Chapter 183: Money Walks, Maya Talks

Hearing her colleague’s regretful tone, Ellis quickly looked up and corrected, “Mr. Zion is just over thirty; he is not old. He’s in his prime.”

“Mr. Zion isn’t forty yet?” The colleague, influenced by the assumption that Zion, being Easton’s uncle in his twenties, must be around forty, was surprised to learn that Zion was only in his early thirties.

“Yeah, he should be between thirty-three and thirty-five, definitely not over thirty-five.” Ellis had seen Zion a few times, and he indeed belonged to the category of young and successful.

“You’ve met Mr. Zion?”

“Yep.”

“Where did you meet him?” the colleague pressed.

“I forgot.” Ellis genuinely couldn’t remember. She had met many people in the upper circles, and Zion was Morty’s enigmatic uncle. She didn’t hold any bias against Zion due to Morty, but couldn’t recall the specific occasions she’d met him.

“Who’s more handsome, Mr. Zion or Mr. Morty?”

One question after another, Ellis was caught between amusement and exasperation. Why focus on whether some guy they didn’t know was handsome during work hours?

Ellis saved the latest version of the process plan and stated seriously, “Dear colleagues, we’re at work, not off work. Let’s save the handsome guys discussion for after hours.”

However, her colleagues playfully retorted, “A balance of work and leisure!”

“Besides, we need something to perk us up when work gets tiring!”

“Handsome guys are the best pick-me-ups!”

“No more handsome talk…” Ellis interjected with slight resignation. “If we keep this up, I won’t finish my work and will have to stay late.”

Hearing that Ellis truly didn’t want to continue the topic, the colleagues tactfully switched back to work.

After finishing with her colleagues, Ellis opened WhatsApp, which she hadn’t checked in half a day. She wanted to see what new messages Maya had sent her, but the first message she saw was from Morty, “Maya’s godmother, what time do you get off today? Coming to Petal Estates?”

Being involuntarily assigned a dog daughter and called Maya’s godmother was enough to make Ellis want to scold Morty directly. But considering the Christmas gift from Nexus Group, which she’d resold for 14,000 dollars, she decided to be a bit nicer to Morty.

She sent back an emoji of a puppy rolling its eyes, then typed, “Tomorrow.”

“Got anything?”

After sending the message, she hadn’t even switched to chatting with Maya when Morty replied instantly, “Can you help me walk Maya tomorrow!”

Reading the message, Ellis didn’t know what to say. Morty had already asked her to walk the dog before, and she had refused. Now he’s asking again! Just because his dog daughter likes me, does that mean I have to spend my time walking the dog?

She was busy, okay! Her fingers danced over the keyboard, crafting a sarcastic response to subtly mock Morty. Suddenly, a new message popped up, its background red. The other party has initiated a transfer of 1280 dollars, described as ‘compensation for Maya’s godmother’s troubles.’

Stopped in her tracks, Ellis counted the digits of the amount: 1280 dollars for walking the dog? Morty is generous when it comes to outsourcing his dog-walking duties!

Quietly deleting the text she’d typed, she hesitated to immediately agree to Morty’s request, wrestling with her decision. How did that saying go? Something about the poor… Right, beggars can’t be choosers. The temptation of money was hard for anyone to resist, especially when short on cash.

Considering their relationship was now more about business than anything else, she clicked confirm on the transfer. With enough money, she’d do more than walk the dog; she’d serve its master too!

“This much only covers half an hour of walking, Maya.” Unable to commit to more than thirty minutes of dog walking the next day, she hedged to prevent Morty from accusing her of taking money without performing.

Ellis suspected Morty lived inside his phone because he replied instantly again. Just like the previous message, he transferred another 1280 dollars, saying, “Buying an hour of your time!”

There was a belief that the poor traded time for money, while the rich traded money for time. She hadn’t grasped this concept before, but now it was crystal clear. Morty could easily buy her time with a bit of cash, and she felt no shame or humiliation about it. As long as the money was earned through legal means, it was respectable.

“Let’s talk tomorrow; I’m not sure I can spare a full hour to walk the dog.”

After replying to Morty, Ellis went back to messaging Maya. They chatted back and forth for ten minutes, and Morty didn’t reply again. She wasn’t interested in pondering why he didn’t reply, or if he thought the conversation had ended.

However, a pressing question remained! How did he think that just sending money was enough to get me to do things? Recalling how Amelia had once brought over a cake, emphasizing its high cost and acting as if eating it was a privilege for her, Ellis’s vision momentarily darkened.