Chapter 343: Chapter 343: Favoring the Rich Over the Poor
Ashley Shaw comforted Ariana Grant for a while. Upon hearing her say that, she immediately said, "Why blow it up? Blowing it up won’t do you any good, and it might even affect the neighbors upstairs and downstairs. Instead of doing what you just said and burning the house down, why not sell it? At least you could get some money out of it, right?"
Ariana Grant nodded.
Though she was angry, she was still rational, and the things she said earlier were just out of anger.
"Don’t worry, I’m just all talk. I wouldn’t actually do something that stupid."
Ashley Shaw was relieved to see her calm down and then asked, "So what’s up with these things? They can’t be from Jade Coleman, right?"
Ariana Grant rolled her eyes hard.
"Only if the sun rises from the west."
Saying this, she said a bit awkwardly, "They’re from Aunt Sutton."
Upon hearing this, Ashley Shaw beamed with delight.
"She actually gave you such valuable things. It seems you did well today."
Ariana Grant blushed even more.
"Ashley, do you think what I’m doing is wrong?"
"What’s wrong?"
"It’s just... I understood your look at the time. Weren’t you telling me to hold onto Aunt Sutton’s leg?"
Ashley Shaw nodded, "That’s right, that’s what I meant. What’s so wrong with that?"
"No... it’s just, I always feel like I’m deceiving her."
"Then tell the truth, how do you feel about this Aunt Sutton? Or, what do you think of her?"
Ariana Grant was silent for a moment and said, "I found that she and Jade Coleman are two completely different people."
"How so?"
"I’m allergic to cilantro, right?"
"Yeah, I know. When you eat cilantro, your face and neck get welts. If you’re not in a good state and eat cilantro, you might even vomit. I remember there was a time you ate cilantro and ended up with intestinal bleeding, right?"
Ariana Grant nodded, "Yeah, that time I happened to have the flu, and even then Jade Coleman forced me to eat cilantro, so it got serious enough to need hospitalization."
"Hmm... why bring this up all of a sudden?"
"Because that’s the difference between Aunt Sutton and my mom. My mom knows too well that I’m allergic to cilantro, but her approach is to put cilantro in almost every dish, saying that if I eat a little every day, I won’t be allergic. When I refused to eat cilantro, she said I wasn’t allergic at all, just being fussy..."
"Even when I ended up in the hospital, she wouldn’t admit that forcing me to eat cilantro caused the gastrointestinal bleeding, insisting that it happened because I already had a weak stomach."
"But Aunt Sutton is completely different. Today we went to her hotel’s restaurant for a meal, and by the time we arrived, the dishes were just being served."
"Most of the dishes had cilantro as a garnish. When she heard my dad mention my cilantro allergy, she switched rooms straight away and had all the dishes redone."
"I was absolutely shocked, such a situation would never happen with my mom..."
As Ariana Grant spoke, she scratched her head and said, "Of course, I know this also has to do with my family not having much money. But what I really want to say is she wouldn’t force me to do things I don’t like, but my mom would. Even knowing something isn’t good for me, she’d still do it. Like now, she wants to fight me over the house."
As she spoke, Ariana Grant’s eyes turned red.
She pressed on her eyes and said, "I just don’t get why someone with no blood relation treats me better than my own mom."
Ashley Shaw didn’t know how to console her.
Because there was no way to console her.
She always knew that Jade Coleman loved herself more than she loved her daughter.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have refused to take Ariana to the hospital for a long time despite her diarrhea, insisting it was due to her eating random things.
Nor would she have let Ariana go to the hospital for an IV on her own when she was sick while she went to play mahjong.
Although it sounds unbelievable, there really are mothers in this world who don’t love their own children.
She simply didn’t mention Jade Coleman, but talked about Joyce Sutton.
"Isn’t that right?"
These words were sudden, and Ariana Grant looked puzzled.
Ashley Shaw smiled and said, "Because she treats you well and you quite like her, so holding onto her leg isn’t wrong! Without your real mom, you still have a stepmom. Who said all stepmoms are bad? There are plenty of good stepmoms. So don’t feel burdened, just get along well with Aunt Sutton."
Ariana Grant sighed and said, "But I’m afraid people will say I’m the kind who abandons the poor for the rich."
"Are you though?"
Ariana Grant shook her head, "If Aunt Sutton were a bad person, no matter how rich she was, I wouldn’t bother with her."
"Then does it matter what others say? What’s important is that you know what kind of person you are."
Ariana Grant felt enlightened.
"Ashley, you’re amazing! You should become a mental counselor; I feel so much better now."
Ashley Shaw curved her lips into a smile.
"There you go. Now, quickly open the bags, I want to see what she bought for you."
Upon mentioning this, Ariana Grant got excited.
The two of them opened bag after bag, toiling until past eleven.
In the end, Ashley Shaw even got a Cartier bracelet that Ariana gave her.
The bracelet looked like a bent nail.
When Ashley Shaw looked it up on her phone, it turned out to cost over forty thousand.
Clearly, Joyce Sutton was quite generous to Ariana, and it indirectly showed that Joyce Sutton rather liked Ariana.
Ashley Shaw was completely relieved.
Even keeping Livia Sutton’s contact seemed redundant.
However, knowing more people from the Sutton Family wasn’t a bad thing, especially since she quite liked Livia Sutton.
Before going to sleep, Ashley Shaw clicked into the "Wilderness Survival" livestream to watch.
She found that a voting page had automatically popped up in the livestream.
The vote was about whether to allow the team doctor to treat Leon Zeller.
According to the initial rules of the program, the show team couldn’t interfere with the guests unless there was a life-threatening situation.
Once interference occurred, the guest would have to withdraw from the program.
But now with this new vote, it essentially gave Leon a second chance.
Without hesitation, Ashley Shaw clicked "Yes."
After voting, the page showed that 87% had chosen "Yes," while 13% had chosen "No."
She searched some related keywords online and found many people were already discussing this vote.
Leon Zeller and the Stardust Team’s fans naturally supported this action by the program team.
But haters and fans of other contestants didn’t feel the same.
They believed that since the program team had set the rules, they shouldn’t change them, or it would be unfair to other contestants.
However, some passersby thought that since Leon was injured while saving someone from the Stardust Team, he deserved a second chance.
In short, public opinion online was divided.
And both sides seemed to have valid points.
Just then, a WeChat message came through.