Chapter 568: 568: Do You Really Think We’re Stupid?

“I’m not asking for much,” Cindy quickly said, “Even a small place is fine. I just want to live in a slightly better environment.”

“What do you mean? We are not asking you for money, but now you’re asking us for money?” Christy looked at Cindy incredulously.

How could that be?

They came all this way, not asking for a single penny, yet they still have to give money to Cindy?

That’s not possible!

“Aren’t you living well now?” Joshua frowned, “Zoe said you’re making a lot of money.”

“That’s right! Zoe said you make tons of money! Even a single ad is worth hundreds of thousands!” Christy immediately added.

“You’re still trusting what Zoe says?” Cindy sat down on the couch, looking pitiful, “She’s always been hostile to me. What truth could you hear from her mouth?”

Remembering this, Joshua went along with it: “I think Zoe’s a nice kid, and she’s quite polite in her conversations. Maybe there’s some misunderstanding between you two?”

Cindy lowered her head, suppressing the disgust she felt about these words, and asked, “Dad, which tickets for the Cooking Competition did you buy? How much did you spend?”

Joshua didn’t understand why Cindy suddenly jumped to this topic.

“We bought the cheapest stand tickets, the 199 kind, but scalper tickets were 2000 each,” Joshua replied honestly.

Cindy shook her head with a bitter smile, “The 199 stand tickets, even from a scalper, could be bought for 299. Let’s just assume it’s 300 a piece, she made aprofit of 1700 from you, a total of 3400.”

“Would you trust someone like that?” Cindy said, “Maybe you don’t believe the ticket prices I mentioned. Let me show you.”

Cindy pulled up someone’s IG stories on her mobile phone, scrolled down a bit, and showed it to him.

“Look, this is a scalper from my IG stories, he posted these prices last week. These were his prices near the time of the Competition,” Cindy continued.

Without letting Joshua hold the phone, Cindy opened the price chart the scalper posted and zoomed in for Joshua to see clearly.

“Here’s the original price, 199, and the corresponding price when buying from him is 299,” Cindy explained.

“Although the Cooking Competition is somewhat popular now due to some incidents, the ticket demand isn’t high enough to drive the prices up that drastically. There are only a few famous singers who can still hold concerts in Sports Stadiums,” Cindy said.

“Of these, only two have their tickets sold out the moment pre-sales are launched. Even so, the highest markup for scalped tickets is 5000. And the 5000 markup is for front-row seats where you can request songs,” Cindy continued.

“For stand tickets in the back, the maximum markup is 200 to 300. That’s for the most popular singers. But the Cooking Competition’s target audience isn’t as broad as the singers’. Why would a 199 stand ticket sell for 2000?”

Cindy laughed, “So, how can you trust what Zoe says?”

“Besides, Zoe is a food blogger like me. If she was really making that much money, would she need to profit from the ticket price difference? She gets hundreds of thousands for a single ad, would she care about such a small amount of money? It also damages her reputation,”

“If Zoe is willing to make money this way, it means being a blogger isn’t actually that profitable. I have a similar reputation as her, so why would you think I could make hundreds of thousands?”

“If I were that rich, why would I push myself to join the Cooking Competition just to get more attention?”

Joshua became silent again, Cindy’s words made sense.

Zoe was also quite famous.

Although they didn’t know about Zoe before.

They later found out about her because they saw Cindy in her live stream and learned that Zoe was a famous food blogger as well.

But if Zoe, who was so famous, was having such a hard time.

Cindy’s situation would definitely not be as glamorous as Zoe claimed.

Moreover, Joshua wasn’t a fool, though he was easily swayed.

He noticed Zoe’s intention to stay for free food when she visited Nork City for the first time.

But at that time, he didn’t think it was inappropriate.

Now, with Cindy’s reminder, Joshua recalled it.

So, Joshua began to doubt the authenticity of Zoe’s words.

“You’re not fooling us!” Christy shouted, “You think we haven’t watched your videos?”

Christy cursed Joshua for being so foolish and then turned to Cindy, “Your kitchen in the video is so luxurious!”

“Do you really think we’re stupid? Cindy, you’re lying without even bothering to cover it up! I wonder how many of the words you’ve said to us all along are true?”

“The video is right there, and you still want to deceive us?” Christy grabbed Joshua’s arm, “Joshua, you heard what she said, didn’t you?”

“When she can lie so blatantly, who knows if what she said just now is true or false? Maybe it’s all just her lying to us!” Christy immediately started crying for Joshua to see, “That’s why I’m being wrongly accused!”

“It’s Cindy who is accusing me! Don’t believe her! She’s full of lies!” Christy said.

“Enough!” Joshua pushed Christy away. “There’s solid evidence, and it’s not an accusation!”

But Cindy knew Joshua too well.

He might sound firm now, but when he thought about it again, he would surely have more doubts.

So, Cindy was prepared.

“Dad, if you don’t believe me, I can take you to see for yourself,” Cindy said.

“I believe, I have no doubt about you,” Joshua quickly replied.

Cindy showed a grateful smile to Joshua and said, “I know, but I still have to let you see for yourself, just for peace of mind.”

“Mom says I’m lying to you, and I need to clear my name,” Cindy explained.

“Just like when she and Wendy sold me before, Mom said I was talking nonsense and deceiving people. But I have the hotel’s surveillance, so I can prove that I wasn’t lying,” Cindy said.

“Perhaps she didn’t expect me to think of getting the surveillance footage from the hotel. She thought that after five years, whatever happened back then wouldn’t be easy to prove and hold her accountable,” Cindy continued sarcastically.

Christy clenched her teeth in anger.

This little bastard always brought up the incident of Wendy and her selling her whenever she had the chance.

Joshua was finally about to let it go, but now, it’s brought up again by Cindy.

As soon as Joshua was reminded of this, the anger that had just subsided surged back into his forehead.

“That’s right, you’re right!” Joshua declared.

“I trust you, but since someone doubts you, let’s show your mother the truth this time, and see what else she can say!” Joshua shouted angrily.

“You are a good child and wouldn’t lie,”