CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER 212: YOU WOMEN ARE JUST LIARS

Sitting in the car, Shannon Quinn reached for the bag on the front passenger seat, took out her wallet, put two hundred in, and then handed a ten to Leo sitting in the back seat.

Leo glanced at it, crossed his arms angrily over his chest, and turned his head towards the window.

"Fine, forget it." Shannon Quinn pretended not to care and started to put the ten back into her wallet.

Immediately, a small chubby hand quickly reached out and snatched the money away. "I want to stay at Mr. Hughes’ house; I’m not going back to yours."

While starting the car, Shannon Quinn replied, "Sure, your Uncle Hughes is on a business trip today and just needs someone to house-sit."

Leo was furious and said, "I’m going to tell Grandma you’re bullying me!"

Shannon Quinn smiled and said, "I can bear to hit you, but your Grandma wouldn’t bear to hit me."

"You must not be my real mom, you’re a witch, you ate my mom and dad!"

Shannon Quinn’s smile froze. She knew kids speak without malice, and she wasn’t really upset by what Leo said, but it just touched a nerve hearing the word "dad" from him.

She didn’t argue with Leo anymore, just glanced at his expression through the rearview mirror. Seeing that it seemed to have no effect on him, Shannon Quinn breathed a sigh of relief.

Leo was actually quite sensible, people who knew him would say so, but Shannon Quinn felt that ’sensible’ wasn’t a word to use for a four-year-old.

She hoped he’d be a bit more mischievous, just not to the extent of using her WeChat to sell things.

"Mom, can we have sweet and sour ribs tonight?" This child didn’t hold grudges at all. He had just called her a witch and now he wasn’t fussing over it.

"We can, but you mustn’t trick people for money again. If you do, no more sweet and sour ribs for you in the future."

"I wasn’t tricking, it was a transaction. They were all willing."

"Be careful the police uncle catches you and locks you up. By then, not only will you not have sweet and sour ribs to eat, but you’ll also not see your mom, grandma, or Mr. Hughes."

Leo muttered, "You women are just deceptive."

He planned not to tell his mom after he earned money in the future. He wanted to save up his own stash.

After Shannon Quinn got back, she had to apologize to people on WeChat and return their money.

Although nothing major had happened yet, and everyone was polite, she worried about the day Leo might run into a bad person, which is why this behavior needed to be corrected.

She didn’t know how he found this "business opportunity." His little brains were smart, but just not used for the right things.

Over the past four years, quite a few people pursued her, including colleagues from her field, clients, single dads from Leo’s classmates, and people her neighbor’s mom introduced.

Catherine Yardley also advised her to find someone while she’s young again and introduced her to the son of one of her good friends who lived nearby. She tried interacting for a few days.

Honestly, he was quite nice, a young college professor, quite refined yet not stiff, also having gone through a divorce, but without children.

He was interested in Shannon Quinn, and Catherine Yardley even invited them to dinner at her house, but Shannon Quinn always felt something was missing. He genuinely wanted marriage and to start a family.

But she seemed to have reservations and some fear of remarrying. Everyone told her to find a man so she wouldn’t have to work so hard, but she always felt starting a new family would bring more trouble, so she never had the thought herself.

So after just a few days, she clarified things with the guy, not wanting to waste his time. Recently, he’s already gotten married and invited her to his wedding.

She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t met the right person, or she had already passed the age of fantasizing about love. She seemed to have never experienced what it’s like to be truly moved.

In the past two years, she and Vincent Rhodes had long lost contact and they hadn’t met again even once.

Simon Rhodes never came to ask for photos of Leo. Occasionally, she posted updates about Leo on her social media, not blocking Vincent Rhodes, but never seeing any comments or likes from him.

She still remembered him saying he would retire in three years, and now it was the third year. She didn’t know if this counted as waiting for him for three years, sometimes not even knowing herself what outcome she wanted.

Maybe he had already moved on, and after retiring, under family arrangements, he would marry a suitable girl; or perhaps along the years, he met a girl he liked, and long since forgot about the past.

The only thing she seemed to be grateful for now was having given birth to Leo back then, who became her whole life.

Some say Leo looks more like her, but she felt Leo resembled Vincent Rhodes more, especially his eyes and certain demeanors.

Blood ties are indeed magical. The father and son had never once met, yet Leo shared so many similarities with him, growing more alike as he grew up.

In the evenings, Julian Yardley and Sheila Yardley would usually come back to have dinner together, both having rented houses nearby.

Julian Yardley moved over two years ago when he came to teach here. He said he switched jobs to be closer to Catherine Yardley to take care of her, but Shannon Quinn felt it wasn’t a simple reason but never broke the unspoken understanding.

And Sheila Yardley only returned a year ago, having stayed abroad for less than a year before coming back. She had lost a lot of weight and wasn’t as cheerful as before and only said she wasn’t used to foreign food, hence the weight loss.

After returning, she sought Shannon Quinn, saying that abroad she hadn’t worked under Aidan Lockwood, and felt awkward going back after returning, so Shannon Quinn kept her by her side.

Shannon Quinn vaguely felt something might have happened to Sheila Yardley abroad this time, but she didn’t ask in detail.

Erin Bishop also got divorced, only telling Shannon Quinn about it last year. In fact, she separated from that man two weeks after marriage, the reason being domestic violence.

She said that man left the good side for outside and brought the bad side home.

He promised Erin Bishop to quit smoking before marriage, but never did after marriage, even smoking several times in front of Erin Bishop. Going to the balcony or not, he’d ignore it.

Then there was drinking; Erin Bishop could understand business drinking, but after drinking, he had a particularly bad temper, climaxing one time when, after drinking, he yelled at Erin and then pushed her. It wasn’t severe domestic violence.

But those small things accumulated, Erin Bishop couldn’t take it anymore. Her personality naturally wouldn’t bear injustice, so she asked for a divorce.

After sobering up, no matter how much he apologized, she never softened.

She said she had tolerated many times, her original words were: "A dog that can’t stop eating sh*t, what’s the use of just apologizing?"

He didn’t want a divorce, and Erin Bishop wouldn’t return, so they dragged it until last year when he found a new sweetheart, and only then did they complete the divorce proceedings, even asking Erin Bishop for a wedding gift.