Chapter 830

“Not cooperating?” Adela’s face darkened as she turned to her youngest son. “Why aren’t you cooperating? Don’t you want to be a father?”

“Honestly, no,” Jamison said calmly. “Just the two of us is nice.”

Adela Ludwig glanced at Ivy’s mouth. Her lip was clearly injured, causing her to sip her soup cautiously, wincing from time to time as the heat likely stung. The old lady, recalling her granddaughter’s earlier comment, felt a flush of secondhand embarrassment. “No matter how nice it is, you could at least be a little more civilized. You’ve lost all semblance of maturity and composure.”

Biting your wife’s lip until it bleeds… aren’t you ashamed to be seen in public? the old lady thought to herself, not daring to say it aloud.

Jamison replied distractedly, “How am I not civilized? And where am I not mature and composed? Just because I don’t want to have a child, you find fault with everything I do?”

Adela Ludwig rolled her eyes in exasperation. She called for a maid to help her up and stormed away.

Ivy looked at her husband. “You’ve made your mother angry.”

“When is she not angry?” Jamison said, unfazed.

Ivy was speechless.

Jamison couldn’t understand the stubbornness of the older generation. Why, when they already had grandchildren, did they insist on pressuring him to have a child? He hadn’t said he wouldn’t, just that he wanted to wait a couple of years. What was the big deal? Looking at his mother’s improving health, it seemed she could easily live another two years, maybe even to a hundred.

After a lively evening at the estate, Jamison finally drove his wife home at eleven o’clock.

As they waved goodbye to Thad and his wife and rolled up the car window, Ivy settled into her seat and sighed with envy. “Your brother and sister-in-law have such a great relationship. They have three kids, and they’re still like a couple in the throes of first love.”

Ivy’s observation came from seeing the couple holding hands so naturally as they saw them off. People online often joked that a kiss between a middle-aged couple was a recipe for a nightmare, but looking at Thad and his wife, Ivy was sure they kissed more than once a day.

Jamison smiled faintly and reached over with one hand to take Ivy’s. “You don’t have to envy them,” he said gently. “We’ll be like that too. When we’re old and gray, with no teeth left, we’ll still be like a couple in love.”

Ivy imagined the scene and swatted his hand away. “Just drive properly!” she said, annoyed. Being in love at eighty seemed a bit indecent.

Jamison chuckled, putting his hand back on the steering wheel. “It’s late. If you’re tired, go ahead and sleep. I’ll wake you when we get home.”

He had barely finished speaking when Ivy let out a long yawn. “I’ve been so busy these last few days, I haven’t even had time for a break at noon…” she mumbled.

“You’re just an intern, but you’re worrying like you’re the CEO. The next time they make you work overtime, just quit. You need to focus on your graduation thesis this semester anyway. You might as well go back to school.” Jamison was still bothered by the fact that if he hadn’t stormed up there to rescue her, she might have worked even later. He supported her career, but he hated seeing her so exhausted.

“And you’re still thinking about getting pregnant,” he added, deliberately bringing up the topic. “With your current work schedule, it’s really not a good time for us to have a child.” He hoped Ivy would put the idea on hold for a while.

Ivy rested her head against the seat, already half-asleep. “Let’s just let nature take its course,” she murmured. “We can’t force it.”

She considered that they hadn’t used any contraception since they had resumed their married life, and still, there was no news. It seemed trying for a baby couldn’t be rushed.

But just as she closed her eyes, she sat up and turned to him. “Even if we let nature take its course, you still need to get a physical. We need to see if you’re… you know… normal down there. If there’s a problem, we can address it early.”

Jamison pursed his lips and frowned, then retorted after a moment of silence, “Have I not satisfied you or something? Why do you keep suspecting there’s something wrong with me?”

“It’s about being scientific when trying to conceive…”

Ivy’s prediction came true.

The late-day rally from the previous trading session did not sustain the market’s recent bull run. All three major stock indexes opened lower and continued to fall. Nearly ninety percent of stocks were in the red, painting a grim picture for the entire market.

The sectors that had seen significant gains recently, including film stocks, continued to lead the decline.

Ivy could feel the pressure and regret from her colleagues. She said nothing, just kept her head down and focused on her work.

After the market closed at three in the afternoon, a frazzled Edmond came to find her personally.

“Ivy, the market trend followed your prediction exactly. Even the index levels were close to what you estimated,” Edmond said, his voice full of admiration and praise.

The colleagues who had previously scoffed at her now looked at her with newfound respect.

One of them even asked in disbelief, “Ivy, are you a time traveler? How could you predict the index levels so accurately? It’s unbelievable!”

Ivy didn’t take all the credit. “That part was just luck,” she said with a smile. “But my prediction about the film stocks was based on extensive data analysis. If you had listened to my advice earlier, we could have avoided these tens of millions in losses.”

Her colleagues lowered their heads, silent.

Edmond thought for a moment, then said, “Tomorrow, you’re in charge of trading. I’ll have the other departments cooperate with you. We need to minimize the losses as much as possible.”