Chapter 342: Chapter 342: The Green Tea Expert
Shane Thorne watched her with amusement, deliberately asking, "Why?"
Nancy Thorne pouted. "Ms. Spann helped Ulysses Spann tell me off, and she told Wade Golding’s family to steal Mr. Hawthorne’s land, and she reported our family for raising rabbits. She’s rotten to the core. I hate her."
"Jacqueline Spann was the one who put them up to grabbing the land? How do you know that, Nancy?"
"Mr. Hawthorne said so. She’s the one who did it! She and her mother are both bad people. A rat’s child is born to dig holes—they’re two of a kind!" Nancy Thorne huffed indignantly, making everyone laugh.
Preston Thorne and his wife exchanged a thoughtful look. Nancy Thorne might just be a child, but her words held some truth. It was rare for a bad bamboo stalk to produce a good shoot. With parents of such poor character as Phoenix Golding and Vernon Spann, how good could their daughter, Jacqueline, really be?
Nancy Thorne piped up again, "Ms. Spann is the best at putting on an act! She’s always pretending, and she talks so sweetly, but last time she even tricked Uncle Morgan..."
She spoke so quickly that she choked. Byron Thorne patted her gently on the back. Once Nancy Thorne caught her breath, she went on to tell them how Jacqueline Spann had toyed with the affections of the candy peddler.
"The one who was getting treated at your house last time, Byron?" Shane Thorne asked.
Before Byron Thorne could answer, Nancy Thorne jumped in. "Yes, that was Uncle Morgan! She wasted so much of his time that he had to rush and ended up getting sick from exhaustion. Luckily, he ran into Mr. Hawthorne."
Preston Thorne and his wife frowned. This was the first time they had heard this story. They were familiar with the peddlers from Wraven who bartered for goods. Villagers relied on them for small items like needles and thread, so they knew just how precious a peddler’s time was. What Jacqueline had done was truly improper. It smacked of showing off her own petty cleverness.
"In any case, I won’t let our families be joined by marriage," the village chief’s wife said.
’In truth, she still liked Jacqueline. There was no proof for any of the things Nancy had said. Plus, she felt they could just be misunderstandings. Besides, Nancy was only six years old. How could she possibly know right from wrong? You couldn’t trust a thing she said.’
"Didn’t you say Ken gets along well with her? Take a piece of advice from me: don’t let Ken hang around Jacqueline anymore. That boy is as dense as a post. If Jacqueline sold him, he’d help her count the cash," Shane Thorne advised.
"Ken is just quiet, he’s not dense," the village chief’s wife retorted, annoyed. ’My grandson is plenty smart.’
Preston Thorne shot her a glare. "It’s a fact that Ken is dense. The boy’s no good at school, and he’s not a glib talker. The only option is to send him to the B-squad and see if he can carve out a future for himself."
The village chief’s wife muttered something under her breath but didn’t say any more. ’Once her grandson joins the B-squad, he’ll be a real catch. She won’t have to worry about him finding a wife then, will she?’
"Shane, you also think there’s something wrong with that Jacqueline girl?" Preston Thorne asked.
Shane Thorne nodded. "Oh, she’s clever, all right, but she doesn’t walk a straight path. She’s ambitious and unscrupulous, willing to do whatever it takes to reach her goals. She’s even more ruthless than Phoenix Golding."
’He might not have achieved great things in his life, but he was worldly and had seen a lot, especially when it came to judging women—he had a certain knack for it. He had seen too many different types: the straightforward, the hypocritical, the malicious, the greedy, the foolish, the sensible...’
’Jacqueline was good at putting on a façade, but she couldn’t hide the ambition in her eyes from him. He’d also seen how quickly she could drop the act. One second she would be all smiles, and the moment she turned away, her face would go cold. He’d caught her doing it several times.’
’Ordinarily, as long as Jacqueline didn’t mess with the Thorne family, he wasn’t one to speak ill of a child behind her back. But now, she clearly couldn’t sit still, so he wasn’t about to stand by and do nothing.’
Preston Thorne’s expression grew grave. Shane rarely offered opinions on others, but when he did, he was almost never wrong. ’It seems that Jacqueline girl really is of poor character. I’ll have to tell our children to stay far away from her from now on.’
