Ch. 671..680

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 671

Judy’s expression turned colder.

For my birthday, everyone in the West Family must be here, including Peter and his eldest son. However, only Sarah, that b*tch, refused to come.

The reason Judy went to Sarah’s store today was to tell her personally to bring Harry along to her birthday party.

But that b*tch actually rolled her eyes at me!

Faye knew that Judy didn’t have enough power to ask Harry to join the party, so she deliberately brought up the topic.

Both of them were competing with each other with all their might, but to outsiders, they seemed like close sisters.

Victoria, on the other hand, glanced at the Mitchell Family from time to time.

The Mitchell Family is the real aristocrat! If only I could marry someone from the Mitchell family!

Even though the scale of the party wasn’t too big as only the West and Edwards Family members were invited to have a simple dinner, it was the birthday of Mr. West’s third wife after all, so it would only be appropriate for someone from the Mitchell Family next door to send some presents.

Sean was the only person from the Mitchell Family there, making Victoria over the moon. Since he was handsome and elegant, she kept striking up conversations with him. However, he merely smiled at her coldly.

Suddenly, the door of the bustling West Residence was suddenly pushed open, followed by a few people coming in. The leading people were Sarah, the Young Lady of the West Family who said she wouldn’t be joining, and Sophia, the youngest daughter of Joe from the Edwards Family.

Their arrival had stunned everyone in the hall. Seeing Sarah’s return, Mr. West was quite pleased. “Sarah, you’re back? Is Ethan here?”

However, Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

Sarah was already walking to Judy in large strides. Without any small talk, she asked directly, “Where did you hide Sophia’s cat? Bring it out now!”

Seeing that Sarah was prepared to ruin the entire occasion, Mr. West was immediately highly alert as he barked harshly, “Sarah, is this how you speak to Judy?”

However, Sarah refused to back down today and asked Judy again fiercely, “Where’s the cat? The Persian cat! Where did you hide Sophia’s cat you stole?”

Judy acted as if she was scared by her and hid behind Mr. West weakly. “Dear, look at what Sarah is saying. Today is actually my birthday, you know…”

Mr. West also scolded Sarah harshly, “Today is Judy’s birthday. What are you talking about?”

Sarah was already used to her father’s bias. Taking a deep breath, she uttered, “Judy mixed up the cats at my store today and brought Sophia’s cat home, so I’m here with Sophia to take the cat back. Judy, please return the cat to Sophia. It’s very important to her.”

Looking at Judy, Mr. West said, “If you took the wrong cat, just return it to them.”

However, Judy frowned innocently. “No, I didn’t. My pair of Persian cats are definitely the right ones!” She turned to Sarah. “Sarah, today is my birthday after all. You’d better know your limits and stop making a scene. I know you are angry because I neglected you in the past, but today’s my birthday after all. We can settle everything privately, can’t we? You’re… deliberately embarrassing your father!”

Thinking that Sarah was deliberately making a scene, Mr. West was about to flare up.

Sophia, who hadn’t been speaking a lot since they arrived, spoke coldly, “Judy, you’ve indeed taken the wrong cat. If you don’t believe me, show me the Persian cats you’ve got.”

While speaking, she glanced at Judy’s arms, which had some obvious cat scratches. One of Garfield’s left paw nails was bitten off by Snowball, so she always left four deep scratches and one lighter one. It was quite unique.

Subconsciously, Judy covered her arms and complained to Mr. West sweetly, “Dear, look at this group of kids—they are not giving me any face at all. And all I want is just to have a peaceful birthday.”

Mr. West dared to scold his own daughter, but since Sophia was not his daughter, it was not appropriate for him to flare up at her. Hence, he suggested, “Let’s take a seat first. We are all a family. We can talk about this later.”

Sophia’s voice turned even colder. “Are you really not giving me my cat back?”

Looking pitiful, Judy almost cried. “Sophia, I really don’t know what cat you want from me. If you are not happy with me, you can just tell me…”

Since it was the birthday of Mr. West’s third wife, the rest of the family members were unhappy about the way Sophia ruined this. Hence, as her father, Joe would have to step up and say something no matter what.

“You unfilial daughter! What do you want this time?” With his belly fat wiggling, he rushed over to them quickly.

Everyone thought that he would be able to at least hold Sophia back. However, after she turned around and glared at him coldly, Joe was stunned immediately on the ground.

“You don’t have to be involved in this, dad.”

Though Sophia’s words sounded gentle, it was firm.

All of Joe’s courage just now had disintegrated.

Even though she was his daughter, Joe didn’t even have the courage to speak in front of her.

However, in front of both families, he must do something about this.

Just as he was about to speak, Sophia turned around and said in a low voice, “Stanley, let the dogs out.” She then turned to Judy. “By the way, your face simply looks evil. You look hideous trying to act cute.”

With that, Judy glared at her fiercely.

Stanley walked out with three people behind him. Each of them had a military dog that they had borrowed in their hands. The dogs had a great sense of smell; after they sniffed Garfield’s belongings, they started barging into the West Residence immediately.

With the three dogs running around, all the women in the West Residence scrambled to escape from them.

Judy was so shocked that she clung onto Mr. West, who was beyond furious. He said darkly to Sophia, “Sophia, seeing that you are Judy’s younger relative and Sarah’s good friend, I’m talking to you nicely. Don’t take it for granted!”

After all, the glorious days of Taylor Murray were about to end soon. If they went overboard, he was also not worried about it. After all, people from the West Family weren’t people who could be easily bullied.

Anxious, Sarah tried to convince him. “Dad, wake up! Judy took Sophia’s cat. We’re just here to get her cat back!”

Mr. West’s voice boomed at Sarah loudly. “Shut your mouth! It’s not your turn to speak yet!”

Shocked by his roar, tears finally found their way out of her eyes as she looked at the hypocrite, Judy, and her berserk father. After wiping off her tears, she said furiously, “Fine! I’ll shut up and see how you can protect this cat thief!”

The entire situation was almost like a warzone. No matter whether Judy had actually stolen the cat, or if Sophia was merely looking for trouble, one thing was sure—the dispute between the West and the Edwards Family was inevitable.

Joe quickly walked to them to be the peacemaker. “Sophia, it’s enough. It’s just a cat! Stop the drama and follow me home. I can give you a new cat. No matter how many cats you want, I can give them to you too.”

Sophia continued to glance at Judy coldly without even looking at Joe. “My cat was a gift from Mr. Michel. Can you find the exact same cat for me, dad?”

Linus Michel!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 672

Joe suddenly remembered that Linus had appeared at the reunion banquet he held for Sophia the other day, and he even brought a cat with him.

Cats were everywhere, but a cat from Linus was extraordinary!

The military dogs had already barged into the West Residence. Walking behind them, Stanley said loudly as soon as someone was about to block them, “What are you guys doing? These are military dogs with proper military positions! It’s illegal to harm them!”

In the few seconds of the military dogs searching through the entire house, the entire atmosphere was about to explode.

Glancing at Sophia coldly, Mr. West asked, “If you couldn’t find your cat here, how are you going to explain things?”

Sophia retorted, “But what if I find it here? If something happens to my cat, how are you going to take the responsibility?”

Mr. West was furious beyond belief. If Sarah were the person standing opposite to him, he would have given her a slap.

No one in this household had ever dared to challenge his authority!

On top of that, he was organizing a birthday party for his wife today, so all the guests were family members. Where should he place his dignity if someone younger than him wrecked the entire occasion?

How would I be able to even lift my head in front of the West and Edwards Families in the future?

Gritting his teeth, Mr. West growled, “If you can’t find your cat here, you must take responsibility for this and apologize to Judy!”

Sophia met his gaze unflinchingly. “If my cat isn’t found, I’ll kneel before her; if it’s found here, she’ll have to kneel before me. If my cat is fine, add a kowtow to me, and I’ll let things slide; if my cat is injured, I’ll kill her.”

“Outrageous!” Mr. West was so angry that he snorted out laughing.

What an insolent brat!

Seeing that both of them were about to start a fight because of a cat, the rest of the West Family members watched from afar.

“My, my, rich people are really enjoying their lives. I can’t believe that they can get into such a huge quarrel for a cat.”

“But it seems like it’s real. Someone saw Judy secretly stealing the cat away when they weren’t paying attention.”

Hearing the murmurs from the others, Ivan had a strange glint in his eyes.

He recalled the time when his dog was thrown from the tenth floor. He ran all the way to the ground like a lunatic, but it was already dead.

He went berserk and reported this to the police to fight for justice for his dog.

However, the perpetrator was a man from a poor family who was renting from other people. His mother was disabled, and he was working part time. His wife was jobless, and he had three kids to feed.

The dog was thrown by the man who was the pillar of the family. He had no money at all; the most he could do was to exchange his family’s lives for Ivan’s dog.

Even the police said, “No matter how much your dog is worth, we can’t possibly ask him to take the responsibility. He’s just an unreasonable person who can’t afford to pay you anything!”

However, to Ivan, that wasn’t merely his dog—it was his family, his only hope!

No one would take responsibility for the death of a dog, because a human’s life was more precious than that of a dog. Hence, he could do nothing about it.

Seeing that Sophia dared to make a big fuss out of this for her cat, it showed that she treated it as a part of her family.

Seeing that the entire situation was about to go out of control, Joe quickly told Mr. West, “Mr. West, just return the cat to her. It’s a very important cat to my daughter. Young kids, you know, love all these dogs and cats. On top of that, this cat was—”

“I believe that Judy didn’t take your daughter’s cat!” Mr. West interrupted Joe immediately.

However, right after he said that, Stanley’s voice rang. “We found it!”

Three military dogs were each holding three different things in their mouths—a cat, a collar, and a cat shirt that Garfield wore. The collar and the shirt were even found in the trash!

Sophia quickly took the cat from the dog’s mouth. Garfield seemed to be shocked. Right after it saw Sophia, it cried immediately, with tears flooding its eyes.

Everyone was shocked to see this.

Judy really stole her cat?

Even Mr. West couldn’t hold his pride anymore.

However, Judy yelped and tugged on Mr. West. “What are they doing? Dear, that’s my cat! That’s Wendy!”

Mr. West immediately barked furiously, “Put our cat down!”

Sophia lowered her head to look at Garfield, whose tender paw nails had been cut off violently. It was probably because it had scratched Judy.

The cut was quite deep—there was blood in some of the nails. After the cut, Garfield’s paws were full of blood.

Sophia handed Garfield over to Maria to put it in a bag before looking back at Judy and Mr. West. “Your cat? Ha! What about Garfield’s collar and shirt that were found here?”

With the support from the West Family, Judy had nothing to fear, so she quickly pretended to be innocent. “I don’t know anything about Garfield. That’s Wendy’s shirt and collar!”

Mr. West knew nothing about the cats his woman owned. To him, they all looked the same!

He believed that the cat belonged to Judy, and that Sophia was here to pick a fight deliberately.

Hence, he ordered, “If you don’t give the cat to me today, don’t even think of walking out of here!”

With a loud bang, the door was closed. The atmosphere of the hall had reached an extreme point.

The West Family had decided to show their true strength. A group of bodyguards appeared and surrounded Sophia and the people who came here with her.

Upon seeing the way Mr. West glared at them fiercely, Sarah was so furious that steam almost came out of her head. “Dad, are you mad? Do you know who Sophia is?”

He looked at Sarah sternly. “Go back to your room!”

Seeing her father’s mistake, tears of frustration leaked out of her eyes. She rushed to stand in front of Sophia as she sobbed. “I dare all of you to touch her!”

Mr. West was livid at Sarah’s actions. With a hand raised, he gestured for the bodyguards to catch her. Unexpectedly, Sarah had learned some fighting skills that made the bodyguards unable to catch her.

Standing behind Mr. West, Judy was watching the entire drama indignantly.

“Dear, be careful not to hurt my Wendy,” she added.

The situation was at a breaking point now. With any mishap, a huge fight was going to break out between both the families. On top of that, the relationship between Sarah and Mr. West, which took them much trouble to rebuild, was going to fall apart once again.

Sophia eyed Judy and Mr. West indifferently. One is a hypocrite who’s awaiting the drama while the other looks like a fierce bull.

In fact, Sophia was hesitating if she should really go all out as she couldn’t help looking at Sarah.

If she were merely dealing with Judy, she wouldn’t hesitate. However, Sarah’s father was also here. Because of his pride, he had to side with Judy. However, if she really flipped out with Mr. West, it would be awkward between her and Sarah in the future.

However, she was determined to get her cat back today.

Sarah, who had been chased by the bodyguards, finally lost her cool and rushed to Judy.

“Judy, do you know where this cat came from? This was a gift of a Queen from Europe to the vice president of the Michel Group, Linus Michel, who gave this to Sophia! It seems like my dad has really spoiled you. It’s fine if you want to do anything you like in the family—no one cares. But how dare you fool around outside! Who gave you the courage to do so?”

The few sentences from Sarah had made Judy’s expression change immediately, even though she was still looking forward to the drama earlier. Even Mr. West’s face darkened upon hearing that.

Both the West and Edwards Families were stunned upon hearing that.

There was a long-standing Queen in a European country who had been at the throne for decades. She had a few Corgis and a litter of Persian cats that had been inherited for generations.

This cat actually once belonged to the Queen!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 673

The Michel Family was famous worldwide—many computers that they were currently using were manufactured by the companies under the Michel Group, which wealth could be compared to a country. Hence, it was highly probable that their vice president would receive a cat from the Queen. However, everyone else didn’t understand how Sophia got that as a present.

Gritting her teeth, Judy murmured, “What’s that about the Queen? This cat is my Wendy—”

Courage bubbled up within Sarah out of nowhere—perhaps she had learned a few tricks from Sophia after spending more time with her.

“Do you want to compare it with some pictures? The father of Sophia’s cat is the Duke’s cat, while the mother is the Queen’s cat. It looks like its parents. The fur around Wendy’s buttocks were roasted a few days ago by the stove. Because of this, you slapped your assistant—everyone knows about this. Do you dare to take your cat out to show us whether its buttocks are burnt? Do you dare to? Huh?”

Judy was rendered speechless by her, so she leaned on Mr. West and sobbed. “Dear, look at Sarah. She embarrassed me in front of everyone. I don’t want to live anymore…”

Mr. West also pulled a long face. Even though he still wanted his pride, Sophia’s cat was too big of a deal.

This cat is such a big deal. How can they bring it out just like that? They should take good care of it at home!

At this critical juncture, someone had finally arrived to ease the tense situation. Looking to the front door, Harry had arrived in a sweat.

Wearing a suit and some expensive accessories, he looked like a male mannequin in the shopping mall. Ever since Taylor had gained weight, Harry had become the successor to the nation’s male idol with his popularity reaching a new level. As soon as he entered, the hall seemed shinier than usual.

“I’m sorry for being late. Really sorry about that.” With a cat bag in his hand, he quickly walked to them. “Geez, what are you guys doing? It’s just because of a cat! If you took the wrong one, just return it to the rightful owner. Here, here, this is your cat, Judy. Take good care of it. You know how young people nowadays are more impulsive. Now that the cat is here, just take it! Mr. West, you don’t have to get mad at this bunch of kids—you are a bigger man!”

With a few words of consolation, Mr. West had finally found a way to keep his pride. Sophia also softened her tone to apologize to him. “I’m sorry, Mr. West. My cat is too important to me, so I was rather impulsive. I’m sorry.”

Since Sophia had apologized, Mr. West also found a way out of the situation and continued Harry’s rhetoric. “It’s all a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding! It’s fine as long as everyone has eaten some delicious food!”

Sarah also apologized to her father after being forced to do so by Harry.

Joe also came around to soothe everyone. Now that the tension in the hall was eased, no matter how much Judy liked Sophia’s cat, she could do nothing else but to smile at everyone. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault that I recognized the wrong cat. Sorry about this, Sophia.”

Sophia merely flashed a perfunctory smile without saying another word.

Just like that, the fight was resolved.

With Harry around, the atmosphere became lively immediately. Mr. West introduced his future son-in-law to everyone formally, for Harry’s handsome face and prominent status had made him very proud. A few girls of the family surrounded him to take pictures with him, and the party finally ended on a good note.

Once everything had ended, Judy’s face darkened as soon as she went back to her room. Seeing the cat bag that Harry brought, she picked it up and threw it immediately. It slammed into the wall and fell down.

“Useless thing!”

Her anger still wasn’t fully vented, so she rushed to the broken bag and stepped on the cat inside while cursing it, as though it was Sophia.

“It’s just a cat! Fcking btch! It’s your honor that I like your cat!”

After a while, the bag was torn after being stepped by her, but there was no cat to be seen. After the bag was opened, she realized that it was empty. Her assistant came to her, trembling as she said, “Madam, the bag brought by Ethan is empty. There’s no cat inside…”

With that, Judy was so angry that her entire body trembled. Even after she slapped her assistant ruthlessly, the latter didn’t dare to even make a sound.

Good one, Sophia! You’ve taken my mercy for granted!

It’s your honor that I like your cat. I already exchanged my cat for yours. My cat’s buttocks were already burnt, so I didn’t want it anymore.

