Chapter 147

Mr. Roth tore his gaze away from the box in Lydia’s hands and glanced at the one Sandy was holding. He let out a sharp click of his tongue. “That’s just a regular pair of antlers. How could you possibly compare them to the gold antlers in your hands? Those are once-in-a-century rare.”
“So, Mr. Roth, how much do you think those are worth?” Lydia asked.
“Oh, Lydia, honestly, that pair might go for two thousand tops in the market. If I were haggling, I could probably talk the price down to half of that.” He chuckled to himself.
Half? That would barely be a thousand.
Sandy almost dropped the box right then and there.
“Mr. Roth, is that really possible? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?” Milana blurted out, her voice rising in disbelief.
Mr. Roth’s expression hardened. “Milana, I’ve been a doctor my whole life. My eyes might be old, but they’re far from useless. Those antlers are just ordinary. Even if you get ten more experts to look at them, they won’t magically turn into something special. It’s a simple matter. I’m sure your mother-in-law saw through it right away.” Googlᴇ search.net
Milana turned to Mrs. Smith, shocked and desperate. Mrs. Smith only gave a cold snort and looked away. “I told you to take your things and leave. You just had to stick around and embarrass yourselves.”
Panic washed over Milana. “Mom, we didn’t know. The seller tricked us. This isn’t our fault.”
Jenson’s face was flushed with embarrassment. He quickly tried to plead their case. “She’s right, Mom. Lydia grew up around you, so of course she knows this stuff. But Sandy, Milana, and I don’t. We really did get scammed. We spent a lot of money on those antlers.”
“How much you spent isn’t my concern,” Lydia said with a cold laugh. “Those antlers are only worth about two thousand at most. You lost the bet.”
“You—Lydia! You just wanted to humiliate us, didn’t you?” Milana’s face twisted in anger.
“No one set you up. You showed up with a two-thousand-dollar pair of antlers claiming you spent ten million. Shameless.”
Mr. Roth shook his head and sighed. “Honestly, unless it’s the real golden antler, nothing else is worth millions.”
“Lydia, do you have to be so harsh? We already said we were tricked!”
“Were you tricked, or were you trying to trick Grandma? Only you know the truth. Twenty slaps each. When you’re done, leave.” Lydia’s tone made it clear she wasn’t joking.
Milana exploded. “Lydia, you really dare make us do this?”
“You said it yourselves. Loser slaps themselves twenty times. What, are you backing out now?” Lydia shot back, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Jenson looked like he was about to burst with shame. Admitting defeat now was worse than losing the bet. “Mom, can’t you talk to Lydia? We’re the victims here.”
Mrs. Smith let out a cold, exasperated sigh. “You made this promise, and now you have to keep it. Don’t blame me.”
Mr. Roth could see the situation was getting out of hand. He decided to make his exit. He’d seen the legendary golden antler and didn’t care towatch the rest, Lydia gave Connor a look, and Connor took the hint.

“I’ll wait for you in the car,” he said softly.
“Alright.” Lydia nodded.
As soon as Connor and Mr. Roth left,
Milana dropped her polite act and glared at Lydia and Mrs. Smith. “Mom, you’re really just going to fet Lydia get away with this? Jenson
and raised her. Now she wants us to slap ourselves isn’t that too disrespectful?”
“I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen,” Mrs. Smith said, her voice tired and cold. “Now that you’ve lost, you want to blame me? If Lydia had lost, would you have been so forgiving?” She shook her head, clearly hurt they never cared about her unless they needed something from her.