BOUND BY TRADITION

"Young master, please return to the capital with us as heir to the property. Your mother would like to apologize for what she did in the past. She wants you to be able to forgive her while keeping in mind the general interest. As the keystone of City O, the Thompsons cannot exist without a leader."

Looking at this old man who bows with respect, Jack Thompson laughs.

"This woman is a real snake. To control the family, she never hesitated to drive me out of the Thompson and make me bear the accusation of treason in the family. She was afraid of my revenge, and then she forced me to become a ridiculous and good-for-nothing son-in-law, attached to my wife's family, in this small town called the River City. Now she is seriously ill and you start thinking about me. Isn't it too late?"

"I got used to being the good-for-nothing son-in-law of the Decastro. I can no longer take care of the Thompsons. You should leave."

After saying these words, Jack turns around throwing his garbage bag into the trash and leaves.

Although becoming the heir of the Thompsons shocks the whole world, this idea does not come to him at all. As soon as he was expelled from the Thompsons, he had no affection for his family.

Now, he is the son-in-law of the Decastros, the second-rate family at River City and known for its uselessness.

No one knows that he was once the powerful young master of the Thompson. However, all this is temporary. Although he leads a miserable life for the moment with a few dozen euros in all, he does not regret it.

Jack brings fruits to the former Decastro house. Today is Master Decastro's birthday banquet where all the parents will be there. Rivalry is inevitable in such a circumstance. But because of Jack, his wife's whole family, who is called Melissa Decastro will become all the object of ridicule.

At the beginning of the banquet, the people of the Decastros began to offer gifts to Master Lemaire.

"Grandfather, I know you like antiques. Here is Paul Gauguin's painting, the yellow Christ, which I bring to you on purpose. Please accept it."

Grandson Jeremy Decastro offers his painting with a smile.

"Grandfather, here is a jade stone that I bought from a friend abroad. I spent a lot of money." The spoiled granddaughter Sonia Decastro passes her gift.

...

Everyone competes to offer gifts to Master Decastro to please him.

"Grandfather, can you... lend me 500,000 euros? The orphanage did not collect enough donations this year. It will no longer be able to survive and the children there will become homeless..." Says Jack at the end of the table.

However, this is a public demand. His mother-in-law, Cindy Morin Decastro gets up directly, points to Jack:

"You're just a jerk! Do you know what you talking about?"

Jack's wife, Melissa, is the most beautiful woman in the River City. Not expecting this, she gets up from her chair in a hurry:

"Grandfather, Jack is badly awake. Forget what he said!"

When she finishes, she strongly pinches Jack's arm with her fingers to warn him.

Three years ago, Mistress Decastro insisted before dying that Melissa marry Jack. Melissa is no longer a splendid woman in the eyes of the world.

During these three years, Jack did not work. He does the laundry and empties the trash all day, known for its uselessness, which makes his wife ridiculous. But now she is once again compromised by Jack at her grandfather's birthday banquet.

"I'm dying to laugh at you! You didn't give grandfather a birthday present and now you dare to ask him for 500,000 euros. Jack, haven't you been ashamed in recent years? Borrow money on the occasion of his birthday? Are you trying to make him very angry?" Says Jeremy, the young man favorite by Master Decastro..

"He's really a jerk! I say he did it intentionally. And then, the orphanage is only his pretext. He wanted to defraude grandfather for his own interests. But I doubt that such a jerk can have this idea. Maybe he is at the instigation of Melissa."

The spoiled granddaughter Sonia echos her brother. She still doesn't get along well with Melissa and doesn't miss any opportunity to dirty her sister's reputation.

Melissa is involved by others in an unfounded accusation. Jack quickly explains:

"No, no, I borrow money from grandpa because I don't have enough. I'll pay it back in a few days."

"Stop talking nonsense here. You're good at turning and you don't even have a job. If he lends you money, how do you repay it?" Asked Jeremy with contempt.

"Yes, yes. It's this shitty orphanage where you come from. Are you coming here to borrow money to make grandfather feed the good for nothing like you? It seems better for your orphanage to close its door." Laughs Sonia.

