Chapter 3 A Forced Marriage

“Bradley, why did you reject Dr. Nicholson immediately?” “Yeah, Bradley. That’s a job at the district hospital. If you become full-time there, we won’t have to worry about money for the rest of our lives.” On the way back, Craig and Janice couldn’t stop nagging on Bradley about that. To both of them, a job at the district hospital was a good job that wouldn’t let one worry about money for the rest of their lives. “Dad, mom, I learned a lot from the traditional Chinese Medicine doctor in prison. Don’t worry about my future, okay?” Bradley smiled forcefully. “Since when could anyone learn something from prison?” Craig asked. “What do you know? You only work on the crops everyday. Many people even took university degrees while they were in prison!” Seeing that Bradley had a mind of his own, both Craig and Janice stopped nagging on him. However, Emily suddenly added, “Brad, do you think Dr. Nicholson might have fallen for you?” A sharp screech rang as Bradley almost fell from the trishaw. “Young lady, do you even know what love is?” “Brad, I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m already 18!” Emily straightened her back, but her face still blushed red. The reason she thought that Kate liked Bradley was because the expression she had when she looked at him was the same as the expression the guys in school had as they looked at her. “Bradley, you are not young anymore. After some time, I’ll talk to the matchmaker to find a wife for you. Do you know that Mrs. Cooper’s son already has children?” Bradley was speechless upon hearing his mother’s words. … When the family returned to Sierra Village, the sun had already set. The mountains and rivers still remained green and clear. Even so, the old houses clearly reflected how behind and poor the village was. There was nothing they could do about it as Sierra Village was simply too far from the city. On top of that, the road to the village was rocky, so it was difficult to build a proper road. Because of that, Sierra Village hadn’t been developed. At this moment, right after they entered the village, a few villagers greeted them. “Oh, Mrs. Jackson, you’ve finally fetched your son back.” “Brad, since you are out of prison, be a good man and stop fighting.” The villagers seemed warm and friendly, but Bradley, who was at the Qi Introduction Stage, could hear the different comments they made behind their backs. “Alas, Mr. Jackson’s son is as good as useless. What can he do after 5 years of prison time?” “I’m afraid he can’t even find a wife!” Bradley didn’t care about the snide comments behind their backs. However, just as they were about to reach their house, a sarcastic voice entered their ears. “Oh, my. Janice, your son has been released from prison after serving a full sentence? It’s not that I want to be nosey, but since Bradley has been in prison for five years, it’s a big deal that he’s out today. Why didn’t you rent a car to pick him up?” Julia Holden spoke while standing by the door, eating snacks. “Brad, it must have been awful in prison. It’s not that I want to nag you, but you should learn from my son, Paul. He’s now a secretary to a big boss in the city, earning tons of money! By the way, my daughter, Penny, is also dating someone in the city.” “Enough, Julia. Can you stop bragging? Brad is doing well. You don’t have to worry about him,” Janice roared at Julia angrily before speaking to Bradley. “Let’s go, Brad. Let’s go home.” After shooting a glance at Julia, Bradley entered the compound of his house with the trishaw. Julia was his neighbor, who liked to brag about herself and laugh at others. Bradley couldn’t care less about people like her. He appraised their house after they had returned. There were broken bricks and roofs everywhere; it looked worse than how it was five years ago. “Brad, give me a moment. I’ll make something nice for us.” With that, Janice started preparing for dinner. To celebrate Bradley’s release from prison, Craig killed a chicken to make dinner. Based on their family’s financial situation, they could only afford to eat meat during new year or some festive celebration. Even though he felt sorry for themselves, Bradley had a happy dinner with the rest of the family. However, halfway through dinner, someone knocked on the door loudly. “It’s already late evening. Who could it be?” Bradley got up to open the door. In no time, Emily started screaming, “Ahhh! Brad! Save me! Save me!” Bradley’s expression changed immediately as he rushed out of the door. Then, he saw Patrick Hart pulling his little sister. “F*ck!” Bradley kicked Patrick to the ground. “Patrick, do you want to die?” Patrick Hart was a famous gangster around Sierra Village. He was still up to no good even after five years. At this moment, Craig and Janice also came outside. As soon as they saw that Patrick was behind all this, they were immediately furious. “Patrick, if you continue to harrass Emily, I will call the police!” Janice was furious as this wasn’t the first time Patrick had harassed Emily. “Dad, what’s going on?” Bradley asked. Glaring at Patrick, Craig said, “This fellow kept harassing Emily and asking her to marry him. There were several occasions where he even laid his hands on her.” “F*ck!” Patrick got up and spat on the ground before glaring at Bradley and his entire family. With a dark expression on his face, he said, “Let me tell you this—from the moment Emily borrowed money from me, she was already my wife. This is the loan agreement—you can see for it yourselves!” With that, he threw a document that was typed on a piece of A4 paper. “Borrowed money?” “Loan agreement?” Craig and Janice were shocked to hear that. Obviously, they didn’t know that this had been going on. Then, Bradley took the loan agreement that Patrick threw on the ground to read it. A bunch of words were written on it, but after he opened his Penetrative Vision, he finished reading it in no time. There were four clear messages on the agreement: The amount of money borrowed. The interest. The due date to return the money. If the money wasn’t returned by the deadline, it would be considered dowry, and Emily would be married to him. Emily’s signature and fingerprint was on the agreement. “Emily, how could you sign this agreement with Patrick?” Bradley looked at Emily darkly. “Brad, what’s written on it?” Craig asked. “Emily borrowed 50,000 from Patrick last month, but the amount has been raised to 100,000 due to the interest. The day after tomorrow would be the deadline to return the money. If we can’t do that, the money will be considered as dowry,” Bradley explained. “What?” Emily raised her head in shock. With teary eyes, she said, “Brad, I borrowed 50,000 from Patrick indeed, but he didn’t let me look at the loan agreement. He just told me that the interest rate is very little—it would only be hundreds of bucks by new year. And he said I could pay him back within three years. He also didn’t mention that it would be considered as dowry if I didn’t return him the money.” “You silly girl! Are you an idiot? You actually borrowed money from Patrick and lied to me that it was from your classmates? You...” Janice was about to slap Emily in that situation, but after she raised her hand, she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Hence, she sobbed again. Emily was also crying. “At that time, the hospital wanted us to hand in the hospitalization and medicine fees. What else could I do?” Tears also flooded down Craig’s cheeks. It was all because of me that she had to borrow money. I’m the source of this trouble! Bradley finally understood the entire situation. Emily needed the money in a rush, so she fell into Patrick’s trap. Emily was simply too innocent.