard for Derek. A while after that, Michael took Derek to meet the latter’s bodyguard.

Derek was incredibly excited, for he was finally going to have a bodyguard. But much to his dismay, when he arrived at the place, he saw Quinton, who was playing cards.

Derek was totally speechless. Michael then pointed at Quinton, saying, “This is your bodyguard, and he’s super formidable. Are you moved?”

No, I dare not move, thought Derek to himself.

Michael said seriously to Quinton, “This is Sophia’s younger brother, whom I shall leave in your care. You’ll be alive as long as he stays alive, but if he dies, you’ll die as well.”

Quinton rolled his eyes, but he reluctantly complied since Michael had agreed to give him freedom for the time being.

Michael liked Derek very much because Sophia often mentioned him in the past. Derek had helped Sophia quite a lot, so Michael treated him like a younger brother during the years she was missing. Luckily, Derek didn’t disappoint him; he could now handle things by himself.

The pleasant hot spring vacation ended in pleasure. Everyone went back to their respective homes since they had to go to work as usual on Monday. Just two days after their return, several online media and newspapers suddenly published a news story that shocked the financial circles and show business of Bayside City: Sophia was having an affair with Derek!

The news story was written in a well-presented manner, and it even had the photo sticker that Sophia and Derek had taken together during high school attached as proof that they had known each other for many years and were on intimate terms. There was even a video showing them going to a hot spring lately. In the video, they were shown wearing swimsuits while behaving intimately toward each other.

Some fans immediately argued that they belonged to the same family. However, the haters immediately refuted this argument, claiming that their blood relationship was distant despite them belonging to the same family. The Mitchells were a huge family with many inter-family marriages. The law only prohibited marriages between lineal blood relatives within three generations, but they were separated by more than three generations of descent.

Furthermore, Carmen was currently popular after her appearance in ‘Where Are We Going, Dad?’, so there were even suspicions about who her biological father was. Some even pointed out her looks, spreading slanderous rumors that Carmen was actually Sophia and Derek’s daughter, thus making Michael a cuckold.

Michael saw the news story as well, and he quickly found something that bothered him. “How could they say that my daughter doesn’t look like me?!”

Holding Carmen in his arms, he stood in front of the mirror while comparing her looks with his. In fact, Carmen looked more like her mother, but her eyes and the shape of her face resembled her father’s. He had thoughtfully had a DNA paternity test performed back when Carmen was brought back to prevent Quinton from coming up with another wicked idea of using somebody else’s child to mislead him.

Actually, Michael was certain that Carmen was his daughter even without performing the DNA paternity test, for he cried on the spot the first time he held her in his arms. How could they slander Carmen by alleging that she isn’t my daughter! It seems that the Mitchells are tired of living!

Derek came hurriedly in the middle of the night when he saw the news. Quinton, who was appointed to be his personal bodyguard, had been following him these days, so he came on this day as well.

“This must be Sandra’s doing! Look! These photo stickers were taken while I was in junior high. They were pasted in my room, but my relatives occupied the house by force when my dad and uncle died afterward. I never went back there since then, but I never expected them to be able to find these photo stickers.”

A photo studio opened near his school back then, and there was a photo sticker booth at its entrance. The booth was hugely popular among the students, so many had taken photo stickers there.

Sophia wanted to take photo stickers too, but she didn’t have the money to do so. She hadn’t started dating Richard back then, so Derek took her to take photo stickers. Therefore, the photo stickers became the only photos she had taken during her sophomore year in high school. She never expected these photo stickers to be dug up and used as dirt against her. The news story even used them as proof to hit out at her looks and suspect her of having cosmetic surgeries.

Quinton took a glance at the photo stickers, in which Sophia looked dark and ugly. She wore her hair banged, but her bangs were too long. She couldn’t afford to go to a barbershop for a haircut, so she cut the bangs herself with a pair of scissors, causing it to look very choppy. She indeed looked very different then compared to now. Moreover, her later facial disfigurement forced her to have constant cosmetic surgeries to restore her original appearance.

This tabloid news had caused an uproar. These news stories could only fool the outsiders, but they couldn’t fool those who were close to them. If this was a trick to sow discord among them, wouldn’t it be a little too lousy?

Sophia didn’t work in show business, so it seemed pointless to play up this kind of scandal. “Let’s not take action first. We shall wait and see what they want to do.” They must have some other tricks up their sleeves!

Michael didn’t think the same, though. When they alleged that he was a transsexual, he could turn a blind eye, ignore them, and treat their allegations as nonsense. But now, they claimed that Sophia was having an affair with Derek. This was simply an insult to his charm and masculinity!

Moreover, these news stories even dared to gossip about Carmen’s looks. They must be banned!

Half a day later, all the news stories vanished without a trace. Michael had personally dealt with the offline media, and all the news stories published online were also deleted. Also, he directly sent demand letters to the several media that spread the rumors, demanding them to issue a public apology and pay compensation!

There was also a great fuss on Michael’s side. He publicly reported many tabloid social media accounts to the authorities, resulting in them being banned. It seemed that he wanted to spare no one, for many tabloid magazines were even forced to close down because of the news story.

Sandra, who had been watching their moves the whole time, was immensely pleased upon learning what Michael had done. “Great! This is great,” she mumbled before dialing a number. Then, she said to the person on the other end of the line, “You may take action now.”

She was brimming with confidence when she hung up. Just wait for my strike, Sophia and Cooper! I want you to fall from power with no possibility of turning the tables!

…

A certain floor of Dragon Technology’s office building was still brightly lit one night. It was already 10.00PM, but Derek was still working in his office.

He started working as an intern in Plum Technology during his first year at university. After his graduation, he started working full-time, so he could be considered a senior staff member now. Now that Dragon Technology was founded, he devoted his heart and soul to his work. He was determined to make achievements as soon as possible to live up to Cooper and Sophia’s expectations.

He stood up to get some coffee. Holding his cup of coffee, he glanced out of the French window at the neon lights of Bayside City when he suddenly said to Quinton, who was crouching in a corner, “I heard that you used to be a lecturer at Bayside University. Are you really not going back to Bayside University to work as a lecturer?”

Several years ago, Quinton Clark, a lecturer at Bayside University, sacrificed himself to save the captured students from the hands of terrorists, causing a great sensation back then. Who would have thought that he was still alive?

Quinton couldn’t be bothered to respond to Derek since he was playing games using one of the computers in the office. As Derek’s inconspicuous bodyguard, he usually had almost nothing to do except to follow Derek around.

Since Quinton didn’t speak, Derek continued attending to his work. Unexpectedly, right after Derek sat down, Quinton—who was playing games with the speakers muted—pricked up his ears.

There were noises outside the door.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1183

“Someone’s here,” stated Quinton.

Derek was still switching on his computer since he was about to carry on with his work. Not taking Quinton’s words seriously, he replied, “It could be the security guards who are keeping watch at night.”

However, Quinton’s professional instinct told him that the people outside weren’t security guards.

Security guards wouldn’t walk so carefully.

He quietly got up and burrowed himself into a corner without making a sound, cautiously blending in with the night, like a cat lurking in the dark.

Then, the lights were silently switched off.

Even Derek noticed that something was strange.

He figured that Sandra would certainly lay a hand on him these days. Is she going to do so in the office building? Isn’t this a little too bold of her?

Upon that thought, Derek stood up as well. To his surprise, the door to his office was suddenly banged open before three burly men barged in from the outside; all of them had scars on their faces and were holding machetes.

Derek’s heart skipped a beat, but he put up a brave front by yelling, “Who are you guys?!”

He knew that these men came for him. As expected, Sandra made a move.

The strong desire to survive caused Derek’s physical strength and reflexes to reach their peak. He subconsciously picked up the chair on the floor to fight off the machete-wielding men, yelling, “What are you waiting for? Save me!”

Unfortunately, Quinton had disappeared without a trace amid the chaos.

As expected, this guy isn’t reliable at all!

