My Fiancé's Scandals Never End, So I Married His Uncle Instead-Chapter 161: The Private Talk

Silas Norwood lowered his gaze, his tone endlessly indulgent. "She wanted to."

"So whatever she says, goes? Is that how you spoil someone?"

"She’s not some priceless treasure that can’t be seen in public. Are you afraid someone’s going to steal her away?" Silas Norwood’s pale gold eyes swept over Kian Sterling’s face as he remarked nonchalantly, "In fact, Kade, I think you’re the one being a little paranoid about everything concerning Cece."

Kian Sterling fell silent.

In the distance, after listening intently to an a cappella performance by The Orchid Pavilion, Celia Sterling politely excused herself and walked over toward Kian Sterling.

"Brother!" Her voice was sweet and filled with joy, but the moment she got close, Kian Sterling gently pressed her head into his chest.

Kian Sterling was a public figure, and several cameras were currently pointed in their direction. Silas Norwood had already been filmed while chatting with him moments ago. Since he’d just made a brief appearance, another moment or two of exposure didn’t matter to him.

But Kian Sterling was dead set on keeping Celia Sterling out of the spotlight.

"Silas and I have a long project meeting," he said, patting Cece lightly while shielding her from the cameras. "Be a good girl, Cece. Go find some fun on your own."

"But I just got to see you, Brother. We haven’t even had a chance to talk," Celia Sterling protested.

"My dear," Silas Norwood said gently. The next moment, he scooped her out of Kian’s arms and to his side, whispering coaxingly, "Once we’re finished, Kade and I will be all yours for the rest of the night."

After speaking, he also avoided the cameras and instructed Evan Rhodes, "Take Cece over to The Orchid Pavilion and the others."

Evan Rhodes glanced between Kian Sterling and Silas Norwood before making a slight gesture for Celia Sterling to follow him.

Silas Norwood looked at the head of Azure TV and gave a short command. "This is a private project meeting, not suitable for an audience. Shut down the live stream."

The head of Azure TV immediately made a phone call.

A few seconds later, all the live streaming equipment was shut down.

"Right before we shut down, the live stream viewership hit nearly thirty million, the highest in years, putting it at the top of the variety show charts." A staff member reported the final numbers to Director Coleman.

Director Coleman nodded and said in a low voice, "That’s a wrap."

He said it was a wrap, but it wasn’t just the staff. The hosts and several celebrity guests all switched from the production team to the logistics team, diligently waiting on the crowd of bigwigs present. Opportunities to network like this were rare, and since they were all adept at schmoozing, they put all their energy into bustling about, making their presence known.

The project meeting lasted for five hours.

During the meeting, Silas Norwood and Kian Sterling both spoke very little, only chiming in with a few words at key moments. They would occasionally glance over at Celia Sterling. Kian was used to seeing her happily chatting with the top-tier celebrities and exchanging contact info on their phones, but Silas’s expression tensed slightly as he felt a strange sense of pressure.

’Compared to that group of young people who could sing and dance, bursting with energy and armed with silver tongues, it felt like... he had no advantage to speak of.’

「Night began to fall.」

The project meeting ended, but the business tycoons and top celebrities hadn’t left yet. They continued to socialize at the open-air banquet.

Celia Sterling came over carrying two slices of cake. She gave one to Silas Norwood first, then handed the other to Kian Sterling and grabbed his hand. "Brother, let’s go, let’s go! I’m taking you to get Senior Chambers’ autograph and a picture. Their flight leaves tonight. It’s now or never!"

Kian Sterling scoffed under his breath. "We’re all in Metropia. There’ll be plenty of opportunities."

Despite saying that, he still let her drag him away.

Silas Norwood sat elegantly in a quiet corner, his gaze fixed on Celia Sterling’s and Kian Sterling’s tightly clasped hands. He watched as they walked over to Chloe Chambers and her husband, Chairman Young, took a photo, got an autograph, and chatted amiably for a few moments before returning, talking and laughing.

