It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Li Cheng, completely oblivious to being the culprit, inwardly grumbled, then suddenly remembered something.

Now that the £100,000 has been delivered to him in the form of a bank draft, serving as the project's start-up capital.

So here's the question: in a sense, doesn't this mean Veronica is selling herself to earn money for him to spend?

Thinking about it this way, Li Cheng's heart instantly became complicated, and his gaze drifted towards Veronica's direction. He even imagined some unspeakable things from the faint smile she gave when talking to Anderson...

———Note: The following is all a mini-drama imagined by Li Cheng———

In the dimly lit basement, the flickering candlelight illuminated two figures.

One of the figures, Li Cheng, revealed a wicked smile: "My dear princess, stop making futile resistance."

"No, you can't do that. It's a desecration of the royal family's dignity."

Veronica's gaze was resolute, filled with justice, as if she wanted to influence the other person.

"Oh ho ho, what did I just hear? Royal dignity?" Li Cheng pretended to put his hand behind his ear. "Royal dignity isn't only worth 300,000 pounds, is it? Surely not?"

"..."

Veronica clenched her teeth tightly, but couldn't utter a single word.

Her father, Charles II, desperate for funds to fight the Parliamentarian army, actually thought of selling his daughter to Earl Anderson, a wealthy but low-ranking nobleman who had lost his wife.

What Charles II didn't expect was that the mastermind behind this was Li Cheng, who was far away across the English Channel. The Earl of Anderson had long been under his control, and the so-called £300,000 military expenses would never arrive.

In other words, it's free.

However, Veronica was unaware of this. Having been sold, she was still caught in the tragic emotions of sacrificing herself for the country and the royal family, the anger and humiliation of being betrayed by her father, and the fear of her future life.

Three emotions swirled within her, causing her tone to soften slightly: "No, you can't..."

"Hehehe, of course I can."

Li Cheng let out a laugh unique to villains: "After all, your father sold you for a good price."

---slightly---

"Cough cough!"

Li Cheng snapped out of his reverie and realized that Veronica had long since left the place where she had been talking to Anderson. In front of him stood a green-haired maid dressed in a green maid's uniform.

What are you doing here?

Li Cheng was startled, then looked around—fortunately, no one would pay too much attention to a maid's comings and goings, even if she was Veronique's maid.

Holly said with a strange expression, "His Highness asked me to remind you to tone down your gaze."

"..."

Was I that conspicuous just now...? Li Cheng sniffed awkwardly.

Although his previous act of watching the princess was inconspicuous and many people did the same, Veronica, who was involved and knew Li Cheng, keenly discerned the difference.

So far, Veronica has not shown the slightest sign that she knows Li Cheng, let alone gone so far as to go up and greet him, thus breaking the initial agreement that they were "just getting a feel for the atmosphere".

However, Li Cheng wouldn't doubt the other party's ability to act too much...

However, what Li Cheng didn't know was that Veroni had originally planned to "make a splash" at this banquet, but his subsequent good performance changed Veroni's mind.

......

Holly relayed the message and then hurriedly left.

After receiving each important guest and spending some time eating and drinking, Anderson finally began to move on to the next item.

He took the hand of the main character of the banquet—Louise—and led her from her room on the second floor to the center of the banquet hall.

Louise, dressed up meticulously in a fluffy cake dress dominated by red tones, with her pure and lovely face and kind and sweet smile, made her look like a little princess from a fairy tale, not inferior to Veronica, the proper princess.

“Your daughter will surely become a dazzling jewel in London in the future.”

Faced with guests' polite or sincere compliments, the young girl didn't reply much, only responding with nods and smiles, behaving very politely.

Meanwhile, Louise was also secretly observing the crowd, trying to find her 'brother' among them.

Since returning home that day, Louise has been subjected to numerous questions from Anderson, including but not limited to, "Did he abuse you?" and "Did he make any physical contact with you?"

Louise tried to improve her father's impression of Li Cheng, so she replied, "My brother didn't mistreat me, I did it all voluntarily," and "There was a strange sister who wanted to do strange things to me, but my brother chased her away and covered me with a blanket."

She answered very hard, but it didn't seem to help much, and her father looked even angrier.

Louise thus understood that her father did not like Li Cheng very much, so she did not ask Anderson if she could invite Li Cheng to her birthday party, nor did she ever express any such thoughts.

Despite not having much hope, Louise still secretly obtained the guest list from the servants.

Then she was pleasantly surprised to find that her brother's name was on it.

.......

After searching for a while, Louise finally found Li Cheng hiding in a corner with a nonchalant expression.

"My brother really came... but why does he seem to be not looking this way?"

Louise was both pleased and somewhat puzzled.

Li Cheng was completely unaware of this. He believed that since Anderson dared to invite him, he must have made prior preparations and probably wouldn't let Louise meet with him at all.

As for not being able to see Louise, he didn't really care, since they had only known each other for a few days.

Chapter 117 I Am Your Father

Before attending the birthday party, Li Cheng, based on the novels and movie plots he had read, had extremely boringly imagined many possibilities.

These include, but are not limited to, extremely vulgar incidents such as an unknown character directly picking on him, being greeted by Veronica in front of many people leading to questioning, being deliberately harassed by Earl Anderson, and finally getting into a fight on the spot.