These burly men had come well-prepared; their attacks were ruthless and by no means sloppy, for they never spoke from the moment they showed up until the moment they struck. One could tell at a glance from their expressionless faces and the chillingly frosty looks in their eyes that they were a bunch of desperadoes.

After fighting against them a few times, Derek was forced to step back to the front of the French window that was dozens of stories high above the ground.

Dragon Technology’s office building was very tall and good-looking. It had a unique architecture, for several floors at the top level were designed to shape like a mushroom.

Stanley had complained more than once that their office building looked like a cock, with Derek’s office located at its ‘tip’.

The window had been smashed using the chair during the fight just now, creating a hole where cold air gusted through from a high altitude. As a result, the temperature in the office dropped drastically to below zero degrees Celsius. Derek trembled all over, knowing that there was no escape for him.

No, I won’t be resigned to this! I’m about to realize my ambition, and my ideal life is about to come true. My wonderful life has just started, so I can’t die!

But with the three machete-wielding men closing in on him, he would either be slashed to death or fall to his death on this day.

He refused to resign himself to such a fate!

Unfortunately, he already had no time left, for the three men suddenly closed in on him simultaneously. He backed away step by step until he was in front of the holed French window. Cold air gusted in through the hole, making Derek feel as if his blood was frozen.

Suddenly, someone pushed his shoulders forcefully, causing him to lose his footing, and he fell into the darkness at high altitude.

“Aaaaah—” Derek let out a blood-curdling scream. Suddenly, he felt his hands being grasped firmly by something.

He thought that he must be dreaming. He must have been as dead as a doornail after falling from a building that was dozens of stories high…

The three outlaws looked everywhere after pushing Derek off the building. Someone else seemed to have been in this room just now, but they went missing in the blink of an eye. They hurried to the first floor to avoid unnecessary complications, only to see that the floor was very clean—Derek’s remains were nowhere to be seen.

What’s going on? He couldn’t have survived after falling from such a tall building, so where are his remains?

Perhaps the body landed somewhere else since it’s so dark and windy.

The outlaws decided to just forget it; they had seen Derek falling off the building with their own eyes, so they thought he couldn’t possibly have survived.

One of them took out his cell phone and made a phone call. “Hello? The deed was done, but we didn’t find the remains. Just rest assured, for our work is surely reliable. I have sent the surveillance footage of the scene to your email, so you may watch it. Make sure to pay the remaining balance after watching the surveillance footage.”

As expected, they received a 7-digit payment in their bank account after a while, then they immediately set out to leave the city without delay. But right after they got on the beltway, an oil tanker rammed into their vehicle, breaking their car into pieces on the spot.

Boom!

The oil tanker then exploded, reducing several human lives to ashes at once.

When Sophia woke up the next day, she learned of a piece of earth-shattering news.

“What? Our company was burglarized? Derek fell off the building and went missing?” Sophia was shocked upon hearing the details told by the person on the other end of the line. She subconsciously uttered, “What about Quinton? What? He went missing as well?”

Michael, who was sleeping next to her, suddenly awoke with a start upon hearing the three names. He sat up and listened to what was being told over the phone.

Dragon Technology was burglarized? Quinton and Derek both went missing, and the surveillance footage showed Derek falling off the building? So they died together? How could that be possible? Quinton couldn’t even be killed with a missile!

Michael and Sophia hurried to Dragon Technology together, and Cooper also hurried there upon learning about the news.

Michael called Quinton on the way; only he and Derek knew Quinton’s phone number.

The call was put through. “Where are you?” he asked.

Quinton answered, “Reverie Mountain.”

“What are you doing there?!”

Quinton replied, “Enjoying the hot spring.”

He actually went to Reverie Mountain! Michael was shocked, but Quinton indeed could come and go like a shadow. Michael hurriedly asked, “Where’s the other one?”

Quinton replied, “He was a little in shock, so he went to sleep the moment we arrived.”

Since Quinton said so, Michael was naturally relieved. As expected, Derek wouldn’t die when Quinton is present.

When they reached the company, they found that the door to the building was indeed forced open. The police had even come to cordon off the scene.

Originally built by Michael, the mushroom-shaped building where Dragon Technology Corporation was located overlooked the buildings around it with its height of tens of stories. Its lower levels had been rented out to a six-star hotel, whereas the higher levels were where Dragon Technology Corporation was located. The company was very large in size since it occupied dozens of floors in the building. However, it was founded very recently, so many of its subsidiaries hadn’t moved in. There were still some imperfections in its internal management, resulting in many loopholes.

Sophia went to the scene of the incident to take a look. The security guards in charge of keeping watch at night had been sent to the hospital after being knocked unconscious. The police were watching the surveillance footage, and Derek’s office had been cordoned off. Many signs of struggle were found at the scene of the incident; the window was smashed into pieces, and a broken chair was even found downstairs. Luckily, no one was near the scene at that time.

The surveillance videos showed three fierce-looking burly men going up using the hotel’s elevator and purposefully heading for Derek’s office. They fought with Derek in the office for less than one minute before pushing him off the building.

Michael exclaimed with an unctuous sigh, “Oh, my god! Who did this?”

A police officer responded. “There was a car accident on the inner ring expressway early this morning. It was preliminarily determined that the three suspects had died in the car crash, and all three of them were wanted criminals.”

 

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1184

Many companies in the building were closed then, but the surveillance system was still operating normally. The three suspects swaggered their way in and blatantly committed the crime; they even made a copy of the surveillance footage for some unknown reason before leaving.

However, Derek—or his remains—was missing. The surveillance footage showed that he had been pushed off the building, but his remains were never found. No remains were found even after the search area was widened to a few kilometers within the radius.

This incident wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

Michael kept watching the surveillance videos. As expected, he couldn’t spot Quinton, who was very mindful of surveillance cameras. The first thing he did upon entering a room was always to look for surveillance blind spots.

Suddenly, someone could be heard coming in hurriedly wearing high heels. “Oh, Derek, my brother! What has happened to my brother?”

Sophia looked back to see Sandra, who looked incredibly anxious as she came in and grabbed the arm of one of the police officers. She said, “I’m Sandra Mitchell, and Derek is my younger brother. I received a call from him last night, and he said someone wanted to kill him. Where is my brother? Has anyone seen my brother?”

The police officer replied regretfully, “Your brother, Derek, has gone missing after falling off the building last night. We’re still searching for him right now.”

Sandra seemed devastated by the police officer’s words. She slumped back against the wall and was in a daze for a moment before suddenly bursting into floods of tears. She wailed so pitifully that even the police officer couldn’t stand seeing her like this and gave her a few words of comfort. As the victim’s sister, she reluctantly started to have her testimony recorded.

“My brother and I were very close. He was more of a low-key person, so he never made his identity public. He started working from the bottom and was a very down-to-earth and hardworking kid. He was always busy, but we still kept in touch, and we often traveled together. I have no idea what on earth has happened. He usually treated people very nicely, and he never incurred anyone’s hatred. Why would someone want to kill him…”

Sophia breathed out through her nostrils as she watched from the sidelines. What she says is so full of high-sounding words, she thought to herself.

Wanting to see what Sandra wanted to do, she continued listening patiently.

Suddenly, Sandra seemed to have recalled something; she jumped and pointed at Sophia, shouting, “She must have been the one who killed my brother!” She seemed to have figured everything out at once, for she spoke sternly. “My brother told me that this woman had designs on him, for she wanted to make him her kept man. After he refused her, she even threatened him, saying that she would give him a hard time if he didn’t submit to her. It must be her!”

The assistant quickly grabbed her, but she yelled, as if being possessed, “Sophia, you must have been the one who killed my brother! You’re so cruel! Just you wait; I’ll definitely avenge my brother! I want you to pay with your life!”

Sophia retorted in a poised manner, “Miss Mitchell, your brother’s remains haven’t been found yet! How could you assert categorically that he’s dead?”

Sandra let out a few sobs while crying with grief. “You all must have hidden my brother’s remains away! You all are so cruel! My brother was also a Mitchell, so why would you harm him like this?” She was devastated. “Just you wait; I must make you all pay the price! I’ll definitely avenge Derek!” she growled viciously.

