Independence

As Karen spoke, her sharp eyes swept over Edith from head to toe. “Ha, dressed like that, you definitely don’t look like a respectable woman. All dolled up on the surface, but who knows how many men you serviced last night!”

Edith was stunned. She hadn’t expected such vile insults, full of personal attacks and outright slander

“You! You” She stuttered, trembling with rage. She couldn’t bring herself to retaliate in kind, she simply didn’t have the stomach for such filthy language.

“You, you, you–what? Can’t even speak properly, huh? Bet you have to discount your overnight fees–50 bucks? 707 Definitely not worth 100, right? Do you think you’re worth that much?”

Edith’s cheeks flushed bright red. “I won’t stoop to arguing with a shrew like you. You’re utterly irrational and disgusting beyond belief!”Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

“Oh, trying to sound all sophisticated now? Well, I know some

hussy, you name it!”

Edith was simply shocked.

in words too–fickle, shameless, floozy.

“I-I refuse to lower myself to your level. It’s pointless. People like you are no better than pigs and dogs.”

With that, she spun on her heel, her high heels clicking sharply as she walked away

“Ha! Pigs and dogs are still better than a hussy like you!”

Edith stumbled as one of her expensive high heels sunk into a mud puddle, ruining her shoes that cost

nearly nine thousand dollars. Her mood soured even more.

What kind of trashy neighborhood did Mindy live in? What sort of awful neighbors did she keep? Today was turning out to be a nightmare!

As for the contract…

There were still two weeks before it expired, Mindy wouldn’t dare not renew it. Over the past decade, publishing industry had gone through massive changes, making physical book sales tough.

the

Mindy’s fame had long faded. Since she had withdrawn from online circles, she was out of touch with the latest industry trends and had no connections or resources in publishing

Who else but her would be willing to be her editor or help her publish books? There was no need for Edith

to make this trip.

When the contract expired, Mindy would come begging on her own, asking to renew. The more Edith thought about it, the more she felt that coming for a visit had been a mistake. Not only was she shut out, but she also got cursed at by a crazy shrew.

Hmph! She would make sure to hold this against Mindy!

When Mindy finally came crawling back, Edith planned to play hard to get, making her pay for the humiliation she suffered.

“Mrs. Larden, who are you yelling at? Didn’t the Suttons already move out?” a neighbor passing by joked.

+25 BONUS

“Hmph! Some random trashy relative of theirs came early in the morning banging on doors, disturbing my sleep.”

“A relative of the Suttons? Shouldn’t they be going to the villa? How did they end up here?”

Karen rolled her eyes. “Who knows?”

“Have you been to Mr. Sutton’s villa? It’s huge and grand, with several floors and two gardens. We visited the other day, and the flowers were blooming beautifully! Even the vegetables in the garden were lush and green…”

The more Karen listened, the darker her expression grew.

“I’m going back to take a nap.” She made an excuse and turned back into her house.

After thinking for a while, she pulled out a business card. Hesitant at first, she eventually dialed the

number on it.

“Hello, Jackie, hi, yes. Last time you mentioned you d help me sell my current house and trade it for a better one. Can you explain how that works?”

The person on the other end lit up immediately. “Mrs. Larden, let me tell you all about it…”

Jackie Eldwin had recently received insider information that the Earnest High Staff Quarters was going to be demolished, and the compensation policy was pretty generous….