Chapter 1436 - 1376: Call Me Husband, Get 1.5 Million

"Mom, what’s wrong with me, exactly?"

Pauline Briggs snapped, "You say that kind of thing to your dad—what’s he supposed to think of me? Won’t he think I’m some faithless woman messing around with other men?"

"Mom, Dad passed away. He’s been gone for many years."

Pauline froze for a second, then couldn’t hold back her tears. "Your dad has always lived in my heart. Whether he’s alive or gone, I love him all the same."

"Mom, Dad loved you so much, he’d definitely want you to be happy. You’re still young. I can’t bear the thought of you being all alone."

A companion in old age, a companion in old age—when people get old, they always need someone by their side. Let alone that Pauline is still young. Every time Sienna Johnson thought about her mother having to spend so many more years on her own, her heart ached.

So even though Sienna didn’t want her mother to remarry, she still brought up the fact that Graham Robertson liked her.

"What do you know? Sienna Johnson, what do you even know!"

Pauline was flushed with anger, clearly wanting to say more, but in the end said nothing. She just turned around and stormed off, leaving Sienna behind.

Sienna looked down at the daughter in her arms. Claire’s little face was full of confusion. "I think I said the wrong thing."

Claire smiled up at her mother, having no idea what had just happened.

...

That night, when Adrian Desmond came home, Sienna told him what had happened during the day.

"My mom is furious, like I’ve committed some unforgivable crime," Sienna said as she helped Adrian out of his coat.

Adrian replied, "Isn’t that exactly what you wanted? Now you don’t have to worry about Mom remarrying."

Sienna hung up his coat and said, "I’m not that selfish."

"And a few days ago, who was it that told me she didn’t want her mom to remarry?"

"Adrian, what do you think I should do?"

Adrian didn’t take it too seriously. "Mom clearly doesn’t want to remarry. You’ve already sounded Graham out, just go turn him down, and that’ll be the end of it."

Sienna thought for a bit and said, "Mm, okay."

"How does it feel being President?" Adrian suddenly changed the subject.

Sienna had prepared a late-night snack for him. Adrian hadn’t really eaten while he was out. Seeing the warm soup and wontons on the table, his appetite kicked in.

"Exhausting," Sienna said honestly.

Sienna had just taken over as President, and there was a lot she still had to learn. Naturally, it was incredibly tiring.

"Serves you right," Adrian said with zero sympathy.

"It’ll be fine once I get the hang of it," Sienna said with a smile.

"Suit yourself." She had a perfectly good, comfortable life, but insisted on asking for trouble. Adrian couldn’t talk her out of it.

"And you? How have you been lately?"

"Pretty good."

Sienna wiped the corner of his mouth and smiled. "A friend told me you’ve been cozying up to a few of the city leaders lately."

Adrian swallowed the wonton in his mouth, took a sip of soup, then finally looked up at Sienna and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"Being a public official is a high?risk job. It looks glamorous, but if you can’t withstand temptation, you could end up behind bars at any moment. If you get too close to those people, I’m afraid you might get dragged down with them," Sienna warned.

"I know what I’m doing," Adrian said, and then clearly didn’t feel like elaborating.

Adrian was doing very well in Abyanabad. Sienna trusted that this man could handle those relationships, so she didn’t press him any further.

"Are the wontons good?"

"They’re good."

"I’ll make them for you again tomorrow night."

"No need," Adrian declined.

Sienna asked, "Why not? Didn’t you just say they were good?"

Adrian fed her a wonton from his half?finished bowl and said, "You’re so busy lately. I don’t want you overworking yourself."

"It’s not that tiring."

Adrian laughed. "Madam Johnson, are you just head?over?heels in love with me right now and dying to treat me well? Like you couldn’t survive without me?"

"Just eat your wontons." Look at him, all smug again—this man’s tail was practically up in the air.

"I’m done."

Adrian picked up the bowl and drank all the wonton soup, then downed a big bowl of seafood soup as well. He’d eaten so much at once that Sienna worried he’d have indigestion when he went to bed, so she dragged him off to help her with some work—under the noble-sounding pretext of "aiding digestion."

"I think exercise in bed is much better for digestion."

Without looking up, Sienna said, "Doing that kind of thing right after eating isn’t good for your health."

"Who says?"

"Dr. Johnson says so."

Adrian didn’t have much patience. After looking over the densely packed price sheets for a while, his head started to hurt. "Have your secretary do this tomorrow. I hate looking at this stuff—it gives me a headache."

Sienna pulled the stack of price sheets he’d barely touched over to herself, looked up at him and said, "Now I finally understand why Curly doesn’t like studying."

"Curly’s doing just fine in school."

"In your eyes, your daughter’s flawless. No shortcomings at all."

"Does my daughter have any shortcomings? I certainly haven’t noticed any."

Sienna didn’t bother bickering with him. She lowered her head and continued working through the price lists. She planned to finish them tonight before going to bed.

"What are you doing with all these medication prices?"

"These are price lists for common medications on the market. I need to get familiar with their prices, then compare them with the prices from Eastminster Pharmaceutical Factory—see which ones are more expensive than ours and which ones are cheaper than ours..."

Sienna explained her idea to Adrian. "Didn’t I tell you before that I want to start an E-commerce Platform that sells medicines specifically? Now that I’m President, I can use the power in my hands to integrate all the medicines in Sileria City."

"..."

"These days everything is about powerful alliances. Only by joining forces can we grow big and strong."

Adrian didn’t know much about the pharmaceutical side of things, and he didn’t dwell on it. He just figured that since this woman wanted to do it, she should go ahead.

"If there’s anything you need help with, just say the word."

"I need money! How much can Sixth Master invest?"

Adrian raised a brow. "Well, now. It’s rare for Madam Johnson to actually ask me for money."

"Investment! I’ll make you even more money," Sienna tempted him.

There were plenty of money?making ventures out there. Honestly, Adrian really didn’t feel like investing in the pharmaceutical business.

"How much can you make me?"

"That’s hard to say. I’m just getting started, so it’s possible I might fail."

Adrian asked, "So there’s no guarantee of profit? I might lose money?"

"Sixth Master should be more optimistic."

"If you ask me as Madam Johnson, I’ll give you as much as you want; if you ask me as President Johnson, looking for investment, I’m going to pass."

Their relationship was very good now, and Sienna wasn’t as sensitive as she used to be. She said, "Husband, my funds are tight right now. Give me some money, okay?"

Adrian leaned in and said, "Say it again."

Sienna turned her face away, refusing to say it.

"Call me ’Husband’ once and I’ll give you 1.5 million. How’s that?"

Sienna wrapped her arms around Adrian’s neck and murmured "Husband" in his ear five times. Adrian said, "That should be enough."

"It’s not enough. If it’s not, I’ll just call you a few more times in your ear."

"Are you a dog or something?"

"I’ll bite you to death!"