Chapter 300: Paying a Visit

Aethelburg was still hot in September.

Aside from the slightly cooler mornings and evenings, walking under the midday sun for too long felt like more than your skin could bear.

Finn returned from outside, handed the documents to Vivian Lowell, then moved to the side to take off her sun-protective jacket.

“Boss, it’s so hot out there! Thank goodness for this sun-protective jacket, otherwise my skin would’ve been fried! It’s just so hot, I’m covered in sweat. I wish we could shower here at the office!”

Finn was full of energy.

After she finished complaining, she gleefully pulled out her phone to show Vivian Lowell a photo she had just taken. “Boss, look what I saw when I was passing by the bushes.”

“Such beautiful azaleas! See? My trip out in the heat wasn’t a total waste, was it?”

Vivian Lowell was still opening the file.

When she heard Finn, she looked up and was momentarily captivated by the image.

“They’re very beautiful.”

Vivian Lowell smiled faintly and said reassuringly, “It is a bit hot out there. Thanks for going through the trouble of fetching the file for me. If you’re overheating, go ahead and order some milk tea. It’s my treat.”

“No, no!”

Finn quickly shook her head, a miserable look on her face. “Ever since I started working here, just sitting in the office, you’re already treating us to drinks two or three times a week, Boss.”

“I’m just drinking all these things without exercising, and I’ve already gained five pounds! I can’t drink any more milk tea! Hmm… maybe I’ll just get some lemonade. That won’t make me gain weight, will it?”

‘Has Finn gained weight?’

Vivian Lowell took a good look at Finn’s face.

‘Hmm, I don’t really see it.’

‘Then again, some people don’t look like they’ve gained weight because it’s all hidden. The stomach, for example, is the easiest place for female office workers to accumulate fat.’

“That works too.”

Vivian Lowell told Finn to order whatever she liked.

‘She, on the other hand, couldn’t just drink whatever she wanted anymore. After getting pregnant, there were so many things she had to avoid. Her old favorite, fruit tea, was now…’

Vivian Lowell felt a pang of sadness at the thought and couldn’t help but sigh.

A little after two in the afternoon, Vivian Lowell woke from her nap. She squinted, still feeling a bit drowsy, but the thought of her unfinished work meant there was no time to rest.

‘I have to keep pushing forward!’

Thinking about the postpartum care center she would soon be checking into gave her a surge of motivation.

‘Hehe.’

‘A hundred thousand a month for that postpartum care center… she really needed to make some serious money!’

Just as she was thinking, Finn knocked on the door. “Boss?”

Finn’s voice sounded a little urgent. Vivian Lowell sat up straight, smoothed out her clothes, and said, “Come in, Finn.”

“Okay.”

Finn replied, pushing the door open and coming inside.

Just as Vivian Lowell had expected, Finn looked genuinely anxious. She frowned and said, “Boss, someone from one of our client brands is here. It’s one we’ve worked with before.”

“Only… two of their investors came along with the brand representative. It’s Joy Drake and Shelly Drake. They said they’re not happy with some aspects of the product design and want revisions.”

“Boss, should I show them in?”

‘Joy Drake and Shelly Drake?’

The moment Vivian Lowell heard those two names, she understood one thing.

‘They weren’t here for a friendly visit.’

‘No wonder Finn was so anxious and had such a sour look on her face. So that was why.’

“Well, they’re already here. How could we not welcome our guests?”

Vivian Lowell’s eyes narrowed into a smile. “Since they’re not satisfied with our designs, then naturally we’ll have to make revisions. They are the client, after all.”

“Go get the conference room ready. I’ll meet with them. You and Leo can join me. Everyone else can just keep working. No need to worry!”

Finn nodded. Vivian Lowell’s words seemed to bolster her spirits a little, and she headed out.

「Fifteen minutes later.」

In the conference room, Vivian Lowell met with the brand representative and the two others: Joy Drake and Shelly Drake.

Shelly Drake looked different again.

‘I heard her transplant surgery was a success and that she’d recovered well. She’d even had time to get cosmetic surgery—work done on her eyes, an epicanthoplasty and double eyelids.’

‘Well, both procedures were very successful.’

‘Shelly Drake now had the look of a minor celebrity, though it was in that generic ‘internet-famous’ style. You could say her taste was still pretty awful.’

“Miss Drake.”

Vivian Lowell greeted her politely before sitting down.

As Joy Drake and Shelly Drake approached, Vivian was hit by a heavy wave of perfume.

It was coming mostly from Shelly Drake.

It was a high-end, custom-made fragrance, a sophisticated scent, but Shelly Drake had sprayed on far too much. The moment she entered the conference room, Vivian Lowell had been enveloped by the overwhelming aroma.

It was so overpowering that it made her sneeze!

Not only that, but her morning sickness had mostly subsided after she entered her fifth month of pregnancy. Now, smelling this fragrance, that awful, nauseous feeling was coming back.

‘Is Shelly Drake doing this on purpose?’