With that, she wiped her tears and left in a hurry.

Sophia let out another sneer.

The sun rose late in winter, so it was just 9.00AM when Sophia came downstairs after she hurried to Dragon Technology Corporation and finished dealing with the matters. It seemed that nothing had happened at Dragon Technology’s premises as the office workers hurried in and out of the company. Even though there was a suspected homicide, only the floor where the incident happened was sealed off for rectification. Merely a few people worked on that floor, anyway.

It was labeled a homicide, but the victim was never found, which was truly strange.

It was cold in winter, so Michael and Sophia walked downstairs with their face masks put on to maintain a low profile and keep themselves warm.

Still, Sophia smelled the savory aroma of steamed buns through the face mask.

Seeing that her little nose wiggled, Michael immediately bought a few steamed meat buns and walked over. “Come; have some buns.”

Sophia took off her face mask and was about to eat the bun when Michael sank his teeth into it and bit off a huge chunk of it before she did so.

He ate a mouthful of the bun with relish before saying, “I’ve tested it for poison. It’s very tasty.”

Sophia smiled shyly and pounded his chest with her small fists. The two then got into the car affectionately. Sophia had been working at the JNS Group these days, so she drove there straight away.

Cooper, who was behind them, looked lonely; it was as if he was transparent. My daughter has grown up, and she doesn’t need me anymore…

Sophia then went to the JNS Group. She had her hands full with the approaching fashion week, so she was under a lot of stress. She had drawn several big names in the fashion world to her side, and Ivan, whom she had trained herself, could now take care of things by himself. Even so, she still felt that she was at her wits’ end. After all, this was the first time she held a fashion week event, so everybody was looking forward to it.

Her goal wasn’t for Bayside Fashion Week to influence the global fashion world like the four major fashion week events when it debuted on Monday. At the very least, though, she didn’t want the event to turn out to be too unsightly.

She had to worry about everything, including the venue, guests, and funds. The fashion week event cost a huge amount of money and would be held on an unprecedented scale. As the founder of this fashion week event, she often felt as if she was going to be out of breath.

When she went home exhausted after a busy day, she saw that everyone was watching TV in the living room.

Alex was shown bursting into tears in front of the interview camera on TV. “Derek was my son even though I never disclosed his existence to the public. He had been rebellious since childhood, so he was unwilling to accept everything that I had arranged for him. He had always been working and living alone outside independently, but I never expected my son to…”

A surveillance video was inserted in the newscast, and it was none other than the one that showed Derek being forced to jump off the window. The video showed him being hemmed in by three burly men before they pushed him off the building.

The video was the surveillance footage of his office. Due to the camera’s limited angle of view, he could only be seen jumping out of the window. It couldn’t be seen whether he had fallen off the building, but in general, he would undoubtedly die under such circumstances.

Sandra was then shown weeping pitifully. “My brother and I were on the best terms with each other. We even planned to go to the seaside for a holiday a few days ago, but I never expected him to… Oh, my poor brother! I’ll certainly find out who your murderer was!”

This clip was included in every news channel, so Sandra and Alex’s faces were shown everywhere during prime time.

The Mitchells made a big fuss by pressuring the police to determine Derek’s cause of death as soon as possible.

The police soon found out Derek’s cause of death. Unfortunately, the three murderers got into a car crash while escaping in their car after committing the crime, causing them to be burned to death together.

The video of Derek falling off the building was circulated all over the Internet. The three murderers’ faces appeared in the video, so it wasn’t difficult to find out who they were.

The police issued the announcement and closed the case within two days. The only questionable thing about this case was that Derek’s remains were never found.

The Mitchells seized upon this questionable point and played it up, demanding an explanation.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1185

At the same time, the Internet was in an uproar.

There had been some media hype about Derek and Sophia having an affair before, but Michael had forcefully banned these news reports. Now that both Derek and his murderers had died and the victim’s remains were never found, the netizens let their imaginations run wild.

‘Taylor Murray must have hired Derek’s murderers. Who could stand being cuckolded? He dared not lay a hand on his wife since his father-in-law is very powerful. Hence, he could only get back at Derek!’

‘I have a friend who is working at Dragon Technology. He said that Derek and Eddie were on intimate terms, and they seemed to have quarreled on the day of the incident. It must have been Eddie who killed him; she must have been afraid that Taylor found out about her affair with Derek!’

‘Where are the remains? The more I think about where the remains have gone, the more scared I get!’

‘The remains must have been hidden away to lower the risks of the culprit being found. What a bunch of disgusting capitalists!’

‘There were too many inside stories behind the scenes. We can’t talk about them; otherwise, what we say will probably be censored. Taylor Murray had forced a bunch of truth-telling newspapers and magazines to close down with a snap of his fingers… We can only say that human lives are too worthless.’

Sophia was really impressed by these netizens’ imagination.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out Sandra’s intentions when one thought back carefully about the whole incident.

She played up scandalous gossip about Derek, making him famous by using Michael’s reputation. Then, she killed him when speculations about the gossip reached their peak. Since the murderers were dead, there was no witness testimony to prove Michael and Sophia’s innocence. Therefore, everyone would certainly point the finger at Michael, Sophia, and even Cooper.

The kept man was dead, so who killed him? It must have been either Michael or Sophia.

Thanks to Sandra’s manipulation, Derek’s death was sensationalized on a scale so spectacular that the story couldn’t be played down at all. Sandra, the victim’s sister, wept out her grief on her social media accounts almost every day, detailing tearfully how miserable the loss of her younger brother had made her, and how close she and Derek used to be.

It was indeed weird that Alex was suddenly revealed to have a son, and the fact that Sandra was his illegitimate daughter could be exposed by accident any time. However, Derek’s death was the focus here, and they were very good at obscuring the focus…

Now that Derek had died like that, Cooper couldn’t escape the responsibility. Even if the previous scandalous gossip about Derek and Sophia were set aside, Dragon Technology was, after all, Cooper’s turf. Now that someone had died on his turf, he couldn’t escape the responsibility, of course.

This incident caused a huge stir thanks to Taylor’s popularity.

Unfortunately, Derek didn’t fall from the sky and ended up being reduced to a pulp like the Yard Family’s grandmaster. Otherwise, this incident would have become far more complicated than this.

Perhaps they had purposely attacked Derek in his office to make him die the same way the Yard Family’s grandmaster did.

The death of the Yard Family’s grandmaster back then caused such a great stir that the entire Ronney Group was closed down for a few days for a reorganization.

The sensation caused by Derek’s death this time wasn’t as huge as the one caused by the grandmaster’s death last time. At the very least, it didn’t cause Dragon Technology to be closed down for several days for a reorganization.

Still, they could blackmail Cooper by seizing upon the fact that the remains weren’t found. They fished for sympathy as much as they could on the media, stirring up public opinion by demanding to have Alex’s son’s death avenged.

When the public opinion was stirred up, the departments concerned would certainly take action. They would pretend to do some investigations even for the sake of calming down the public outcry.

This kind of thing was the trickiest since nothing could be found out by investigating Sophia. After all, she wasn’t the one who killed Derek.

However, everyone was influenced by public opinion, so they all thought that there must have been something fishy behind this incident. They were certain that someone must have been behind the scenes, and the authorities couldn’t find out the culprit simply because the culprit was shielded.

There must be something behind the scenes! Oh, my god! God only knows how many inside stories are behind this, for even the injustice of the death of the Mitchell Group’s Chairman’s son couldn’t be redressed!

What everyone saw was perhaps just the tip of the iceberg.

Some people even went to Dragon Technology’s premises to stage a protest downstairs.

Derek had made a public appearance during the founding of Dragon Technology, and he attracted many fans with his innocent puppy-like looks and his status as a high-handed company president. Now that their Prince Charming died a mysterious death, the fans certainly could no longer sit still.

