Chapter 10 Better to Marry Well Than Do Well
Chapter 10 Better to Marry Well Than Do Well
Alina smiled at him and said, "Okay. If you don't want me to call you brother, I can call your name. How
about little Sheffield?"
"No!" Sheffield objected strongly.
"Well... How about Sheff?"
Sheffield was even angrier and he protested, "No!"
"Little Sheff? Dear Sheff?"
Peter, who was serving beside, almost spilled the fish soup out as his hand shook.
Hearing this, Sheffield was stunned. He shouted, "Shut up!"
"Not this, not that. What shall I call you?"
Sheffield was so angry that he didn't want to talk to her. He began to eat gloomily.
She just played a joke with him, and the hero was mad at her. Alina regretted it.
She looked at the fish soup and found no coriander on it. Then she muttered unhappily, "Peter, why
don't you add coriander in the fish soup? It's not perfect if there is no coriander in it!"
Sheffield suddenly stopped eating.
After casting a glance at Sheffield, Peter continued, "Miss Alaina, Mr. Sheffield doesn't like the smell of
coriander at all."
What? Alina was shocked to hear this. She couldn't believe that Sheffield didn't eat coriander!
No wonder last night when she brought noodles to him, he frowned with distaste. It turned out that he
didn't like her putting coriander in it.
"Oh... Yes..." Alina peeked at Sheffield and smiled awkwardly, pretending that she had forgotten it by
accident.
She was not Alaina. Of course she was unaware of his likes and dislikes.
Sheffield saw her reaction, and a suspicion crept into his mind. She did not look as if she had forgotten,
but... She had no idea about it at all.
Last night, she cooked noodles for him. But she put coriander in it. At that time, he thought she did it on
purpose to annoy him. Now he thought that she might not have meant it, but because she didn't know.
Everyone in the family knew that Sheffield didn't like the smell of coriander. There were two
possibilities. One was that she did it on purpose, and the other was that... She forgot.
Realizing that her overreaction might attract attention, Alina stopped being naughty and had dinner
quietly.
Only the sound of chewing was left in the dining room.
Alina ate a lot and was satisfied.
After the meal, Peter served the fruit. When Alina was about to eat the fruit, Peter reminded her, "Miss
Alaina, aren't you on a diet today?"
On a diet? Upon hearing this, Alina came to her senses. 'This must have something to do with Alaina, '
she speculated.
"From now on, I'm not going on a diet anymore, because one of my classmates on a diet nearly fainted
today. It's so scary!" In order to be able to eat happily in future, Alina quickly told a lie.
Hearing her explanation, Sheffield curled his lips in contempt.
Peter nodded, "I see."
It was great to be in a rich family. Not only did she not have to do the dishes, but she had fruit right after
dinner. Alina felt so happy!
After eating two pieces of fruit, she was full and couldn't eat more. She ate too much at dinner. If she
had known there was fruit after dinner, she would have eaten less.
Looking at Sheffield who ate ceaselessly, Alina looked resentful.
"I'm going to take a shower." Out of sight, out of mind.
As soon as Alina left, Sheffield stopped eating. He looked in the direction of her departure and
suddenly raised a faint smile.
It was about ten o'clock in the evening. It was raining heavily outside. Wendy came back home alone
and she was not in a good mood.
"Welcome back, madam." Peter didn't go to have a rest because the master hadn't come back yet.
"Where is Alaina? Is she asleep?"
"Miss Alaina went back to her room after dinner. I don't know if she is asleep now."
"I'm going to see her. You can go to rest." Clenching her bag with a cold expression, Wendy went
upstairs to Alina's room.
Wendy pushed the door. It was locked.
"Alaina, open the door!" Wendy frowned. Why locked the door at home?
At this time, Alina was still studying hard at her desk. Upon hearing the voice of Wendy, she stopped
writing and ran to open the door.
"Mom, you are back. Have you had dinner yet?"
