The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 35: The Gossip of the Cole Family
Ethan Caldwell had booked a table at a traditional restaurant. The dishes here were not heavily seasoned; instead, they relied on the natural flavors of the vegetables and ingredients. Consequently, most of the main courses were quite bland, consisting largely of porridge and soups.
However, Julian Sterling was already sick of porridge, thanks to Ethan. He held the menu, thought for a moment, and ordered one or two stir-fry dishes and a soup. The service here was quite slow. While waiting for the food, Ethan leaned close to Julian, smiling as he coaxed him and rubbed Julian’s waist.
It took a whole session of attentiveness for Julian to reluctantly forgive him.
"How is it? Does it suit your taste?"
"It’s okay." Julian took a sip of the soup. It had a clean, sweet taste without the harshness of refined sugar, which was quite nice. He lowered his head to bite into a piece of spare rib, then looked at Ethan. " Is Patrick coming this afternoon besides Seraphina?"
"He has business, so he won’t be coming." Ethan placed some savory food into Julian’s bowl and continued, "On Seraphina’s side, it’s just her as well. If you don’t like her, we can ask her to find someone else to teach you."
"I’m fine with it. I just don’t know why someone like her would agree to teach me drawing."
"I heard that a few years ago, Seraphina lived in The Amberwoods for a period of time."
Hearing Ethan say this, Julian looked up, slightly surprised. The Amberwoods was where the "Julian" of the past lived before being taken back to the Sterling family. His foster parents were an ordinary couple, perhaps even a bit impoverished, so the place they lived in was not exactly upscale. The Amberwoods wasn’t considered countryside, but it wasn’t quite urban either. Generally, it looked like a concentrated housing area for laborers who commuted to the city for work. The area was quite chaotic, filled with all sorts of people, and life there was very lacking.
Unless one was destitute with nowhere to eat or sleep, one wouldn’t go there.
Someone like Seraphina Cole had to live in The Amberwoods?
Julian looked at Ethan in confusion.
Seeming to understand his doubts, Ethan smiled. "Why do you think she cut ties with the Cole family? Even Conrad Cole forbade anyone from mentioning this youngest child, and the press was gagged."
Julian shook his head; he didn’t know. He didn’t even know when Seraphina was kicked out of the Cole family. The reason he thought she was kicked out was that this attitude didn’t look like a normal tantrum.
Did Seraphina do something that made Conrad Cole feel humiliated?
"Seraphina is Conrad’s daughter from his later years. She was very spoiled by him, her status only second to the eldest grandson, Gabriel Cole."
Julian knew Gabriel Cole, not from the memories of the original plot, but because he often watched economic news and had seen the name. Gabriel was four years older than Ethan, a typical example of the domineering CEO figure found in romance novels - wealthy, powerful, and very handsome. In terms of influence, Gabriel seemed to have a slightly upper hand compared to Ethan.
Could it be... Seraphina did something to Gabriel? After all, Gabriel was older than her, considered the heir to the Cole family since childhood, and grew up to be excellent. And Seraphina was a child spoiled since she was little; how could she bear to let what she liked fall into someone else’s hands?
But the Cole family... focused mainly on business and real estate, while Seraphina followed the path of art, didn’t she?
Seeming to read his thoughts, Ethan continued to explain, "I don’t know the specifics either. I only heard rumors in the circle that a few years ago, Seraphina caused Gabriel to be hospitalized, nearly costing him his life. In the end, Conrad Cole was furious and scolded her severely. Seraphina steadfastly refused to admit to it and ran away from home. Conrad ordered her to be disowned, cutting off all her allowances, and even alerted people in the circle and the press. Within a few years, the title of the youngest daughter of the Cole family was known only to a few insiders, but no one mentioned it."
Julian was even more confused. "Art is not an easy path. If Seraphina has such status in the industry, it proves she spent a lot of time on it, at least studying before that incident happened. So why would she harm Gabriel? Moreover, if Conrad Cole had put the word out, why did Iris Visuals dare to accept her? And even let Seraphina build her reputation like that."