Jack listens to these accusations and clenches his teeth.

At the time he was homeless, it was the orphanage that welcomed him and fed him. Maintaining the orphanage is difficult at the moment and he wants to lend a hand. The situation is so urgent that he does not have enough money to do anything. So he was thinking of borrowing it from Master Decastro.

He does not expect such a situation, because he thought everyone was nice and wanted to help the children of the orphanage. Thinking about the difficulty of the orphanage, he controls his anger.

Master Decastro is all pale. He looks at Jack and:

"How dare you do that? Are you here to celebrate my birthday or to make a mess? Go away, you! I can't tolerate you anymore. Jack Thompson, you will no longer be allowed to assist at the banquets of the Thompson."

"Grand-dad, the orphanage is really in trouble today. The children there need your help."

Jack does not want to give up and sincerely declaims. Seeing Jack's serious face, Melissa sighs:

"Grandfather, what Jack did is to save the orphanage. That's where he grew up. He has a deep affection for this orphanage. Please give him a hand."

Patrick Decastro, that is to say Master Decastro, makes a contemptuous head:

"Are you confused by this idiot? Go away, both of you! Don't ridicule yourself in front of me."

Melissa's mother, Cindy, speaks quickly:

"What are you doing here? Hurry up to leave with this idiot! If you make Master Decastro angry again, our family will be ruined."

Powerless, Melissa bows to Patrick:

"Grandfather, I'm sorry." Then she drags Jack outside the villa.

"You should keep an eye on this idiot to prevent him from fooling others and dirtying the reputation of the Decastro!" Jeremy's sneers come behind them.

Outside the villa, Melissa lets go of Jack like a waste.

"Melissa, sorry. The orphanage is really in difficulty right now. I have no choice, so I want to borrow money from grandpa," says Jack.

Melissa responds with great disappointment:

"What is the purpose of these excuses? You have already offended grandfather. He wants to buy an office building from the Corecloud Land company. It's very difficult to do. The latter despises our family and does not want to sell us this building. Now I can only buy it to make up for your wrongs."

"I'm going to my company. Get home on your own."

Then she goes directly forward.

"Melissa!" Shouts Jack.

She stops, but does not turn the body. She says in a strangled voice:

"Jack,you disappointed me too much." Then she leaves without turning around.

Looking at Melissa's lonely back, Jack takes a deep, ashamed breath. After Melissa's departure, he heads to the orphanage.

Jack looks at the rusty door of the orphanage, very moved. He enters and sees a lot of children crouching on the floor without knowing what they are doing. He approaches and asks them:

"What are you doing here?"

A group of children raise their heads and recognise him. Then they show innocent smiles.

In recent years, Jack very often came to the orphanage to help when he was available. So, all children know him.

"Brother, we're pulling wild vegetables. Nadia told us that we didn't have enough food. With these wild vegetables, we can keep food for little brothers and sisters," says a slightly older child.

Jack looks at the wild vegetables found by the children. These are only weeds. How can small children distinguish wild vegetables?

The more he thinks about this, the sadder he feels. After saying something to these children, he goes to the door of Nadia's room.

He hesitates, because he could not find money for the orphanage. He doesn't know what to do in front of her. He was welcomed by the orphanage and it was Nadia who was still taking care of him. In her eyes, she is her savior.

The door opens by itself, Nadia leaves her room and sees Jack. Very benevolent, she smiles immediately:

"Jack, you didn't say anything before you came. Enter and sit down."

"Nadia, I'm not sitting down. I know that the orphanage is in difficulty to borrow money. Don't worry! I will certainly succeed,"says Yann.

"Don't worry about money. Today, a very nice person gave us two million yuan and gave us a lot of food. Our difficult time has passed." Nadia looks relieved.

Jack is a little surprised and asks her:

"A nice person? Who is that?"

"It's me," Answers an old voice.

Jack turns and finds an old man without knowing when he was already behind him:

"Why you? It remains dark, didn't I ask you not to come and see me anymore?"

"This old man is Kevin, the Thompsons' intendant."He sighs:

"Young Master, I have not finished my word this morning. I know it's hard to accept for a while. But we can expect you to change your mind."