After seeing Sophia’s beautiful cat today, Judy even thought she could mate it with hers.

However, she didn’t expect that Sophia would insolently barge into the West Residence and ruin her birthday party.

Who gave her the courage to do so?

She merely married a male celebrity who’s not trending anymore, yet she seems to have forgotten her place!

Faye gently opened the door to enter the room. After seeing the trembling assistant and the ruined empty bag, she had gotten the gist of what happened just now.

It seemed like Judy had indeed stolen Sophia’s cat secretly. Initially, she thought that Sophia would suffer this silently because of Judy’s position as the third wife of the West Family, but unexpectedly, Sophia was brave enough to barge into the West Residence and ruin Judy’s birthday party.

Not only did she take her cat away, she even left an empty cat bag to pass it off.

After gently pushing the door open, Faye asked the assistant to pack away the cat bag before sitting down to speak with Judy.

“You’re in trouble. Sophia is a cruel and ruthless person. Now that you’ve offended her, she won’t let you go. You know my cousin, Xyla, right? Both her and her husband were ruined because of Sophia, who even managed to end Natasha, the Young Lady of the Mitchell Family! Your sister kicked her cat, and you stole it today. Do you think she will let you off the hook that easily?”

Judy had heard about the incidents between the Harper and Huff Families with Sophia, so she knew that Sophia was quite smart.

But so what?

What haven’t I seen? Back then, I even managed to force Peter’s first wife away. Sophia is just nothing to me.

“Is she going to kill both me and my sister for the medical bills of her cat?” Looking at Faye’s face, which looked different again due to cosmetic surgery, Judy smiled coldly.

Faye couldn’t wait for Judy and Sophia to get into a huge fight. It would be the best if they could fight to their deaths.

However, Faye still reminded her hypocritically, “Don’t blame me for not telling you. My sister is known for being ruthless, brutal, and callous. You’d better not offend her!”

However, Judy merely flashed a cold smile, leaving Faye wondering if she had actually heard her.

In fact, Judy was sure that her fight with Sophia hadn’t ended. After all, Sophia had embarrassed her this time in front of everyone. How would it be possible for Judy to stop here?

After chatting for a while, Faye suddenly took out her phone mysteriously and flipped to a picture in her photo album.

“Judy, look at this picture. Do you find them familiar?”

Judy scooted over and saw the people in the picture, which seemed to have been captured secretly. It was set on a study desk with an exquisite photo frame on top of it with a photo showing a man and a woman. The man looked rather young, while the woman was beaming widely. Both of them looked young—they were more or less in their twenties.

In an instant, Judy recognized who the woman was. Shocked, she exclaimed, “This girl looks like Sophia!”

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 674

It was undeniable that the girl in the photograph looked similar to Sophia. However, the girl in the picture looked especially gentle and docile with her bare face, whereas Sophia had fine makeup on and had a forceful presence. It was the same face, but it gave off different auras.

Faye pointed at the man in the picture while asking mysteriously, “Do you know this man?”

Judy got closer to have a look, and she noticed that the man in the picture seemed to be in his teens or early twenties. He looked handsome and elegant; he was wearing an ordinary white shirt, but it did not diminish his elegance. Nevertheless, the picture seemed aged, and so Judy simply didn’t recognize him.

Faye was delighted when she claimed, “He is our 9th Old Master Edwards! He is also our family head’s 9th younger brother, Sam Edwards!”

Judy was stunned to silence at the mention of the 9th Old Master. I’ve never met the 9th Old Master before, but I’ve heard too many stories involving him.

He is a legend in the Edwards Family!

Sam became famous at a very young age, thanks to his exceptional talent and intelligence. If it weren’t for the fact that he isn’t interested in power, he might have ended up as the family head now. This person is very capable; in the past, he used to be involved in politics in the country. Once upon a time, people assumed that the youngest president of Cethos would be from the Edwards Family.

However, when Sam was at the peak of his career, he resigned from his position suddenly, and he retired from his political career to return to the business world. At that time, he was one of the few people who could be on par with the head of Edwards Family, Jordan Edwards. Sam also held the largest share portion as an individual. Initially, Jordan had the most shares, but he divided them between his children, and so the portions were dispersed. On the other hand, Sam did not have any children or wife. Therefore, he held the entire portion of his shares, and it gave him a voice and power within the Edwards Family.

“Is this truly the 9th Old Master, Sam Edwards, who is still single even though he’s 40 years old?!” Judy asked in astonishment. She stared at the picture for the longest time, and her gaze was shining with admiration. I didn’t expect the 9th Old Master to look so handsome.

Faye remarked while winking at Judy, “I visited a distant relative of the Edwards Family just a few days ago, and I saw this picture in the 9th Old Master’s study. I heard that he did not get married despite being 40 years old, all thanks to the woman in the picture.”

Judy let out a snort of laughter. He is such a loyal lover.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel envious of the woman in the picture. Who is this woman? How did she manage to seduce the 9th Old Master and keep him shackled by not marrying another person for the rest of his life?

Faye glanced at Judy while urging her, “Look, don’t you think my younger sister resembles this woman? Do you think that the 9th Old Master might appreciate our effort if we get her into his bed?”

Judy stared at the picture, her eyes shining brightly. Get Sophia into Sam’s bed?

Our family and bloodline will have a significant boost within the Edwards Family if the 9th Old Master favors us. Sam hadn’t gotten married even though he’s 40 years old, and so this woman must be exceptionally important to him! If we manage to get Sophia to him, he might be especially happy!

The Edwards Family has been around for several centuries, so despite being from the same family tribe, the family has undeniably branched out. Therefore, the Edwards, who used to be a single core family five hundred years ago, barely have any family ties after five centuries. The law dictates that family members can’t get married within three generations—the gap is more than that within the Edwards Family. Some Edwards family members even get married with each other for the sake of tighter family ties. Furthermore, nobody is saying that Sam is getting married with Sophia. She is just a used woman, and she is merely a tool to keep Sam’s bed warm, at best.

After that, I just have to figure a way out to get Victoria to approach Sam…

Faye started planning as well when she noticed Judy’s spooky expression while she was lost in her thoughts.

In all honesty, Faye had already started planning when she noticed that picture, but she didn’t have the courage to voice it out because she was afraid that it would cause trouble.

If I were to manipulate Judy to lure Sophia to Sam, Judy would just be a glorified messenger. Sophia is my younger sister and Joe’s daughter anyway, so we would be the ones who benefit in the end.

Even if this fails, Judy would be the one in trouble…

The two sisters were preoccupied with their own plans, but they were both clearly aware of each other’s motives. Faye wanted to approach Sam; although the man was already 40 years old, he was still exceptionally handsome! 40 years old was a man’s golden age after all.

Besides, he is in charge of the financial empire…

Naturally, Judy shared the same thoughts. I can’t approach him myself, but I can still plan on behalf of Victoria.

On the other side, Sophia left the West Residence in anger because she had been forcing a smile for the whole night just to please Sarah.

When Sophia brought the cat out of the West Residence, Harry was walking her out while advising her at the same time, “Please, Sophia, just let go of this matter for me. Just this once; I’ll only beg you this once! You are superior, my master, my ancestor!”

Sophia snorted before getting into the car. She spat furiously while having her back facing Harry, who was outside of the car, “You had better teach your cheap mother-in-law how to behave!”

Harry felt utterly helpless. My mother-in-law, Judy, is younger than I am; even so, I feel extremely helpless as a son-in-law!

“Fine, I’ll back you up by giving you her cat as a compensation for the stress inflicted upon Simba and Garfield, alright?”

He took an empty cat bag as decoy. He knew that the West Family wouldn’t look into it since they were in the wrong.

Sophia finally left after that.

Michael sat just beside her in the car. It was late at night by the time they arrived home today. They noticed that the Persian cat had its bottom burnt. After some questioning, they found out what happened today.

I can’t believe someone kicked Simba and stole Garfield. How dare they!

The West Family wouldn’t have a good year if Michael were to take action. Nevertheless, they took in consideration that the perpetrator was Harry’s father-in-law, and so Michael let the West Family off the hook.

This was the first chance, but it was also their last!

Sophia was fuming throughout the journey back home since she had taken a hit in the West Residence. Michael carried Garfield out, and the poor thing started crying when it saw him. The cat’s tears started rolling down uncontrollably, and it seemed as if it had suffered immensely in the West Residence. Its small paws were already stained red with blood.

“Garfield, you are such a good kid. I’m here to take you home. Please don’t cry; don’t cry, now.”

Michael was furious, but due to the relationship between Harry and Sarah, he had no choice but to leave this issue at that.

He tried coaxing the cat and his wife simultaneously.

“Alright, now. Don’t be angry. I’ll soothe your anger once we get home.”

Sophia flashed him an intimidating smile. “I’m not angry. Who says I’m angry?”

Nevertheless, Michael knew that she was fuming, and so he continued coaxing her along the journey.

At night, once the lights were off, Michael helped her ‘vent’ her frustrations. He helped her so hard that the bed kept creaking nonstop.

After they were done with the first round, Michael wiped his sweat away while asking Sophia, “Have you vented your frustrations?”

Sophia was drenched with sweat, and she nudged Michael’s flabby tummy with her toe. “Well, I’ve vented 30% of my frustrations,” she answered.

Michael responded, “In that case, let’s continue.”

After a while, he asked again, “How about now? Are you satisfied?”

Sophia was blushing deeply when she answered him, “I’ve only vented 25%.”

Michael frowned at her. “Why did it go down 5%?”

Sophia retorted, “I’m unhappy! It decreases once I’m unhappy!”

“Fine. I’ll continue.”

…

“How about now?”

“Well, it’s barely through 50%… Hang on. It decreased to 49% again!”

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 675

It took Michael a lot of effort to help Sophia vent her frustrations. The next day, his whole body felt sore. I can’t do this anymore—I’m getting old. The disadvantages of an old husband with a young wife is apparent now. I feel as if I’m completely worn, but she is a young woman with healthy needs and desires. Previously, I was thirty while she was twenty, but soon, she’ll be thirty, whereas I’ll be forty.

Today, Harry deliberately came over to their house to thank Michael. “Michael, thank you very much. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to keep the situation under control.”

Michael was slumped on the couch. He didn’t want to move at all because he felt as if he had been completely hollowed out. I wh*re myself out, but he’s benefitting from it. Hahaha.

“I’m going to say the same thing—get your cheap mother-in-law to behave.” This is the last chance. Harry nodded earnestly. That mother-in-law of mine isn’t a good person, but I am her son-in-law, after all. Hence, I have to play my part. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be my fault if this happens again.

Harry didn’t come empty-handed. In fact, he brought along a load of male supplements because he knew that Michael would need some health supplements for his sex life in the next few days.

Sophia dropped by the company after she went to the university. After that, she left the company to visit Simba in the veterinary hospital. Yesterday, Garfield was sent over as well because it needed treatment since its claws were trimmed horribly, and it bled profusely. Two days had passed, and the two cats were recovering well. Therefore, Sophia took both cats home from the vet.

Michael was done with work, but when he arrived home, he was greeted with nine cats in the house. The floor was covered with dung, and he felt disgusted. Initially, there was only Chrysanthemum, but Old Master Fletcher sent Simba over to mate. Later, Sophia bought a pair of new cats to keep them company before Linus gave her another one.

Besides, there was a stealthy magpie cat efficient in catching mice in the kitchen, which Michael had never even met, since it often showed up and disappeared swiftly. And then there was the one she snatched from Judy, as well as Sunset and the other two cats Stanley left at her place.

That’s a total of ten cats! There are two dogs as well! After New Year, they’ll all mate and give birth to puppies and kittens! There’ll be even more then! Oh, my. It doesn’t matter how much I earn because they will eat a hole through my pocket!

Michael barely sat on the couch in the living room when the group of cats started surrounding him. They got entangled into a fight while trying to compete against each other to take the position on his knees. Cat fur started flying around since they were biting each other.

In the end, Michael held the new Persian cat in his arms. This cat belonged to Judy initially, and its buttocks were burnt during a barbecue. It was abandoned since it was marred by a scar. Now, it was here with Sophia, and she named it ‘Scorchy’. Michael was touching the burnt cat’s bottom when he saw Ivan, who was recording each cat’s progress.

Under Sophia and Sarah’s financial support, his luxurious design studio had started moving forward. The Marketing and Design Departments had started hiring. Ivan was experienced in this aspect, and so he carried out the task well. The studio had not started operating officially because it was in the stages of going through the formalities of hiring people. The first job was to design a series of costumes for Sophia’s cats and dogs so that she could help advertise.

First of all, Ivan was familiar with each cat’s temperament and personality. Hence, he designed based on their appearance and temperament. For example, Chrysanthemum had a greasy, middle-aged man appearance, and it was the leader in the pack.

It was steady and skilled while having a matured and forceful presence. Therefore, when designing for it, the style had to be modest and dignified. Furthermore, it was slightly on the heavy side, and so the designs had to be slightly larger to ensure appropriate proportions.

On the other side, Stanley’s Sunset was just like a little princess… Sunset already had a very gorgeous noble appearance, and so its collar couldn’t be too flashy. Hence, it had to be designed in a conservative manner; otherwise, they would steal each other’s limelight…

Ivan had a sketch paper in one hand while he patted the cats and dogs with another. He still preferred to design for these furry animals because caressing their fluffy and furry coats gave him boundless inspiration. Ivan would lie down for a while, and then he’d be sprawled on his stomach. Then, he would be sitting down for a bit before standing up; after that, he would even nap for some time. He found it liberating.

Sophia set a tight deadline, and so this was a test for him. Ivan had to create something that he was satisfied with within the shortest time possible. After drawing the designs, Ivan would have to hire an artisan group to manufacture them before Edward Family’s Annual Meeting. Therefore, Ivan had been living in Michael’s house for the past few days.

Sean showed up today suddenly at the house alone, but he brought along some of Cooper’s personal belongings he had left behind. “Uncle Michael, I found some of Uncle Cooper’s belongings he left behind from the family archive. You should give them to Sophia when you have the chance.”

Sean left right after passing over the items. Michael took out his father-in-law’s belongings to have a look. It was a box of old stuff, and they were mostly things like diaries, photo albums, books, and such.

Michael picked up a picture to have a look at it. In the photograph, Cooper appeared especially young; he must have been about 18 years old. He looked delicate and young, whereas a young man with a pretty face, who was about the same age and height, was standing beside him. The two men had their arms around each other’s shoulders, and they seemed close.

“This pretty face looks familiar…” Michael rubbed his chin, but he just couldn’t recall where he had seen this man before. This photograph had been taken more than twenty years ago after all. I probably don’t know him personally even if he’s someone I find familiar. Then, he flipped the picture to look at its back.

Cooper Mitchell, Andrea Edwards, photographed in 199X.

Andrea… Michael stared at the word ‘Andrea’ while spacing out. For some reason, he thought of Sophia Edwards.

Sophia Edwards, Sophia, So-phea… Could it be possible that… The dream was referring to ‘Andrea’??

Is it possible that Andrea Edwards and Cooper shared a secret relationship, and that was why they picked the name ‘Sophia’ for their child? However, Cooper wasn’t even aware that he had a child. In his plans, he most probably hadn’t expected Annabel to be pregnant so quickly. It was impossible for him to have named the child, and so Annabel must have given the child her name. Hence, Annabel was the one who had the dream?

…

The Edward Family’s Annual Meeting was just around the corner. Sophia was managing her businesses, whereas Faye and Joe were trying to figure out the best way to ‘sell’ Sophia while benefiting from it. On the other side, Judy was also planning on taking advantage of Sophia.

Taylor has become fat, and so his career as a celebrity is in ruins. In fact, he would struggle to get work in the future. Therefore, Sophia wouldn’t have a good life soon. Faye spread those lies just for her own satisfaction. However, after lying for so long, she even managed to fool herself. Sophia has been stirring up trouble just because Taylor has been protecting her. So if Taylor is out of a job, Sophia would have nothing to stand on and nothing to be proud of. I’m sure if Sam were to truly show interest in Sophia, Taylor might very well beg Sam on bent knees to take Sophia as a partner in bed! If Sam is willing to help, it means that Taylor’s future and career would be salvageable!

That group of people had been planning and scheming. Soon, the Edwards Family’s Annual Meeting finally arrived…

That day, the private island owned by the Edwards Family was decorated in a grand-scale, and it was crowded with people. Private yachts and private boats docked one after another at the pier of Edwards Island as groups of people clad in flashy and splendid clothes streamed onto the island. The red carpet extended from the pier right into the island’s large and magnificent resort. Occasionally, there’d be private planes flying overhead to land on the island’s ramp.

The annual Edwards Family’s Annual Meeting was the largest event for the Edwards Family Clan. The Edwards Family bloodline had stretched across centuries, and there were descendants of the Edwards Family all over the world. They would all return specifically for the Edwards Family’s Annual Meeting.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 676

Naturally, not all members of the Edwards Family had the qualifications to attend the annual meeting—only those that were respected were invited. For that reason, Joe had cracked his head to obtain an opportunity to attend the annual meeting. This time, he eagerly brought Faye and his wife with him to attend the annual meeting.

