Chapter 178 Similar Appearance
On the other side.
Bobby thanked Amelia profusely.
Amelia showed little reaction, only saying: "If you don't want trouble, send them back as soon as possible."
Bobby quickly agreed: "Yes."
His attitude toward Amelia had changed again.
Previously, it was just politeness; now it is respect.
He was completely convinced by Amelia.
Amelia said to Maeve: "I'm a bit tired. Let's have dinner tomorrow instead. Send me the restaurant address, and I'll definitely be there on time tomorrow."
Maeve didn't insist.
After today's events, she also needed to go back and think things through.
"Okay." Maeve nodded.
Only Steven—Amelia didn't even glance at him.
This kind of person, extremely arrogant, if she gave him even one more look, he might misunderstand and think Amelia still had some feelings for him.
Steven's face looked dark enough to drip water.
He had at least helped her interrogate the caregiver—didn't she feel even a bit grateful?
After Bobby went inside, Maeve caught sight of Steven's expression and said casually: "Steven, I'd advise you to give up on pursuing Amelia."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing much. I just think you're not good enough for Amelia."
"Didn't you use to really dislike her?"
"I did dislike her, and I still find her annoying now, but that doesn't stop me from thinking you're not good enough for her."
A cold glint flashed in Steven's eyes.
"Maeve, you'd better get clear on this—I'll be taking over in the future. If you have any brains at all, you should know which side to be on."
Maeve's face was expressionless.
"You're just a guy, what's there to brag about? If I were a son, do you think Dad would let you inherit the family business?"
"You—"
Maeve couldn't be bothered with him anymore and turned to go inside.
Steven stood there, both hands clenched into tight fists.
Wasn't he good enough for Amelia? The daughter of a fallen family?
So what if she had some medical skills?
And the Sullivan family—though Bobby's generation had gone into business, Roman was definitely a retired political figure.
What about him wasn't good enough for Amelia?
It was just that Amelia had gotten a bit close to Samuel lately.
Could Samuel really be interested in Amelia?
Even he looked down on Amelia.
Of course, he used to look down on Yasmin, too.
On the other side.
After Amelia left, two police officers approached her.
One of them was Brady.
He had officially become one of Samuel's people and might become the next Lloyd.
He was very grateful to Amelia for this.
So when Amelia asked him for help, telling him to make sure to go along if he got a call from the Sullivan Manor, he agreed without hesitation.
"Thanks for your help today." She held out a card: "There's not much money in it, but please use it to get a meal."
Brady quickly refused.
"Ms. Richardson, I can't accept this card—it's against the rules. And personally, I definitely shouldn't take it."
He insisted on refusing, so Amelia had to let it go.
Charles was still waiting over there, so Amelia said goodbye to the two officers and got in the car to head to Spring Renewal Clinic.
Actually, Amelia's plan was quite simple.
After guessing that Scarlett would use Anthony to get at her, she had Lyndon check the hotel where Scarlett was staying and the pharmacies near the Sullivan family estate.
She also had Lyndon send someone to steal the jewelry Scarlett kept in her hotel room.
Meanwhile, Charles went to buy up all the pharmacies Lyndon had identified, paying top dollar.
She figured that after she wrote a prescription for Anthony, if Scarlett was going to make a move, she would definitely poison the prescription she'd written.
Sure enough, Scarlett went to one of those pharmacies this morning.
She wanted to buy mercury compounds.
Charles sold her supplements that looked like mercury compounds instead.
Scarlett wasn't a doctor and couldn't tell the two medicines apart.
So Anthony wasn't poisoned at all.
The poison in his body was what had been there all along. Otherwise, if he'd really been poisoned, Anthony wouldn't have made it through.
After Amelia arrived, she gave him the antidote and treated him with acupuncture needles.
When Scarlett arrived, Anthony had just woken up.
And during those three days, the prescription Amelia had written maintained Anthony's original condition but restored his hearing.
After Scarlett added the "poison," she said many remorseful things to Anthony.
After Amelia arrived, she guided Anthony to confirm that it was Scarlett who had poisoned him, trying to kill him.
That's how everything that followed happened.
The car slowly started moving. Charles couldn't help asking: "Ms. Richardson, why did you have me swap out the mercury compounds for supplements that looked like mercury compounds to sell to her? If you'd just let Scarlett poison her own grandfather to death, wouldn't she be even more unable to escape legal punishment?"
Amelia said simply, "Anthony is worth more alive than dead. As for Scarlett, I don't care whether she lives or dies."
Indeed, Scarlett had a grudge against her.
Anyone else would have wanted to go along with it and let Scarlett kill Anthony, then have Brady arrest her.
