Chapter 6: Persuasion
1024 Words
"What? Let him be the son-in-law of the Andrew Family?"
"Yes, let him come back first and have him experienced hardship. By then, I will find a suitable opportunity to explain all this to him."
"But sir, he and the young lady are brother and sister nominally. What if they come to know the truth in the future?"
"Yes, they are brother and sister normally, but they are not related by blood, so it does not matter."
"Well, Joe should not have a problem, but I'm afraid the young lady will not accept it."
"Leave this to me. Go find Nicole and bring her here right away."
"Lord, it's too late now. The lady is already asleep. Why not let her come here tomorrow morning?”
"No, right now."
"Yes Lord, I'll go now."
"Wait, bring me a pen and paper first."
"Yes."
Ten minutes later, Nicole came yawning into the study in her pajamas and disheveled hair. In this family, the only one she was afraid of was her grandfather.
"Grandpa, why did you need me so late?"
"Nicole, sit down, I have something important to tell you."
Seeing Joseph being so serious, Nicole sat down hesitantly. "Yes, grandpa?"
"Have you dreamed of your parents lately?"
Nicole frowned and nodded slowly, immediately feeling sad wash over her. She was young when her parents passed but she never forgot about them. She still remembered her parent's touch, her mother’s goodnight kiss and her father’s kiss on her forehead.
"I often dream of them as well,” Joseph continued sadly. “Your parents have a couple of good friends. They have a son who is two years older than you. When your mother was pregnant, they made a promise that if you are a boy, you two will be brothers, and if you are a girl, you will be engaged..."
Nicole immediately interrupted him, "Impossible, why have I never heard my parents talk about this?"
"Because you were too young, child. Your parents’ friends died when you were very young, and we lost the information about that child. Your parents felt sad about it, so I never mentioned it to you."
"And why are you telling me this now?" Nichole asked defensively.
Seeing Nicole's widened eyes, Joseph felt a bit unkind to tell her this. But for Joe, he had to.
"Since your parents left us, I have been looking for this boy, and today, I found him."
"And you want me to marry him? No, I will never agree. Grandpa, these things should be abandoned now. How could your mind be so old-fashioned? We are not living in the Stone Ages!"
Joseph had expected that Nicole would disagree, so he had already figured out a way to persuade her.
"I do not want to force you, but this was your parents' greatest wish. It might be their last wish..."
"I don’t believe it," Nichole shook her head forcefully.
"Look, I found this in your mother's diary."
Nicole took the small book and saw that it was indeed her mother's handwriting. She flipped to the last page and read the last line of the entry.
Oh, how I wish Nichole was old enough to marry my friend’s son. It is my greatest desire to see my beautiful daughter marry such a kind handsome boy.
For a person like Joseph who was proficient in calligraphy, it was not difficult to fabricate his daughter-in-law’s handwriting.
Nicole burst out crying. Not because she was angry, but because she missed her parents.
Joseph internally celebrated his win and decided to strike while the iron was hot.
"If you are unwilling to accept this, I will not force you. After all, it has been many years since this was decided. But it must be fate. You know what, the boy is not someone else, but the one who brought your mother’s necklace back. Don't you think it is your mother who brought you together?"
What Joseph said almost swept away Nicole's grief. Instead of sadness, she felt surprised and disdainful.
"What? It's him? You want me to marry that wretched thing?"
"Don’t be so rude," Joseph frowned.
"I'm not wrong. He is just a greedy poor guy. You have not seen how greedy he is when he sees the money. You should not let him come to work at our house tomorrow. This is dangerous, Grandpa!"
"Nonsense. This is your prejudice. We promised to give the award. He did not take the initiative to ask for money. Moreover, he refused the money several times, but I insisted that he should accept it. Also, if he is greedy, why did he not sell your necklace?"
"That's probably because he is stupid and doesn’t know the value of this necklace, otherwise he would have sold it."
"You are wrong. This proves that you are meant for each other. I will not say much more about this matter. Do you want to marry him to fulfill your mother's last wish?"
Nicole pouted and hesitated for a while but did not immediately refuse.
Joseph was overjoyed, thinking that his plan had worked. He did not know that Nicole did not take the marriage seriously at all but just wanted to take this opportunity to teach this guy a lesson.
"But I have a condition."
"What is it?"
"He has to marry into our family...through adoption."
Joseph could not help but feel pleased, but still pretended to hesitate. After all, he was known for his persuasion skills (it was no wonder he had established such a successful business).
"You are deliberately insulting him. How will he agree to this condition?”
"Well, I will tell him that after he comes tomorrow. If he agrees to this condition, then I will marry him. If he doesn't agree, then forget it."
"Nicole, listen to your old grandfather..."
"No, I'm tired. I am going back to bed. I'll talk to him tomorrow. Grandpa, good night."
Nicole trotted upstairs, and Joseph showed a long-lost smile.
"My grandson, you are finally coming home."
- Writer
