The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

Mango's excitement was evident.

Nathaniel took a quick look and paused for a moment when he saw that it was Doris.

"She sent a message at this moment. Could it be she has information on Barack's whereabouts?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Mango clicked on Doris's message excitedly.

"Mango, Barack is in Augustus's hands."

Nathaniel and Mango were stunned by this short sentence.

Augustus Abbott?

Nathaniel was particularly surprised.

Not long ago, he had run into Maverick. If he had known that Barack was captured by Augustus, he would have asked Maverick.

No wonder Maverick asked him not to intervene in these matters. He already knew this, didn't he?

Nathaniel's face turned sullen.

Mango's brows were knitted together tightly.

"Where's Augustus?"

She seemed to be muttering to herself, feeling somewhat dejected.

Nathaniel looked at her and said after hesitating for a while, "I don't know where Augustus is, but his son Maverick should be here."

"Come again?"

Mango stared at Nathaniel in surprise.

Nathaniel heaved a sigh and said, "The man we met at Nick's grave is Maverick."

"Say what?"

Although Mango had guessed that the man was not any ordinary civilian, she didn't expect him to be Nathaniel's half-brother. She couldn't help but be surprised.

Nathaniel said with a bitter smile, "Don't overthink it. I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just felt that it was unnecessary to tell you. How... how should I put it? He didn't mean us ill. He was just there to persuade me not to meddle in Morgan's business, but I refused."

"Oh? So he advised you not to meddle with Morgan's business? Does he have something to do with Morgan's matter?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with Augustus. Now I begin to think that Augustus was definitely involved in what happened that year."

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the scenery outside. He whispered, "The destruction of Longford County happened because Augustus gave Benny the map to enter the village. He said that he did it because Nanny Zhang was the successor of Longford County, so she was responsible for the village. She could not be with him as long as the village existed. He said that as long as Longford County disappeared, Nanny Zhang would be with him whole-heartedly. But there was a problem that I can't wrap my finger around."

"What is it?"

Mango looked at Nathaniel and asked. Usually, the problem that he pointed out was basically the key point.

Nathaniel said in a low voice, "Longford County is a village that had closed off itself to the outside world. For thousands of years, its inhabitants had been marrying each other. And they never have any contact with outsiders. Augustus is not a member of Longford County. How did he enter it? It is said that he hid in the mountains behind Longford County. But you have seen those mountains? One would need to go through the front door of Longford County and even the ancestral temple in order to get to the mountains. Do you think it is possible to sneak an outsider in there quietly? Even if Nanny Zhang was the successor of the county, it was unlikely for her to hide him for too long. However, not only did Augustus manage to sneak in, but he had a child with Nanny Zhang as well. The birth of the child even led to the destruction of Longford County. For more than a year, no one noticed that there was actually another person hidden in the county. Do you think it is possible?"

Mango understood immediately upon hearing Nathaniel's words.

"Do you mean that Nanny Zhang didn't sneak Augustus inside secretly, but he actually went in with everyone's knowledge? Maybe he even had a great reputation in the county, that's why he could stay in Longford County that resented outsiders very much for more than a year?"

"Yes, but Longford County has always been hostile to outsiders. Why is Augustus special? Maybe something had happened in the county that we don't know about. I'm talking about any important incident one year before the county was destroyed."

This was something Nathaniel couldn't fathom.

Perhaps he would make sense of what happened in Longford County after he figured this problem out.

Right now, it seemed that they knew the real reason for the destruction of Longford County, but it was only a superficial reason. The only one who knew the truth was likely Barack. It was a pity that he was captured by Augustus.

Who else knew the incident in Longford County back in those days?

Nathaniel knew very well that Maverick had tried to persuade him to leave and not intervene in certain things because of his conscience. Maverick did it for his own good, and because he saw Nathaniel as his brother.

Perhaps it was because Nick, or maybe Maverick really longed for family love. But if Maverick tried to hurt Augustus, Nathaniel was confident that the former couldn't do it.

Therefore, even if Maverick knew what happened in Longford County, he would not tell Nathaniel at all, let alone go against his father for his so-called brother.

Other than this, Nathaniel really couldn't think of anyone he could ask about the past.

Rita and Wisdom listened to him quietly, as if they had not heard anything. However, at this moment, Rita spoke suddenly.

"I know a person who may know the truth of Longford County's destruction back in those days."

"You do?"

Mango was quite surprised. She felt as if she knew her daughter less and less.

Rita felt a little embarrassed at being stared at by everyone. She scratched her head and said, "Mom, don't look at me like that. It's Angela. She is from Longford County, and she isn't exactly young now. Besides, when Longford County was destroyed, her mom survived because she was driven out of the village. Maybe she knows something."

