With his heart throbbing, John felt uneasy about it. Eventually, Buddy told him, “It was fortunate that she married
you. You’re a good man, so I’m sure you’ll treat her nicely. That kid finally came into some good luck.”
However, his words only left John pouting while averting his gaze. It wasn’t until then that he recalled how poorly he
treated Sophia back then by not only ignoring all of her efforts, but also allowing Matilda to mistreat her.
On the other hand, Sophia was disoriented when she woke up from her nap, as she had no idea what time it was.
She went to the yard, only to see Mrs. Hensley’s grandson playing there. The five-year-old child was covered in
mud, but he seemed to be having fun. After some thought, she went to pick out some snacks from the bag that
John carried into the kitchen before handing them to the kid.
As soon as the kid saw the snacks she held, his eyes lit up. While observing the young child, Sophia seemed to be
gazing at something else. Caressing her belly, the feeling of joy that she tried so hard to suppress seemed to pop
up again. Now that she had a child of her own, it didn’t matter anymore whether she would have a partner in life,
as she had a family now. She was no longer alone, and she would also have someone to love wholeheartedly, just
like her grandfather.
After observing the child for a while, she left the yard. The village didn’t undergo a lot of change during the past few
years. She strolled at a leisurely pace on the road while appreciating the run-down houses around her. However,
she was feeling much happier compared to when she was observing the exquisite architecture of the Constance
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Some time later, she saw John, who was on his way back with Buddy after they had paid their respects. Naturally,
John saw her as well. In a few strides, he went up to her to hold her hand. “Why are you here? How was your nap?”
Upon observing their interaction, Buddy wore a smile. “Sophia, your husband went to pay his respects to your
grandfather. He sure is a nice guy.”
Taken aback, Sophia glanced at John before stopping herself just in time from thanking him. After Buddy left for
home, John kept on walking while holding onto Sophia’s hand. They were walking along a mud road that seemed
pretty fine during normal days, but would probably be quite a difficult path to walk during rainy days. The villagers
would have a hard time even venturing out, as the road would become all muddy.
Lowering his head while looking at the road, John said, “There are a lot of young men in your village, so they can
think about switching jobs if farming doesn’t yield much.”
Sophia heaved a sigh before saying, “What else can they do? This place is underdeveloped, so business won’t thrive
without customers. Someone will come to buy the crops as long as we farm, and even if we can’t sell them, we are
at least guaranteed food on our table.”
While it was true that the village was populated by young men, the village itself was located at such a remote place,
so it wasn’t easy for them to leave the place to even do manual work elsewhere. Most of the people who remained
in the village were planning on settling down without going too far away from home.
Meanwhile, John was recalling the scenery he saw while on his way to the village. He acknowledged that it was
indeed located in a remote area, and its immediate surroundings were also more or less in the same condition, so
there weren’t a lot of jobs available.
After pondering about the situation, John said, “The company is planning to build a warehouse, and we will need a
few workers and a manager over there. We don’t need someone highly educated, so you can ask if any of the
villagers would like to come with me. We should try as much as possible to bring them out of here. With
everybody’s combined efforts, we might eventually be able to improve the living conditions here.”
After a moment’s pause, Sophia turned to look at John. She nearly agreed to his plans, but not before she thought
of something else. If she agreed with him, it would mean that she owed him one. Although he would never use it as
leverage against her, Sophia would still feel unhappy about it.
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