Chapter 81
"Christina has been in Hopkins Family for a while."
In the early spring morning, the sun rose earlier than it did in winter, and the grey sky gradually turned
white. The old man stood beside the carved wooden fence in the corridor with the help of a walking
stick, looking at arge area of precious flowers and nts which had just sprouted and overflowed
with vigor in front of him.
Time flew.
The butler felt that the climate early in the morning was wet and came over with a thin coat in his hand.
He smiled faintly. "Young Madam will give birth to twins at the end of the year, and Hopkins Family will
be very lively."
"My mind is clear and my body is still very strong. I don''t need this coat." Mr. Hopkins raised his right
hand slightly and asked the butler to take the coat back. Mr. Hopkins turned his head and looked
straight at the east side. With his mind full of thoughts, he muttered, "There''s one thing..." There was
one thing that Mr. Hopkins couldn''t figure out.
"Old Master doesn''t understand why Patrick is trying so hard to marry Christina?"
The butler remembered the old man''s question in the dining room that did Christina and Patrick know
each other before.
"It seems that Christina has no impression of Patrick..." The old butler paused and his expression
became more solemn as he knew that his Patrick clearly kept her in mind.
"Do you remember that Oreo before?"
Mr. Hopkins walked slowly towards the pavilion at the end of the corridor and asked in a deep voice.
The butler followed behind him. When the butler heard the word "Oreo", he was startled for a moment,
then nodded and answered, "Yes."
Of course, the butler remembered...
Oreo was the name of a puppy in Hopkins Family.
"Grandpa, he wants to eat my cookies."
When Patrick was three years old, he brought back a filthy Labrador from outside, which looked like an
abandoned stray puppy.
How could their only Young Master in Hopkins Family have such a thing around him? It was too dirty
and dangerous. The servants at home immediately nervously took the puppy away.
"It''s mine."
The three-year-old boy''s voice was a little childish, but his words were clear and his tone was firm.
A group of servants felt helpless as they saw their Young Master pull a long face, hold the dirty puppy
in his short hands, and refuse to let go of it.
"You want to raise him?"
Mr. Hopkins did not dislike the stray puppy much, so he looked at the child and asked in a low voice.
Their Young Master was straight-faced. He thought about it, raised his head, and told the old man in a
childish voice, "He has been following me all the way, secretly following me all the way..."
Before their Young Master could finish speaking, perhaps the half-month-old puppy was a little heavy
for him, he ced it on the bright clean floor.
He squatted down and opened a bag of Oreo cookies in his hand to feed it.
The little dog may be really hungry, and it nibbled on it hurriedly.
He pinched the dog''s ear with his little hand. "Grandpa, I think he might like me." He seemed very
happy and told the old man happily.
"You think he likes you, so you bring him home. Do you ask him if he likes living here?"
Facing his three-year-old grandson, Mr. Hopkins was very kind and he smiled. "If you take him home,
you have to take responsibility and take good care of him. Can you raise him?"
"I have a lot of snacks." He raised his little head, very confident.
Mr. Hopkins shook his head and deliberately lowered his voice. "A dog can''t eat chocte. He will get
sick if he eats too much of the biscuit."
The child''s expression froze instantly and he spoke nervously again. "Then, I have something else to
give him. He will like me."
In the end, the stray dog was kept in the Hopkins Family. The servant carried it to take a bath and get
vinated. The dog had white hair and two earlobes that looked cute.
Labradors were docile and stable. They were neither slow nor active. They were friendly and loyal to
people. The old man felt that it was good for his grandson to develop a sense of responsibility as his
grandson raised this dog since he was young.
In fact, there was a more important reason for agreeing to keep the puppy. The Young Master of
Hopkins Family was too lonely.
Ordinary people were not allowed to approach him. Although there were always a group of servants
following him, the old man suddenly realized that this kind of overprotection was a kind of harm to the
child.
"He has been following me."
"I think he might like me."
The children''s simple and direct words made them understand that perhaps their Young Master of
Hopkins Family had always been eager to get in touch with others.
Hopkins Family was different from ordinary families. Even if one just walked in the Hopkins Family,
he/she would make others feel a bit more serious and solemn. Their Young Master had been growing
in this kind of atmosphere since he was young, and he was very serious about taking care of the dog.
At that time, everyone felt that it was a good thing to have this stray puppy in the Hopkins Family
because their Young Master was more lively than before.
But good things didn''tst for long.
When Mrs. Hopkins returned from abroad a monthter, she saw Oreo running around the house and
her expression changed suddenly. She was afraid of dogs.
"Dad, where did this mongrel stray doge from? Patrick is still a child. What if he goes crazy and
bites Patrick one day?"
Although the adults would not discuss things in front of the children, their Young Master was very
sensitive. He could feel that his mother did not like his little partner.
One morning, their Young Master''s mother''s high heels were bitten and yed by Oreo as a toy. When
this was found out by her, she scolded Oreo seriously and asked the servants to catch the dog and
throw him out.
But the servants couldn''t find that Oreo for a long time that day. He was hidden by their Young Master.
