"Thanks, Mom." Sonia took the beef in her bowl, thanking her with a smile.
The beef was from a cow butchered that morning, filling her mouth with a rich, meaty aroma and an incredibly tender texture. Mrs. Preston cooked with a light hand, using few seasonings, which perfectly preserved the beef's natural flavor.
"Delicious!" Sonia took a bite, the rich flavor making her eyes light up.
"If it's delicious, then have some more." This was the first time Mrs. Preston had ever heard the word "delicious" from Sonia. She was overjoyed and quickly moved the plate of beef in front of Sonia.
Sonia helped herself to another piece with her chopsticks, her cheeks puffing out as she ate, her satisfaction plain to see.
"Mom, you're such a great cook! This is so delicious... Oh, and the chestnut chicken stew is amazing too! The chestnuts in it are sweet and soft, and it smells incredible."
This wasn't just Sonia sucking up; Mrs. Preston's cooking really was that good. Sonia knew how to cook herself and considered herself quite skilled. But after tasting Mrs. Preston's food today, she realized she still had a little way to go.
"As long as you like it, as long as you like it." Mrs. Preston was smiling so wide her eyes narrowed to slits, feeling a bit giddy from Sonia's praise.
A cook's greatest joy is hearing praise from those who eat their food, and every word from Sonia went straight to her heart. So, she also moved the plate of chestnut chicken stew in front of Sonia.
"If you like it, eat more. I'll make it for you often from now on."
Sonia couldn't have been happier to have someone offer to cook delicious food for her regularly. Hearing this, she nodded eagerly. "Okay! Thanks, Mom!"
Mrs. Preston placed a shrimp in her bowl, her gaze full of affection. "We're family. No need for thanks."
Sonia replied, "Okay."
Thanks to Mrs. Preston breaking the ice, the silent atmosphere at the dinner table gradually grew lively. Felix Preston stared blankly at Sonia, his suspicions slowly starting to waver.
After dinner, Sonia sat on the sofa to rest, replying to private messages on Spudster with her phone.
She had already completed two design drafts. To build her reputation, she had registered an account on Spudster specifically to promote her work.
Less than a day after uploading the designs, she had already received over five hundred likes, more than two hundred comments, and had over a dozen businesses in her DMs asking for more details about the designs.
Sonia replied to them one by one, her hands busy for a moment.
"Sonia, have some fruit." Mrs. Preston placed a plate of washed grapes in front of Sonia.
"Thanks, Mom." Sonia took a moment to pluck two grapes and eat them before going back to replying to messages.
"Bro, what's she doing?" Lynn Preston hid behind the sofa, closely watching Sonia's every move.
Felix Preston looked up from his phone, where he was handling work matters, and glanced at Sonia. "I don't know. Probably selling her stuff again."
"Selling stuff? What kind of stuff?" Lynn Preston asked.
"The luxury goods she bought before," Felix explained. "She sold all of them to help with household expenses and to support me in starting my business again."
"What?" Lynn Preston couldn't believe it. "Doesn't she love that stuff more than anything? She was actually willing to sell it all?"
At the mention of this, something new entered Felix Preston's gaze as he looked at Sonia. He showed Lynn the transfer records on his phone. "She really did sell them all. And she gave me every last penny she got for them."
After seeing it, Lynn Preston was completely dumbfounded. "...Oh my god, she's for real!"
Felix Preston put his phone away and said nothing, because even he couldn't quite figure Sonia out right now.
Lynn Preston secretly sized up Sonia. Seeing her stare at her phone one moment and observe the house the next, she still couldn't believe she had truly changed.
"I don't believe it! How could someone like her stick with you through thick and thin? I'm going to go sound her out. She'd better not be after Mom's house..."
With that, Lynn Preston immediately came out from behind the sofa and walked over to Sonia. Felix Preston didn't stop her.
"Sonia Quincy."
Lynn Preston refused to call her "sister-in-law." Ever since they'd had a falling out, she'd always addressed her by her full name.
Sonia didn't mind. She looked up from her phone screen. "What is it?"
Lynn Preston sat down next to Sonia and glanced curiously at her phone. "What are you so busy with? I see you've been tapping away at your phone this whole time."
Sonia deftly switched apps and shoved the phone screen right in Lynn's face. "Chatting about a sale. This guy is insisting my bag is a knockoff. I'm not having it, so we're having a heated debate."
Startled by the phone screen in her face, Lynn was taken aback. She never expected Sonia to be so upfront.
She stared at the chat history right in front of her, momentarily unsure if she should look or not.
"Go on, look," Sonia urged, her eyes wide and clear. "Once you read it, you'll see what this guy is trying to pull."
"...Fine." The invitation was too enthusiastic to refuse, so Lynn had no choice but to accept.
She scrolled to the very top of the chat history and read it line by line, her expression growing more and more exaggerated the further she read.
"Is this guy taking you for a fool? He actually wants you to ship the bag to him first, and he'll only pay after he gets it authenticated. That scheme is so loud, my sixth uncle mining coal in Africa could hear it... Don't you dare send it to him. It's better to lose the sale."
"Of course I won't." Sonia took her phone back, ranting indignantly, "This guy has no intention of buying my bag at all. He was planning to get it for free from the start. I'd have to be an idiot to fall for his trick... Look at this message he sent. He wants to buy my thirty-thousand-plus bag for two hundred bucks. You couldn't even fool an idiot like that."
"Exactly." Lynn Preston was successfully swept up in Sonia's emotions. She leaned in, their heads close together, pointing at the chat and commenting, having long forgotten her original purpose for coming over.
"And this one! Asking if you'll sell these shoes for a thousand. The brand name alone makes them worth more than two thousand!"
Sonia said, "Right?! What are these people thinking? I'm selling so many luxury goods; you'd think it would be obvious that I'm not easy to fool, right?"
Lynn Preston nodded in agreement. "Damn right."
Then she pointed at Sonia's phone screen and asked, "What about this one? She offered three thousand for this necklace. That seems pretty sincere. Are you going to sell it?"
Sonia tapped on the private message, and her vision went black. "Three thousand? For three thousand, you can't even buy a bare chain, let alone one with a jadeite pendant."
She replied directly: "Not selling. I suggest you look at other shops."
A few seconds later, another message came from the other person. Lynn was the first to lean in. "Hey, he replied..."
"'Hahahaha...' What the hell is he laughing at?" Sonia frowned, her fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard.
Lynn leaned against her, staring at the phone. "What's wrong with him? Who buys a second-hand anniversary gift for their girlfriend..."
The person who had stormed over to get to the bottom of things was now on Sonia's side after just a few sentences! Watching from the side, Felix was so shocked he forgot to reply to his messages.
In the entire Preston family, Lynn and Sonia got along the worst. Every time they met, they would either argue or curse each other out. But now, Lynn had been so easily led astray by Sonia! And was getting along with her so harmoniously!
Felix Preston never would have dreamed that he would one day see such a friendly scene.