Chapter 322 - 330: Major Collision

Words : 1805 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

Chapter 322: Chapter 330: Major CollisionMahjong continued until four in the afternoon. James Brown and Emily Lopez lost terribly, while Mother Lopez won big, which brought her great joy, as Emily immediately pouted and said: "I’m not convinced, not convinced at all, let’s play again tonight." Mother Lopez said with a laugh: "Playing again tonight? Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose all your money? I won’t go easy on you today." "I’m not afraid. If I lose it all, I’ll just live off my brother-in-law and sister. Brother-in-law, you wouldn’t abandon me, your little auntie, right?" Emily Lopez looked at James Brown with puppy eyes. James Brown’s heart fluttered again. With such a cute little auntie, how could he say no? He smiled and said, "No problem, I’ll make sure Auntie takes all your money." "Brother-in-law is the best." Emily Lopez said enthusiastically as she hugged James Brown’s arm and swayed. Jonathan Lopez and his wife didn’t take the flirtatious behavior between Emily Lopez and James Brown too seriously. Since everyone is family, a little joke between a brother-in-law and a little auntie is normal, especially since Emily played a key role in bringing James Brown and Gina Lopez together, they trusted that Emily had no intentions toward James. However, they were unaware that the brother-in-law and little auntie were already engaging in some mischief under the mahjong table. Usually when James Brown was here, everyone would eat at home, but today they were having so much fun they hadn’t even bought groceries. Therefore, everyone decided to eat out. ASCS Town isn’t a very large city, just a prefecture-level city, not as big as YODC City, but still quite prosperous. The family of five took a car, found a good restaurant here, and booked a private room. Gina Lopez specially ordered some fine wines and dishes, and Jonathan Lopez and his wife weren’t ones to skimp like typical elderly folks, and they were completely on board with splurging a bit. Everyone ate and drank in a harmonious atmosphere. James Brown drank quite a lot with Jonathan Lopez but all that drinking made him need the restroom. He excused himself and left the private room, asked a waiter for directions, and went to take care of his needs. Just as he was heading out after relieving himself, James Brown bumped head-on into a man in his fifties. "James!" The man exclaimed in surprise. Once James Brown saw who it was, he almost jumped out of his skin, because the man was none other than Helen Wilson’s father, Charles Lewis, and he quickly said, "Charles... Dad, what are you doing here?" Charles Lewis, father of Helen Wilson, laughed and said, "Little Rachel and her mom are here visiting relatives. Little Rachel even mentioned you were on a business trip this weekend and couldn’t come with us. I didn’t expect to bump into you here on your trip." seaʀᴄh thё NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. James Brown felt a headache coming on. How coincidental this was, and Helen Wilson hadn’t even warned him. But then again, how could Helen Wilson have anticipated running into him here? Fortunately, he hadn’t come out with Gina Lopez’s father; if the two fathers-in-law had bumped into each other, that would have been a disaster. He quickly smiled and said: "Dad, I’ll come over to toast with you later and settle the bill; I still have some clients over here." "It’s good for you to stop by; we are all relatives, and getting to know each other wouldn’t hurt. But don’t let it interfere with your work." "Of course not. Just tell me your room number. I’ll come over after I speak to my clients." Charles Lewis gave him the private room number and then let James Brown go attend to his business. They liked James Brown very much as a son-in-law, and this was a great opportunity to introduce him to other relatives and have him take care of the bill, which would indeed be quite a face-giving matter. Charles Lewis, being an official himself - though not very high in rank, was quite particular about these things, so he didn’t mind James Brown paying the bill. They had given their savings to James Brown and Helen Wilson and naturally didn’t want James Brown to spend his own money; it was merely for face. James Brown hurried back to the Lopez family’s private room and said with a smile: "Sorry, I just ran into someone I know outside and chatted for a moment." Jonathan Lopez immediately asked curiously: "You know someone else in ASCS?" "He’s from YODC too, but he came here to visit relatives. I need to go over there later to propose a toast," James Brown replied quickly. Jonathan Lopez said: "That’s proper, let Gina go with you; it’s more polite that way." James Brown readily agreed. He really needed to let Gina know about this situation, and also to ensure the two groups don’t run into each other, or else it would be a real disaster. After leaving the private room with Gina Lopez, James Brown lowered his voice and said, "Helen Wilson’s family is here." "What?" Gina Lopez was startled, "How did they get here? We must not let her parents meet my parents; that would really blow our cover." James Brown