When Joe’s second-hand yacht docked at the pier, the three of them stepped onto the red carpet energetically. As the annual meeting would be held for three days, they brought along their luggage in preparation for a three-day stay on the island.

Upon getting off the yacht, a service staff hurriedly came forward to take their luggage from them and diligently helped them with the check-in procedures. There were exclusive holiday villas and hotels on the island to host the people participating in the annual meeting. Therefore, more than enough accommodation and facilities were available for the guests’ use.

The moment Joe and his family arrived, they saw that Judy and her family had already arrived. As soon as the two groups met, they began lashing out at each other with stinging words and mockery.

Faye deliberately made a show of looking around several times. However, she could only see Judy and her husband, Peter. There was no sight of Sarah and Harry anywhere. Thus, she intentionally said, “Oh, it looks like Ethan didn’t come!” I knew they wouldn’t be able to invite Ethan!

Judy glared back angrily. She had been overtly hinting at Ethan recently, asking whether he was attending the Edwards Family annual meeting. However, he had always given a vague response and seemed unwilling to attend. Besides, she had caused trouble and stole a cat not too long ago. At the time, he had given her an out. For that reason, Peter was too embarrassed to force Ethan to attend. Thus, he had no comeback to Faye either.

All of a sudden, Victoria quietly mentioned, “Looks like Taylor didn’t come either!”

Judy immediately jumped on the bandwagon, having found something to ridicule the other party with. “I bet he is so fat that he doesn’t dare to show himself!”

Victoria smoothly replied to her sister, “What right does he have to come? That couple wasn’t even invited! Besides, he is nothing but a washed-up actor. Who would invite him?!”

The two groups loathed each other, and they headed toward the resort at daggers drawn. Unexpectedly, they had taken no more than several steps when they suddenly heard exclamations coming from behind them.

“Look! Look at that boat!”

“It’s a small, decommissioned naval ship from Russia!”

“Who is so rich that they can afford to come here on a naval ship?!”

A small naval ship rode the waves as it slowly entered the harbor. Luckily, it was a small ship. With the cooperation of the staff at the pier, it smoothly entered and docked at the harbor. The Edwards Family knew the value of this small naval ship. Even if it was small, it was still a naval ship. Who among the Edwards Family would be so influential?

The host of today’s reception was Lucy. When she heard that somebody had arrived on a naval ship, she immediately came to the dock to welcome them herself. Once the small naval ship was securely docked at the pier, a group of people slowly came out of it. First, a young girl in a white dress walked out, holding hands with a man in a suit. As they leisurely approached, they were followed by several bodyguards carrying their luggage. Although it was only a three-day stay, they must have brought along more than a dozen suitcases.

Everybody’s attention was drawn to this well-matched couple. Peter, who was in the crowd, immediately recognized the couple and happily called out, “Sarah, you’re here!”

The couple was Sarah West and Harry Winston. Just for today, Sarah had specially gotten herself styled and dressed to the nines. Hence, she was extremely eye-catching. Combined with Harry, who was dazzlingly handsome, the sight of the pair made Peter very happy—he felt extremely proud to be associated with them. Even Judy felt honored too. Similarly, the Edwards Family looked at them in admiration.

Harry and Sarah held hands as they walked along the red carpet. It was Sarah’s first time attending an event of this scale. Thus, she felt extremely overwhelmed and clutched at his arm desperately.

After Harry and Sarah disembarked, they were followed by another group of people coming out of the naval ship. This subsequent group of people was also led by a man and a woman. The woman was dressed in a haughty red dress that seemed to flutter in the warm seaside wind. Walking over in small steps, she slowly took off her sunglasses to reveal an unimaginably delicate face—she was bright-eyed and had an imposing air. The man standing beside her was even more eye-catching. Dressed in a well-cut black suit fitted to a slender and athletic figure, the man’s curves were vaguely visible. He looked like he was all legs from under his neck. His handsome face was angular and sharp—even the oversized sunglasses on his face could not hide the captivating aura around him.

When this group appeared, everybody couldn’t remain calm anymore.

“Isn’t that Taylor Murray?!”

“Didn’t he become fat?”

“No matter how you look at him, he doesn’t look fat at all!”

Michael looked extremely dashing and young today. More importantly, he wasn’t fat. Rather, his figure was perfectly athletic—it was as if his body was built according to the golden ratio. The difference between his current appearance and the washed-up actor dancing in the online video was as stark as day and night.

At that moment, all sorts of gossip began to spread. “When actors claim they are fat; they are not fat, okay? They intentionally put on weight for their acting roles. Besides, they quickly lose the excess weight once the role is over.”

“Oh, my God! It’s the mythical balloon man! Actors are all weirdos!”

“He truly is my idol! He is so dedicated to his work!”

“I love you, Taylor!”

Sophia and Michael walked over, hand in hand. Behind them, Ivan held a Persian cat in his arms, several bodyguards carried their luggage, and an energetic robot followed behind them. They looked quite stylish as a group.

The service staff under the Edwards family came forward to take their luggage. Then, Sophia instructed carefully, “My cat doesn’t like sunny rooms. Arrange a shady room for it and its assistant. On the other hand, my makeup artist prefers sunny rooms. My robot is quite clingy; it doesn’t need a separate room.”

Listening to her instructions, everybody felt amazed. Sure enough; they were bigshots! Even the cat had its own assistant. Moreover, the cat and its assistant required their own room. From the way she talked, she would probably ask for a separate room for the robot too, if it wasn’t clingy!

After that, Michael and Harry met up again, and the two groups headed toward the entrance of the Edwards Family Resort. They needed to sign in at the entrance.

This time around, Sophia had deliberately brought Ivan along. It was necessary to have a strong sense of fashion when designing luxury goods. Therefore, it was imperative to identify fashion trends at any time. As he had been depressed for a long time and stayed out of the fashion industry for far too long, he had to learn how to move around and observe his surroundings. For that purpose, the Edwards Family annual meeting was the perfect opportunity.

They were dazzling and their aura drew people’s attention. Thus, Joe triumphantly exclaimed, “That’s my daughter and my son-in-law! My son-in-law is Taylor Murray!” He was elated. Not only is Taylor not fat, but he also attended the Edwards Family annual meeting! Rumors can’t be trusted after all!

Happily following Michael, he endeavored to build a relationship with him. At the same time, Peter and his family were trying to butter up Harry. Hence, both groups couldn’t get along with each other.

On the other hand, Lucy had come out to greet them herself. When she saw that both Michael and Harry were present, she quickly said, “Welcome, welcome! I’m so honored to have you both on my island! While speaking, she purposely glanced at Michael… Sure enough; he isn’t fat.

In response, Michael and Harry gave a simple greeting to Lucy before heading toward the sign-in area by the door.

At the sign-in area, the two sisters, Judy and Victoria, arrived with their father. Taking out their family invitation, the names of their entire family were written on it. Families were generally invited to the annual meeting as a unit—only on rare occasions, would special and particularly outstanding individuals receive a personal invitation to attend. Therefore, Judy’s invitation included the names of the two sisters, their parents, their sons-in-law, as well as Peter. In addition, the names of Sarah and Harry were specially added at the back too. Once their identities were verified, the group was allowed to enter,

Finally, it was Joe’s turn. However, only the names of Joe’s family of three were written on the invitation—Sophia and Michael’s names were not on it.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 677

Joe became anxious. Previously, he wanted Sophia to attend the annual meeting this year. After all, it would serve to increase his reputation if she brought Taylor along with her. Contrary to his expectations, he learned that Taylor had gotten fat.

Moreover, the invitation had arrived without Sophia and Taylor’s names on it. Thinking that bringing Taylor, who had gotten fat, would humiliate him, he couldn’t be bothered to use his connections to add their names to the invitation.

Unfortunately, his actions had led to the present awkward situation wherein his son-in-law had made a magnificent appearance, but there was no invitation for him… For that reason, Joe was so desperate that sweat beaded his forehead. “This is my son-in-law, Taylor Murray. And, this is my daughter, Sophia Edwards. My son-in-law is a famous celebrity. I’m sure he doesn’t need an invitation, right?”

Naturally, his request was turned down immediately.

Judy, who had stayed behind to observe the situation, finally found an opportunity to get the upper hand. Laughing, she said, “Uncle Joe, it’s your fault for not adding Michael’s name to the invitation in advance! You can’t get in without an invitation after all!”

She was secretly enjoying their misfortune. So what if you’re a bigwig? It doesn’t matter how great you are! You don’t even have an invitation letter! How do you plan to join the grand family meeting?! However, she saw Sophia taking out an invitation from her handbag before she finished speaking. “My husband and I were invited separately.”

As expected, Sophia and Michael’s names were written on the invitation Sophia brought out, but Michael’s name was written as Taylor Murray.

After verifying their identities, the check-in procedures were completed at the same time. Thus, Sophia and Michael entered the banquet hall, arm in arm. The first welcome dinner would be held here tonight, then the three-day annual meeting would begin.

Watching them go inside, Faye threw a scathing look at Judy and triumphantly boasted, “Did you see that? They were invited separately.”

Judy felt like she was slapped in the face as she glared at Faye furiously before entering the banquet hall in a fit of anger.

Upon entering the banquet hall, it was a magnificent sight to behold. It was decorated magnificently and could hold up to a thousand people. By then, many people had already arrived. They were all members of the Edwards Family that came from all over the world and from all walks of life, including politicians, businessmen, and entertainers. Some even had different skin colors. Several members of the Edwards Family had gone abroad to spread their wings. After a few generations, the appearance of their descendants no longer carried any Cethosian characteristics. Even so, they were still recognized as members of the Edwards Family as long as they were outstanding enough.

Besides, new members were accepted into the genealogy record book every year. These new members were always the focus of attention. Moreover, two familiar faces, Ethan and Michael, had been newly invited to the Edwards Family annual meeting this year. Therefore, many were paying attention to those two. As they gathered around Harry and Michael for more information, the two were soon surrounded by people. Idols were popular no matter where they went. The two of them seemed to shine when standing together—it felt like they lit up half the hall with their brightness.

Men had their own social circles, and so did women. At that moment, Ivan settled down, came over with Garfield in his arms, and met up with Sophia. Then, Sophia carried Garfield in her arms and stood next to Sarah, who had a cat in her arms too. Although they only stood together for a short while, they were soon surrounded by people too.

“Oh, my! What a beautiful cat! What is its name?”

“The cat’s collar is gorgeous!”

With that, Sophia and Sarah smoothly joined a group of ladies carrying cats in their arms. As Garfield’s assistant, Ivan stood by the side with a cat bag at the ready. At the same time, he studied the outfits of the cats and dogs being carried in the arms of the ladies to understand the current popular trends, as well as search for a muse. Unexpectedly, he saw an extremely familiar collar around the neck of a certain lady’s cat…

When a group of young women and their cats got together, the topic of conversation naturally revolved around their cats. Sophia was diligently trying to become part of their group. Thus, she introduced her cat to them, “My cat’s name is Fiffy, and its nickname is Garfield. Its mother is the beloved cat of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, Barbara, while its father is the beloved cat of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, Soso. Therefore, my cat comes from a noble lineage and has an extraordinary background.”

Many of the ladies were surprised and envious to hear that as they carefully patted Garfield and admired its outfit. Garfield was wearing a beautiful set of clothes paired with an exquisite collar. The design of the outfit was extremely delicate, particularly when it came to the collar—it was very fitting for the noble bloodline that it carried. As expected of the descendent of the Queen’s cat, it was different from ordinary cats!

As a result, everybody rushed to ask, “Hey, what brand is Garfield’s collar? It’s beautiful!”

That was the question Sophia was waiting for. Hence, she hurriedly introduced her new business to them, “Oh! This… It doesn’t come from any brand. It was specially designed for Garfield by a renowned, foreign designer of pet luxury goods that I hired!”

The ladies exclaimed, “It truly is the work of a renowned designer! It gives off such a different aura!”

Sophia proudly said, “Of course! My designer is none other than the pioneer of trends for pet luxury goods overseas, Ive!”

Ive was the name Ivan used. It was also the name he used when he started to make a name for himself abroad.

At the mention of that name, many looked confused. However, some were familiar with the name too, and they exclaimed in amazement, “I know him! That’s the guy who started the trend of pet luxury goods! Many of my dog’s outfits were designed by him! What a pity that he left the fashion industry three years ago!”

Sophia took the opportunity to say, “He has been traveling the world for the past three years. He’s a designer after all; they like traveling about to find inspiration. Ive has returned to Cethos. So, I invited him back, not just to become Garfield’s exclusive designer, but also to start a pet luxury goods brand within the country.”

Upon hearing those words, the ladies became happy and rushed to get Sophia’s contact information to become her first customers.

Sophia saw that Ivan had been standing behind her all this while and staring at the collar of a certain lady’s cat. There was a look of sorrow and pain in his eyes. Noticing the look in his eyes, she hurriedly asked the lady carrying the cat, “Miss, your cat’s collar is gorgeous! It’s so delicate! Which designer created this?”

The lady proudly replied, “This was designed by Bill. The one who was as famous as Ive back then—Bill Winterford!”

Ivan’s gaze darkened and he fell back into a gloomy depression. That was a unique collar he had designed for his cat, Raindrops—it was the only one in the world. After Raindrops died, he had buried the collar along with it. That belongs to Raindrops! It also belongs to me!

He had designed all sorts of unique ornaments for his pets, leaving only the best for his family. However, he returned after disappearing for three years only to find that the unique items he had designed in the past had turned into a popular item among the ladies. Moreover, that popular item had been crowned under a different person’s name—Bill Winterford!

As if having heard Ivan’s indignation, a lady suddenly said, “Bill came here today too! He’s also a member of the Edwards Family! Look! He’s right there!”

In unison, everybody looked in the direction the lady was pointing. Among the crowd stood a blond-haired, blue-eyed, handsome young man—he was the internationally renowned designer, Bill Winterford.

Glancing in the direction of that person, Ivan laughed. Bill Winterford! I can’t believe he comes from a branch of the Edwards Family overseas! This man that used to follow after me, calling me ‘Master’; I taught and raised this man! To think he stole all my designs when an accident befell my family and I was in dire straits! He found the sight before him extremely offensive, yet at the same time, it was extremely saddening too. Unable to cry or laugh, he became expressionless in the end.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 678

Bill was talking to Lucy when he suddenly seemed to notice that he was being discussed by this group of people and approached them. When the ladies saw that Lucy was coming over, they hurriedly tried to fawn and flatter her.

Then, Lucy introduced Bill to the crowd, “This man is one of our family members. A few generations back, his family left to live abroad. His name is Bill Winterford, and he is a renowned designer of pet luxury goods. He has decided to return to Cethos to start up a business next year. For that reason, we are working together to start a studio to create a pet luxury goods brand in Cethos. I hope everybody will support our endeavor.”

Upon hearing those words, the ladies quickly nodded in agreement. On the other hand, Sophia frowned. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence? I just started my business plan, but Lucy is already becoming a business competitor?

Bill didn’t seem to have recognized Ivan. After all, Ivan had changed a lot during these three years—he practically aged overnight. He now looked much older than he was, and his hair was peppered gray. Compared to the young and energetic Ivan back then, the difference was far too great.

Looking at Bill as he chatted with the ladies, Sophia felt her confidence waver slightly. Thus, she asked Ivan, “Do you have the confidence to compete against Bill?”

Ivan stared at Bill, who was in high spirits and standing not far away. Then, he replied icily, “I was the one that taught him. I’m well aware of his capabilities. How could I not?”

In the past, Bill had been one of the apprentices at his studio. At the time, the other apprentices had reported that Bill had stolen their designs. Unfortunately, he had trusted Bill back then and did not take heed of those complaints… When he was busy dealing with matters involving his wife and child, he even handed the management of the studio over to Bill without any worries… Haha… I was such a blind fool back then!

During those three years, he had come to realize everything as he experienced all the coldness and mercilessness that existed in the world. He could only watch as his loved ones left him, one after the other; as his career collapsed; and as his life collapsed… His faith had been tested time and time again as he tried again and again only to fail every single time. The person who truly loved him had long since passed, and the person he used to trust had stolen everything he had to build up a reputation.

Besides, he had revisited the pet luxury business these days. By focusing on some of the popular styles that recently appeared in the international market and paying attention to Bill in particular, he discovered that Bill had plagiarized all his designs. In every design that Bill came up with, he could find traces of his designs in them.

Not only that, but even his unique designs that he had created especially for his beloved pets had turned into popular items on the market! Those were not just made from his efforts alone; they included the sweat, blood, and tears of his wife and his sister. At the time, he had established his studio with his wife and his sister. We came up with those designs together! Yet, Bill had shamelessly stolen them all!

His fists clenched and relaxed, and he did that over and over. In the end, he lowered his head and focused on taking care of Garfield. Even so, his gaze was filled with the flames of fury. Bill! Just you wait!

