"Buddy, after my relentless persuasion, soone finally agreed! We got the price down to eighty thousand, how about it?"
The person on the other end of the line happily reported the situation to him.
Jesse Johnson’s face lit up with joy, eager to agree, but just as he was about to speak, Nora Scott’s voice echoed like a spell in his ear—
"Its aning is sothing both the giver and the receiver endow it with."
"From the beginning, its value and aning have nothing to do with you."
"If you force it away, what’s the point?"
...
"Hello?"
"Buddy, are you still there?"
The voice snapped Jesse Johnson back to reality.
Collecting himself, Jesse frowned, put his hands in his pockets, and quietly said, "Forget it."
"What did you say?" The person on the other end was surprised and didn’t catch on.
Grinding his teeth, Jesse Johnson said slowly and deliberately, "I said, I don’t want it."
Unless it’s sothing especially for him, he won’t take it!
*
Fernwood Entertainnt, CEO’s Office.
After finishing the afternoon eting, Pedro Langley had just pushed the door open when he noticed the phone left on the desk vibrating.
Seeing the caller ID, he slightly furrowed his brow. A few seconds later, he picked up the phone and answered.
"Mom, what’s up?"
"At the office?" Flora Loughton asked quite indifferently, sounding very perfunctory.
"Yeah."
Pedro Langley also responded perfunctorily.
After the obligatory small talk, Flora Loughton went straight to the point, "Co ho tonight."
"Not coming back."
"Does the mother’s words not matter anymore?"
"Depends on the occasion." Pedro Langley, sitting on the sofa, replied with a deeper aning, "I’m shy, a new person at ho makes uncomfortable."
Flora Loughton was taken aback, then laughed, "I believe you as much as I’d believe a ghost. So, you’ve beco clairvoyant again?"
"What else could it be when you ask to co ho?"
"This ti, I’ve invited a girl over to the house." Flora Loughton said, "She’s my student, the best bamboo flute player this year, just brought her back from a performance. The girl is smart, sensible, and quite beautiful, oh, and she’s the campus belle too."
"It’s not like I haven’t seen a campus belle before."
There even lived one next door at his place, a natural beauty, true to her na.
"Either you co back tonight to et her, or in a couple of days, I’ll introduce you to a friend’s daughter. That girl is also quite nice, a returned overseas elite, just a bit proud, with high standards, I’m afraid she might not fancy you."
"We’ll see."
Pedro Langley didn’t mind his biological mother criticizing him but didn’t want to discuss the topic further.
"Keeping on saying ’we’ll see’, you delay it another two years, and you’ll be pushing forty." Flora Loughton complained.
Pedro Langley, still in his thirties: "..."
Pausing briefly, Flora Loughton changed the topic, asking, "I heard from Mrs. Johnson that you’ve recently been staying at Cloudwater Haven and that a very pretty actress is trying to get close to you through Butler Loxley?"
In Flora Loughton’s words, ’Mrs. Johnson’ referred to Jesse Johnson’s mother.
Pedro Langley narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice cold, "No, she’s an old acquaintance of Butler Loxley."
He switched the phone to speaker mode and sent a ssage to Butler Loxley.
"That’s good to know. Although I’m anxious about you finding soone, I hope you find soone who genuinely likes you. You’re in the entertainnt industry, mingling with actresses isn’t appropriate. It’s not that I’m being cynical, but if soone with bad intentions cos along——"
"Don’t worry, I have a better eye for people than you."
"When have I ever misjudged soone?"
Pedro Langley lazily said, "Based on those guys you arranged for as potential partners, I didn’t fancy any of them."
Flora Loughton: "..." I even worry that your standards are so high, you might never find soone!
The ssage ca back, and Pedro Langley glanced at it briefly, then suddenly said, "By the way."
"What?"
On the other end, Flora Loughton’s eyelid twitched, suddenly feeling a chill in her heart.
"Jesse Johnson is now with a female artist from my company." Elbow resting on the sofa arm, fingers lightly tapping, Pedro Langley spoke slowly, "If the Johnson Family agrees to this match, I’ll do them a favor and terminate her contract, set her free."
