Chapter 274: I Want to See Someone’s Reaction

Chapter 274: Chapter 274: I Want to See Someone’s Reaction

Dusk fell. After an early dinner and a bath, Miss Lockwood reclined in her bed.

She instructed her maid, "Light the Calming Incense."

She had only slept a fitful three hours the previous night. Now, she was eager to test the effects of the Calming Incense and its essential oil for herself.

’I hope that girl from the Whitman family doesn’t disappoint me.’

The maid followed the instructions, dripping the essential oil onto the incense before lighting it. Moments later, a rich, warm, woody fragrance slowly filled the entire bedroom. The scent was long-lasting and gentle, lingering in the air.

Amidst the swirling aroma, the tension that had gripped her body and mind for days began to melt away. A faint sense of drowsiness crept over her.

Miss Lockwood closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and calmed her thoughts. Before she knew it, she had drifted into a deep sleep.

She slept soundly that night, undisturbed by nightmares. Her mind was at peace, and she didn’t wake until the light of dawn.

...

After Kyle Lockwood escorted Miss Lockwood away, Chadwick Whitman turned to Vesper Grayson.

"Sister, I heard you’ve been looking for land to cultivate medicinal plants. I happen to know of a ready-made cultivation base whose owner is planning to sell. How about I take you to see it now?"

Vesper Grayson’s eyes lit up. "Yes, please."

She and Jared Hawthorne had already inspected several plots of land, but none had been satisfactory. The initial cost of building a new facility was enormous, the construction and renovation timeline was long, and the overall projected costs were too burdensome. Taking over an existing base with complete facilities would save them a lot of trouble.

The cultivation base was nestled deep in the mountains. The location was remote, with few residents nearby. It was surrounded by a dense forest, and the mountain air was clear and fresh.

The owner of the base was a medicinal herb merchant with many years in the business. He had an honest, simple face. Upon seeing the visitors, he immediately led them on a tour. There were temperature-controlled greenhouses, seedling nurseries, professional laboratories—all the necessary facilities were in place.

The owner sighed, a look of resignation on his face.

"President Whitman, if I weren’t facing financial difficulties and in desperate need of cash flow, I would never part with this treasure."

Jenson Whitman’s expression was calm as his gaze swept over the surroundings.

"Name your rock-bottom price."

He could see it clearly: though Vesper Grayson hadn’t said a word, she was quite taken with the place.

"Fifty million, flat. That includes the entire mountain forest and all the facilities on site."

Vesper quickly did the math in her head. The price was fair. Building a base of the same scale from scratch would cost at least seventy to eighty million upfront, and suitable mountain land was hard to come by. Although this place was remote, the soil was fertile, and the entire mountain forest could be developed into cultivation fields for medicinal plants.

She glanced at Chadwick Whitman and gave him a slight nod.

Chadwick Whitman caught her gaze but didn’t agree immediately. He calmly began to haggle.

"That price is a bit high. Thirty million at most."

The owner immediately looked anxious and waved his hands in refusal.

"Absolutely not! I invested over twenty million just purchasing the equipment and building the facility. I paid a high price for the mountain land, too. You can’t expect me to take a loss."

He had previously saved up money from the medicinal herb trade and, seeing potential in the cultivation sector, spent three million to acquire this neglected, barren mountain. He then invested over twenty million in stages to build the base. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the technical know-how for seedling care and management, leading to perennial losses of over a million a year.

Recently, he had acquired a new batch of medicinal plant seedlings. Before he could even pay off the balance, a large portion of the seedlings withered and died. His cash flow was on the verge of breaking, and out of desperation, he had decided to sell and liquidate.

He couldn’t afford to lose any more; he needed to cut his losses now!

To someone who knew the business, this land was a treasure, but to him, it was a bottomless pit he could never fill.

"Thirty-five million. That’s the final price. Not a penny more," Chadwick Whitman stated decisively, his aura domineering. "You should know full well that right now, I’m the only one willing to offer you this much to take it off your hands."

Most of the recent potential buyers had tried to lowball him, offering only ten or twenty million. Although thirty-five million was less than his expected price, after deducting the initial costs, he would still make a profit.

After weighing his options, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

"Fine. We have a deal at the price President Whitman set."

The two parties drafted a contract on the spot, verified the necessary documents, and signed to finalize the deal.

With the transaction complete, Vesper Grayson’s eyes curved into a smile.