When Sophia learned that Bill and Lucy were working together, she felt anxious. She could sense that she was facing a challenge she had never faced before. If she wanted to make a move, then she would aim to be the best in Cethos. Besides, she felt at ease with Ivan’s ranking. However, if Bill and Lucy were to work together, that would become a huge obstacle in her path! After all, Lucy was the vice president of the Edwards Group. Together, those two would have a more experienced and influential team. Moreover, it was a given that Lucy would have more resources at hand than she did. No matter how hard it is, I still have to give it a go! How would I know how successful I can be if I don’t try?

More importantly, she did not feel as if she were inferior to Lucy in any way. Rather, if not for her background which couldn’t compare with Lucy’s, she believed that her current achievements would be much greater than Lucy’s! Perhaps because Lucy was the vice president of the Edwards Group, as well as her husband’s ex-girlfriend, that she couldn’t help regarding Lucy as her imaginary enemy, a role model, and a person to surpass. For that reason, she always compared herself to all of Lucy’s achievements.

Sophia also believed that if Cooper’s struggles back then were effective… If Cooper had married Annabel and given birth to me… I could have been the young lady of the Mitchell Family, just like Natasha. But, I would never act like Natasha. Instead, I would have lived like Lucy—I would have built my own business, climbed up the ladder of success, sat at the top of the business empire, and become a powerful woman! It’s a pity, but I am neither Natasha nor Lucy. I am simply Sophia. Sophia, who was born in Johnson Family Village in Riverdale; whose uncle was a felon that molested women; who only started studying at the age of nine and entered university at the age of 19. Even so, it’s only a matter of time until I catch up to Lucy! Once I am 25, I will definitely be able to achieve everything I ever wanted to do!

After a while, Bill and Lucy left to socialize with other people. Thus, Sophia continued chatting with the ladies, trying to join in their social group. When a group of ladies gathered together, their conversation tended to revolve around certain topics—from flower arrangements and tea ceremonies to stocks and real estate to child-bearing secrets and skincare methods. Later, they took turns touching Sophia’s robot and cat. In the meantime, the conversation accidentally touched on the topic of their husbands.

As soon as the topic touched on their husbands, Sophia shuddered. Sure enough; the ladies glanced in her direction all at once. “We heard… your husband has gotten fat…”

Sophia was just about to answer when the ladies looked behind her in unison. Their gazes were full of surprise as they quickly took out their phones and rushed forward to take photos.

It turned out that a handsome man in a suit had appeared behind her. His slim figure was beautiful beyond belief. He held a wine glass in his hand with his slender fingers; his sharp and angular face was neither fat nor thin. His body proportions were perfect and his legs were long and attractive.

“What are you all talking about?” Michael’s voice sounded as if it was infused with the richness of the wine in his glass—it was intoxicating.

Sophia looked back and glanced at him, saying “We were talking about how you got fat!”

He lifted his glass and said to the curious and nosy ladies, “Alright, as you can see—I didn’t get fat.”

He knew that if a group of ladies got together, they would talk about how he had gotten fat. The ladies’ eyes lit up at the sight of him. After all, he was the national idol. His fanbase included everyone from old ladies to young girls—these rich ladies were no exception.

Then, the ladies rushed to take a photo with him. He was extremely patient today as they were Sophia’s future customers. While taking photos with them, he complimented, “What a beautiful cat. That dog sure looks strong. Your chinchilla looks so delicate!”

…

After the photo session, Michael turned to Sophia and said, “Come; I want to introduce you to a bigshot.”

A bigshot? Sophia immediately stood up, brushed off the cat fur on her legs, took out a name card, and swiftly left with him.

He introduced her, “This bigshot is very influential. His status is equivalent to the deputy family head of the Edwards Family. Aside from Jordan Edwards, he is the most powerful here. Moreover, he is very influential in both business and political circles. He was only one step away from becoming the president of the country. In the end, he withdrew from politics. He’s the 9th Old Master.”

No matter what circles one was in, connections were extremely important. Therefore, he hoped that she could get to know some high-leveled contacts. Getting to know this bigshot might be very useful in expanding her career and business.

“Wow! What a bigshot! Hurry up and introduce me to him!” Sophia excitedly grabbed Michael’s sleeve while holding her name card in her other hand. He glanced at her name card, especially that slim and beautiful portrait. He had never wanted to make a retort as much as he did now—the photo was photoshopped to the extent that even her husband couldn’t recognize her anymore!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 679

The actual person and the person in the photo don’t match at all! She practically photoshopped herself into an underaged girl! Moreover, she actually believes that’s how she looks!

On the other hand, Sophia only had eyes for the bigshot that was only one step away from becoming president of the country. Even if he failed to become the president, he’s still a very high-level bigshot!

Michael brought Sophia into the men’s social circle. Widening her eyes to look for the bigshot, she could immediately tell the man with the imposing aura apart from the crowd with a single glance.

The man was not that old; he was probably around Michael’s age. His back was straight and tall. His figure was dominating and his aura was extraordinary. Despite standing next to Harry, who relied on his looks in his career, he did not lose in any way. Rather, he had an air of maturity around him that came from the wisdom and experience he had accumulated over the years. Therefore, it made him stand out from the crowd.

There were three types of older men in the world. The first type were handsome men like Michael who desperately refused to admit to their age. The second type were real men like the one before her—they had an imposing aura and a mature air around them. And lastly, there were scumbags like Harry who only fed instant noodles to their girlfriends for every meal!

Michael led Sophia over to the older man. The older man glanced at her without saying anything. Even so, his aura pressed down on her—so much so that she could barely breathe.

“Master Sam, this is my wife, Sophia Edwards.”

Although she didn’t know the identity of the man before her, he had to be very influential for Michael to address him as ‘Master’.

“Nice to meet you, Master Sam. My name is Sophia Edwards,” she said as she extended her hand toward him.

The older man reached out, and they shook hands.

Immersed in the joy of shaking hands with this bigshot, Sophia thought to herself, The Edwards Family annual meeting is truly on a whole other level! No wonder Judy always acts so stuck up whenever she attends the annual meeting! As expected of a bigshot—this bearing, this aura, this temperament… I need to become friends with more influential people. That way, I can pick up this powerful aura from them!

However, she failed to notice that two balls of flames suddenly ignited in the depths of the older man’s gaze. His heart that had remained calm for more than 20 years became turbulent at that moment.

“Hello, my name is Sam Edwards.” Outwardly, Sam looked calm and unaffected despite the surging emotions inside him. This girl looks like her… She looks exactly like her…

Faye and Judy stood by the side, observing them secretly. With their status, they had no right to even approach somebody as high-ranking as Sam. They could only get as close as they could to spy on them. Therefore, they noticed Sam’s expression when he looked at Sophia. Something is going on after all…

Meanwhile, Sophia handed her name card over to Sam. “Master Sam, this is my name card. Currently, my friends and I are working together to establish a gaming company. I hope to learn from you.”

Seeing that there were no changes in his gaze, she became very nervous. She was afraid that he might look down on her fledgling status and the meager company she established. To her surprise, he pursed his lips and asked, “What kind of games do you make?”

Sam is talking to me! Thus, she hurriedly answered, “We are an entrepreneurial team consisting of university students. So, our operating scale is not that huge yet. For now, we are producing several large-scale 3D online games and mobile games.”

He replied, “Not bad. Sunrise industries have a very promising future. Old men like us have much to learn from you youngsters.”

She’s so alike! Far too alike! When she isn’t moving, she looks similar. When she is moving, she looks even more similar! It’s as if she is a clone of that person! Even if that person has been gone for more than 20 years… I still remember the way that person smiled. At that moment, that person’s face was vivid in his mind. While speaking, he glanced at her name card. Ignoring the heavily photoshopped photo, her name ‘Sophia Edwards’ entered his vision.

Sophia… Sophia… Sophia Edwards! At that moment, it felt as if his heart had skipped a bit—so much so that he could barely breathe. Each letter of the name felt like fireballs burning into his eyes. I thought I had long forgotten that name. However, now that the person in question is standing in front of me, it feels as if I’ve met her before in another life!

Upon seeing that Sam had conversed with her, Sophia hurriedly answered, “Yes, that’s right. The profits are great, but the competition is fierce too. As we are still a startup with little experience, we hope to learn more from an experienced senior such as yourself.”

Sam controlled his breathing and made his voice as calm as he could. At the same time, he said almost subconsciously, “You look very young; it turns out you’re a university student! What year of university are you in?”

She replied, “Our founding members are all students of Bayside University. We are currently in our junior year at university.”

Michael, who was standing by the side, took the chance to enter the conversation. “My wife is 23 this year. The founding team is all of the same age. They are very young, have many great ideas, and have new playing styles. Moreover, they occupy a large market share.”

Meanwhile, Sam’s gaze was fixed on the black spot in front of Sophia’s chest—it was an obsidian amulet in the image of the Goddess of Mercy. His eyes seemed to be glued to that item. “The image of the Goddess of Mercy is very unique.”

Sophia touched the amulet that held her warmth. “Oh, this? This amulet was given to me by my father.”

It was Cooper’s amulet. His name was carved into the back, but she had used something to obscure the infamous name. Therefore, it simply looked like a normal obsidian amulet in the image of the Goddess of Mercy.

After saying a few more words to Sam, Sophia quickly added him on Messenger—maintaining a means of contact with him was the way to go. Their conversation had been very pleasant. When they parted, she delightedly looked at her phone and searched up his biography on the internet. Oh, my God! He is f*cking awesome! If Cooper was still around, he would be just as amazing, right?!

Afterward, Michael brought Sophia with him to get to know the other bigshots that were present. Many bigshots had been invited to the Edwards Family annual meeting. Therefore, he wanted to introduce her to many of these bigshots. If she wanted to make a lot of money, she would need to create connections with these bigshots of both the legitimate and underground worlds. It wouldn’t hurt to know them after all.

Nobody noticed that Sam’s expression seemed lost as soon as he ended his conversation with them and he turned around. His head felt blank, filled only with the way Sophia looked as she talked. Her image kept overlapping with the person in his memories…

“Andrea, Anna and I have decided to elope. I hope you can keep this secret for us. I’m going to bring Anna to a place where the Mitchell Family can never find us.”

“Andrea, I know… I know you love Anna too. But, I’m sorry. I can’t step back…”

“Andrea, if I have a child with Coop in the future, I’m going to name her ‘Sophia’. So-phea… It’s a name that sounds similar to yours. We will never forget you.”

…

Sam had no idea how he managed to leave the banquet hall. When he returned to his room, he sat on the bed blankly, stiffly, and in silence for a long while. He was caught up in his complicated memories of the past. 23 years ago, that person died. And now, 23 years later, a woman who looked exactly like her appeared.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 680

Sam called his assistant over and handed the name card he just received to her. “You have one hour. I want all the information on this person, including her parents, her family, her birthplace, her biographical information, and so on.”

The assistant accepted the name card and immediately began her investigation. However, she still said, “9th Old Master, if you want to investigate this person, you can find a lot of information on the internet. You can simply check on the internet in the meantime.”

A casual search on the internet would bring up a lot of information on Taylor Murray’s wife.

After that, the assistant left the room. Then, Sam sat at his desk, turned on his computer, and typed the words ‘Sophia Edwards’ into the search bar. To be honest, he didn’t need to ask his assistant to investigate her. Her information was all over the internet—she even had an exclusive entry on Wikipedia.

Clicking into her Wikipedia page, he read through her biography: Sophia Edwards—23 years old. Her father is Joe Edwards, her sister is Faye Edwards, and her husband is Taylor Murray. She published a book and gave a speech at Bayside University before. Currently, she is the executive director of Plum Technology as well as a student at Bayside University.

However, he couldn’t find any information about her mother. Some articles merely mentioned that her mother had died prematurely.

He scanned through the information quickly and discovered that she had been molested by her own uncle when she was younger. Reading the news, he was unable to accept it nor imagine it. I can’t believe the face that is identical to that person hid such a painful past behind that cool demeanor!

After that, he searched for her picture on the internet. She would occasionally post a picture of her daily life on Twitter, but there were very few selfies of her—she mostly posted pictures of her pets. Even so, every photo he found of her was uncannily similar to that person.

One hour passed by quickly. The assistant promptly came back with a large amount of information on Sophia. She handed the information, that had been printed out into a large stack of documents, over to Sam. The Edwards Family possessed a powerful intelligence network; they investigated everything about Sophia and her background to the minute details. The information on her included her origins, her family, her birth, and even the prizes she received in school—all of it was written out clearly.

Sam turned to the first page of the document. It contained a comprehensive and detailed version of her household registration information. The moment he read that page, his entire body stiffened in surprise. The information in the document was far more comprehensive than the information he had found on the Internet—Sophia’s entire background had been investigated. Aside from her father and her husband, even her mother’s name had been retrieved.

‘Mother: Annabel Johnson.’ Not much information was written on her mother, Annabel Johnson. Only several lines were written there. ‘Annabel Johnson died of a postpartum amniotic fluid embolism at the age of 19 in 199x.’

Upon reading those words, his hands began to shake, and his internal emotions crashed about in huge waves inside his heart. His eyes were filled with those words: ‘Died of a postpartum amniotic fluid embolism at the age of 19.’

Died of a postpartum amniotic fluid embolism at the age of 19… Then, he turned to his assistant and said with an emotional expression he had never shown before, “I want information on Annabel Johnson! All of it! Quickly!”

He practically roared out those words.

His assistant had never seen Sam in such an unbridled and emotional state before. Thus, she hurriedly left the room to gather information on ‘Annabel Johnson’.

Afterward, Sam continued reading the information on Sophia and understanding her past. The more he read, the more shocked he felt. At the same time, his grief, indignation, and anger grew. By the end of it all, he could almost confirm something.

In the meantime, his assistant had obtained Annabel’s personal information as fast as she could and handed it over to Sam.

Compared to the stack of information on her daughter, the information on Annabel was remarkably much less. It consisted of only one simple page—one piece of paper was enough to summarize her 19 years of life. She was born in Johnson Family Village, which was located in the suburbs of Riverdale. She graduated from primary school and dropped out of school to work at the age of 13. At 18 years old, she worked as a confinement nanny under Joe Edwards. She was chased out of the household when she later became pregnant. Afterward, she returned to her village and gave birth to her daughter, Sophia Edwards. The father of the child was unknown. She died of an amniotic fluid embolism.

When Sam finished reading that single piece of paper, he seemed stunned and couldn’t say a word for a long time.

His assistant stood by the side, not daring to say anything either. That was because Annabel Johnson looked identical to the girl in the photo Sam cherished and loved the most!

At that moment, Sam stared at the paper in his hands that he had almost crushed in a daze. All of a sudden, he stood up, shredded the document to pieces, and smashed around him like a madman. It looked like he had gone crazy—he was crying and laughing at the same time while muttering endlessly, “Hahahahaha… Fate conspires against you! What a rotten hand! Why?! Why?!”

…

Sam had gone completely mad—it seemed like he was a different person altogether. He destroyed everything he saw. Everything in the room was smashed to pieces, including the photo that he loved and cherished the most. That photo was the photo he took with Annabel. Laughing and crying, he finally ended up wailing in despair.

His assistant was shocked, but she remained standing at the door and did not dare to leave. The doghouse by the corner had been broken too, and Sam’s pet dog ran out of the room in fright as a result.

Standing by the door, the assistant cracked open the door and observed Sam, who was destroying everything like a wild beast with scarlet eyes. The hair on her body stood up at the sight.

Lucy rushed over after hearing the commotion and asked, “What happened to Sam?”

The assistant replied in a whisper, “I don’t know either…”

Lucy could hear Sam destroying stuff inside the room. He was crying and laughing while simultaneously yelling, “Why?! Why?!”

…

Edwards Island was brightly lit today. After the simple welcome banquet, everybody was tired from their travels. Therefore, there were no other activities, and they all headed back to their respective rooms to rest.

Inside the room, Sophia was unpacking her luggage. Initially, she felt that it was enough to only bring some toiletries since they were only here for three days. However, they were famous now. They had to be extravagant when making an appearance. Even if she wanted to pack light, she needed to bring more luggage with her.

Why did I have to be the wife of the Best Actor Award winner?! With her husband’s fame surrounding her, she was constantly being watched wherever she went. I knew this would happen. That’s why I preferred a hidden marriage!

On the other hand, Michael was on the phone on the balcony of the room. It was a call from Sean. Sean quickly cut to the chase, saying, “Uncle Michael, I made a major discovery! Back then, Cooper and Annabel went to the south to elope. In the end, they settled down in an ancient town. It’s the predecessor of the film studio where you always go for movie shootings. Originally, the Mitchell Family couldn’t locate them. But, somebody snitched on them! That person was Cooper’s best friend and one of the few people who knew about Cooper and Annabel. If you can find that person, you might be able to find out more about Cooper. I’ve investigated Cooper’s photo. At the time, he was frequently in contact with a person named ‘Andrea Edwards’. There were many photos of them together. Moreover, I suspect that Andrea was the snitch! I believe he is a member of the Edwards Family. Try to find out more about this person during the two days you have with the Edwards Family.”

After ending the call, Michael returned to the room. He saw that Sophia was trying on the swimsuit she planned to wear tomorrow as she walked about butt naked. Then, he saw that a copy of the Edwards Family’s genealogy record book was available on the bookshelf in the hotel room.