The whole thing took no more than ten minutes, but in his eyes, it unfolded in slow motion, every frame a picture of effortless chemistry he couldn’t break into.

"What are you thinking about?" Celia Sterling suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and giggled as she kissed his cheek.

The feather-light kiss was fleeting, but it instantly smoothed away all of Silas Norwood’s jumbled thoughts. He replied casually, "Just thinking about how to properly entertain Kade next."

"I’m not as free as you two." Kian Sterling sat down across from him, crossed his legs, and gave a lazy smile. "I have a 3 a.m. flight back to Metropia. A pile of work is waiting for me."

"You’re leaving in such a hurry?" Celia Sterling was a little surprised.

"That decrepit old man is still stirring up trouble even from overseas. Planted a few spies in the company." Kian Sterling mentioned their heartless father without any reservation, scoffing coldly. "I’m going back to clean house."

Celia Sterling’s good mood instantly soured. "All these years, he’s always pulling some stunt every so often. It’s so annoying."

"It’s no big deal." Kian Sterling pointed towards the group of top-tier celebrities. "Cece, if you want to have fun, you’d better hurry. That bunch absolutely refuses to stay all night, so they’ll probably all leave when the party ends."

Celia Sterling let out an "oh." "The three guys from the boy band FLEW have a new hot dance they choreographed to show me, Ronan Rhodes also said he’d do some magic, and The Orchid Pavilion hasn’t finished telling me about the weird things on his film set from this afternoon..."

Silas Norwood chuckled. "Go on, then."

Kian Sterling slowly added, "You can have fun, but don’t get too into it. They may look glamorous, but none of them are good people behind the scenes."

"..." Celia Sterling listened to Kian Sterling’s indiscriminate attack. Over the years, not a single man who appeared by her side had ever gotten a good word from him. "Well, you two chat, then. I’ll come back over once I’m wrapping things up over there."

Kian Sterling and Silas Norwood silently watched her blend into the circle of top celebrities, quickly becoming one of them, then both calmly averted their gazes.

"It seems you’ve shown Cece quite a lot of the world over the years, Kade," Silas Norwood chatted idly with Kian Sterling. "The hand-picked male model parties at Zun Yue, those Crown Prince parties at ZONE, and now this gathering of top-tier celebrities... our Cece handles herself with ease in any setting."

"The more she sees, the less likely she is to be blinded by love," Kian Sterling said, giving him a meaningful look. "The sister I raised myself is not like those other young ladies in our circle who’d throw themselves at you like moths to a flame just for your pretty face. She can immerse herself in a relationship, but when it’s time to walk away, she won’t hesitate."

Silas Norwood naturally understood the warning in Kian Sterling’s words. His expression was placid. "Is Kade implying something?"

"I’m not implying. I’m stating it outright." Kian Sterling toyed with the signed photos of Chloe Chambers he had just gotten, offering a "helpful" reminder. "A man who’s completely obedient, no matter how high-quality he is, will eventually bore a girl with Cece’s personality."

This was a reminder for him to wear the pants in the relationship.

To put it more plainly, his worldliness and experience were greater than Celia Sterling’s. When necessary, he should stop his wife from making impulsive, misguided decisions, using both soft and hard tactics. He should spoil her when appropriate but also rein her in when necessary.

To be even clearer, Kian Sterling was still holding a grudge about him indulging Celia’s desire to go on the variety show and was deliberately making passive-aggressive jabs.

But who was Silas Norwood?

Among Metropia’s great super-families, both were heads of their houses, but The Norwood Family he controlled had a much deeper foundation than a newcomer to the circle like The Sterlings. His overall influence among the elite families was also greater than Kian Sterling’s. Usually, he was the one looking down on others, not the other way around.

"How my wife and I get along is our own business. You don’t need to concern yourself with it, Kade," Silas Norwood said, his words laced with meaning. "I don’t know why you insist on hiding her away. But with me, she is free to go wherever she pleases, be it into damp shadows or warm light."