Former Arch-nemesis

After Lin left, Ava's first move was to contact Amelia—no one could gather information faster than her.

Sure enough, within half an hour, Amelia arrived in person with a handful of documents.

Amelia burst through the door, slightly out of breath and disheveled from rushing over: "I looked into what you mentioned. LibertyNova Group does indeed have a subsidiary planning to enter the bridal market. I heard the bridal shop will be located on New Yuan Road. Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Ava rested her chin on her hand: "The studio's on its last legs financially, so I'm desperate to grab this opportunity."

Amelia's eyes widened in surprise: "You want to partner with LibertyNova?"

Ava: "Is there a problem with that?"

"It's possible..." 

Amelia hesitated, her voice uncertain: "But I've heard the competition is fierce, and they're already close to finalizing a deal with another company."

Ava showed no fear: "But they haven't sealed the deal yet, have they?"

She turned to Amelia with a flutter of her eyelashes, her expression sweetly persuasive: "My beautiful, wonderful, amazing fairy Amelia, do you have any way to introduce me to the person in charge at LibertyNova?"

"..."

Amelia replied: "I think LibertyNova is interested in partnering with your family's company. Couldn't you just ask your brother? It would only take one word from him."

Ava countered: "I'm doing my best to avoid running to my family for help unless I have absolutely no other choice. Besides, you know my father's health hasn't been good these past few years. My brother already has his hands full running the company—I don't want to bother him with something this small."

"Fine, fine," Amelia sighed in surrender. "I'll see what strings I can pull."

Ava smiled brightly: "I knew I could count on you!"

The very next day, Amelia found out about a dinner where LibertyNova's representative would be among the invited guests. However, it was also her grandfather's 80th birthday celebration that day, so she couldn't accompany Ava. Instead, she arranged for a relatively trustworthy industry friend to go with Ava.

That afternoon, Ava did her homework on LibertyNova Group and its representative, Mr. Johnson, digging up every bit of information she could find before attending the dinner.

That evening, the clink of glasses and animated conversation filled the private room of an upscale New York hotel.

Everyone attending had an interest in this business opportunity, so naturally, Mr. Johnson was treated as the guest of honor.

Word on the street was that Mr. Johnson was a tough nut to crack, and his greatest passion was drinking—supposedly, he could down a thousand glasses without getting drunk.

As soon as the dinner began, people around the table took turns toasting Mr. Johnson. When the circle came around to Ava, it was finally her turn.

Mr. Johnson's gaze fell on Ava's face. Something about her struck him as familiar, though he couldn't quite put his finger on where he might have seen her before. After all, he was certain he would never forget someone this beautiful if they had met before.

After a moment's pause, Mr. Johnson smiled, making an exception for the beautiful woman: "This lovely lady looks unfamiliar. Which company are you with?"

Only then did the others at the table notice the unassuming figure sitting in an inconspicuous spot.

Ava smiled as she raised her glass: "Mr. Johnson, here's to you."

As she spoke, she handed over her business card.

"Eter...nity...Ava..." 

Mr. Johnson read the card aloud. "What studio is this? I've never heard of it."

Meanwhile, the others at the table began whispering among themselves:

"Yeah, I've never heard of it either."

"Must be some newly established small studio?"

"This industry these days—seems like every nobody with a sketchpad thinks they deserve a seat at the table..."

Before Ava could respond, a familiar female voice chimed in: "Mr. Johnson, you might not know that Avie founded this studio five years ago while she was still in college."

Ava instinctively looked up.

She recognized the speaker—Ruby, her college classmate and former arch-nemesis.

"..."

Ava was at a loss for words. Just her luck to run into Ruby of all people...

Mr. Johnson's interest was piqued: "Ruby, you know her?"

Ruby smiled broadly at Ava: "Avie and I were college classmates."

Hearing this, Mr. Johnson's face lit up with recognition, and his expression toward Ava took on a new appreciation: "So you're Ruby's college classmate! Then you must be just as exceptional as she is!"

