The Rise of Dragon Temple By Wu Xia

Chapter 26

After speaking to Alpha 1, Joseph fell asleep beside Chloe. However, he had trouble sleeping. Holding

his daughter’s hand, he looked at Chloe, who had suffered for many years.

In the morning, Chloe woke up early. Since Paige was extremely tired, she was still deep in sleep. Thus,

Joseph took his daughter out for breakfast. They even bought some for Paige. Chloe was clingy to

Joseph, so she kept asking him to hold her. Of course, Joseph also enjoyed being close to her. After all,

fathers would usually be extremely fond of their daughters. In fact, Joseph wished that Chloe would

never grow up, so he could hold her every day. “Dad, you should not lie to me. You are not allowed to

leave, okay? I want to be with you every day from now on…” Chloe said to Joseph while tugging on his

shirt. Looking at the dingy outfit on Chloe, Joseph figured once Paige was awake, they would go and buy

some new clothes for his daughter. Displaying a smile, he nodded and said, “Okay. I will never lie to you

in the future. When Mom wakes up, let’s go shopping for new clothes, okay? We’ll buy new outfits for you

and your mother, okay?” Delighted, Chloe nodded. “That’ll be awesome! I want new clothes. Heehee…”

Joseph’s heart ached slightly. Without saying a word, he only smiled at Chloe. Holding her in one hand,

he went back to the hotel room while grabbing the packed breakfast in the other. When he approached

the hotel room entrance, he noticed the door was ajar, and there was a commotion inside. With a frown

on his face, he walked in quickly. When arriving at the door, Joseph saw Paige had already gotten up.

She had even washed up and gotten dressed. Right then, several people were sitting beside her. There

was an old man with gray hair, three middle-aged men, two women, and two young ladies. Lowering her

head, Paige let all these people criticize her. She dared not raise her head, let alone speak… At the sight

of this, Joseph frowned even harder. In the room, a woman with short hair in a nude-colored skirt scolded

Paige, “How can you do this? Not only did you leave without a word, and now you’re back all of a

sudden? If your cousin’s friend didn’t see you here, how long would you want to hide everything from us?

Pfft… Do you still care about me as your mother? Do you still even care about your father? You even

brought a man back here! How bold of

you!”

This woman was Estella Sheppard, Paige’s mother. As soon as Estella finished speaking, Yahir Mooney,

who was Paige’s father, snorted, “Paige! Are you trying to

piss me off? How old are you? Do you know that our family has become the laughingstock of the entire

city because of you? My daughter has had a baby with a stranger, yet the man has left without a trace!”

Yahir was livid. In the past, he was proud of Paige, but he became completely disappointed. When Yahir

stopped talking, Estella pointed at Paige and continued scolding, “Since you’re back now, you can forget

about leaving. I have found the perfect match for you. He is your college classmate, Brooks Nichols. He

doesn’t care that you have a child, and will be back tomorrow after a business trip. The day after

tomorrow, you will officially get married to him.” Paige’s body trembled. Hearing Estella forcing her to get

married, Paige finally replied, “Mom, I won’t marry him.” “You don’t get to refuse anymore. He is an

executive of a company, not to mention he doesn’t mind that you have a child. What gives you the right

to reject him? Huh?” Estella continued to roar at Paige. Noticing that Paige was about to cry, Joseph

could no longer stay quiet anymore. Holding Chloe in his arms, he walked in and shouted at Estella, “It’s

because she is my wife! Why would she get married to someone else? How is that logical?” Shocked,

Paige subconsciously turned her head to look at Joseph. “Will you really marry me? Didn’t you say that

you will only fulfill your responsibilities as Chloe’s father?” Poor Paige, even at the time, was still thinking

about Joseph. Joseph responded with a smile, “That’s what you said. In my heart, I have long regarded

you as my wife. I will be good to you. I will not let you suffer any grievances. You’ll be my wife for the rest

of my life…” “Wait a minute. Who are you? Are you the father of that bastard?” Estella asked coldly.

