That was the telling sign that she was feeling guilty.

Her eyes darted around aimlessly, and her voice trembled ever so slightly.

"You... what nonsense are you talking about? What’s the meaning of this?"

I smiled, bent down to pick up a petal, and offered it to her.

"Didn't you say these are just ordinary lilies?"

Hera turned her face away and tightly pursed her lips, refusing to speak.

Seeing her reaction, Sarah jumped up from her chair and grabbed a broom to clean up the flowers.

"This is ridiculous! You're ruining the dinner! Fine, I'll clean it up so that a certain jealous person can stop making a fuss."

My mother, infuriated by her words, shook with rage, "What do you mean by that, Sarah?"

I soothingly patted my mother's back, then harshly shouted at Sarah, "Don't move!"

She was startled into stillness. I snatched the broom from her and tossed it aside.

Then, I stepped forward, cornering Hera between me and the mess.

"Are you feeling guilty now? Didn't you say these flowers were fine? What are you afraid of?"

My questioning made her eyes dart around, afraid to meet my gaze.

Peter slammed his fork down in anger, his face turning red and pale in turns.

He banged the table again. "Enough, everyone. What’s all this ruckus for? This should be a celebration; what have we turned it into? Sit down and eat. Keep causing a scene, and you can leave!"

With that, he cast me a meaningful glance.

I knew those words were directed at me.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Hera immediately rushed to the door, her movements a bit awkward.

The door was flung open.

Standing at the door was the student she claimed was innocent, Terry Nash.

He was wearing a white shirt and carrying fine tea and tonics, which he was going to give to my in-laws.

When he saw the scene inside the house, his handsome face paled, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Professor... Mr. Lawson... what happened?

"Are you... are you upset because of the flowers I gave you?

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have given you lilies, but I wanted to wish you and Mr. Lawson a happy marriage; I have no other intentions.

"The florist said this bouquet is popular, so she recommended it to me.

"Sorry to disturb you; I’ll leave now."

As he spoke, he walked into the living room, placed the gifts down, and turned to leave.

What could have been done in three seconds took him a whole three minutes.

"Wait." Sarah couldn't hold back anymore. She immediately rushed forward while casting an accusing glance at Hera.

She grabbed Terry’s hands, pressed him down onto the couch, and turned to shoot me a look filled with disdain. "It's not your fault, boy! Some people are just narrow-minded and can't tolerate others!"

While Sarah was pulling the boy away, I clearly caught the provocative and smug glance Terry shot at me.

I ignored it and simply said in a calm tone, "Get out."

Hera looked at me in disbelief.

She clenched her fists and said with unbearable anger, "Stanley! What did he do wrong? You don’t like lilies, and he’s already apologized! He’s just a twenty-year-old kid, innocent and straightforward. The florist recommended the flowers to him, why are you taking it out on him? I warn you, don’t project your filthy thoughts onto an innocent kid."

Sarah stood protectively in front of Terry. "I dare anyone to try and kick him out!"

She then unleashed her fury, aiming her firepower at me.

"Stanley, you and Hera have been married for five years now, yet you still can't get Hera pregnant. And now you're treating our guest like this. You just stay in your lab all day without even fulfilling the most basic function as a man. It’s truly unfortunate that Hera married you; what terrible luck for her! I’ve said it long ago, a man who can’t have children has a dark heart! Because you feel inferior, you can’t stand to see others do well!"

"Watch your mouth!" My dad finally couldn't hold back anymore. He stepped forward to shield me behind him and glared at Sarah.

"Back then, it was Hera who knelt before me, begging and pleading to marry my son. And now, this is how your family treats my son?"

Peter slowly put down his teacup and said to my dad, "Bruce, calm down. What she said was harsh, but she was just speaking out of anger. Let's not get involved in women's affairs."

With one sentence, he defined Sarah's vicious curses as "women's affairs", causing my dad to breathe heavily in anger.

I held my dad back and questioned Terry, "You gave us these flowers. Don't tell me you have no idea what's inside?"

He stared at me with innocent eyes. "Mr. Lawson, what are you saying? I bought these flowers from the flower shop. If you think there's something wrong with the flowers, I can call the flower shop and ask."

He pretended to take out his phone to make a call.

I watched his performance coldly.

With these words, he not only completely cleared himself of blame, pushing all the responsibility onto the flower shop, but also implied to Hera that I was a suspicious and jealous man, a stark contrast to his innocence.

What an actor.

Sure enough, Hera stopped him and glared at me, "He's just paranoid; you don’t need to prove your innocence.”

She walked up to me, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me hard, "Enough, Stanley! You're embarrassing all of us!"

"Embarrassing you?" I brushed off her hands, "You stayed out all night with your male student to revise his thesis, isn't that more embarrassing?"

"That's work!" Hera roared righteously.

Just as Hera and I were at a standoff, my mom slapped me hard.

Her eyes were red, filled with disappointment. "Stanley, is this how I raised you? Do you have no shame? Hurry up and apologize to Terry!"

My face burned with pain, but I felt cold all over.