"Mr. Johnson, you flatter me. I couldn't hold a candle to Avie even if I tried!" Ruby replied.

Ruby: "Avie was the apple of our teachers' eyes back then, absolutely outstanding!"

As soon as she said this, everyone at the table had somewhat awkward expressions. Everyone in their circle knew Ruby held grudges, and from her sour tone, they could tell these two women probably didn't get along.

What made it worse was that Mr. Johnson reportedly had struggled to be recognized for his talents during his university years, only finding his patron in LibertyNova many years after graduation.

Hearing this, Mr. Johnson smiled and looked up at Ruby. "School grades don't tell the whole story. Who can predict what happens after entering society? Just look at now—you're a high-level executive, while she runs some unknown little studio."

After a pause, Mr. Johnson looked up at Ava. "The tables always turn, wouldn't you agree, Ms. Flores?"

Ava suppressed her anger and, imitating Mia, smiled as she raised another glass. "Mr. Johnson makes a good point. I hope Mr. Johnson might consider supporting my small studio when the opportunity arises."

Seeing that she was being respectful, Mr. Johnson saved face by smiling and drinking.

Seeing this, Ruby jumped in with a smile. "Whether your studio has any chance depends on how much you can drink, doesn't it?" 

As she spoke, she poured a full glass of baijiu and passed it over. "Avie probably doesn't know that Mr. Johnson's greatest pleasure in life is drinking. Every time I discuss business with Mr. Johnson, it's over drinks."

Mr. Johnson chimed in, "That's right! Ruby knows me well!"

"I know Ruby can hold her liquor, but I wonder about Ms. Flores?"

Ava pursed her lips, not rushing to take the glass.

This Mr. Johnson was clearly more familiar with Ruby, and with Ruby here, the two of them were working in tandem, essentially putting her in an impossible position.

If she drank this glass, there was still no guarantee of getting the contract, but she'd definitely be carried out horizontally after walking in vertically.

While she hesitated, a server knocked and brought in another round of drinks.

As the door opened, from Ava's angle, she could see several men in suits walking slowly past the doorway.

When she looked over, she could only see the shadow of the person walking in front, but she recognized the man following behind as Mr. Miller, whom she had seen at the summit standing with Sebastian.

At the same time, the people at the table also noticed those outside and whispered among themselves:

"Isn't that Mr. Miller from FreshEdge outside?"

"I think so. I've seen him from a distance once before."

"There seem to be quite a few people out there. Whoever's being entertained with such fanfare must be someone important."

"Mr. Miller is already out of our league, not to mention whoever he's going to such lengths to entertain."

Although everyone at the table today was a person of status in their circle, compared to Mr. Miller, they were far from impressive—after all, he had capital backing him.

While they were talking, the door opened and closed again. With the excitement outside no longer visible, attention naturally returned to the table.

Ava still hadn't moved, and Mr. Johnson, unable to save face, immediately turned cold, slamming his glass on the table. "What's this? Is Ms. Flores not willing to give me, Johnson, face today?"

Seeing this, Ava frowned.

With so many people watching, if she didn't drink this glass today, she would be disrespecting Mr. Johnson. After that, forget about this contract—she didn't know if Eternal could even survive.

Just as she was about to reach for the glass, someone knocked on the private room door from outside.

Seeing this, Mr. Johnson frowned and looked over, clearly displeased. "Who is it? Come in!"

The next second, a middle-aged man in a tailored suit pushed open the door and spoke in a measured tone: "Mr. Johnson seems quite fired up today."

Upon seeing the visitor, Mr. Johnson's expression changed instantly as he rose to greet him: "Oh, Mr. Miller! What brings you here?"

George's gaze passed over him to briefly look at Ava behind him, then returned to rest coolly on Mr. Johnson: "You're too formal, Mr. Johnson. I'm hosting some friends in the next room and saw you were here, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello."