Seven Years a Fool One Day a Queen (Kristine and Colton) novel Chapter 153

Chapter 153

Cliza glanced left and right to make sure no one else was around. Confirming Xander was indeed talking to her, she pulled out her phone, found a video, and

turned the volume to max to “reply” to him.

‘Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?”

Xander’s expression shifted, and he found Eliza even more distasteful.

Eliza couldn’t care less what he thought. After returning fire, she paid the bill and left.

Not far away, Baxter, dragged out on a blind date, happened to witness the whole scene.

When Xander tried to make things difficult for Eliza, Baxter’s first instinct was to step in and protect her.

but he hadn’t needed to; Eliza countered on her own.

he method was… a bit abstract.

ut honestly? Very entertaining.

f he weren’t tied up, Baxter would’ve at least gone over to say hello.

he woman on the blind date noticed he kept smiling and thought things were going well.

Who knew Baxter would end the meal early and apologize to her.

onfused, she asked, “Can you tell me why?”

he considered herself good–looking and from a good family.

axter thought for a moment, and a very clear face appeared in his mind.

hen he told his date plainly, “I like people who are interesting.”

Then Xander returned to the private room, his face didn’t look so good.

aside, Medea was chatting with Lucas.

eeing him come back, Medea asked with concern, “Why were you gone so long?”

Something came up,” Xander said, not intending to elaborate.

fedea didn’t press and instead brought him up to speed on her talk with Lucas.

ucas guaranteed, “Don’t worry about Erik. Even if he partners with Apex, he can’t make any waves. I only respected him for old classmates‘ sake and gave him few shares. Who knew he’d actually start thinking he ran SciGames.”

fedea’s tone was cool. “I’m not worried about Erik or Apex. I just don’t get why Eliza keeps competing with me for projects.

do Al, she does Al. I bid on the port renovation project, she bids on it too. Now I’m doing games, and she wants to do games–always following my lead *

fter a sip of tea, Xander finally gave a disdainful evaluation. “That’s the copycat phenomenon common in China’s business world. It’s mainly due to intense ompetition, short–term profit–chasing, lack of innovation, and certain cultural factors. Copycats like that have no core competitiveness and won’t go far.”

In that topic, Medea mentioned Eliza’s education. “She may have picked up some investing experience when she was with Caly, but she’s lacking in ability. After all, her degree is what it is and that degree sets her ceiling.”

What’s her degree?” Xander asked.

Chapter 153

“Bachelor’s.”

Hearing that, Xander immediately understood.

No wonder Eliza copied others everywhere and used shady, contemptible tactics to snatch projects. She was the most low–tier kind of person–exactly the type he despised.

He hadn’t liked Eliza to begin with; now he disliked her even more.

After the meal, the group dispersed. In the parking garage, Lucas ran into Erik, still driving that same used Volkswagen.

Shabby and down–and–out, just like Erik himself.

Used cars have lots of issues. Sure enough, it wouldn’t start again.

Erik had his head down, tugging at wires to try a manual ignition, when Lucas rapped on the window.

Seeing him, Erik’s brows knit instinctively, his displeasure plain on his face.

But Lucas never knew when to stop. Propping one arm on the window, he jeered, “Still driving this junker? Erik, how are you doing worse and worse? Forget

why your ex dumped you?”

Erik’s face went cold, and he ignored him. He knew Lucas well. The more you engaged, the more he’d push.

I hear you’re trying to get Apex to invest in your project?”

Apex and SciGames were in the same building; a little checking was all it took for Lucas to know why he’d been over there.

‘Don’t waste your time. Do you know how much money game development burns? Apex’s just a small company. How much can they give you? My advice: come back and work with me. With Everest backing us, my side has the brighter future. I’ll even help you swap out this car. Look at me, just got a new BMW.”

Erik finally coaxed the engine to life. He lifted a hand, brushed Lucas’s arm off the window, and said coolly, “Not interested.”

Then he drove off.

Lucas stood rooted to the spot, his face darkening fast. “All right then, Erik, turn down goodwill, will you? We’ll see about that! You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

On Friday, the moment Josh’s plane touched down in Washington, he called Eliza to ask her out to dinner.

They met at a Thai restaurant.

Eliza could see that Josh was exhausted.

And he should be–Unite was a total mess.

Even so, Josh asked first how her work was going.

“Let’s not talk shop today. Let’s just eat,” liza said, ladling him a bowl of tom yum soup.

Josh smiled. “Okay, no work. Then let’s talk about something else.”

Eliza had just opened her mouth to ask what, when Josh spoke first. “Next Thursday is Master’s sixtieth birthday. Are you going to pay your respects?”

Eliza bit her lip, torn inside, but finally said only, “If I go, I’ll just ruin his mood.”

“That’s your assumption. Master hasn’t mentioned you once over the years. Do you know what that means?”

“It means he’s already forgotten me.”

Josh couldn’t help laughing. “Do you realize you two even give the same answer? That’s exactly what Master said.”

In truth, Eliza felt uneasy. Back then, she had failed to live up to Master’s expectations.

In his fury, he had said he never wanted to see her again and that he’d pretend he’d never taken her as a disciple,

13.72

Chapter 153

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