Chapter 408 Just a Little Business
Catherine emerged from the private booth, heading for the restroom. As she turned the corner, she felt a pair of eyes fixated on her from behind.
Catherine halted and turned.
She saw Adrien standing at the far end of the corridor, his gaze clearly sizing her up. He also noticed Catherine turn around. He initiated the greeting. “What a coincidence, us dining here?”
He had clearly been standing there for a few minutes.
Was it a coincidence?
Not at all.
Catherine gave him an indifferent look, then turned to leave. Adrien hadn’t anticipated Catherine’s reaction.
He immediately tried to stop her.
“Catherine, we cross paths, and you can’t even say hello?” he called out. Turning back once more, Catherine cast a nonchalant glance at Adrien and scrutinized him from head to toe.
She dismissively uttered, “Hi, Adrien.”
Her expression seemed to question him.
“Is that enough?
“Are you satisfied?”
Adrien was growing more intrigued by his niece. She was certainly different from the rest of the Langs. He approached Catherine with a friendly smile.
Meanwhile, his eyes were brimming with warmth.
“Though we may not share any blood relation, there’s no need for hostilities, right? Why not be friends, even if just in name?”
Catherine scoffed and answered with disdain in her eyes, “Hmph. I’m not in the habit of making friends.”
Adrien watched Catherine’s confident departure and let out a bitter laugh. This was the first time he’d faced rejection.
Accustomed to being admired, he had failed in his attempt to befriend her. As Catherine left, the hidden security officer finally emerged from the shadows and approached Adrien.
“Chief, this young lady doesn’t seem to have a pleasant personality. You are older than her, but she’s showing disrespect to you.”
Adrien replied, “She’s already being relatively nice to me. She’s been through a lot from childhood. I only hope she’ll have an easier life in the future.”
Earlier, Adrien received a call from Enzo, who informed him of Catherine’s ruthless tactics. She had pushed Korbin into the hospital, ejected Rachael from the family home, and asked for Enzo’s advice.
At that moment, Adrien contemplated that this young woman was clever, but facing someone like Korbin in the business world would not be easy.
It turned out that Catherine had the support of the Duncans. Adrien was well aware that the Duncans ‘influence extended beyond the business world.
Originally, he had no intention of helping Donna and Enzo deal with Catherine, as he knew what kind of people they were. Catherine had been sent to the countryside while still a child.
Still, it was one of those baseless accusations rooted in feudal superstition. Could normal parents really do such a thing?
They had sown the seeds of their own wrongdoing, and now it was time for them to reap the harvest. Catherine had no intention of having one person after another corner her in the restroom. It was Adrien earlier, and now Ronin.
When she appeared, Ronin quickly approached.
“Catherine, I need to talk to you,” he said.
Catherine glanced at him and nodded in agreement.
“Catherine, our final exams are just a week away. After that, we’ll have a month off. Isn’t that great?” Ronin spoke. Catherine, growing impatient with his circumlocution, replied curtly, “Cut the crap.”
One stern command was enough to make Ronin shiver. He quickly got to the point.
“Catherine, we received a message from Sean offering a billion dollars for you to be an instructor for a month.”
As Catherine finally understood his real intention, she scanned him from head to toe with a chilling expression. It sent shivers down Ronin’s spine.
It was terrifying.
Finally, Ronin couldn’t bear the tension any longer.
“Catherine, Sean Scott is willing to pay me thirty million dollars. I don’t intend to keep the money for myself. I just think that instead of letting Sean earn that money, we could siphon some into your pocket. After all, we don’t have much left in our accounts,” he pleaded.
Upon hearing this, Catherine furrowed her brows slightly and asked, “Are we out of money?”
Even though he risked getting a beating from Catherine, Ronin decided to come clean. At Catherine’s quizzical look, he added, “The money you had me transfer to the lab last time was the last of it.”
Without the money from the Winfreds, courtesy of an arrangement facilitated by Withal, they wouldn’t have had enough to fund their experiments.
Catherine had many qualities, but a sense of financial responsibility was not one of them. No matter how much they earned, she often spent money without keeping track.
Once Ronin realized Catherine’s financial tendencies, he took control of her accounts, earning a degree in financial management in the process to help with her finances.
Not only could he manage their income and expenses efficiently, but he could also invest the surplus funds wisely, allowing them to generate even more income!
Catherine was terrible with money. She believed the money they received from the Winfreds was enough to support the lab for a while. She didn’t expect it to be gone so soon.
The lab’s expenditures were truly fast. It seemed she’d have to work hard to earn some money.
Otherwise, all the research projects would stall, and the lab’s competition was about who could burn money faster and spend more.
As long as a laboratory was willing to spend generously, they could achieve anything.
Catherine asked, “Find out who this person is.” Anyone willing to pay her 100 million dollars to be an instructor was no ordinary person.
Ronin shook his head, “We haven’t received any information from Sean, but it seems there’s a connection to the 417 Laboratory. They train people to join Shadow Guard for the 417 Laboratory.”
417 Laboratory?
Interesting.
Since the buyer was willing to pay, he reluctantly accepted the role of an instructor. After all, it wasn’t her first time doing such a job.
In the past, she had trained her own people for free, but now that she would be paid for it, it felt different.
Catherine set a strict deadline, “Ronin, inform them we’ll give them 21 days. Only 21 days, life or death.”
If they wanted her to be the instructor, they should be prepared to have their skin peeled off and possibly lose their lives at any moment.
When Catherine agreed to the proposal, Ronin didn’t care whether the buyer would accept these stringent conditions.
Ronin agreed readily, “Alright, Catherine, I’ll have Sean negotiate with the buyer. If they refuse, so be it.”
If the buyer didn’t agree, they would just walk away.
Catherine was not someone anyone could hire. They were running low on funds, but as long as their Catherine did something, they had many fortunes waiting to be obtained.
He thought that the buyer seemed generous. He had increased the price tenfold, and they had not hesitated. Now, he was trying to persuade his Catherine to accept.
In the end, it was a simple decision. If they didn’t accept, they wouldn’t negotiate further.
