Chapter 187 Too Simple
The phone suddenly rang, startling Amelia so badly that her hand shook.
Two hours of work were almost ruined. This was delicate work—one slip and all her previous effort would be wasted. Fortunately, she managed to steady her hand in the end.
But seeing the caller ID, she still set down what she was doing and answered the phone.
"Hello? What's up?"
"Marlon came to the company this afternoon."
"Marlon?"
"Yes."
"What did he come for?"
"To award us a model enterprise certificate, and he brought reporters to interview me. He insisted on doing the interview right in my office..."
He vividly described the scene.
"You have no idea - Marlon's face was so angry his wrinkles were practically ironed flat. He looked like a pufferfish."
Amelia didn't laugh. She said seriously, "So Marlon is the one behind this." She seemed to be talking to herself, analyzing the situation. "Marlon is siding with the Hays family. For him to dare do this, someone from the Hays family must be pulling the strings. But why would the Hays family target you? Offending you does them no good."
Samuel was already pleasantly surprised that Amelia could analyze this far.
He explained, "Probably because the Hays family heard I've been getting close to you and got anxious. These past few years, we Crawfords have been officially neutral, but privately we've had dealings with both the Hays family and the Porter family. You're the Richardson family's daughter—they're afraid we'll end up choosing to side with the Porters."
"Then they shouldn't be targeting you even more. And even if their plan succeeded, they couldn't actually lock you up."
The Crawford family had the best legal team.
A few pots of orchids—you could hardly call it a real crime. Paying some money could settle it. Thinking of this, Amelia suddenly figured it out herself. "They want you to owe them a favor. They'd have Marlon pin charges on you first, then the Hays family would step in to resolve it, and you'd owe them."
"Exactly, you guessed right." Samuel's tone was full of satisfaction. Amelia was smart, sharp, and decisive; she got it right away. He knew that even if Amelia were a plain-looking girl, he would still be attracted to her.
What he valued was never Amelia's appearance, but the brilliance she radiated from the inside out.
To meet such a perfect girl, he must have done good deeds in his past life.
Amelia asked about Yosef again.
"How did Yosef fall into Marlon's trap?" She didn't think Yosef had betrayed Samuel; otherwise, even if Marlon's plan were ruined, Samuel wouldn't be in such a good mood.
"Philip and Leonard connected," Samuel explained.
After hearing it, Amelia looked understanding. "I've dealt with Philip before. He's very calculating. It's not surprising that Yosef, not being shrewd enough, got played by him."
"It's not that he's not shrewd - Yosef is smart. He's just... too innocent."
Calling a playboy innocent seemed absurd.
But Amelia agreed with Samuel.
"Being soft-hearted and kind can sometimes be fatal."
Samuel agreed, "Exactly. But this time, he should let go of that last bit of soft-heartedness."
"He's planning to move against Philip?"
"He hasn't figured out the specific plan yet."
Amelia was silent for two seconds, then said, "Can you set up a meeting with him for me? I have a few things I want to tell him about Philip."
"What a coincidence—before he left, he said he wanted to take you to dinner to thank you for the tip-off. He'll probably call you soon."
"Okay, got it. I'll wait for his call."
Samuel's end suddenly fell silent. Amelia thought the signal might be bad here—after all, this was the suburbs. But before she could adjust the wireless network, Samuel spoke again.
"You care more about Yosef than you do about me." His tone carried obvious grievance.
Amelia choked. She finally explained somewhat helplessly, "Helping him is helping you. What do you have to feel wronged about?"
"So you're helping him only to help me?"
Amelia said somewhat insincerely, "Yes..."
Actually, it was more about helping herself.
If the Dobbins family ended up with Philip in power, siding with the Hays family in the future, that would do her no good.
Of course, it also counted as helping Samuel.
Samuel and Yosef had a good relationship - Yosef becoming the head of the Dobbins family would only benefit Samuel, no downsides.
So she wasn't exactly lying.
Samuel heard the stiffness in her tone but was still very happy.
She was willing to lie to humor him; that was huge progress. What was there to be unhappy about?
"Those orchids, do you want them?" Samuel asked.
"You didn't throw them away?"
"I noticed you seemed very interested."
"I want them." Amelia explained, "Several varieties can be used as herbs. Throwing them away would be too wasteful. But using them as herbs can save people and won't be discovered."
Orchids made into medicine wouldn't attract attention.
"Okay, I'll pack them up and secretly send them to you."
"Okay."
Just then, Yosef's call came in.
Amelia told Samuel.
This time, Samuel didn't say much, just hung up directly to let them talk.
Yosef greeted her first, then got straight to the point: "I owe you big time for this. If you hadn't warned me, I would have really hurt Samuel, and I'd definitely regret it."