Picking up the book, he flipped through it while looking for the name ‘Andrea Edwards’. Unfortunately, his search came up empty—there was no such person in the Edwards Family.

The Edwards Family generally did a very good job at controlling the information on its family members. If there was something they didn’t want outsiders to know about, it would be impossible to find out. Or perhaps, Andrea Edwards was not part of the Edwards Family. No matter who he was, Michael was very interested in this person. After all, his wife was named Sophia while this person was named Andrea.

 

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 681

However, those that could become friends with Cooper were surely influential. Since he had the surname ‘Edwards’, then he was most probably part of the Edwards Family. Besides, the Edwards Family’s genealogy record book changed every year. If they could add new people into it, then they could remove some of the people they were displeased with too.

Moreover, Andrea was a person from over 20 years ago. Perhaps, he died a long time ago. Or, he failed to enter the genealogy record book in the first place. I’m sure many unpredictable things occurred in these 20 years…

Even so, Michael did not give up and skimmed through the book again. In particular, he paid attention to the bigshots that took up an entire page within the genealogy record book. Some of them even had an exclusive page just to introduce them. Among those people, Sam took up two pages all by himself. It could be seen that his position within the Edwards Family was just beneath the family head.

While looking through Sam’s information, one sentence caught Michael’s attention: ‘Sam Edwards, formerly known as Andrea Edwards. He changed his name in 199X.’ So, Andrea was Sam all along! Moreover, the year he changed his name coincided with the year Sophia was born…

No wonder I kept feeling that the way Sam looked at Sophia today seemed a little odd. His relationship with Cooper should be pretty close, and he must have met Annabel before. I wonder if he keeps tabs on Cooper. Or, was he the person who snitched on them back then? So-phea… An-drea… They sound so similar! Oh, deputy family head of the Edwards Family… Master Sam…

The people Michael had to bow down to and respectfully address as ‘Master’ were not many. However, he was sure of one thing—this 9th Old Master surely knew Cooper very well!

After mulling over it, Michael stood up to take a shower. Along the way, he groped Sophia’s fleshy butt while she was trying out her swimsuit. Then, he squatted down and opened up the luggage bag that contained his clothes. Who could have expected… As soon as his luggage bag was opened, a large dog’s head emerged from his bag and stared at him affectionately. His pajamas were completely covered in dog saliva…

The room fell silent for five seconds.

“You sh*tty dog! Get out of there! I’m going to kill you!” he yelled as he searched for the feather duster to hit the dog. Alas, he found a belt!

Yelp! Judge, who was hiding in the suitcase, was so frightened that it let out a loud yelp. Jumping out of the suitcase, it ran toward the door, used its paws to press down on the doorknob, bit on the lock to release it, then opened the door and ran out of the room.

The sight of its escape left Michael feeling completely speechless. He nearly forgot that during the time Celine had trained it, in addition to eating feces, it had also learned to open doors! Otherwise, how could it open the door to the bathroom to find food?!

When the door flew open, Sophia let out a shriek—she was butt naked while trying out her swimsuit. At first, Michael wanted to run after the dog. However, his wife was exposed to the public. Closing the door quickly, he covered his wife up before leaving to find the dog. That damn mutt! Luckily, there was nobody outside and Sophia was not exposed to anybody. Otherwise, I’ll skin that dog alive!

In the end, he sent somebody to look for the dog. Unfortunately, the search was in vain. Still, they were on an island surrounded by the sea. There was no need to worry about the dog escaping by swimming away. Besides, it was hot outside.

Returning to the room, he discovered that not only had Judge returned on its own, but it also brought a huge, black dog with it. At that moment, Sophia was letting Judge drink some mineral water.

Judge had hidden in the suitcase while Sophia had been busy packing. Fortunately, the journey here had been fairly smooth. They left the house and went directly to the pier by car before boarding the boat to the island. Even so, it had taken them several hours by boat to reach the island. During that time, Judge had been hiding inside the luggage without food or water. It was rather pitiful.

Sophia poured the mineral water into her footbath. Then, Judge lapped at it hungrily. It seemed that the dog was very thirsty. When it noticed that Michael was back, it was so scared that it hid behind Sophia. Although Michael was extremely livid, he couldn’t be bothered to stoop to the level of a silly dog.

Thus, he unpacked his pajamas from the luggage bag—it was soaked in dog saliva. It stinks of shit! He was utterly disgusted. Fortunately, the room also came with a washer-dryer.

On the other hand, Sophia was petting the dog. Judge had decided to bring a huge, black dog home with it. The two dogs seemed to be on good terms with each other as they sniffed at each other’s butts.

The huge, black dog seemed to be a Labrador. It was completely covered in black fur, with not a stray strand of fur out of place. It was very large and looked very healthy. Its body was full of very firm muscles, and the color of its fur was also very beautiful. Since it was not wearing a collar, they didn’t know its name. However, it was probably raised by one of the Edwards Family’s members living on the island.

As a result, Sophia decided to name it. “Corrado! Corrado!”

Although Corrado looked very fierce, it was relatively docile and allowed Sophia to squeeze its paws. She was sitting on the carpet. Sitting opposite her, it was taller than her.

Judge had been hiding in the luggage for a long time. When it escaped outside just now, it took the opportunity to clear out its bowels. Now that its stomach was empty, it was getting hungry. Hence, Sophia fed it some cat food. Corrado ate some too.

Watching the two dogs scarfing down the food with relish, she couldn’t help tasting the cat food baked with a secret recipe. It tasted surprisingly good! Following that, the two dogs and one human polished off two bags of cat food together.

After playing for a while, Corrado wagged its tail in satisfaction and left. Due to Judge’s accidental ‘surprise’, Michael’s mood had turned sour. He felt as if he was surrounded by the smell of shit—so much so that he dreamed that he fell into a dung pit…

Late at night, Sam was having nightmares too. He dreamed that he met Cooper, then he dreamed about Annabel. Throughout these 20 or so years, he had been plagued by nightmares. Tossing and turning, he could never sleep peacefully. Hence, he needed sleeping pills to help him sleep.

The nightmare that came to him tonight was extremely vivid. The voices and smiles of Cooper and Annabel were so alive in his mind that it felt like it had just happened yesterday.

“Andrea, Anna and I have decided to elope. I hope you can keep this secret for us. I’m going to bring Anna to a place where the Mitchell Family can never find us.”

“Andrea, if I have a child with Coop in the future, I’m going to name her ‘Sophia’. So-phea… It’s a name that sounds similar to yours. I will never forget you. However, I have not discussed this with Coop. I’m sure he will agree to it, but you have to keep it a secret for the time being.”

…

Those scenes were torn apart by Annabel’s helpless screams before she died, and Cooper’s furious yet sorrowful roar. Then, Sam woke up from his nightmare and discovered that he was still lying on the ground in the hotel’s study; alcohol bottles were scattered around him. Lifting his head, he glanced at the clock on the wall—it was 3 AM.

Last night, he had destroyed the entire office in a fit of frenzy. Familiar with his temper, his assistant had not dared to enter the office, lest she disturbed him. After that, he drank a lot last night. However, he still couldn’t escape from those pervasive nightmares despite drinking until he was completely drunk.

At some point, his dog, Blackie, had returned to the office. The black dog was sleeping in the doghouse by the corner. When it saw that Sam was awake, it lifted its head and glanced at him before going back to sleep.

Sam’s head felt like it was going to break from the splitting headache he had. Lying on the ground, he didn’t feel like moving. Rather, he felt like crying and laughing. He was consumed by loathing…

He had preserved the photo of him and Annabel for more than 20 years. At this moment, the picture frame had been broken to pieces by his own hands. As a result, the picture fell out of the frame, only to reveal that it was actually a group photo of three.

The three people in the photo looked to be of similar age. They looked lively and happy. Annabel was standing in the middle, holding hands with Cooper and smiling. It was clear that she only had eyes for Cooper.

Meanwhile, Sam, who was known as Andrea back then, stood on the other side of Annabel. He had deceived everybody, including himself, by folding the part with Cooper in it to the back and pretending that he and Annabel were the only ones in the photo. However, even that could not erase the cruel truth.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 682

The truth was that they were mutually in love with each other. For the sake of marrying Annabel, Cooper went so far as to abandon the entire Mitchell Family and eloped with her. His plans were very thorough. Although he was only 18 at the time, he had considered everything—he brought enough money from home, planned their escape route, and chose the safest place for them to settle down.

If everything went well, the Mitchell Family would never be able to find them. And, he succeeded. Woody did everything in his power to find them but failed to locate them.

Not long after that, Cooper sent a letter and a photo to his most trusted friend, Andrea. It was a photo of him and Annabel in an ancient town. In his letter, he claimed that the two of them were living a blissful life after settling down in a quiet, ancient town. He had opened up a bookstore, and Annabel was running a stall selling pre-cooked snacks beside the bookstore. They were very happy together.

Sam could never forget the words Annabel and Cooper had said to him before they left. “Andrea, if I have a child with Coop in the future, I’m going to name her ‘Sophia’. So-phea… It’s a name that sounds similar to yours. We will never forget you.”

What I wanted isn’t this! What I want is you, Annabel Johnson! Staring at their blissful faces in the photo, jealousy razed his sanity to the ground. Then, his 16-year-old self did the one thing he regretted most in his life—he handed the photo over to the Mitchell Family. Afterward, the Mitchell Family found Cooper and Annabel through the background in the photo.

He had only done what he did in a fit of rage—he simply wanted to tear them apart. However, he had not expected that his actions would lead to Annabel’s death and Cooper’s drastic personality change. Upon learning the tragedy that unfolded, he realized how wrong he had been.

Only then did he understand just how great a mistake he had made! Unable to accept the disaster he had created with his own hands, he changed his name and went abroad. Twenty years later, he finally learned the cruel truth that had occurred back then.

Fate is conspiring against me… It was late at night, yet Sam continued to pour the alcohol down his throat while reading the information on Annabel. Looking at the information, he suddenly covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly.

I never thought that things would unfold in this manner! I just wanted to separate the two of them! I never imagined that the Mitchell Family would kill her just to make Cooper give up! Cooper and I both thought that she was dead! We thought everything was over! To think that Annabel was still alive! In a place neither Cooper nor I knew about, she was raped by a fat b*stard and gave birth to his child! I can’t believe it! She wasn’t killed by the Mitchell Family. Instead, she died while giving birth! Her child, Sophia, was born without parents. Moreover, she suffered through so much pain too! Everything—all of this—is my fault! It’s all my fault!

“Anna… It’s all my fault… It’s all my fault…” Sam muttered repeatedly, his soul plunging into endless darkness.

…

On the first day the Edwards Family annual meeting officially began, a banquet would be held at night. However, everybody was generally free to spend their time during the day as they wished—they could use this time to meet the people they wanted to meet. Hence, Sophia hurriedly brought her cat and entered the ladies’ social circle. The group of ladies was sunbathing by the seaside while their assistants were playing with their pets.

Similarly, Ivan brought Judge and Garfield out on a leash. Judge had invited himself to the party and occupied a large space too. It took up an entire beach chair and refused to allow Garfield to encroach in its territory.

There were many cats and dogs on the island, and Judge stepped away to play on its own. After a while, it brought its new friend with it to Sophia to be petted.

“Oh, it’s you again, Corrado!” Sophia petted Corrado’s head. It had followed Judge back. This time around, it was wearing a collar. It turned out that it had a name—it was called ‘Blackie’. However, she felt that the name ‘Corrado’ suited it much better.

After playing together for a while, Judge and Corrado disappeared off somewhere. To prevent Judge from eating feces again, she borrowed a muzzle from one of the other ladies and fitted Judge with it. After conversing with the ladies, she noticed Michael beckoning her from afar. Thus, she hurried over.

Michael was only wearing a pair of beach pants as he sat under the beach umbrella, drinking tea and admiring the sea with a group of bigshots surrounding him.

It was the annual meeting after all—it was meant to be a relaxing occasion. Under the guise of spending a vacation together, the members of the Edwards Family would get the chance to mingle and get to know one another. Relaxing was not the main purpose—the main purpose was to foster a relationship with the bigshots.

Michael’s half-naked, athletic figure looked absolutely delectable. Having successfully lost the weight he put on, his figure was at the peak of its perfection. It was well-proportioned and stunningly attractive—so much so that it seemed to glow. For that reason, the attention of all the women around him was focused on his body.

Sophia walked over and saw the circle of big shots. She recognized a few of them, including Lucy, Sam, Harry, and some others.

Lucy was wearing a dark blue one-piece swimsuit that showed off her fair skin and slender figure. Similarly, Sophia was also wearing a dark blue one-piece swimsuit with a light jacket thrown over her shoulders. Her long, slender legs were vaguely revealed under the jacket. Our outfits clash! This is so embarrassing!

Lucy was wearing sunglasses, so her expression was hidden behind them. However, the frown on her face was still noticeable. It was clear that she was not happy. Hence, Sophia felt very nervous as she walked over to Michael’s side.

Then, Michael introduced her to all the big shots present. Sure enough, every one of them was influential! Except for the family head, Jordan Edwards, all the bigwigs in the Edwards Family were practically gathered here. Therefore, Joe took advantage and joined the rest of the bigwigs. If it weren’t for Michael, he would never be able to step into their social circle.

Laughing out loud, Joe claimed, “This is my daughter! She takes after her mother, doesn’t she? She’s very outstanding!”

Everybody glanced at Joe, who was very fat, then they glanced at Sophia in surprise. Did the wife of this fat b*stard cheat on him? How could he have such a pretty daughter with those looks of his? Or, did she undergo plastic surgery?

Faye was sitting next to Joe as she diligently tried to enter the social circles of the upper ranks within the Edwards Family. The three of them might be of one family, but their appearances differed greatly.

Sam was wearing a pair of sunglasses to hide his exhaustion from not sleeping all night. Even so, his eyes brightened the moment he saw Sophia. I’m right! I wasn’t mistaken! Sophia Edwards is Cooper’s daughter!

Sophia’s birthday was in October, and everybody claimed that she was Joe’s daughter. However, he immediately realized that she was Cooper and Annabel’s daughter as soon as he learned that she was Annabel’s daughter. She had her mother’s looks and her father’s personality, inheriting her mother’s good looks and her father’s way of doing things. After reading the information he had on her, he was certain that she was 100% Cooper’s daughter!

Back then, Cooper ran away for another reason—he wanted to have a child with Annabel. Then, the two of them would raise their child with care and love. As long as the child was outstanding enough that the Mitchell Family had to accept the child, then they had no choice but to accept the child’s mother too.

Oh, how far-sighted the 18-year-old Cooper had been! If it wasn’t for Andrea’s foolishness back then, they would have given birth to their child. Then, the Mitchell Family could not cause trouble for them since a child was involved, even if they were discovered in the future.

Sam observed Sophia, who stood before him. She should have been born as the Mitchell Family’s precious young lady. Then, she would not have needed to go through so much pain; she would not have had to wait until she was nine before she had the opportunity to go to school. She would not have been molested by her uncle and she would not have needed to escape the Johnson Family, after being beaten up badly during her high school entrance examination, just to survive; she wouldn’t… Sam blinked. His eyes were wet with tears. Lifting his sunglasses, he tried to hide his tears… and his guilt.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 683

Meanwhile, Sophia had started to integrate herself into the world of the bigwigs. She was chatting with them about topics on real estate, stocks, company management, and so on.

Sam remained quiet as he watched her. This is Cooper and Annabel’s child! Unfortunately, Cooper didn’t know of the existence of this child even when he died. At the peak of his career, he stood above all others as the president of the Mitchell Group and the family head of the Mitchell Family. However, he didn’t know that his own child didn’t even have the chance to go to school at the time. What a cruel fate to have befallen Cooper and Annabel!

Sophia sat beside Michael while listening to the people around her. She learned a lot from listening to them. Once in a while, she would participate in their discussions too. She didn’t try to blow her own trumpet. Rather, she appropriately emphasized her existence. She was very subtle and clever about it, and it showcased her high emotional intelligence.

In the first place, Cooper’s child would be very intelligent even if their brilliance were buried. However, if they were allowed to shine, their brilliance would be dazzling.

Sitting while sipping on her juice, Sophia suddenly noticed a large, black dog sneaking over. Its black fur glimmered under the sunlight as it sat down beside Sam like a shadow. Delighted, she reached out to pet the dog’s head. “Corrado! Why are you alone?” Where did Judge, that sh*tty dog, go?!

Corrado stuck out its tongue and raised its head, allowing her to pat its head.

Unable to stand it, Lucy put the glass of juice in her hand down and called out to Corrado, “Blackie, come here.” Who is she calling Corrado?! This is Blackie! How could this dog have such a distasteful and tacky name?!

Sophia withdrew her hand awkwardly, thinking that it was Lucy’s dog. “I just thought… the name ‘Corrado’ would suit a black dog like it…”

Unfortunately, Corrado was not familiar with Lucy. Even though she called out to it, it did not budge an inch and remained between Sophia and Sam.

All of a sudden, a hand reached out to rest on Corrado’s head while stroking it. Sam, who was wearing sunglasses, petted Corrado and said to Sophia warmly, “It is called Corrado. The name ‘Blackie’ was simply derived from the word ‘black’ because of its black fur.”

