"I'm Claire." Claire gestured beside her. "And this is Jenny, Edison's soon-to-be wife."
Edison?
They had definitely heard of him. He was the last remaining bachelor of the older generation in the James clan.
They also knew Edison was throwing a massive wedding on the third day of the Lunar New Year.
So his bride was already pregnant?
Double the blessings-that was fantastic news!
"Oh, wow! We're actually coming over on the third to toast the newlyweds. Now that you mention it, we're practically family."
"Edison's mother is from our village. She's my great-aunt, which makes him my uncle."
*Well damn, they really were relatives.*
Since her grandson was finally tying the knot, Edison's grandmother had insisted on an extravagant celebration. Anyone with even the slightest connection to Edison's family had received an invitation.
"That's such a wild coincidence," Claire said with a bright smile.
"Isn't it? We were planning to bring Yolanda to the banquet on the third so they could officially meet."
"Claire, let's sit at the same table! You can help break the ice."
"It's always easier when the younger crowd sticks together."
Mable was an incredibly outgoing woman.
Since she asked so nicely, Claire couldn't exactly turn her down.
But she didn't make any hard promises either. "You should probably clear that with Pearce and Patti first, right?"
"At the end of the day, we still have to follow the elders' arrangements."
Mable waved her off. "Don't sweat it, it won't be a problem."
Seeing how easygoing Claire was made Mable genuinely thrilled for Yolanda.
Yolanda was soft-spoken. If Dewitt's cousin was a nightmare, Yolanda would definitely get bullied if she married into the family.
But Claire had a wonderful personality. If Yolanda moved here, having a sweet sister-in-law to talk to would be a godsend.
Otherwise, being surrounded by strangers in The James Village would be agonizingly lonely.
Mable nudged Yolanda to keep chatting with Claire.
Yolanda awkwardly scrambled for a topic. "Claire, you look so young. Are you still in high school?"
"No, I'm in college," Claire clarified.
Yolanda?
A flicker of sorrow darkened Yolanda's eyes.
She had actually gone to college too, but due to her timid nature, she had been relentlessly bullied on campus.
Combined with a family emergency, she had been forced to drop out.
She tried working after returninne
had to come back home shortly after.
but
She wanted to find a job in the city, but her family's situation tied her down.
Now, getting married felt like her best way out.
Once she was married, maybe she could talk to her husband and convince him to take her away so she could work.
Then she could take a portion of her paycheck and send it back to her family.
That way, her mother would be taken care of.
"I've heard about you! You're the Clan Successor who got switched at birth, right?"
Listening from the sidelines, Mable finally pieced together who Claire was. "Yeah, that's me."
Claire had never bothered hiding her identity.
The James Village was a small world; people were bound to figure it out sooner or later anyway.
"So it is you! You are absolutely stunning..." Mable marveled.
She had seen Cindy before, and Cindy couldn't hold a candle to Claire's beauty. "Thank you."
Claire was used to the endless stares, completely unbothered as the sisters looked her up and down.
By now, the fishing nets were hauled halfway out of the water, filled with fat fish thrashing violently in the air.
"Are you guys just here to watch the excitement, or are you buying?"
Claire looked over at Mable.
The nets were closed, and the fish were trapped. Now, every family was lining up
with buckets to claim their share.
If Mable wanted to buy any, she needed to get in line immediately.
"Buying! We're definitely buying!"
The fish raised in The James Village every year were strictly grass-fed
without any artificial
meat was impossibly tender and
The
fresh, never greasy
In some villages, the ponds were purely
wereal, meaning the fish
were pumped full of cheap feed and fertilizers to turn a quick profit.