[XXV]

In the afternoon, Lucy and Bob went out to see houses. In the meantime, Hazel drew up a property agreement. It said, "After the marriage, all properties under our names will remain our

own, including all real estate properties. After the divorce, neither of us will be allowed to take any property in the other's name."

Hazel had thought that Zac would pull a long face when he read the agreement, but contrary to what she had expected, he remained as calm as a lake, without the slightest emotions on his face.

Were his face muscles stiff because of the stimulation? She was extremely worried. To be honest, the last thing she wanted was to hurt his fragile ego, but his reaction was hard to predict.

When it came to money, there were a lot of couples who ended up hurting each other, so she had to prepare for the future.

"Zac, I honestly don't mean anything by this. You see, there are a lot of couples who fight during their divorce over the division of their properties. They become enemies who end up trampling on the every last bit of their relationship. We bumped into each other by accident, so it's inevitable for us to get divorced one day. If we have already foreseen all possible disputes by then, then we'll be able to get along well with each other and continue to be friends. Don't you agree?" Hazel made sure that her voice was tender and gentle.

Zac smiled. Hazel was always very confused. But when it came to money, all the slumbering nerves in her brain would suddenly light up, and she would become smarter than ever. It was a good thing. She was not easy to deceive, but...

"Honey, that's not fair to you. I will leave all of my belongings with you, and I won't take a single thing from you. But why does this agreement say that I will take my belongings with me?"

Hazel put her hand on her forehead. She actually felt dizzy from all this!

'Zac, what else do you have except for the clothes in your suitcase? You had nothing when we registered!' she thought to herself.

All the money they would spend on buying the house was hers. And when they got divorced, Zac shouldn't be able to take even a note with him!

She chose her words carefully, and tried to put it in a more euphemistic way. "Zac, I never take advantage of others. All of your stuff belongs to you. You can take them all with you, without having to give me even a single piece of paper," she said with a gentle smile.

Then she handed him the pen and asked him to sign his name on the agreement. To her surprise, Zac put the agreement into his pocket and said, "Leave it here and I'll sign it later."

"Well, don't delay it for too long. I need to hand this over to the notarization department." She pouted. If he insisted on fooling her, she would take his hand at night and force him to stamp while he was asleep!

Over the next few days, the entire family became busy with house hunting, but they couldn't find anything that was particularly satisfactory, either because of inconvenient transportation or the insufficient supporting facilities.

When weekend came, William arrived.

"Hazel, Zac said that you are going to buy a house. My company has an apartment. Do you want to check it out?"

"Of course!" Hazel said. With a sparkle in her eyes, Hazel thought, 'There must be some special discount for members of the company!'

They drove up to the Legendary at the upscale residential area in the city center.

Before they could even get out of the car, Hazel already felt upset. She knew for a fact that the average price in that area was 80,000 dollars, and there was no way they'd be able to afford it even with a discount. They mostly looked for houses in the high-end buildings in the suburbs.

The apartment William showed them had a total area of 120 square meters. It was a duplex apartment with three bedrooms, two

living rooms, and a small store room. It was a very large apartment, and it even had its own entryway to the private garden on the rooftop.

Hearing the details of the apartment from William, Lucy looked quite satisfied. "The room and balcony are facing southeast. Based on Yang City's location, it's the best view," she said.

Bob nodded in agreement. "The ceilings are nice too. Not too high and not too low. There's also good lighting here."

Hazel just stood next to them, not saying a word. She couldn't afford this place, and all she could do was look. Zac cast a glance at her from the corner of his eye. He knew exactly what she was thinking. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Honey, what do you think? We can buy this place if you like," he said deliberately.

'Do you think I'm very rich?' Hazel thought to herself.

With her savings, she could only afford a bathroom, anyway. Hazel rolled her eyes at Zac's words and said, "I'll sell you and I'll buy it."

"How much do you think I can sell for?" Zac teased. She then narrowed her eyes and looked at him with a mocking smile on her face. "I can sell you to a rich woman, and then I can afford the house here," she said.

