Chapter 173: Winning Clayton Lowell’s Private Dinner

Since the engagement was off, keeping the jewelry felt awkward. Better to sell it off sooner rather than later and recoup some of the cash.

Willow Summers was a woman of action. As soon as she hung up, she started making inquiries.

Jane Lancaster also got up and walked into her walk-in closet, opening the safe to look at her jewelry.

The most eye-catching item in the safe was the 18-million-yuan Heart of Diamond necklace. She had wanted to get rid of it for a while—that was a lot of money!

She found having that much money hanging around her neck uncomfortably heavy. It was much more practical to turn it into cash in the bank, or just spend it.

’Thank goodness Julian was so eager to prove himself after my little outburst that he bought this necklace. If things had followed the original plot and I’d had to buy it myself, wouldn’t that have been a huge loss?’

’Fleecing people is a joy, and fleecing Julian Lancaster is a joy that never gets old.’

’My dear brother is incredibly stingy. He only gives superficially fancy jewelry as gifts. He must have been banking on the fact that I wouldn’t dare sell it behind his back, right?’

’High-end jewelry like this holds its value well. In the future, when the Lancaster Family goes bankrupt, he wouldn’t even have to say a word. A whole crowd of people would just urge me to sell my jewelry to help the family get through the crisis.’

’What a clever scheme.’

Julian Lancaster stood outside the walk-in closet door. Hearing these thoughts, he lowered his gaze.

He hated this feeling of being seen through at every turn. It left him feeling completely exposed, with nowhere to hide.

After a moment, he raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Jay, time for dinner."

Jane Lancaster calmly put down the Heart of Diamond, stood up, and said, "Brother."

Downstairs, Alvin Lancaster and Adrian Lancaster were also home. It was rare for the whole family to gather for a meal.

At the dinner table, Jane Lancaster spoke up directly. "Brother, I want to sell the Heart of Diamond."

Alvin Lancaster was taken aback. "Why sell it? Jay, are you short on cash? I can transfer you some money, okay?"

Jane put on a fragile expression. "The engagement party was canceled. I don’t want to see any of that jewelry anymore."

Realizing this was the reason, Alvin immediately understood and turned to look at Julian Lancaster.

’Brother probably won’t mind, right? After all, he gave the Heart of Diamond to his sister hoping it would bring her happiness.’

Julian Lancaster’s tone was gentle. "Fine. Sell it if you want. It was a gift from me to you, so it’s yours to do with as you please."

Lana Sterling had sold half the jewelry Jasper Sterling gave her for no reason at all, and Jasper hadn’t said a thing. Of course, he wouldn’t say anything either.

Besides, Jane Lancaster’s reason was so compelling.

Jane Lancaster beamed. "Thank you, Brother!"

’In reality, his heart is probably bleeding right now. But what can he do? He can’t very well stop me from selling it.’

’I’ve finally figured it out. Julian Lancaster is definitely sick, and it’s the incurable kind.’

Alvin Lancaster’s heart skipped a beat as he clutched his chopsticks. ’So it’s not stomach cancer caused by his gastric problems?’

’What kind of disease makes you cough up blood, is fatal, *and* incurable?’ He perked up his ears, listening intently.

’Other people are stingy because they’re cheap, but your stinginess is clearly a psychological disorder! You were obviously scarred by poverty from your childhood in the countryside, to a pathological degree.’

’Who would have thought? You’re the president of a company that pays thousands of employees, yet you’re obsessed with pennies and dimes every day. Wasting a single cent is probably enough to make you die of heartache.’

Alvin Lancaster: "..."

He looked up and met Julian Lancaster’s gaze. ’What’s going on? Why does Brother’s face look so dark?’

「—」

「That night.」

Julian Lancaster returned to his room, opened his safe, and took out a thick stack of notebooks.

He opened one. The handwriting inside was neat and elegant, as if recording something important.

But a closer look revealed that it was all just a record of trivial, insignificant matters.

