At the dining table, Noah Anderson sat in the utmost corner, eating in silence. Everyone else present was laughing and chatting, leaving only him out as if he were invisible.
The reason was simple. Noah was the Wilson family's live-in son-in-law.
Besides, he had no money. So, of course, everyone looked down on him.
Today, Daniel Wilson, Noah's father-in-law was having his birthday. All Wilsons came to celebrate, and a lot of them were waiting to see Noah embarrass himself.
"Hon, have some steak. It's very nutritious." Lisa Wilson, Noah's wife, put some steak on his plate. Seeing that, Sarah Wilson, Lisa's elder sister, sneered, "Lisa, I made the steak for Dad, not some poor loser."
Lisa froze a bit upon hearing Sarah's words, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Sarah's right. He doesn't get to enjoy steak at all." Daniel looked at Noah disdainfully.
"Noah, you've lived with us for over a year now. But look what you've done? You haven't got Lisa pregnant, and you haven't even bought her a diamond ring. All you do is goof off, you jobless idler.”
"Lisa made a terrible mistake marrying you. You know what? Divorce her. She's still young and beautiful. I'm sure loads of guys are dying to marry her."
Noah clenched his fists, pulling a long face while remaining silent.
In fact, a lot of people agreed with Daniel. They all thought of Noah as a good-for-nothing.
Daniel continued, "Can't you learn from Larry? He's just spent tens of thousands of dollars buying Sarah a set of jewels from Cartier! Doting on her like no one else!”
"Only a guy as rich as him deserves to marry my baby girl!"
Larry Crichton was Sarah's husband. When they first got married, he wasn't rich at all. He even relied on Lisa sometimes to get by.
Back then, Lisa would take some money from her salary every month to support Sarah. Also, Daniel would give Sarah a third of his pension monthly. Otherwise, Larry and Sarah couldn't have made ends meet at all.
Last year, things changed, though. Larry secured a government project and made hundreds of thousands of dollars, becoming rich instantly. He bought a BMW 5 Series and moved into a villa together with Sarah.
To Lisa's disappointment, the couple seemed to have forgotten her help.
And every time the family gathered, they would mock Noah and Lisa.
"Daniel, we're family. That's probably a bit uncalled for," Larry smiled.
"Noah may be poor, but he strikes me as an ambitious guy. I'm sure his future is promising. Relax. He'll make it up and get Lisa some jewelry sooner or later!"
Then he turned to Noah. "Noah, you know what? I'm looking for a security guard at my construction site.
"You don't have a job anyway. So why not work for me? I'll pay you 2000 dollars a month. Well? What do you say? Work hard, and since I'm your boss, perhaps you'll be the head of security someday. Who knows?"
Hearing that, everyone laughed and looked at Noah with scorn and disdain.
Furious, Noah gritted his teeth. His eyes even turned a bit red.
Lisa's expression instantly grew cold, and she was about to flare up upon Larry's insult.
She thought, 'What an ungrateful bastard! Without my help, he wouldn't have been able to be where he is now.'
She moved her lips, wanting to refute Larry, but Noah stopped her, signaling her to remain silent. He knew exactly that it would just make things worse.
"Daniel, it's your birthday today. I've got you a gift." Larry took out an elegant rectangular box and opened it, and inside was a hookah.
It was made of emerald, transparent in color, and engraved on the bottom, looking very luxurious.
"It's made of emerald, right?"
"It's all emerald, and it's so exquisite. I bet it costs you a lot."
"Larry, you're my perfect son indeed."
The elderly sitting at the table exclaimed, and their eyes lit up.
Larry nodded complacently. "Yes.”
"It's made of emerald from Veloria. I asked a friend of mine to get it from Veloria specially. It cost me tens of thousands of dollars”
"Daniel, I know you enjoy having a drag of smoking from time to time, so I figured it would be a perfect gift. I hope you like it. And of course, I bought the tobacco, too. It's Cohiba. I heard it's mellow and won't hurt your throat. I can say for sure it's the best on the market."
"Thank you, Larry." Daniel picked up the hookah and fiddled with it, smiling and satisfied.
Then he looked at Noah and snorted, "Noah, hear that? You're my son, too. How come you're such a loser? You're no match for Larry at all.
"It's my birthday. Don't tell me you came here empty-handed."
Everyone turned to Noah, ready to see him get embarrassed.
Noah disliked Daniel, yet he wasn't a rude man. Daniel was his father-in-law after all, so, no matter what, he was supposed to bring Daniel a gift today.
"Daniel, I've got something for you, too."
He took out a box from his pocket and was about to open it.
"Thanks, but no. I don't want your gift," Daniel said while glancing at the box in Noah's hands disdainfully.
It was a black wooden box, a bit cracked. At first glance, he knew it was cheap. He thought, 'A lot of my relatives come here today. If they know how Noah's cheap gift is, I'll be utterly humiliated.
'On no ground will I accept his gift.'
He sneered, "Take it back. I don't expect anything good from you.
"Just got after you finish your meal. If you got me an emerald like Larry did, perhaps I'd take it. If it's something else, then keep it to yourself. I don't wanna be humiliated."
Hearing that, practically everyone present laughed.
Lisa was furious while Sarah and Larry looked smug and pleased with Daniel's words.
Noah sighed silently, thinking, 'So be it then. I guess he'll never know that inside the box is a gem. And Larry's gift is simply trash compared to it.'
He put the wooden box back into his pocket in silence, shaking his head slightly.
After the party, Noah and Lisa walked out together.
"Noah, I've got to go to the office. Take the money to buy yourself some stuff." Lisa handed him a bank card. "Don't let them get into your head, OK?"
Noah was utterly humiliated by those people back at the party, and Lisa was worried that it was too much for him. So, she figured that perhaps buying something for himself would cheer him up.
"Don't worry. They won’t."
Noah took the card, smiling.
Right after he watched as Lisa got in a cab, his phone buzzed. He picked it up and saw a message: [Mr. Anderson, your family has lifted restrictions on you, and your status as heir to the superfamily has been restored. From now on, you have access to all family assets, and your No Preset Spending Limit Card has been unfrozen.]