Chapter 234 - 232: The Eternal and Unchanging Bonding Agent in a Relationship

"Didn’t Jane say she was going on a blind date before the New Year?" Estelle Goodman asked, looking at Cecilia Sterling.

Cecilia Sterling looked baffled. "She really went? I thought she was joking."

After all, Jane Sterling was only twenty-five. With her looks and family background, she shouldn’t have had any trouble finding a husband. Why would she start going on blind dates at such a young age?

Jane Sterling calmly took off her down jacket and sat down before slowly explaining, "It wasn’t exactly a blind date. My family was just worried I wouldn’t have any friends since I just got back from abroad, so they wanted to introduce me to some people my age."

"But having said that, all the guys they introduced were pretty well-off. I guess they also wanted me to start dating, so the older generation was definitely trying to play matchmaker."

That’s what happened with Saul Thorne before. After I made it clear that nothing was going to happen between us, my grandfather started introducing me to other eligible men.

"So, did you meet him? How did it go?" Cecilia asked curiously.

Jane Sterling pursed her lips, saying with a hint of regret, "He was handsome, and his life circumstances were pretty good, I guess. But after getting to know him for a while, I decided it wasn’t going to work."

"Why not?" Estelle Goodman did a quick mental calculation. "You just met before the New Year, and you’ve already decided it’s a no-go right after? Isn’t that a bit too fast?"

Blair cut straight to the chase. "What’s wrong with him?"

Jane Sterling glanced at the three expectant faces before her and blurted out, "He’s no good in *that* department."

The eyes of Cecilia and the other two lit up in unison. "How is he ’no good’?"

Jane Sterling suddenly broke into a smile, her cheeks flushing slightly as she shook her head. "He’s just... you know, no good!"

"Oh, come on. If we have the guts to ask, why are you too shy to tell?" Estelle said.

Cecilia chimed in, "It’s not like you two are together. You can’t tell us?"

Blair said nothing, just nodded emphatically.

Jane Sterling sighed softly, perhaps also because she genuinely felt it was a shame. "He’s actually a really nice guy. I was even thinking it could become a long-term relationship. It’s just a shame... what should have been big wasn’t, and what should have lasted long didn’t."

Hearing this, Estelle Goodman covered her mouth in shock. "So you two... did *it* before you even made things official?"

Jane Sterling gave a sharp nod, not the least bit embarrassed.

Estelle Goodman looked at Cecilia. "You and Saul Thorne..."

Cecilia quickly interjected, "That was after we were officially together!"

"That’s just Cecilia being lucky." Jane Sterling looked at Estelle Goodman and Blair and said softly, "In the future, if either of you is considering dating someone, you should find out about their abilities in this department beforehand. Sex is the eternal adhesive in a relationship. It’s extremely important."

Traditional Cathayan values are relatively conservative, but Jane Sterling had grown up in Occidenta—one of the most open-minded parts of the world. She felt no shame about these matters. Besides, she believed that treating sex as a taboo topic was a suppression of human nature. It’s something everyone experiences, so why avoid discussing it?

And it always seemed to be women who were expected to be demure, as if openly discussing such topics made them indecent.

Yet when most guys got together, they chatted about it endlessly, and no one ever pointed a finger at them.

Estelle Goodman cupped her blushing face and glanced around. "But how are you supposed to find out? I still think it’s better to wait until you’ve made the relationship official."

"By then, it’s too late!" Jane Sterling said seriously. "What are you going to do, open a blind box?"

"Fine by me. After all, I’m not the one who’ll be getting ’acupuncture’ all night after opening that blind box."

Estelle Goodman was shocked. "Does that really happen?"

Blair, on the other hand, thought Jane Sterling had a point. "You shouldn’t feel so hung up about it. Giving it a test run beforehand isn’t out of the question. Or what about just asking them?"

"You might as well just do a test run! Who could bring themselves to ask that?" Estelle Goodman shook her head in horror.

Then she looked back at Cecilia. "Weren’t you opening a blind box?"

Cecilia Sterling smiled, a hint of smugness in her voice. "I just got lucky. Saul Thorne turned out to be the secret rare."

Her one sentence earned her a collective eye-roll from the other three.

"Anyway, my personal take is that you can’t be wishy-washy about this," Jane Sterling said. "I don’t really care about the final outcome of a relationship, but the enjoyment during the process is crucial."

Cecilia couldn’t agree more with that point of view, since that was exactly how things were between her and Saul Thorne.

Estelle Goodman shyly fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "When you think about it... I guess that does make sense."

Blair, however, pursed her lips, not particularly concerned. "I care more about physique. I like muscular guys!"

"You mean like your senior?" Estelle blurted out.

Blair’s senior was tall and powerfully built, all sinewy muscle.

But at the mention of him, Blair’s brow furrowed in disgust. "Not him. I think of him as a brother."

"You’re not blood-related. It wouldn’t be a problem if you liked him!"

Blair shook her head so hard it was a blur.

Estelle Goodman suppressed a smile, clearly just teasing her.

Just then, a waiter arrived with their exquisite desserts and coffee. Jane Sterling quickly pulled out her phone. "Come on, let’s take a picture. I need to show my grandpa that I do have friends in Cathay so he’ll stop trying to introduce me to guys."

The four girls, each a stunning beauty in her own way, leaned in close. The shot was so gorgeous it was unreal. No filter needed, not by a long shot.

A group of such eye-catching women was bound to attract attention.

The women were in the middle of a lively chat when a waiter suddenly approached and spoke in a low voice. "Excuse me, ladies. The gentlemen over there would like to pay for your table. Would that be alright with you?"

As he spoke, the waiter gestured toward a table by the window not far away. Cecilia and her friends followed his gaze to see three men around their age smiling and nodding at them from across the room.

Cecilia pointed at Jane Sterling. "She’s paying. Ask her what she thinks."

The waiter looked to Jane Sterling, who nodded immediately. "They just want to hit on us. Sure, I agree."

"But we don’t know them at all!" Estelle Goodman protested weakly.

Jane Sterling immediately called her bluff. "I don’t remember you being afraid of strangers when you were ordering ’ducks’."

Estelle Goodman: ?

Jane Sterling gave the waiter an OK sign. "We agree."

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the three men walked over, drinks in hand.

The three men were of average height but were reasonably good-looking. The one in the lead spoke politely. "Hi, sorry to be forward, but would it be alright if we joined you for a chat?"

From his calm demeanor and smooth approach, it was clear this wasn’t his first time doing something like this.

Cecilia spoke up first. "I have a boyfriend, but these three are single. Feel free."

The man was momentarily taken aback, then quickly said, "Oh, uh, we have another friend on the way. Don’t worry, miss, we just want to chat. We’re all decent guys."

’Whether they were decent or not wasn’t something you could take at their word, but since they’d been kind enough to pay the bill, a little conversation couldn’t hurt.’

As it happened, just as the three handsome men sat down beside Jane Sterling, Estelle Goodman, and Blair, the fourth friend they’d mentioned arrived, fashionably late.

"Henry Marshall, you’re here! Go sit next to this lovely lady."

But Henry Marshall recognized Cecilia Sterling at a glance. His eyes went wide with terror as he looked at the empty seat beside her, then at Cecilia’s face, which held a smile that was not quite a smile.

He nearly wet his pants on the spot.