Yvonne Sherman sneered. "That bitch’s daughter certainly has questionable taste!"

But she loved to see it.

The older and more unpresentable the man Sophia Shaw was with, the more thrilled Yvonne became.

Yvonne Sherman harbored a deep-seated animosity toward the late Brianna Shaw, and she wished for anyone connected to her to live a miserable life.

Just as she was reveling in her glee, Joanna Sherman’s phone slipped from her palm with a clatter and fell to the floor.

Joanna herself looked as if she had seen a ghost, her face instantly turning deathly pale.

"What’s wrong?" Yvonne Sherman asked, puzzled, as she picked up the phone.

The photo on the screen had changed, this one showing the man’s full face.

Yvonne Sherman thought he looked a little familiar, but she couldn’t immediately recall where she had seen him.

"Mom, that’s Old Master Sloan!" Joanna Sherman cried, grabbing her mother’s sleeve. She was on the verge of a breakdown, so overwrought that she didn’t even realize her long nails were digging into Yvonne’s arm.

"Sophia Shaw is with Old Master Sloan!"

"Old Master Sloan?" Yvonne Sherman’s mind went completely blank.

She could only mutter mechanically, "How could she be with Old Master Sloan? They... Don’t tell me Levin Sawyer asked her to pick him up?"

"Impossible!" Joanna Sherman’s legs felt like they were about to give out.

"Old Master Sloan is eccentric. He won’t even acknowledge people he doesn’t know. But look, he hugged Sophia Shaw and even let her walk with her arm linked in his. That means they’re very close!"

This wasn’t the kind of polite familiarity one shows a colleague’s partner; it was a deep-seated comfort that could only develop over a long time.

Besides his own daughter, the only person who could be that close to Old Master Sloan was his mysterious female student!

The truth she had desperately tried to suppress had been laid bare so unexpectedly, and Joanna Sherman completely fell apart.

"How could this be? How could this be!"

She wildly swept all the bottles and jars off her vanity, then ran to a bookshelf and started throwing things on the floor.

Yvonne Sherman grabbed her.

"Joanna, calm down! Get a hold of yourself!"

Joanna Sherman struggled. "Calm down? How can I possibly calm down?!"

For days, she had been relentlessly belittling Sophia Shaw, flaunting her own superiority and talent right in her face.

And in the end... it was all just a pathetic attempt to show off in front of a true master.

No wonder Sophia Shaw had been so unfazed every time she’d tried to put her down!

She could even clearly recall the mocking smile that had played on Sophia’s lips.

It wasn’t an act. She was genuinely, sincerely laughing at her ignorance!

In that moment, her pride had been trampled into dust by Sophia Shaw.

It wasn’t just Sophia. All of Lead Aerospace, everyone who had ever heard her belittle Sophia, they all saw her as a joke now.

Joanna Sherman had been spoiled by her own pride since she was a child; how could she possibly stomach this?

With her heart full of unbearable humiliation and nowhere to vent it, she could only grab something else and smash it to the ground!

"Enough!"

Yvonne Sherman slapped her across the face.

"This is not the time to throw a tantrum! Start thinking about how we’re going to deal with Sophia Shaw!"

The force of the slap sent Joanna Sherman stumbling against a desk. She gripped its edge, her hands turning white, as her mind slowly began to clear.

She muttered repeatedly, "I can’t panic. I have to stay calm."

"I’m Joanna Sherman. I can’t lose. I absolutely cannot lose!"

———

After treating Old Master Sloan to a meal at the city’s finest restaurant, Sophia Shaw was about to take him to his hotel.

"No rush. Take me to see your project."

"You should rest for a day. We can go tomorrow," Sophia said, concerned about his health.

"Rest? What for? I spend half my life in the field. I’m not that fragile!"

Sophia knew he was so eager to see the project because he was worried she might have overlooked something.

Old Master Sloan was swamped with his own work, yet he still worried about her. A pang of warmth touched her heart, and she replied, "Alright."

The two arrived at the Lead Aerospace launch base.

Old Master Sloan listened intently as she explained the feasibility and theoretical underpinnings of the Five-Star Joint Launch project, then he checked every step of the validation calculations.

After that, they ascended the launch gantry together.

Old Master Sloan led her and a team of engineers in inspecting every section of the structure.

When it came to work, Old Master Sloan became incredibly strict.

He was strict to the point of being impersonal.

Sophia and the engineers were with him from noon until midnight.

When the inspection was complete, the stern look on Old Master Sloan’s face had softened considerably.

"Not bad."

To get a "Not bad" from Old Master Sloan meant their project was practically flawless.

Their hard work had been validated, and joy spread across the faces of the engineers.

Everyone had been working around the clock lately, so Sophia told them to go home and rest.

She and Old Master Sloan remained on the gantry platform, letting the cold wind whip their clothes about them.

The ponytail at the back of her head, usually so neat, flew wildly in the night air.

Away from the engineers, Sophia reverted to the girlish charm she only showed around him. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted into the distance with all her might.

The base was built in a remote area, surrounded by open emptiness, the only sound being the crash of waves against the shore.

In the distance, someone held a pair of binoculars, their gaze locked on the figure on the platform.

"What are you looking at? You’re completely mesmerized."

A friend from the yacht party asked as he came up from behind.

Lowering the binoculars, Jenson Forrest’s handsome, gentle face was revealed.

He didn’t say anything, just offered a faint smile.

The man took the binoculars from his hand and looked around, but all he could see was the distant spire of the Lead Aerospace launch tower on the horizon.

There was nothing much to see, yet Jenson Forrest had been staring for a good twenty minutes.

Jenson Forrest went down from the deck into one of the lower-level rooms.

In a room with a semicircular bar, Justin Hughes was playing cards with a few other young heirs.

Vincent Grant wasn’t playing; he was stretched out on a long sofa, looking at his phone.

Jenson didn’t join Justin, nor did he go over to Vincent. He went to another part of the room.

Justin Hughes finished his last hand, bored. He spit out his gum, left the game, and walked over to Jenson.

"I’ve asked you out for drinks in a private room so many times and you’ve always said no. So why’d you agree to come to this godforsaken place?"

The two hadn’t spoken for a while, not since Jenson had said some strange things the last time they met.

Justin clearly looked down on the location. "I don’t know who picked this route. There’s nothing to see out here but some busted old tower!"

Jenson took a glass from the bar, poured himself some water, and downed it in one go.

His gaze drifted toward the Lead Aerospace launch base, now just a smattering of lights in the dark, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

A silent tenderness surfaced in his eyes.

Justin Hughes suddenly remembered something. "Hey, I heard you’re obsessed with Lil’s tutor these days. What kind of teacher is she, anyway? To actually catch the eye of the great Young Master Forrest?"

He’d heard about it from Joanna Sherman.

He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Jenson would be interested in a tutor.

His curiosity got the better of him. "Bring her out for us to meet next time, why don’t you?"

"She wouldn’t want to meet you."

Jenson put down his glass and walked past him, heading toward Vincent.

Justin scoffed. "She’s just a tutor. No need to treat her like some priceless treasure."

Jenson sat down opposite Vincent.

There was another long sofa there, but unlike Vincent, he didn’t put his feet up. He sat perfectly upright.

He rested his hands on his knees and looked at Vincent. "Vincent, have you ever felt like you deeply owed someone?"