{"id":12873,"date":"2026-01-22T14:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/?p=12873"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:03:18","slug":"married-at-first-sight-chapter-971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/married-at-first-sight-chapter-971\/","title":{"rendered":"Married at First Sight Chapter 971"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fpm_start\"><\/div>\n<div>Chapter 971<\/div>\n<div>The chances of Liberty and Duncan being together were quite slim.<\/div>\n<div>Liberty had never aspired to marry into a wealthy family, and her sisters were not driven by ambitious dreams.<\/div>\n<div>Grandma May ultimately abandoned the idea.<\/div>\n<div>After leaving Liberty\u2019s restaurant, Duncan returned to Lewis &amp; Co. and lay down on the office sofa. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Zachary.<\/div>\n<div>It was a quiet lunchtime in the office.<\/div>\n<div>Duncan: [Can I bother you?]<\/div>\n<div>Zachary was enjoying a deep sleep, having successfully persuaded his wife to stay at the office for a nap. Duncan\u2019s unexpected message roused him.<\/div>\n<div>If Duncan weren\u2019t his best friend, Zachary might have imagined throttling him through the radio waves.<\/div>\n<div>Serenity was still asleep. Zachary kissed her gently on the lips before grabbing his phone. He tiptoed out of the private resting room and found a sofa to lie on, similar to Duncan.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Duncan\u2019s mind was still blank when his best friend responded, so he replied, \u201cNothing.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Zachary lost his temper.<\/div>\n<div>He called Duncan\u2019s number.<\/div>\n<div>Once Duncan answered, Zachary let him have it.<\/div>\n<div>Duncan remarked, \u201cI don\u2019t believe you\u2019re Zachary. There\u2019s no way you can be with language like that.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u201cI would have given you a beating if you weren\u2019t Duncan. It\u2019s been tough for me. Serenity only softens when it comes to my health. She finally agreed to move back in with me and make me packed lunches to manage my nutrition. You have no issues, yet you chose to interrupt my sleep. You asked for it.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Duncan chuckled. \u201cOh, have you kissed and made up? Let\u2019s have dinner sometime now that everything\u2019s good. I didn\u2019t want to ask you out when you weren\u2019t in the best mood.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u201cAlcohol is the\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re the last person I need to deal with right now,\u201d Zachary said, feeling a sense of relief after confronting Duncan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust tell me what\u2019s on your mind quickly. If not, please don\u2019t interrupt my break.\u201d Everyone knew he preferred to relax after lunch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nothing major. I passed by your sister-in-law\u2019s breakfast diner on my way to work. I stopped in to visit and give Sonny a pinwheel, and your nana was there,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour sister-in-law gave me the rent money in cash, but when I saw your nana, I felt guilty. Do you think I offended her in some way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly God knows what you did. I\u2019m not your shadow; I don\u2019t follow you around to know your every move.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Duncan was fixating on trivial matters. Was he really boasting about collecting rent? Zachary rented out commercial spaces too, and his annual rental income far exceeded Duncan\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>After a moment of silence, Duncan responded, \u201cMan, you\u2019re all worked up. I think you\u2019re missing something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll see how happy you are when I interrupt your private time with your girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy woman hasn\u2019t been born yet. I may never find someone. You and Josh have found your special someone, so we\u2019re in different worlds now. I\u2019m cutting ties with both of you.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It was meant as a joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy the way, did you hear that the Zimmers went bankrupt? Their house is on the market to pay off debts. Are you interested in buying it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d prefer to invest in new developments. The Zimmers might have a large villa, but it\u2019s used.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Duncan smiled and said, \u201cThe Zimmers are neighbors with the Stones. By the Stones, I mean your wife\u2019s aunt. If you bought the place, you could renovate it completely. It could be a lovely marital home and provide easy access for your wife to her aunt\u2019s house.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure your wife will be delighted.\u201d<br \/>\nZachary was left speechless.<br \/>\nThe Zimmers once experienced fame and fortune while living next to the Stone family. Unfortunately, the descendants of the Zimmers have struggled to maintain the family business. Currently, the Zimmers\u2019 business is in the red, and they need to sell their house to escape debt.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fpm_end\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"text-chapter-toolbar\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\"><i class=\"icon ion-md-settings\"><\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chapter 971 The chances of Liberty and Duncan being together were quite slim. Liberty had never aspired to marry into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-married-at-first-sight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12949,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873\/revisions\/12949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}