On this, Kevin takes out a black bank card and passes it to Jack.

"It's the Bank's unlimited black global card. There are only ten in the world. It can be considered as the compensation that the Thompsons offer for your last years. Moreover, your mother managed to buy the Corecloud Land company at River City. If you sign this contract, their future Villa Celeste will be yours."

"I don't want it. Come back and tell this woman that I am not interested in everything about the Thompsons. Don't bother me anymore."

"But young Master, the orphanage will not be able to perpetuate without this amount of money. The children will be homeless if it closes its door."

Jack frowns. Although he does not bother to spend money from his family, the children of the orphanage really need the money to live.

Jack thinks about what Kevin proposed and says in a deep voice:

"How much money is in this card?"

"To answer you, this amount will suffer from buying the entire property of the River City."

"Don't say nonsense! How much is it?"

"Ten billion..."

Jack is shocked by the invaluable wealth owned by the Thompsons. Ten billion euros?There are fears that no company in the River City will be able to offer such an amount of money.

The Thompsons really deserve to be the richest family in the Capital.

"Young master, this card is nothing more than compensation for your last years. Whether or not you agree to go home with me, it will be yours."

"On the CoreCloud Frontier company's side, you have to take care of the function handover procedure. I have already given the order to the people there. As soon as you get there, they will help you.

This is my phone number, young master. Think about it. If you want to come, call me. I am entirely at your disposal."

Looking at the credit card and the business card in his hand, Jack remains silent for a long time.

"Too bad. What the Thompsons owe me in recent years cannot be repaid by money at all. As the orphanage really needs financial support urgently and I can't find money for certain reasons, it's better that I keep this bank card," he whispers.

He will once again see the children at the orphanage to ensure that Kevin's money has been well paid and that there is enough food for the children. Then, he leaves the orphanage and quickly returns home.

Melissa's family lives in a former community far from the city centre. They have an apartment with two bedrooms and a living room. It is small, old and dilapidated.

Jack's father-in-law, Gilbert Decastro, was not favored by the Decastros. When his daughter married the good-for-nothing Jack, their little family annoyed Patrick, the lord of the Decastros.

Therefore, Gilbert cannot take any advantage of the Decastros. It's all thanks to Melissa that he can stay calm. When Jack arrives home, Cindy and Gilbert are sitting on the sofa with a serious air. Their daughter Melissa has already returned from work and now stands in front of the library doing nothing.

"Son of a bitch! Did you dare to come home? Our family is not here for you! Go away and never come back!"

Cindy's anger accumulated in recent years, breaks out instantly. She takes the cup of tea directly on the table and throws it on Jack.

Jack dodges a blow. The cup of tea fell to the ground, broken into pieces. If he did not react quickly, he will have a hole in his head.

Cindy,throws irritated looks at him and shouts:

"You broke our cup of tea. You have to pay us ten times more than the original can."

"Ok Mom. I will pay you," says Jack.

He has just become a billionaire. Not to mention a cup of tea, even ten cups of gold, he can bring to them.

Thinking that Jack tried to provoke her, Cindy gets angry right away:

"Look at this cheeky villain, my daughter! He dared to assault me. Don't you fix him?"

"Mom, that's not what I meant," explains Jack quickly.

He does not want to talk about his ten billion euros with Cindy because he has already understood the importance of hiding his power. Thanks to the suffering inflicted in recent years. Otherwise it will certainly be used and finally destroyed by his wife's family.

Melissa turns and glances at Jack with a sigh. She said to her mother:

"Mom, don't yell at Jack anymore. It's late now. Go back to your room. It's time to sleep."

"Sleep? This useless man made us lose face today. Do you think we can still sleep well? Now that he's back, I'll tell you frankly. You must divorce him, if not your life would be a misery."

Melissa is really surprised by her mother's request. And Jack suddenly becomes stressed and looks at Melissa.

"I don't want to divorce him. Don't mention it anymore," says Melissa resolutely.

Jack sighs of relief.

Cindy is still angry. She points to Jack with her fingers and insults him:

"What's good about him? He has no work and is good for nothing. It is because of him that we live such a miserable life. Why don't you want to leave him?"