"Today, the administrative specialist knocked over the coffee beans in the breakroom. The cleaning lady swept them into the trash—that bag of coffee beans cost 35 yuan to procure."

He stared at the lines of text with a blank expression. After a moment, he took out a prepared basin and set all the notebooks on fire.

He couldn’t let anyone know about this weakness of his.

When he had first returned to the city from the countryside, his father had criticized him for being shortsighted, for only focusing on dimes and pennies. How could someone like that be capable of helming a corporation?

He worked hard to shed the poor man’s attitude his father disliked, learning to treat tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, as commonplace. But in his dreams, he was still that poor boy from the countryside.

Every day, he’d wake up worrying about money, thinking about how to stretch a single penny into two.

Even he hadn’t known that what he had was a psychological disorder.

It wasn’t shortsightedness, as his father had said, nor was it being cheap or having a poor man’s attitude. He was sick.

Julian Lancaster lowered his gaze, watching the flames gradually consume the notebooks. After some thought, he made a call to Lucy Finch.

"Help me book an appointment with the best psychologist for tomorrow."

「—」

Jane Lancaster had also made plans with Willow Summers. They were going to Clayton Lowell’s investor appreciation event to watch the show.

It was rather ridiculous. Clayton Lowell was holding an "appreciation event," but he was actually requiring guests to verify their assets.

Luckily, Jane Lancaster had recently recouped some cash from selling her jewelry, just enough to meet the entry threshold.

She didn’t use her own name, but went under Willow Summers’s instead.

They hadn’t actually invested, of course. Clayton Lowell’s real intention for the event was to solicit investments on the spot. A few phone calls, after all, could only raise so much capital.

His female confidantes had limited funds, so he had turned his sights to the wider public, organizing this flashy banquet at a hotel.

After the banquet began, a group of young heartthrobs took the stage to perform, warming up the crowd with singing and dancing.

Clayton Lowell didn’t show his face, but his voice boomed from the speakers, passionately introducing his project.

There was also a prize drawing in the middle, which hyped up the atmosphere considerably.

Jane Lancaster kept a low profile, hiding in a corner at the very edge of the room to eat. The main table, however, was bustling with excitement.

That table was supposedly reserved for those who had invested over a hundred million. And among them, the one beaming with success, was none other than Lana Sterling.

Lana Sterling was the biggest investor this time. She had even borrowed twenty million from someone else to round her investment up to two hundred million for Clayton Lowell, instantly becoming his SVIP.

In the prize drawing, she won a private dinner with Clayton Lowell. She would get to go to the Lowell family home for a meal personally cooked by him—no less than ten courses!

The crazy part was, people in the audience were actually gasping in envy.

Jane Lancaster nearly sprayed a mouthful of soup. Someone quietly offered her a handkerchief from the side. She turned her head, blinked, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Jasper Sterling replied, "If I hadn’t come, how would I have known fundraising had gotten so creative these days?"

Willow Summers stared at Jasper Sterling in shock, unable to snap out of it for a long moment.

How to put it... Jasper Sterling was dressed like some trendy social media influencer.

But he couldn’t hide his air of nobility. With his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs, he didn’t look like an influencer at all. On the contrary, his charisma was off the charts. He had a dignified aura tinged with a hint of wickedness, and his beautiful, almond-shaped eyes were utterly captivating.

Jane Lancaster thought for a moment, then raised her voice. "Is President Lowell’s cooking any good? Wouldn’t it be unlucky if the food tastes bad?"

The venue was noisy. She called out in a disguised, high-pitched voice, keeping her head down the whole time, so no one noticed her.

Clayton Lowell couldn’t stand hearing anyone use the word "unlucky." Besides, he was very confident in Mrs. Everett’s cooking skills.

"Since someone has expressed doubt, I’ll have a dish brought out for everyone. This is a dessert I just made today. Only investors of one hundred million or more will be able to enjoy it."