In the end, the recently established Dragon Technology was successfully closed down for a few days for a reorganization. Sophia and Michael were frequently taken to the police station to cooperate with the investigation, and Cooper was certainly no exception.

His business was really so strikingly successful that too many people wanted to take a share of the spoils, making this a good opportunity.

It seemed that the Mitchells wanted to seize this opportunity to destroy Cooper for good, for they kept pulling strings behind the scenes. Even the fashion week event for which Sophia was working hard to prepare was forced to be held up for a few days since she waa involved in a homicide.

Both Sophia and Michael never commented on Derek’s death as well as the slanderous accusations made by Sandra and the others. At this moment, they might bring trouble on themselves if they talked too much.

Just then, a piece of breaking news suddenly came—Lucy publicly joined Ronney Fashion Week!

Ronney Fashion Week immediately took on an entirely new look with Lucy’s participation.

Sophia received inside information that Lucy had joined hands with the Yard Family to hold Ronney Fashion Week this time. She also started to cozy up to the local fashion brands in Bayside City that the Yard Family treated with contempt by promising to promote their brands at Ronney Fashion Week.

Many fashion brands and designers dreamed of appearing at Ronney Fashion Week, so it was obviously very cool to receive a letter of invitation to the event!

In comparison, Sophia’s Bayside Fashion Week was embarrassingly countrified, resembling a farm produce fair. If it weren’t for the pressure from the Yard Family, they wouldn’t have chosen to take part in Bayside Fashion Week.

The fact that the Yard Family relented and reached an ice-breaking collaboration with Bayside City’s local fashion world came as a piece of great news to some people.

But this wasn’t a good thing for Sophia, for Lucy was the last person she wanted to set herself against.

However, since Lucy had shown her hand, she would never show the white feather. It wasn’t certain who would win or lose yet!

Meanwhile, at the hot springs resort on Reverie Mountain…

“My younger brother, Derek, and I had always been close. He was rebellious, but he never made me cry…”

“This son of mine resembled me too much, for he was unwilling to give in to anyone since childhood… It really never occurred to me that I’d see my son dying earlier than myself.”

…

Derek watched expressionlessly as the news was broadcasted at loud volume.

Ha! Son? Ha! Younger brother?

Had anyone ever acknowledged me as their son and younger brother back when I lived on the streets without a penny after my relatives took my property from me upon my mother and uncle’s death?

After the laptop was shut down, the news clip stopped playing, and the entire world fell silent.

Derek’s mind was in turmoil as he hung his head and pulled his hair.

He often wondered why life was so unfair to him by having him being born into such a family.

He would rather be born in a family that was a little poorer and more ordinary. At the very least, his parents would love him dearly, and he would live a simple life. Wouldn’t that be better?

He was also Alex’s biological child; even though he was born illegitimate, he was Alex’s own flesh and blood. Could they really kill him without feeling guilty just to make an issue of his death?

Cooper spoiled her daughter so much that everyone in the world knew about it. He was also one of the Mitchells, so why couldn’t Alex pay him even the slightest bit of attention?

Did they finally know that I’m their younger brother and son after I ‘died’? Ha! Since this is the case…

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1186

Suddenly, a cone of ice cream was put in front of him. “Would you like to have some ice cream?”

Derek looked up to find that the corners of his mouth tasted salty; only then did he come to his senses and realize that his face was wet with tears. He wiped his tears away, saying, “Thank you.”

Derek glanced at Quinton without saying a word as they ate ice cream silently.

His mind seemed to have recovered its balance when he looked at Quinton. At the very least, he didn’t go astray, and somebody was still caring about him.

After eating the ice cream, Derek pulled himself together. Having a decision in mind, he looked firmly at Quinton before saying, “Let’s leave the mountain tomorrow.”

Quinton had lied down after eating his ice cream. Playing with his cell phone, he replied, “Okay.”

It had been seven days since Derek ‘died’.

Over the last seven days, Sandra and Alex played up Derek’s death as much as possible. They seemed to have concluded that Derek must have been killed by either Sophia or Michael.

Sit-in protests had been staged downstairs at Dragon Technology’s premises from time to time, for many urged the relevant departments to find the actual murderer to avenge Derek.

The police repeatedly asserted that the murderers had been found, and Sophia actually had nothing to do with the homicide. Even so, the public refused to believe this. To them, even the victim’s family couldn’t be fooled by this story, let alone the outsiders. Moreover, Dragon Technology hadn’t handed over Derek’s remains even now, so there must be something terribly wrong behind this!

There were huge crowds of people downstairs at Dragon Technology’s premises on the seventh day after Derek’s death. Sandra and Alex showed up downstairs together; leading many of the Mitchells, they occupied the entrance and burned offerings for Derek.

As they burned the offerings, they cried with great sadness.

Sandra knew that the longer the matter dragged on, the worse it would be for her. She must make a big deal out of this incident as soon as possible to benefit from this.

“My poor brother, please come out and meet me if you can see us. Tell Dad and me who killed you! Don’t be afraid, for Dad and I will certainly speak up for you. You have the entire Mitchell Family at your back! Oh, my brother! My poor, poor brother…”

Not only Sandra and Alex were wailing downstairs; a group of Mitchells who ranked as Derek’s junior in the family hierarchy were even forced to wear deep mourning and kneel downstairs; they wailed for the dead while burning offerings.

Standing in the mushroom-shaped building, Cooper couldn’t help going ballistic at the sight of the scene. “This is so embarrassing! What a shame this is!”

However, this scene wasn’t embarrassing in Alex’s eyes. To him, this was the golden opportunity to make Cooper fall from power, so he had to continue what he was doing no matter how embarrassing this was.

Since people were wailing for the dead downstairs and sitting in from time to time, the hotel’s business was seriously affected, so even the hotel received many complaints.

Cooper didn’t expect to witness such a spectacle in his lifetime.

He simply pulled the curtains and stopped looking at the scene, for he really didn’t want to spare a glance at these people.

It never occurred to him that the Mitchells had sunk to such a level 20 years after he left. Such a way of doing things was no different from that of the upstarts who shouted abuses in public! They couldn’t care less about the honor and dignity of the nobility.

Holding Derek’s black-and-white photo in her arms, Sandra stood downstairs while wailing as the reporters pointed their cameras at her. Her face was streaming with tears as she cried pitifully while saying, “We don’t want to stir up trouble; I just want to get my younger brother’s remains back! Today is the seventh day after his death, yet I can’t even find his remains! Oh, God! How could you treat my brother like this? My poor brother!”

Sandra Mitchell, the former Universal Games champion, publicly demanded to redress the wrong done to her younger brother, creating a great stir.

Derek died, but his remains went missing. What an utter injustice!

There must be some secrets behind Derek’s death.

Sophia was also watching them in the building, for she wanted to see when they would stop making a scene.

Sandra seemed to be certain that Derek had died and that Sophia had hidden his remains away. If Sophia handed over his remains, it could then be determined that she had murdered him; if she couldn’t hand over his remains, it would be proven that something was wrong with Dragon Technology, and they were the ones who killed Derek!

Derek had gone missing, and the people involved were dead. The three murderers who killed him had died, and the oil tanker that rammed into their car had exploded on the spot, killing the oil tanker’s driver. Since there were no witnesses to testify, Sophia and Cooper were caught in a no-win situation, and both of them could never turn the tables.

Some even made Michael the target of their attack; they forcibly dragged him into the case by seeing him as an accomplice.

It’s really impressive of them to raise such a ruckus from early in the morning until noon! It’s such a cold day, and it’s snowing. Aren’t they bothered by the cold? thought Sophia to herself.

It was already noon, and the reporters had left for lunch, but the Mitchells still refused to leave. They kneeled on the floor and warmed their hands with their breaths while shivering, whereas Sandra and Alex had returned to their van to have lunch.

Sophia uttered, “It’s okay. Just let them make trouble while we have lunch first. I shall treat everyone to lunch today.”

They had to eat their fill to have the strength to confront these people.

Cooper didn’t want to go out because he thought that this scene was too embarrassing. Sophia, however, was seething with rage; for Derek’s sake, she must go downstairs and raise merry hell with the Mitchells on this day!

