Chapter 476 - 472: She Added Me

"A Feng Shui Master? Are you planning to buy an estate?"

Julian Summers straightened up and asked. Hiring a Feng Shui Master to assess the land’s energy was a common practice when buying a large manor.

This was especially true for the wealthy—they were firm believers. The richer they were, the more they believed.

"I’m not buying an estate. If you know a reliable one, please introduce him to me. I’ll make sure the master is well-compensated for his trouble," Cecilia Sterling said seriously.

In her past life, she had been a complete and utter atheist.

But after being reborn, she had no choice but to believe. In fact, she had become so devout that whenever she visited someone’s home and saw a consecrated statue of a deity or Buddha, she would offer a prayer.

"I do. Master Ingram. He’s very famous in Lorcain. Many people hire him to assess their feng shui."

Cecilia Sterling nodded. "Then please make the connection for me. Have him take a trip to Mount Lyra with me this weekend. Jane, you’ll come with me."

"Wait, are you really going to buy it?" Jane Sterling asked, slightly shocked. She hadn’t expected Cecilia Sterling to act so decisively, making a decision without much deliberation. She hesitated before trying to persuade her, "Shouldn’t you think about it a bit more? Mount Lyra may be remote, but an entire mountain will cost a fortune. What would you even do with it? It’s like a ’barren salt flat’—completely useless."

Jane Sterling’s mention of a "barren salt flat" was just a metaphor. Mount Lyra wasn’t literally a salt flat; she just felt the mountain had no practical use and that nothing could be done with it.

"We’ll know if it’s usable after the master takes a look. We’ll have our answer this weekend," Cecilia Sterling said calmly.

Jane Sterling frowned. "Well, don’t blame me for not warning you. If you really end up losing money, you can’t hold it against me."

"Why would I? Am I that kind of person?"

Jane Sterling pouted. "Of course you’re not, but I’m just worried."

"Just put your mind at ease. Come on, let’s play a couple more rounds." As she spoke, Cecilia Sterling pulled Jane Sterling and Estelle to their feet. "Think of it as giving Estelle a bit more practice."

*

That day, after military training ended, Renee Reid suddenly sent Ethan Sterling a WhatsApp contact card.

"Ethan, this is Seraphina’s WhatsApp. I had to pull some strings and get help from other classmates to get it. This is all I can do to help you!"

Seeing this, Ethan Sterling’s eyes lit up with excitement. "Thanks, Class Rep! I could kowtow to you right now!"

Renee Reid: "The road is long and difficult. I heard someone else confessed their feelings to her today. Good luck!"

Seraphina’s popularity was just too high, deepening his sense of crisis. He quickly sent a friend request.

He had expected her to take a while to accept, but to his surprise, Seraphina approved Ethan Sterling’s friend request in just a few seconds.

"She added me!" Ethan Sterling shouted.

"What is it? Who added what?" Wayne craned his neck over, curious. "Did you add Seraphina on WhatsApp?"

Ethan Sterling nodded furiously, then looked at his dorm mates. "What should I say?"

"Introduce yourself first. Does she even know who you are?" Rabbit reminded him.

"Oh, right!" Ethan Sterling quickly picked up his phone and sent a message: "Hi Seraphina, this is Ethan Sterling."

"I know it’s you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have accepted!"

When Wayne saw this message, he immediately got a "You’ve got a chance" look on his face, even more excited than Ethan himself. "She only accepted because she knew it was you! Looks like she’s into you too, Ethan! You’ve got a shot, you’ve got a shot!"

"I’m not surprised. Seraphina is gorgeous, but our Ethan is a sunny, handsome guy too. I have to say, they’re a good match!" Rabbit also looked very optimistic.

The positive feedback from his two bros gave Ethan Sterling a little boost of confidence.

’Besides, Seraphina’s message was indeed a bit ambiguous. ’I know it’s you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have accepted!’ Wasn’t her intention crystal clear?’

’She only accepted because it was him.’

But before they could even celebrate for two minutes, another message from Seraphina arrived.

"Don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just figured since we’ve interacted before, we’re not complete strangers. And while we’re not exactly friends yet, we’re at least acquaintances, so adding each other on WhatsApp is no big deal."

Her words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the tiny spark of hope that had just ignited in Ethan Sterling.

’Now *that* was a clear attitude. She’d defined their relationship as ’acquaintances.’ Not even friends. Just a tiny, tiny bit better than strangers.’

"No way!" Wayne slapped his hands together, making Ethan Sterling jump.

"What’s ’no way’?" Ethan asked.

Wayne said with an air of expertise, "She’s definitely into you. This is classic playing hard to get. Otherwise, how would she have known the friend request was from you? Your profile picture isn’t a recent photo of you. She must have been secretly paying attention to you."

’And here I thought Wayne was going to come up with some solid reasoning. But that was it...’

Ethan Sterling pouted dejectedly. "Bro, I know you’re trying to cheer me up, but can we not be so overconfident? My profile pic might be from when I was a kid, but if you look closely, you can still see a resemblance to how I look now. It’s not that weird she’d recognize me."

Rabbit chuckled at that. "Ethan’s the one with a clear head here. Wayne, stop influencing him. Girls these days can’t stand your whole act—the blind confidence, the jumping to conclusions!"

"I..." Wayne said, aggrieved. "I was just afraid Ethan would get discouraged."

"It’s not that bad. She’s not wrong," Ethan Sterling said, composing himself. "We really haven’t interacted much. Just getting her on WhatsApp is a huge step forward in my book."

"Then ask her out!" Wayne jutted his chin, signaling for Ethan Sterling to message Seraphina and ask her out.

"Isn’t that too soon?"

"It’s an emergency, bro! How are you not panicking?" Wayne urged. "If you want to make progress, you have to ask her out. Are you just going to keep relying on ’accidentally’ running into her at school?"

Rabbit finished a round of his game, put down his phone, and turned around. "Wayne’s right. Asking her out doesn’t have to be a big deal. It’s a good way to let her get to know you better. Just grab coffee, or if you know any fun places, you could take her there."

Ethan Sterling looked at the two of them hesitantly. "Neither of you has a girlfriend. How can I be sure your advice is any good?"

"Hey, that’s a personal attack!" Wayne yelped.

Rabbit added, "And here we are, wasting our time worrying about you."

With that, he swiveled his chair around to face Victor Tucker, who had been silent the whole time. "Vince is a great example. He used his camera skills to take nice pictures and ask out the girl he likes. Look at him now—he gets a chance to be alone with her practically every day."

Wayne looked at Victor Tucker with a conflicted expression. "But Vince, let’s be real, isn’t your timeline dragging on a bit? You still haven’t won her over?"

Victor Tucker pressed his lips together and shook his head, his face a mask of misery. "She said she’d think about it."