Chapter 421 - 417: Hold On

"What’s with your tone?"

Jameson Stone, with his short temper, glared, puffed out his chest, and took two steps forward as he spoke.

Seeing this, the other guy grinned cheekily, raised his hands, and backed up two steps. "What’s this? You actually want to throw hands?"

Ethan Sterling grabbed Jameson Stone and gently shook his head. ’This isn’t the place for a fight. Besides, if what the guy said is true, it doesn’t matter how expensive the wine is—Renee Reid is still responsible.’

’But six grand was far too much for Renee Reid. With a sum like that, and knowing her personality, she would absolutely refuse his help.’

"Listen, we’ve met before. Can you do me a favor and lower the price a little?" Ethan Sterling tried to bargain with him.

The young man blinked at Ethan Sterling, then suddenly scoffed. "Do you a favor? What makes you think you deserve one? Are you talking about the car incident?"

The guy’s attitude was infuriating, and he looked like he was asking for a punch. Ethan Sterling could only restrain his anger and give a slight nod.

’If he hadn’t relented that day, the guy wouldn’t have been able to take delivery of the car so quickly.’

However, the grin on the other man’s face widened as he corrected Ethan Sterling, "Dude, don’t get it twisted. My dad transferred money to you. We *paid* for the right to take that car; you didn’t just ’let’ us have it."

"If I hadn’t agreed to let it go, you couldn’t have bought it, no matter how much money you had."

"But you did let it go!"

Ethan Sterling was left speechless for a moment, then silently nodded.

’Just a few words were enough to reveal the guy’s attitude. Arguing further was clearly pointless.’

"Renee Reid, I’ll cover this for you for now. We can discuss the rest in private later."

Ethan Sterling gave up trying to reason with him. Renee Reid could see he didn’t want to argue anymore, so after a moment’s thought, she also nodded.

’In any case, figuring out a solution with Ethan Sterling was a far better option than dealing with this guy.’

Jameson Stone looked pained, his brow furrowed as he whispered, "Ethan, are you really... really gonna pay him? That’s six grand!"

Ethan Sterling nodded. A good bottle of red wine is expensive; its value was a fact. They had to pay for it.

Seeing this, the other man chuckled mockingly. "So, are you using the money you got from my dad to play hero and save the damsel in distress right in front of me? What, are my dad and I just a couple of NPCs for you?"

Ethan Sterling glanced at him and retorted, "And? Am I not allowed to spend the money your dad gave me?"

"You are!"

The man pulled out his phone as he spoke, displaying a QR code for payment, his face still plastered with a cheeky grin.

The bottle of wine was unimportant to him, and a few grand was even more trivial.

’He just thought it was amusing. He had only meant to tease the girl, but he never expected to run into this guy.’

’This was even more fun!’

However, just as he thought Ethan Sterling’s next move would be to pull out his phone and scan the code, Ethan spoke lightly, "Hey, you’ve got the wrong code out. You should be showing your ’Pay’ code, not your ’Receive’ code!"

The man’s smile froze, and then he sneered. "Have you lost your mind? You’re compensating me, but you want me to pull up my ’Pay’ code?"

Jameson Stone and Renee Reid were also dumbfounded, thinking Ethan Sterling had made a mistake.

But Ethan Sterling replied with a serious expression, "I’m not confused. You were buying this bottle of wine from Aetherium, right?"

"Yeah!" The man’s face darkened, and he nodded, having no idea what Ethan Sterling was planning.

Ethan Sterling continued, "And have you paid for it yet?"

"I... I haven’t even finished my meal. I’ll pay the bill when I’m done, obviously."

"Your meal has nothing to do with us. We’re talking about this bottle of wine. It belongs to Aetherium. Since you haven’t paid for it, it’s technically still Aetherium’s property. Now that it’s broken, you and my friend each share half the responsibility. You will compensate Aetherium for your six grand, and we will take care of the rest!"

Ethan Sterling’s speech made the other guy laugh. "Come on, dude. Isn’t this needlessly complicated? What’s the point of all this? Just transfer the money to me, and I’ll naturally pay for the wine when I settle my bill."

But Ethan Sterling shook his head firmly in refusal. "It was Aetherium’s wine that was broken, so we will only compensate Aetherium."

"Fuck..." The man was rendered speechless by Ethan Sterling’s logic but finally nodded. "Fine. It’s all the same who gets paid. This money has to go out one way or another."

Hearing this, Ethan Sterling looked at the manager standing nearby. "Ring it up. Take his money!"

The manager had approached with the intention of resolving the problem, but he had ended up as a mere spectator watching the drama unfold. He only snapped back to reality when Ethan Sterling spoke to him. He nodded quickly and turned to draw up a separate bill for the bottle of wine.

The annoying expression returned to the other man’s face, his gaze drifting over the group from time to time.

As if he wasn’t done yet, he looked at Renee Reid and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, gorgeous, is he your boyfriend?"

The "he" was obviously referring to Ethan Sterling.

Ethan Sterling’s brow furrowed, and he warned, "Show some respect."

The guy grinned, seeing that they weren’t a couple. He turned back to Renee Reid and teased, "Well then, how about we add each other on WhatsApp? If you do, how about I give you another fifty percent off? I’ll pay nine grand!"

"You motherfucker..." An enraged Jameson Stone immediately rolled up his sleeves, but Renee Reid held him back.

Renee Reid looked at the man, hesitated for a moment, and actually asked for confirmation, "Really?"

’She wasn’t that kind of person, but this amount of money was simply too enormous. She couldn’t afford it.’

’If just adding him on WhatsApp could knock three grand off the payment, she could do it. She wouldn’t really be losing anything.’

’Her mind was perfectly clear.’

"Of course! Here, let me scan your code!" The man wasn’t just bluffing. ’Adding this girl right in front of her two male friends? The effect would be off the charts. What a rush!’

But Ethan Sterling sidestepped, blocking the two of them. "It’s six grand," he said coolly. "The code is here. Go ahead and scan it."

"Ethan Sterling..." Renee Reid began softly, a pleading look on her face.

Of course, Ethan Sterling knew what she was thinking. He understood completely.

’But if this had happened anywhere else, he wouldn’t have stopped her. This, however, was Aetherium. He had to step in and resolve this for Renee Reid. He had his own way of dealing with it.’

"Don’t worry, leave it to me. Don’t pay attention to anything else," Ethan Sterling reassured Renee Reid softly.

Renee Reid’s lips moved, but in the end, she chose to trust Ethan Sterling.

He didn’t get to add her on WhatsApp, but the man wasn’t angry. He took the QR code from the restaurant manager and scanned it.

"There. Six grand. Your turn!" The man showed Ethan Sterling the successful payment screen before holding his own ’Receive’ code out to him again.

Ethan Sterling glanced at the ’Receive’ code, then turned to the restaurant manager and said, "Waive the remaining amount."

The man froze. Before he could figure out what was happening and say a word, the restaurant manager beside them nodded with utmost respect. "Of course, Mr. Sterling."

With that, he took back the bill with the QR code and was about to turn and leave.

"Wait... hold on a second!"