Emily Clark is not yet an adult, but she also gets up very early. After washing up, she follows him around with a blank expression, pretending to be strong and mature.

There wasn’t much to investigate at the scene. The traffic management department quickly issued a road traffic accident report, and the other party was, as expected, found fully responsible. The death compensation, funeral expenses, Emily Clark’s support payments, and emotional damages, plus various miscellaneous compensations, totaled less than 1.5 million yuan.

Truck drivers usually don’t skimp on insurance, and with his life savings, he could afford to pay this sum. Moreover, the perpetrator’s family even sold their house and proactively offered to increase the compensation, hoping to obtain a letter of forgiveness from William Clark and Emily Clark. This bargaining chip was raised from 100,000 to 200,000, just to increase the chance of a reduced sentence for that bastard in court.

Emily Clark remained indifferent, and William Clark didn’t agree either.

William Clark’s parents had always bought personal accident insurance, and the payout for both of them added up to over a million yuan.

Their lives, exchanged for less than three million.

In fact, being a university professor is a cushy job. From taking on private tutoring at first, to later openly having a second job, from the once-popular tutoring classes to the recently invested hotel, William Clark’s parents had an average annual income of nearly a million over the past decade. And obviously, no amount of money could make up for the pain in William Clark and Emily Clark’s hearts, especially for Emily Clark, who lost both parents before even coming of age.

The 15th.

The perpetrator’s wife had been pestering the siblings for three days. Emily Clark remained cold and barely left the house.

But William Clark was starting to waver, especially after seeing that haggard woman, just like them, painstakingly coaxing two sobbing children. This accident had already destroyed two families, and that woman and the two children she held were the third.

Of course, the accident was that bastard’s fault. In William Clark’s eyes, he was a murderer. But did those two children really need to pay another price for this disaster?

On the night of the 16th, he finally wrote the letter of forgiveness.

The inheritance division was also calm. William Clark’s maternal grandparents had died early, but there was still a grandfather. The old man simply waved his hand, saying he wanted nothing, and left all the assets to the siblings for them to sort out themselves.

Since Emily Clark was still a minor and in school, both houses were left to her—one valued at nearly three million, the other around one million. The hotel, which had nearly three million invested, and the one million or so in the bank were inherited by William Clark. At the same time, he was to act as Emily Clark’s guardian and provide for all her tuition and living expenses during university.

Once everything was sorted out, the court’s verdict was almost ready, and the compensation began to arrive one after another. As part of the inheritance, it was split equally between the siblings, but Emily Clark’s share was kept by William Clark on her behalf.

At home near the university town, William Clark and Emily Clark ate dinner in silence. No one spoke, and the atmosphere was a bit heavy.

Twelve days had passed since the accident. The siblings looked much better than they did right after the funeral, but the trauma in their hearts had yet to heal.

After finishing his meal, William Clark put down his chopsticks and broke the silence: “The college entrance exam results come out tomorrow, right?”

Emily Clark glanced at him, replied with a noncommittal “mm,” and lowered her head to continue eating.

William Clark was at a loss for words, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

At that moment, Emily Clark looked up again and asked coolly, “Your hotel is about to open, isn’t it?”

“Just about. The grand opening is the day after tomorrow,” William Clark said. “I’ll go over there again tonight to handle a few last things and do a final check. If there are any problems, I can fix them tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll order a flower basket for you to send over.”

“……” William Clark took two hundred yuan out of his pocket and handed it over. “For the flower basket.”

Emily Clark kept her head down, eating, and quietly reached out to take the money without acknowledging William Clark.

“Then I’m off. Wash the dishes after you finish eating. Don’t use too much dish soap,” William Clark said as he stood up and walked out. Even after he left and closed the door, Emily Clark didn’t respond.

As expected.

The hotel was very close to the north gate of Yizhou University, about a ten-minute walk. At this point, except for a few rooms intended for use as a youth hostel that hadn’t been fully renovated, the rest of the rooms were completely ready. The storefront on the first floor was brand new and fully equipped.

William Clark first checked all the equipment at the front desk, turned on the computer, opened the backend pages for all the group-buying and travel platforms, and checked whether the store had passed the review.

Then he went upstairs to check each room, including all the electrical appliances, sofas, beds, and cabinets, meticulously and carefully.

He had achieved financial independence through entrepreneurship in his freshman year, so he knew better than most the value of caution.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the storage room at the stairwell—

Ka...

The sound was very faint, like someone tearing paper.

William Clark immediately frowned.

This building was a bit old, but it had just been renovated. It shouldn’t have mice so soon, right?

William Clark shook his head, feeling it was a bad omen, and turned to walk toward the storage room.

With a click, he opened the door and turned on the light.