My mom, without even asking me the reason, believed the outsider and slapped me.

I covered my face and, through blurred tears, saw the smug smile on Hera's face.

She even raised her eyebrows at me slightly.

And Terry, who was being protected by Sarah, immediately covered his mouth and widened his pair of "innocent" eyes, but the depths of his eyes held undisguised victory and mockery.

He thought he had won. I was alienated and utterly defeated, all according to his plan.

Hera stood in front of me and scoffed, "Do you realize your mistake now?"

She said in an unquestionable, commanding tone, "Get on your knees and apologize to Terry. Admit that you have mental problems and are making wild speculations. If you do that, I'll pretend all this never happened."

"How dare you!" My dad roared, pulling me behind him again.

But my mom grabbed my dad's arm tightly, crying, "Hasn't he caused enough trouble?! He should apologize! Do you want him to get a divorce for something so trivial, embarrassing our entire family?!"

I looked at my father, whose eyes were red from defending me, then at the smug couple.

I gently pushed my father's hand away, took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Okay."

I paused, then said the words they wanted to hear. "I'll get on my knees and apologize."

As soon as I spoke those words, the entire living room fell silent.

Hera's expression froze, seemingly surprised that I would compromise so easily.

She softened her tone, coaxing, "Stanley, stop being unreasonable and let's live in harmony, okay?"

"No, thanks." I looked at her expressionlessly.

I shook my phone and looked at Hera and Terry mockingly. "I can apologize, but before I do, I have to know what's in this bouquet!"

Hera said impatiently, "It's just an ordinary bouquet of flowers, how long are you going to be paranoid for?"

"Really?" I found the phone number of my laboratory and dialed it.

"Hello? This is Stanley Lawson. Stop all ongoing tests and help me identify what's in this bouquet of flowers. I'll send the materials over immediately."

After hanging up, I looked right at Hera and Terry and noticed that they looked pale.

"If the test results prove that this is just an ordinary bouquet of flowers, that means I'm crazy. Not only will I get on my knees and apologize to Mr. Nash, I’ll also give all 30% of my shares in the pharmaceutical company, as well as all my real estate and savings, to you, Hera. I'll leave with nothing."

Sarah's eyes exploded with undisguised ecstasy and she immediately gave Hera a bump. Her voice getting sharper from excitement, she exclaimed, "Did you hear that, Hera?! Bruce, Candice, you heard it too, right?! He said it himself!"

The rationality in Hera's eyes was completely swallowed by greed. Fearing that I might backtrack, she decisively proclaimed to everyone, “Okay! Let’s go now! Stanley, you better keep your word! Let's all go witness how Stanley wronged an innocent person!"

My mom's face was filled with regret and panic. She wanted to hold me back, but my dad stopped her.

My dad looked at me deeply, and in that look, trust outweighed worry.

My mom cried all the way to the testing center, intermittently muttering, "Stanley, why are you so stupid... how can you bet your entire life's work out of anger..."

My dad didn't say a word, but he kept glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

Hera, who was in the passenger seat, also occasionally made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror. Her eyes were full of contempt, mockery, and excitement for the huge wealth that she was about to obtain.

The testers I had contacted in advance were already waiting for us at the door in white coats.

"Mr. Lawson, what do you need to test?" Jane Alba, the head of the laboratory, came up to greet me.

I extended my arm, "First, my blood sample."

I didn't even bat an eye when the nurse drew blood.

Then, I carefully took out the bouquet of lilies that I had broken into pieces from the evidence bag and handed it over. "Second, extract the pollen and juice samples from the stamens and stems of this bouquet."

My actions were calm and smooth, without the slightest hesitation.

A trace of doubt flashed in Hera's eyes. She seemed a little uneasy about my overly calm attitude, but this unease was quickly drowned out by her absolute confidence in victory.

During the wait for the results, everyone held their breath.

The only sound was the faint hum of the instruments in the laboratory.

Hera walked up to me with her arms folded and whispered contemptuously in a voice that only the two of us could hear, "Stanley, you’re a really convincing actor, I'll give you that. It's not too late to beg me. I can show you mercy and not divorce you so that you won't be left with nothing. Otherwise, when you kneel later, make sure you fall down on your knees harder or I'm afraid my mom and Terry won't be satisfied."

Time ticked by.

Sarah began to complain impatiently, "Why isn't it done yet? What's even the point of testing some flowers?"

Terry comforted in a soft voice, "Don't worry, Sarah. Scientific tests need to be done carefully."

My mom rubbed her hands nervously, her lips pale.

Finally, the first blood report was generated.

On the huge electronic screen, the information refreshed, and the final analysis result was underlined in red.

Jane, who had been expressionless, looked shocked when she saw the result.

She pushed her chair back and stood up abruptly, her eyes widening.

Before anyone could react, Jane had already grabbed the internal emergency phone on the table. Her voice trembling with shock, she said, "Contact the security department and seal off the A-level biological laboratory immediately! Also, call the police! Yes, immediately! Someone's conducting an illegal human experiment!"