Chapter 270 - 268: You’ve Got to Hold On

During the break, in the senior class 3-3 classroom.

"Jameson Stone, someone’s looking for you!"

Jameson Stone went to the classroom door and found only a boy with a completely unfamiliar face standing there.

He looked Ethan Sterling up and down suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

Ethan Sterling: "..."

’I was standing right next to Renee Reid this morning. Did this guy not even see me in his peripheral vision?’

"Hey, I’m from Class 1. Our class president asked me to return this to you."

As Ethan spoke, he handed the item in his hand to Jameson Stone.

Jameson Stone stared at the gift he had sent out, now returned to him completely untouched. He was momentarily speechless. "Hey, what’s the meaning of this?"

’Returned to sender, huh?’

Ethan Sterling just relayed Renee Reid’s message: "She said she appreciates the thought, but she can’t accept the gift."

Jameson Stone looked up at Ethan Sterling, his expression probing. Ethan felt a little awkward under his gaze. Then he heard Jameson ask in confusion, "You’re from Class 1? How come I’ve never seen you before?"

"I just transferred here. Yesterday," Ethan explained.

Recognition dawned on Jameson. "Oh... you’re the one who was taking the test in the hallway yesterday!"

Ethan’s mouth twitched. His arm, still holding out the gift, was starting to get sore.

Then he heard Jameson Stone suddenly say, "If she doesn’t want it, then I’ll just give it to you. Welcome to Lorcain Second Middle School!"

"Huh?"

Ethan was stunned, completely unable to follow this Jameson guy’s train of thought. When he snapped out of it, he shook his head frantically. "No, no, no! Don’t joke around, man. I can’t take your gift."

Jameson had a nonchalant look on his face. "This gift was specifically for a girl. It’s useless for me to take it back. It’s yours, no need to be polite!"

He said it with an air of complete naturalness, and he was being perfectly serious.

Ethan was dumbfounded. "Dude, I’m pretty sure I look like a guy, right?"

’Is this really a matter of being polite or not?’

As if afraid Jameson would say something even more shocking, Ethan didn’t wait for him to speak. He shoved the thing straight into Jameson’s arms and turned to leave.

’So bizarre!’

Jameson Stone looked at the gift that had once again returned to his arms, then at Ethan’s retreating back as if he were fleeing. He gave a slight purse of his lips.

After breakfast, Cecilia Sterling went back to her room to catch up on sleep. She didn’t get up until nearly noon, at which point she washed up, changed into a nice outfit, and went out.

「Aetherium Business Club.」

A waiter led Cecilia Sterling to an elevator, which took her straight to the sixteenth floor. She then arrived at one of the private rooms.

When she opened the door, Mr. Young was already there.

"Mr. Young."

"Cecilia, you’re here. I was just ordering. Come see if there’s anything you’d like to eat."

Cecilia handed her overcoat and purse to the waiter, then walked over and sat down next to Mr. Young. She said casually, "I’ll just have the steamed roe crab. I had it here last time and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it."

"Alright, add one order of steamed roe crab."

"Mr. Young, this meal’s on me, by the way. Thank you for helping me find a school for my little brother." Cecilia spoke at the right moment, expressing her sincere gratitude.

Mr. Young waved his hand dismissively and chuckled. "You’re being too formal. You call something as trivial as that a big deal?"

"It might not be a big deal for you, Mr. Young, but my family’s situation came up so suddenly. If it weren’t for your help, it would have taken me a lot more effort. So for me, it really was a huge help," Cecilia said.

Seeing that Cecilia wasn’t just being polite, Mr. Young could only nod. "Alright, alright. It’s just a meal. I won’t argue with you over it."

Just as he finished speaking, the door opened again, and Wesley Yates walked in unhurriedly.

As usual, he was wearing a tailored black Zhongshan suit and a pair of sunglasses. But unlike usual, he was alone today. Normally, he’d be accompanied by at least four underlings whenever he went anywhere.

Even Mr. Young found it novel. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but tease, "Well now, what’s happened today? Lost your entourage?"

Wesley Yates walked straight over and sat down. From behind his sunglasses, he glanced at Mr. Young but didn’t respond to his jab. Instead, he looked at Cecilia and greeted her, "Cecilia."

"Brother."

Cecilia greeted him, though she couldn’t help but feel it was strange. She held back from asking why.

’She knew he would never go out without his men. Perhaps they just hadn’t come upstairs.’

Mr. Young was long accustomed to Wesley Yates’s attitude and wouldn’t get angry over it. Instead, he took two documents from the bag behind him and handed them to Cecilia and Wesley. "The financial audit is done. This is the first draft of the acquisition contract. Personally, I don’t see any issues, but you two should take them back and have a look. If you find anything, let’s discuss it right away. If not, we’ll go ahead and take this place!"

The first page of the acquisition contract clearly stated that the new legal representative would be "Dexter Young"—Mr. Young’s full name.

Among the three of them, only Mr. Young was a true expert in business, with the most experience.

Due to his background, Wesley Yates’s name certainly couldn’t be used for the legal representative. And if Cecilia were to become the representative, she would have to personally handle all the club’s future operations and affairs.

That wasn’t her area of expertise, nor was she willing to take on such a hassle.

Therefore, having Mr. Young serve as the legal representative was a unanimous decision. Since it was a joint venture with all three holding equal shares, Cecilia and Wesley Yates would each give him one percent of their profits as a dividend for his role as the legal head.

One percent of a one-third share wasn’t actually much money, at least not enough for Mr. Young to care about. So this "legal representative’s dividend" was more of a formality, a matter of principle.

"I’ll give you an answer tomorrow," Wesley Yates said.

Cecilia nodded as well. "Okay, me too. Tomorrow."

’Professional matters should be handled by professionals. I need to have a lawyer look at it.’

During the meal, Cecilia got up to go to the restroom. As he watched the door to the private room slowly close, the expression on Mr. Young’s face hardened.

He slowly put down his chopsticks, looked at Wesley Yates, and sighed softly. "I’ve heard the rumors, too. This is a big one coming. You’d better hold on tight, kid."

Wesley Yates focused on dismantling the crab in his hands, his voice calm. "Leave it to fate..."

"Fate? You believe in fate now?" Mr. Young scoffed. "If you believed in fate, would you be where you are today? You would have frozen to death on the streets twenty years ago!"

"We might not see eye to eye on a daily basis, but Jeb, after all these years... we’ve fought long enough to have some kind of bond. I really don’t want to see anything happen to you, damn it."

’Besides, we have a ton of business tied together!’

Mr. Young didn’t say this out loud, but it was certainly one of the reasons.

Wesley Yates nodded. "Alright. I’ve seen my share of storms. This is nothing."

Mr. Young snorted. "Don’t just put on a brave face. If you need help, just tell me. I’ll help if I can. But don’t let Cecilia in on this. She’s still just a young girl, after all. Don’t scare her."

Wesley Yates finally looked up and met Mr. Young’s gaze directly. "You’d dare to help me at a time like this?"

At this, Mr. Young’s eyes widened. "What about it?"

Wesley Yates let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. "Forget it. I don’t want to owe you any favors."

"Stubborn till the end. If you don’t want to drag me into it, just say so. Don’t give me that crap about favors," Mr. Young said, seeing right through him.