Michael sneaked into the building from the parking lot at noon to deliver sautéed lobster and nourishing mutton soup to her.

Celine, who came with him as well, was carrying a few boxes carefully. The instant she entered the company, she searched everywhere for Quinton. “Where’s my brother? Where’s my little brother?”

After finding Quinton—who was sleeping in a corner—she pulled at him like a kid, urging, “Get up and have lunch, Quinton!”

Quinton rubbed his sleepy eyes and got up to have lunch.

Seeing Quinton’s decadent appearance, Michael was exasperated, for the former failed to meet his expectations. He reproved with a commanding look, “Just look at you! You never change your clothes, wash your pants, shave your beard, comb your hair, or even smarten yourself up! All you do every day is eat and sleep, and you never tidy your room. Do you think it’s cool to only know to play games and play with your cell phone every day…”

Quinton’s eyes were heavy with sleep, and his unkempt hair hung above his eyebrows, making him look a bit wild and uninhibited. He opened the lunchbox Celine gave him while Michael rattled on in exasperation.

Celine loved him dearly, though. She kept picking up food for him, saying, “Here, Quinton, eat this. This is delicious.”

Michael stared at Quinton with a look of exasperation in his eyes, but he could do nothing else with the latter. He couldn’t help thinking to himself, What’s the point of the existence of something inhuman like a younger brother?

Quinton thought to himself, This brother of mine is so annoying.

The Mitchells had intended to hold their annual year-end meeting here on this day, so there were many people in the company. The Mitchells were all here, and even Linus—who didn’t have the surname Mitchell—was present. Everyone didn’t expect Alex to come and make trouble, so they were prepared to go out and put up a vigorous fight with him after eating their fill.

It could be said that this day was the first time they would rip each other in public like this ever since the Mitchells were split up, so everyone really looked forward to it.

Family scandals shouldn’t be made public. Since someone as famous as Sandra could risk losing face by putting up a fight in public, they could only fulfil her wish!

Everyone had spent the entire morning having the meeting. As the head of the Mitchell Family, Cooper made a speech and voiced his plans for the new year.

Filled with enthusiasm, everyone was ready to roll up their sleeves under Cooper’s leadership.

Everyone then had lunch after the meeting ended.

The sight of the current size of this branch family of the Mitchells filled Cooper with gratification. Currently, the branch family owned many properties of different sizes apart from Dragon Technology and Mitchell International Energy and Technology. These companies had expanded to a very considerable scale over the past two years, which was even faster than he had expected.

The younger generation is to be regarded with respect!

Cooper waved his hand after lunch, saying, “I hereby declare this meeting adjourned.”

Everyone gave a cheer and gathered up their stuff before going downstairs, ready to fight with Alex and his men.

Cooper shook his head in resignation while looking at the group of high-spirited young people.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1187

After finishing her lunch and resting downstairs for a while, Sandra came out and bawled tearlessly again while holding Derek’s black-and-white photo with both hands. “Oh, my poor brother! If you’re in heaven, please open your eyes and look at me! Who killed you? Say something!”

She had decided to stay here for the whole day. Sophia and Cooper could run away, but their company couldn’t disappear overnight, so they would eventually have to come out and give her an explanation! She didn’t believe that they could keep hiding like this.

As expected, after she uttered a few cries, she saw a group of people marching down the building. They were led by none other than Sophia, who yelled, “Don’t you know who killed your younger brother better than anyone else, Sandra Mitchell?”

Sophia’s cold voice sounded so dignified that it drowned out the noise at the scene. Striding up toward Sandra with a steely expression, she asked several questions in a row, as if not giving Sandra any chance to interrupt. “I’d like to ask where Derek’s father and sister were when he lived all by himself as a child. Where were his father and sister when he dropped out of school and nearly went astray by being initiated into a gang? I’d also like to ask where his father and sister were when he lived on the streets alone after his relatives took the opportunity of his family tragedy to seize his family’s property!”

She truly felt that Derek didn’t deserve this as she shifted her gaze back and forth between Sandra and Alex.

“Let me answer these questions for you!” Sophia continued sarcastically. “You both were living in glory back when he was forced to live on the streets. One of you covered yourself in glory as a world champion, whereas the other enjoyed a high position and great wealth as the Mitchell Group’s president. You two never cared about his fate. You both don’t deserve to be his family!”

However, Sandra didn’t take Sophia’s words to heart at all. Seeing that Sophia had arrived, she threw Derek’s photo aside and stepped forward to grab Sophia, yelling, “Give me my brother back! It was you who killed my brother!”

Then, overestimating herself, she even rushed at Sophia and exchanged blows with her!

Something is wrong! thought Sophia to herself. She had beaten Sandra up so many times before, during which the latter never gained the upper hand. Sandra must know that she was no match for her when it came to exchanging blows.

Something is amiss!

This time was different from usual. Since people were coming and going downstairs at the company, Sophia couldn’t exchange blows with Sandra like delinquent teenagers, so she immediately backed away when she saw Sandra lunging at her.

As she had expected, she smelled a familiar smell as soon as she got close to Sandra. She had often smelled this on Michael; it was the smell of fake blood.

If she got too close to Sandra, the blood packet would burst, and the next day’s headlines would read, ‘Ex-World Champion Had Her Face Covered In Blood After Being Beaten up in Public for Demanding Justice for Her Deceased Brother’.

“Stay clear of her, everyone! She’s going to feign injury!” Sophia shouted. Those who belonged to the Mitchells’ branch family immediately dispersed, and Sophia herself ran away with lightning speed.

Sandra chased after her with her hair in disarray. She looked very crazy, which was very consistent with the image of a sister who was driven to despair by the loss of her younger brother.

However, her eyes were flickering despite her unkempt hair. She was determined to make Sophia unable to clear her name on this day!

However, she couldn’t catch up with Sophia, who ran faster than anyone else. Hence, she changed her target and lunged at one of the Mitchells instead.

Vincent, the traitor! I’ll choose him!

Unfortunately, Vincent immediately ran away when he saw her coming at him.

Sandra then spotted Drake. She remembered this damned security guard, who wasn’t even qualified to clean the toilet for her back in the Mitchell Family. Unexpectedly, he rode Michael’s coattails and became a person who seemed to be of some worth. He made his debut in a blockbuster and was even described as Taylor Murray’s successor!

Unfortunately, Drake also ran away very quickly, preventing her from jumping on him.

As recorded by the cell phone cameras of countless passersby, Sandra, the world champion, really made a fool of herself by lunging at people everywhere with her hair in disarray on this day, looking like an evil spirit.

This didn’t matter to her, though. As long as she managed to jump on any of these people, she would immediately bring Sophia and Cooper down, so it no longer mattered even if she would lose face.

Justin, Sean, Dimon, and the others fled at the sight of her. Finally, she managed to jump on someone as she wished. Pressing herself against the person, she then broke the fake blood packet in her arms that she had prepared long ago.

“Aaaaah!” she screamed on the spot while falling into the person’s arms to rub the fake blood all over him.

Finally getting what she wished for, she covered her belly with her hand and staggered a few steps back before collapsing weakly.

“There’s a puddle of blood on the floor!”

“Oh, my God!”

“She’s bleeding!”

At the sight of the scene, Alex instantly rushed up to Sandra and held her in his arms. “Oh, my God! What’s happened to you, Sandra? Oh, darling! Somebody help! Someone’s killed my daughter! Are you alright, darling? Don’t die! You all killed my daughter in public after murdering my son! Do you all still have respect for the law?”

More and more onlookers gathered around the scene when they saw that someone was getting killed. Upon the commotion, the group of Mitchells who were dressed in mourning immediately rushed to the scene and hurled abuses at those on Sophia’s side, creating an extremely noisy scene.

Cooper could even hear the noise upstairs, so he lifted a corner of the curtain and looked at the scene. What a disgrace! he thought to himself.

The Mitchells had indeed lost face right now, but they had no other alternatives.