Wendy's hair was still damp. She felt better because of her daughter's concern.
"Yes. Why are you up so late?"
With a smile on her face, Alina replied, "I'm working on my previous courses and ready to go to bed."
"Don't sleep. I have a question for you." Wendy sat down on the bed with her daughter, and asked
seriously, "I told you to go after the young master of the Tang family. Did you do what I said?"
The young master of the Tang family? Who was that? Without the memory of Alaina, Alina felt
flustered.
She lowered her head and said ambiguously, "... Yes. But... He doesn't seem to like me."
"You are beautiful and have a good figure. Why doesn't he like you?" Did you do it in a wrong way?"
Wendy stared at her daughter and asked.
Alina answered reluctantly, "Well... Maybe... He doesn't like my type."
"What about the young master of the Song family?" Wendy believed that it was important for a woman
to marry a good man. She had been telling her daughter to jump at the chance to marry a good man.
What? The young master of the Song family! Who was he?
"He seemed to be... not interested in me."
Seeing her daughter hesitate, Wendy suddenly stood up and her face darkened.
"Alaina, are you deaf? Don't you know that the men I choose are all from rich families? Why don't you
just take one of them when they're still young and naive? Why don't you understand what I mean?"
Alina didn't know what Alaina thought of what her mother said, but she wouldn't agree.
She didn't think it was necessary to force a marriage in exchange for high position and great wealth.
"Mom, it is not up to me to decide whether they love me or not. Even if I had the audacity to go after
them, it would be no use if they don't like me. I can't just force them to be with me, can I? That will
degrade myself! After all, you are the hostess and I am the daughter of the Xu family."
She didn't know what she said wrong, and Wendy suddenly screamed.
"Don't think too highly of yourself! I'm just a stepmother of the Xu family, and you're not a real daughter
of the Xu family. If your father is unhappy, he can kick us out anytime! Only if you marry a rich and
powerful man in the future, my position in the Xu family will be more secure!"
'Wendy is just in her thirties, and Eric isn't old. Why don't they have a child? It's impossible that they
can't afford to raise a child!'
Alina had this question while reading the novel.
"Mom, why don't you and dad have a baby?" If Wendy gave birth to Eric's child, their relationship would
be more solid.
After a short silence, Wendy looked tired and disappointed. "Do you think I haven't thought about it? It's
just no matter how hard I tried for so many years, I couldn't get pregnant..."
Alina pursed her lips and asked, "Have you been to the hospital?"
"Yes. I had a checkup. The doctor said there's nothing wrong with me."
'If mom's fine, that's dad's problem.' Alina conveyed this message to Wendy clearly by her expression.
Wendy frowned, "You're young. Don't think about it!"
"Mom, since our family has enough money, you can have an IVF baby."
"You're talking nonsense. IVF babies are all lies!"
She almost forgot that, based on the setting of the novel, the domestic IVF technology was not yet
mature and few people tried it.
"Well, don't worry about me," said Wendy, patting Alina on her shoulder. You're my only daughter. You
must do as I say. Believe me!"
Speaking of this, Wendy stood up. She sighed and said, "Go to bed early. Your grades just have to be
as good as Sheffield's."
'How can I compare with the hero? Even if his grades are poor now, in a few years, he will still be
successful.'
Although Alina thought so, she still said obediently, "Okay, I know."
When Wendy was about to reach the door, she suddenly stopped. "By the way, the Song family will
hold a party for their son's sixteenth birthday in the hotel the day after tomorrow. You come with me,
and remember to prepare a gift."
"I..." Could she say no? Before she could refuse, she saw that Wendy opened the door and went out.
Well, her study plan on Saturday was ruined!
The next day was Friday. As the alarm rang, Alina reluctantly got out of bed and washed herself. After
changing the clothes, she went downstairs with her schoolbag to have breakfast.
By the time she got down, the dishes had already been served on the table. There were bread, milk,
noodles and eggs.
"Good morning, Miss Alaina." Peter greeted to Alina politely.
