Chapter 3: Marcus Sent a Plane to Pick Her Up

Clara could already imagine the humiliation if the situation escalated. If Catherine stayed a moment longer, her mother’s temper would explode.

“Mom, let’s go shopping later. It’ll help you calm down. I heard Quinn's new fall custom collection just launched. If we don’t hurry, everything will sell out.”

Quinn’s designs disappeared off shelves faster than they were released—first come, first served.

Thinking about how Catherine would have nothing to do with these upper-class luxuries anymore, and might instead wake up at dawn to feed chickens in the countryside, Clara felt a warm, satisfying glow in her chest.

She tilted her head and intentionally widened her eyes as she stared toward the gate.

"Is that Catherine's father? Why is he standing at the door?"

Everyone followed her gaze.

Outside the main entrance stood a plainly dressed, middle-aged man. His suit was coated in dust, and mud clung to his shoes.

He looked as though he had come straight from the chicken farm in Tranquil County, probably with droppings still stuck to his trousers. The three members of the Smith family all showed disgust on their faces and took a step back.

How embarrassing.

Clara lifted her chin, feeling triumphant. “Catherine, your days ahead are going to be miserable! What a shame, I was really hoping you could come to my and Lucas's wedding."

Catherine gave her a calm, almost pitying look. “Physical illnesses can be treated. Mental ones… not so much."

With Lucas being the kind of man who'd been to the infectious disease clinic six times in two months, Clara marrying him probably wouldn't end well either.

“What do you mean by that?” Clara snapped.

Seeing Catherine about to leave still acting all high and mighty, a servant quietly approached with a basin of water.

The water emitted a strong, sour smell.

“Catherine’s mouth is filthy,” the maid muttered. “She should wash it before she goes.”

Just as the basin of water was about to be poured on Catherine, before Clara could even let out a gleeful sound, Catherine dodged with a quick move, grabbed the servant's hand and applied gentle pressure, causing the entire basin of water to splash all over Oliver and his family!

Oliver stood frozen, mouth hanging open.

Clara stood dripping wet from head to toe, too stunned to even scream.

Catherine calmly dusted off her hands. “You’re the ones who need your mouths washed. Don’t thank me.”

Celeste shrieked, “Catherine, have you lost your mind? Get out this instant! We don’t want anything to do with you!”

This girl was truly shameless. She must already be losing her sanity, thinking about the hard life she was going to live.

Catherine raised a brow. “You never treated me like family to begin with. Isn’t it ridiculous to say that now?”

Last month, before the family medical checkup, Celeste had already bought Clara an apartment in Serenitia City. Back then, she clearly wasn't thinking about her supposed "biological daughter" Catherine.

Celeste’s face twitched. Whether from guilt or pure rage, she screamed, “Leave! We’re going shopping for fall clothes and don’t have time for an ungrateful brat like you!”

She dragged Oliver and Clara inside and slammed the door so hard the glass rattled.

The middle-aged man standing outside the garden looked at the closed door, feeling something wasn't quite right.

Oliver required that only luxury cars could enter the Smith family grounds. The security guard, seeing his car had no logo, arrogantly demanded he get out and walk to the door to pick up the person!

The Smiths had some status in Serenitia City, but their arrogance far outweighed their class.

He shook his head and looked expectantly at Catherine approaching, just wanting to quickly take Catherine away from The Smith Mansion.

"Ms. Smith, my car is parked outside. The Smith family said only luxury cars are allowed in, so I'll have to trouble you to walk a bit with me."

Catherine nodded and followed him without complaint. She got into the car and buckled her seatbelt.

"Although there's an older sister at home, you're still the only daughter of the Windsor family. Your grandfather Mr. Windsor said that no matter what anyone else thinks, from now on your opinion is what matters most at home, and no one else has any say! I'm Dylan, the driver. Everyone's really looking forward to you coming home!"

Dylan wanted to get close to Catherine and spoke very sincerely, his face showing the honest smile typical of a simple person.

Afraid she might feel overwhelmed, he explained everything step by step.

Catherine frowned slightly. The family had a dedicated driver?

This family seemed quite different from what Oliver had described.

She simply nodded. “Thank you for coming to pick me up. We can leave.”

Dylan was a bit stunned, then somewhat dazed.

This was his first time meeting Catherine, but why did it feel so harmonious? She really was the Windsor family's daughter!

Dylan looked at Catherine with a beaming smile.

"Ms. Windsor, hold on tight! We're in a hurry, so we need to go fast."

"Okay."

The next moment, he pressed a button.

The ordinary black sedan that had been parked on the ground quickly transformed, with propellers emerging from the sunroof, and the entire vehicle turned into a helicopter!

A jolt of weightlessness followed as they lifted off, rising sharply into the sky until the Smith mansion became a tiny speck.

Catherine blinked in surprise.

Dylan chuckled: "Did I scare you? Mr. Windsor gets carsick, so they specially arranged this little plane for him. It's a bit cramped, please don't mind!"

Carsick… so they prepared a plane instead.

"I remember the helicopter-sedan amphibious transport technology was only successfully tested last month."

Finding that Catherine was so knowledgeable, Dylan got excited.

“Yes! It was delivered to us just last month. I came from the Air Force before retiring, so they assigned me as Mr. Windsor’s driver.”

She knew about this technology because last month she had sent out her thesis data, and the other party quickly obtained the correct experimental results based on the data.

She never expected the prototype to be completed so fast.

Even more unexpected was the fact that she’d be sitting in it… with her own family. The Windsors were clearly no ordinary household.

Catherine turned her gaze to the clouds, watching the sky open up around them. The Smith residence disappeared completely beneath the horizon.

Throughout the journey, Catherine didn't speak much. Apart from looking at her phone for a while, she just held paper and scribbled on it.

Dylan glanced over a few times and noticed she was holding blank paper, and the pen in her hand seemed to be out of ink. After a long time, no ink came out, and the blank paper remained blank.

Dylan frowned repeatedly.

The Smith family didn't even prepare a pen for Catherine. How poor were they!

Dylan slapped his forehead and pulled out a document from his pocket.

He had forgotten to give the thank-you gift that the Windsor family had prepared, since he didn't even get a chance to enter earlier. This document was a contract worth billions of dollars, plus networking resources!

"Ms. Smith, your parents prepared some small gifts for the Smith family, but just now... do you want to give it to them again?"

"No need. I already gave them a gift. From now on, I have nothing to do with the Smith family."

Catherine was telling the truth. Even the best things would be wasted on the Smith family. What she gave was good stuff - a few sheets of paper were enough!

Dylan was stunned, then nodded.

Catherine seemed so well-mannered and reasonable, yet could say such things. The Smith family must not have treated Catherine very well!