The Death Knell

After class, Tony followed the girl to the restaurant again. The meal was as traditional as ever, potatoes and fried fish.

After the bodyguards learned about Tony's background, they no longer prevented him from contacting the lady. This was a good start.

Now the two of them were holding dinner plates and eating junk-like food under the dazzling midday sun.

"I don't want to spoil your fun, but your classes are... surprisingly boring."

Tony was already a little gray. He had been using his willpower to fight against the old professor's lullaby, and he was exhausted mentally and physically.

Cassandra rolled her eyes at him. Although the two met for the first time yesterday, they seemed to have known each other for a long time today.

"Then why are you taking this class?"

"Maybe it's because you're in the classroom, maybe it's because I'm going through a midlife crisis early and don't know what I want."

Tony rubbed his face vigorously and leaned back on the yellowing restaurant bench.

Cassandra covered her mouth and chuckled: "You are such a mystery, Tony."

"Am I a mystery? You are the queen of mystery." Tony shook his head and turned the fried fish over with French fries.

Cassandra crossed her arms, leaned her upper body forward, and said with a smile, "What? Have you asked someone to inquire about me?"

"Yeah." Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was the result?" Cassandra held her face with her white hands and tilted her head to ask.

Tony shrugged and his mustache twitched: "I discovered that the trapeze artist at the world's number one circus has the same name as you."

Cassandra slapped him on the arm, and the guy started acting inappropriately again. This was his way of avoiding the question.

"Can you accept that our parents are business rivals?"

Jesper Industries, a West German military industry company that has emerged in recent years. To be precise, starting this year, there will be no distinction between East and West Germany. It is said that they inherited the technology and workers from Krupp and Rheinmetall during World War II and are in the European market. Stark Industries' biggest competitor right now.

Whatever new weapons Howard comes up with, they will soon have new products on the market, and I have to say that their 'V7' missiles are indeed more lethal than the 'Minuteman' series of missiles invented by Howard.

One missile carries 120 split warheads and can cover a large area with one launch. There is no doubt about the Germans' talent in military industry.

Tony doesn't care about the family business, he can make money to support himself now.

"I couldn't care less."

"I think my mother might care. Where's your father?" Cassandra stuffed a chip into her mouth and chewed it like a squirrel.

A lady wasn't supposed to talk while eating, but she felt at ease in Tony's presence.

Tony activated his tactics and leaned back on the chair and twisted. The mention of his father made him uncomfortable:

"I haven't talked to him for a long time. Let me think about it. What time is it now?"

"Less than four o'clock?"

Tony nodded: "It was about four months and I didn't talk to him."

Cassandra tilted her head: "Why?"

Tony turned to look at the street outside the window. British-style neighborhoods always made him feel a little depressed.

“Maybe one of him or me is a self-aware, cold-blooded asshole who only wants to talk to people who share his worldview, and it’s either him or me.”

"That's not much of an answer." Cassandra put down the drink in her hand and looked ready to listen.

Tony didn't want to talk about his father to the woman he liked at all, because he had nothing to say.

In his memory, his father was more like a symbol. Maybe they had only been together for less than half a year since childhood.

He had nothing to say.

"Okay, screw it, stop talking about him, let's get married!"

"This... we all need to talk to our families or it won't be possible."

Cassandra shook her head. She did not object to such a crazy proposal, but blushed and asked her family to agree.

"Why do you need them to agree?" Tony hated the fate of being manipulated, and he subconsciously wanted to resist.

Cassandra handed her hand to Tony: "Because they are relatives after all. The two of us, you and I, are sitting together now and find that the living environment we grew up in is so similar. I always thought that only I could experience that kind of thing." The taste, because no one will understand, but I discovered it when I saw you, you understand."

Tony nodded, picked up the fish cake and put it down again: "Agree."

"Exactly, so I hope my family can see us with their own eyes, and we can live well even without their protection." Cassandra crossed her arms and looked at Tony with a smile: "So if we want to get married, I There’s a good idea.”

Looking into her eyes, Tony understood what she wanted to say. He opened his eyes wide, but then looked away.

"Okay, you mean you want me to go to your house to meet your parents."

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking." Cassandra nodded.

"Well, of course, if that's what it takes for us to get married, let's go to the party! What's the worst that could happen? I say something stupid and your mom kills me, and then maybe next year my dad Only then will you find out that I am dead, and your whole family will have already escaped by then."

Tony smiled his signature smile and told a joke that wasn't funny, earning a big eye roll from her.

.............................

Cassandra and Tony are so similar, they are both people who put their ideas into practice.

She immediately threw down the fish cakes and potatoes and went out to make a phone call. Her mother was very open-minded and expressed her willingness to meet her daughter's marriage partner.

Although it is a bit sudden that we met last night and got married today, there have been such happy marriages in the history of various countries in the past.

Four hours later, the family met in a fancy restaurant somewhere in Cambridgeshire.

Not to mention, although the woman's father kept picking on Tony during the meal, Cassandra's mother was surprisingly friendly.

She acted less like the boss of a rival company and more like an old friend of Howard's, and was very enthusiastic about Tony. She even spoke for Tony when her husband was taking the Tony test.

The meal ended successfully under Mrs. Jasper's care. Even when she walked out of the restaurant, Cassandra was a little jealous of her mother because she was so kind to Tony that it was abnormal.

Mother not only helped him tidy up his clothes and tie, but also put her arm around him and walked out of the door.

"Tony, if you have a chance, you must visit our family's castle in Germany. It's so beautiful there."

Tony was a little uncomfortable. Although he had heard of stories in the East about mothers-in-law looking at their sons-in-law, the more they looked at them, the more satisfied they became, but Mrs. Jasper seemed to be overly satisfied.

"Thank you very much, ma'am, but I don't think your husband is that interested..."

During meals, my father-in-law always wanted to embarrass his fat tiger, and he relied on his mother-in-law to smooth things over several times.

"Don't be stupid! I have the final say in this home. You can come and live with us after you get married. I guarantee that our home will never be worse than your home in New York, USA."

Just when Tony was about to reply, the sound of tires screeching from a vehicle approaching at high speed suddenly came from the other side of the street, which usually meant something had changed.