The Inheritance - Book 1
Copyright© 2026 by Arise
Chapter 43
“I didn’t bring a gift.”
Richard could not help but offer a regretful smile.
He originally wanted to prepare a gift for her grandmother but Mila stopped him. She felt that the both of them could just give her grandmother one gift and naturally she would look for the gift herself.
Hence the reason Richard turned up empty handed today.
He simply came to attend the birthday banquet to make Mila’s grandmother happy. Who would have known that Irene would deliberately bring this up to make things difficult for him?
“What? He did not bring a gift? I thought that Mila’s boyfriend would be bringing something valuable along with him too!”
“Isn’t Mila’s boyfriend also a rich second generation? Logically speaking, he should also be well-versed with basic etiquette and manners. This is the first time that he’s meeting her grandmother, but he did not bring anything with him at all?”
“He definitely falls short compared with Irene’s boyfriend, Kenneth!”
Hush whispers and mumbling echoed amongst the relatives and friends.
Despite the soft chatter, their conversations were still quite clearly heard amongst everyone present.
Upon observing the situation, the old lady failed to keep a straight face.
She was not the kind of person who enjoyed receiving gifts but as an elderly person, image and reputation were the most important things.
She then dropped her sense of affection towards Richard as she had been to Kenneth.
She simply replied that it was alright and asked Richard to take a seat at the side.
After that, she asked faintly, “Richard, I heard that your family’s business is doing pretty well. What kind of business does your family do?”
“Oh, we dabble in almost everything!”
Richard replied lightly.
Although Richard was simply telling the truth, it felt like his reply was being a little disrespectful through the lens of Mila’s grandmother and others present.
Dabble in everything?
What kind of industry was that?
How could he answer a question so carelessly and casually?
Mila quickly laughed it off as she said, “Grandma, it’s his first time coming here. If you keep firing him with so many questions, I’m afraid that you’ll end up scaring him away!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll leave him alone.”
The old lady replied as she then immediately changed the topic.
After all, the old lady adored Mila the most.
“Wait what? Is he scared because grandma is asking him too many questions or is he actually just afraid to tell the truth? Sister, why don’t you tell us what kind of family business Richard’s family is doing? I think you should know it better than anyone else anyway!”
Irene suddenly threw a strange question.
She could no longer take it as she felt her grandmother always sided whatever Mila said or did and thought it would always be right.
Her grandmother was always spoiling Mila.
The rest of them were all her grandchildren too but she would always throw a fit at them even for the smallest mistake.
Although it wasn’t in Irene’s plan to have a row with Mila, she simply could not tolerate it anymore!
She wanted to see how stuck-up Mila could still be today!
Surely enough, this question caught the old lady’s attention immediately.
She then suddenly recalled her daughter-in-law, Helen’s demeanor earlier towards Mila.
The old lady frowned as she asked, “Mila, are you hiding something from grandma? What business does Richard’s family do?”
Mila’s face tightened immediately.
At the same time, she turned around to look at Kyle.
If Irene knew of anything, then it must have something to do with her brother, Kyle.
As she had expected, Kyle did not even dare to meet his sister’s gaze.
“No grandma, I am not...”, Mila replied nervously.
“Hahaha. Are you too embarrassed to tell the truth? Alright then, I will explain everything on your behalf then! Grandma, do you know what kind of person Richard is?”
“He used to be a well-known pauper from Mayberry University who earns his living by running errands for others. Of course, Richard indeed got some money later on after he won the lottery. Guess what happened after that? Richard...”
Mila didn’t know where Irene got all these information.
It seemed as though she was rather well-versed as she told his story and had personally witnessed everything with her own eyes as she revealed all of his humiliating past that had happened to Richard before.
This included how he squandered his money after winning the lottery.
She revealed everything, in public.
“What? And Mila found this kind of person to become her boyfriend?”
“She even said that he is a rich second generation? I think that this kid is deliberately deceiving Mila by lying and making up his own identity!”
“Well, people who have already been poor for a long time are always like this. They will not even remember their own last names as soon as they get their hands on some money! He simply won some money from the lottery. Does he need to go that far?”
Gossip is a fearful thing.
And suddenly, it was as though there were countless strange voices in Richard’s ears.
Everyone was staring at Richard in a completely different light.
“Okay! So this young kid is lying to our Mila?”
Rita had an atrocious temper. She immediately stood up before raising her voice to Richard coldly.
The old lady’s face also turned unmistakably sour at that point.
Irene glanced at Kenneth before giving off a sardonic smile.
She was immensely satisfied being able to release all of her hatred and resentment!
Rita turned to Mila and asked: “Mila, didn’t you say that Richard just bought a BMW 7 Series? I already sensed that something wasn’t right earlier. Richard could’ve just driven here but he did not do so. Let me ask you, have you ever seen his BMW for yourself?”
Mila was speechless because she did not know what to say.
“BMW 7 Series? Rita, we have a total of three BMW branches in the whole of Mayberry City. It has been a while that we have not been selling any of this model at all. I would have definitely known it if we sold any of it!”
“Hang on, wait a minute! I remember now! I remember who he is now!”
Mason’s girlfriend, Queenie, pointed at Richard as she exclaimed.
Ever since Richard was present, Queenie had already been eyeing on Richard the entire time.
She felt that he was very familiar and had a feeling that she had seen this person before.
But Queenie could not remember where exactly she saw him.
The moment Rita mentioned the BMW 7 Series...
Queenie suddenly remembered.
How could she forget? She saw him in the BMW shop!
“Queenie, do you know him?”
Mason quietly asked.