Of course, Terence did not have the audacity to stay there and eat with them. He left the room with a slam of the door.
Terence’s father took in a deep breath and waved his hand. “Don’t bother him. There’s no need to pay him any mind. This kid is beyond salvation,” he said.
Honey Sarratt dabbed at her tears in a corner of the room. She was terribly upset.
Charlie Laine and Sally Lard comforted Jasper’s uncle and aunt respectively. Meanwhile, Jasper got up and went around the room to make toasts with everyone. Nobody seemed to pay any heed to Terence Laine, who had left in a storm of fury.
Although Terence Laine had caused an unpleasant dispute during the Christmas dinner, nobody showed any signs of unhappiness on their faces. Everyone quickly pushed the incident to the back of their minds.
Soon, the atmosphere at the tables became lively once again.
Although not everyone was happy throughout the course of the dinner, at least it ended on a good note.
After everyone finished their meals, Jasper arranged for them to stay in the Shangri-La Hotel. He booked a room for each family where they could stay up to three days and two nights. The decision to stay there was completely up to them.
In the afternoon, Darrel Laine, who had traveled back from another town in a rush, looked for Jasper hurriedly. He had obviously heard of Terence’s incident from the day before.
“I’m so sorry, cousin. Sigh, I never expected that my brother would do something that immature!”
Darrel was evidently much more mature than Terence. He apologized to Jasper with a guilty expression on his face.
Jasper was sipping on a cup of hot tea to cure his hangover. He had drunk a little too much the previous night. He laughed upon hearing what Darrel said. “It’s alright, I just assumed that I was fooling around with a child. You don’t have to mention it… Anyway, how did the discussion go?” He asked.
A look of excitement appeared on Darrel’s face. “Everything’s almost done. The boss of Hello Hotpot said that he’ll come over to visit you personally after Christmas. Regarding the ownership, he’d like to have 30% of the total shares. You will get 60% of it, and I’ll have 10%. Is that alright with you?” He proposed.
Jasper laughed. “That’s perfectly fine. I’ll be getting the sum of money that is to be invested into your business within the next two days,” he said.
Jasper then paused momentarily. He felt like thanking Samuel Ray for his extensive wealth.
“In that case, I’ll meet him next year. We will formally sign a three-party contract when the boss of Hello Hotpot comes over. After that, you can set up the company framework. I’ll make sure to credit the funds into the company account in due time.”
Darrel nodded gratefully. He then took out two familiar checks from his coat and handed them to Jasper courteously.
“What are you doing?”
Jasper asked. He laughed in amusement after taking a glance at the two checks that he had filled up himself.
“Don’t disregard me anymore, Cousin. We can’t accept this money from you no matter what. Please take it back!” Darrel said. He was adamant.
“You’re already our family’s saving grace. It would be inhumane if I accepted this money from you. Furthermore, my parents share the same sentiment.”
Jasper chuckled. He did not reject his request, but he did not accept the checks either. “After you set up the company, you’ll need to use a lot of money. You can treat this money as an additional line of sponsorship from me,” he said.
Darrel was stunned after registering what he had said. He wanted to say something else, but he immediately swallowed all his words after noticing the calm gaze that Jasper had directed at him. Thus, he nodded heavily and stopped being persistent.
At the same time, Terence Laine, who had left the restaurant in a fit of rage the night before, had gone to Nauritus City on his own. He had not contacted anyone after leaving that night.
He was there to meet someone. That person was a huge source of support that he had just come to know recently. Now, he planned to take revenge for the humiliation that Jasper had put him through.