When Joseph heard Estelle calling Chloe a bastard, his killing intent suddenly filled the room. In an

instant, Estella was so intimidated that she took a step back. Staring at her with a cold gaze, he replied,

“I dare you to call my daughter a bastard once more.” “1…” Estella instantly stuttered as she was

frightened. “SMACK!” At this moment, Yahir got up and gave Joseph’s face a hard slap. He shouted with

a gloomy expression, “How can you talk to Paige’s mother like that? I dare you to lay a finger on me!”

Suddenly, everyone became quiet. Naturally, Joseph could easily avoid Yahir’s slap earlier. However, he

was Paige’s father after all. If Joseph were to retaliate that day, the situation would only become worse.

He only looked at Yahir in silence, without fighting back.

“Dad, what are you doing? Don’t hit him, okay? I’ve told you about the past. It’s not his fault. He didn’t

know about what happened…” Paige cried and quickly got up. Then, she stood in front of Joseph,

reaching out to protect him. Glaring fiercely at Joseph behind Paige, Yahir shouted back, “It seems like

you can only stand behind a woman when you face trouble, huh?” Joseph then pushed Paige away. “It’s

okay… I should be responsible for the past…” “Boohoo… Grandpa, don’t hit Daddy. He’s also had a

tough life. Don’t hit him…” When Chloe saw what happened, she was frightened and burst into tears.

“Shut up! How annoying! Get out of here!” Estella scolded when she heard Chloe’s cry. At this time, a

young girl standing beside her quickly took Chloe from Joseph’s arms. She was Paige’s sister, Serena

Mooney, who was still in her fourth year in university. Serena was beautiful. She resembled Paige when

she first graduated from college. While holding Chloe, Serene said, “Paige, Mr. Brother-in-law, the two of

you should continue talking here. I will take Chloe outside for now. Let’s not scare the child…” “Serena,

he is not your brother-in-law. Don’t call him that.” At this time, Paige’s cousin sister, Lily Mooney, sneered

sarcastically. She was scantily dressed and had a face full of makeup. Displaying a frown, Serene stared

at Lily. “Lily! You clearly know why you’re so happy right now. You don’t have any right to get involved in

our family’s business. Stop chiming in unnecessarily!” “How dare you! Alas. Your family can’t even

handle your own internal problems, yet you keep running your mouth… Haha…” Annoyed, Lily continued

to sneer at Serena. “Both of you, shut up! Serena, how can you speak this way to your cousin? Get out

of here!” Leonard Mooney, who was Paige’s grandfather, scolded Serena. He did not even bat an eye at

Chloe. After letting out a snort, Serene left the room right away. However, Joseph was delighted to see

Serena’s kind attitude toward Paige and Chloe. It seemed that Paige and Serena had a good

relationship. Since Joseph wanted to return for Paige’s sake, he had naturally investigated the Mooney’s

thoroughly. Yahir was an honest man. However, his status in the Mooney family was not particularly high.

Being suppressed by his two older brothers, he was not valued by his father, Leonard. This was

especially so after the incident five years ago, when Paige became pregnant and gave birth to Chloe.

Similarly, Yahir’s immediate family members are relatively powerless. Lily was Leonard’s favorite

grandchild, and she was about to get married. Her fiancé was the heir of the Shelton family in

Oplen. He was both rich and powerful. Just as Joseph was pondering for a moment, Yahir’s elder brother

and also Lily’s father, Tommy Mooney, said with a smile, “Lily, don’t talk too much. Your uncle will take

care of it…” After Tommy finished, he smiled at Yahir, “Yahir, don’t vent your anger on Lily. She is now

regarded as the savior of our family. She has negotiated many projects, not to mention that she will also

cooperate with Gempoint Group in a few days. Don’t affect her work…” Yahir was resentful when he

heard Tommy speak of Gempoint Group. Why wasn’t his own daughter the one who worked on these

major business dealings instead? Thinking of this, he became even more furious with Joseph. This man

was the person who ruined Paige’s life! Yahir snorted in anger. “Will you accept it if I hit you? You’ve

ruined my daughter’s life and made her a laughing stock in the entire city. Will you bear this

responsibility?” Joseph nodded. “Yes, I will! If Paige didn’t save me, her life wouldn’t have become like

this. I am truly indebted to her.” Hearing Joseph’s generous admission, Yahir became less furious.

