Everyone Can Hear My Thoughts, and Now They're Panicking

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Is the Jenson Family Messing With Me?

Jane Lancaster didn’t see it, but she could guess.

In the novel, the original Jane hadn’t revealed her true nature in the early stages. She always pretended to be dignified and gentle, so even when she wanted to cause trouble, she couldn’t do it herself every time.

It wasn’t proper for her to form her own clique, so she cleverly thought of using Beverly Lynch to achieve her goals.

But the problem was, even if she wanted to win Beverly Lynch over, Beverly wouldn’t just do her bidding... after all, the two were sworn enemies.

So she came up with a plan: bribe Beverly Lynch’s confidante, Willow Summers, and then have Willow incite Beverly to go after Luna Morgan, thereby achieving her own objective.

And her method of bribing Willow Summers was to promise she’d set Willow up to become her sister-in-law.

Willow Summers came from a humble background, but she was rather pretty and was dead set on marrying into a wealthy family.

The reason she put up with Beverly Lynch’s awful temper was threefold. First, Beverly was generous, so she could get some benefits out of her. Second, tagging along with Beverly gave her access to high society. And third, she could use Beverly’s arrogance to highlight her own gentle, sensible, and wifely qualities. It was killing several birds with one stone!

Willow Summers was desperate to marry rich. Before the original Jane approached her, she obviously wasn’t just going to wait for an opportunity to fall into her lap.

She used the parties she attended with Beverly Lynch to meet various young masters from wealthy families, then tried to flirt and get close to them.

In the novel, she had a fling with Jim Jenson, but their relationship had to be kept secret. Jim was clearly more interested in Luna Morgan and just wanted to fool around with Willow.

This made Willow Summers utterly despise Luna Morgan. So, the moment the original Jane came knocking, they hit it off immediately and began scheming together.

In the book, however, Willow Summers was just a minor clown. She acted as if she were Julian Lancaster’s fiancée, but Julian couldn’t even remember her name.

Their only interaction was when Julian suspected her of inciting his own sister. He drew an ’X’ on her photo, and the next day, Willow’s family sent her to the countryside to be married off.

She was married to a crippled old widower in his forties. The readers all thought it was a fitting arrangement; social climbers deserved to fall into the mud and be trampled on.

"Miss Lancaster, I didn’t come here willingly! They tricked me into coming!" Willow Summers suddenly looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Jane Lancaster snapped back to reality and pulled out her phone. "Not willing, you say? How about I help you call the police?"

Willow Summers dropped her fragile expression. ’Does she have a heart of stone?’

Jane Lancaster laughed. "Looks like you came willingly after all."

"What on earth do you want from me? Let’s get this straight, I won’t do anything illegal or criminal." Willow Summers’s face darkened.

Her features were the sweet type, and with the effect of her makeup, she looked quite pitiful and lovely. But Jane Lancaster thought she looked more interesting with a fierce expression.

’So much for a pitiful, innocent damsel. She’s clearly a ferocious carnivorous flower.’

"Jim Jenson offended me when we were children. His family sent him abroad to protect him. Now that he’s finally back, what do you think I should do?"

Jane Lancaster snapped a maple branch from the edge of the pond with a sharp CRACK.

Willow Summers looked at her like she was crazy. "Jim Jenson has been abroad for over a decade. What kind of grudge is so deep that you’d remember it to this day?"

She considered herself quite vindictive, but compared to this young miss, she paled in comparison!

The system also thought Jane Lancaster was crazy. [Even if there’s a grudge, it’s between the original Jane and Jim Jenson. What does it have to do with you?]

’Is the host empathizing with the original owner a little too much?’

[You should try to avoid doing things unrelated to the main mission,] Sys advised.

Jane Lancaster replied to the system in her mind, ’How is this unrelated to the main mission? Aren’t I trying to find a way to increase Julian Lancaster’s dislike value?’

