Grace Brooks instantly realized why Brian Sullivan had parked the car here. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she muttered, “Men really are all the same—none of them are any good!”

　　Grace Brooks brushed aside the strands of hair tousled by the wind and no longer looked back at Brian Sullivan.

　　“Huh?” Little Lily, pure-hearted and unaware of what those beauty salons and hairdressing shops actually did, glanced back at Grace Brooks in surprise after hearing her sudden remark...

Chapter 7: First Meeting with Sister-in-law Grace Brooks

　　Brian Sullivan had no idea that, in that brief moment of eye contact, he had so unjustly left such an impression on Grace Brooks.

　　Although Grace Brooks was his sister-in-law, she was much younger than “him”; even compared to Brian Sullivan at this moment, she was still a year younger.

　　Grace Brooks’s marriage to his cousin was arranged in the traditional way through a matchmaker.

　　At their first meeting, Brian Sullivan had accompanied them, and to this day, he still had a vivid memory of that first encounter. Perhaps it was Grace Brooks’s youthful beauty that left such an impression, just like Little Lily now, giving off a pure and flawless feeling.

　　Back then, Brian Sullivan felt that Grace Brooks was marrying his cousin, who relied on the family’s modest wealth and lacked ambition, and that she was settling for less.

　　Others would joke that such a beautiful girl, only by marrying him could it be called a perfect match.

　　But that’s how life is—“good women marry lazy men” is the reality. Perfect couples and happy endings are just stories in the movies.

　　Although Brian Sullivan was not well-liked at the factory, he was skilled and competent.

　　State-owned enterprises, though plagued by rigid management and bureaucracy, had one advantage: the rules on the surface were rarely broken.

　　Brian Sullivan’s technical salary was two or three times higher than that of ordinary workers, and even higher than many managers at the city steel plant. No matter how much Gu Tong and Zhou Big Mouth disliked Brian Sullivan, they couldn’t openly suppress his pay grade.

　　Each month, with some side jobs, Brian Sullivan earned over a thousand, nearly two thousand yuan. In 1992 and 1993, when Donghua City’s local finances were in trouble and even teachers’ salaries were delayed, ordinary government workers, except for those corrupt officials, made just three or four hundred yuan a month to support their families.

　　But at that time, his father had just passed away, his mother was gravely ill, and although his income seemed high, it wasn’t enough to pay for his mother’s treatment. His younger sister was still a minor, so how could he think about getting married?

　　In the end, he died at twenty-nine, an old bachelor who had never even had a proper relationship.

　　Now, thinking back, Brian Sullivan felt truly wronged; then he couldn’t help but laugh at himself: really, who could be luckier than him? He died from a fall, yet got to live again in someone else’s body.

　　At this moment, Brian Sullivan felt that the gains and losses of his previous life really weren’t that important. The past was the past; what mattered was cherishing and seizing everything in front of him.

　　Right now, though he was the “abandoned son” of the Song family, unloved by his grandmother and parents, and compared to other wealthy heirs his situation was truly miserable—he didn’t even have a car of his own—but looking across the three districts and six counties of Donghua City, how many twenty-four-year-olds held a division-level official rank?

　　There really wasn’t much to be dissatisfied about.

　　The bus soon turned off Taowu Road, and Brian Sullivan withdrew his gaze, silently hoping his sister could get through this difficult time; at the same time, he couldn’t quite explain the lingering concern he felt for his sister-in-law Grace Brooks.

　　He hadn’t expected that after not seeing Grace Brooks for a couple of years, she would shed her initial innocence and now exude the charm of a mature woman. Thinking of this, Brian Sullivan touched his nose and thought: some regrets can only be kept in the heart, right?

　　It was also at this moment that Brian Sullivan turned and noticed the beauty salons and hairdressing shops along the street; recalling the strange look on Grace Brooks’s face when their eyes met, he thought to himself: did she misunderstand something?

　　As one of the earliest cities to open up, Donghua’s economy hadn’t improved much in recent years, but social trends had long since become decadent. On both sides of Taowu Road, it seemed as if overnight, a dazzling array of beauty salons and hairdressing shops had sprung up.

　　Seeing a car parked by the roadside, the girls who had gone most of the day without customers immediately perked up.

　　Back then, entertainment venues weren’t so upscale, and even the small shops by the road had no shortage of attractive young women.

　　They exaggeratedly exposed their fair, taut arms and legs, their breasts round and firm. Brian Sullivan glanced over and thought, even if these girls were in disreputable professions, they still couldn’t hide the youthful energy about them.

　　Seeing that the person in the car was unmoved, the bolder girls even spread their legs wide, letting the lace of their panties peek out from under their tight skirts, the dark hair faintly visible; then they leaned forward, letting their ample breasts hang from their collars, hooked their fingers on their rosy, alluring lips, and shot bold, seductive glances straight outside...

　　Brian Sullivan was unmoved by these streetwalkers, simply resting his hands on the steering wheel, contemplating his current situation.

　　After waiting so long without a single phone call, it seemed that Ge Yongqiu hadn’t reported what happened at the city steel plant today directly to Mark Brooks.

　　For the moment, Brian Sullivan didn’t plan to return to the city government to face Mark Brooks directly. He still needed to adjust his mindset and prepare himself psychologically.