Vivian Lowell frowned at Shelly Drake, who was smiling right back at her. Shelly even extended a hand as if to shake Vivian’s. “Miss Lowell.”

“Ah, no, perhaps it’s better to call you Mrs. Faulkner. After all, ‘Miss Lowell’… your surname isn’t necessarily Lowell, is it?”

Shelly Drake was deliberately taunting Vivian, though she didn’t actually know what Vivian’s true identity was. She probably imagined Vivian was just like she herself had been over a year ago.

Just an unwanted orphan from a common background, who didn’t even know her own family name. If it weren’t for marrying Julian Faulkner, she certainly wouldn’t have achieved her current status.

“…”

Vivian Lowell, of course, understood Shelly Drake’s jab and had no intention of backing down. She retorted with a sharp smile, “You’re actually not wrong about that, Miss Drake.”

“But I’ve grown used to it over the years. After all, I spent so long with the Lowell Family. And even if things weren’t perfect, my life back then was still a privileged one. I still remember what it was like to be the young lady of the Lowell Family.”

“Unlike some, Miss Drake. After so many years of being displaced, moving from place to place, you’ve finally found your family. What a truly joyous occasion that must be!”

Vivian Lowell smiled sardonically.

‘Who was Shelly Drake to talk? Did she have no self-awareness?’

‘And yet here she was, trying to make a scene in front of her!’

‘No matter how you sliced it, Vivian’s upbringing—her environment and her family’s wealth—was far beyond anything Shelly Drake could ever compare to. So what if Shelly tried to use her origins to mock her?’

‘Vivian’s life was something Shelly Drake had only dreamed of but never attained.’

‘Perhaps she had it now, but she had only enjoyed it for a short time. There was still a vast gap between her and Vivian, who had been coddled in luxury since birth.’

“…”

Shelly Drake was getting angry.

She had thought her “Communication Skills” had become quite brilliant. The reason she had come here today, ready to throw her weight around, was because Joy Drake had told her the Drake Family recently acquired some new assets.

One of those assets was connected to Vivian Lowell’s design company, which meant that as the client, they could now find fault with Vivian’s work.

Joy Drake had offered to bring Shelly along if she was interested.

Shelly Drake had agreed in a heartbeat!

Before coming, Shelly had even prepared the perfect lines to humiliate Vivian. She thought her plan was flawless, but she never expected Vivian to dismantle it so easily!

“Shelly.”

Seeing Shelly getting angry and about to lose her composure, Joy Drake immediately stopped her. She then turned to Vivian. “Mrs. Faulkner, we’re mainly here today to discuss our previous collaboration.”

“Let’s set aside everything else for now. Shall we discuss the project?”

Joy Drake steered the conversation back on track.

‘They had plenty of tricks up their sleeves today,’ she thought. ‘There would be lots of opportunities to make Vivian uncomfortable. Why get hung up on this one little exchange?’

“Of course.”

Vivian Lowell knew the inevitable was coming. She agreed with a pleasant smile and gestured for the two of them to sit down and discuss the project.

After they sat down, Joy Drake took out the design blueprints.

These were the blueprints for a project Vivian’s company had taken on last month from a cosmetics company. The main task was to design the packaging and a new logo for their new lipstick line.

The brand was a domestic niche label, quite popular among young people because of its affordable prices and stylish designs.

Vivian’s company would take on this type of design project, but she wouldn’t lead it personally. Since the pay wasn’t high, it was usually handled by her team, who did the drawings and communicated with the client.

There were five versions of the packaging design and three versions for the logo. Both sides had been in communication for a month and had basically finalized everything.

All that was left was the final payment. Vivian had a general understanding of the project, but Leo was more familiar with the details.

“Mrs. Faulkner.”

Joy Drake handed the blueprints to Vivian. “After some discussion, we feel that the second version of the lipstick design is better, with the first version of the logo. However, there are still some details that need to be changed.”

“For example, this pattern here… We feel that…”

Joy Drake pointed out a few trivial details.

Leo diligently took notes, not caring whether the client was deliberately making things difficult. After all, the contract was already signed.

As the contracted party, their job was to make revisions until the client was satisfied. Furthermore, if the product didn’t perform well after launch, they could also help with a redesign.

Of course, a redesign would incur additional charges.

「Half an hour later.」

After rattling off a scattered list of demands, Joy Drake gave Vivian a brilliant smile. “I hope you don’t think I’m being too critical, Mrs. Faulkner?”

“Speaking of which, this lipstick project is the first one I’ve been in charge of since the Drake Family returned to the country. Naturally, I want its sales to be as good as possible.”

“That way, when the Drakes discuss KPIs at the end of the year, my performance won’t look too shabby, right?”

“Mm.”

Vivian Lowell responded softly, showing no emotion as she said politely, “We understand your requests, Miss Drake. We will make the modifications accordingly.”

“It’s getting late. If there’s nothing else, Miss Drake, I’ll have someone see you out.”