Reborn with Nothing but My Farm and Vengeance in the Apocalypse

Chapter 523: Chapter 523: Groveling

Zara Walsh was about to shuffle the tiles, but Joy Jennings just smiled, shook her head, and said, "Not today. I have plans with my brother. Let’s play again some other time."

The others at the mahjong table heard her and didn’t press her to stay. They all smiled and said their goodbyes as Joy Jennings stood up and walked away, her kitten heels clicking on the floor.

As she passed by Caleb Summers, Joy Jennings didn’t even spare him a glance, as if she were completely used to such scenes.

Caleb Summers didn’t dare to stop for even a moment. He continued his robotic kowtowing and begging, chanting over and over, "I, Caleb Summers, am a worthless grandson. I’m a turtle, a beast. Please, Miss Walsh, be merciful and let me go..."

"I, Caleb Summers, am a worthless grandson. I’m a turtle, a beast. Please, Miss Walsh, be merciful and let me go..."

Without the clatter of mahjong tiles, Caleb Summers’s pleading became much clearer. His voice, mingled with the sound of the wind and rain outside, drifted through the living room, creating a rather eerie atmosphere.

After watching Joy Jennings leave the villa, Zara Walsh glanced coolly at Caleb Summers and said in a cold voice, "Alright! Stop kowtowing. Come over here and talk."

Hearing her voice was like receiving a pardon for Caleb Summers. ’Miss Walsh is finally speaking to me!’

He’d been kneeling and kowtowing for over half an hour. His back felt like it was about to break!

Just as Caleb Summers struggled to straighten up, about to get to his feet, he heard Zara Walsh’s cold voice again. "Who gave you permission to stand?"

Hearing this, Caleb Summers’s knees went weak with fear, and he immediately dropped back down.

He looked up at Zara Walsh, at a complete loss. "...I-I thought Miss Walsh told me to come over..."

’How am I supposed to go over there if I don’t stand up?’

Zara Walsh snorted. Her voice dripped with pure malice as she enunciated each word, "On your knees. Crawl over here."

The moment Zara Walsh finished speaking, the expression on Caleb Summers’s face froze.

’This is blatant humiliation!’

’A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, being humiliated like this by a woman in her twenties. Who could possibly accept this?’

A flicker of humiliation and resistance appeared in Caleb Summers’s eyes, but it lasted only a second. The next moment, he plastered a sycophantic smile back on his face and said fawningly to Zara Walsh, "Yes, yes, of course. I’ll crawl right over..."

As he spoke, he crawled on his knees to Zara Walsh’s feet like a dog.

Seeing Caleb Summers in such a state, Autumn Sawyer, who was standing to the side, couldn’t help but let out a snicker. Zara Walsh also curled her lips into a pleased smile.

’I really didn’t expect this... Both the sisters, Melody and Nina Summers, are tough nuts to crack. I thought their father, Caleb Summers, would also be one of those unbending, formidable types. But it turns out he’s completely spineless, with no backbone at all.’

’But, this is how it should be!’

Zara Walsh thought with great satisfaction. ’People from the lower rungs of society should be like ants, prostrating themselves before me. With a mere lift of my finger, I can make these ants wish they were dead.’

Caleb Summers crawled next to Zara Walsh and remained kneeling, not daring to stand. He pleaded with her, "Miss Walsh, you see, this whole thing has been a misunderstanding. I never said anything about replacing Director Walsh. Please, I beg you, be merciful and let us go!"

Caleb Summers wore a fawning, awkward smile, but it looked worse than if he were crying. It was only today that he found out what a huge disaster that damn girl Nina had brought upon him!

Caleb Summers’s family had been plagued by misfortune recently. After the courseware incident, Caleb had no choice but to submit his resignation at work, where he was forced to pay a hefty fine for gross misconduct.

For the sake of his two sons’ futures, Caleb Summers begrudgingly paid the fine. The payment wiped out nearly all the savings he and Mindy Walsh had accumulated over the years.

As the saying goes, "when it rains, it pours." On his way home, Caleb Summers was ambushed. Someone threw a burlap sack over his head, dragged him into an alley, and beat him severely.

After the beating, his assailants threw him, still in the sack, into a stinking ditch. Caleb Summers nearly drowned.

He barely managed to struggle ashore and run to the nearest police station to report the crime, only to be told that the surveillance cameras in that area happened to be broken.

Helpless, Caleb Summers could only trudge home in his wretched state. But upon arriving, he was met with more bad news. Zoe Kane was sitting amidst the wreckage of their home, crying as she recounted how a group of strangers had just broken in.

Without a word, the men had ransacked the house, pillaging valuables like bandits. With two young children to look after, Zoe Kane hadn’t dared to even try to stop them.

Howard Fletcher, however, had a temper. Ignoring Zoe Kane’s attempts to stop him, he went forward and started kicking at the men, but they grabbed him and slapped him so hard that they knocked out four of his teeth!

By the time the men finished and left, the house was in shambles, and all their valuables and supplies were gone.

Zoe Kane cried inconsolably as she spoke—the men had even taken her jewelry box!

That box contained all the jewelry Mindy Walsh had left behind before she died: a Jadeite bangle, a Gold phoenix hairpin, a gemstone necklace...

This jewelry was originally meant to be Nina Summers’s dowry from Mindy, but Zoe Kane had managed to snatch it from Nina after much effort. She had always treasured it, planning to save it for Chester Summers’s future wedding. To think it would be stolen by those thugs!

After this string of disasters, even someone as slow as Caleb Summers understood what was happening—someone was out to get him, and they were playing for keeps.

And the mastermind, in all likelihood, was the newly appointed Deputy Director, Brandon Walsh!

So, Caleb Summers’s family of four went to Brandon Walsh’s house, begging to see him. Caleb truly didn’t know how he had offended the deputy director, but even if he was going to die, he wanted to know why.

At first, Brandon Walsh had no intention of seeing them. So Caleb, with his wife and sons, knelt in the heavy rain outside Brandon’s house for a full day and night. It wasn’t until Howard Fletcher fainted from kneeling that Brandon, fearing a death on his doorstep, finally agreed to open the door and meet them.

After their conversation, Caleb Summers finally learned the truth—it was all Nina Summers’s doing!

That damn girl, Nina, had actually offended the niece of Deputy Director Brandon Walsh—the young miss of the Walsh Family, Zara Walsh!

Nina had even said things like, "Caleb Summers will be the director soon, and then he’ll show Brandon Walsh what’s what!"

Caleb Summers was nearly scared out of his wits when he heard this. He immediately knelt before Brandon Walsh, swearing to the heavens that he knew nothing about it while frantically kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Brandon Walsh was noncommittal about Caleb’s explanation. He simply hinted that Caleb should go and seek forgiveness from his niece, Zara Walsh.

And so, Caleb Summers had rushed over to Zara Walsh’s place to apologize!

Caleb Summers groveled at Zara Walsh’s feet like a slave, pleading with her. "Miss Walsh, that wretched girl, Nina! She was disrespectful to her elders and persecuted her younger brother out of jealousy, so I kicked her out long ago! I’ve already disowned her as my daughter!"

"She must hold a grudge, so she’s doing this to get back at me! Please, don’t fall for her trick!"