Scarlett had personally bought the mercury compounds—with witnesses and evidence, she couldn't avoid prison.
But what good would that do Amelia besides venting her anger?
Besides, she no longer felt angry about Scarlett stealing Finn.
Things that could be stolen, whether people or objects, perhaps never belonged to her in the first place.
Especially people.
People who had been stolen away—she wouldn't want them back.
Even if it hurt, she wouldn't want them anymore.
Anthony, on the other hand—
She had saved Anthony's life, cured his illness, and with Scarlett as leverage, in the future conflict between the Hays family and the Porter family, Anthony, a neutral party, would sooner or later have to make a choice.
Even if he didn't side with Micah, as long as he didn't help the other side, it would greatly benefit the Porter family.
If that was the case, why bother venting her anger?
She might as well use Scarlett to win over Anthony.
She was certain that if Anthony had to make a choice in the future, he would definitely choose that faction.
After all, even knowing Scarlett had poisoned him, Anthony wanted to cover it up—that was enough to prove how important Scarlett was to him.
For the sake of this granddaughter, he would choose the Porter family, too.
Not to mention that Amelia had saved his life.
Thinking of this, Amelia added: "In fact, I should even thank her today."
Charles was just a doctor and didn't understand these things.
He scratched his head in confusion and said, "Anyway, Ms. Richardson, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it."
Amelia nodded slightly and said, "Keep buying up the pharmacies. Within a month, I want you to buy up all the pharmacies in Goldenvale."
People nowadays really care about taking care of themselves.
Even when they're perfectly healthy, they love taking herbal supplements or natural remedies to stay in shape.
Control the pharmacies, and you can control a lot of information.
Charles hesitated slightly and said, "Buying up those pharmacies isn't a problem; it's just that I don't have enough people to take over each pharmacy."
Amelia said, "Don't worry, I've already arranged it. We have plenty of people now."
Charles's eyes lit up.
"You mean everyone's come over?"
"Yes."
"Faith came too?"
Though Faith was just a junior apprentice, he had no daughter of his own and had come to think of her as the daughter he never had.
Amelia glanced at Charles.
He was someone who'd had a rough life, too.
Four years ago, he lost his wife, and his daughter died in an accident. Because he couldn't even save his own wife and daughter, he wanted to end his life. Amelia happened to see him by the river and saved him.
After that, he followed Amelia and studied medicine with peace of mind.
It was just that whenever he saw girls around his daughter's age, he would seem especially down.
And Faith happened to be the same age as his daughter.
Amelia nodded: "She came. It's just that everyone's been busy lately. When there's time, I'll have her come help you."
Charles smiled.
"Good, no rush."
After dropping Charles off, Amelia went to the Shadow Operations Division.
She told Byron to keep investigating who had poisoned Anthony.
If they found out, the Lewis family would owe her another favor.
"Yes," Byron responded, then brought her a bowl of chicken soup.
"Faith made it. Try some."
Amelia nodded.
"It's very good. Have Faith, make more. Fall's here, the weather's dry—give everyone some."
"Yes." Byron agreed.
By the lamplight, Amelia caught a glimpse of Byron's profile.
There was a slight indentation in the middle of his chin—his distinguishing feature.
But Amelia thought of how Jeremy, who was by Samuel's side, was the same way.
He had an indented spot in the middle of his chin, too.
Amelia couldn't help asking: "Is your chin naturally like that, or did something cause it?"
Byron shrugged: "It's natural. I even went to the hospital to check—they said it's a mild congenital bone indentation."
Amelia looked at Byron again.
Byron was one of the first people to follow her.
Back then, she had just finished a task the system gave her, returned to this world, and then ran into Byron, who had escaped from an orphanage.
"When you escaped from the orphanage as a kid, you said your brother ran out too, but got separated from you. Did you ever look for him later?"
Byron scratched his head.
"Ms. Richardson, why are you asking about this?"
"Just... asking."
She knew there weren't that many coincidences in the world, but asking more questions could be helpful.
Byron sighed and said, "I looked into it when Shadow Operations Division first started developing. He died."
Amelia's eyes widened slightly.
"How did he die?"
"He wasn't as lucky as I—he got caught and taken back to the orphanage. I later found an employee from that orphanage who said he couldn't take it and died."
Amelia frowned.
Byron continued: "That orphanage wasn't really an orphanage—it was more like a human trafficking center using the orphanage as a front."
"The police found out pretty quickly and shut it down."
"A lot of people who were taken there found their birth parents. Only my brother and I... we were orphans to begin with, begging on the streets when they brought us back there."