The night is always a paradoxical entity; the outskirts far away from the city center are frightful in their serenity, while the shimmering city center is always bustling with life and noise, like an intoxicating sprite that drives people crazy.
In a private villa in Starhampton's suburbs, owned by the Reynolds family, a young girl is waiting anxiously for the return of her beloved on the living room couch. Perhaps growing impatient, she quickly picks up her phone and dials the top-listed number.
The call connects swiftly. The girl’s voice, tinged with a clear note of flirtation, wearily questions, "Augus, why are you not back yet? Have you forgotten what day it is today?"
"How could I? Crystal, today is your 20th birthday. I've prepared a surprise for you. Wait for me there, okay?" Augus appeases her a little perfunctorily.
"Really? Then you need to hurry up, I'm about to fall asleep." Crystal whines, but it sounds more like playfulness.
"Okay, I'm almost there." After saying this, Augus hangs up the phone. At this moment, he is sitting in a Buick outside the villa. Diana, Crystal's cousin and best friend, shares the car with him.
Augus, are you still hesitating? You know Mr. Reynolds's intentions. He never saw you as a family member. You saw the testament, Uncle has left everything to Crystal and stipulated that she will only inherit the estate if she marries Scott," Diana grabs Augus's hand and says urgently.
"Diana, stop talking, stop talking!” Augus yanks his hand away from Diana and punches the steering wheel.
Diana gently clasps Augus's hand, looking at him with a touch of jealousy. She thought for a moment before delivering a bombshell, "Augus, I know you're kind. But it's a situation now that either she dies, or we are ruined. Don't forget, if that overseas project of the company is truly investigated, it could mean jail. You wouldn’t want our child to be born penniless, right?”
"But... even if she's willing to transfer her inheritance right to me, Mr. Reynolds is just in a coma. If he wakes up... " Augus hesitates.
"Don't forget, Augus. She doesn't know about Mr. Reynolds's coma. That fool Crystal only knows about designer bags and painting. Besides, my father will fix it all, it's just an accident. Once she's gone, the Reynolds family will be ours." Seeing Augus still hesitant, Diana holds him tightly, whispering these words in his ear.
"I..." Looking at the demure Diana, thinking about her kindness to him, and then recalling Crystal's capriciousness and wilfulness, Augus slowly hardened his resolve, "Diana, stop talking. I'll listen to you."
"Good, I knew you won't let me down. I'll wait for your good news." Diana kissed Augus's cheek.
Augus wanted to say something else, but his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Crystal; waiting in the living room almost to the point of falling asleep and yet still waiting for Augus to arrive, she called in a fit of impatience.
"Go ahead." After speaking, Diana turned to grab a document bag from the backseat of the car and handed it to Augus. "Don't forget the documents," she reminded.
Augus took the documents and gave a nod to Diana, then hung up the phone and left his car to walk towards the villa.
Getting no responses after trying for a while, Crystal felt somewhat frustrated. She threw her phone onto the couch and glanced at the cake and red wine on the table, along with the rose petals scattered on the floor. Angry, she was about to destroy all these, when there came the sound of a door unlocking.
She stopped what she was about to do and sat down on the couch, not moving defiantly.
Walking into the room, Augus immediately noticed the scene. On seeing the petals on the floor and the cake, red wine and candles set on the table, a twinge of guilt ran through him. But thinking of Diana who was still outside waiting for him, he made up his mind.
"Crystal, I can only apologize to you." Augus silently said in his heart, put on a soft smile, and said to the sulking Crystal, "Oh my, who has upset our little princess? Tell me quick, I'll teach her a lesson for you!"
"Hmph, who else could it be," Crystal retorted, refusing to let him off the hook easily, and turned her head.
"Oh right, it was me. Today is our little princess's twentieth birthday, such an important day and I was late. I deserve a punishment." Augus finished and started fake hitting himself repeatedly.
Crystal, watching and feeling sorry for him, rushed over to stop him, but she argued unforgivingly, "You deserve it for not picking up the phone, as a punishment, you have to eat the entire cake."
Then Crystal smeared cream all over Augus's face from the cake. He was caught off guard by her quick movements, coupled with his already distracted state, he ended up with cream all over his face.
"Oh, alright. I have been working hard to buy the island that 'someone' has always desired. And instead of rewarding me, 'someone' keeps teasing me. What a thankless job!" Augus retorted, trying to look upset.
"Ah, really, Augus did you really buy that island which looks like a star?" Crystal, out of the blue, jumped up excitedly. She had adored that island for a long time, but heard that the owner was very peculiar and no matter how much money was offered, he wouldn't sell, claiming it was a wedding souvenir. That had saddened her for quite some time.
"Of course, it's true. I even brought the paperwork for renaming the island waiting for your autograph and stamp." Augus swerved, pulled out the prepared paperwork from the record bag and placed it in front of Crystal, his hand trembling slightly due to nervousness.
Crystal was so happy that she didn't notice his odd behavior and took the paperwork. After a suspicious glance, she asked, "Why is this document in Chinese? I remember that the owner of the island is a Frenchman?"
Of course, this was not some real documentation for renaming the island. It was a ruse for the final inheritance transfer, a fake will made in Crystal's name. But these were things Augus would not tell her.
"Oh, since we completed the transaction in China, we prepared two different contracts, one in French and the other in Chinese. You are good to sign the Chinese version." Augus, a bit nervously, picked up the glass of red wine and took a sip.