At that moment, Sophia came to realize that the dog belonged to Sam. Thus, she hurriedly responded by laughing awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Lucy didn’t seem happy either. After all, being put down by her uncle in front of so many people was not a nice feeling.

Afterward, Sophia continued listening to the bigshots’ conversation whilst learning many things from them. In the process, she also got to know several other bigshots—her mission was a huge success.

While chatting happily, somebody came up to Lucy suddenly and whispered something in her ear. Lucy listened and a disgusted expression showed on her face. She was in charge of managing the annual meeting this year. That meant that all matters, big or small, had to go through her. Naturally, her subordinates only came to her when something important came up. After listening to her subordinate’s report, Lucy replied, “Keep it under wraps for now and lock it up. Somebody will come looking for it sooner or later.”

With that, her subordinate left. The people around her rushed to ask about the incident as it seemed like something huge had happened.

Lucy looked repulsed. “There’s a Husky trying to eat feces in the bathroom and my people are unable to stop it. Since it is unregistered, we don’t know whose dog is it.”

After hearing those words, everybody was rendered speechless. However, a few people were shocked by those words! Sophia lowered her head and sipped her juice. Her body was stiff, and she didn’t dare to say anything. Similarly, the corner of Michael’s mouth twitched while Harry’s gaze wavered slightly.

This truly was a huge deal, and everybody was shocked to the core.

“What? How uncultured… How can it—”

In their eyes, a dog eating feces was unimaginably vulgar! How shameful!

Something like this could not be publicized. Thus, Lucy did not instruct her people to openly search for the owner of the dog. What was I supposed to do? Ask my staff to go around questioning, “There’s a dog eating feces in the bathroom. Does it belong to you?” If somebody admitted to it, the news that XX’s dog ate feces would immediately spread across Bayside City’s well-known circles. How would the owner, their family, and the dog hold their head up after that? They wouldn’t be able to continue living in Bayside City!

At that moment, nobody would dare to admit that that was their dog, especially a public figure like Michael. If he went to claim the dog, the whole world would soon know that Taylor Murray’s dog ate feces before the afternoon was up. How will I continue working in the film industry?!

Similarly, Sophia stubbornly refused to say a word too.

Sam’s eyes were covered by his sunglasses. However, he seemed to have noticed something. Not many Huskies could be found on the island. Moreover, Sophia had been talking to one earlier. Hence, he smilingly said, “Dog’s can’t change their nature of eating feces. It’s not a big deal.”

The 9th Old Master had personally spoken up. No matter how uncultured or vulgar the joke, everybody else had no choice but to accept it. Therefore, they laughed with him. Only Sophia looked like she was crying through her laughter.

Lucy felt extremely frustrated. She was in charge of hosting the annual meeting this year. It was such an important task, and she did not want any mishaps happening during the annual meeting. More importantly, she did not want something like somebody’s dog eating feces in the bathroom happening during the annual meeting she presided over! She snapped, “I asked my staff to lock the dog up in the utility room. Its name is ‘Judge’. If anybody knows whose dog it is, please inform its owner to come and claim it.”

When Sophia heard the name ‘Judge’, she shuddered slightly. Meanwhile, Sam secretly laughed. He remembered seeing Blackie playing with a Husky that went by the name ‘Judge’ earlier.

After the conversation with the bigshots ended, Sophia and Michael excused themselves and hid in an isolated corner to talk.

“Go and get Judge back!” Sophia ordered Michael.

Glaring at her, Michael answered without even thinking about it, “I’m not going. If anything, you should go! I’m a public figure!”

She angrily said, “Who will go if not you?! Are you asking me to go?! Do you want Lucy to know that my dog eats feces?! Do you know how huge a deal it is to let my husband’s ex-girlfriend know that my dog eats feces?! Do you?! I don’t care; you have to go!”

They yelled at each other by the beach, transferring the blame between one another. None of them wanted to back down to go and claim Judge back from Lucy. However, they accidentally became touchy and flirtatious instead, touching each other’s hips, chest, crotch… For a moment, they forgot about the matter of getting Judge back.

Michael felt that he was an international celebrity. No matter what he did, it would be magnified several times over. Therefore, he couldn’t show himself carelessly for the sake of preserving his reputation. It would be bad if things got out of hand. On the other hand, Sophia believed that if she had to claim the dog that had been caught eating feces from her husband’s ex-girlfriend, she might as well kill herself!

The two of them couldn’t reach a consensus, and their fight lasted the entire afternoon. After playing at the beach the entire morning, Sophia lay in her room, tossing and turning. She wanted to rest, but she couldn’t fall asleep. This is all because of Judge! Argh! How embarrassing!

Michael had gone out, claiming that he was going to meet with Jordan.

She knew that she was overdoing it a little by asking such a famous man to go and do something like this. However, she felt that her pride was valid too! After sending Ivan to ask about it, it seemed like the other party wanted the dog’s owner to go and claim it themselves. Moreover, they had to bring the invitation from the Edwards Family to take a photo and register the dog. The check-in procedures were very stringent—everybody staying there, including their pets, had to be registered.

Sophia tossed and turned; she was at a loss for how to proceed. Then, a knock sounded on the door. Standing up, she looked out of the door through the peephole and saw a face she never expected to see—it was Sam!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 684

Why is Sam here?! Sophia hesitated for several seconds without opening the door. Then, an agitated scratching sound came from outside the door. It sounded like an animal was desperately clawing at the door.

Straightening out her hair and her clothes, she opened the door only to see Sam holding a Husky on a leash. As she was slow to open the door, the excited Husky had scratched the door until the paint peeled. Her eyes spun in confusion at the sight, and she pretended not to know the dog as she asked, “Master Sam, w-what brings you here?”

As usual, Sam was wearing a pair of sunglasses. He seemed to be smiling, and it made his 40-year-old self look very young. As the corners of his mouth curved upward, he said, “Judge is your dog, right?”

She smiled in response, but it looked terrible. Then, she resolutely answered, “Nope; I’ve never seen this dog before.”

Judge had smuggled itself in through the luggage. So, nobody knew that it belonged to her. Besides, it really isn’t mine! The name registered on the dog ownership certificate is Stanley Fletcher! Thus, she firmly believed that she had not lied. Even so, she didn’t dare to meet the dog’s fierce gaze.

Seeming to realize that she was refusing to acknowledge it, Judge lifted its paws to jump on her. However, Sam pulled on the dog leash and held it back. He seemed to be smiling as he said, “Oh, is it not yours? I thought I saw you petting its head on the beach a while back…”

Sophia replied, “Yeah. I thought it looked pretty, so I petted it.”

The oversized sunglasses hid all the emotions behind his eyes. Still, he seemed to believe her. “Well, I’ll take care of it for the time being. When its owner turns up, I’ll return it to them.”

She hurriedly complimented him, “Master Sam, you’re such a warm-hearted person.”

Playing along with her, he said, “Of course. It’s the Edwards Family annual meeting. As one of the elders in the family, I should not overlook these tiny matters too.”

She smiled in reply, feeling extremely embarrassed.

However, he did not leave. Holding Judge by its leash, he stood at the door and asked her, “I heard that you plan to start a pet luxury goods brand. Is that true?”

Receiving favor from a bigwig all of a sudden left Sophia feeling very nervous. Besides, Judge was glaring at her with a fierce expression. “Yes, I am.”

Sam looked very interested. “Most of the talents in this field are abroad. It won’t be easy to start this venture.”

At that moment, Judge went crazy. It kept trying to leap forward and bite Sophia. Thus, she took a step back and said, “I invited Ivan, a renowned designer from overseas, to join my team…”

“I see. That’s good.” He was holding two dog leashes in his hand. One belonged to Corrado, and the other belonged to Judge. As Judge was going crazy trying to bite her, he was having trouble holding it back. It looked like it could escape his hold at any moment as he said, “I was just thinking of making a new collar for Corrado. Once we return to Bayside City, I will contact you and your designer.”

She glanced at Corrado. “Isn’t it called Blackie?”

With a natural expression, he replied, “Its name has always been Corrado. It’s also written as so on its dog ownership certificate. We used to live overseas, so I changed its name to something simpler. Isn’t that right, Corrado?”

Corrado wagged its tail as if saying, ‘This is the first time I’m learning that my name was registered as Corrado on my dog ownership certificate.’

Meanwhile, Judge was acting as fierce as a wolf. Feeling very guilty, Sophia pretended to be scared. “That dog looks so scary. Has it been vaccinated against rabies? I-I’m a little scared…”

Finally, Sam led Judge away while saying, “I’ll take my leave then. See you at dinner.”

After that, Judge was led away, barking pitifully as it left.

Upon closing the door, Sophia let out a deep breath in relief. She had decided, I’m never going to admit that it’s my dog! When I get back, I’ll just ask Stanley to claim Judge back from Sam. We can just claim that it had gotten lost and accidentally sneaked onto the boat with Michael. And, that’s how it arrived on the island. In any case, I, Sophia Edwards, have never seen that dog before. I don’t know anything.

She planned to cut all ties with Judge in the future. After all, she was going to start a business in the pet luxury goods line. If people learned that the dog she raised had a habit of eating feces, who would buy her luxury goods? Moreover, if the news of Judge eating feces got out it would negatively impact the reputation of her other pets, including Snowball, Garfield, Scorchy, and Sunset!

At the thought of Garfield, she suddenly remembered that she had not seen Ivan nor Garfield since this morning. Thus, she changed her clothes and went to Ivan’s room to look for Garfield. After all, Garfield had been left in his care for this trip. However, nobody answered the door when she knocked, and nobody answered her phone calls either. She didn’t know where Ivan and the cat had gone.

Hence, she instructed Hale, Gemma, and Maria to look for them. Even so, their search came up empty. The island is not that big, and the places where one can go are limited. Where did Ivan go? What about Garfield?

Sophia had a feeling that something was greatly amiss. Standing at the door, she hammered the door and yelled for Ivan with all her might. She couldn’t hear Ivan’s voice from inside the room. However, she could hear a cat’s meow. Garfield was yowling at the top of its voice and scratching at the door with its claws. This is bad; something happened to Ivan!

…

At the same time, Sam was walking the two dogs nearby. He had not gone far—he was simply walking by the beach. While he was walking, he thought about the short conversation he had with Sophia just now. Then, he recalled what happened back then and couldn’t help chuckling. Sophia’s nervous and guilty expression looks exactly like her mother’s! I can’t believe Annabel gave birth to her alone. What shocks me more is that she did not forget about her promise from back then. Sophia… This is the first time I’ve ever regretted changing my name…

Throughout their walk, Judge seemed rather indignant. It kept barking non-stop as if it were cursing at somebody. If it were translated into the human language, it would probably be something like: “Sophia, you b*stard! How dare you refuse to acknowledge your family! I’m still a baby! How can you treat me like that?!”

It wailed in grief and indignation—so much so that it hurt its throat. When they passed by a freshwater swimming pool, it stuck its head into the pool to drink. Sam waited for it to finish drinking. In the meantime, he took the opportunity to squat down and pat its head. “Why did you have to act so shamefully? If I were her, I wouldn’t admit to knowing you either!”

Judge didn’t reply as it concentrated on drinking. On the other side of the swimming pool, several ladies of the Edwards Family had gathered around to talk. They seemed to be discussing something excitedly.

Sam had no interest in what the women were talking about. However, he perked his ears up when he heard the name ‘Sophia Edwards’.

“I heard Sophia was raped by her uncle when she was just a child!”

“Her photos are all over the internet! She was raped by her uncle and her cousin. They even took pictures of her. Look; I saved those pictures on my phone. She is completely naked. Moreover, she had not even hit puberty at the time!”

“Her uncle raped her before she even hit puberty?! What a strange taste in women! If he really wanted a woman, he could have paid a few hundred dollars and gotten himself a prostitute! Maybe she volunteered herself!”

“Tsk. Did Taylor really marry her willingly? A woman like her… She has such a bad reputation. Taylor can get any woman he wants. Why did he have to choose such a filthy woman?”

“Perhaps, her skills in bed are amazing since she was trained from a young age.”

“Haha; that might be it… Perhaps, Taylor only acts like he loves her on the surface. He might actually secretly hate her. But, if he left her right now, he would be in deep trouble. After all, he has portrayed himself as somebody who loves his wife to death, spoiling her and pampering her every single day. If he divorced her, his character setting would collapse. His fans won’t buy that story!”

…

Sam heard the entire vulgar conversation between those ladies clearly. At that moment, he felt as if his entire body had frozen over—his bones, blood, and soul were ravaged by icy winds. Clenching his fists, he trembled slightly.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 685

At this moment, Sophia’s innocent face and the picture that was circulating on the Internet flashed across his mind, occupying his every thought…

Meanwhile, after taking a bath, Judge came back and walked toward Sam. He was frightened when he sensed the murderous vibe coming from Sam.

After asking his assistant to come over, Sam whispered, “I don’t want to ever see those blabbermouths ever again!”

His assistant nodded and went on to take care of it.

After the annual meeting, one of the ships would go missing on its way back. The ship would sink and everyone on board would drown…

After a while, the assistant asked, “I believe Miss Edwards is in some sort of trouble. Would you like to go and have a look?”

Sam quietly handed the dog lead to the bodyguard next to him and hurried to the scene.

At this moment, Sophia was anxiously looking for someone from the Edwards Family to unlock a door for her. When the waiter came with a set of keys and tried unlocking it, he realized that they were locked out. Just as they were about to break down the door, Sam showed up with his dog.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked as he saw the worried look on Sophia’s face.

Sophia responded anxiously, “Something happened to my cat and the assistant who takes care of my cat. They are both in the room, and we’re trying to open this door.”

Since the key did not work, they planned to break down the door. The waiter, however, did not allow them to do so but insisted on first asking his superior for permission. This place was, after all, owned by the Edwards Family. It would not be proper to break their door down without their permission.

Thankfully, Sam showed up at the perfect time. Since he was here, they no longer had to get permission from anyone else. Together with Hale, Sam slammed his shoulder against the door. After breaking down the door, they found Ivan lying unconscious in the bathroom while Garfield was hiding underneath the bed, looking terrified.

They immediately admitted Ivan into the hospital that was on the island. This time around, the Edwards Family was fully prepared for this annual meeting. They even set up a hospital on this island. As such, they were able to send Ivan to the hospital for a check-up without delay.

Eventually, they found out the reason Ivan passed out—it was an allergic reaction. Had they arrived at the room slightly later, he would have died.

After a couple of hours, Ivan finally woke up.

After waking up, he quickly glanced about the surroundings and said, “Where’s Garfield? Where’s Garfield?”

Why on earth is he still worried about the cat?

Ivan finally calmed down when Sophia placed Garfield in his arms. Carrying Garfield in his arms, he let out a contented look.

Realizing that Ivan had regained his consciousness, Sam decided to retreat. “I’m afraid I have to go and prepare for dinner tonight. I’ll see you all later!”

If it weren’t because of Sam, Ivan would’ve died. At this moment, Sophia bustled up to Sam to express her gratitude.

In the bed, even though Ivan could hardly move, he would not let go of Garfield.

—

To him, as long as he had animals around him, nothing was too big of a deal for him. As he recalled the allergy incident today…

The thought of that sent an unexpected chill through him.

Since Ivan was allergic to shrimps, he had to be extra cautious with his diet whilst on the island. He had specially requested the restaurant on the island to not include shrimps in all his meals. For reasons unbeknownst to him, he still had it.

He believed that this was not because of his oversight, but that someone had intentionally tried to hurt him.

Apart from Bill, his ex-student, who knew about his shrimp allergy, no one else on this island knew about it…

Bill, did you start taking action against me already?

…

“Master Sam, thank you for today,” Sophia thanked Sam, who let out a smile on his ageless face even though he was forty. The thin T-shirt on him outlined his muscular body figure; he looked more youthful than Michael.

“It’s not a problem at all. Feel free to come to me if you run into any problems in the future.”

Upon hearing that, Sophia quickly nodded with gratitude. “Thanks so much, Master Sam. You are truly a good man.” Sophia felt that she was obliged to at least send him off after what he had done for her. Little did she know that Sam actually intended to spend more time conversing with her.

Mysteriously, ever since he, while being immature and ignorant, caused the death of Annabel when he was sixteen, he had shut himself off, never again experiencing the joy of chatting with someone.

However, Sophia was the first person that made him feel this way again.

However, much to his dismay, they ran out of topics after just a few exchanges. Right at this point, he saw Michael, who hurriedly came over after hearing about what happened to Ivan.

When he received the news, he was already wrapping things up in his meeting with Jordan. After the meeting, he rushed over right away.

“How’s he? Ivan and Garfield are fine, right?” Michael came in such a rush that his forehead was covered with sweat.

Upon seeing Michael, Sophia threw herself into his arms. Just seconds ago, she still looked calm and composed. However, she collapsed the moment she saw Michael. She could not help pouting as she stated, “Ivan’s still in the hospital and Garfield’s paw bled again.”

A frown creased Michael’s forehead.

How did this happen?

Michael tended to think the worst of everything.

