Never Judge

"So you and Lucius Ting aren't friends?" Cedric asked slowly as he took a sip of his wine. "And here I was under the impression that you guys were friends."

"No, that couldn't be further from the truth." Wu Jun snorted as he lifted his fork to take a bite at his steak.

"Is that why Guan Ming is partnering with Lucius Ting? To spite you?" Ayanna asked.

"I see someone does her research." Wu Jun said with a grin as he eyes Ayanna.

Cedric couldn't help but glare at Wu Jun. He hated the fact that this man was eyeing his married sister like a piece of meat.

"Ian.." Cedric called out as he waved for Ian to come to him.

Ian walked over and leaned forward to hear Cedric's instructions. 

They had known beforehand that Wu Jun didn't put value on his staff and would be very offended if Cedric had his assistants join them on the table.

They had carefully worked things out as not to risk offending Wu Jun's fragile pride.

"Ask Ray to join us for drinks." Cedric whispered to his assistant. "I don't like how this man is eyeing my sister. Also, bring the contracts that he will need to sign."

Ian nodded, signaling that he understood Cedric's instructions.

"You may go." Cedric said in a cold tone as he dismissed Ian.

Ayanna eyed her brother suspiciously, she found it odd that her brother would talk to one of his best friends that way. 

Add to it the fact that Ian was not just some ordinary assistant, he was already a successful businessman in his own right.

"I asked my assistant to fetch the documents for our partnership." Cedric explained to Wu Jun, hoping to avoid any unnecessary questions from him.

"I will need to look into the quantities you need to be able to give you a firm price." Wu Jun said as he waved an assistant over.

One woman came up next to him and handed him a folder.

Wu Jun took the folder and opened it up, he handed one document over to Cedric for him to read.

"Those are the prices we currently have for most of our customers." Wu Jun explained. "But you need to understand, I will have to produce less for some of them just to accommodate your demand. And since you cannot guarantee me a perpetual deal, the price has to be higher."

Cedric read through the document and noticed that the prices were higher than he would normally pay most of his suppliers.

It was a good thing that Cedric, Ian, and Camilla had found a way beforehand to mitigate the supply needed. The only amount that Wu Jun would need to supply were for the balance stocks that they would need to fulfill for the rest of the year to exceed their targets.

In his head, Cedric thanked Guan Ming for warning him about Wu Jun, and he made a mental note to ask Guan Ming what his issues were with Wu Jun. 

It seemed that the two men had a bitter past.

"These prices are agreeable." Cedric told Wu Jun as he saw Ian return with the contract. "When will be the earliest date you can deliver the materials?" Cedric asked.

"Give me a month." Wu Jun informed Cedric. "We both know that transportation will take up most of that lead time."

Cedric nodded as he acknowledged what Wu Jun said.

"Seeing as we both agree to this." Cedric said as he waved Ian over. "Let's sign the contract. I have sent you a copy of this, I hope you've already had your lawyers read it?"

"I did." Wu Jun said with a nod. "I must say, they were quite impressed that you had Katerina Sebastian as both your personal and corporate lawyer. From what I've heard she does not take corporate clients."

"She's a friend." Cedric said with a shrug as Ian handed him a pen and several documents.

"Please clear the table." Cedric heard Ayanna tell the maids, as they promptly took everything away and wiped the table to make sure that the documents wouldn't get damaged or stained.

"Your people are quite efficient." Wu Jun praised.

"They are my father's employees, I don't live here." Cedric explained.

"Oh, wow. Impressive." Wu Jun said with a nod.

Cedric knew that traditionally the heir or the new head of the family lived at the ancestral home, but Cedric wanted to live at Mountain View with his wife and son.

"I like my privacy." Cedric said with a smile as he handed Wu Jun a pen and his own stash of documents to sign.

Wu Jun simply nodded in acknowledgment as he took the documents.

The man quickly scanned the contract, making sure it was the same one that Cedric had sent for his approval in past.

When he confirmed that it was the same he began to sign.

Cedric did the same and signed the stack that was with him as well.

As soon as they were done, they exchanged documents and proceeded to sign as well.

It was a few minutes of pure silence as the two men focused on signing the documents before them. 

When they were done, Cedric placed the pen down and stretched his fingers.

"I won't lie, this is the part of our job that I do not enjoy." Cedric said with a laugh as he handed his stack to Ian.

"I used to enjoy it in the start, but as time went on I got tired of it." Wu Jun said with a laugh as he agreed with Cedric.

"Those are your copies of the contract, I just need a photo with you for our press release then you should be able to rest for the night." Cedric said with a smile as he moved to get up.

As Cedric stood, the doors to the dining room opened and his brother-in-law, Raymund Laurence, walked in with his men. 

"Dad." Ray said with a smile as he gave Emilio Reyes a slight bow.

"Ced." Ray told Cedric as he nodded at his brother-in-law.

"Hey darling, I came to pick you up." Ray told Ayanna as he kissed the top of her head and smiled at her. 

Ayanna looked up and gave him the sweetest smile.

"Ray, we have a guest." Cedric announced as he pointed at Wu Jun.

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Raymund Laurence, President and CEO of Laurence Enterprises." Ray said as he offered his hand to Wu Jun.

"This is Wu Jun, he will be working with me for Mor Co." Cedric said as he introduced Ray to Wu Jun.

"So you are this beautiful woman's husband." Wu Jun said as he shook Ray's hand and gave him a mischievous smile.

Cedric held his breath as he waited for Ray's reaction.

He knew his best friend and brother-in-law had quite the temper, especially when it came to people that had ill intentions towards Ayanna.

"Yes, she makes me the luckiest man alive." Ray said in a calm tone as he smiled at Ayanna and released Wu Jun's hand.

Cedric took a deep breath and shook his head, that was way too intense for his liking.