Hopkins Family''s three-year-old child had to start receiving education. Every day, a teacher came to
ss, and the Young Master kept the dog in a storage room in a house in the west of the Main
Residence.
Perhaps he was worried that the dog would be chased away by his mother. He hoped to wait for his
grandfather toe back and then he could plead.
But when Mr. Hopkins returned, he was told that his grandson''s dog had died.
It was trapped in the storage room. Perhaps he was out of unfamiliarity and hunger, the dog tried to run
out many times, but the main door was closed. However, this remote storage room used to be
connected to a rockery. A big gap was left under the wall. The gap was simply blocked by workers with
barbed wires which rusted over time.
The puppy probably wanted to get out of this hole, but it was stuck in the middle by the sharp wires. As
he bled, he was unable to get out or get back in. He bled a lot. He probably struggled and screamed for
a long time. When the servants finally found him, he could not move.
"Grandpa, Oreo said he knew he was wrong. He promised that he wouldn''t dare to do it again."
The child finished ss at four in the afternoon and immediately went to the old man to talk about the
dog biting his mother''s high heels in the morning.
Mr. Hopkins''s expression was grave. He did not say anything but nodded at the child.
The child was very happy as he ran to the house in the west of the Main Residence. He opened the
door saw that the creamy white fluffy Labrador huddled in fear in a corner. "Are you sick?"
He felt that his little friend was a little timid today. He touched his fluffy head with his shorthand and
held him in his little arms. He took him all the way back to the dining room of the Main Residence of the
Hopkins Family, brought his dinner down, and put his dinner in front of him.
"Eat. Hurry." He squatted next to him and looked at him with big clear eyes.
But the little dog seemed to be a little afraid of strangers. He wagged its tail and walked to the corner of
the wall, shivering and ignoring him.
Mr. Hopkins looked at him with a hesitant expression. But then Mr. Hopkins saw that the child was very
patient and ran to the dog again and said, "Oreo, are you angry with me? Don''t be angry. I will treat you
well in the future..." Murmuring the innocent words of the child, Mr. Hopkins felt sorry for the little guy.
But three dayster, the child stopped ying with his little friend.
"Patrick, the teacher said that you were not in the mood for ss these days. What happened?"
Around five o''clock in the afternoon, Mr. Hopkins went to the back garden of the house in the west of
the Main Residence and found the child. The child was squatting in the rockery with his head down.
The child''s expression was sullen.
"Grandpa, I''m not happy."
The child spoke childishly in a low voice.
The old man''s expression froze. He squatted down and softly coaxed, "Tell grandpa what happened."
He raised his head, looked at the old man with big clear eyes, and said nervously, "Grandpa, where did
you hide my Oreo? I can''t find him. I''ve been looking for him for a long time, but I still can''t find him..."
For a moment, the old man did not know what to say and his words were stuck in his throat.
The child came out of the rockery, shook the old man''s arm nervously, and begged the old man in a
baby voice, "Grandpa, does mother dislike him. Does mother drive him away? Go tell mother, I will
teach him and he will be good... Grandpa, can you tell mother to let her return Oreo to me?"
Their Young Master in Hopkins Family rarely acted coquettishly. The housekeeper stood by and
watched, his eyes turning red.
At this moment, a puppy ran over happily. "Young Master, look. Oreo hase to y with you..." The
housekeeper squeezed out a smile and gently coaxed the little boy.
The child did not even look at the dog next to him. The child exerted more strength at his hands which
tugged at the old man''s arm anxiously. His childish voice was full of grievance and he retorted, "He is
not Oreo."
The housekeeper was stunned.
"He''s dead. I asked someone to have him buried." Mr. Hopkins remained silent for a long time before
he spoke slowly.
A three-year-old child could not understand the meaning of the word "dead" which was too heavy, but
the child in the Hopkins Family must be precocious, less naive, and childlike, and shall learn to ept
and bear.
His eyes were dark and bright, and his handsome white face showed some puzzlement. The child
asked childishly, "Is he noting back?"
"If he dies, he won''te back."
"How could he die?"
"He tried to escape, but he got stuck in the wires of the gap." Perhaps they shouldn''t have lied to the
child from the start because the child in Hopkins Family was very sensitive and he would know that the
substitute was not real.
That day, Mr. Hopkins watched the sun slowly setting with the child. When thest piece of light
disappeared, the old man took the child''s hand and went back to the Main Residence together.
"Grandpa, I shouldn''t have brought Oreo home. He probably doesn''t like me..."
The words that the child said in a low voice that day made Mr. Hopkins and the housekeeper unable to
forget.
"We haven''t had any pets in Hopkins Family since then," said the butler. Then, the butler looked down
at Mr. Hopkins who was in the pavilion and sighed with some emotions. "Patrick has a cold
temperament, and he doesn''t like to be close to people ever since..."
So, Christina...
This was really strange.
"Send someone to find out how they met in the first ce."
"Since six years ago, in C City..."
His grandson was no longer the naive child he once was. He would definitely try to get what he wanted
immediately. Why did he keep waiting for six years and why did he try to snatch Christina from Cory six
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yearster?