Chapter 103 Tit for Tat
Susan walked up to Shirley, pulling at her clothes and said, "Stop ying with your phone Shirley. Get
up and say hello to your sister-inw Rachel!"
Shirley seemed to be reluctant to do that. No matter how hard Susan pulled at her, she seemed
unwilling to greet Rachel. Finally she stood up very very slowly, "My name is Shirley", she introduced
herself to Rachel, "I''m a very distant rtive of the Rong family, a remote cousin."
Rachel was a little surprised about the way she introduced herself. Usually when you introduced
yourself, you tried to put your best foot forward and show extreme closeness to the Rong family. Shirley
was just on the contrary.
"Uh, Shirley, even though you''re a distant rtive, Hiram is still your cousin. Alright, say hello to your
sister-inw." Susan poked at her and said.
"That''s right Shirley, " said Miranda, who was standing beside her, "my mother-inw brought you here
today to introduce you to your sister-inw." Miranda turned to Rachel, smiled and continued, "Shirley
is a niece of my mother-inw. She has been brought up by my mother-inw because her parents
died early. For that she might have grown up to be a little lonely and arrogant. Please don''t me it on
her."
Rachel listened for a while, but soon she understood that Shirley was intentionally saying that she was
a distant rtive.
Because marriages between coteral rtives by blood were forbidden by thew, she mentioned of
her rtion with them was distant on purpose.
What she really meant was
She had no blood rtionship with Hiram at all.
After figuring that out, Rachel was not surprised any more. Hiram was so popr that so many people
wanted to marry him. If Shirley also wanted to, she wouldn''t be shocked.
"Nice to meet you sister-inw. Where''s Hiram, did youe here alone?" Shirley asked Rachel
directly without any hesitation. Her question was so impolite that others wouldn''t have dared to ask at
all.
"Uh, Shirley! How can you speak like that? Streams Company is such a huge enterprise that keeps
Cousin Hiram busy every day. Isn''t it normal that he might be a littlete for the family reunion because
of being too busy?" Susan looked at Shirley and reprimanded her.
Shirley didn''t look embarrassed at all but kept saying, "Are you sure? I am afraid that the truth might be
that Hiram doesn''t want toe here with her at all.
It is clear to everyone that their marriage was fixed by the elders and they were left with no choice at
all. Do you think Hiram would be d to take any woman unknown as his wife?"
Shirley''s voice was not very loud so it couldn''t be heard by Joanna and the others. But it was still loud
enough that Rachel, Miranda and Susan could hear it.
Miranda scolded her in a low voice, "Shirley, apologize to Rachel immediately! No matter how they are
engaged to be married. She has be the wife of Hiram now. You have to show your respect to her."
Rachel listened to her silently. After the Lydia incident, this kind of irony and ridicule was not new to her.
Such words did not have any impact on her.
"It''s fine It was just a kid''s joke. You all take a seat first. I will go to the kitchen and check on the dinner,
" Rachel answered. She smiled gently and walked to the kitchen.
Before Rachel had walked far, she heard Shirley speak again.
"If it hadn''t been for her, Lydia would have returned already. I heard that Hiram had ordered her to stay
in the United States and note back because of Rachel.
As Lydia''s sister-inw, she didn''t try to please her, but instigated Hiram not to let her go home. How
could she be a kind woman?"
Rachel slowly grasped her hands together and tried to control herself by not turning back.
As soon as she reached the kitchen, she took a deep breath and called Carl, "Why has Hiram not
"Rachel, please don''t worry. We''re on the way now." Carl replied that as soon as Hiram finished the
work, they would rush home.
Hanging up the phone, Rachel brought out two dishes. After she put two tes on Joanna''s table, she
said, "Mom and aunts... Please wait a moment, Hiram is on his way back. He will be here very soon."
"No hurry, no hurry. Hiram is busy with his work. We are just idle and can wait." The aunt from Fang
family answered.
When Rachel went back to her table, Miranda was talking to Shirley. But their voice was too low to be
heard clearly.
"Rachel please don''t take Shirley''s words to heart. Shirley has a very good rtionship with Lydia since
they were still kids. Both of them like Hiram. Since you just appeared suddenly and became his wife,
they are naturally a little jealous of you. However, as long as Hiram loves you, that should be enough, "
Susan tried tofort Rachel and said.
She was afraid that Rachel might be a little down because of what Shirley just said.
"Hey Susan, you''d better stop pretending to be the good one." Shirley interrupted. She came to their
table with a piece of fruit in her mouth and kept saying, "Hiram has been forced to ept the marriage,
however, as long as the wedding ceremony hasn''t been held yet, she hasn''t been officially recognized.
So you''d better not judge so early."
Hearing what she had said, Rachel smiled, sipped her tea and said, "Shirley is right, Hiram literally still
owes me a wedding. Since you are all here, when hees back, I would just take the opportunity to
ask him, when will we hold the wedding?"
"That''s a great idea. Rachel, I will ask him for you. I''ve always thought that Hiram will be the most
handsome groom in the world. Now I''m d to have the opportunity to see for myself, "
Susanughed and said.
But Shirley sniffed andughed.
She said to her sister-inw Miranda who stood beside her, "Miranda, did you hear that? She is really a
high-handed woman, forcing Hiram to marry her in front of so many people. She will really leave Hiram
with no face at all."
"Shirley, don''t say that. The marriage is between Hiram and Rachel. It''s none of your business. You''d
better not mix it up." As Miranda spoke, she made an eye contact with Shirley to warn her to stop
talking.
Shirley bowed her head and fiddled with her skirt. Then she said disapprovingly, "Yes, of course I can''t
mix it up, but Lydia is wronged. As the only daughter of Rong family, she was forced to live in a foreign
country, and not allowed toe back. I really don''t know how can she be her sister-inw..."
Rachel''s face darkened in an instant, but she still said calmly, "Shirley, Lydia and I have met no more
than three times so far. I don''t know why you have such a prejudice. Can you tell me, what happened
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to make you hate me so much?"
As Shirley''s sister-inw, she could tolerate the little girl''s offence for a while, but it did not mean that
she would always tolerate it.
Hearing her, Shirley did not know what to say for a while.
Her hate was born within her the moment Rachel became the wife of Hiram?
"Lydia has been on summer vacation, but she still hasn''te back yet. Are you daring to say, it is not
because of you?" Shirley was also not an easy woman to deal with. As soon as she recovered her
Rachel raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh? Do you think it''s me who has not allowed her toe
back? Don''t you think maybe it is because she did something so wrong that she is not daring toe
back?"
Shirley was not able to say anything.
"Shirley, I have one word for you which I will only say once. It''s not necessary for me to be against
anyone on purpose, however if there''s anyone against me all the time, I won''t be med for whatever I
do, "
Rachel looked at the speechless Shirley and said. Her voice was as calm as usual.
Shirley bit her lip, and turned her head away silently. Miranda felt embarrassed as well, she bowed her
head and straightened her clothes.
The atmosphere became kind of awkward. Susan watched and didn''t know what to say or what to do.
Just then she looked at the door casually.
She stood up immediately.
"Hiram? So d you''re finally here."