Amelia said with a smile, "It wasn't all my doing. Samuel just told me Jeremy also mentioned the orchids. Even if I hadn't said anything, Samuel could have figured out something was wrong from Jeremy."
"But I still have to thank you... If you don't mind, can I take you to dinner tomorrow evening?"
"Sure." Amelia agreed readily.
"How about All Seasons Table again?"
"Okay."
After setting the time, Amelia hung up.
She thought back on the few times she'd met Yosef.
Though he had a notorious playboy reputation, he never showed her any impropriety; his eyes were always clean. He was a decent person. So those bad rumors about Yosef were most likely Philip's doing.
Having a brother like that was really unlucky.
But she was curious - why would Philip, as the older brother, go to such lengths to target his own younger brother? If he was competing for control of the Dobbins family in the future, that didn't make sense;
from what Samuel told her, Philip had been subtly targeting Yosef since they were very young. Back then, no one had any concept of inheritance rights yet.
This was strange.
Amelia made a mental note.
She was good at multitasking—continuing her work while thinking about Philip's odd behavior. Soon, a theory formed in her mind, but it was too far-fetched, so she quickly dismissed the thought.
By the time it was completely dark, Amelia had finally finished her work. She carefully placed what she'd made into a container filled with pale yellow liquid, sealed it, and gave it to Faith.
"Take this to Spring Renewal Clinic for Charles. He knows how to use it."
"Okay!"
Faith immediately agreed.
She hadn't seen Charles in a long time.
She was close to her grandfather but distant from her own father, so she treated Charles like a godfather.
But they couldn't meet too often to avoid arousing suspicion that Charles had connections to the Shadow Operations Division.
"Remember, don't stay too long."
"I know, Ms. Richardson."
After making arrangements, Amelia drove back to the Richardson family home.
On the road, she thought again of that far-fetched theory.
She finally couldn't help calling Stella.
Previously, the two hadn't exchanged contact information—or more accurately, Amelia hadn't given Stella hers. That was why Stella had come to Goldenvale and run into her at All Seasons Table.
And that day, Amelia had exchanged contact information with Stella.
Stella was surprised to get her call.
"Ms. Richardson, how come..."
"Can you talk?"
"Yes, I'm alone in my room. Philip went out to see his boyfriend."
Saying this made Stella's stomach turn.
Amelia didn't rush to state her purpose, but asked, "The evidence I asked you to photograph - have you gotten it?"
"Not yet... He hides his boyfriend too well. I haven't had a chance to follow him these past two days."
"No rush, your safety is most important."
"Okay."
Only then did Amelia state her purpose. "Something tells me Philip isn't blood-related to the Dobbins family."
This was her far-fetched theory. Because Philip knew he wasn't biological while his brother was, so from childhood he'd schemed to make his brother look bad in their parents' eyes.
Otherwise, as the eldest son, with Philip being academically excellent, obedient, and ambitious, there was no reason for the Dobbins family to let Yosef, this "good-for-nothing playboy," inherit the family fortune.
But if her theory were correct, then Philip's actions would all make sense.
Stella was shocked, but quickly calmed down.
She said, "Yosef looks a lot like my mother-in-law, but Philip really doesn't resemble either my mother-in-law or father-in-law at all..."
She added, "Once, I accidentally overheard my father-in-law tell my mother-in-law that Yosef was so confused and reckless, how could they feel comfortable leaving the family fortune to him in the future?"
Hearing this, Amelia felt her theory was very likely correct.
She said, "Can you help me collect Philip's blood?"
Stella said confidently, "Yes."
Because Philip had diabetes, he had to check his blood sugar many times a day.
Often, Stella helped him test it.
Collecting his blood would be very simple.
"Then, as soon as possible... help me arrange a paternity test with his blood."
"No problem." Stella said this, let out a heavy breath, and said, "If he really isn't, then once I collect the evidence, the Dobbins family definitely won't keep him."
This wasn't just helping Amelia; it was helping herself. So Stella would put her heart into this. This was also why Amelia dared share her far-fetched theory with Stella..
The call ended, and Amelia went over everything in her mind again, feeling her theory was very likely accurate.
But she still had to wait for the final results.
She returned to the Richardson family home.
Only warm lights were on in the living room. Several brothers were there, gathered around the coffee table, looking at something.
"Amelia, you're back." Grant was the first to notice Amelia and quickly waved her over. "Come look at my design!"
Amelia nodded. Only when she got closer did she see what they were viewing. They were looking at Grant's design for the second generation of Crawford Group cars. He'd been working on this intensely lately.
But they now had different opinions, so they needed Amelia to judge.