I stared at him in surprise before shaking my head, feeling a blush creeping up on my cheeks. “No, I…”
Plenty of times, however, that sort of stuff always ended up happening in between all the pushing and pulling…
Archie’s funeral was on Saturday.
I had roughly guessed Ashton’s schedule for our short trip to Moranta. First, he had to come over and visit Archie. Apart from that, he also wanted to break into the Moranta market. There were many things that couldn’t be done back home, but Moranta was considered a self-governed territory. Add that to the agreement he had with the Taylor family, and it was much easier to do things here than back in the country.
Early on Saturday morning, Ashton and I dressed in formal black outfits in order to attend Archie’s funeral. By the time we reached the Taylor residence, the whole front yard was already full of people.
There were plenty of people who had come to pay their respects. The atmosphere was heavy with pitiful sighs.
After saying our prayers, Holden called for the attendees to line up in two lines in front of the casket.
I didn’t recognize most of the other Taylor family members, but Ashton had told me about their situation before. Archie had four wives. His first wife had passed away a decade or so ago due to an illness and was also from a well-off family. After that, Archie took over the Taylor family thanks to this first wife’s help.
That first wife gave birth to two daughters, much to Archie’s chagrin. These daughters both turned out to be rather outstanding. One of them married into a rich family, and the other owned her own business overseas. With the Taylor family name behind her, she had made quite a name for herself.
That meant that Archie’s first two children were no longer part of the Taylor family.
Archie’s second wife was a famous celebrity from the nineties. She had never been taken seriously by the other Taylor family members because of her background but managed to improve her reputation after giving birth to a son and a daughter. The Taylor family was one step closer to having an heir, but this heir got into a car accident a few years ago and became wheelchair-bound.
Such was the fickle fate of rich families.
As for Archie’s third wife, apparently, she had been a reporter when she was younger and got married to Archie when he was already well into his fifties. Not many people were willing to believe that such a young woman married such an old man simply out of love. One wanted money, while the other wanted youth and beauty. Since they were both already adults, no one could really say anything despite the age gap.
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