Flora Loughton: "..."
Could her own son really be so ’handso and kind-hearted’?
...
The call ended.
Knock. Knock.
The office door was knocked twice.
"Mr. Langley." Nathan Salt pushed the door open, looking respectfully.
Pedro Langley looked towards the door.
Nathan Salt walked in with a file, saying, "On Christmas Eve, at nine o’clock, everything at Castle Central Square has been arranged."
"Mm."
The thin layer of cold in Pedro Langley’s eyes dissipated.
*
The snow had fallen all night, only to stop by dawn. After a peaceful night, the whole city was gifted a new look adorned in silver and white by nature.
It was still dark as night outside, yet the lights in the tall buildings gradually lit up one by one. On the thick snow covering the streets of the community, there were sparse traces of pedestrians.
Inside, the warmth and the curtains blocked the pitch blackness.
Suddenly, as a vibration sounded, the phone screen on the bedside table lit up, casting a faint dim light.
From the quilt, only a few strands of hair were visible. After a while, a fair, slender hand reached out to fumble for the phone, answering it without even looking.
"Who is it?" Nora Scott’s voice was filled with irritation.
"Your grandfather."
Antonio Easton’s perfectly enunciated voice ca through, carrying a strength that cut through the eardrum.
"..."
Nora was stunned for a mont, barely opening her eyes to squint at the ti.
It was just three minutes to seven...
She’d only slept for four hours.
Just grasping that fact, she heard Antonio Easton’s slightly angry questioning voice: "Stayed up late again, didn’t you?!"
Nora paused for a mont, then quickly, in the face of the impending scolding, found an escape through the scant morning rationality—
"Worked late at the office last night."
As soon as this legitimate reason was put forward, sure enough, Antonio Easton’s tone softened considerably, "Is being an accountant busy?"
Giving a vague affirmation, Nora said, "It gets pretty busy at the end of the month."
"Being too busy isn’t good either. If you’re working overti often, you should just quit early; it’s not good for your health."
"...I know my limits."
Nora, who was essentially paying herself, said without any burden.
A mont later, Antonio Easton asked, "Do you have to work today?"
"..."
Nora didn’t respond imdiately.
She didn’t even know what day of the week it was, better not to answer carelessly.
Antonio Easton said, "Today is your birthday, take a day off. If they’re not giving you leave, then just quit, we don’t care about that job."
Nora beca more awake but couldn’t help but find his words absurd yet endearing.
When she was jobless, he complained that she was in the way, wasting ti at the hospital if she wasn’t working; when she occasionally took on so work, he deed it too dangerous, worrying she’d get exploited; now that she had a ’proper job’, he was content for a while, but then worried that overti was bad for her health...
The constant worrying was unmatched.
Rubbing her tousled hair, Nora struggled to sit up, still sowhat drowsy, "Got it."
"You should sleep a bit more. Rember to eat Longevity Noodles." Antonio Easton reminded her.
Breathing out, Nora asked softly, "Easton, where’s my birthday gift?"
Pausing, Antonio Easton’s tone shifted slightly, "Are you awake, and you’re already asking for gifts?"
"Not really."
With a bit of a nasal tone from being congested, Nora’s voice was muffled.
With her legs bent, she wrapped her arms around her knees through the blanket, resting her chin on her knees, "Didn’t you say you’d prepare one until I was thirty?"
"You believed words ant for children..." Antonio Easton’s voice lowered, unable to finish, then he moderately advised, "The gift is at the Quinn Family’s place, go pick it up when you have ti."
"Oh."
"Rember to eat Longevity Noodles." Completely untrusting of her, Antonio Easton reminded her yet again.
"Mm."
No one to make them for her, what was she supposed to eat?
As soon as the call ended, Nora tossed her phone aside, still groggy from waking up, and lay back down under the covers, going back to sleep.
She didn’t know how long she slept.
At a certain mont, she suddenly woke up with a start, flipping around to sit up abruptly.
She found the phone she’d thrown in the corner and dialed Butler Loxley’s number—
"Loxley, can you teach how to make Longevity Noodles?"
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