Cooper seemed to be keeping himself out of the affair the whole time, but he had been clamping down on the Mitchells. He didn’t have to deliberately crack down on them at all. He could restrict the Mitchells’ space for development bit by bit simply by expanding his business. Therefore, bringing Alex down was only a matter of time.

The Mitchells had little time left even if they secured the investment from the Yard Family.

The more frenzied they were right now, the more it proved that they had been driven into a corner. They were now counting on seizing this opportunity to drag Cooper into the mire.

“What a shame they’ve brought to themselves,” mumbled Cooper. Still, he decided to go downstairs and take a look after thinking for a moment.

Meanwhile, the Mitchells had gone totally crazy downstairs. Alex wailed while holding Sandra in his arms, whereas the Mitchells cried and hurled abuses behind them, making a huge scene.

Sophia stood aside and watched the spectacle, for she wanted to see how shameful Sandra and Alex could be.

“Barf!” Sandra spat a mouthful of blood at Alex while looking more dead than alive. Alex also looked half-dead as he held his daughter in his arms. “Oh, my darling daughter! Open your eyes and look at me! Don’t die!”

A group of aged elders stepped forward and hurled abuses at Sophia. “How could you kill a member of your family in public as a descendant of the Mitchell Family? I must report this to our ancestors! They are watching from heaven, so they would certainly—”

Pointing at the other side, Sophia interrupted, “You’re mistaken. The one who killed her wasn’t me, but him!”

The Elders immediately changed their target and pointed the finger at the young man whom Sandra was trying to extort. The man seemed very young, and he was dressed in a cream-colored winter coat that carried the emblem of Cooper’s branch of the family. There was a horrifying patch of blood on his chest, and his hands were covered in blood. He was the one who had ‘killed’ Sandra just now.

He could never run away, and neither could Cooper!

The Mitchells’ Elders condemned the young man, saying, “You’re a murderer! You all killed Derek before killing Sandra in public, thereby bringing disgrace upon the family and our ancestors. You all won’t be able to die a natural death! Don’t you ever think of escaping the Mitchells’ punishment even if you all can avoid being punished according to the law!”

Bursting into floods of tears, Alex came forward and barked at the young man, “Give my son and my daughter back to me! Oh, my poor Derek, I have let you down!”

However, he failed to notice the sardonic grin on the face of the young man dressed in the white winter coat.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1188

Looking aloof and indifferent, the young man pressed his lips together without saying a word. He took a few steps forward and made his way to the midst of the crowd of the Mitchells’ elders, who then surrounded and scolded him. Alex even demanded his life, thinking that he was the murderer who had killed his son, Derek.

The passersby also looked at the young man.

Wait a minute. Isn’t the man none other than…

Suspecting that they had made a mistake, the onlooking crowd took out their cell phones and searched for the news photos to compare the person in the photos with the man before them.

As expected, they’re exactly alike! That’s him!

The young man wearing a white winter coat didn’t speak, as if he could say nothing in his defense. He simply looked at Alex, who cried so hard that he almost collapsed.

Alex was almost 70 years old, and he was greying at the temples. Yet, he lost his son in his old age, which was indeed a tragedy in his life. He cried so sorrowfully that his hair seemed to have grayed a little. He beat the young man, looking as if he was hanging from the latter’s body.

“Give my son and daughter back to me, you bunch of murderers!” He even raised his hand and slapped the young man in a fit of grief.

The young man looked coldly at Alex and the Mitchells just like that, without saying a word from beginning to end. His face still had the fake blood Sandra had rubbed on him, making him look very wretched.

The Mitchells’ elders seemed to have their eyes on the young man. They dragged him to the front of Derek’s memorial tablet, demanding him to kneel down before Derek’s grave. The young man didn’t resist despite being pushed around and yelled at. He walked up to Derek’s memorial tablet before being forced to kneel down.

They seemed to believe that the young man was the murderer who had killed Derek, so they were incredibly excited. They felt as if they had gotten something on Cooper and could bring him down very soon.

“Come out, Cooper! Now that your men killed someone in public, what else can you say?!”

“Cooper, you disrespected your elders and betrayed the Mitchells back then; now, you even ordered one of your men to kill someone in public. Come out and give us an explanation!”

“Come out! Don’t think that you can hide for the rest of your life!”

The Mitchells held down the young man as he kneeled on the floor. Even so, the young man still straightened his back and looked straight at Derek’s memorial tablet as well as the black-and-white photo on it.

The Mitchells were so excited that they didn’t notice something was wrong, nor did they notice that the onlooking crowd’s mood had changed.

Sandra was still lying on the floor and playing dead as fake blood was splattered all over the floor. Alex cried so hard that he wore himself out and was supported by those next to him. The younger generation of the Mitchells wore deep mourning and kneeled on the floor while the Mitchells’ aged elders shouted abuses downstairs.

Everyone seemed very excited as they stared at Sophia and the top of the building, where Cooper was at. “Cooper, if you still don’t come down, we’ll go up and catch you to make you pay for Derek’s death with your life.”

No one cared about the young man in the white winter coat, who was kneeling on the floor. Their target was Cooper, not him.

He couldn’t help laughing as he rubbed the fake blood covering his hands on his white winter coat.

The onlooking crowd held their cell phones while taking videos of the scene. Still kneeling on the floor, the younger Mitchells who dressed in deep mourning looked up occasionally to see the young man’s face and the black-and-white photo on Derek’s memorial tablet. After comparing the two faces, they were immediately flabbergasted.

The young man in the white winter coat is Derek!

Derek didn’t die at all!

At this moment, Derek couldn’t help laughing as he kneeled on his knees with his back straightened. The onlooking outsiders and some of the Mitchells had apparently discovered his identity. However, the Mitchells were very immersed in the atmosphere, and Alex and Sandra had just been brought into their characters, so it wasn’t convenient for them to disturb these people.

Some Mitchells, who still wanted to save face, had quietly torn off their family emblem and sneaked away.

The onlooking crowd stood idly by and continued watching the spectacle. None of them reminded the Mitchells since what was happening in front of them wasn’t of their personal interest.

Some people, including Sophia, stood aside and watched the spectacle quietly to see when the Mitchells would finally realize something was wrong.

Alex and Sandra were obviously unaware that they had made laughing stocks out of themselves. They were still hamming it up, thinking that they had dragged Cooper into the mire.

The Mitchells even started to spit at the entrance!

They are truly incredible.

Finally, Cooper showed up amid the Mitchells’ elders’ curses.

Cooper dressed very formally on this day since he was here for the meeting. Wearing a scrupulous black business suit under a black windbreaker to keep warm, he still looked incredibly young and was still at the peak of his handsomeness with his incredibly youthful looks. He looked cool, charming, and mysterious as he strode toward the crowd.

Compared to the old and doddering Alex, who had made a spectacle of himself, Cooper was divinely handsome.

Cooper showed up with Michael on his left and Linus on his right. Their handsome looks caused screams of excitement to be heard among the crowd the instant they appeared.

Michael felt that he looked less imposing when he was walking beside his young-looking father-in-law.

Cooper rarely showed himself in public since he consistently kept a low profile and was secretive. During the second episode of ‘Where Are We Going, Dad?’, the filming crew came to their home to film the changes at their home after they joined the show. Cooper and the piglet appeared on-screen for only two seconds, and the episode’s viewership skyrocketed.

Because of that, Cooper was called ‘Cethos’ most handsome grandfather’ and ‘the grandfather whom every Cethosian dreamed of having’!

Seeing that Cooper showed up, Alex pounced on him at once. “Give my son back to me, Cooper!”

Cooper looked at Alex expressionlessly with a flicker in his eyes. Just when Alex was coming at him, Dimon kicked him on the spot and sent him flying. This could be considered an act of revenge for what had happened on Edwards Island.

“Wow!” Everyone was shocked.

Alex was kicked so hard that he fell onto the floor and couldn’t get up for a long time. Also, he naturally began to bawl, “Help me, please! Someone’s trying to kill me!”