"Okay, I'll sell myself to you, rich woman," he replied teasingly. William was very surprised to see Zac gently touch Hazel's nose and wear a doting look on his face.

Wasn't it said that he was the most cold blooded man who had crushed countless people's hearts? Even though he was doing this to win Hazel over and prevent his political marriage, wasn't it too much?

As far as William knew, Zac hated touching women, so why was he holding Hazel so tightly now? Was he just very good at acting, or was it more than just an act?

"William, how much is it for the house?" Lucy asked.

"Fifteen thousand," William replied.

What? "How much is it?" Hazel asked in surprise. She must have misheard him.

"Fifteen thousand," William repeated, louder this time.

The more Hazel thought about it, the more thrilled she became. Her eyes lit up so much excitement that it was as if gold had fallen from the sky. "The average price in this area is around eighty thousand, isn't it?" she asked.

"The office buildings and residential areas in this area were developed by the company of my boss. This is a welfare house. Since I have been working for the company for many years, he approved the price himself."

"Wow, you are so rich now!" Hazel said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Hazel, you are so lucky to be married to Zac. You are also rich!" said William as he glanced at Zac and gave him a smile.

Staring at them, Bob said, "William, why don't you buy it yourself since it's so cheap?"

"I just bought a house in Dragon City, and I'm still working on it. I won't be able to afford another apartment even if the price was as low as 8,000," William replied, pretending to be helpless.

He had a lot of experience in the underworld. In fact, people would get scared at the sound of his name, but now, he was pretending to be nothing more than a poor house slave. What a strange experience it was.

But on second thought, it wasn't as strange as an arrogant boss who could call the wind and rain having to dress up as a poor hobo to please his wife and parents-in-law!

He got psychological balance instantly. He really admired the acting skills of the big boss. Given his cold, decisive, arrogant, and unruly character, it was surely difficult for him to act like a sunny and warm man. If he ever wanted to enter the entertainment industry, he would probably be worthy of a best actor Oscar winner.

Bob understood what William was worried about. As the most prosperous and influential place in the eastern region, Dragon City had properties with sky-high prices. There was no way average wage owners could afford two apartments with one apartment there.

Meanwhile, Hazel could not be happier at William's words. She was thinking that she must have saved the entire universe in her previous life for her to be this lucky. "I'm going upstairs to have a look," she said. She needed to find a place to laugh wildly!

Downstairs, Lucy and Bob were discussing the payment for the house when Zac cut them off and said, "Dad, mom, I'll buy the house with my money. You should save the money for when you two are old."

Hazel heard Zac's words all the way from the second floor and rushed downstairs. "Zac, do you have money to buy the house?" she asked.

"The stock market is in good condition these days and I have made some money from my stock market speculation. I have enough money to buy the house," Zac said, understating his wealth.

Hearing what Zac said, Hazel's eyes wandered about. 'No wonder he's in no hurry to find a job even though he is unemployed,' she thought to herself. It turned out that he was making money secretly and was lucky enough to earn a lot!

"I didn't expect that you're that capable," said Hazel.

William glanced at her with some sympathy. This girl really knew nothing about his boss. He was some sort of god in Wall Street.

He put a stop to a financial crisis in Wall Street at the age of eighteen! Once Buffett and Soros got old and retired, the king of finance was probably going to be his boss.

Lowering his head, Zac smiled and touched her face. "It must be my wife who has brought me the best luck. Ever since I got married, the stock I bought has soared above and beyond."

Hazel was wild with joy upon hearing Zac's words. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. I'll give you more good luck from now on. You can invest more in the stock market and make even more money."

William was sweating in his heart. The sight of his boss and his wife flirting was so weird that he needed some time to adapt. But of course, he understood that as well.

Zac had always been good at deciphering other people's minds. Rather than coercing others, he preferred to make people willingly surrender to him and go through fire and water for him.