"That's enough, Mom! I'm tired. I have to sleep," she says.

Then, she takes a look at Jack. The latter immediately understands and goes with her to their own room.

Even if it was Melissa's grandmother who asked her to marry Jack before dying, she finds this man good. One who does the laundry, prepares the meal and does the housework every day for three years. He did not receive any compliments because of what he did for his family. Conversely, he is criticized by everyone. It's not fair. That's why she doesn't want to leave him.

People are sentimental. Melissa and Jack have been together for three years and Melissa has indeed already accepted Jack.

Cindy watches these two people enter their room, very angry:

"Our family will sooner or later be ruined by this good for nothing!"

In the room, Jack made a bed on the floor. He has been sleeping on the floor for three years. He has never been in his wife's bed.

Melissa is lying on her bed. After a long time, she opens her mouth:

"I still have 20,000 euros with me. Although it's not much, I want to help you. You can take this amount of money to the orphanage tomorrow."

Jack is moved by Melissa's words and explains rapidly: "No, it's good. There is someone nice who financed the orphanage. The children there will no longer be hungry."

"That's good. You grew up there and you certainly take affection for these children. Now you are reassured."

"I still have no idea about the purchase of the office building of the Fronter CoreCloud company. They refused to sell me this building, because the price I can pay them was too low. In addition, grandfather doesn't want to give me more money."

"So, we must find another solution. Well, I'm a little tired today. I'm going to bed," she finishes.

Then she turns in her bed to sleep.

Jack thinks about his wife's worries. A stroke of light suddenly strikes his mind. But isn't that the company that the Thompsons bought him?

He didn't intend to go to the company CoreCloud border for the function delivery procedure. But he decides to go there tomorrow.

"Honey, I've been hurting you for the last few years. I assure you that this situation will never come back. I'm going to do great things. You're going to see it,"says Jack.

After a long silence, Melissa says:

"I'm not asking you to have remarkable achievements in your career. I just hope you can become a real man. At least, no longer be the laughing stock of the world and no longer live as a useless one.

Jack nods with a serious look:

"From now on, I will never allow anyone to despise you again."

"I hope," Melissa answers calmly.

There is determination in Jack's gaze. For him, Melissa was humiliated by the three years of indifference and mockery.

Now, Jack wants everyone to know: "My wife, she is not to be humiliated."

Early the next morning, Jack does the dishes, leaves the house and takes his obsolete motorbike to go to the Corecloud Land Company.

Near the office building of the destination, he puts his bicycle on the side of the road and enters the interior of the company.

The Corecloud Land Company is a real estate company specialized in the development of high-end communities in River city. The villas of their projects developed where to sell to rich or powerful people.

Before reaching the entrance to the office building, a woman in workwear, made up in an outrageous way, approaches him. She glanced at him and blocked his way.

"Stop, you come here to repair the sewer, don't you? Enter through that door. Not this way, here it's towards our sales hall."

A little embarrassed, Jack takes a look at the woman and says:

"No, I don't come here to repair the sewer, but to look for someone."

The woman looked at him from head to toe, notices that he wears cheap clothes like badly dressed rubbish, a touch of contempt shines in her eyes.

Suddenly, she widens her eyes and says, looking surprised.

"Jack? Are you Jack Thompson?" She touched him with disdain, without hesitation.

Intrigued,Thompson looks at the woman.

"Do you know me?"

The woman laughs.

"Maria, your classmate in high school, have you forgotten me?"

Thompson focusses to thinking for a moment. A figure appears in his mind.

"Eh! I remember, Maria, we shared the same desk at the time."

Maria was a classmate in high school, but he had not seen her in a few years. She was putting on makeup, more beautiful than before, so he didn't recognise her at first sight.

After recognising Thompson, Maria's attitude changed again, going from contempt to derision.

When they were at school, she often made fun of him by saying that he was a wild child in the orphanage. After he stays with the Decastros after his marriage, everyone in the City River still made fun of him with his colleagues.

She looks at him again, a sardonic smile illuminates her face.