The few elders wanted to stop Cooper, but they didn’t expect him to be surrounded by many expert fighters. After being glared at, they dared not move forward, for they were truly scared that Cooper would have them kicked and sent flying.

Cooper walked into the center of the commotion before glancing at the younger Mitchells, who wore deep mourning and pretended to mourn for the dead. After that, he turned his gaze first to Sandra—who was playing dead—then to Alex, who was bawling tearlessly while lying on the floor. Then, he looked at the so-called elders, who prided themselves on their seniority and were sharp-tongued but didn’t look like elders at all.

The sight of the scene grieved him so much that he heaved a long sigh. After looking around the scene, he said, “The glory that the Mitchells enjoy today is the result of our forefathers’ sacrifices. Back when our country was faced with a crisis, everyone was fighting against foreign intruders. The Mitchells never fell behind anyone else in donating money and volunteering themselves. They’d rather die on the battlefield to defend our country’s borders or perish under the intruding foreigners’ tyrannical rule than die in exile like a coward! How many members of the Mitchells’ older generations have died for us to enjoy our glory today? If they learned that you all trampled on the honor they fought for using their own lives just like this…”

He could no longer continue his speech at this point, and some younger Mitchells who had a sense of shame hung their heads.

Cooper swiftly and sternly strode past the fake-bawling Alex, who suddenly reached out and grabbed Cooper’s leg. “You killed my son, so give me back my son!”

Seeing the way Alex looked, Cooper fiercely stepped on his hand.

It disgusted him to even take a glance at this man!

Alex grabbed his hand and rolled on the ground after being stepped on. “Help! Someone’s trying to kill me!”

Meanwhile, Sean and Sophia had helped up the kneeling Derek.

Derek felt relaxed all over after kneeling this time. From this day onward, Derek, the son of Alex, had died for good.

Now, he was no longer related to Alex!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1189

Sandra was still playing dead on the floor when she suddenly heard a voice ringing in her ear. “Stop pretending. Get up.”

It was Derek’s voice!

Sandra opened her eyes to see Derek standing in front of her with his face covered in blood. After being stunned for a few seconds, she cried out in shock, “Aah!”

Sandra, who had been more dead than alive just a moment ago, was so frightened that she instantly sat up. Summoning all her strength at once, she no longer seemed to be dying as she was just now while she dragged her bloodied feet backward as fast as possible.

“Help! It wasn’t me who killed you! It wasn’t me who killed you!” Sandra’s arms flailed around. Her body was covered in blood, making her look no different from a crazy woman. “Help me, please! There’s a ghost here!”

Derek stepped forward with a wicked smile on his bloodied face before saying sinisterly, “Weren’t you trying to evoke my spirit from the dead? Today is the seventh day since I died, and I’m back to visit you.”

He approached her step by step, looking really like an evil spirit with a ferocious expression on his face, which was covered in the blood she had rubbed on him.

Sandra was really frightened. She kept moving backward while saying incoherently, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me; I didn’t kill you!”

Derek laughed in desolation before purposely speaking in a cold voice. “The three people who killed me told me everything. My death was so unjust…”

Sandra was scared to death. She kept moving backward with her arms flailing around, as though there was a spider web before her. She cried and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Help! Help…”

As she screamed, she knocked over Derek’s memorial tablet, scattering the offerings all over the floor. She picked up the offerings and hurled them at Derek hysterically, screaming, “Help! There’s a ghost here!”

No longer paying attention to her, Derek turned to Alex, who was wailing on the floor.

Alex had felt that Derek looked familiar when he saw the latter. However, he didn’t know where he had seen Derek even though he had spent the entire morning crying while holding his black-and-white photo in his arms.

This was also the first time Derek came face-to-face with his biological father in so many years.

As he remembered, Alex rarely came to visit him, so he couldn’t remember what Alex looked like at all, and they never had a chance to meet after he grew up. Unexpectedly, this was where he was meeting his father for the first time in his adulthood.

Upon seeing Alex, Derek didn’t speak immediately. Instead, he fell to his knees and kowtowed twice in the snow. After that, he said, “Dad, this is the last time I’m calling you ‘dad’.”

He looked up at Alex with a bitter smile.

Alex carefully made out what Derek looked like for a moment before looking at the latter’s photo. Only then did he come to his senses, exclaiming, “Y-You are Derek!”

However, he couldn’t admit this, so he immediately took a few steps back and yelled, “You’re not my son, Derek! Who the hell are you?!” He turned to the crowd, looking desperate. “He’s not my son! He’s an imposter! My son is dead, so who the hell is he? Why is he pretending to be my son? Guys, this man is disguising himself as my son; hurry up and catch him!”

Derek had stood up; looking at Alex with an incredibly calm look in his eyes, he said, “Thank you for giving me the gift of life. But from today onward, Mr. Alex Mitchell, you and I are no longer related.”

With that, he turned around and walked up to Cooper without the slightest reluctance. Patting him on the shoulder, Cooper assured him sincerely, “You’ll always be a good son of the Mitchell Family.”

Derek smiled as he got into the car after Cooper. After that, the car drove off into the distance.

Only then did Sandra realize that Derek didn’t die at all.

She looked around and saw that so many people around her were watching her make a fool of herself.

“Ha! Derek isn’t dead at all, yet this good sister couldn’t recognize her younger brother when they were face-to-face. What a ‘close’ relationship between the siblings!”

“Even Alex couldn’t recognize his son, who was right before him, let alone his sister! I really wonder how Alex is as a father!”

Sandra had become the laughing stock of the whole Bayside City and even Cethos from the moment she extorted Derek.

Right now, the ground outside Dragon Technology’s premises was littered with miscellaneous items, joss papers, and unclaimed mourning clothes that had been thrown away.

Alex, Sandra, and Alex’s branch of the family were pointed at and gossiped about. They were still shouting abuses, but what they said sounded even more vulgar than that of a shrew; they didn’t look like members of the nobility at all.

Meanwhile, Cooper’s branch of the family had finished their meeting and was about to have a gathering and relax at Audistin nearby before their evening feast. Since it was rare for the whole family to gather together and speak their minds freely, everyone was very happy; they talked and laughed along the way.

Since they were here on this day for the meeting, all of them were very well-dressed. The men were impressive in appearance with their suits and leather shoes, whereas the ladies were dressed in formal attire. Each of them, dressed exquisitely, had a charm of their own. They talked and laughed as they walked past the mess created by Alex’s branch of the family in twos and threes.

Not only were they elegant in appearance, their spirits also set them apart from the others. It was perhaps because they were members of the nobility that every single one of them looked extraordinarily outstanding.

Compared to these good-looking ladies and gentlemen, Alex’s branch of the family had made real fools of themselves by acting like buffoons.

People kept tearing off Alex’s emblem on themselves quietly before sneaking away with Cooper’s branch of the family.

Sandra was covered in blood; judging from the amount of blood she had lost, it seemed that she was close to death. Unexpectedly, she sprang to her feet, jumped about, and even threw offerings at people just now. Having made a fool out of herself, she looked totally unlike an injured person with her rosy cheeks and energetic appearance right now.

Numerous cameras were aimed at Sandra as the onlooking crowd took pictures of her, eager to take photos of her buffoonery.

Only then did Sandra realize that she had been tricked from the very beginning. Looking at the crowd who were photographing her with their cell phones, she knew that a disaster was imminent, so she kept knocking off the cell phones, yelling, “Don’t take pictures! Don’t take pictures!”

As she kept making threatening gestures and knocking off the onlookers’ cell phones with a ferocious expression, she suddenly sensed something. She couldn’t help looking back to see Sophia standing among the crowd consisting of members of Cooper’s branch of the family. While she was striding off, she suddenly glanced back at Sandra.

Having exquisite makeup, she wore a professional-looking business dress under a camel-colored jacket. She looked at Sandra—who was acting like a buffoon—with a look of ridicule in her eyes.

After curling her lip, she turned around and left while holding Michael’s hand.

