Chapter 190: Invitation Letter
That evening, when Vivian Lowell returned to the hospital, she ran into Julian Faulkner right outside the private ward. He was on the phone, looking quite serious.
Not wanting to disturb him, Vivian walked over to the bench beside him and sat down quietly. She began to arrange the bouquet of fresh flowers she had just bought downstairs, which she planned to give to Grandma Faulkner once they went inside.
By the time she finished, Julian had ended his call. He turned to Vivian with furrowed brows. "That was Vance Wyatt. He said the Drake family will be holding a press conference at the Grand West Aethelburg Hotel in three days.
"The first industry they’re entering upon their return to Veridia has already been finalized—makeup and skincare. They plan to create cosmeceuticals centered around traditional herbal medicine and floral scents.
"Since they are a family with a long history in traditional medicine, they hold quite a few patents in this field. They are extremely confident and have already obtained the necessary approvals.
"In three days, they’ll unveil the products designed by their brand. It includes setting powder, a cushion foundation, and a nourishing repair cream."
The makeup and skincare industry. Vivian couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. It seemed the Drakes had truly done their market research before choosing to return to Veridia. In today’s society, with the rise of female empowerment, women held themselves to high standards. Most chose to wear makeup. Even if it wasn’t a heavy, glamorous look, simply applying a base and some lipstick to give themselves a healthy glow was something they thoroughly enjoyed.
It wasn’t about looking good for men; it was about feeling satisfied when looking in the mirror, boosting their confidence, and highlighting their power as women.
The market for women’s makeup and skincare was massive. Products like cushion foundations and setting powders were in high demand, as were repair creams. The Drakes built their fortune on traditional medicine. With their specialized ingredients backing them up, a repair cream produced by their family would undoubtedly gain widespread acceptance among the general public.
Furthermore, Julian had mentioned that the Drakes’ repair cream had already secured partnerships with quite a few dermatological hospitals domestically. After passing clinical tests, it could be used by patients after seeing a dermatologist—such as applying a thick layer after acne extraction to repair the skin barrier.
This was a tremendous market. The Drakes were certainly highly capable. Fortunately, it didn’t really conflict with the fields Vivian and the Faulkners were currently involved in. Vivian was in design, while the Faulkner Group primarily focused on real estate development and had acquired some clothing brands. They had virtually zero involvement in the makeup and skincare industry.
"The Drakes are truly impressive," Vivian said, blinking. "It looks like Master Drake’s first step back into the country is steady, accurate, and ruthless! To think he even secured partnerships with hospital dermatology departments."
In reality, many skincare brands collaborated with dermatology clinics. The face masks produced by those brands usually fell into two categories. One was "cosmetic-grade," sold directly to ordinary consumers in the market. The other was "pharmaceutical-grade," prescribed by hospitals to patients.
The Drakes were taking the same approach. The products aimed at everyday consumers and medical patients were naturally different. By leveraging their credibility and obtaining collaboration rights with hospitals, they could use this to drive massive publicity.
And the press conference was set for three days from now. Vance had just called to say that the Drake family had also invited Julian and Vivian, hoping they would attend the banquet.
Julian had agreed. This event had nothing to do with personal grudges. Simply because the launch of the Drakes’ first brand upon their return to Veridia was such a huge affair, Julian, as one of the country’s top entrepreneurs, was obligated to attend. If he refused over personal grievances, people would think he was short-sighted.
After chatting with Julian about the Drakes for a while, Vivian asked, "What about Felix Faulkner and Rachel Faulkner? Are they staying with the Drakes? And that Annie. I heard from Vance that Annie has already been discharged from the hospital?"
Julian nodded. Annie had been discharged a few days prior, right around the same time Grandma Faulkner left the hospital.
She had suffered a miscarriage and was physically weak afterward. Having stayed in the hospital for a few days to receive IV fluids and stabilize, she only needed to rest at home; there was no need for her to occupy a hospital bed. Meanwhile, online discussions about Annie had died down significantly. After all, most of her dark history had already been dug up, including her past entanglements with the Faulkner family and her demands for compensation. When the Faulkners eventually retaliated and exposed her true colors, the internet was flooded with criticism directed at her, causing Annie to largely drop off the radar.
