CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 11: HAS BIG SISTER RETURNED?

While speaking, Ann Vaughn shook the prescription in her hand, with a clear stance that he wouldn’t get any further services until he paid.

Sutton Jennings’ peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly with a hint of silent laughter, and after a moment, he pulled out his phone and scanned Ann Vaughn’s QR code to pay.

With a light "ding," Ann Vaughn glanced casually at the zeros following the five on the screen, and her bright eyes immediately sparkled, making the man before her seem much more pleasing to the eye.

Feeling suddenly cheerful, Ann Vaughn even took out a bottle of medicine from her bag along with the prescription, speaking gently, "Follow this prescription for three days, and the remaining toxins in your body will be cleared. After drinking this bottle on the fourth day, you’ll be cured."

With that said, Ann Vaughn got up and walked out of the alley.

Sutton Jennings pressed his bleeding abdomen with one hand, his eyes on the prescription holding unclear meanings. After a long time, he slowly spoke to her retreating figure.

"My name is Sutton Jennings, and thank you."

Ann Vaughn didn’t respond, nor did she turn back, just wanting to leave that place quickly.

-

Having been delayed so long, when Ann Vaughn returned to the Hawthorne Family it was already ten o’clock. Just as she was about to change her shoes, she heard a gentle and graceful voice from the living room, "Is sister back?"

Cynthia Vaughn?

Ann Vaughn frowned slightly. Why would she be here?

"It seems our Hawthorne Family married an ancestor instead of a wife, out there messing around until this hour."

Mother-in-law Laura Quinn’s cold voice emerged from the living room, and the servants cleaning around immediately glanced at Ann Vaughn with schadenfreude.

Being a wealthy family’s daughter-in-law is tough, not to mention the madam loathing this Young Madam, she might not last long before being discarded.

Having long grown accustomed to mother-in-law Laura Quinn’s sarcastic remarks, Ann Vaughn pursed her lips and walked into the living room.

As soon as she entered, she saw Cynthia sitting on the sofa next to Laura Quinn, smiling and holding Laura’s hand as they chatted, as close as mother and daughter.

Seeing Ann Vaughn come in, Laura merely gave her a cursory glance without any acknowledgment, then turned to Cynthia and smiled.

"See, if only she were half as good as you, I wouldn’t have to feel so disgraced finding such a wanton daughter-in-law at my age."

Though Laura’s voice speaking to Cynthia was extremely gentle, it still gave Ann a suffocating sensation, causing her to instinctively clench her fingers.

Listening to Laura’s words, Cynthia lowered her head a bit awkwardly, her smile shy, "Auntie, you praise me too much. Sister studied medicine with grandfather since childhood; it’s said she’s quite skilled. I was weak since childhood and grew close to medicine, learning Western medicine just to feel better, nowhere near as good as sister’s traditional medicine."

Ann’s fingers felt cold, her heart slightly mocking.

Cynthia knows full well that Laura was once deceived by a fraud posing as a traditional medicine practitioner, becoming the person at the Hawthorne Family who despises traditional medicine the most.

On the very first day Ann married into the family, Laura burned all her medicinal materials and warned her not to have those things at home.

Ann reached into the fire to retrieve and save those things, only to be punished by Laura with a day-long prayer vigil.

Cynthia’s words just added another push to send Ann further towards the edge of the cliff.

Sure enough, Laura’s previously indifferent expression immediately turned to one of disgust and contempt.

It seemed she was speaking to Cynthia, but her gaze warned Ann, "Such harmful things, I see who dares to bring them into the Hawthorne Family. But you, weak since childhood yet still so diligent, if my daughter-in-law were you, I’d be happy and live a few more years!"