Though I wasn't fully aware of the situation at Silas's home, I could guess a lot from the sorrowful expression on his face.

Without wasting a second, I immediately placed my hands on my hips and, trying to look fierce, shouted, “Which little troublemaker said Silas doesn’t have a mom? Step forward!”

Since Silas was the rebellious type, I decided to play along by adopting the cold, elegant persona, strolling in with my small designer bag shining brightly in my hand.

“Are you really Silas's mother?”

The kids looked at me with a mix of doubt and curiosity.

“Of course! Can’t you see? Just look at the two of us standing here.”

I placed the bag on Silas's seat and then casually draped my arm around his neck.

“Then why have you never come to any parent-teacher meetings?”

“I’m very busy. I work at a national secret base, and I just don’t have time for such trivial matters.”

I threw out some random bragging.

The kids hesitated for a moment.

“Really? But you look so young. How could you be a scientist? Aren’t scientists all old men, like Einstein?”

I pulled out a set of chocolate airplane models I’d prepared earlier, teasing them that they were handed out at the base for Christmas and that regular kids could never get their hands on them.

“Of course I’m smart enough to become a scientist at such a young age. Don’t believe me? Then I guess you won’t be getting any chocolate.”

The kids couldn’t resist my sweet persuasion. One by one, they raised their hands, claiming they believed me.

Then, they eagerly reached out for the chocolate in my hands.

One little girl, after getting an airplane-shaped chocolate, shyly came over to me and said, “Auntie, you’re so pretty, like a fairy.”

The other kids nodded enthusiastically.

I smiled and patted their heads, feeling touched by their honesty.

At the parent-teacher meeting.

The teacher even invited me to take the stage as the first representative. My words, just the right mix of pride and affection, perfectly showcased a mother's love for her child.

As the applause of the parents echoed in the room, I gave Silas a wink from the doorway.

My professional skills? Undeniable!

The meeting concluded, and the parents began to leave one by one.

A soft, innocent voice suddenly called out from the hallway, “Mom, is that you?”

I turned around, and sure enough, it was Felix.

I felt a lump in my throat. “Felix, how’s the new mom treating you?”

I opened my arms wide.

Felix eagerly said he missed me, leaving my emotions in a tangled mess. Just as he was about to throw himself into my embrace, Cedric charged in and grabbed the child, pulling him away while glaring at me. “Elara, stop getting close to him. I don’t want him anywhere near a woman like you!”

I sighed deeply.

The reason Cedric and I got divorced was because of our son, Felix Hale. I couldn’t bear children, and Felix was an adopted child of Cedric and me.

But as Felix grew older, he started to look more and more like his father.

Same small eyes, same high nose bridge…

Driven by curiosity, I took a sample of Felix's and Cedric’s hair and had a paternity test done.

Sure enough…

The results confirmed it: Felix was Cedric’s biological son.

He was Cedric’s love child with another woman.

I’m someone who cannot stand being lied to. After sending the child to his grandmother’s house, I threw the paternity test report in Cedric's face that very night.

Cedric was about to explain himself, but when he saw the results, he didn’t bother pretending anymore.

“You’re right, Felix isn’t my adopted son. He’s my biological child! Let’s get a divorce!”

“Forget about my infidelity—do you think you’ve done nothing wrong? Just look at you! You’re more muscular than my uncle! Where’s the femininity?”

When I got married, I was quite fit. That was because I used to be an athlete, and gaining muscle and weight was easy, but losing it later proved difficult.

I felt a little hurt inside. "But didn’t you say back then that you didn’t care about my appearance? You said you valued my character."

"Heh," Cedric sneered. "Let me be honest with you. At first, I thought your family was rich, but then I found out you wear knockoff stuff. Who would marry someone like you—a poor woman who can't even have kids!"

Cedric had been a small-time office worker, but after we married, his wealth grew rapidly. As he saw me as someone beneath him, his attitude became more and more critical.

Now, I finally saw his true colors.

In reality, my family was very wealthy. People often say that wealth never lasts past three generations, but my family had been rich for eighteen generations.

My father always told me to be humble, that the first crab to stick its head out of the water gets caught.

So, when Cedric asked about my family, my father told him we were just farmers. The truth was, we owned tens of thousands of acres of tea plantations, and though my father said he worked as a coal miner, he actually ran a coal mining business.

But due to my father’s wishes, I kept our true background hidden in the first few years of our marriage and lived a modest life with Cedric.

That said, for the wedding, my father did give me several million in antiques as a dowry.

At this point, I had completely given up on him.

"Fine, I'll divorce you. But can I take the dowry with me?"

Cedric was blunt, tossing the small chest in front of me.

"Take it if you want. It’s just a bunch of worthless junk. Even looking at it makes me embarrassed!"

I gently ran my fingers over the chest, my face full of sorrow.

It really was a chest full of worthless junk worth millions...

I walked with Silas to the school gates.

Silas had a mature look on his face, his tone as if he were praising an employee.

"You did well today. I'll ask my dad to transfer 100,000 to your account."

That’s pretty generous?

"I’ll wash this outfit and send it to you later."

Before we came, Silas had complained that my clothes were too plain, so he went and bought me a new outfit from a luxury store.

I didn’t expect this kid to have such good taste.

But now, Silas was looking at me with some disdain.

"No need. You don’t even have anything decent to wear. I’ll just give you this one."

...Honestly, I just wear what’s comfortable.

Just then, a car sped toward us.

The woman who got out was wearing misty beige heels and had shoulder-length curly hair that perfectly highlighted her slim waist and hips. She opened the door and let Felix get in.

This woman was none other than Sabrina Shaw, Cedric's affair.

She was our neighbor, divorced with a child. I once thought she was a strong, independent mother, but now I realized how shameless she truly was behind closed doors.

The moment Sabrina saw me, her eyes filled with hostility, as though she feared I would scavenge in their trash cans.

"I should remind you," she said coldly, "you and Cedric are divorced now. You no longer have any relation to our child's parents!"

Cedric stood next to Sabrina, looking at me with contempt.

"No, she's playing stepmother to someone else's kid now."

They both laughed mockingly, and Sabrina eyed me up and down.

"Well, look at you, all decked out in knockoffs. Elara, you're still so vain!"

"How are you leaving? Don’t tell me you’re riding a bike? Do you want me to give you a lift?"

Right. Since I was about to divorce Cedric anyway, I had never told him the truth about my family’s situation.

They still thought I was just some poor farmer from the mountains.

Before I could speak, Silas blocked me.

"Mom, I’m not used to riding in a car worth only a few thousand. Didn’t Dad buy you a car? Our driver will pick us up soon."