"Good morning." With a smile on her face, Alina drew the chair opposite to Sheffield and greeted him,
"Good morning, Sheffield."
Hearing this, Sheffield stopped eating. He raised his head and said, "Good morning, sister. Could you
please give me some milk?" As he spoke, he observed Alina's expression secretly.
Alina didn't know that Sheffield was testing her, so she naturally picked up the milk on the table and
poured him a glass.
Looking at the milk, Sheffield lowered his eyelids, and his long eyelashes covered the gleam in his
eyes.
"Good morning, madam." Alina turned around when she heard Peter's voice.
Wendy did not seem to have a good rest last night. She looked haggard without makeup.
Before she got to the table, she pulled a long face and scolded, "Alaina, what are you doing? He can
do it himself."
Yesterday, Eric didn't come home all night, nor did he call Wendy. At the thought that he might be
sleeping with another woman, Wendy was angry and wanted to vent her anger on Sheffield!Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.
Alina was stunned and knew at once that Wendy had seen her pouring him milk.
It was not a big deal.
"Mom, you don't look good. Are you feeling well?" In front of the hero, Alina didn't dare to persuade her.
It would only make things worse. So she pretended to care about her and changed the topic.
Wendy was disappointed in her daughter, but she could not ignore her concern. So she answered
unfriendly, "Nothing, it's just the rain yesterday made me a little irritable."
"Mom, would you like some milk? I'll fetch it for you." Alina smiled sweetly.
"I can do it myself. I don't want to bother others," said Wendy angrily.
Sheffield listened to her and looked unhappy. He put down the fork, stopped eating and walked towards
the door with his schoolbag.
Seeing that Sheffield had left, Wendy snorted with satisfaction, "It's annoying to watch him! Don't mind
him. Take your time. It's still early."
After Sheffield left, Alina had no appetite at all. Without saying anything, she stuffed two buns into her
mouth, grabbed her schoolbag and ran away.
"Take your time. I'm going to school now."
Looking at her daughter's back, Wendy was extremely angry, "You bad girl. You never listen to me!"
It was drizzling outside. Sheffield was in the car, still in the passenger seat.
Alina opened the back door and got into the car. From time to time she looked in the rear view mirror at
Sheffield's face. She hesitated to apologize to him for Wendy.
After struggling, finally a strong desire to survive gained the upper hand.
"Sheffield, my mom is in a bad mood. I apologize for her. I hope you don't mind." With one hand on the
back of the front seat, Alina leaned forward and looked at Sheffield sincerely.
Sheffield turned his head and looked into Alina's eyes. The girl's eyes were clear and bright, and his
figure was clearly reflected in her eyes.
He saw himself in the girl's eyes and smiled slightly, "Okay..."
Joy appeared in the girl's eyes. "Thank you!"
"But..." Sheffield's coldness soon ruined Alina's good mood. You need to pay the price."
"Price?" asked Alina, astonished. "What do you want?"
"It's easy. You just get out of the car and go to the school on your own." After that, he ordered the
driver, "Stop the car."
The car came to a screeching halt at the side of the road. He looked at her with a malicious smile, "Get
out of the car!"
"..." Damn it! Alina blinked her eyes and took her schoolbag to get out of the car.
Looking at the car leaving, she couldn't help cursing Sheffield in her heart.
The place where she got off was a small street with not much traffic. Alina looked around but didn't see
a bus stop. So, she walked with her schoolbag in the rain.
Outside the small street was the main road. She saw the bus stop not far away at a glance.
She walked quickly to the bus stop and looked at all the bus lines. There were two buses going to Ming
Hua High School, 201 and 223. The two buses took different routes, but they stopped at the same
number of stops, so she could take either one.
Before the bus arrived, Alina took a tissue from her schoolbag and wiped her wet hair and clothes. She
also found two coins to put in.
Before long, bus 201 came over first. Alina carried her schoolbag to rush up.