Chapter 20

Evely realizes that she is a shareholder in bright company if she accepts the stock that Grandma joh granted her, and tells Noah that now she can keep her promise and protect the night market family. Silently, she adds that she can protect Jackson as well. Noah watches her and silently says that he will protect her.
Evely meets with Grandma joh and asks if the bright company stock is still available. She wants to hold an emergency board meeting. But Grandma joh explains that as just a shareholder, she has little power to influence corporate decisions and save the night market. The person with the most power is the chairman. Right now, that��s Grandma joh, and she��s willing to help Evely become the new chairman. She has just one question. does Evely love Jackson? Evely says yes, and Grandma says that��s all she needs to hear.
Grandma joh meets with mrs Rose, Jackson, and jayden and tells them about her plan to give Evely the stock and get her onto the board of directors. Mrs Rose and jayden are strongly opposed, saying that adding an extra voice will complicate matters for bright company. Jackson doesn��t know what the right choice is, but isn��t against it and tells Grandma to make her own decision.
Grandma joh decides that she will give Evely watson the ten percent share and no one can stop her. After all, without Evely's father, there would be no bright company. If they don��t pay back the debt they owe to the wat family, then the joh family might not even exist anymore. She leaves, and everyone else is confused by what she means.
Jackson follows Grandma and asks her what she meant about Evely's family. Grandma is clearly reluctant to say more, but admits that his stepfather had something to do with Evely's father��s death. She refuses to elaborate more, but instead reminds him of his promise to her that he will support Evely no matter what decisions she makes in the future. She tells him not to try and take responsibility for the mistakes of the adults in his life, and re-emphasizes that he must protect and support Evely no matter what, before walking away, clearly upset.
Evely tries to make sense of the value that her ten percent stock gives her in bright company corporate decisions. Noah helps explain that now that she has a ten percent share in the company, the combined holdings of the joh family are now only 45 percent, which is no longer a majority stake. If Evely and Grandma joh can convince the other shareholders to back her, then they have a real chance at saving the night market.
Evely is surprised that Noah knows so much about how shareholder meetings go. He starts to say that of course he would know because he��s been a part of one before, but then quickly catches himself and makes up another excuse. No one thinks about his words too much, because Uncle Charles brings up the fact that even if Evely is able to become chairman, that won��t necessarily save the night market if selling the land is the only way to save bright company. The only way the night market can be saved is if the land is sold to someone who is willing to preserve the night market. The wheels start turning in Noah's head. He knows someone with money.
Lily runs up and reports some more bad news from the night market front. The latest news is that jayden has already decided to sell the land and is ready to sign a contract with the developers. Evely looks up at the bright building and wonders if Jackson really means to force her hand this way.
Grandma joh tells jayden that maybe it��s not such a bad thing if bright company fails. It��s fate��s way of telling them that they should take a different path. Her only worry right now is jayden. She tells him not to blame his mom or himself. She knows that he must have been in a lot of pain and fear the past few years after learning that he��s not a blood member of the joh family.
��You know?�� he asks. She says that his father told him while on his deathbed. ��You don��t mind?�� he asks. And she says, of course not. Why would she care when his own father doesn��t even care? No one in the joh family has had an easy life. His own mother��s marriage into the joh family was a business arrangement, and she had a lover before getting married, but was too afraid of opposing her family. Grandma joh also understands why mrs Rose and mrs Elsa fight with each other to protect their own children.
Evely attends her first board meeting where she gets introduced as a board member as well as a candidate to be the next chairman. She��s running against jayden. Evely gives a pretty speech about how meaningful the night market is to her and countless others, but it��s not enough. Snd jayden gets six votes, while Evely only gets five. But before jayden is officially named as the new chairman, Jackson interrupts the meeting, a document from Nicole in hand. But he gets interrupted by Noah, larry Chairman wyatt son, and is here to represent both his father and his father��s company. That gives him two votes, and he uses both to support Evely .
With seven votes, Evely is now the new chairwoman. But Noah has one more card up his sleeve. he says that he will buy the plot of land bright company and wants to sell it. Jackson hasn��t had a chance to speak this whole time. He hides the document in his hand behind his back. it��s an agreement from Nicole to invest some capital into bright company.