"I heard that you're staying with your father-in-law, oh dear. I predicted that you won't have a good future. And I'm quite right.

Now you are quite famous in City River, even my colleagues know that you are a good-for-nothing thoroughbred. I'm laughing."

Listening to her, Jack's face gets dull. He does not expect Maria to take advantage of this reunion between classmates to make fun of him in person.

"By the way, why are you coming here? Don't tell me you're coming here to buy a villa. I'm afraid you can't even buy a floor tile from here even if you've been working hard all this life."

Maria speaks in a light and mocking tone once she has recognised the person in front of her.

"I'm coming here to see your general manager," says Jack .

Maria doesn't laugh.

"That's enough, don't pretend to be important. Why don't you look at yourself in a mirror? Do you think you are qualified enough to see our general manager? I think you've never seen beautiful things, and you come here to see the beautiful houses? But it's not worth seeing them since you can't buy them. You'll find yourself more useless if you see them. See your clothes, I suggest you leave here without delay, otherwise security will drive you away. I'm going to work, I don't want to take care of a useless one like you."

That said, Maria moves away from him and goes inside.

Thompson doesn't know what to say. In reality, he came to the Corecloud Land Company to see the general manager on a receiving form. To her surprise, Maria is so aggressive that she doesn't want to give him any chance to explain it.

Regardless, Thompson doesn't bother to argue with people like her. After all, they were at different social levels and their fields of vision were not the same.

Shortly after Maria's departure, a man in a suit who looks skilful and knowledgeable appears. He sees Jack, rushing towards him and addressing him respectfully.

"Mr. Thompson!"

"Are you Mr. Thompson? Nice to meet you. My name is Marcel Dupont, General Manager of the Corecloud Land Company. Please, Mr. Thompson, please follow me to the office."

Thompson nods his head and follows Marcel, they enter the office building and take the passage reserved for executives.

In the elevator, Marcel looked at him secretly, noticed that this young man is wearing cheap clothes and looks ordinary.

Nevertheless, he does not dare to despise him, because he is the owner of the Corecloud Land Enterprise. He never forgot that that day the old man came and bought the land company.

Corecloud at twice the price of the company without even blinking his eyes saying that he offers Jack the Corecloud Land Enterprise as a gift.

It was the first time in his life that Marcel saw such a thing: Buy a business and give it as a gift. So he knows that an old man is much richer and more powerful than he imagined.

And Jack is the young master the old man had talked about, no matter how banal he may be in appearance, Marcel does not dare to underestimate him.

They arrive together at an office. Marcel takes out some documents, invites Thompson to sign, then he gives him a key.

"Mr. Jack, from today, you are the president of the company. This is the key to the Celestial Villa and it is the symbol of your status at the same time. Please keep it up."

Jack takes the key, nods his head.

"You will continue to help me manage here. I want to tell you that Decastro will buy an office building later. You just have to do what I'm going to tell you, you just have to spare them."

Marcel smiles and nods his head.

"Mr. President, rest assured, I will take it seriously. If you want, we can give them an office building as a gift."

Thompson smiles a little and says nothing. Although he can give Melissa an office building, he doesn't plan to do that. After all, he bought this office building for Melissa to consider it differently. He prefers to help her in secret in this matter.

"Mr. President, I will accompany you to the auction house to see the newest miniatures of villas. If you like one of them, you can stay there at any time." Proposes Marcel.

Thompson thinks a little, anyway, he doesn't have much to do at that time and he may take time to familiarize himself with the company, so he nods.

They arrive together on the ground floor. At that moment, Marcel suddenly feels sick to his stomach. Embarrassed, he tells Jack about it and tells him to take a walk in the auction room, then he runs to the toilet.

Thompson enters the auction room and looks at the architectural miniatures. The villas and mansions are very beautiful. Villa Celeste is a famous building in River City, whose miniature is in the center of the room.

Thompson walks towards the center of the room. At that moment, Maria, who is in the room, sees Thompson. She frowns, then shouts unscrupulously:

"Jack, didn't I tell you to leave here as soon as possible? This is not the place where a good-for-nothing like you can visit, so leave this place right away!"