"I never knew you were such a master negotiator, Big Brother."

A slight smile touched Chadwick Whitman’s lips. "I had someone investigate his investment records beforehand. This price is higher than his total costs, so he isn’t taking a loss. He lacks experience in cultivation, has been operating at a loss, and is in debt. He still owes money on that batch of dead seedlings. If he’d held on any longer, his losses would have only grown. At this price, he doesn’t lose out, and we got ourselves a bargain."

It was true the Whitman family was rich, but no one’s money grew on trees.

She looked around. "I want to look around some more."

Jared Hawthorne said, "I’ll go with you."

Chadwick Whitman added, "Don’t go too far. I’ll have someone come over and clean this place up."

...

「At noon」

Shiloh Sloan opened her shop for business.

She was tallying yesterday’s receipts when she heard footsteps. She looked up, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"You’re open for business, aren’t you? Am I not welcome?" Summer scanned the room. "Where’s my dear Nolan?"

"If you’re here to eat and pay, you’re welcome. But if you’re looking for a man, you should try the Whispering Breeze Pavilion," Shiloh Sloan said coolly, her eyes dropping back to her calculator.

Summer gritted her teeth and stalked over to her in her high heels.

"I heard you’re living with my dear Nolan."

Shiloh didn’t even look up. "Who told you that? It’s news to me."

"Shiloh Sloan, my dear Nolan is the only son of the Forrester Family. He left his family for you and moved into this miserable alley. Don’t you feel the least bit guilty?"

"Why should I feel guilty? Did I ask him to come?" Shiloh looked up and scoffed. "He doesn’t care, so what right do you have to come here and question me?"

"I..." Summer said hatefully, "If it weren’t for you, I would have been my dear Nolan’s fiancée by now! You’re the shameless one who seduced him and ruined everything!"

"If he was truly yours, how could anyone have stolen him away?" Shiloh saw the man coming down the stairs and raised an eyebrow. "Miss Summers says that if it weren’t for me, she’d be your fiancée right now."

Summer spun around, and the moment she saw Nolan Forrester, she rushed over to him.

"My dear Nolan."

"What are you doing here?" Nolan Forrester’s gaze was cold. "Here to cause trouble again?"

"No, I heard from Miss Forrester that you were injured, so I came to see you." Summer stepped forward, trying to check his injuries. "Where are you hurt? Let me see."

Before her fingers could touch him, Nolan Forrester took a step back, avoiding her.

"Men and women should keep a respectful distance. Don’t act like we’re close. I told you a long time ago, even without Shiloh, I would never have accepted you or gotten engaged to you."

Summer’s face paled. "But at the class reunion, when I said I was your fiancée and that we were getting engaged, you didn’t deny it..."

"That’s because I couldn’t be bothered to explain. Besides..." He looked at Shiloh. "I wanted to see a certain someone’s reaction."

’To see if she still cared about me!’

When Summer had followed him abroad to study, full of her one-sided affections, he had made himself perfectly clear.

She was the one who was hopelessly stubborn, refusing to give up until she hit a dead end!

Summer staggered, taking a sharp step back as if she couldn’t accept it. She stared at him with reddened eyes.

"In these past three years, was there not a single moment you felt anything for me?"

"I don’t know what I did to make you think I felt something for you. But the truth is, I can’t bring myself to like you at all. For those three years, you pestered me constantly, and it was incredibly annoying. If it weren’t for our parents’ relationship, I would have stopped giving you the time of day long ago." Nolan’s gaze was icy, his tone frigid, and every word was a blow.

Tears streamed down Summer’s face. She turned and glared fiercely at Shiloh.

"This is all your fault!"

With that, she ran out without a backward glance.

Shiloh looked completely innocent and pointed at herself. "What did I do to her now?"

’A Divinium!

Why does she blame me for everything?’

Nolan Forrester poured a glass of water and downed it in one go. "Don’t mind her. It’s not like she understands plain language anyway."

"The way she was looking at me just now... it was like she wanted to kill me!" Shiloh propped her chin on her hand. "You provoked her so much. Aren’t you afraid she’ll do something extreme?"

"She’s not as fragile as you think."

"That’s not what I mean. I’m saying, what if she was the one who hired those people last time? The things you just said will provoke her into sending people after me again!"

Nolan Forrester’s dark eyes narrowed, a ruthless glint flashing within them. "If she dares to touch you, I’ll make the entire Summers Family disappear from Northolme."