Chapter 303 The Harmful Male Fox
As soon as Caroline got to work, she called Leopold. He must have tattled on her - he actually went and tattled!
Seeing her number, Leopold hesitated, then he strode out of his office and went over to Lily's desk. With a businesslike attitude, he said, "Help me take a call."
Lily thought it was some dinner invitation he wanted to dodge, but when she took his phone and saw "Wife" on the screen, she looked up at him with a questioning expression that clearly asked what was going on.
Leopold cleared his throat. Too embarrassed to admit he'd tattled to his mother-in-law and made his wife angry, he made up a serious-sounding excuse, "I broke her new lipstick this morning. Tell her I'm in a meeting."
Lipstick was indeed pretty important to some women, especially a new one that had barely been used.
In the spirit of understanding, Lily decided to help him out this once. As soon as she put the phone to her ear, Caroline's hoarse voice came through, "Did you tattle to my mom? What did you tell her? Did you call my dad too?"
She spoke quickly and her voice was hoarse, making it hard for Lily to catch everything. "Mrs. Wipere, it's me, Lily."
"Lily?" Caroline paused, sounding a bit awkward. "Where is he?"
Lily looked at the person in front of her. Leopold's eyes hinted toward the conference room.
She said into the phone, "Mr. Wipere went to a meeting."
"What a coincidence?" Caroline was clearly suspicious.
Lily quickly insisted, "He really did go to a meeting."
Caroline knew that even if Lily was lying, it was in accordance with Leopold's instructions. "Lily, could you pass along a message for me?"
Lily said, "Sure, go ahead."
"Tell him to call me back right after his meeting. Thanks."
"No problem." Lily agreed.
After hanging up, Lily saw Leopold breathe a sigh of relief, so she asked him, "What's this about? This doesn't look like it's just about lipstick."
Leopold kept playing it cool. "It's just the lipstick thing."
But his reaction looked pretty amusing to Lily. Who would have thought that the big boss at the company would be afraid to take his wife's call? Noticing Lily's barely suppressed smile, Leopold tried to save face in front of his employee by saying with fake depth, "It's not that I'm afraid of her."
Lily stayed silent.
Some doubts didn't need explaining, but once you started explaining, that was when it would become clear that there was really a problem.
Caroline didn't rest all morning. Just as lunch break was approaching, the office finally quieted down.
Only then did she notice a bag of medicine on her desk. The bag had the name of a nearby pharmacy printed on it. She opened it and found cold, cough and anti-inflammatory medication inside. She didn't know who had sent it.
All morning, besides the company representatives who came to sign documents, there were only Axel, Dax and the others—all from the office. Maybe they knew she was sick and had gotten someone to buy medicine for her. She pulled open a drawer and casually put the medicine inside.
Elysia had asked her to come home at lunchtime, so Caroline took her car keys and headed downstairs. On the second-floor stairwell landing, she ran into Caspian, who also looked like he'd just finished work and was going to eat.
"Ms. Tudor." Caspian greeted her first.
Caroline asked, "You're only eating now?"
Hearing her hoarse voice, Caspian was surprised. "One night of fever made it this bad?"
Caroline smiled. "It's fine, I'll get better soon."
Outside, she headed toward the parking lot. Caspian asked, "Ms. Tudor, aren't you eating lunch?"
Caroline replied, "No, I've got something to do."
Watching her walk away, Caspian changed direction halfway and headed outside the office compound.
He ran quickly into the pharmacy and came out shortly after, his pockets bulging. Fallon finished eating and came out, running right into Caspian.
"Why are you only now going to eat?" Fallon asked.
"I had something to do," Caspian explained.
Just then, his phone rang in his pocket. When he reached for it, he mistakenly pulled out the medicine and it fell on the ground.
Fallon picked it up. "Are you sick?"
"No." Caspian took the medicine back from her and answered the phone while walking away.
Fallon muttered to herself, "Why buy medicine if you're not sick?"
The medicine bag just now contained throat lozenges, but Caspian's voice sounded fine.
Caroline arrived downstairs at her parents' place. Instead of going up right away, she called Leopold's phone again.
It rang for a long time before someone picked up. Caroline said angrily, "Are you asking for a beating! How dare you..." Before she could finish, she was cut off by the person on the other end. It wasn't Leopold—it was actually Elysia.
The authority in her voice made Caroline freeze for a moment. "I think you're the one asking for a beating! Didn't I tell you not to bully Leopold?"
"Mom."
Elysia held the phone away a bit, frowning. "I can't hear you clearly. When will you get here?"
Caroline replied in a pitiful tone, "I'm already downstairs at your place."
"Hurry up and come up," Elysia told her.
"Okay."
Putting the phone back in her purse, Caroline let out a long sigh.
When she entered, she saw Leopold on the balcony helping Elysia water the plants. She glared at him as she wallked up to meet them. Leopold had an expression that said "I don't know anything, this has nothing to do with me."
Caroline pointed at him, mouthing, "Just you wait!"
Leopold slowly turned his head back and asked Elysia with a smile, "Mom, is this the right way to water them?"
Elysia nodded. "Yes, water that pot next to it a bit more."
"Okay, Mom."
Every time she saw him being so attentive, Caroline got goosebumps all over. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, but Leopold didn't care at all—in fact, he seemed to enjoy it. She really couldn't understand what benefit he got from immersing himself in this script of pleasing his mother-in-law.
Not until Elysia pointed at her forehead to scold her did Caroline finally understand the benefit of this script.
"Is this how you bully people?" Elysia pointed at her forehead with that manner that reminded Caroline of when she was little and crawled into the chicken coop, only to be forcibly chased out by Elysia.
Caroline said in her defense, "Mom, I didn't."
"Didn't? You're being stubborn, aren't you?" Elysia pointed at the phone on the table. "I just heard everything, and you're still denying it?"
Caroline couldn't defend herself. "I..."
Before she could speak, Elysia said, "Enough. Stop talking. My ears hurt from listening. Let me tell you seriously today—don't bully Leopold again. Also, go to the hospital later to see a doctor. Leopold cares about you—is that wrong? Telling you to rest—is that wrong?"
Caroline slightly glanced toward Leopold on the balcony. He was looking at her with a concerned expression.
She was so angry!
That scheming fox!
Seeing Caroline's attention wander, Elysia tapped the table. "Listen to me seriously when I'm talking."
Caroline jumped. "Mom, I'm almost thirty years old. What are you doing?"
Leopold on the balcony saw what was happening and quickly ran out, walking to Elysia's side. "Mom, don't be angry. Caroline just doesn't want me to worry."
At this moment, his attempt to smooth things over only made it worse.
His words successfully ignited Elysia's long-accumulated anger. "Right, Caroline. You keep refusing to listen. Your dad won't listen to advice either, and you're just like him. Each Tudor is more stubborn than the next. Leopold and I must owe you something—in this life, we're here to pay off debts."
Leopold fell silent.
This was bad! The collateral damage was too widespread.