Chapter 922: Chapter 611: Art Exhibition [05] Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law, Backing Each Other Up [17th Update]

Nora Scott let out an "oh," nodded at Him, then gently closed the door.

The front desk...

Without asking anyone, Nora followed the map in her head and, after walking for a bit, smoothly arrived at the front desk.

Flora Loughton had a very distinctive air about her; even standing in a crowd she was still dazzling and bright. Nora took one look and quickly spotted her.

There was a circle of people around Flora. They didn’t look like stage actors or staff; they were more like socialites and rich ladies who’d come specially to watch the play.

She walked closer.

Suddenly she caught their topic of conversation—

"Professor Loughton, I heard your student pretended to be Master Linfield’s last closed-door disciple? Kids these days really have guts—just to show off, they’ll make up any lie."

"Speaking of that, that bamboo flute of yours isn’t something she gave you, is it?"

"Of course it is. Professor Loughton begged Master Linfield for so long and didn’t get a thing. Didn’t your Moments post say it was a junior who gave it? I’d guess that fake wanted to prove her identity while currying favor with her teacher. If she hadn’t been exposed, that really would’ve been killing two birds with one stone."

...

These socialites looked cultured and dignified, all grace and poise, but every word out of their mouths was barbed.

Falling into your ears, it really stung.

They were, after all, envious of Flora Loughton’s life—her scholarly family background, growing up smooth and blessed. She’d married a good husband; they treated each other with respect. She had three sons, all of them outstanding; her career was successful; after graduation she’d become a teacher, eventually a professor, with endless connections and resources. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Whatever you could want, she had it.

People who are too perfect always rub others the wrong way.

They rarely saw Flora in their daily lives and could never catch any dirt on her. This time they’d run into her by chance, and with a supposed stain on her record, they latched on and refused to let go.

Pretty annoying.

Flora was swearing up a storm in her head, but on the surface she had to maintain a polite smile, looking neither angry nor upset as she said in an airy tone, "It actually wasn’t from her at all."

She wanted to elaborate, but the rich ladies took it as her guilty conscience and quibbling. Delighted, they clung to the topic and kept going.

"Lady Langley, you really are too naive. That fake at least knows Master Linfield; she might still have a tiny chance of getting her hands on a bamboo flute. Some other junior? No way."

"That fake is impossible. I’d say the only one who could get a bamboo flute from Julian Linfield is Nora Scott."

"Speaking of this Nora Scott, she really is something. Even someone like me who doesn’t follow the entertainment circle will always click on her news whenever I see it. Quite entertaining."

"Too bad she’s married. My son’s at the right age too; otherwise I’d have him go after her. Her background might not be much, but she’s pretty; even if you kept her at home as a vase, she’d still be pleasant to look at."

...

"Professor Loughton, you used that bamboo flute in your performance a while back, didn’t you? You really should throw it away. You’re almost at retirement; if a black mark gets slapped on you now, your late reputation might not survive."

The one speaking had smiling eyes and brows, not bothering at all to hide the schadenfreude.

One after another, they were all mocking her.

Flora frowned slightly.

She hated dealing with these people the most.

A bunch of plastic besties gathered for profit; on ordinary days, besides gossiping about this and that, they formed little cliques just to target others. Their inner lives were practically barren.

"Mom, there you are."

A sudden call sounded, lazy yet pleasant, with a softness to it—a queenly tone wrapped in a hint of obedient sweetness.

Flora’s eyes lit up.

—Since when did Flora gain a daughter? Could it be her eldest daughter-in-law came along too?

With this question in mind, the other socialites all turned to look, curious.

Then they collectively froze.

They’d just been criticizing Flora while casually praising Nora, all to put them side by side as a comparison.

They never expected to slap themselves in the face—these two were actually on the same team.

So the "Schrödinger’s husband" who married Nora Scott... turned out to be Flora Loughton’s son?!

Coming closer, Nora walked to Flora’s side, hooked her arm through Flora’s, swept them all a look with a faint smile, and lazily spoke up: "Thanks for the compliments, aunties. The bamboo flute really is from me."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The noisy chatter cut off in an instant.

The faces of the rich ladies turned purple.

Fuck?

As if it wasn’t enough that Flora had a good family, a good husband, good sons, and a good career—now she also had a good daughter-in-law?

—And she was a damn cheat-code-level daughter-in-law.

Just how many people had Flora saved in her past life to have this kind of luck?!

"S–so it was from Nora Scott, then."

"No wonder."

"Looks like we misunderstood."

"Professor Loughton, honestly, you should’ve said so earlier. Rumors need to be clarified; otherwise everyone ends up misunderstanding."

Their expressions were stiff as they tried desperately to salvage their dignity.

"Rumors?" Flora smiled leisurely. "I truly hadn’t heard of any such rumor. When you ladies were talking, I was actually confused. I just assumed it was all in your heads."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Flora was sharp-tongued too; she wasn’t someone who took bullying lying down.

The rich ladies were choked speechless, glancing at each other, and in the end backed off one by one, making excuses to hurriedly leave.

Nora and Flora exchanged a look.

"You, honestly." Flora lifted a hand and poked Nora between the brows, her tone full of fondness. "You’re so close with Julian Linfield and yet you never told me. At the time I really thought you’d been duped and the bamboo flute was fake."

Nora gave a light cough. "...I didn’t have a proper sense of his status and position."

In truth, gifting the bamboo flute had been the goal; as for the relationship between them... that was irrelevant.

It had never even crossed Nora’s mind.

Flora didn’t really scold her. She just chuckled, dropped the annoying topic, and pulled Nora off to watch the play, occasionally explaining to her "the stories behind rehearsal for a stage play."

Nora listened very attentively.

*

By the time the play ended, it was already past nine.

Flora needed a trip to the restroom. Nora didn’t go with her; she wanted to wander around backstage and get an overall feel for the troupe’s atmosphere.

But before she could even enter the lounge, someone stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"Nora Scott."

Lily Turner stopped her.

Nora raised a brow.

Although she’d seen Lily in the restroom, the moment Lily left, Nora had put her out of her mind. She’d thought the woman had gone home already—what was she doing waiting here?

Before she’d only seen her from the back; now that she got a clear look, Nora realized Lily looked pretty haggard.

She seemed glossy on the surface but was absolutely exhausted underneath.

Pregnant, and still putting on makeup without a care.

"What is it?" Nora asked.

Chin slightly lifted, Lily seemed quite confident, her expression rather arrogant as she tried to bargain with Nora. "If you want to get into the stage-play circle, I can help you."