The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 80
It was a dinner that looked somewhat romantic.
The restaurant was elegant, and people spoke in low voices. Aside from the piano music, the only sounds in the whole place were the faint scrape of cutlery against plates and bowls. As long as one ate here, one always had to cut something with utensils. The sound was unavoidable, though everyone was doing their best to avoid it.
Even seated in the main dining room, this kind of environment gave people a natural sense of separation from the other tables.
Each table was a little space of its own, able to contain only the people sitting beside it.
The flower petals on the table, the red tablecloth, and the fine tableware made the scene feel somewhat romantic, even though William had not made any overly deliberate arrangements.
Perhaps because of the petals, perhaps because of the setting, most of the diners here were pairs of young men and women.
Before the chef finished heating their food, William talked a little about work.
Sometimes women looked easy to talk to, but they still had certain things they held to inside, as well as something difficult to grasp. Even they themselves did not know why they acted this way, or that way.
So the central purpose could not be set aside. William had invited Vera to dinner, and the theme was work. If he did not talk about these things, it would make Vera uncomfortable and cause her thoughts to wander. But once he did, the other things became embellishments to a pleasant dinner.
“You know, I’ve been busy lately with my new work...” William unfolded his napkin and smiled. A handsome person smiling was always pleasing to the eye, just as a beautiful person smiling was always captivating.
William was a handsome man. Handsomeness was his most important pass. In truth, for him, being handsome or ugly was not an obstacle that would stop him from reaching the top. But handsomeness could make the process a little easier.
Just like now. A handsome young man invited a married woman, who was in a cold war with her husband, to dinner. The atmosphere was somewhat ambiguous, and this lady might enjoy that slightly dangerous sweetness with a faint flush on her face.
But if William had been ugly, forget an ambiguous atmosphere. She might not even have answered his call.
Vera looked at William’s face and nodded. “You told me you had plans for some new companies.”
“Yes, I did...” His voice seemed to carry a kind of magic, letting people feel the pleasure inside him through the sound of it. This was a very special technique.
Expression, eyes, and voice could work together to release enough misleading signals to make people feel he was happy. Faced with beautiful things, people would unconsciously lower their guard. Not only people, animals were the same.
“I plan to establish a large company covering the entire state. By the second half of this year at the latest, or the beginning of next year, the company will be fully organized.”
William had only said half of it when a waiter came to the side of the table after apologizing politely. William also stopped what he was saying.
The waiter held a bottle of red wine on a tray and bowed slightly. “Excuse me, ma’am, sir, this is the wine you selected.” He showed them the label. “Shall I open it now?”
Vera touched her cheek and smiled without blame. “I didn’t know you had ordered red wine.”
“If you don’t like it, we can have something else. Juice or a soft drink?” William changed the choice very decisively. This, instead, made Vera too embarrassed to say no. She only said it was fine, and by default, the evening’s drink contained liquor.
Of course, she also trusted William very much. She did not think William would do anything excessive to her. Sometimes a handsome face really was something to envy.
After sniffing the oak cork, looking at the legs on the glass, and sensing the changes in aroma and astringency, William accepted the bottle of red wine that had been cellared for ten years.
Only after the waiter had gone some distance away did he smile and say, “Actually, I don’t much like drinking red wine. The taste...” He shrugged, which instead made Vera laugh.
“If you don’t like it, why did you order a bottle of red wine?” Vera might not even have known why she asked such a question, nor what kind of answer she wanted.
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