nodded, "That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I’ll go propose a toast soon and see when they plan to finish. If they just started, we’ll leave early. If they are almost done, we’ll take our time eating." "Okay, I understand. I’ll wait for you by the restroom." After parting ways with Gina Lopez, James Brown headed towards the Wilson Residence’s private room. While in the hallway, he saw Helen Wilson clearly waiting for him. Helen Wilson quickly stepped forward, joy evident on her face, "What are you doing here?" James Brown gave a wry smile and said, "Gina’s parents are in ASCS, we came here for her mother’s birthday. We’re eating in that private room over there." "Ah!" Helen Wilson’s smile vanished in an instant, she anxiously said, "How coincidental." "Yeah, it’s quite a coincidence. I’ve already eaten more than half on my side and we should be done in about half an hour." "Same here on our end." Then both said in unison: "Then we’ll go ahead, you guys lag behind a bit." The two were momentarily stunned, then both chuckled bitterly. James Brown said, "There are probably more people on your side, the decision isn’t up to you; let’s have our side lag a bit instead." Helen Wilson didn’t argue and nodded in agreement. Only then did the two enter the private room, a large room with a big round table surrounded by over ten people, mostly older, with only four of Helen Wilson’s age. "This is our Little Rachel’s beau, James Brown. Rachel, come and introduce him to everyone." At this, Helen Wilson’s face turned a bit red, not from embarrassment but from being overwhelmed, as she chuckled and said, "James, this is my great-uncle, this is my great-aunt, this is my second aunt, my second uncle..." Helen Wilson introduced James Brown to each person, and as she did, James greeted each one in turn, putting on a brave face to be a good son-in-law. After the introductions were finished, James poured drinks for everyone, saying, "Since all of you are Joanne’s relatives, that makes you my relatives too. I hope we can keep visiting each other often and get to know me as a newcomer." Having said that, James Brown drank a glass of beer clean. Everyone joined in drinking a little, and then they began praising James Brown. In terms of appearance, he certainly was commendable, and his tactful speech and decent demeanor made him quite pleasing to look at; definitely capable of keeping people happy. Plus, with Helen Wilson’s parents mentioning that James was now a manager at a company and quite successful, he naturally gained everyone’s approval even more. At this moment, Charles Lewis said, "James, you go handle your business. When New Year’s comes, we can all gather for a good time." James Brown hastily said, "Alright, dear relatives, I apologize, my client on the other side is very important. I can’t stay with everyone today, but I hope you all enjoy yourselves." Helen Wilson saw James Brown off, finally heaving a sigh of relief, saying, "Thank goodness, that really scared me." James Brown smiled and said, "No big deal, I’ll be off then." Helen Wilson opened her mouth, but ended up not saying anything, simply waving her hand to let James Brown leave. Feeling that Helen Wilson had more to say, James Brown asked, "Is there something else?" Only then did Helen Wilson say, "I’m not leaving tonight, I’m afraid my parents want you to come over to our place this evening." "Then I’ll say I have to go back to YODC City today." "Okay, let’s do that." James Brown and Helen Wilson parted, and Gina Lopez immediately came over, whispering, "How did it go?" "They’re almost done eating, we can eat a bit more." Gina Lopez nodded and said, "We’ll go back soon, don’t wander off and avoid trouble." After deciding on their plan, they returned to the private room. Emily Lopez pouted and said, "Brother-in-law, why are you so slow?" James Brown sat down with a smile, saying, "I had to propose a toast inside and say a few words, otherwise it would be so rude." Emily Lopez then said, "I don’t care, today is Mom’s birthday, Mom is the boss, you’re not allowed to run off again." Yesterday, James Brown and Emily Lopez had been restless, and facing this fake little aunt now gave him a rather special feeling. However, later James Brown regretted whatever mess he had kindled with Emily Lopez, as dealing with Gina Lopez alone was already a headache, let alone adding Emily Lopez to the mix, wondering how he would eventually handle it all. These two weren’t like Sunny Nguyen; Sunny Nguyen had already established her position from the beginning, and not gentle like Emma Campbell, who listened to everything he said, considering his needs above all. So today, James Brown dared not do anything ambiguous with Emily Lopez, sitting down and saying: "Alright, today I’ll just behave and stay here by Mom, not going anywhere else." Anyway, they needed to stall for time until Helen Wilson and her group left, so everyone just lingered together a bit longer. "I’m going to the restroom." James Brown didn’t want to leave, but after a while, Jonathan Lopez also went out. But just as Jonathan Lopez had left, James Brown heard him excitedly calling out, "Mr. Davis, what are you doing here?"

Chapter 322 - 330: Major Collision

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