Only now did Mango and Nathaniel think about Angela.

To Nathaniel, Angela was a woman who worked for Morgan. In order to protect her or keep her here for secret missions, it was necessary to give her some special identities and backgrounds. So at that time, Nathaniel didn't take her seriously when she said she was the descendant of Longford County. After all, Longford County's destruction was the answer given by his memory bug. Angela looks just like an average woman, who can't even beat Rita. Unexpectedly, she was really the descendant of Longford County.

At that moment, Angela didn't sense the Golden Lancehead Venom on him. It was the current head of Longford County, so Nathaniel felt that her identity was fake. It was invented so that it was more convenient for her to do things. Now he thought of it, this was likely because her mother was still alive, so she had no memory bug. That was the reason she couldn't recognize the real identity of Nathaniel.

After clarifying this point, Nathaniel understood everything all of a sudden.

"Where does Angela stay? Do we have to turn around?"

"No, her mom lives near our next stop. It's a small village, called Zelle Village."

Rita said with a grin.

At the thought of those good meals Angela owed her, she was in a pretty good mood.

Nathaniel could not help but smile when he saw Rita acting like this. He rubbed her head and said, "That's great."

"Of course it is!"

Rita felt a little proud.

Mango's lips curled upward slightly when she saw this scene.

Wisdom was still unable to get used to this kind of change in Rita. He asked in a low voice, "Didn't you simply come into contact with her just once? How did you know about this? Did Zion help you look into it as well?" "No, she told me this herself."

"When did she tell you?"

Rita was dumbfounded for a moment. She couldn't tell Wisdom that it was during the time he was knocked out and hidden in the kitchen cabinet by his mother, could she? If that was the case, wouldn't Wisdom know that she was also a sniper? He couldn't take the way she was right now anymore. If he knew that she knew how to shoot...

Rita felt that she should be merciful and kind to him.

"I can't remember. I only remembered that she wanted to treat me to good food. She said that there was a lot of tasty food here. She wanted to treat me to the birds flying in the sky, animals running on the ground, and fish swimming in the river. I didn't remember the rest of it."

At this moment, Angela couldn't help but sneeze several times. Her nose felt itchy.

Who was talking about her behind her back?

Nathaniel could not help but smile upon hearing Nathaniel's words.

Mango did not uncover Rita's lies either.

Although Wisdom was still a little baffled, he sighed and said in the end as he looked at Rita's bright eyes, "It's better for you to be a happy foodie."

"I think so too. And I've been working hard towards it."

Rita nodded her head solemnly, which elicited a smile from everyone.

The atmosphere was cheerful again.

Mango began to look forward to the trip.

Originally, she thought that they were here for Morgan's business, but she didn't expect that it was getting mixed up with what they wanted to investigate. No, it was actually the same matter from the beginning. Morgan was caught and restrained because of what happened in Longford County.

Perhaps Nathaniel was right. Morgan had to know something, or he had discovered the truth of Longford County's destruction back then. That was why he was implicated in this mess.

Mango stared at the road outside. She really wished that this matter could come to light as soon as possible.

Augustus!

This man, who had not been mentioned since a long time ago and had never appeared before, had unexpectedly become the key figure in this matter.

Why did he go to Longford County that year? It was intriguing that the people of Longford County had treated him differently. Perhaps they would know this answer soon.

Mango was looking forward to this, sp she was a little excited.

The matter of Longford County had troubled two generations. Nathaniel and Nick had led very poor lives because of this. If they could find a breakthrough and solve the injustice back then, it would be a fulfillment of all the lives lost.

Mango held Nathaniel's hand tightly as she was full of hope for the future.

Nathaniel also relaxed a little. When he saw the tenderness in Mango's eyes, his heart melted as well.

His own mission, his fate that he had to carry, and his life of being manipulated was painful for him. Fortunately, he met Mango because of these matters, and they were getting close and closer to each other. This was indeed a blessing in disguise.

Rita couldn't help but feel a little dejected when she saw how affectionate her parents were.

What should she do now that she felt sick of romance?

Why did she stay in this car when she had nothing to do here?

She had to see this public display of affection for no reason at all.

She bit down on the dragon fruit in a discouraged manner as she pretended that she didn't see anything.

Wisdom pursed his lips as he smiled.

The car soon arrived at Zelle Village. Rita was instantly delighted to see the beautiful scenery of the village.

She took a few photos with her mobile phone. Then she sent the photos and a message to Angela.

"Angela, I've reached your place now. Remember to treat me to dinner."

After sending the message, Rita fantasized about the sumptuous food happily for a while, but Nathaniel pulled her to him suddenely. Her heart couldn't help but skip a beat when she saw his serious expression.