Free Web NovelChapter 279: Chapter 279: Expel Her from the Community
"He’s your son, isn’t he? Your son hits someone, but I’m not allowed to lay a hand on him? What kind of logic is that?" the woman asserted confidently. "The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You can really tell what kind of child you’ll get from the parent!"
"Don’t you dare insult my mom!" Cedric Grant, who had been silent, suddenly roared. He clenched his fists tighter, his face flushed with anger, looking like a provoked little animal.
Sophia Shaw knew Cedric Grant was usually a reasonable boy. He wouldn’t have gotten physical unless the other person had done something outrageous.
So she turned him to face her and asked, "What exactly happened?"
Cedric Grant clenched his jaw and said nothing.
The other boy saw Sophia Shaw and pointed right at her. "Mom, that’s the woman everyone’s flaming in the group chat! She doesn’t even care about her own dad. She wants him to jump off a building!"
The little boy then pointed at Cedric Grant. "I just said his mom doesn’t care about her own father and that she’s a bad woman, and then he hit me!"
Hearing her son’s words, the woman sized up Sophia Shaw.
"Oh, isn’t this the famous rocket genius? What? You’re unfilial to your own father, causing a huge stir, but my son isn’t allowed to talk about it?"
"If you have any shame, you shouldn’t do such classless things in the first place!"
Sophia Shaw’s expression faltered.
Ms. Archer walked over and held her phone out to Sophia. "Someone posted about you and Mr. Jennings in the neighborhood group chat. The whole community knows now."
She had been targeted in various ways these past few days and was quite angry about it.
But Sophia Shaw was too busy with work, and Ms. Archer hadn’t said anything, afraid of distracting her.
Sophia Shaw looked down at the phone.
Someone had maliciously clipped a video showing her turning and walking away as Chad Jennings was about to jump, along with the last thing she said on the phone to him: "If you have the guts, jump! Let’s see if I give you a single penny!"
Sophia Shaw’s identity as a rocket genius, combined with the recent news of her major accomplishments, had made her extremely well-known. Ninety percent of the residents in the community recognized her.
The moment the video was posted, the group chat exploded. People were saying all sorts of things.
Most of them were criticizing her.
Some called her cold and heartless.
Some said she’d gotten arrogant since becoming famous.
Some said she had talent but no virtue.
In short, the criticism far outweighed the praise.
"These people are unbelievable, spouting nonsense when they don’t know the first thing about it," Ms. Archer fumed.
Ms. Archer was known for her good temper, but even she had argued with people in the group chat several times.
These people only cared about what they saw on the surface; they couldn’t be bothered with what was happening behind the scenes.
It wasn’t surprising that the video was being criticized, but Sophia Shaw was a bit surprised that Cedric Grant had defended her.
Cedric Grant still had his fists clenched, saying stubbornly, "My mother is not a bad woman! Don’t you insult my mom! No one can!"
His shoulders were hunched up like a hedgehog, poised aggressively, as if to say that if the other boy said one more word, he would hit him again.
The little boy huffed. "Don’t think I don’t know! You used to go to school in Meridian. My cousin goes to school there too, and he said he saw you having a picnic with another ’auntie.’ He even said you made your mom cook for you, your dad, and that other auntie!"
"My cousin also said you were always talking about that auntie and that you couldn’t stand your own mom. You look down on her yourself, so why can’t other people say bad things about her?"
Cedric Grant: "..."
’So all the insults Mom is suffering are because of me!’
His once-high shoulders slumped as if they’d been struck by a heavy blow.
His head hung so low it nearly touched his chest, unable to face Sophia Shaw.
Sophia Shaw looked down at Cedric Grant for a moment without saying anything. She then turned to the woman and said, "How much are the medical fees? I’ll transfer the money to you."
The woman scoffed disdainfully. "You think I care about your filthy money? Your family is twisted and perverted. Hurry up and move out of here before you become a bad influence on the children!"
Seeing the commotion, a few other parents had gathered around.
Hearing the woman’s words, they nodded in agreement. "Miss Shaw, you should probably move. A family where the daughter doesn’t care if her own father lives or dies and the son despises his own mother will indeed have a negative impact on our community."
"We all paid a lot of money to live here, not to be subjected to bad influences."
"Don’t blame us for being harsh. You can only blame yourself for being too famous and influential. We can’t let our children think that as long as you’re capable, you can be immoral and ill-mannered and do whatever bad things you want!"
"We can’t let all the children in the neighborhood be led astray just because of you."
"If you don’t leave on your own, we’ll go to the property management. If they dare to let you stay, we’ll all move out together!"
"..."
"My mom isn’t bad! My mom is really, really good!"
Cedric Grant couldn’t listen anymore and retorted loudly.
"She’s so good to me. She’s loved and cared for me since I was little. It’s my fault, all my fault! It has nothing to do with her."
"Don’t talk about her! You’re not allowed to!"
But what good would it do even if he screamed his lungs out? No one would listen!
After a while of pointing and muttering, the crowd dispersed.
Leaving him there, sobbing uncontrollably as large tears splattered onto the ground.
’If only I had cared about Mom a little more, if I hadn’t looked down on her, if I hadn’t asked Auntie Joanna to come to school... would Mom not be getting cursed at like this?’
He and his grandfather were the ones who did bad things, but his mom was the one being cursed and despised...
The tears of regret flowed endlessly, but they couldn’t solve anything.
Ms. Archer was furious, too.
Furious at Cedric Grant’s attitude toward Sophia Shaw, and furious that Chad Jennings had done something terrible and then turned around to slander her.
But just being angry wouldn’t solve the problem. freewebnovel.cσ๓
"Faye, what do we do now?"
Sophia Shaw looked at Cedric Grant. "Let me walk you out of the neighborhood first."
Sophia Shaw contacted their driver, Norton, and a few moments later, his car appeared at the neighborhood entrance.
Norton opened the car door for Cedric Grant.
Cedric Grant kept his head down, not even having the courage to say goodbye to Sophia Shaw.
"Ma’am," Norton greeted Sophia Shaw politely.
Sophia Shaw was usually easygoing and never acted bossy toward the staff. She would even give them things like fruit sometimes, so Norton had always had a good impression of her.
Glancing at the upset Cedric Grant in the car, Norton gently closed the door and said, "When will you be coming back, Ma’am? Cedric has actually been missing you a lot."
"He’s changed a lot recently. Every day after seeing Bun, he comes home and focuses on his homework. He doesn’t make video calls anymore either."
Sophia Shaw knew what Norton was trying to say—he was telling her that Cedric Grant was no longer in contact with Joanna Sherman. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
She just smiled. "Norton, thank you for telling me this, but please don’t call me ’Ma’am’ anymore."
She and Vincent Grant were already divorced; it wasn’t appropriate to be called that anymore.
Although Norton didn’t know they had divorced, his heart skipped a beat when he heard her words.
He nodded silently.
Sophia Shaw walked over and gently tapped on Cedric Grant’s window.
"Cedric, goodbye."
Cedric Grant looked up in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that after causing her so much trouble, Sophia Shaw was still willing to say goodbye to him.
"Mom..."
"Go home and study hard. Don’t let what happened today get to you."
This was between her and Chad Jennings; there was no need to drag a child into it.
"Okay," Cedric Grant answered, biting his lip and desperately holding back his tears.
Only when Sophia Shaw turned away did he forcefully wipe his eyes.
Sophia Shaw stood outside for a moment before calling Joanna Sherman. "The video of my father’s suicide attempt... was it you who sent it to my neighborhood’s group chat?"
