Alone, Bort. Hunvald: “Come here.”
Not wanting to disobey, Grace inched closer. Text radiated off his bed in waves, and even the exposed skin at his open collar shone with a sheen of sweat. Seeing in the towel wasn’t helping; Dhan slowly straightened and used his hands to splash cold water on his face. Some stray droplets landed on his robe.
“Mi—Henderson, don’t forget vonhnearold.”
Ithan toned down his bad temper slightly, splashing more cold water on his face. When he spoke, his voice was still husky. “Then what do you suggest?”
That question instantly made Grace Somerset of Selene’s status seem secure; her findings were far above the norm. Even Liham, who hated steely resolve, was suffering to this extent; that meant any normal person would have pounced on her long ago. Besides, who knew how long Ithan had been sick, and he was still undergoing leg rehabilitation. If anything happened to him because of the drug, she would truly be held accountable.
Grace stared thoughtfully at the sink for several seconds before suddenly suggesting, “How about finding a woman for…”
She swore she heard him stop breathing briefly when she finished speaking. The tense atmosphere vanished as the air around Ethan seemed to drop several degrees.
“Tout!” he ordered primly. Shivering at the sharp tone, Grace realized this was her first time personally experiencing his anger.
Not daring to make a sound, she opened the bathroom door and exited. Once in the bedroom, she shifted uneasily, worried something would happen to Ethan.
It was only two hours later that Ethan slowly opened the bathroom door. As usual, he was in his wheelchair. He went straight to his room, not even glancing at Grace. Grace had wanted to ask how he was feeling, but his cold demeanor stopped her.
The next morning, she woke up early. As soon as she stepped out of her room, she ran into Tim. Tim was leaving Ethan’s room, and upon seeing her, his gaze instantly turned cold.
“Ata: Lambert, the locals have sent a female employee to help you with the Farm Support Project. This document details what you need to do. The female employee is waiting for you in the lobby.”
After glancing at Ethan’s room, Grace asked, “Is Mr. Henderson okay?”
“Mr. Henderson will be meeting the person in charge here in Southbrook later to discuss the tourism development project, which is a different project from the one you’re…”
In other words, he was warning her against disturbing Ethan. Since Grace was too scared to bother Ethan now, she hurried to the lobby to meet with the female employee.
The female employee was called Mandy Cadman. Upon spotting Grace, Mandy nodded politely in greeting, her demeanor somewhat distant. Grace had already received the flowchart from Tim, and the project manager was waiting for her outside. Therefore, she began discussing the project with Mandy as they headed out.
“Due to heavier rainfall this year, the apples are smaller, resulting in none of our usual buyers being willing to pay for them. Therefore, all the apples can’t be sold. Since they can only be kept for ten more days before they start going bad, we have to sell them as soon as possible,” Mandy explained.
They had barely sat down in the car when thunder crashed outside the windows. It looked like it was about to rain.
Mandy eyed the dark skies with trepidation. “Grace, we still have to go to the orchard today. As that area is more remote, we might only be able to return late tonight if it starts raining heavily.”
Upon hearing that, Grace frowned deeply. Those apples hadn’t been harvested yet, so if it were to rain heavily tonight, their shelf life would be significantly shortened. Seeing as the usual vendors weren’t willing to buy the small apples, their only option was to sell them online.
“Mandy, arrange for some live-streaming equipment to be sent over. I remember one of Henderson Group’s subsidiary companies recently tapped into the live- streaming market. Discuss placing us on the main page; in that case, we won’t have to worry about not having any viewers.”
Mandy pondered this with worry. “When are we going to start live-streaming?”
Date nodded in response. After looking at the darkening skies outside, she said, “Contact the person in charge there and have them set up a temporary tent and lighting.”
“Once we have secured an agent with the live-streaming company, we can immediately start our live-stream sales.”
They should be able to sell off those apples online. Mandy had expected Grace to take longer to devise a plan. She had assumed they would need to contact a processing plant and sell those apples cheaply.
Three hours later, they arrived at the orchard. The sky was overcast, and large swathes of dark clouds were gathering. It was about to storm.
After liaising with the lighting crew, Grace called the live-streaming company, who agreed to place them on the recommended list on the main page. Grace put on a rain jacket before handing another to Mandy. She hadn’t stopped moving since disembarking the vehicle and had somehow kept everything running smoothly. Mandy admitted that even she couldn’t have done the same.
“Grace, you’re rather different from what I imagined.”
Grace, who hadn’t bothered putting on any makeup, didn’t answer. Instead, she called the middleman. “Hello, have the farmers decided on the price yet? How much are they willing to accept?”
When Grace heard the reply, she was shocked.
“One dollar per pound?”
In past years, the average price was usually around fifteen dollars per pound. However, the apples were just too small this year, hence the price reduction.
Grace tapped her fingers idly. Then she said, “How about I set the price at eight dollars for five pounds first!”
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before the man replied, “Ms. Lambert, I don’t think you’ll be able to sell them at that price.”
“Let’s give it a try first. That way, if anyone ends up buying, the farmers will at least earn a profit.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Having decided on the price, Grace ended the call. Next, she discussed the purchase process with the live-streaming company before finally sitting down in front of the camera. In truth, she didn’t feel comfortable exposing herself in front of the camera like that, with so many eyes watching her. However, other than the driver, Mandy was the only person present.
Despite spending only a short amount of time with Mandy, Grace could tell she was more introverted, so she instinctively wanted to protect the other woman. Hence, she had no choice but to take up the mantle herself.