Last night, Sophia discreetly told him about the studio of pet luxury goods that Lucy was starting and that Bill was her chief designer. Since Bill used to be Ivan’s student, they had a complicated relationship, and it wasn’t an amicable one. Just after that conversation, this incident happened today… Did Bill do this? Or did Lucy suggest it?

No. That’s not possible. My instinct tells me that Lucy isn’t such a person.

Even though she’s dominant and would never allow anyone to challenge her authority, she isn’t as dumb as Natasha, who wouldn’t hesitate to play dirty tricks to discredit her opponents. Lucy isn’t like that; she confronts her opponents head-on!

Holding her hand, Michael lovingly patted her on her shoulder and said, “Alright. Alright. They’re both fine, aren’t they?”

Hearing that, Sophia nodded pitifully without realizing that Sam had taken it all in.

It was as if what happened twenty years ago had just repeated itself.

Sam was the person who knew Annabel first!

Back in those days, Annabel worked part-time at a restaurant close to Bayside University. At that time, Sam visited the restaurant daily just so he could catch a glimpse of Annabel.

Sam still remembered that he was only sixteen while Annabel was seventeen.

Being the immature and ignorant teenager that Sam was, he felt that she came into his heart like a rainbow and stayed there ever since. She was the first person who had ever made his heart skip. Everything was so pure and wonderful. Since then, he had carefully placed that feeling in his heart and never once told anyone.

One day, he took his best friend, Cooper, to that restaurant to share his deepest secret with him. Much to his surprise, before he could say it, he found out that Cooper was actually dating Annabel.

Each time they went on a date, they asked Sam to keep watch for them. When they secretly went on a date in the park on the weekend, they would ask Sam to help take pictures for them. Sam hated himself for not expressing his feelings for Annabel earlier, and he hated Cooper for taking his love from him.

What happened in front of him right now reminded him of how lovey-dovey Cooper and Annabel were back in the days—they were deeply attached, and every look they gave each other was so compassionate. Michael and Sophia were equally an eyesore!

As this scene unfolded before his eyes, he began to feel conflicted.

Even Annabel’s daughter is married…

“Master Sam, thank you for today. We’ll make a move now. See you tonight at dinner.” After thanking Sam, Michael departed with Sophia, leaving Sam by himself as he walked away in a daze.

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 686

The incident that took place during the day did not affect the banquet that night. Sophia and Michael turned up on time. Sophia was seen in a brand new dress named ‘Ten Thousand Miles of Mist’ that was designed by Kenny of the L/K Group.

This dress was all white, looking as if it was surrounded by faint clouds and mist; it was truly a piece of art, emanating a mysterious and fairy-like aura. Furthermore, her white-based makeup and the white heels with diamond ornaments made her look dignified and graceful.

As Taylor’s wife, Sophia showed up with Michael tonight. Gently wrapping her arms around his, Sophia’s cheeks were beet-red as she felt butterflies in her stomach. After all, this was the first time she attended a social event with Michael as husband and wife. It was no surprise that she felt slightly nervous and emotional.

Even though Michael had smartened himself up, he did not overdo it so that he did not overshadow Sophia. I’m here tonight only to complement Sophia, he thought to himself.

Regardless, they could not help being in the limelight, even at the dinner hosted by the Edwards Family. In the sea of famous and stunning ladies, Sophia nevertheless stood out with her beauty. The moment she showed up, she was immediately surrounded by people who wanted to talk to her. She then began engaging in conversation with different people. As she spoke confidently and with people, she looked like sparkling jewelry. It was impossible to not notice her.

Standing afar, Sam looked at the dazzling Sophia with admiration. He noticed her right away the moment she appeared at the dinner. She’s truly stunning, just like Annabel in my memory. But, Annabel is more stunning.

Annabel was a delicate and gentle lady. She was submissive and meek like an unknown wildflower silently blossoming by the roadside. On the other hand, Sophia was like an enchanting and gorgeous white peony. Her looks came from Annabel while her body figure came from Cooper. It was Cooper who gave life to the stunning looks that she inherited from Annabel. She was truly the combination of the characteristics of her parents. Moreover, she was also as ambitious as Cooper—perhaps it was a little too much.

He had reviewed her résumé. The way she carried out her revenge is identical to her father. She’s truly Cooper’s daughter! Gazing at her from afar, it was as if he was appreciating a piece of exquisite artwork. In his eyes, she was God’s best creation. No one had expected that through the twists and turns of life such a special girl was brought into the world.

Holding a glass of wine, Sam slowly strode toward Sophia, who was in the midst of a huge crowd. Everyone who saw Sam slowly and reverently backed away.

“Master Sam, lovely to see you,” Sophia humbly and politely greeted Sam.

Sam returned the greeting by offering a toast to Sophia and Michael. The three of them proceeded to take a swig of the wine. At the same time, Sam could not take his eyes off Sophia’s flushed cheeks. His eyes reflected her stunning looks. The sight of her caused ripples in his heart.

Sam asked, “How’s it going? You must have had an eventful day.”

Sophia nodded and responded, “Not bad at all. It’s just the first day; I look forward to the next two days.”

Within one day, Sophia added almost every wealthy woman on the island on Messenger and had played with all their pets. All of these wealthy laddies will be my clients from today onward!

Tomorrow, she would be having tea with some bigshots from the fashion and online game industries. The day after tomorrow, there would be a conference specifically for those wealthy ladies with their pets. Her schedule was packed.

“By the way, Master Sam, are you by any chance available tomorrow night?” Hearing this, Sam knew that she was up to something. He responded, “I am.” Deep within him, he was jumping for joy and full of anticipation… It was a feeling that he had never experienced before.

Sophia continued, “I’m going to have a barbeque with some friends at the beach tomorrow night. Would you like to join us?”

Underneath his composed look, his heart was leaping with joy. “Now that you mention it, I’ve been wanting to try the seafood that this island offers. I’m sure it would be nice to try them grilled. I’ll be sure to make it tomorrow night.” Between attending the head of families meeting tomorrow night and eating seafood, of course I’d choose the latter.

Upon hearing that, Sophia was elated. “That’s settled then! I’ll create a group chat later and add you into it.”

Now that he had accepted the invitation to join the barbeque tomorrow night, Sam was strangely over the moon. Having no intention of leaving, Sam carried on the conversation with Sophia after they talked about the barbecue. Wherever she is, the air around her seems to be filled with her scent.

“Ah, I just remembered something.” Sam asked his assistant to bring over a book. He held that book with a pen in his hand and said, “Could you sign this for me, please?”

Isn’t that the book that I wrote? Sophia was surprised yet delighted. Did Master Sam really read my book? I thought only fangirls and housewives read it!

“Isn’t this my book? Master Sam, I didn’t know you read my book too.”

Sam responded, “I came across it by chance. I thought it was a meaningful read so I’ve been keeping it. It wasn’t until recently that I found out that it was written by you.” He had actually instructed someone to fly to the nearest bookstore on the mainland to buy it for him today.

He only managed to finish one-third of the book as he could not muster up the courage to finish the rest.

In her book, she talked about her childhood, the leftovers, where and how she got the scars on her body, her experience of being bullied in middle school, and her fangirling stories. She was upfront about her past with the hope that it could be a warning to everyone who read her book. However, Sam did not have the courage to finish it because the more he understood the misery that she went through, the more he blamed himself.

Rather shyly, Sophia took the book and pen over and signed it for Sam. It’s a lot of pressure signing my book for Sam… I have no idea how many people are watching me right now.

As the second most important person in the Edwards Family, Sam was not in any way inferior to his predecessors. As such, all his moves were under public scrutiny. Among all the people who would love to strike up a conversation with him, he nevertheless chose to speak to Sophia, Michael’s wife. Was that not somewhat bizarre?

Standing next to Sophia, Michael sensed the strange look in Sam’s eyes as he looked at Sophia, but he had no way of describing what he saw. Nevertheless, he was certain of one thing: Sam knew Annabel!

Since Ivan was not around, it was Maria’s turn to look after the cat carrier bag where Garfield slept. Sam carried Garfield in his arms and later patted Nicholas on his head. He talked to Sophia about computer games, fashion, pets, and technology. It was as if he had endless topics to discuss with her. Occasionally, his words made Sophia laugh. They had a pleasant time conversing with each other.

Knowing that he had many eyes on him, Sam decided to not cause her any trouble. As such, after a while, he left. At this moment, as Michael took Sophia away, he began to have his guard up against Sam. Is that my imagination? Why do I keep sensing that there’s something wrong with the way Sam looks at Sophia… But, he’s Master Sam! No woman is out of his reach. It seems improbable that he would be into Sophia. However, I have such a strong gut feeling about it!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 687

After the conversation with Sam, Sophia took Sarah with her to go around and meet people. Sarah was an introvert and would not normally take the initiative to speak to anyone. As such, she barely knew any wealthy people in Bayside City.

Even though taking one’s own daughter to meet people should be something normal, it was nonetheless not something Judy was willing to do. All that Judy hoped for was that Sarah never existed in those circles.

However, connections were important in today’s society. It was better to make friends than to make enemies.

These two ladies believed that they could easily get to know all the bigshots they wanted to know with the help of the two washed-up male celebrities. Meanwhile, Sarah was endeavoring to get used to her identity. Since she wanted to get involved in bigger business, she needed connections. Right now, she was not only the Internet-famous illustrator, Little Kitten, but she was also the daughter of the Third West Family!

No matter what, she had to adapt to this status upgrade.

The dinner banquet tonight was a success so far. Halfway through the dinner, Sophia began to feel her stomach churning, perhaps because of all the sashimi that she consumed. As such, she had to use the bathroom multiple times. Each time she went to the bathroom, she was met with long lines. In the end, she decided to use the bathroom that was located outside the banquet hall.

After using the bathroom, she went to the mirror to fix her lipstick. At this juncture, she saw two figures in the mirror as they strode into the men’s bathroom one after another.

On a second glance, she realized that they were two dogs—one was a husky and the other a Labrador. It was Judge and Corrado. The two dogs stopped outside of the men’s bathroom as if they were talking to one another. Corrado then lay down in a watchman position at the entrance of the bathroom and began looking around. Upon entering the bathroom, Judge began sniffing around looking for something.

“What the f*ck!” Sophia exploded with anger.

Why did Judge bring along Corrado to come and eat sh*t?

“You sh*tty dog! Stay where you are! I’m going to hit you!”

After making sure that the men’s bathroom was empty, Sophia stormed into it and started dragging Judge by his collar. Flattening himself to the ground, Judge held down and desperately resisted Sophia’s pull. While being dragged around along the floor, he barked incessantly.

Woof, woof, woof, woof!

Sophia pulled him so hard that she began sweating profusely. “Stupid dog! Go back to your own room! I’m going to send you home tomorrow. Don’t you ever think of staying at my place any longer. I’ll let Stanley bring you home tomorrow!”

Woof, woof, woof, woof! Judge became increasingly aggressive as he continued barking while struggling to resist Sophia’s pull.

Seeing this, Corrado began turning in circles, not knowing what to do and which side to be on.

It seemed like Judge was adamant about eating feces today, but all the bathrooms on this island were squeaky clean. In each toilet was also a bidet and a dryer with a flush sensor. There was no way that Judge could scavenge anything to eat.

“Do you believe that I’m going to hit you? I’m going to do it now!” Sophia lifted her palm, pretending to get ready to hit him.

Judge looked up fearlessly and continued barking. Woof, woof, woof—

It was as if he was protesting, ‘Do it then! I dare you!’

Still in her dress and heels, Sophia accidentally stepped on the corner of her dress and fell prostrate.

Realizing that her face was about to land on the ground, Sophia immediately covered her face with her hands. All of a sudden, a pair of strong and powerful hands caught her by her waist, saving her from that fall.

I’m safe now!

Sophia was drenched in a cold sweat. After regaining her footing, the hands on her waist retreated right away.

Sophia was startled when she saw the person who saved her life. “Master Sam? Why are you here?”

Sam was always impeccably dressed like a prince. His clothes looked untouched even after that brief commotion. He ruffled Corrado’s head and responded, “I was just about to ask you what you were doing in the men’s bathroom.”

Now, that’s awkward…

Rolling her eyes, Sophia calmly gave a glance at Judge who was beside her, and came up with an idea. She pretended to look terrified and said, “Earlier on, I was just walking out of the ladies’ bathroom next door when this big dog showed up and wanted to bite me. On a whim, I decided to come in and hide in the men’s bathroom.”

Upon hearing that, Judge became upset. He jumped on her and wanted to bite her. Woof, woof, woof!

Rather pretentiously, Sophia looked terrified and hid behind Sam. “Look at that! He’s a mad dog!”

Sam frowned and shot Judge a cold look. The sight of the look on Sam’s face terrified the angry Judge. Judge pulled back his ears and retreated in fear.

After that, Sam turned around and looked at Sophia who looked petrified. Seeing this, he could not help softening his voice. “Alright. Everything’s fine now. You can go back to the banquet hall now while I take care of this dog. It wouldn’t do your reputation any good if you are seen in the men’s bathroom.”

As such, Sophia quickly thanked him and left.

After seeing that she left, Sam turned around and glanced at Judge who had already shrunk into a corner.

This dog is such a troublemaker!

Looking upset, Sam called someone to take Judge away.

Judge has been under strict supervision. How did he get out?

As Sophia bustled back to the banquet hall, she tried to get rid of the dog fur on her dress while cursing, “Stupid dog. Sh*tty dog. I hope you get what you deserve!”

Looking at the amount of fur on her dress, she reckoned that Judge must have eaten something recently that had caused him to shed so badly. How on earth can there be so much dog fur on me after such a brief moment with that dog? She stood at the entrance of the banquet hall for a while as she tried to get rid of all the fur before going in.

A few moments later, she saw a few cars that came from the airport. Someone must have just arrived on the island. I wonder who it is.

After pulling up by the roadside, a group of people came down from the cars. Being led by the bodyguards hired by the Edwards Family, seven or eight Caucasians rushed toward the banquet hall.

Standing at the entrance, Sophia curiously looked at that group of people. Much to her surprise, she saw a familiar face.

“Linus!”

After seeing Linus, Sophia almost lost control of her feet as she dashed toward Linus.

It’s really Linus. I haven’t seen him in such a long time. He still looks the same.

Linus stopped in his tracks and stared at Sophia. There was a distance between the two as they stood there.

Linus seemingly knew that Sophia would be here. He asked, “What a coincidence. I was invited by Lucy to be here.”

It would appear that Lucy had some feelings for Linus but not the other way round. This time around, Linus had surprisingly accepted her invitation to attend the annual meeting of the Edwards Family.

Perhaps it was because he knew that Sophia would be here.

Rushing over to attend an event that he was loath to attend would be made worthwhile by the prospect of being able to see Sophia.

Ever since the previous incident, Sophia found it awkward to be with Linus. However, she did want to speak to him. She contemplated before saying, “Your place is still well-maintained. I send someone to clean it monthly.”

Linus responded, “That’s great. If you can’t find a tenant, just leave it be. I have a relative who visits Bayside City from time to time. It may be good to let him stay there whenever he’s in town.”

Sophia added, “Garfield’s doing well too.”

Linus grinned and said, “I know. I see all the pictures of Garfield on Twitter you post every now and then.”

He knew everything. He knew how well she had been…

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 688

Sophia smiled, face lighting up as she looked at Linus.

“Mr. Fass, what a pleasure to finally meet you!” After sending Judge away, Sam ran into Linus after coming out of the bathroom.

Before this encounter, Sam had long heard about Linus, and he also knew that Lucy had invited him to the annual meeting. What he did not know was that Linus and Sophia knew each other.

As Sam’s reputation preceded him, Linus inched forward and shook his hand. “Master Sam, I’ve heard a lot about you.” The two had a friendly encounter.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Sam felt that there was something strangely familiar about Linus although they had never met. He had only ever seen him featured on the covers of certain business magazines.

“Mr. Fass, do you know Sophia?” Sam asked, eyebrows raising in surprise.

Sophia jumped in proudly, “Linus and I went to the same school!”

Linus added, “And we share the exact same birth date.”

We probably shouldn’t mention the fact that we are sworn siblings.

Same birth date…

Sam frowned and said, “Let’s head inside.”

Linus’ appearance had attracted a lot of attention. Since this was the Edwards Family’s annual meeting, everyone that showed up was related to the Edwards Family in one way or the other. There were hardly any outsiders invited.

However, when people heard that he was invited by Lucy, people seemingly understood why he was here.

Upon entering the banquet hall, Linus met with Lucy. At the same time, Sophia finally returned and walked up to Michael.

Linus’ appearance piqued his interest. Linus? Why is he here? Did he marry into the Edwards Family?

Meanwhile, Sophia looked excited as she carried Garfield in her arms; she was looking forward to letting Linus see Garfield and Nicholas.

Much to her dismay, she did not have the opportunity to do that tonight. Lucy was busy bringing Linus around for him to meet different members of the Edwards Family. It was as if she was introducing her boyfriend to her relatives for the first time.

The news about the wedding between the Michel Family and the Edwards Family quickly spread like wildfire; the public had great expectations toward this marriage. On a side note, Lucy was older than Linus by three years… he was going to marry an older woman!

