"What did you sell?"
Felix Preston hadn't intended to ask, but his curiosity got the better of him, so he asked tentatively.
It was Holly Hayes who answered him.
"Luxury goods, of course. Seems like your wife's lost her mind—she sold all these treasures. And she just wanted cash for them, didn't even trade for a single new item."
"…Why?" Felix Preston had a wild guess, but he felt it couldn't possibly be true.
Sonia Quincy didn't rush to explain. She walked to the door and started shooing Holly Hayes out. "Go on, go on. Your employee is calling for you from downstairs."
"What's the rush?" Holly Hayes wanted to watch the drama unfold. "It's not every day I get to see Mr. Preston. We've barely exchanged a few words."
"Mr. Preston is my husband. What do you have to talk to him about?" Seeing that Holly Hayes wasn't leaving, Sonia Quincy grabbed her and started physically hauling her out.
"Hey—" She grabbed the doorframe with one hand, stubbornly refusing to leave. "Fine, I'll go, but you have to answer one question for me."
Sonia Quincy: "Speak."
Holly Hayes pulled out the photo of the handbag again. "Do you want this bag or not? You can only say yes or yes!"
Sonia Quincy: "…Or."
With that, she pushed her out and shut the door behind her.
...
Felix Preston stared at Sonia Quincy, his eyes unblinking, his expression complex.
Sonia Quincy unfolded the receipts in her hand, passed them to him, and explained what she'd been doing in a single sentence.
"I sold all the luxury items I could. It came to a total of 860,000, and Holly Hayes is transferring the money to me tomorrow. Take this. Use it to start a new business or pay off your debts. I believe you can make a comeback."
"..." Felix Preston didn't speak, nor did he take the receipts. He stared blankly at Sonia Quincy, stunned by the resolute look in her eyes.
"Why?" he finally asked after a long moment.
Sonia Quincy answered lightly, "Because we're husband and wife. Shouldn't a married couple share both the good times and the bad?"
Felix Preston: "But... aren't these your favorite things?"
In the first few days after the company went bankrupt, he had been selling off family assets everywhere to cover the losses. To protect her "treasures," Sonia Quincy had warned him repeatedly not to even think about touching her things, or she would fight him to the death.
'But now, she had sold all her treasures to help him make a comeback. Was... was this even the same person?'
Sonia Quincy smiled, her tone light. "These are extraordinary times. Whether I like them or not isn't that important. The company just went bankrupt. If you want to start over, you'll need to spend money everywhere. How could 90,000 be enough?"
"I'm not that interested in these luxury items right now. They're just collecting dust in the closet, so I might as well sell them for some cash. Holly Hayes only took two-thirds of them. I plan to list the remaining third on a secondhand trading app to keep selling. If I can sell everything, we'll have at least a million!"
"A million! That's so, so much money! With this, everything will be easier for you."
"You..." Every word Sonia Quincy said was beyond Felix Preston's expectations. A lump formed in his throat, and he had no idea what to say.
Sonia Quincy didn't need him to respond. She set out the bowls and chopsticks and called him over to eat.
"Go wash your hands and come eat. It's freshly made and still hot."
Felix Preston pursed his lips tightly. He took off his jacket, hung it on the rack by the door, and walked silently to the kitchen to wash his hands.
After washing his hands, he passed by the bedroom and glanced inside, noticing Sonia Quincy's somewhat messy workstation.
"What's that?" Sonia Quincy's computer was still on, and he could vaguely make out some kind of design on the screen.
Hearing this, Sonia Quincy strode into the room and hid her design drafts.
"It's nothing. I'm looking for a job. That's a company's logo."
'She hadn't planned on telling Felix Preston about her drawing skills just yet. Her sudden transmigration could explain the changes in the female supporting character's personality and behavior, but abruptly knowing how to create design drafts would be impossible to explain.'
'She hadn't earned Felix Preston's trust yet. Revealing too many suspicious things at once would only attract a lot of unnecessary trouble.'
'So she decided to hide it for now and confess when the time was right.'
"Looking for a job..." Felix Preston felt something was off and was about to ask more. But just then, Sonia Quincy's face twisted in pain as she clutched her stomach, letting out a pained cry.
"HISS... It hurts."
"What's wrong?"
Felix Preston quickly put down what he was holding and helped her up. Seeing her clutching her stomach tightly, he thought something was wrong with the baby and immediately guided her to the sofa to sit down.
"Sonia, does your stomach hurt?" He looked at her somewhat pale face, genuinely worried.
In the early stages of her pregnancy, Sonia Quincy had been a complete menace, either causing trouble at home or running wild outside. She had almost lost the baby several times.
For most pregnant women, the pregnancy would stabilize after the first trimester, but not for Sonia Quincy. With her talent for causing trouble, she had pushed both herself and the baby to the brink.
"Is it bad? Should we go to the hospital?" Felix Preston assumed Sonia Quincy had been reckless again while he was out, causing the stomach pain, so his first instinct was to take her to the hospital.
But Sonia Quincy waved her hand. "No need. I just forgot to eat lunch and my stomach hurts from hunger. I'll feel better after I eat something."
"...A stomachache?" Felix Preston was a bit stunned.
"HISS—" Sonia Quincy took a deep breath. "Yeah. I was so busy during the day that I forgot about lunch. Of course my stomach hurts after being hungry for over ten hours. Quick, help me up. I need to eat."
"You..." Felix Preston was baffled. He helped Sonia Quincy up from the sofa, carefully led her to the dining table, and placed the chopsticks in her hand, still uneasy about her condition.
"Are you sure it's just a stomachache? It's not a problem with the baby?"
"I'm sure." Sonia Quincy stuffed a large mouthful of rice into her mouth, chewed it slowly, and swallowed before starting on the other dishes.
"I have a mild stomach condition. It acts up easily if I don't eat on time. It's a minor issue, don't worry. The baby is fine."
"Okay, good." Felix Preston finally relaxed a little. He sat down across from Sonia Quincy, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and began to eat with her.
"You're pregnant, you don't have to push yourself so hard. You can sell things slowly; you don't have to sell every single piece. I'm earning money. Even if you do nothing, it won't be a problem."
"No." Sonia Quincy disagreed. "A married couple should share the good times and the bad. Our family is going through a difficult time right now. I'm perfectly capable, so why shouldn't I earn money? Even if I can't help you with the business, I can at least contribute to our household expenses."
"Here, try this chicken." As she spoke, Sonia Quincy picked up a piece of meat and placed it in Felix Preston's bowl. "See if you like it."
The chicken looked fantastic, and Felix Preston could tell from the aroma alone that it would taste good. He picked it up and took a small bite. It was savory, fragrant, and tender—not much different from what you'd get at a restaurant.
"It's delicious," he said, not stingy with his praise. After complimenting her, he asked doubtfully, "I thought you didn't know how to cook. How did you suddenly get so good?"
"...This..." Sonia Quincy blurted out a lie. "I learned it online during a fleeting burst of enthusiasm. What do you think? Am I just as talented at this?"