At night, the night market crew celebrate their victory at Evely's place. They all talk about how Noah is superior to Jackson in every way. Meanwhile, Evely checks her phone and wonders why she hasn��t heard from Jackson yet. She heads out, claiming she��ll go buy some ice. Noah follows her.
On the streets, he explains how he went back to his family not just for her, but for the whole night market. He used to be ashamed of his family background, but has learned to embrace himself fully, and he has her to thank for it.
Evely's mom, Georgina, goes looking for Evely in her room, but she��s not there. Instead, she spots the joh family secret recipe book on Evely's desk, and sees her husband��s handwriting. Evely shows up and her mom asks her where she got the notes from. She seems troubled by the book��s origin.
Madam Georgina goes to confront Grandma joh about the recipe book. She remembers the day that her husband died, he left the house ecstatic that he had finally finished his recipe book and excited about what it meant for his family��s future. The notebook had been whole, yet when she received it from the police after his accident. it was missing pages.
Grandma joh explains that her son, Michael john, had argued with Rose that day. Watson wanted bright to focus on curry. Without that promise, he was going to withdraw his investment and start his own restaurant. But Michael said there was no proof watson had given him any money, and he knew that without Watson's recipes and ability, bright would be nothing. Watson left angrily, and got into a hit-and-run accident. Michael saw only the aftermath and called 911, distraught. But once he realized Watson was unresponsive, he dug through his bag for the journal. Watson regained consciousness in time to struggle with him over it. Michael tore out the pages he needed and ran off without checking to see whether watson was okay. Later, he confessed what happened to Grandma joh who was furious, but he begged her not to tell anyone because otherwise bright would be nothing. He told Grandma joh that if he could make bright company successful, it would make up for the way he wronged watson
Grandma Huo tells madam Georgina that she searched for her for years after her son��s death, hoping to make things up to the family, but was unsuccessful. She knows that the joh family owes the wat a debt, but begs Georgina to not let this tragedy and ill-will be passed onto their children. She��s willing to do anything Georgina asks, but she doesn��t want Jackson and Evely to hate each other. But Georgina is furious and says she can��t trust anyone in the joh family anymore. She��s convinced that the car accident wasn��t an accident. Chances are, Michael intentionally caused the accident so that he could get her husband��s notes. She tells Grandma joh that she doesn��t want to see a single member of the joh family again, then storms off.
When she returns home, she tells Evely that she doesn��t want her to see Jackson anymore, then tells her about her father��s death and how she suspects it wasn��t an accident. Evely says that even if her mom is right, Jackson is innocent. But her mom refuses to let a jackson be her son-in-law. She tells Evely that she will never allow her to marry Jackson.
Meanwhile, Jackson is thinking some things through himself. He and Logan drink together at a bar. They both agree that Evely lacks experience and could use someone by her side who can help her with that. Even logan acknowledges that Noah as heir to the wyatt family would be a great person to have by her side. ��I��ve decided,�� Jackson says, and leaves.
He calls Evely and asks her to dress pretty for him, just this once. She meets him at the La Mure kitchen where she watches him cook for them both. He tells her that what she lacked most when he first met her was confidence. She has a natural talent, and if on the day that she challenged him, she had tried to make her own dish to compete with his, she might not have lost. She only lost because she tried to recreate his recipe. He tells her that in the future, she should remember to believe in herself. While they eat, she asks him why he keeps talking about the future, as if he won��t be there for it. He responds that in the future, he won��t be in her life anymore. He doesn��t think they��re well-suited for each other.
something like this happens sometimes. Let��s not do this faux chivalry thing where the man decides, ��Let ME decide what��s best for you and GIVE you to this other man who likes you even though we clearly love each other.��
The problem both main characters faces is their mothers who believe they know best but refuse to listen to their children. Actually, all parents in general, because we should throw wyatt into that category as well. Though I suppose Grandma joh is the only mother who listened to her child, and look where that got her��
But Grandma is the parental figure. She is the exact opposite of a traditional rich family. She could care less about money, wealth, blood relations, and status as long as her children and grandchildren are happy. Everyone else ties happiness to money, but not her. She understands that family sometimes means letting kids make their own decisions and being supportive instead of trying to project and impose what a parent thinks is best onto them.