My Son, Their Prop- A Mother's Wrath to Burn It All Down

Chapter 6

My heart sank.I didn't expect Emeline and Frederic would ignore what had happened to my son.And I couldn't believe that Frederic actually agreed to this settlement.When they and Vivien arrived at the house, I insisted on taking Norris back to my mother's house.Frederic seemed hesitant to say something when he saw me.I looked at my husband, disappointed in his incompetence and cowardice.They didn't care as they were not the person who suffered in this matter, except for my poor Norris.Back in the room, I resolved to punish Vivien my way.The next day, I arrived at Vivien's wedding planning company.When she saw me, she said sarcastically, "Oh, Sandi. Your son is not with me today."I walked over with a smile.

"Vivien, yesterday I was too anxious. Norris was taken away by them and I was worried something might happen to him. Luckily, he was fine. I came today to see you. Didn't you mention before about wanting Frederic and me to invest in your business? That's why I'm here."

Vivien's eyes lit up, and she chuckled.

"If it's a compensation, no need."

I looked around her shop, feigning interest.

"How would it be a compensation? Frederic and I had discussed this earlier. We all agreed that you company has great potential."

Vivien smiled, pulling me aside to sit down. She took out her phone and began chattering,"Sandi, you may think my shop is small, but I have a wide range of clients. Besides the usual events, I also offer role-playing services."Puzzled, I asked,"What kind of role-playing?"She leaned in conspiratorially.

"Well, like renting a girlfriend to bring home for the holidays, hiring parents for a wedding to impress guests, or even renting a bride or children if needed. These are for clients who want to recover their expenses by collecting gifts from the guests. We charge our client and split the money with the actors. But anything extra tips the actors get are their own."

I was shocked internally, not expecting Vivien to go to such lengths to make money.She showed me her Twitter accounts, and I noticed there were quite a few demands for these kinds of services.I hid my surprise and praised her insincerely.

"Vivien, you certainly have a knack for business!"

Vivien looked at me proudly, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, otherwise, how could I have opened this shop in a short time? So, Sandi, are you interested in investing?"

Feigning hesitation, I responded to her.

"Frederic and I have our money in fixed deposits at the bank, but they'll be available in a month. In the meantime, I have some free time. How about I get familiar with the business first? That way, once we invest, I can help bring in more clients for us."

Vivien thought for a moment.

"Sure! I'll give you the Twitter account details. You can look through each one and get a sense of our operations."

Back home, I meticulously went through each contact Vivien had.Most were clients who needed to "rent" a bride or children due to various reasons, usually to recoup wedding expenses.I took screenshots of each one, saving them to a cloud drive with a secure password.Then, I came across a request for renting a bride.Vivien asked the client to provide detailed information about the groom to better match a suitable woman.I glanced at the address and noticed it was from a well-known economically struggling area not far from us.One year, our company had even bought local specialties from that region to support the economy.I checked the map, and it showed a travel time of just over an hour.The next day, I visited the address, introducing myself as someone from an event planning company.The person understood immediately and led me inside.The contact was a young man, but the groom's details mentioned a middle-aged man in his forties.

"Hello, may I ask who the groom is?"

The young man brought out an older man, who was grinning at me vacantly--a clear sign of illness.

"This is my older brother. He fell seriously ill years ago, and it left him like this. He couldn't find a wife. A bachelor in our village would be looked down upon. I'm getting old too, so we want to rent a bride to stage a wedding. The bride only needs to appear in front of the guests and then stay inside the room."