Chapter 483: Sent Flying with a Slap (3)

Chapter 483: Chapter 483: Sent Flying with a Slap (3)

Chloe added, "And the best part is, Sis slapped that woman, and she didn’t even dare to raise a hand!"

Vera chuckled softly, while Mrs. Xavier started shooing the others away. "Your sister’s back. Aren’t you two going to go make dinner?"

As Drew and Chloe grinned and started to leave, Mrs. Xavier added, "Remember to slaughter a chicken!"

"Got it!" Drew called back, and then he and Chloe went into the kitchen to cook.

The Xavier family wasn’t well-off. They couldn’t bring themselves to use coal for daily cooking, so they always used firewood chopped from the mountains. This made cooking particularly troublesome, as it required one person to stoke the fire while another did the cooking.

Vera had wanted to follow Drew and Chloe to join in the fun, but Mrs. Xavier pulled her back. "Let those two little rascals do it. You don’t need to go."

Vera chuckled and nodded. Although Mrs. Xavier called Chloe and Drew "little rascals," they were actually very well-behaved, always eager to help with chores, and had excellent grades.

It was just that teenagers their age always had their own ideas—what adults would call rebellion. But Vera didn’t see it that way.

Mrs. Xavier pulled Vera into a room to sit down. She studied Vera carefully, then sighed and said, "After you went to the city, you’ve matured so much. Vera, did you suffer a lot with the Preston family?"

Vera’s heart instantly filled with warmth. All maturity was, in truth, a trial for the mind. A person only matured after suffering hardships and learning painful lessons—this was what Mrs. Xavier had understood.

Others only saw the glory of her becoming the provincial top scorer and getting into Veridia University. No one stopped to think about what she had sacrificed to achieve it all.

She said softly, "Mom, I’m doing fine. Everyone in the Preston family is treating me very well now."

Mrs. Xavier caught the hidden meaning in her words. Combined with the incident involving Cara Preston and Rona Langdon, what else was there for Mrs. Xavier not to understand?

Mrs. Xavier said gently, "As long as you’re doing well, that’s all that matters. Then I can rest easy."

After speaking, she added hesitantly, "That money you have... it’s from the Preston family, isn’t it? I’ll find a way to pay you back as soon as possible."

Mrs. Xavier’s reasoning was simple. Although Vera was the Prestons’ biological daughter, she hadn’t grown up in their family. If Vera were to use the Preston family’s money to help support the Xaviers, it would put her in a very difficult position if the Prestons found out.

So, no matter how poor the Xavier family was or how badly they needed the money, they absolutely had to find a way to pay Vera back as soon as possible.

Vera knew what Mrs. Xavier was thinking. She smiled faintly and said, "This money isn’t from the Preston family. It’s my own."

Mrs. Xavier looked at her in surprise. Vera continued, "Have you forgotten, Mom? I was the provincial top scorer. The school gives prize money for that. This is the prize money they gave me, and I have the right to do whatever I want with it."

After she finished speaking, she took three thousand from her bag and handed it to Mrs. Xavier. "The prize was five thousand in total. Please don’t refuse this, Mom. If you hadn’t always pushed us to study hard, how could I have ever become the provincial top scorer? How would I have ever gotten this prize money? So really, this money should be your reward!"

Although Mrs. Xavier wasn’t highly educated, she was a woman with great foresight. When Vera was very young, Mrs. Xavier had told her to study hard, insisting that knowledge could change one’s destiny.

It was precisely because of this that all three of the Xavier children, Vera included, had excellent grades.

Unfortunately, the Xavier family was simply too poor. Even giving it their all, Mr. and Mrs. Xavier couldn’t earn enough to pay for all three children’s school fees.