Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Power and Influence

“Hm?”

Lynn Jennings couldn’t help but laugh out loud as she recalled the scene from that day.

“My older brother said he couldn’t afford the embarrassment, not after he got into a huge fight with Miles Hollis over a woman. HAHAHA, you should have seen the look on Mason Walsh’s face. It was absolutely livid.”

Jessie Sterling laughed too. She just hadn’t expected Jared Jennings to show Mason Walsh so little respect.

“Your mom didn’t say anything?”

Logically, with Jared Jennings trampling all over Mason Walsh’s pride like that, Lynn Jennings’s fiercely protective mother shouldn’t have just stood by and done nothing.

Lynn Jennings wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. “What could she say? It was just too much of a coincidence. If Mason Walsh and Miles Hollis had fought over someone else, it would have been one thing, but the woman at the center of it all just had to be Cheryl Stuart. And everyone in our circle knows who Cheryl Stuart is now and whose side she’s on. People keep their mouths shut, but their minds are clear as day. My older brother is marrying into the Hudson family. If they really made my second brother the best man, wouldn’t that just be a huge joke? It’s not like we actually want to make things uncomfortable for the Hudsons.”

Cheryl Stuart is now basically Brianna Hudson’s “stepmom.” How could they possibly let her ex be the best man at the wedding?

If Mason Walsh had actually been the best man, today’s wedding would have made both the Jennings and Hudson families a laughingstock.

Once Jessie Sterling understood, she couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“By the way, what did Cheryl Stuart want with you yesterday?” Lynn Jennings asked. She could admit to having a certain respect for someone like Cheryl Stuart, but only a certain amount. Mostly, she was wary. “She’s not some simple character.”

Jessie Sterling didn’t hide anything, telling Lynn Jennings about the preliminary understanding she had reached with Cheryl Stuart the day before.

Lynn Jennings raised an eyebrow, then let out a laugh. “Isn’t this a classic case of Arya Thorne shooting herself in the foot?”

Jessie Sterling tilted her head in thought, then smiled too.

Arya Thorne’s reasoning for wanting to make Nina Walsh famous was simple: she thought she could leverage the capital behind Nina.

Almost all the artists her company was heavily promoting now came from somewhat well-off families who could provide a little support.

It was no wonder Cheryl Stuart was upset that Arya was carving up her slice of the pie for Nina Walsh’s sake.

“I just wonder if she’ll regret it when she finally realizes that Nina Walsh, this ’adopted daughter of the Lynch family,’ isn’t all she’s cracked up to be,” Lynn Jennings said.

Jessie Sterling replied, “Who cares about her? She’s hell-bent on taking shortcuts anyway. The Thorne family’s empire is big enough for her to squander for quite a while.”

The two of them were in a relatively high position, so they naturally had a good view.

Just as Jessie Sterling finished speaking, she turned her head and saw Cyrus Sheridan.

Normally, Cyrus Sheridan wouldn’t receive an invitation to a wedding or banquet like this, but his current status was indeed quite extraordinary.

Among the professors in the country working on pulmonary targeted drugs, Cyrus Sheridan was, without a doubt, number one.

Scitech Pharma had spent considerable effort to recruit Cyrus Sheridan and bring him back from abroad.

You could say that Cyrus Sheridan alone was responsible for the lion’s share of Scitech Pharma’s main business revenue each year.

Jared Jennings couldn’t help but be envious of such a talent, especially since he wanted to take over the family’s pharmaceutical factory and research institute.

That was why Cyrus Sheridan, a professor at a research institute, had also received an invitation to today’s wedding banquet.

Cyrus Sheridan was clearly looking for someone, a woman’s trench coat draped over his arm.

Jessie Sterling glanced over and smiled.

Lynn Jennings followed Jessie’s gaze and, naturally, also saw the man down below.

However, before Cyrus Sheridan could spot Jessie Sterling and Lynn Jennings, he was suddenly stopped by someone.

Jessie Sterling was quite familiar with the Jennings family. She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the people who had just appeared beside Cyrus Sheridan with some surprise.

“Aren’t those people from your family’s research institute?” Jessie asked.

Lynn Jennings nodded.

“What’s going on here?”

Lynn Jennings said, “Poaching.”

She said it so nonchalantly, without a hint of surprise, that Jessie Sterling had a sudden realization. “You already knew?”

“Cyrus Sheridan doesn’t hide anything from me,” Lynn Jennings replied casually.

Jessie Sterling raised her eyebrows. ’Lynn probably doesn’t even realize how unusual that statement is,’ she thought.

Lynn Jennings continued, “Scitech Pharma’s market share last year left the Jennings family in the dust. They’re getting anxious. They’ve been trying to approach Cyrus Sheridan for a while now, but he hasn’t budged.”

“So what does your Professor Sheridan plan to do?” Jessie Sterling asked with a smile.

Lynn Jennings turned and shot her a look. “He has only one condition.”

“Oh?”

“He wants those old dinosaurs on the board of the pharmaceutical factory and research institute to vote for me,” Lynn Jennings said.

Her relationship with Cyrus Sheridan was an open secret. Even if she didn’t want to admit he was her boyfriend, to the outside world, they were definitely a couple.

At some point, she had tied Cyrus Sheridan to the same boat as her.

And Cyrus Sheridan, it seemed, was more than willing.

The once-unworldly Professor Sheridan now knew how to negotiate with people.

Jessie Sterling glanced at Lynn Jennings. When Lynn first got together with Cyrus Sheridan, she probably never imagined things would turn out like this.

Cyrus Sheridan had, almost single-handedly, shattered Lynn Jennings’s previous plans.

She hadn’t interacted much with Cyrus Sheridan, but now she couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of approval toward him.

A man who knows to proactively fight for his wife’s interests is a man who’s got his head in the game.

Before long, Cyrus Sheridan shook off the people who had approached him down below. He looked up and saw Lynn Jennings sitting with Jessie Sterling in the pavilion.

He held up the coat in his hand and started up the stone-paved path toward the pavilion.

Before Cyrus Sheridan arrived, Jessie Sterling took the initiative to leave, taking a side path back to the main banquet hall.

When she found Victor Morgan, he was talking with Ivan Hudson about business in Australia.

Jessie Sterling hadn’t even walked over yet, but perhaps because Victor Morgan sensed a familiar gaze on him, he subconsciously turned his head, and his eyes met hers across the crowd.

The expression on Victor Morgan’s face involuntarily softened.

Ivan Hudson, who had been talking with Victor, noticed the undisguised shift in his expression. He was a bit surprised. Following Victor’s line of sight, his own gaze toward Jessie Sterling immediately became more serious.

He had interacted with Victor Morgan a few times. The man wasn’t easy to talk to—rigorous, self-disciplined, and logical, rarely moved by sentiment. Those were the labels he had for Victor.

But now, it seemed Victor Morgan was slightly different from the rumors. At least when it came to Jessie Sterling, their relationship was likely very different from the loveless marriage of convenience everyone imagined.

Moreover, Ivan Hudson hadn’t forgotten that when he had walked over to speak with Victor Morgan just now, if he wasn’t mistaken, Julian Grant had been standing next to him.

Victor Morgan’s expression had seemed fine, but the person standing beside him had looked anything but natural.

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