Therefore, he didn't want to force Hazel to help him stop the wedding by offering her money or something. Instead, he wanted to make her fall in love with him so that she would help him deal with the troublesome problem he had.

After Zac insisted on paying for the apartment, Lucy and Bob didn't say anything more. As the head of the family, a man still needed to maintain his dignity. If he relied on his father-in-law to buy a house, it would be difficult for him to be proud in front of his wife. So they decided to keep their money and secretly compensate the couple for their food instead.

A few days later, William sent the property ownership certificate to Hazel. She opened it and was just about to peek at the content, but she was shocked by what she saw.

Hazel ran after William, but he was nowhere to be found when she reached downstairs. She even wanted to call him but she couldn't, because she did not have his contact details.

That time, Zac was accompanying her parents to buy furniture in shops in the city. Hazel was chasing an order, so she was unable to go with them.

She thought the matter was one of great importance, so she immediately called Zac and asked him to return as soon as possible.

Upon arrival, Zac calmly looked at the property ownership certificate, but there was an unfathomable glint in his eyes. "I didn't bring my ID card yesterday. You were the one who signed the contract, so I put your name on the property ownership certificate."

"Wasn't it William who took care of it? Why didn't he tell you about it?" Hazel let out a sigh, exasperated at the carelessness of the staff at the Housing Management Bureau.

"William had no idea until he got the certificate. It doesn't matter, though, as long as it has one of our names," Zac said in an indifferent tone, but Hazel was sweating. How could it not matter? The house belonged to the person whose name appeared on the property certificate. In case they got divorced later, he could only get half of the property.

'Is this person really that kind or just too gullible? Doesn't he even know the basics, like keeping one's heart hidden for the sake of self-preservation?' It was lucky that he met her; had it been another woman, that person would have already extorted money from him.

"Hurry, call William and ask him to replace the name in the property ownership certificate. This is your house, Zac. Every square inch of the floor and every brick are yours. It has nothing to do with me."

Zac sighed, an embarrassed look crossing his face. "Once the certificate has been submitted, we can't change it anymore.

Changes have to be processed as a transfer. However, the service charge and business tax fees add up to nearly one hundred thousand dollars if the property is transferred within five years."

"That much?" exclaimed Hazel in shock.

"Just leave it be. We'll talk about it after five years," Zac said with a confident smile. He knew her. She was always careful with money and would never give money for nothing.

Sure enough, Hazel fell silent again, her bright black eyes looking slightly glassy, as if deep in thought.

After several long moments, she gently bit her lip and asked, "What about the property agreement I gave you last time?"

Zac opened a drawer and brought out the document.

Hazel saw that the agreement was already signed. Surprise and shame filled her at the sight.

There was an adage saying that, "A knave thinks of others in terms of his own desires". That seemed particularly suitable for her at that moment.

She bit her lip and tore the agreement in half. "I'll draw up another agreement stating that you'll get the house after we divorce." She turned around to leave, but Zac stopped her. "Do we really need this?"

Hazel turned to him, expression slightly confused. "Aren't you worried that I might end up sharing the property with you?"

He smiled. "If you want it, I will give the entire thing to you, including myself. What do you think?"

It was a very serious matter, but Zac did not seem to think so. The way he said it, it was like he was teasing her.

"Don't even dream of tying me up!" Hazel said in a mock warning tone. She pouted her lips and pretended to be angry at him. "You may have made a small fortune and own a house now, but I still don't see the appeal. I'm not the sort of person who is moved by wealth and power. So after we get divorced, I'll give you back the whole house. Just call me, and I will take my ID card and go to the Housing Management Bureau to have the property transferred." Meeting Zac's inscrutable glance, Hazel continued resolutely,

"Also, when I move into your house, I intend to pay the rent to you monthly according to the family rule. I won't be a freeloader."

Zac's eyes flickered slightly. He put his arms around Hazel's shoulders and said, "My dear wife, you should know better by now..."

"Know what?" Hazel asked quizzically.