Her sardonic smile seemed to replay in slow motion endless times in Sandra’s mind.

Sandra really hated Sophia’s guts. She must have had everything planned out, aiming for me to make a spectacle of myself!

She had put in so much more effort than anyone else since she was a child to become the Young Lady of the Mitchell Family. This grand title should belong to her, and no one could snatch it away from her!

Alex’s branch of the family was completely reduced to a laughing stock after this incident. Countless videos of Sandra knocking into her younger brother, Derek, to extort him circulated online, and so did the videos of Alex, who failed to recognize his son, who was standing right in front of him, despite him wailing with his son’s photo in his arms. There were also videos of the sanctimonious elders of the Mitchells, who spat in public and forced Derek to kneel down before the memorial tablet that had his own photo on it.

The Mitchells had played up the incident themselves. Now that they had made such a huge scene, they could no longer wind things up.

The last time the Mitchells brought such a shame upon themselves was when Natasha and Taylor Murray used their stage names to get their marriage license overseas.

Everyone said that the Mitchells must have been cursed.

Right on this day, the Mitchell Family were thoroughly mortified, and many Mitchells crossed over to Cooper’s side overnight.

They had wanted to make a big issue of Alex’s son’s death, but they didn’t expect to make themselves the laughing stock of Bayside City!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 1190

The live coverage of Alex and his family’s extortion attempt flew in the face of their noble image, causing the Sports Federation to be very displeased with Sandra. After all, she was originally a sports figure, and it could be said now that she had ruined her own image. This incident, coupled with the previous dog abuse incident and other issues, had completely ruined her public persona.

Knowing that she had been tricked, Sandra went into hiding for a while. The Mitchells kept a low profile after this, but they wouldn’t do that for too long, for the founding of Dragon Technology Corporation was a devastating blow to them.

Dragon Technology Corporation outclassed the Mitchell Group both in terms of resources and technical talents. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before the Mitchell Group was outdone.

The fact that Alex had become hysterical along with Sandra this time filled the Mitchells’ inner circle and the Mitchell Group’s shareholders with intense displeasure.

It seemed that Alex had really become old and senile, so it was time for him to step down.

Meanwhile, Sandra was busy doing charity work everywhere. She held a press conference and apologized publicly, saying that she and her father had been out of their minds because they were devastated by her younger brother’s ‘passing’. She had a psychiatrist write up medical case reports to gloss over the incident this time as much as possible to reduce the impact to a minimum.

The public wasn’t blind, but they had a short memory. In the era of information explosion, new trending issues would constantly emerge and replace the old ones, and everyone would soon forget what they had done. For instance, the Winter Universal Games was coming soon, so everyone’s attention was shifted to this.

The Summer Universal Games and Winter Universal Games were held separately, but both events would draw worldwide attention. Sandra had enjoyed a meteoric rise by becoming the world champion in the Summer Universal Games’ swimming event years ago.

Several athletes with the surname Mitchell also took part in the Winter Universal Games this time. An 18-year-old lady even made it to the women’s singles final of the figure skating event.

On the day of the finals, Sophia called her whole family over to watch the live broadcast together at home.

The Mitchell Family was very gifted in sports since it had produced many sports figures in the past.

In addition to sports figures and domineering company presidents, the Mitchells also nurtured many well-known diplomats, artists, scientists, and others. One could find a figure from the Mitchell Family in almost every field. Cooper attached great importance to the nurturing of talents. Talents didn’t fall from the sky; instead, they took a long time to be cultivated.

When it came to nurturing talents, Cooper’s principle was to spare no effort in cultivating talents regardless of their background and social status, so the Mitchells spent a lot of money and effort on this. For instance, the parents of the lady who took part in the women’s singles of the figure skating event were ordinary workers who were collateral descendants of the Mitchell Family. Still, she displayed a talent for sports since childhood. While she had a gift for ice skating, her brother had a gift for playing soccer, and both of them had won many prizes.

However, it cost a huge amount of money to nurture their talents. Their parents had a hard time since they were ready to spend all the money they had to pay for their training. They had applied to the family for help, but their requests were rejected with no exception.

The justification for the rejection of their application was that it was enough for the Mitchells to have a world champion like Sandra, so another world champion wasn’t needed.

In other words, collateral descendants could never dream of standing out among others.

This family followed Cooper when he returned afterward. After Cooper started a new Mitchell Family here, the lady’s parents had a shot at applying to the family, and they soon received aid.

Over the last two years, the family had spent a lot of money to hire the best coaches and provide the best training grounds, equipment, and resources. Finally, the siblings were successfully trained, and they had won many world titles.

Right now, the brother was undergoing training to prepare for the World Cup next year, whereas the sister was standing in the venue of the Winter Universal Games’ finals.

Since the whole family was very nervous, Cooper took the trouble to watch the finals with them, and many of the Mitchells came as well.

Quinton had been protecting Derek these days, so he came along with the latter on this day.

He just wanted to be a good-for-nothing loafer who spent his day lying down and playing with his cell phone. However, the instant he arrived at Michael’s home, he was kept busy all the time.

“Quinton, hold the baby for me. I want to play hide-and-seek with Judge.”

“May I braid your hair, Uncle Quinton?”

Right after he sat down, he had a baby girl in his arms; it was Celine’s daughter. The small ball of meat quietly slept in his embrace.

Quinton—who had shoulder-length hair because he hadn’t had a haircut for a long time—now had Carmen braiding his hair.

Quinton pulled a long face since he was in no mood to speak. Nathan, who was sitting next to him, also pulled a long face; he had had a crew cut like Stanley to prevent Carmen from ruining his hair.

Michael also sat next to Quinton, asking, “How did you escape death that day?”

Quinton was silent.

Michael then asked, “I heard that you brought a parachute with you. So did you stay alive by parachuting from the plane back then?”

Quinton was still silent.

Michael was itching to slap him as he looked at his idleness.

Derek said that he, in fact, didn’t slide down the window immediately when he was pushed out of the window. His office was located on the ‘tip’ of the mushroom-shaped building, so when he fell out of the window, he slid down the ‘mushroom cap’ for a few seconds. Just then, Quinton caught him and fell off the building together with him. Then, Quinton opened the parachute within five seconds, and they glided along with the wind before landing quite a distance away with minor injuries.

Quinton was averse to skyscrapers because he felt extremely insecure in such buildings. Therefore, he always brought a parachute with him whenever he was in a high-rise building.

Since Quinton answered neither of his questions, Michael stopped speaking to him and took the baby girl in his arms away.

The whole family watched the live broadcast of the figure skating finals. A lady named Haley Mitchell made it to the finals and became the world champion for women’s singles in figure skating with her nearly perfect performance.

The entire nation was shocked at that moment!

Cethos’ figure skating events had always been in a slump because their athletes were weak at figure skating. Therefore, Haley’s winning of the world title this time was of great significance to Cethos.

When the reporters interviewed Haley after the game, she said excitedly to the camera, “I have to thank my parents and my brother for my achievements today. In particular, I’d like to thank Cooper for his support.”

Cooper smiled in gratification as he watched the live broadcast.

Sandra naturally paid close attention to the women’s figure skating event as well, and she didn’t expect the Mitchells to produce another world champion.

Having learned figure skating since childhood, Haley was elegant and graceful, and her youth and beauty made her stand out among the rest. Moreover, she was a member of the Mitchell Family, so she immediately drew the attention of the Cethosian media, with news stories about her soon spreading everywhere.

Even though she was young, she had constantly been breaking her personal record. Moreover, she had won many awards, so she was already a big name in the sports world, but she didn’t really make a name for herself until the Winter Universal Games this time.

Some even compared her with Sandra by saying that she was more outstanding than the latter.

The pretty face displayed in the TV news program stung Sandra’s eyes.

“She won? She’s just the daughter of someone who cleans toilets!”

Her eyes were bloodshot as she went mad with jealousy.

I never expected that someone who cleans toilets dared to compare with me. Who does she think she is? This Haley Mitchell lady simply copied my success!

“Guys, have someone break her leg!”