Nonetheless, he still had a bad impression of Joseph. Yahir then continued, “Well, since you admit your

mistakes, what do you think we should do? How will you take responsibility for Paige?” “Dad, don’t force

Joseph. He was recently retired from the military…” Paige continued to plead for Joseph. Before she

finished speaking, Joseph stopped her and pulled her behind him. He looked at Yahir and said, “Dad,

you’re right. I deserve to be beaten. However, the ships have sailed. I naturally have to be responsible

for Paige and what I did back then. Originally, I planned to come back to look for Paige, marry her, and

take care of her for the rest of my life.” “Haha… Will you take care of her? How so? You are a poor

soldier retired from the army. You don’t even have a position. Paige has become a big joke in the whole

city. You owe her for the rest of your life. How can you compensate her? Can you change everyone’s

opinion of her? What a big joke!” Estella said scornfully to Joseph. Glancing at Yahir, Joseph responded,

“Dad, please give me a month. By then, I will hold a grand wedding for Paige in Oplen. It will be so

magnificent that it will shock the entire city, so much so that everyone who looked down upon her will

regret it.” “How brazen of you. May I ask if you have a job now? How will you hold a grand wedding that

can shock the city?” Lily asked sarcastically.

Yahir and Estella remained silent. Deep down, they also felt ashamed of themselves. A grand wedding to

change everyone’s mind? What a joke. This guy seemed like a poor soldier, so how could he have

money? He did not even have a job. Joseph did not care about what they thought. Looking at Paige

seriously, he said, “A month later, I will hold a beautiful wedding for you. Do you believe in me?” Paige

stared at Joseph. After a long silence, she sighed. “Joseph, please go out for now. I will talk to my

parents about it. I appreciate what you said earlier, but you’d better go out first, okay?” She had become

a laughing stock in Oplen, so she did not want history to repeat again. Although she had nothing at the

time, she still wanted to preserve her tiny bit of dignity… Joseph initially wanted to say something, but he

stopped himself from doing so. Finally, he could only nod. Indeed, if he were to be in her shoes, he would

not believe it either. He then replied, “I understand. I’ll leave first… No matter what, you should

remember that what I said is true…” Joseph walked out as he finished his sentence. When he was near

the door, he heard some sarcastic comments once again, “Haha. You plan to hold a grand wedding for

Paige next month. What a coincidence. Me and Rory Shelton will be tying the knot next month as well.

When the time comes… We can make our wedding grander than yours. Hehe.” Joseph paused and

sneered in his heart. This Lily was truly a b*tch. Nevertheless, he did not want to say anything more.

Since she intended to humiliate him, he would retaliate when the time came. After letting out a snort,

Joseph walked out of the room… “Tsk… How pretentious… I’ve already been as respectful as I can…

What an idiot…” The ridicule on Lily’s face grew even stronger. She had always been jealous that Paige

was more beautiful than her. Now that she finally found a chance to make fun of Paige, she naturally had

to seize the opportunity… Faced with Lily’s sarcasm, Paige lowered her head and clenched her fists

tightly, but she remained quiet…

……

As soon as Joseph walked out of the hotel, he called Alpha 1. “Tell Dennis and Ernie that no matter what,

they have to hold the grandest wedding for Paige and me on the 15th of next month.” After pausing for a

moment, he continued, “Wait a minute! Since we want the wedding to be grand, prepare a thousand

couples to attend the wedding ceremony. As long as they plan to get married next month, tell them that

they can come to Oplen to do so. Make sure that they are all good-looking. Each couple’s wedding

expenses will be sponsored for one million, and I will fully bear all costs. However, the only condition is

that each couple must give blessings to my wife that day!” o Joseph then hung up the phone. Looking up

the hotel, he murmured, “Is this enough to make a sensation in the city? Will it be enough if I were to

spend one billion?” Joseph sneered deep down. “When that day comes, I’ll have a close look at your

regretful faces…”