There wasnāt much nightlife in the village, and since most people who arrived today had spent the whole day traveling, everyone was a bit tired. After eating, everyone dispersed to their own places.
Jane Sampson always ate her meals at a leisurely pace. Shirley Young finished her meal but didnāt leave right away; instead, she sat there patiently waiting for Jane.
Only after Jane finally finished did Shirley smile and tease her, "You eat at the same speed as my daughter."
"Senior Young, am I really that slow?" Jane asked, a little embarrassed. "Or is it just a little bit slow?"
"Really, itās that slow." Shirley didnāt mince words with Jane but it was all in jest, "However, eating slowly is good for the stomach, so itās actually a pretty good habit."
Elizabeth King, though the last one to sit down for the meal, ate quickly and was the first to leave. At some point, she got to know Mandy Forestās assistant, and after eating, she left with the assistant.
"Senior Young, you really didnāt have to wait for me," Jane scratched her head. "Iāve been slow at eating ever since I was little."
"Itās fine, nothing much to do back home so early anyway." Once almost everyone else had left, Shirley and Jane started to head back together.
Although they didnāt live together, their accommodations were in the same direction, albeit a few hundred meters apart.
The evening breeze in the countryside was cooler than in the city, but compared to the weather in Capital Province, the nights here were downright comfortable.
Of course, if not for the abundance of mosquitoes, Jane would have liked the evenings in the village even more.
"Iāve been waiting for you to ask about my relationship with Minister Carter. Funny, I didnāt expect you wouldnāt ask," Shirley said with a light chuckle, shaking her head. "You really are different from others."
Excluding the hustle and bustle at the dining table, in private, if Jane had asked Shirley about her relationship with Minister Carter, Shirley wouldnāt have found it strange. After all, curiosity is a very real thing.
"I was a bit curious," Jane said with a guilty smile. "But itās your personal business, and I didnāt feel it was my place to pry."
How could she not be curious? It was just that she had suppressed her curiosity.
Janeās candid nature amused Shirley, "Actually, itās okay to tell you, youāre not like everyone else."
When Shirley said "not like everyone else," she wasnāt implying that Jane was particularly special but that since Jane and Gwendolyn Young knew each other, it was okay to tell Jane.
"Minister Carter is my brother-in-law, and Gwendolyn Young is my sister," Shirley explained. "However, my sister and I are half-siblings. Sheās quite a bit older than I am. By the time I was born, she was already grown up and studying away from home. She mostly lived at her grandfatherās house, so Iām not that familiar with my sister."
Especially since both of them had gotten married and started their own families, one marrying in the southland and the other coming to work in Capital Province, the siblings had even less interaction in their day-to-day lives.
Given their half-sibling status and the significant age difference, it was inevitable that this brother-sister duo was different from those in ordinary families.
But that was enough to shock Jane.
"So, Senior Young is Mr. Carterās uncle, huh?" Jane mused secretly, amused at how small this world could be.
"Yes, Iām James Carterās uncle. Last time he came to Capital Province, we even had a meal together," Shirley laughed. "Heās closer in age to me, so this uncle of his gets along more like a peer."