Le remained expressionless. “Mr. Ramirez, I’ve outgrown the age of dreaming and have endured the harsh realities of society.”


    Their conversation was interrupted by a call from Mr. Moore, again.


    On the phone, Mr. Moore expressed his hope that they could finalize the deal tonight.


    Mason smirked as he held his phone, “Mr. Moore, there’s no rush on finalizing the deal. I know there are manypanies you want to cooperate with. You can take your time.”


    Mr. Moore admitted that there were indeed manypanies interested in partnering with Premier Construction. However, he had received a call from his assistant informing him that all thepanies that couldpete with The Ramirez Group had suddenly withdrawn their intention to coborate.


    Both of them were smart negotiators, adept at ying dumb in negotiations.


    “Thank you for your high regard for The Ramirez Group,” Mason said.


    Mr. Moore frowned slightly and lowered his voice. “Mr. Ramirez, even if you want to pave the way for the beauty, you can’t cut off my retreat.”


    Mason nced at Le, who was still confronting him, and smirked. “Someone might not appreciate it.”


    Le indeed did not appreciate it. In fact, upon realizing that Mason and Mr. Moore were discussing her, her expression turned colder.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Unaware of Mason’s situation, Mr. Moore chuckled at his remark. “Regarding the acquisition price, I hope Mr. Ramirez will show some mercy.”


    Mason replied, “I’ll have Miss Patel work overtime tonight to draft a new acquisition n and send it to your emailter.”


    “Okay.”


    After hanging up with Mr. Moore, Mason lifted his chin towards Le. “Heard everything on the phone?”


    Le nodded. “Yes.”


    Then, she furrowed her brows and asked, “Is there something wrong with Premier Construction?”


    Mr. Moore’s sudden change in attitude couldn’t have happened for no reason.


    Facing Le’s inquiry, Mason took a half-step forward, wearing a mischievous grin. “Curious?”


    “Not really,” she responded.


    Mason chuckled abruptly. “If you’re not curious, don’t ask. Go edit the acquisition n.”


    Le had left flexibility in the acquisition n she proposed to Mr. Moore, aiming to leave room for negotiation. Now that the cooperation was almost set in stone, there was no need to keep a bottom line.


    Le walked into the bedroom and retrieved herptop from the suitcase. She opened it and asked Mason, “Is the acquisition price based on the price I proposed earlier?”


    Mason nced down at his phone. “Yeah.”


    Le followed up, “Do you want to review it after I’m done editing?”


    Mason didn’t immediately respond to Le’s words, seemingly preupied with texting someone. After about a minute, he looked up at her and said, “Le, Samuel’s expression in the restroom was quite strange.”


    Le was taken aback by his words.


    Mason’s intense gaze bore into her, carrying a hint of scrutiny. “After seeing me, he didn’t show any anger at being cuckolded by his girlfriend, just panic.”


    Le remained silent.


    Their eyes locked, and Le struggled to maintain herposure.


    After a moment, Mason chuckled and said, “Are you two putting on a show for me?”


    Le still didn’t respond.


    Their gaze lingered, Mason’s eyes filled with amusement while Le forced herself to appear calm.


    Eventually, Mason smirked and said, “After you finish editing, send it directly to Mr. Moore’s email. No need to show it to me.”


    Seeing Mason steer the conversation back to business, Le breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”


    With that, Mason left Le’s room, grabbing his suit jacket before stepping out.


    Sensing him open the door, Le didn’t even dare to lift her head, afraid that he might change his mind and stay.


    At three in the morning, Le sent thetest acquisition proposal to Mr. Moore’s email. She then stretched, tired from both dealing with Mason and revising the acquisition n, and went to wash up before resting.


    Le didn’t have the energy to think about Keith’s situation. After taking a hot shower, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.


    She had a dream.


    In her dream, she was in college and unable to afford tuition. Her mom was helping her borrow money from various sources. The dream was filled with coldness and ridicule, culminating in a failed attempt to borrow money from her uncle, Darren Gng. In the dream, her mom tried to exin their financial situation, but they were met with disdain and criticism from her uncle and aunt. The dream ended with a phone call from the school’s dean, informing her of a generous donation that would cover her tuition fees.


    In the middle of her dream, the hotel’sndline suddenly rang.


    Le frowned, blinked her eyes, took a deep breath, and after a few seconds, got up to answer the phone.


    “Miss Patel, there’s a man named Keith Patel iming to be your father who wants to see you,” the front desk staff said on the other end of the line.


    Le furrowed her brows slightly and, after a moment, replied calmly, “Let hime up.”


    “Okay, Miss Patel.”


    After hanging up the phone, Le walked into the bathroom to wash her face.


    As the doorbell rang, she stepped out of the bathroom to answer the door.


    Keith had changed into a different outfit today. When their eyes met, Keith’s face was filled with embarrassment as he extended the breakfast he had bought towards Le, speaking in a conciliatory tone, “Haven’t had breakfast yet? I bought you breakfast, it’s the porridge you used to love.”


    Having calmed down from the events of the previous night, Le’s mood was rtively calm. She reached out to take the porridge from him, stepping aside to let him into the room without mentioning that she hadn’t liked this particr porridge for years.


    From the moment Keith entered until he sat down, he appeared to be very restrained. Once seated, he nervously rubbed his hands on hisp before taking the initiative to speak to Le, “Yesterday, the meeting was too short. I didn’t get a chance to ask you, how is your mother now?”


    The rtionship between father and daughter was sometimes subtle. When the rtionship was good, they were closer than kin, but when it soured, they could feel like strangers, or even enemies.


    Le was no longer a child and could tell whether Keith’s inquiry was sincere or not. She picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table and handed it to him. “She’s sick, in the hospital.”


    Keith took the bottle and, perhaps to mask his nervousness, took a big gulp before asking, “What illness?”


    Before Le could respond, he continued, “Getting old brings about a lot of health problems. I’ve been experiencing a lot of back pain and leg aches these past few years. Your mother should be better off than me. With your grandparents spoiling her when she was young and living a pampered life after marrying me, she…”


    Le interjected coldly, “Uremia.”


    Keith’s words caught in his throat, and he looked at Le in shock.


    Compared to Keith’s surprise, Le remained calm. She continued to stir the porridge he brought while speaking calmly, “When you had your ident, those creditors brought my mother and me to thepany, forcing us to pay off your debts. My mother was scared.”


    Keith remained silent.


    Le leaned forward and took a sip of the porridge, the sweetness of the red dates overwhelming. “You said yesterday that you left us five hundred thousand, but we never received it. And even if we did, five hundred thousand wouldn’t be enough to cover your debts.”


    Le took a sip of the porridge and then set it down without taking another. She looked up at Keith and asked, “Do you want to see my mom?”