ire was initially unaware that Jacob had been drinking.


    However, upon approaching him, she immediately detected the strong odor of alcohol emanating from him. Anger surged within her as she thought about her father!


    She recognized that Jacob typically enjoyed a drink, and she had no strong feelings about that. But the issue at hand was that he had imed he was going to various mahjong halls to search for her mother. So why was he returning home intoxicated?


    This only confirmed her fears that he hadn’t gone out to find her mother at all! He had simply gone out to… drink!


    When Jacob heard ire question him about his drinking, he panicked, quickly covering his mouth and stepping back. He stammered, “Don’t say silly things! I wasn’t drinking!”<h3 style="background-color:DodgerBlue">


    “You’re the one being ridiculous!” ire eximed, stomping her foot in frustration. “I can smell alcohol on you! You didn’t have that smell when you left home, but now it’s overwhelming! You must have been drinking!”


    As she continued, ire’s gazended on Jacob’s cor, where she spotted some oil stains. Her eyes narrowed with anger as she eximed, “Mom is already missing, and we can’t find her at all. Yet here you are, out eating and drinking without a care! Are you really that carefree?”


    Jacob, feeling embarrassed, stuttered, “Oh, I…I truly didn’t…”


    ire shot back, “Dad, do you honestly think I’ll believe you?”


    Realizing he was cornered, Jacob turned to Charlie and said, “It was Charlie who suggested we go out for a drink!”


    Immediately, Jacob winked at Charlie, silently urging him to take the me.


    Without hesitation, Charlie nodded and said, “That’s right! It was my idea for Dad to go out for a drink.”


    Charlie knew full well that he hadn’t had a single drink, while Jacob was clearly inebriated. The more Jacob insisted that this was Charlie’s idea, the less ire would believe him.


    Sure enough, ire stomped her foot again, saying, “Dad, are you seriously trying to pin the me on Charlie right now? Can’t you act a bit more responsibly?”


    Jacob’s face darkened as he replied, “I’m just telling you the truth. If you refuse to believe me, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”


    He quickly added, “Oh, I must be getting old. It’s not even ten o’clock yet, and I’m already feeling exhausted. I’m heading to my room to rest.”


    ire wanted to stop him, but he dashed away without a backward nce.


    Feeling desperate, ire turned to Charlie and said, “You’re partly to me too! I called you to check where you were, and you told me you were searching various mahjong halls while you were actually out eating and drinking with my dad!”<fna38c> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on find[?]ovel</fna38c>


    Charlie coughed lightly before responding, “Well, your dad said he was hungry and ufortable. I couldn’t just drag an old man around when he was hungry, could I? What if he fainted from low blood sugar?”


    “But you should have been honest with me! Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth that you were both eating?”


    Charlie found himself at a loss for words, realizing he had mishandled the situation. He hadn’t anticipated ire would discover Jacob had been drinking. If he had known, he would have never taken Jacob to the barbecue stall.


    So, Charlie sincerely apologized, saying, “I’m really sorry, my dear wife. I shouldn’t have lied to you about this. But Dad insisted I keep it from you, so I couldn’t tell you the truth over the phone.”


    Interestingly, Charlie felt no guilt as he said this.


    After all, they were merely shifting me onto one another. With Jacob not present, it was natural for Charlie to deflect responsibility back to him.


    ire believed Charlie’s words instantly, thinking this was all her father’s doing. She understood that Charlie must have feltpelled to lie since he was right next to Jacob.


    Even though she was less angry, she still felt deeply wronged. With a sigh, she broke down emotionally, saying, “Charlie, my mother is missing. It feels like my father doesn’t care about her at all, and it seems you don’t either! How can I possibly find her alone? If something terrible happens to her, I won’t be able to live with myself for the rest of my life! I’ll never forgive myself until the day I die!”


    Charlie quickly rushed tofort ire, saying, “Don’t think that way. Nothing bad will happen to your mother.”