If there were still any ongoing discussions about Annie online, they mostly revolved around whether there was a possibility of her and Felix getting back together. Although the public didn’t know that the child Annie lost was Felix’s, most netizens felt it would be better if the two of them stayed together. After all, they were both scumbags. If they were together, they would only torment each other, sparing innocent outsiders from getting hurt.
It was just a pity for Julian and Madam Faulkner. They were good people; how did they end up with such terrible family members? Sure enough, the rich had their own set of troubles.
However, Julian did know a bit about Felix and Rachel’s current whereabouts. They were not staying with the Drake family.
Felix had bought two penthouses in Aethelburg. He lived in one and gave the other to Rachel. Rachel had been very active lately. Just like when she first returned to the country, she frequently attended various parties and banquets, constantly mingling with Aethelburg’s wealthy families.
Even though Julian had publicly declared that Rachel would no longer have any ties to him or Grandma Faulkner, and that the Faulkner family would no longer provide her with any support, things weren’t that simple. Because Felix still held some influence, coupled with her connection to the Drakes, some people who didn’t have a good relationship with Julian were still willing to associate with Rachel.
None of this mattered anymore. Julian was already gathering evidence. Even if he couldn’t do anything to Felix for the time being, he absolutely would not let Rachel off the hook. The harm Rachel had inflicted upon the Faulkner family, Julian himself, and Grandma Faulkner, as well as her manipulating the Lowells into targeting Vivian, were completely unforgivable.
The two of them chatted at the door for a little while longer until the door was gently opened from the inside by Ms. Shaw.
"I heard the young master and young madam’s voices from inside, and sure enough, it’s you two. The old madam heard it too and asked you to come in."
"Okay!" Vivian quickly stood up. Right before entering the room, she remembered the situation with Henry Sterling and asked Julian to help check if Henry had already been admitted to this hospital. Then, she walked in.
Inside, Grandma Faulkner was watching TV. She was tuned into a Peking Opera broadcast, where a female lead was singing in high-pitched, melodic tones. Vivian wasn’t particularly interested in it, but she walked over to the vase and helped Grandma Faulkner swap out the old flowers for the fresh ones.
"I went back to the villa today to help the family next door catch a cat. That cat is so cute and really affectionate. I didn’t expect that family to return after being abroad for so long," Vivian said, sharing some details of her cat-catching adventure.
Grandma Faulkner listened with keen interest and couldn’t help but nod. "You took the kitty to the pet hospital? Vivian, didn’t you mention before that you wanted to bring a Lion Cat home?
"When are you going to bring it back? If we have a little cat and a dog at home in the future, I definitely won’t feel bored anymore!"
Grandma Faulkner genuinely loved small animals. After all, in the past, Julian was always so busy. By the time he got home every day, Grandma Faulkner was usually already asleep. The grandmother and grandson only ever got to chat when they had breakfast together in the mornings. Besides occasionally taking strolls around Silvermere and The Sunstone Palace, Grandma Faulkner spent her days walking the dog and listening to Peking Opera at home. She didn’t have many other special hobbies.
"Grandma," Julian said, sounding slightly helpless upon hearing this. He was just about to say something when Grandma Faulkner chuckled and patted his shoulder.
"I’m not criticizing you," she said. "You’ve always done everything perfectly; you never make me worry. But I also know that getting to where you are today has cost you an immense amount of blood, sweat, and tears.
"I understand that, which is why I would never demand that you come home more often just to keep me company. At my age, what haven’t I experienced? You think I don’t know how to pass the time?"
Seeing Grandma Faulkner’s playful, childlike smile, Julian was somewhat at a loss for words. Though he felt a faint twinge of melancholy in his heart, he was still happy. He was happy because his grandmother had always been this wonderful.
That evening, before heading home, Julian and Vivian went to see Grandma Faulkner’s attending physician to get an update on her condition. Grandma Faulkner’s health was incredibly stable. After resting, her complexion had improved significantly. However, she hadn’t brought up Rachel even once.
It was evident that Grandma Faulkner was truly and deeply disappointed in Rachel.
