Chapter 528 - 524: A Very "Stiff" Personality

Emeric Grant turned to leave, but Cecilia Sterling blurted out, "Do you have one that’s a little... uglier?"

She regretted it the moment the words left her mouth.

Emeric Grant looked at her, his expression finally wavering. He looked as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

"What I mean is... well..." Cecilia Sterling fumbled for words. ’How can I phrase this more politely?’

After a moment, she gave up the struggle. "Yes, that’s right. We need someone who’s a bit on the uglier side."

Now that he had Cecilia Sterling’s confirmation, Emeric Grant no longer hesitated. He nodded earnestly and replied, "We do!"

Cecilia Sterling: "?"

’So no female doctors, but you have ugly ones!’

"Then I’ll transfer the patient to another doctor. Is there anything else?"

Cecilia Sterling snapped out of her daze and shook her head.

Emeric Grant gave a slight nod and turned to go, but then he suddenly looked back at Cecilia Sterling. "About that bump yesterday, is your phone okay?"

Cecilia Sterling: "!"

’So he *did* remember!’

"It’s fine." Cecilia Sterling’s expression returned to normal as she quickly composed herself.

"Oh, all right. If there’s a problem with the phone, I can pay for the damages."

With that, Emeric Grant truly left this time.

Cecilia Sterling watched him go, unsure what expression to wear. ’This man certainly has a strong personality,’ she thought, ’and a very "stiff" one at that.’

’The kind of personality you can neither predict nor see through.’

’It’s actually kind of amusing.’

When she returned to the hospital room, she ran into Mr. Young on his way out.

"Mr. Young, are you leaving?"

"I have a meeting at ten," Mr. Young said with a smile. "Phoebe has been sleeping this whole time. The little one is so quiet. I just wanted to pop in for a look."

Cecilia Sterling nodded. Then she heard Mr. Young add, "By the way, I’ll try to contact some of the new leaders in Sunstone District this afternoon and see if I can arrange a get-together for tonight."

Cecilia Sterling’s face lit up. "You work so fast, Mr. Young. I almost feel bad for imposing."

"Since I promised you, it’s just a matter of time. And if that’s the case, then better sooner than later."

"Thank you, Mr. Young."

"Don’t thank me just yet. I’m not very familiar with this new leadership team, so I can’t guarantee I can make it happen. But I’ll do my best."

"Whether you succeed or not, I’ll still owe you a favor, Mr. Young."

Mr. Young laughed. "You’re always so formal with me. I really have to go. I’ll get back to you this afternoon."

Cecilia Sterling nodded, and only after seeing Mr. Young off did she return to the hospital room.

Mrs. Yates immediately came over to her. "How did it go, Cecilia?"

Cecilia Sterling shook her head. "There were no female doctors available, so I asked him to assign an ugly one. Is that all right?"

"Yes!" Mrs. Yates nodded repeatedly. "Ugly is fine! An ugly one gives me peace of mind."

Cecilia Sterling managed to hold back a laugh. Zelda Warner looked at them in confusion and asked, "Mom, what’s all this about someone being ugly? What are you two talking about?"

"It’s nothing, nothing," Mrs. Yates said with a smile, walking over and reaching for the baby in Zelda Warner’s arms. "Let me put her in the crib. It must be tiring for you to hold her all the time."

Zelda Warner looked at Cecilia Sterling, who just shook her head gently. ’You’ll find out soon enough,’ she thought.

That afternoon, during routine rounds, the moment the new attending doctor walked in, Mrs. Yates’s phrase—"ugly gives me peace of mind"—was instantly personified.

The new doctor’s surname was Feng. He was about five-foot-five, balding, and had small eyes behind lenses nearly as thick as the head of a stethoscope. Despite his appearance, he exuded an air of formidable professional authority.

"Have you urinated this morning? Any signs of leakage?"

But the real kicker? The moment he opened his mouth, he sounded just like Donald Duck.

Any shred of sex appeal immediately plummeted into the negatives.

Mrs. Yates looked at Cecilia Sterling, a deeply satisfied smile spreading across her face.

Cecilia Sterling returned a smile that was gentle on the surface, but she was grimacing on the inside.

That afternoon, Cecilia Sterling received a call from Mr. Young. He told her he had booked a private room for seven o’clock that evening at an exclusive private kitchen.

When dining with government officials, privacy was paramount.

Judging by Mr. Young’s tone, he had managed to secure a meeting with a very important figure, and he stressed that Cecilia Sterling needed to treat the occasion with the utmost seriousness.

Not daring to be careless, Cecilia Sterling immediately went home to change into a more formal outfit and then drove to the restaurant herself.

The restaurant’s parking was in an adjacent small park. Perhaps because of the time of day, spaces were extremely limited that evening. Cecilia Sterling circled for a good while before she finally spotted an empty one.

However, there was a person standing in the spot.

A middle-aged woman.

Cecilia Sterling glanced at the time, then lightly tapped her horn twice, signaling for the woman to move.

But the woman merely lifted her gaze, glanced languidly at Cecilia’s Cullinan, and then went back to her phone as if nothing had happened.

Cecilia Sterling frowned and checked the time again. If she didn’t park soon, she was going to be late.

She rolled down her window and leaned out. "Ma’am, you can’t save a parking spot by standing in it."

The woman finally looked up, her tone hostile. "I was here first!"

Cecilia Sterling had intended to be reasonable. She was in a hurry and didn’t want to waste time on such matters. But the woman’s attitude was so hostile that Cecilia immediately retorted, "This is a parking space, not a morgue. What good is your body doing here? Move it!"

"What did you say?" The woman instantly blew up, shrieking, "Why don’t you just run me over, then? You can have the spot after you run me over!"

Cecilia Sterling rolled her window back up. The moment she’d snapped at the woman, she had already given up on the spot. ’There’s no point arguing with people like that.’

Glancing up, she saw in her rearview mirror that a car behind her was pulling out, freeing up a space.

Cecilia Sterling cranked the steering wheel, about to reverse into it, when a Mercedes suddenly swung in from another direction and snatched the spot.

Cecilia Sterling rolled her eyes, speechless.

Then she watched as the woman who’d been saving the spot ran over to the Mercedes.

"Hubby, I saved a spot for you!"

A portly middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears got out of the Mercedes and wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist. "But there was a spot right here, wasn’t there? This one is fine."

’I should just back up and run them both over!’ Cecilia Sterling thought.

But she hadn’t forgotten her purpose for being there. She parked her car in the spot the woman had been occupying, got out, and locked the doors.

When the woman saw Cecilia Sterling’s youth and beauty, and the expensive car she was driving, a flash of hostility appeared in her eyes.

As Cecilia Sterling walked past the couple, she said, "Hogging the toilet without even taking a crap."

"Who do you think you’re talking to?" the woman shrieked, hopping mad.

But Cecilia Sterling didn’t even look back, simply walking away with an elegant posture.

"Hubby!" the woman whined to the man. "That woman just insulted me while I was trying to save you a spot!"

The man, however, had been gawking at Cecilia Sterling, completely mesmerized. He hastily tore his eyes away. "Oh, well, why didn’t you say so sooner? Hubby would have stood up for you. But we have to go in now. If this deal goes through today, the company will make a profit of several thousand!"