Chapter 174 Why Would I Intentionally Look For You
Courtney could tell that this man was very shrewd and careful. If there was no equivalent exchange, he wouldn’t accept anything even if he was offered money for it. Thus, she decided to be straightforward with him. “Bring me along when you visit the Gideon Residence again. You can say that I’m one of your assistants. Once you’ve closed the deal, please propose to have a look around the house to see if there is any other furniture you might be interested in. I’m looking for a person.”
The man stared at her for several seconds. “Okay.”
Since the man’s assistant addressed him as ‘President Lewis’, she followed suit and addressed the man as ‘President Lewis’ too. Walking behind the two men, she successfully infiltrated the Gideon Residence this time around. Moreover, the woman who drove her away just now happened to be absent. Thus, things progressed smoothly without much trouble. After a careful observation to confirm that nothing was wrong with the chest of drawers, she secretly signaled President Lewis with a look.
President Lewis glanced toward the Gideon Family and said, “I’ll take it at your asking price.”
The one selling the antique furniture happened to be Mario Gideon, the head of the Gideon Family. He was overjoyed upon hearing those words and quickly stretched out his hand for a handshake. “Thank you so much—”
When the assistant noticed this, he quickly stepped forward and shook hands with Mario instead. “That’s settled then. The money will be credited to your account within half an hour, and somebody will drop by to take this chest of drawers away later. Since it’s still early, is it okay if we have a look around to see if there are any other antiques here?”
“Yes, of course.” Mario eagerly hoped that they would buy a few more pieces of furniture from him. Unlike the others, President Lewis was generous with his money. Although many came to look at this chest of drawers, nobody had been willing to accept Mario’s asking price up until now.
Courtney followed behind President Lewis and his assistant as they entered the courtyard, pretending to look at the furniture. After a quick look around, they came to the annex at the back of the courtyard. Mario trailed after them and explained, “This is where my younger brother lives. All his furniture is brand-new; there’s nothing here for us to see.”
However, she smilingly said, “Master Gideon, could it be that you’re hiding a treasure here for fear that President Lewis might see it?
“Of course not!” Mario hurriedly waved his hand in denial. He continued helplessly, “I’m speaking the truth. If you don’t believe me, you can go ahead and have a look. I just said that since I didn’t want to waste your time!”
Not far behind Courtney, President Lewis’ assistant curled his lips and muttered under his breath, “She really thinks of herself as your secretary, doesn’t she? She’s doing as she pleases.”
As soon as he said that, he felt a chill going down his back. He looked up abruptly and saw his boss staring at him expressionlessly. “If you think it’s troublesome, my secretary can come along instead, next time.”
The assistant jumped in fright and looked embarrassed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then, stop talking nonsense.”
The moment Courtney stepped into the annex, she could smell a strong scent of milk. Mario explained, “My brother is a pastry chef. He just retired and returned home recently. He is used to baking, but the smell is so strong that it makes you sick. Why don’t we head elsewhere to have a look?”
“He makes pastries?” She pretended to be surprised. “Are there any ready-made ones? It so happens that President Lewis hasn’t had the chance to eat anything yet. If there are ready-made ones, we would like to buy some to eat during our return journey.”
Mario hurriedly waved his hands in embarrassment. “There’s no need to pay us for that! I’ll give you some to bring home with you. President Lewis, what do you prefer? Do you prefer sweet pastries or savory pastries?”
President Lewis glanced at Courtney questioningly. This woman sure is good at using my name to get what she wants. I’ve never said anything about wanting to eat anything. She’s quite a brazen one to keep asking for more.
However, she simply winked at him as if confidently asking him to play along with her.
The assistant standing beside him had had enough of her attitude since the beginning. He was just about to speak up when a cold voice rang out from beside him. “Why don’t we take a look?”
In response, the assistant looked up in surprise and stared at his boss for a while, feeling extremely shocked. President Lewis is actually playing along with this woman?!
Courtney gave President Lewis a grateful look, thinking to herself that this man was very shrewd indeed. He immediately figured out that the person I’m looking for is in the kitchen.
Afterward, Mario enthusiastically led the three of them into the kitchen. The rich aroma of bread and butter was coming from this kitchen. As soon as they entered the building, the heat washed over them. It was hotter here than it was outside. All of a sudden, she spotted a familiar figure kneading dough in the kitchen—it was Mr. Gideon, who seemed to have fully recovered from the fire.
“Max, Mr. Lewis is here to buy furniture from us. I brought him here to have a look at the bread you make. Can I give them some to eat during their return journey?”
Mr. Gideon didn’t even bother to turn back as he said, “Sure, take whatever you want.”
Then, Mario pointed at the table next to the oven. “President Lewis, please come this way.”
There were all sorts of pastries there, and all of them were the specialties of Sunhill Hotel. With Mr. Gideon’s sudden retirement, the hotel had to figure out a way to hire a replacement pastry chef fast, which was proving to be quite a headache.
“President Lewis, what would you like to have?” Courtney pretentiously made some recommendations to President Lewis. “This duck meat puff pastry looks good. The place I used to work at served these kinds of puff pastries too. It was their signature dish.”
At the sound of her voice, a loud crash rang out from where Mr. Gideon stood behind her. Something had fallen to the ground and resulted in a harsh clanging sound. Thus, everybody turned around to look in the direction of the noise. The tool to sift flour had fallen to the ground, and flour was scattered all over the ground. Meanwhile, Mr. Gideon seemed to be frozen in place; he seemed at a loss for what to do as he stared at her with a shocked expression written across his aged face. “Miss Hunter?!”
Mario frowned. “What’s wrong with you, Max? That gave me a fright!”
Similarly, Courtney frowned and looked surprised. “Mr. Gideon?”
A short while later, Mr. Gideon walked into the living room of the annex after washing his hands. The building was very quiet—so much so that they could hear his wife shouting to feed the chickens from the courtyard. President Lewis and his assistant had taken their leave. Upon learning that Courtney and Mr. Gideon were acquainted, Mario did not say anything more as he led the other two away. Thus, only Courtney and Mr. Gideon remained in the annex.
“Miss Hunter, have you resigned from your job?”
“I guess you can say that. After all, I was the person in charge during the fire. As you can see, I’m working for President Lewis now.”
At the mention of the fire, Mr. Gideon seemed a little nervous. He dug around in the pockets of his pants and finally took out a packet of cigarettes. Taking one out, he was about to light it when his wife’s scolding voice floated in from outside. “Smoking again! You’re going to die from smoking!”
In response, he looked embarrassed. Hesitating for a long while, he returned his cigarette into the cigarette pack and gloomily said, “What a coincidence. I thought you went out of your way to look for me.”
“Why would I intentionally come looking for you?” Courtney pretended to look puzzled. Glancing out the door, she said, “By the way, that must be your wife. I met her this morning. Why did she tell me that she didn’t know who you are?”
He seemed startled and couldn’t come up with an excuse on the spot. After a while, he finally answered haltingly, “We had a fight. Did you hear her too?”
“Is it because of your smoking? You deserve that. You caused a huge loss for the company this time around. Just the equipment in the kitchen alone is worth tens of millions.” She looked indifferent as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
Upon hearing those words, Mr. Gideon’s head lowered even further. In the dimness, she could see that his expression was complicated. Moreover, his eyes seemed to be covered in a layer of fog. It felt like he had a dark secret he could not talk about.
“Alright. I better leave since I still need to accompany President Lewis on his furniture hunt.” Courtney stood up abruptly.