’Look how many times I’ve offended him, but his favorability score hasn’t budged an inch, like it’s nailed in place. I’m afraid he wouldn’t even bat an eye if I killed someone right in front of him.’

Jane Lancaster thought for a moment, then put on a fearful expression. ’Oh, Sys, you guys aren’t really going to force me to kill someone just to test it, are you? My lord, I cannot do it!’

Sys: [...It wouldn’t go that far.]

It understood the host’s anxiety about not being able to complete the mission, so it chose to fall silent.

Seeing Jane Lancaster staring silently at the pond, Willow Summers tried to sneak away.

Jane Lancaster reached out and grabbed her by the collar. "Don’t go, little fairy."

Although Willow Summers wasn’t as beautiful as Luna Morgan, she had good taste and knew how to dress. Wearing a white dress, she perfectly embodied the image of a pure, innocent flower. Jane Lancaster thought "little fairy" was quite fitting.

But Willow Summers’s face darkened. Nowadays, "little fairy" wasn’t exactly a compliment.

Jane Lancaster sighed. ’She’s really overthinking it. I was complimenting her, not insulting her!’

Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard voices approaching and quickly pulled Willow Summers to hide behind a nearby rockery.

There were two people, and coincidentally, one of them was Jim Jenson.

The two men stopped right where Jane and her companion had just been standing. They smoked, flicking their ashes into the pond.

The koi, thinking it was food, swarmed over. Jim Jenson jabbed at them viciously with a branch, sending them scattering in fear.

"So fired up?" the other man teased.

Jim Jenson threw the branch down, his expression dark. "Fuck, why didn’t that little bitch get stabbed to death back then? She’s bringing me bad luck the moment I get back."

"Maybe she wasn’t looking for you on purpose. After all, she’s about to get engaged. It’s perfectly reasonable for her to be at a jewelry exhibition."

Jim Jenson: "She’d better not mess with me, or I’ll kill her!"

His face was filled with malice; clearly, this was no idle threat.

From her angle, Jane Lancaster could only see Jim Jenson’s expression. The man he was talking to had his back to them. He was very tall, and his imposing build was evident even through his suit.

"This is home, not overseas. You should tone it down a bit," the man advised.

Jim Jenson looked completely unconcerned and didn’t take the words to heart.

The man’s tone shifted. "Logically speaking, you should have found a chance to come back three years ago."

Three years ago was precisely when Jane Lancaster was severely injured and in a coma.

Jim Jenson: "You think I didn’t want to? The Lancaster Family was too preoccupied to keep an eye on me then. I was already planning my return, but Jasper Sterling suddenly interfered, forcing me to stay abroad for another three years."

"What a pity. If you had come back three years ago, you’d probably have already established a firm foothold in the country by now," the man sighed, blowing a smoke ring.

Jane Lancaster: "..."

’This man’s words seem casual, but every sentence is meant to stir up trouble.’

She was a little surprised. She originally thought Jim Jenson didn’t dare to return because Timothy Lancaster was watching him. So Jasper Sterling had a hand in this too?

’Could it be that he also has some kind of feud with Jim Jenson?’

But thinking about Jim Jenson’s personality, it didn’t seem so surprising. After all, the guy was truly lawless.

The Jenson Family had sent him abroad back then, claiming it was for him to experience hardship. But judging by his lawless behavior, he had clearly lived a very comfortable life overseas these past few years.

’Now I’m not happy. They said he was being exiled, but he ended up enjoying himself instead. Is the Jenson Family messing with me?’

Pauline Shaw stopped dead in her tracks. She had come out looking for Jane Lancaster, and though she couldn’t see her, she could hear her thoughts.

By the pond, the man suddenly asked, "Where’s that beauty you brought with you today?"

Jim Jenson paused for a second, then a knowing smile spread across his face. "You like her, bro?"

"I don’t. And I’d advise you to be careful not to get duped yourself." The man put away his cigar case and started walking in the other direction.