Ice and Fire novel Chapter 304

They walked off to find a quiet place and sat on a bench to chat.

"Cherry, is something wrong?" There was concern in Derek's voice as he asked her.

Cherry had a worried expression as she nodded.

"What happened? Is this about Jackson hitting you?" Derek knew everything.

Cherry shook her head and in a calm tone, said, "No, that's no big deal. He hit me impulsively. I know what kind of person he is."

Derek didn't say anymore as he thought, 'Cherry knows Jackson very well! After all, they have been married for a long time, they must know each other very well.'

Cherry looked over at Derek asking him, "Derek, do you know everything about Jackson?"

Derek was shocked wondering, 'What will Cherry ask about Jackson?'

"Cherry, you..." Derek didn't know how to answer.

Cherry turned away, averting her eyes as she went on, "I know you won't tell me. Not one of you will tell me about Jackson's past."

"No, that's not the case." Derek hastily said. He wanted to be sincere with Cherry, but he wan't supposed to tell her the truth. He comforted her, "Cherry, there are some things you are better not knowing. You have to trust Jackson. He must have a good reason if he doesn't want you to know."

Upon hearing that, Cherry didn't utter a word.

She sat quietly thinking for a while and then said, "What's the relationship between Mond and Jackson?"

Cherry's words completely stunned Derek and he hastily explained, "Cherry, honestly, I can't talk to you about this. You need to ask Jackson."

"Why does Grandpa know him then? He grew up on the army residential compound, didn't he?" Cherry continued asking Derek questions. She looked over at Derek and stared into his eyes, wanting him to answer her. She knew Derek would be honest, but she was unsure if she could believe Mond. She trusted Derek, but she didn't know much about Mond.

"W-we-well.hmm.." Derek wasn't sure what to say and stammered before going quiet.

When Derek hadn't finished for what appeared like a long time, Cherry felt helpless and decided to give up. No one was going to tell her anything.

"Did you know the ZM Group was established by Mond and is against JS Group?" asked Cherry in a quiet voice. She didn't hold out much hope that she would hear any useful information from Derek.

Derek considered what she said and in a serious voice told her, "Actually, there is something neither Selina nor you know."

Cherry gave Derek an astonished look wondering, 'Is he going to actually tell me something?'

Derek looked up at the starry sky and said, "Firstly, I should tell you something about JS Group." He paused a moment before continuing, "Not long after you left Jackson, Selina returned, and her first idea was to start a business of her own in the city. But, after all, she is a girl, so, Jackson and I were afraid it would be too stressful if she started up a business on her own, so we discussed a method."

"What method?" asked Cherry. She couldn't wait to know. She thought the development of JS Group was quite easy. Since it grew up under the media report, it was impossible to have been tainted by any scandals of falsification. She wondered what Derek would tell her.

Derek looked at Cherry as he said, "We discussed setting up the JS Group under the name of Jackson and appointed Selina as the CEO to manage the company."

"You mean It's not Jackson who contributed?" Cherry felt a little confused. Jackson had told her he was the owner of the JS Group and she believed him.

Derek shook his head and said, "No, I contributed. I gave the money to Jackson for him to give to Selina, so she would believe Jackson was the backer. Thus, she would not feel stressed as long as she made an effort to provide solid management of the group."

"So, then, the JS Group is not Chu family's, but belongs to the Lu family?" Cherry asked in disbelief.

Derek nodded, "Jackson and I believed we had no other choice at the time. We were both worried about Selina. She is my only sister, I don't want her to suffer, and Jackson has cared about Selina since she was young."

"But why does everyone say that the JS Group was owned by Jackson and is the Chu family assets?" There was doubt in Cherry's eyes as she looked at Derek and asked.

"Cherry, haven't you seen the Chu family's power?" replied Derek.

It wasn't until then that Cherry realized the hearsay that the JS Group was Jackson's was due to the Chu family's influence.

Derek continued, "When you left Jackson, he was despondent and put all his time and effort into the barracks and the JS Group. He and I were often at the JS Group back then, and someone spread the news that Jackson was the JS Group's investor and owner. Selina didn't deny the news after hearing it, which is why it continues to perpetuate now."

"In this case, the JS Group has nothing to do with the Chu family though, right?" asked Cherry. She understood that Jackson had done all this for Derek and Selina.

Derek nodded and said, "You are right. He did it for me. I told him I didn't want Selina to bear too much pressure and asked him to help me. Cherry, you do understand why we did it, don't you?"

Cherry nodded, without saying a word.

Derek explained further, "As a matter of fact, active duty soldiers are not allowed to go into business. Though the rumors were that Jackson was the investor of the JS Group, the legal representative is Selina. So there is no proof that Jackson is involved with the JS Group. Otherwise, there would certainly be a lot of people against Jackson and me."

Cherry didn't say anything. When she looked at Derek, she knew he was being sincere.