"I hope she stops causing trouble once she’s brought to justice," Vivian said. Whenever she thought about how Grandma Faulkner’s condition had suddenly deteriorated in her past life, forcing her to go abroad for treatment—which was highly likely caused by Rachel and Felix—she couldn’t find it in her to forgive Rachel at all.
Julian felt the same way. Although he didn’t know about the events of the past life, he was an incredibly protective person. He would never let anyone who hurt his family off the hook. And Rachel... she was merely an adopted daughter, yet she had bitten the hand that fed her in such an ungrateful manner. It was utterly despicable!
"Yeah," Vivian nodded.
On the ride home, Vivian brought up Henry Sterling’s situation to Julian. "They said he was in a car accident and had to be hospitalized, but I don’t know the specifics yet. That woman, Wendy Wynn, used Henry’s phone to call Eleanor. As soon as I answered, I knew something was wrong."
After giving him a brief rundown, Vivian added, "I’ve already agreed with Eleanor. If she wants to visit Henry, I’ll go with her."
"Alright," Julian said, nodding with furrowed brows. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Do you want me to have Vance look into it and see if Henry has already been admitted here?
"When Eleanor Rhodes goes to visit him, I’ll come along as well."
Julian was primarily worried about Vivian. Moreover, he knew very well that Wendy Wynn was a top-tier manipulator. While he had full faith that his wife could hold her own against a woman like Wendy, he’d rather spare Vivian the disgust of dealing with her. Since he was fiercely protective of his own, he might as well take that protectiveness to the absolute extreme.
Vivian didn’t think too deeply into it. She was just surprised that Julian had so much free time that he wanted to tag along to see Henry. She nodded and said, "Sure! If you want to go, we can all go together. Oh, by the way, when I went back to the villa today, I packed up some of your clothes while I was at it. I brought a few pieces you usually like to wear.
"In the past, whenever I saw you on the news, you were always wearing the exact same outfit. I used to think you only owned one suit, but it turns out you have ten identical ones in your closet!"
So this was how men operated. As long as they found an outfit comfortable, they would buy several identical copies at once to cycle through. Even if the style was exactly the same, it didn’t matter; they simply didn’t care.
It wasn’t like that for girls. While girls might buy several pieces of the same style, they had their reasons! For example, a crew neck, a V-neck, one with lace cuffs, one with cloud patterns, a cute style, an elegant tweed style, a chic French style—they were all completely different things!
"..." Julian gave Vivian a rather strange look. It was hard to tell if it was because she was roasting him for buying identical clothes or something else. He quietly remarked, "I think the clothes we went to buy together that night are perfectly fine.
"You didn’t need to bring the ones from home."
Hmm? Vivian didn’t understand. She asked in return, "Why not? Didn’t you really like wearing those before?"
Julian shook his head but didn’t answer. The gaze he directed at Vivian suddenly seemed inexplicably mournful, as if he was hiding some petty grievance.
???
Vivian was still utterly bewildered.
Julian, meanwhile, sighed inwardly. He liked the clothes at home, yes, but only on a superficial level. He liked them because they were comfortable and because they were haute couture pieces he was required to wear. That was it. Those clothes had all been purchased for him by Vance, who had bought them in bulk just to save time. Others were specially tailored for him by brands under his own company. In Julian’s eyes, there was absolutely no thought put into those garments.
The ones Vivian had given him were different. His wife had picked them out piece by piece, carefully considering his physique and skin tone. Every single item had something unique that suited him perfectly.
Most importantly, they held his wife’s affection. How could they possibly be the same?
Julian wished he could change into a different one of her outfits every single day, subtly informing everyone at the company that he was a changed man. In the past, he dressed strictly by the book, but now, he wore clothes meticulously chosen by his wife!
Unfortunately, the idiots at his company didn’t even dare to look at him for too long, let alone notice his little hidden agenda.
Vance, however, had noticed. He even asked if the Madam had bought them. When Julian nodded with immense satisfaction, Vance had revealed a look of sheer envy, which instantly made Julian even happier.
Yes, Vance had every reason to be envious. Having a wife and not having a wife were, indeed, two entirely different experiences.