Samuel Ford brought Ethan Carter to the car. Walking to the side, he stepped forward first, opened the car door for Ethan Carter, and raised his hand to shield the roof.

“Young Master Carter, please.”

Ethan Carter was a bit surprised. “Thank you.”

Samuel Ford’s attitude was much gentler than when he had faced Ivy Harris earlier. He replied respectfully, “It’s my duty.”

Ethan Carter got in the car, and Samuel Ford went to the front passenger seat, saying, “Mr. Grant is waiting for you at the circular restaurant on the top floor of Guojin. He had a meeting that just ended two minutes ago and couldn’t leave, so he sent me to pick you up first.”

Ethan Carter didn’t quite understand why the other was explaining all this to him, but he still nodded in response. “Alright.”

Half an hour later, the car arrived at the Guojin Tower. The two of them entered the lobby, and a server pressed the elevator for them, but Samuel Ford didn’t go in.

Ethan Carter was surprised. “You’re not coming up?”

Samuel Ford gave a slight bow and answered, “This is a meeting between the two gentlemen, with no one else to disturb.”

Only then did Ethan Carter realize what was happening.

Was this really a date?

The elevator ascended nearly a hundred floors. Upon reaching the top, the server only led Ethan Carter to the entrance of the restaurant before stopping.

Thinking about having to face the unfamiliar Mr. Grant alone, Ethan Carter finally felt a bit nervous.

He felt as if he were about to attend an extremely important interview or defense.

Because the atmosphere was so similar, Ethan Carter even recalled his own experience defending for the National Scholarship.

But even then, he had felt much more confident than he did now.

As the automatic door slowly opened, Ethan Carter took a deep breath and walked in.

The top-floor restaurant had already been cleared out. Without any guests’ orders, the servers hadn’t come in either. In the bright and spacious circular hall, there was only one person.

As soon as Ethan Carter approached, that person’s gaze fell upon him.

Ethan Carter had always been sensitive to the cold. With the chill of late autumn, the current temperature was already enough for him to bear. Swept by that man’s utterly frigid, emotionless gaze, he felt even colder.

It was as if invisible frost was slowly freezing his body stiff.

Author’s note:

Sigh, I forgot to switch the air conditioning from cooling to heating.

Next time: His lips look very soft, and the color is surprisingly vivid.

A hundred little red envelopes for this chapter~

Chapter Four 004

It wasn’t just the man’s icy intimidation; the high-end environment Ethan Carter now found himself in also left him feeling out of place.

He had heard of this place before—the Guojin circular restaurant. The restaurant was large, but there were only six seats, each with its own private area. The six areas had vastly different décor and cuisine, but the only thing in common was the freshness of the ingredients and the top-tier taste. Correspondingly, the prices were also jaw-dropping.

Even so, reservations here were always fully booked. Although it wasn’t a private restaurant, the seats were even harder to get than at a private one.

The best-off student in the dorm, Henry Sullivan, had once mentioned that her family waited a whole month in line just to host a meal here.

Ethan Carter recalled his stepmother saying that Mr. Grant had only just arrived in Yancheng in the past couple of days, so he had no idea when this reservation was made.

And only after he actually entered the restaurant did he realize that it wasn’t divided into six areas as Henry Sullivan had described, but had been completely opened up, with only their table occupying the entire floor.

The restaurant had been specially arranged—not the kind of cold, ostentatious luxury, but rather quite elegant. The décor all around was very traditional, and there was even a small indoor waterfall. Clusters of lush green bamboo grew throughout the spacious area, and a gentle, warm breeze stirred the emerald leaves, sending waves of fresh bamboo fragrance.

Ethan Carter had grown up among bamboo groves and recognized at a glance that these were real bamboo.

This familiar bamboo scene, unintentionally, slightly soothed his taut nerves.

But as Ethan Carter got closer to the table, even that bit of comfort faded away.

The coldness of the man’s gaze once again took over.

In fact, Nathaniel Grant was quite handsome—no matter where he was, he was an exceptionally striking presence. This kind of appearance wasn’t really an advantage in either high society or the financial world; it made people overlook his abilities and attracted unnecessary trouble.

But he was simply too cold. A single look from him could chill someone to the bone. As a result, despite having such a heart-stoppingly attractive face, there were rarely any rumors about him.

Ethan Carter’s first impression of him was the same.

Too cold.

For the first time, he felt a chill and frost from someone that seemed almost tangible.

Nathaniel Grant’s temper was also well-known—famously cold and hard—so he wasn’t just cold, but looked fierce as well. As Ethan Carter got closer, he could see it clearly, and even his steps unconsciously slowed.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

Pretending to be close with such a man...

How was he supposed to pull that off?