The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 250: The Variable of Destiny
Julian Sterling would not ask how harsh the words were, it was completely unnecessary. For a male university student, living in such a refined educational environment, to speak with such biting and bitter malice just because of a slightly distorted mindset was truly baffling.
If it were anonymous people on the internet, those who purely viewed this virtual world as an ideal place to vent their anger, intentionally pouring all their personal hatred and dissatisfaction into it, then how much further and worse could those malicious comments possibly go? There was truly no need to pay any attention to such meaningless negativity.
It was just that...
"I really cannot comprehend what they are thinking. The era of technology and information has developed to this extent, so why is their mindset still stuck in a millennium ago?"
Then again, even Julian Sterling himself did not clearly know what the mindset of the background a millennium ago was actually like in the world of this novel.
It was just that he was genuinely surprised and found the mindset of these people to be incredibly perplexing. In the beginning, he had assumed that for a novel entirely focused on the background of a cutthroat corporate battlefield, the social civilization and the way of thinking of the background characters would undoubtedly be constructed by the author with a high degree of logic and sophistication.
Who could have expected that after actually living directly inside the novel, he would realize that aside from the main character arcs, the external foundation and the worldview of ordinary people were not meticulously crafted by the author at all.
From these illogical details, Julian Sterling suddenly remembered an important concept frequently mentioned in various novels, which was the core setting of the plot. That was the hidden system of rules created to maintain the world within the story, ensuring that all surrounding events operated smoothly without causing the dimension of the world to collapse. And usually, it would go hand in hand with something called providence. He just did not know whether this place actually possessed such a providence or not.
"What are you thinking about?" The man asked as he gently stroked Julian Sterling’s hair.
"Thinking about whether there is truly such a thing as the heavens having eyes in this world. If there is, those who are using abusive language, wishing to push others to the path of death, thoroughly deserve to be struck by lightning." Even though Julian Sterling said that, he guessed that this world probably did not have any providence.
Because if such an invisible system governing justice did exist, he was afraid that the first person to be struck by the heavens would be none other than himself. The reason was very simple. It was because he seemed to be, either unintentionally or deliberately, separating the main characters from their original trajectories, even directly snatching away the rose paved path of Aaron Sterling, the most favored core character in this world.
According to standard plot settings, he was the greatest variable that had thrown this world into chaos. He was the one who, from the very beginning, harbored the thought of damaging the halo of the protagonist.
If providence truly existed and was monitoring everything, then several bolts of furious lightning would have certainly struck right down on his head a long time ago, rather than waiting until this very moment.
Thinking of these distant scenarios, Julian Sterling mocked himself, gently shaking his head to brush away the rambling thoughts in his mind: "Let us ignore those far-fetched matters and focus on the present. Try to guess, with the current chaotic situation, what will the hidden mastermind standing behind everything do next?"
The man smiled, his calm gaze looking at Julian Sterling, and leisurely replied: "Then, first of all, we must see what you yourself want to do next."
Julian Sterling slightly raised an eyebrow, expressing his dissatisfaction: "Why did you kick this topic over to my side? My reaction at school today was perfectly flawless to lure the snake out of its hole, wasn’t it? Furthermore, I cannot single-handedly decide what crazy things the wicked person behind the scenes will do next."
"But the initiative still entirely lies with us; it mainly depends on what direction you want to guide this play." He shrugged his shoulders, his tone remaining as casual as if he were talking about a trivial game: "As for the script of handling the media crisis following the old rut, or us personally creating a few more novel and dramatic scripts, they are all equally effortless to me."
He let out a long breath and leaned his back against the seat: "Let us wait a little longer, to see if there will be any further smear articles deliberately pushed onto the forums by them tonight."
Handling a media crisis, in reality, had many different methods and types depending on the specific situation. As Ethan Caldwell and Julian Sterling had carefully discussed the details with each other step by step beforehand, after Julian Sterling successfully displayed a pitiful and aggrieved appearance in the classroom to attract attention, Ethan Caldwell would be fully prepared to cosplay as a familiar trope: the hero saving the handsome man?
According to the original plan, he would essentially publish a widespread correction post with ironclad reasoning to intimidate the ones who had deliberately spread false rumors, while simultaneously officially announcing the court summons directly related to those who had used cyberbullying language targeting Julian Sterling recently.
That was the simplest method, but today Ethan Caldwell had played a brand new move on the chessboard.
The man personally came to the university to pick up Julian Sterling, and even carried Julian Sterling out of the main gates of the campus right in front of countless people. This happened to perfectly play out the role of deep affection, a commercial marriage yet accompanied by the utmost pampering. It was just unknown whether this role would be pushed up by Ethan Caldwell’s own people, or if there were any other screenwriters and directors lending a helping hand.
Suddenly, the man’s deep and warm voice rang out from above, shattering the tranquil atmosphere: "I will have to go on a business trip soon."
"Hmm?" Julian Sterling immediately lifted his head from the man’s sturdy chest, his eyes widening, evidently feeling quite surprised by this abrupt announcement: "Is it a matter related to the progress of that new game development project? But did you not previously mention that the core technical team had begun their work quite stably and was heading in the right direction? Why would a manager like you need to go personally?"
The hand that was stroking his hair paused slightly, and Ethan Caldwell let out a soft sigh: "It is not a matter regarding the game project. This time, it is a troublesome issue directly related to Nadine Locke’s business trip."
"Oh, so that is how it is." Upon hearing this name, Julian Sterling raised an eyebrow, his gaze revealing a look of pensive scrutiny: "Then how many days do you plan to be away before it is completely resolved?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"According to the estimated schedule, it will probably be around four days. Originally, this negotiation trip absolutely did not require a superior like me to personally handle it. It is just that after the previous survey trip of the project development team, a staff member in the group was careless and negligent, causing a rather severe mistake. The partners are currently extremely dissatisfied. This time, I am compelled to personally fly over there to directly renegotiate the terms, formally offer an apology, and simultaneously demonstrate the maximum sincerity of our company’s long-term cooperation in order to retain the contract."
Just hearing this, Julian Sterling immediately broke into a smile, unable to stop himself from clapping his hands loudly twice. It was obvious that he was smiling on the surface, but Ethan Caldwell could still vaguely sense the irritation and the sarcastic attitude hidden within those deeply suggestive claps. Recognizing the displeasure of the person in his arms, the man then slightly lowered his head, tenderly placing a kiss on Julian Sterling’s cheek, his attitude as gentle as if he were coaxing a child: "Are you angry?"
"I couldn’t care less."
Julian Sterling pouted his lips, still unable to resist throwing a sideways glare at the man : "You are truly brilliant, Ethan Caldwell. You set up a play, perfectly orchestrating it to push someone away on a business trip, escaping their supervision. Yet now, not only has that person been pushed away, but you yourself are also being dragged into it, acquiring an entirely new wave of scandal on top of it all."
Ethan Caldwell exhaled a breath, but he did not offer any rebuttal. This move was indeed a chess piece that he had clearly forgotten to calculate thoroughly. Initially, he thought that the schedule had been arranged well in advance, and pushing the person to leave a little earlier would not matter. Perhaps the other side would not discover anything, and it would also be convenient for them to stay behind and handle everything.
Who could have ever expected...