"Who is Iris Visuals afraid of anyway?" Ethan laughed. "To be honest, even I am not clear on who the boss behind Iris Visuals actually is. Grandpa Arthur only said they are not easy to mess with. What could Conrad Cole do? Iris Visuals expressed their support for Seraphina very clearly. Before she was kicked out of the house, they even intended to open a collaboration project with the Cole family and have Seraphina serve as the main executive."
"If that were the case, wouldn’t it threaten Gabriel’s position?" Julian looked at Ethan, feeling there was definitely a problem with this story. If Iris Visuals had such great status, it meant this project was certainly very important to the Cole corporation. Holding such a large contract, Gabriel’s seat as the heir would likely be quite shaken. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Could it be... that’s why Gabriel was hospitalized?"
Ethan looked at him and smiled, saying nothing.
Seeing Ethan like that, Julian narrowed his eyes. There was no shortage of schemes to harm one another in these large families. Couldn’t an illegitimate child picked up from outside like Aaron Sterling cause the other "Julian" to lose his life? Let alone the legitimate descendants inheriting the blood of their grandparents.
However, if it was just a frame-up like that, how could Conrad Cole not see it clearly, going so far as to not hesitate to kick Seraphina out of the house?
One must realize that the person bringing the partnership with Iris Visuals was Seraphina. By doing so, wasn’t he completely turning against Iris Visuals?
Business people always talk about benefits. Julian didn’t believe Conrad would accept losing his child and a major contract just out of love for his grandson. Wouldn’t it have been better to keep Seraphina in the house and then let Gabriel take over the contract through her?
Unless Iris Visuals also had a hand in this?
Or perhaps, Gabriel didn’t just want to harm Seraphina but also aimed his spear at Iris Visuals.
Julian glanced at Ethan, but the man didn’t answer his bundle of doubts. Instead, Ethan just picked up some more food. "That’s their family’s business. Why should we care?"
"Aren’t you afraid that Seraphina teaching me will make the Cole family dislike you?"
Ethan smiled. "It’s not like I find them pleasing to the eye either."
Hearing that, Julian raised an eyebrow.
Honestly, sometimes he felt surprised by his man. The first impression Ethan created for him was a gentle, soft person, a CEO who knew how to listen. But after interacting for a long time, Julian felt that Ethan possessed a not-so-slight arrogance, looking as reckless as a teenager, which occasionally made Julian bemused.
After the two finished their meal, Ethan drove Julian to the meeting place. It was a rather large coffee shop that also had private rooms for people who wanted to discuss business. Ethan had already booked a spot, so upon arrival, they just had to report their information and go up to the room.
The room wasn’t very big; the decoration was decent, following a natural and gentle style.
Julian took a sip of his milk coffee and grimaced at the sweetness.
This place made it too sweet; he didn’t like it much. So, Julian darted his eyes toward Ethan’s black coffee. "Have you added sugar yet?"
Seeing Ethan shake his head, Julian grinned. "Then let me add sugar for you, okay?" After speaking, he took the cup of coffee, added a small portion of sugar, stirred it, and then very naturally brought it to his mouth to taste.
Yeah, the taste wasn’t bad.
So, he decisively pushed his cup of milk coffee over to Ethan, while he would enjoy this cup of black coffee.
Ethan just looked at him once, smiled, and shook his head.
He felt he was spoiling this kid too much.
Although Ethan thought so, he still picked up Julian’s cup and took a sip. It was indeed very sweet.
"Next time, if you don’t like it too sweet, tell them to put less milk." After saying that, he rubbed Julian’s head again. "But you should drink more fresh milk; maybe you’ll grow a bit taller."
Julian shot him a sharp glare. Ethan saw his expression and laughed aloud. Just then, a knock sounded on the door from outside.
