Pedro Langley chuckled again, his smile was gentle and akin to rays of sunshine that could pierce through the haze.
Pedro Langley said, "Twenty years ago, Ernesto Scott had no more to do with the Scott family. Over there, what you can find are probably just things your mom left behind—if she left anything at all."
"You’ve got so brains, huh."
Nora Scott raised an eyebrow and simply sat down on the bed.
"You’re only realizing now that I’ve got brains?" Pedro Langley admitted openly, showing no humility whatsoever.
"..."
Nora was speechless for a mont.
Indeed... he has always been smart.
If it weren’t for his charisma, she probably wouldn’t have fallen for him so quickly back then.
At the very least, she could have held out for a year or so.
Since Pedro Langley wasn’t one to hold her back, Nora didn’t hide anything from him and spoke directly, "Just so of Evelyn Easton’s drawings, nothing else."
"I’ve made a bit of progress here." Pedro Langley tidied his collar and spoke slowly.
"What?"
"What do you want to trade?"
Nora chuckled disdainfully.
If she didn’t want to involve Biel Hall in her family affairs, why would she need to extract information from Pedro Langley?
"Let think..." Pedro lowered his eyelids, then quickly raised them, "You still owe a al and a set of signed collector’s edition books."
"..."
Damn him for being so petty, rembering a al until now.
Nora frowned and said, "I’ll cover your mom’s birthday gift this year."
Originally, she planned to gift it as a friend, but since he wanted to settle the score, he could go ahead.
On the screen, because Pedro ntioned Flora Loughton, he paused for two seconds, then smiled and said, "Deal."
"Talk."
Having presented her terms, Nora now appeared quite aloof.
Reaching off-screen, Pedro picked up a cup of tea and took a gentle sip, "Do you rember Ethan Scott?"
"Hmm, the grandson in whom Aaron Scott has high hopes."
When Nora said "grandson," it sounded just like she was referring to her own family.
Pedro Langley chuckled lightly, "When he was at Capital Tech, his ntor was Professor Duncan. So, I talked to Professor Duncan today."
"Oh."
"He recently acquired a blueprint. It’s creative but hollow. It needs substantial modification to be implented. He plans to present the finished product at Aaron Scott’s birthday celebration, but he’s limited by his own capabilities, so he’s asking Professor Duncan for help. Professor Duncan then introduced him to your two junior colleagues, and now they’re both working on that blueprint."
"Montague and Eduardo?"
"Yes. Professor Duncan said he had seen the original blueprint, which seems to have so years behind it, and when asked about its origin, Ethan was evasive."
"Do you suspect his blueprint is related to Aaron Scott or Evelyn Easton?"
"Just a gut feeling, no hard evidence." Pedro concisely remarked, "If you want to investigate, you can start from there."
"Alright."
Nora had no doubts.
This kind of old affair, suddenly investigating would certainly involve so detours. Having a direction now was quite good.
Seeing her nod, Pedro said, "I’ll give you their contact info later."
"No need. Being too forward will easily expose the motive." Nora smirked, her eyes narrowing slightly, "I’ll also go talk to Professor Duncan soti."
Pedro was sowhat surprised.
The typically straightforward Nora, when did she learn to use a roundabout approach?
Understanding her strategy now, Pedro didn’t say much more and casually shifted the topic, "How’s your stay with the Scott family?"
"It’s alright."
With the serious business concluded, Nora relaxed quite a bit, walking barefoot to the carpet.
The chaos belongs to others, while tranquility is hers.
After all, with Ernesto holding the fort, there wasn’t much for her to worry about.
"What about Oliver Scott," Pedro asked and then added, "He should like you quite a bit."
Jack Carter ntioned that during a al, Oliver discreetly tried several tis to ntion details about Nora, all the ti showing curiosity about her.
Nora propped her phone upright on a few books, sitting cross-legged to examine those headache-inducing blueprints.
She lazily replied, "That depends on in what capacity."
Pedro didn’t dispute it.
The video call remained uncut.
Pedro placed his phone aside, occasionally chatting with Nora, occasionally glancing at the phone screen, where her image occasionally appeared.
Most of the ti, they were attending to their own tasks, yet the silence wasn’t awkward, but calm and natural.
In this atmosphere, ti slowly ticked away.
...
The door received a gentle knock, followed by the sound of the lock clicking.
Pedro glanced up and saw Flora Loughton, graceful and elegant, carrying a plate of fruit as she slowly entered the study.
Since Nora returned to the Scott family, he had no need to visit Cloudwater Haven. Having not returned for a while, he decided to visit the Langley Residence today.
He instinctively glanced at the phone placed askew.
"Your dad picked strawberries this afternoon. Humor him—"
Flora hadn’t finished speaking when she noticed Pedro’s subtle gesture and traced his line of sight.
On the phone screen was a side profile of a beauty sitting cross-legged on a carpet, slender and with a serene elegance. Her hair was pinned up with a lock cascading down, partly covering her profile, yet outlined enough to discern her silhouette. She was holding blueprints with both hands, intently focused.
A true beauty!
Flora, in her over fifty years, had seen countless beautiful won, yet only rarely had any truly stunned her at first sight.
She set the fruit plate on the table with a wide smile, "Is that my daughter-in-law?"
"What?"
Nora, hearing the commotion, uttered doubtfully then turned her head slightly to glance over.
Yet, in that instant, the beauty in the screen vanished, with a ssage that the video call had ended.
Flora was dumbfounded for a few seconds.
Her fingers curled, tapping the table a few tis, displaying a posture of questioning, "Co clean. When did you woo such a rare beauty?"
"I haven’t wooed her yet."
"..."
As a mother, Flora quickly discerned the underlying ssage in Pedro’s words.
—He’s pursuing her, but hasn’t succeeded yet.
Flora glanced him over twice, saying, "It’s rare for you to be interested in soone... pursue her wholeheartedly, speak sincerely, after all, you do have decent qualities."
Flora always felt Pedro’s words put him at a disadvantage.
"..."
Pedro remained silent.
"Which family is she from?" Flora inquired again.
"Next door neighbor."
"The celebrity you ntioned last ti?" Flora was taken aback, pointing at the now blank phone, "Looking like that, and she’s not famous?"
"She’s dead set on being an actress."
"And?"
"Her acting’s abysmal."
Flora: "..."
Oh, well... that’s quite a predicant.
Propping her elbow on the armrest, Pedro flicked his eyes towards the beauty-entranced Flora and said, "Her na is Nora Scott, Ernesto’s eldest daughter."
Flora paused for three seconds.
Then she turned and walked out of the study.
From afar, you could hear her asking, "Langley, where did you throw the invitation to Aaron Scott’s old man’s birthday party?"
Pedro’s lips curled.
At this mont, his phone screen lit up with a ssage from Nora.
[Nora]: Battery died.
[Nora]: Is your mom there?
Pedro picked up his phone and replied.
[Pedro]: Yes.
Half a minute later, a ssage from Nora popped up.
[Nora]: Oh.
No further words, or questions regarding the "daughter-in-law" remark.
Nora always tends to naturally overlook awkward things.
Pedro refrains from bringing it up either.
...
In the guest room, Nora put her phone on charge.
On her way back, she intended to put away the scattered books and blueprints back into the box, but as soon as she bent down to pick up a blueprint, Pedro’s words echoed in her mind—
"Creative but hollow, requires substantial modification to implent."
Hmm?
Isn’t this the common flaw in Evelyn Easton’s blueprints?
Nora gazed at the blueprint in her hand with thoughtful contemplation.
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