After hearing this news, Michael was incredibly perplexed.

Harry leaned over and joked, “Your ex is going to marry your brother-in-law! Are you terrified?”

Is the Edwards Family really going forward with the Michel Family on this?

While carrying Garfield in her arms, Sophia lingered close to Lucy and Linus. Naturally, Sophia also heard the news.

Linus is going to marry Lucy? Why do I have the feeling that Linus isn’t too happy about it… Since he turned up at the annual meeting, doesn’t this mean he’s agreed to this arrangement? Is this a wedding for political gains?

Sophia was in a daze as she stood at the sidelines of the huge crowd. Before she realized it, the dinner banquet had come to an end.

After returning to her room that night, Sophia removed her makeup and took a shower. She then changed into cartoon-themed pajamas, applied a face mask, lay on her bed, and started swiping her phone.

Firstly, she created a group chat for the barbecue and added whoever needed to be added to it: Harry, Sarah, Michael, Sam, and even Linus.

Michael lay next to her, also applying a face mask to take care of his aged face. When he clicked into the group chat, he received a notification that Sophia had just added Linus to the group chat.

Tsk! Can’t Linus give us a break? But, as long as she’s happy, there’s nothing I can do.

Later on, she began exchanging voice messages with Linus.

Linus stated, “I brought you a little something. I’ll pass it to you tomorrow.”

Tsk! Look at that… I’m getting jealous again.

After putting her phone away, Sophia went to wash her face. When she got back, she started talking to Michael about what happened today.

“Judge is totally out of control! He was trying to bring Corrado with him to eat poop! We need to quickly get our dog back. Otherwise, we might get ourselves into trouble one day! What if Master Sam found out that Judge had taught Corrado to eat poop? We’ll be in deep sh*t. You have to go and pick him up tomorrow!”

Upon hearing that, Michael frowned so hard that his face mask dropped from his face. Trying to put it back, he said, “That’s embarrassing. I’m not going.”

Sophia responded, “You have to show up tomorrow! That dog belongs to your nephew, not mine!” Michael clicked his tongue in disapproval without saying a word. He then washed his face and went to bed.

That night, the two kept pushing each other in bed.

“You go.”

“No. I’m not going. You go.”

“You’re an actor. You have thicker skin.”

“I’m a public figure. I need to save my face.”

“Anyway, I won’t be going. I leave the decision to you.” Still pushing each other in bed, they were equally loath to pick up Judge the next day.

…

In Sam’s room, he had just finished reading the book written by Sophia. He then took out his phone and watched all her IG Stories, going back as far as the ones posted last year and the year before that.

Watching her at work, working out, or at school, Sam felt that she did live a wonderful life.

When it came to her picture with Michael, Sam was annoyed.

They don’t match each other! They don’t even look like a couple at all. Michael’s love for her is not true love! Since he knows that the poop-eating husky belongs to Sophia, why wouldn’t he show up to take him away? To him, his face is surely worth more than his wife!

Much to his surprise, just shortly after breakfast the next morning, Lucy showed up with Michael to pick up the dog.

“Sam, the husky that you took with you last time belongs to Taylor. He’s here to take him back.”

Looking apologetic, Michael said, “I’m terribly sorry for the inconveniences caused. This dog is mine. I accidentally packed him into my luggage and brought him here.”

Not saying a word, Sam took the dog out by its leash and passed it to Michael, who in turn passed it to Hale.

Lucy frowned and let out a disgusted look as she saw Judge.

Why is Taylor’s dog eating poop? Oh, dear…

Sam did not know how to respond as he watched Michael leave with the dog.

He really showed up! But, lowering himself and coming to take the dog doesn’t mean anything. It merely shows that the dog means a lot to him.

Prior to this, Sam had never paid any attention to Taylor. All that he knew was that this movie star used to date Lucy. After Lucy’s car accident, Jordan decided to call off the wedding, perhaps because Taylor was an actor and he felt that he could not match up to Lucy.

This time around, he had instructed someone to dig into Taylor’s identity and provide every detail to him.

This investigation did indeed unearth some surprising information.

Taylor was a secretive person. No one really knew his background and upbringing except that he had strong support backing him up. His mother was Elizabeth Murray while the identity of her father was unknown. Notwithstanding, there was information suggesting some connection between his father, who died decades ago, and the Fletcher Family. Having made his debut as an artist in his teenage years, Taylor later went into the army. After that, he returned to the movie industry. He truly had a lot of different experiences under his belt.

Sam tried to nit-pick his problems as he went over the information. Eventually, he came to a conclusion: He’s not good enough for Sophia! He’s not worthy of her. The daughter of Cooper and Annabel deserves someone better!

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 689

The following morning, after having breakfast, Sophia was about to head out to meet some bigshots for morning tea. At that moment, she thought about inviting Lucy to the barbecue tonight before she came up with a perfect excuse to get Judge back without losing her face. Now that Judge was with Sam, it was just a matter of time before Judge became a negative influence on Corrado.

If Sam found out that Judge took Corrado to eat poop, I’d be really embarrassed.

Who knew that the moment she put on her lipstick, Michael showed up with Judge.

Sophia was surprised yet elated. “You brought the dog back!”

Michael responded blandly, “I did. From Lucy.”

Sophia incredulously looked at him and squinted in suspicion. “Didn’t you want to save your face? What changed your mind?”

Michael felt equally helpless. If I could, I’d rather throw this sh*tty dog into the sea. But this dog is Stanley’s dog, and Sophia seems to like it a lot. I can’t possibly get rid of it.

Michael responded seriously, “Nothing much. I’m an actor, so I have thick skin. After all, if I didn’t go, were you going to show your face and look for Lucy?” Michael’s words sounded flattering.

Sophia jumped out of her seat and kissed him. She said, “Hubby, you’re the best.”

I’m sure going to his ex to find the poop-eating dog must have been embarrassing for Michael. But, if he didn’t go, I would have to go. That would’ve been a real conundrum. I never liked Lucy, so if I were to really go up to her to ask for my dog, it would be a real embarrassment. It’d be a lot better for Michael to do it.

Between embarrassing Sophia and himself, Michael ultimately chose the latter. Saving Sophia’s face is more important than saving mine.

Since Judge had caused such a huge embarrassment this time around, Sophia held Judge to teach him a lesson.

“Sh*tty dog! You’re such an embarrassment! You’re so embarrassing! Do you believe I’m going to beat you up? I’m so going to beat you up!”

Not admitting his fault, Judge lay down, reached out his paws, and refused to move as it resisted Sophia’s drag.

In the end, Sophia decided to pass the dog to Hale for him to look after. If Judge still manages to eat poop under Hale’s watch, I’m going to make Hale do the same.

Ivan had been targeted the moment he arrived at the island. Since he was still in the hospital, the job of looking after his pets fell on Hale, who felt helpless and annoyed.

After dealing with the dog, Michael and Sophia split up—Michael went to meet a few people from the film industry while Sophia went for her appointment with the bigwigs with Sarah.

This morning, Sarah had an appointment scheduled with the bigshots from the gaming industry. In the afternoon, she had arranged a meeting with some of her seniors in the fashion industry. When Sophia and Sarah arrived at the first appointment, they found Sam there.

“Eh? Master Sam? What brought you here?”

It seemed like Sam had been here for a while. Meanwhile, Corrado was taking a nap next to him.

“I’ve been wanting to focus on the online gaming industry. Since we have the rare opportunity of having so many talents in this field here today, I thought I should come by.” Half believing what he said, Sophia placed her handbag on the table and sat down.

This morning, they picked a café to have morning tea for the appointment. There were not only cafes on this island, but there were also pubs, discos, gyms, and so on—the island had all kinds of facilities. The café was bustling with the members of the Edwards Family. They were in groups of three to five, discussing matters of their respective fields.

Plum Technology had been in the limelight recently because of the two hot-selling games they created—’The Traveling Snail’ and ‘Soul of Sniper’—as well as many other apps. Sophia’s company was truly the rising star that had attracted a lot of attention. Being her eloquent and talkative self, Sophia engaged in many pleasant discussions with the bigshots.

Sitting in the booth next to the café were several people from the film industry, including a producer, some actors, and a director. They were all part of the Edwards Family or the relatives of some family members of the Edwards Family. Inevitably, Michael and Harry were part of the group.

Michael could not help throwing glances in the direction where the gaming group was, alternating between the talkative Sophia and the awkward-looking Sam who was trying to fit in.

That’s strange. This old chap knows nothing about games. What’s he doing there?

After finishing the discussion with the gaming circle, Sophia joined the fashion industry circle and began chatting with several bigshots in that industry. To no one’s surprise, Sam was there too.

By noon, some of the bigshots from the digital fashion circle decided to have their lunch at that café. After having their lunch, they went their own ways, and of course, Sam took the opportunity to have lunch with Sophia.

In the afternoon, Michael made an appointment to meet with some bigshots from the finance industry. Since a number of his business partners attended this annual meeting, he took advantage of this occasion to gather all of them to play mahjong on the beach. As such, he set up a huge beach umbrella for them to play mahjong. Right next to them was the pet club organized by Sophia, who managed to gather all the wealthy women on the island who brought their pets along. There were all sorts of pets—cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, and even fawns. Those wealthy ladies were having a good time exchanging ideas with each other about their pets.

Sitting underneath the beach umbrella, Michael looked over toward the group of wealthy ladies and spotted Sam with his huge Labrador.

This old chap… What is he doing there at a ladies club?

On the flip side, Sophia was honored to be able to get Sam to join them. Having the presence of Sam, the 9th Old Master, she did not even have to try to gather those wealthy ladies, who showed up automatically after finding out that he was there.

Oh, Master Sam, the popular and eligible bachelor! Everyone who had any unmarried and single daughters came up and tried introducing their daughters to him.

Even Victoria and Faye were there, but Sam did not seem to show any interest in them.

Having Sam at the pet club made it a success. Sophia managed to smoothly expand her client base to include all these wealthy ladies.

After the pet club ended, Sophia instructed her workers to pack up. Sam was still there, deliberately pacing around the sidelines with Corrado.

Seeing the gorgeous and sturdy Corrado, which looked way better than Judge, Sophia could not help patting him. The moment she started patting Corrado, Sam immediately found common ground. The two eventually sat down and played with the dog, chatting with each other and even patting Garfield after.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but Michael kept getting a lecherous vibe from Sam. After patting the dog, his hand almost touched Sophia’s hand.

Something’s wrong. Something’s clearly wrong… Is this old cow trying to nibble on tender grass?

Even Harry noticed that something was not right. He nudged Michael and pointed toward their direction with his mouth.

“Look at that! Is Sam trying to seduce your wife?”

Michael frowned while looking at them. Sophia had her head down as she ruffled Corrado’s head while conversing with Sam, perhaps asking about the dog.

Sam responded gently with an occasional smile on his face. He even sneaked glances at Sophia with his gentle eyes when she was unaware.

Something’s definitely wrong! Sam, you dirty old man…

My Dreamy Old Husband Chapter 690

Michael clenched his teeth then deliberately brought Judge along as he went forward.

After being put on a leash upon returning home, Judge was unable to secretly run off and eat his feces anymore. He could only follow Michael to where Sophia was and sniff Corrado’s butt.

“What are you guys talking about?” Michael asked.

He naturally placed a hand on Sophia’s shoulders then let it slide down and rest on her waist.

“Oh, Master Sam was just telling me about this beautiful Persian cat. We can potentially introduce the cat as a mating partner for Garfield.”

Sam even added, “I also know a female husky. She’s a pedigree from the strongest of the pack. She will be a good match for Judge.”

Michael forced an awkward smile. How dare he try to curry favor with me?

“Okay then, we can arrange for them to meet.”

A frown appeared on Sam’s forehead. He had heard the annoyance and displeasure in Michael’s words.

When he looked up, he saw Michael looking down at him with an insincere gaze as though he was sneering at him. Either way, he did not look kind.

The two men made eye contact briefly and caught the ominous look in each other’s eyes before looking away again quickly.

Sophia, who had bent over to pat the dog, did not notice the animosity that was exchanged between them, and continued to talk with an eager look on her face.

“Oh, it’s my husband’s nephew’s dog. I thought it looked familiar! Unfortunately, I can’t tell huskies apart so I didn’t recognize it. No wonder he keeps coming up to me. It’s because he recognizes me. Hubby, why did you secretly bring the dog with you?” She was talking about Judge.

She wanted to sever all ties with the dog, but Michael had brought the dog back. For now, she could only come up with excuses.

Judge had a muzzle over his face so he could not bark even though he wanted to.

Sam seemed to believe her. “Yes, Judge does have a very typical husky appearance.”

After the afternoon pet club ended, it was time for their seafood barbecue in the evening. Sophia was working round the clock and did not have a moment to rest.

They did not invite a lot of people to the barbecue. It was Sophia, Michael, Harry, Sarah, Linus, and Sam. After pondering for a bit, she decided to invite Lucy as well.

In the past, she was always wary of Lucy. Because Lucy was her husband’s past lover, she kept having this feeling that Lucy wanted to seduce her husband. But after Michael went to Lucy to ask for his dog, it dismissed all her concerns.

After finding out that Michael’s dog ate its feces, Lucy probably would not have a good impression of him anymore.

She was the young lady of the Edwards Family. Her standards were high. She probably could not accept the fact that Michael, her ex-boyfriend, was raising a dog that ate excrement.

Before the barbecue began, Linus personally handed over the gifts he had prepared for Sophia to Michael.

Linus looked like he was moving houses with all the bags in his hands. One by one, he handed them to Michael.

“I lived in Africa over the past few years, so I brought back a few local African goods.”

“This is for you, Mike—a diamond belt.”

“This is for Sophia. It’s a jewelry set with a diamond necklace, bracelet, anklet, and two pairs of earrings.”

“This is for Nate.”

“This is for Chrysanthemum, Simba, Snowball, Sunset, Judge, and Garfield…”

“And these are for Stan, Sarah, and Sean.”

Michael took all the presents from him but still had a troubled expression on his face. “You spent quite a lot. They’re all so valuable.”

The pet collars that he gave were covered in diamonds. It was clearly expensive just by the looks of it.

Linus let out a genuine smile. “They’re not expensive. They’re just local goods we got from the ground.”

The Michel Family did mining in Africa. Not only did they have several valuable metal mines, but they also had a few open-pit mines. To Linus, those really were just goods that he excavated from the ground.

After Michael received all the gifts, he felt extremely uneasy.

It looked like Linus had prepared those gifts very early on.

“Why don’t you give them the gifts yourself?” Michael asked.

Linus looked at the ground and chuckled. “Mike, I don’t feel too comfortable doing that. Could you do it for me?”

There were many reasons he did not feel comfortable, but Michael did not ask any further.

Everyone knew what Linus had done, so asking any more would have been awkward.

Michael accepted the gifts on behalf of Sophia and the rest. Then, he handed them to Gary to store away safely inside the room. Midway, Michael looked at the four pieces of jewelry that Linus gave Sophia. The size and quality of the diamonds were phenomenal. It would be a top-notch luxury item in the market.

Even though he was giving Sarah four pieces of jewelry with the same specifications, Michael still felt like the diamonds on Sophia’s jewelry were a lot bigger.

Was he just overthinking it?

He kept feeling like the whole world was trying to take his wife away from him.

When he got to the venue, he spotted Sophia busily making preparations, so he hurried over to help.

Because they were at someone else’s place, everything seemed inconvenient. Fortunately, Sophia came well-equipped. She even hired a barbecue expert specifically to come and help them out.

When Michael arrived, he saw Lucy right away and the diamond necklace that she was wearing. It was clearly a gift from Linus as it was similar to the one Linus gave Sophia earlier. Nonetheless, the one Sophia received was bigger and nicer.

No wonder Linus wanted to give the gifts in private—it would not have turned out well if Lucy saw it.

Michael also heard a rumor that Linus was going to be engaged to Lucy soon, but he was still not fond of her.

From the way the Michel Family talked, however, it was a sealed deal.

Michael knew that Linus did not have to have a marriage arrangement with the Edwards Family. There was still a bit of a gap between the Edwards Family and the Michel Family.

Why did he come to the Edwards Family’s annual meeting?

Even though he did not understand, Michael knew that Lucy was about to be dumped. Karma will get back at anyone!

The seafood barbecue was going really well. Lucy was sitting beside Linus and talking to him. She was constantly laughing at his words. It was clear that Lucy was looking forward to their engagement.

It had also been a while since Sarah last saw Linus. Every now and then, she would start up a conversation with him.

Linus was content with holding Garfield in his arms and patting Judge who was next to him.

Judge still remembered Linus and had snuggled up next to him just waiting to be patted.

Michael was busy with the barbecue but he liked what he was doing. Harry and Sam were talking to each other with Sophia sitting on the other side of Sam. She was eating seafood and getting along well with Sam.

While Michael was cooking, he would look over at Sam from time to time.

This b*stard… He’s been talking to Sophia all day, but his eyes keep drifting off to Linus.

Linus Michel… Sam had never seen this person before, but there was a faint sense of familiarity.