The Heiress Nobody Saw Coming

Chapter 677 Zachary's Question

After Natalie finished speaking, Lynette, Sue, and Ann exchanged glances. Then, all at once, they dropped to their knees in front of her.

"Ms. Natalie, thank you. Really... thank you so much," Lynette said.

"Don't say that. Go get ready. We're probably heading out this afternoon," Natalie said, quickly helping them back to their feet.

"We're about to grab something to eat. Want to come with us?" she added.

She and Marcus had just come back from foraging herbs in the mountains. They'd walked a lot, worked up a sweat, showered, changed clothes, and now they were starving.

The three girls nodded.

This place had no proper roads and no cars-wherever they needed to go anywhere, they had to walk.

When Natalie and her team had first come to build the school, they had hauled in most of the construction materials by mule. It had taken a ton of effort just to get Hope Elementary up and running.

The road out of the village was long and rough. They knew they'd need their strength for the journey, so there was no way they could leave without a good meal first.

Natalie and Marcus brought them to the school's cafeteria. There, Zachary and Sophia came over to join them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Holden, I just spoke with Sophia and got a better understanding of what's going on here. I have a question I'd like to ask Mrs. Holden," Zachary said as he led Sophia to sit across from them.

His expression turned serious as he continued, "The environment here is so harsh. The conditions are rough, and even the villagers aren't cooperative.

"Mrs. Holden, have you ever considered reaching out to higher authorities or government departments for help? I mean, wouldn't it be better to let official programs handle the poverty relief?"

"Zachary, we already know all that," Lynette suddenly said, raising her hand. "Ms. Natalie, can I explain?"

"Yeah,

began explaining to Zachary,

ever left. We didn't know anything about the outside

found us and learned about our situation, she

still in the mountains, they were ambushed

made it back unharmed.

bite the hand that feeds them. And they weren't

trying to talk with them, trying to work something out. But the truth is, the county didn't have much money, and they didn't have the manpower or resources to help a group of people they couldn't even

they wouldn't stop her if she wanted to help, but they

like this existed up in the mountains, and

higher up found out and started investigating, they'd be the ones to take the blame. But they said they'd already tried, and all it got them was injury after injury. They told Ms. Natalie that they were just regular people. They weren't willing to

with our lives again, he'd send people to kill their families

back. And when she did, she brought her people, and they were armed. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to get

Zachary's expression darkened instantly. He glanced at Sophia, whose face

had seemed so warm and friendly-smiling and pleasant while they ate at his house.

like that were truly

the shift in Zachary's mood, Lynette spoke again, her tone more cautious

Natalie invested a lot of money here. In the beginning, she brought in a whole team, and

didn't have a choice. They couldn't win in a fight, so they finally started listening. She got them to dig herbs, plant

money and needs a lot of manpower, and in the end, no

her that as long as no one died, they'd turn a blind eye to whatever she wanted to do. As far as they were

a long breath. After hearing Lynette's explanation, he

their lives for a

in return was

town they'd passed through on the way here. It hadn't been well-off. In fact, it

possibly spare the energy and resources

they couldn't fix it, they chose