So far, the process has been very peaceful. He calmly showed his invitation to enter and calmly enjoyed the food at the banquet. Apart from being tricked by Newton's sudden whim to show off his cooking skills, he was really just an outsider who came to experience the atmosphere of the banquet.

Keep a low profile.

With that in mind, Li Cheng decided to spend the rest of the time in this corner of the hall. He didn't even go up to meet Louise to avoid triggering any troublesome plot developments.

Although those few days with Louise were quite pleasant, and Louise was very well-behaved and obedient, without picking up any of the bad habits of the nobility, it was a pity that Anderson was there; the two of them were unlikely to be on the same page.

Although Louise might be a little sad, children's enthusiasm comes and goes quickly, and she'll forget about it after a while, so it's not a big deal.

Just as Li Cheng was lost in thought, he suddenly realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere around him... It was too quiet. Banquets should be noisy and bustling, so why was it so quiet?

Li Cheng then refocused his attention on the eyes and saw that Louise, who had been at the front of the hall, had somehow moved through the crowd and stood in front of him, looking at him happily with her big black eyes like a puppy she had just seen.

The previously noisy guests all stopped talking and stood silently in a circle around the area.

As for the reason for their silence...

For example, when your neighbor Old Wang's daughter has her birthday, suddenly there's a suspicious man among the guests—someone you've never seen before, but who bears a striking resemblance to Old Wang and his daughter. And right in front of you, Old Wang's daughter happily slips through the crowd to the suspicious man, blinking at him excitedly.

What would you be thinking at this moment?

The surrounding guests shared a similar sentiment. While anticipating what would unfold, they all tacitly stopped their conversations and found the most suitable spots to stand, practically ready to grab a plate of roast chicken or steak. Despite being mostly nobles, these people were the most gossipy of all – a group of idle, good-for-nothings.

Putting everything else aside, would someone with something to do really go through all that troublesome aristocratic etiquette? Commoners are already doing their best just to survive.

The onlookers were excited, but Li Cheng, the person involved, was internally screaming.

This is outrageous! Anderson, where are you? You can't even control your own daughter in the living room, no wonder you got swindled out of £100,000!!!

"elder brother!"

Louise could no longer contain her excitement and pounced into Li Cheng's arms like a red dove.

The onlookers' eyes lit up.

Oh my god! It's here! This is exactly what we've been waiting for! This is absolutely big news! This is going to be a huge sensation!

Who would have thought that Anderson, this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who has always been known in aristocratic circles as a loyal and good man, who is clearly wealthy and healthy, yet has insisted on not remarrying for many years after his wife's death, would suddenly have such a big illegitimate child!

And judging from his age, he must have been an illegitimate child with his wife while she was still alive. This is simply... simply too shocking!

"..."

As Li Cheng instinctively caught Louise, two lines of text flashed through his mind: "Keep a Low Profile" and "Just Feel the Atmosphere of the Banquet."

However, he soon developed a fundamental doubt.

Where are the Andersons?

He just came downstairs holding Louise's hand, so he couldn't possibly not know what Louise was going to do, but why didn't he stop her?

Surely he couldn't have suddenly gotten an upset stomach, gone to the toilet, and never came back, could he? Li Cheng would rather believe a conspiracy theory than that.

As a famous person who also lived at 221 Baker Street and worked as a detective aptly put it: "After eliminating all the impossibilities, the remaining conjecture, however absurd, is the truth."

Li Cheng deduced the truth: Anderson definitely did it on purpose. That old bastard was very wicked. He deliberately let the ignorant Louise come over and call me brother, so as to create a first impression on everyone and take advantage of me to become my father!

Once the matter has fully unfolded, even if Anderson can casually explain that "it was all a misunderstanding," the first impression has already been imprinted in everyone's minds. Whenever Li Cheng is mentioned, they will say, "Oh, that's Anderson's son," and his seniority will instantly drop a notch.

Damn it, it wasn't that simple after all! They really had a scheme behind inviting me, you bastard!!!

Seeing the excited looks on the faces of the onlookers, Li Cheng understood that they must have already accepted that old man's idea and regarded Li Cheng as Anderson's son, and a son of very low status at that.

Explanation?

No, no, no, creating problems is more suitable for Li Cheng than solving them.

He could write a thousand words, but in reality, these thoughts only flashed through his mind for a moment, and Li Cheng made a decision to perish together with his opponent.

"Fine, since you want to be my dad, then don't blame me for portraying you as a scumbag..." Li Cheng gave a kind smile, gently embracing Louise while stroking her long, smooth red hair with one hand, and said:

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you for a while."

“It’s alright, Louise is just happy that her brother came today.”

Louise shook her head, indicating that she didn't mind.

"Ugh."

Li Cheng sighed dramatically, "Actually, I'd like to come more often, but as you know, something happened between us... and he has a lot of insight into me."

The onlookers were completely engrossed in this drama, having already imagined a whole thirty-six-episode series of events in their minds, including the estrangement between father and son, the deep bond between siblings, and the twenty-year-old feud.

"sorry."

Louise felt this was related to her willfulness and lowered her head with great guilt: "Louise tried to explain to her father, but he seemed even angrier and said that her brother had lied to her."

Louise's cooperation was absolutely perfect. If I didn't know what I was saying, I would have almost gotten confused too... Li Cheng sighed and turned his attention to the onlookers. He found that while the group was having a great time watching the drama unfold, Anderson, the host of the banquet, had not yet appeared!

He performed while secretly cursing Anderson's shamelessness.