Chapter 11: Marks
961 Words
In the evening, in Joseph's study
"Lord, here’s the thing. The doctor said that it is very dangerous for Joe if the young lady continues to hit him. Would you like to remind the lady and ask her to control herself?"
Joseph shook his head helplessly. "Ask Nicole to come here."
"The young lady has not come back yet."
"Where did she go?"
"She went shopping with Miss Rose, saying that she will be spending the night with their family."
Joseph shook his head sadly, "She is getting more and more rebellious."
"Lord, I think we should help the master build up his authority. As long as the master has prestige, the young lady will naturally take him differently."
"You mean let him take a position at the company?"
"No, if he is allowed to work, no matter how good he is, the lady will think that you are taking care of him. It is better to let the master do something by himself. When he succeeds, the lady will be convinced."
Joseph nodded. "Yes, that sounds reasonable. So let me ask him what he is interested in, and then see if there is a suitable project for him."
"Yes, Lord."
"And Barret? Don't let him find out that I am making you become close to him.”
Barret smiled heartily. "Don't worry, Lord, I have been with you for so many years. How can I not know this?"
"I always think too much since Joe came back."
"You are concerned about him. After all, the master is your grandson."
"Yes, he's finally home. That is the most important thing. As for other things, he can take his time."
"Then I will talk to the master now."
After a while, Barret found Joe in the back garden. Joe was sitting in the rocking chair, staring at the stars in the sky.
"Master, are you in a bad mood?"
Maybe it was because Joe was too absorbed in looking at the stars, he was taken aback when he heard someone talking.
"Barret, you scared me!"
"Sorry master. I walk lightly.”
Joe waved his hand at the apology.
"Does it still hurt?"
"No, I feel much better."
"When you encounter this situation in the future, you should hide! Or cover yourself!"
Joe felt furious at Barret’s words. "I didn’t marry her to become her personal punching bag! She really is the devil Barret. First, she confused me by calling me 'honey’, and then she kicked me several times, in public! I don’t know which bastard she learned this from!”
Barret smiled embarrassingly. "Sorry, I'm the bastard."
"What?"
"I taught the young lady these tricks. I told her don't rush to resist when in danger. First, confuse the attacker, and then kick him at the right time. This trick can make a man lose his ability to resist in an instant."
Joe gave Barret an annoyed look. "Can you teach her something good?"
"I'm worried that she will meet bad people. When she does, she should be able to defend herself.”
"She didn't meet any bad guys, but she almost kicked me into infertility."
"My fault, master, I sincerely apologize to you."
"Forget it. Anyways, I will keep a distance of two meters from her from now on, so that she can't even kick me if she wants to."
"This is a good idea."
"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes. Do you want to start a career, Master?"
Joe was taken aback at Barret’s random question, a career? The word seemed very far away to him. He had never thought about it before. His circumstances never allowed him to think this far in the future.
Seeing him startled at his question, Barret began to harangue.
"Master, you have to be self-motivated. If you just live your whole life in a muddle-headed manner, wouldn't it be wasted? Let us take Lord as an example. Now he is very successful, but at the beginning, he started from scratch..."
Barret was about to give a long speech, and it would likely last for at least half an hour. But soon he stopped because Joe had already figured out what he wanted to do.
"I got the point, Barret."
Barret was very excited at Joe’s response. That did not take too long, he thought.
"What do you want to do?"
Joe gave Barret a meaningful look. "Well, Barret, does the Andrew Family have any friends that run in the ‘other’ circle...?”
"Other circle?" Barret replied in a confused manner.
"You know, people that run on the other side of the law sometimes...”
"Oh, yes, a few."
"I'm talking about those who are really capable and not just bastards who only steal things."
"Yes..." Barret replied hesitantly not knowing why Joe would be asking this.
"Great, help me contact them."
"Master, what are you going to do? You must not do things that violate the law, otherwise, I cannot help you."
"Don’t be a chicken, Barret. I just want to take back my own territory."
"What do you mean? What does it mean to take back your territory?"
"Well, Danforth Street, you know?"
"Is that the bar street?"
"Correct."
"Yes, what's wrong with it?"
"At first that was my territory, but it was snatched by Daniel. He...he...” Joe could not continue further without shuddering. He still remembered that night when he was left bloody and blue.
"Yes, Master?”
"He...he beat me. This is what the bastard left me." Joe rolled up his sleeve, and there were three very deep, red scars and burn marks on Joe’s right arm.
- Writer
