My Four Miraculous Treasures

Willow nodded. "That's right, fifty thousand."

She couldn't tell her mother that she'd just been fired from the Hughes Corporation, but walked away with a severance pay of one hundred thousand. Her mother was guaranteed to respond to that news by marching on their headquarters to have a word with them, asking what her daughter had done wrong to get herself fired...

Then she'd find out about how Willow herself had been going around bragging about how she was sure to become Mrs. Hughes soon.

Next, she'd find out about how, when word of this reached Jasper's own ears, he offered her neither marriage nor consolation... he just got rid of her.

Anyone could understand what he'd meant by that:

He didn't want to marry her.

When he heard about her wanting to marry him, he'd responded by kicking her right out the door.

Her mother would not take that news sitting down. She'd definitely seek Jasper out again to give him a good talking-to.

That was likely to get ugly... very ugly, indeed.

Most importantly, Willow worried that her mother, in a furious tirade, might reveal the existence of her four children. Going by their age, Jasper would immediately realize that they were his.

That was a risk Willow wished to avoid, at all costs.

This was why she was lying to her mother about being picked up by a new employer. She'd have to get to work transforming that lie into the truth, and soon.

She'd only mentioned fifty thousand, because half of her severance pay was already going to Jasper's car tyres.

That left her with only fifty thousand.

The certainty with which Willow told her all that caused Lara to switch from suspicion to jubilation. "Which company is this? They're certainly generous! At last, someone who understands what my daughter is really worth!"

Willow chuckled nervously. Ah, if only that were true... to finally find a good job, at last.

"Here, pass the money to me. I'll keep it safe for you." Lara's smile was taking on a certain edge, now...

Willow knew at once that she was thinking about using it for gambling. Last time, she'd lost eleven thousand of Willow's hard-earned money in a single night.

She could easily make this fifty thousand vanish over the weekend, too.

"I've spent a bit of time searching for kindergartens nearby," Willow replied. "I'll bring the kids to apply at one of them tomorrow. Fifty thousand will pay for their

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enrollment-all four of them plus living expenses, for one semester."

"What?!" Lara hadn't expected such a counter-move.

Willow slid her plate aside, and met her mother's gaze dead-on. "Mom, the kids are four years old and still haven't been to school yet. Other kids have been in class since two! Yes, we often take them to

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bookshops to practice the mone

reading... but it's a far cry from how

much they could be learning in a proper classroom."

As she spoke, her four children exchanged looks with one another.

In truth, they'd been learning far more in bookshops than they would have in kindergarten. It was how Tristan had become a computer science prodigy, effortlessly uncovering everything there was to know about Jasper Hughes.noveldrama

Julian had a passion for the performing arts and had figured out the finer points of stagecraft technique. He was already the equal of any actor out there.

It was thanks to his marvelous performance that they were able to move that front desk receptionist to tears, so that she allowed them in for a personal audience with the CEO of the Hughes Corporation himself.

Hailey's interest, meanwhile, lay in all manner of fine cuisine. With just one taste, she could report all the ingredients that had gone into the creation of any food item, as well as describe all the methods involved.

Lilith was a peerless prodigy in the field of appraising valuables.

Willow, their mother, had not the slightest idea of these talents her children had developed.