Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Guided by a Master
On the other end of the phone, Claire Xavier said, "It’s... nothing major. It’s just that my parents forced me to go on a blind date today. The guy... is thirty-five, divorced with a child. Haha."
The sound of that "haha" sent a chill down Ashley Shaw’s spine.
Because she remembered that in a past life, Claire Xavier did marry a much older man.
An arranged marriage.
She couldn’t recall the details of the wedding day, but for some reason, she clearly remembered that throughout the whole wedding, Claire Xavier didn’t smile even once.
But she wasn’t sure if it was the same person she was meeting today, she only remembered what the person looked like, not their name or any other details.
After a moment of silence, Ashley Shaw cautiously asked, "How do you feel about it now?"
Claire Xavier let out a bitter laugh and said, "I’m not crying because of the blind date."
Ashley Shaw didn’t understand.
"Then what is it?"
"Because..."
Claire Xavier had only said two words when Ashley Shaw heard someone calling her from the other end of the line.
"Miss..."
"Sorry, Ashley, I have something to do right now, can I call you later?"
"Or maybe I’ll come over to your place after dinner? Or we can meet somewhere? I should be done around eight."
"Alright, come to my house, I’ll send you the address."
Ashley Shaw wanted to say there was no need, she knew the address, but then remembered she hadn’t been to the Xavier Family in this life yet, so she quickly swallowed her words.
"Okay, send me your location, I’ll come by around eight or nine."
"Mm."
The call ended, and not far behind, the voice of Ariana Grant resonated.
"Ashley, are you done with your call? We can have dinner now."
Ashley Shaw put away her phone and said, "Yes, I finished."
"Who were you talking to?"
"Ms. Grant."
"Oh, is she okay?"
"I don’t know the specifics, but it seems something did happen. After dinner, can you go home by yourself? I need to go to the Xavier Family."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No, having more people might not be comforting."
"Alright, if anything comes up, just call me."
"Mm." Ashley replied, and while walking inside, she asked, "Did you play chess with Grandpa Prescott earlier?"
"No... Grandpa Prescott went to the bathroom, but for some reason, looked really upset when he came back."
"Huh?"
"Let’s not talk about it now, don’t go in yet, I want to show you a video."
With that, Ariana Grant pulled her aside and handed her a phone with a video open.
"Take a look at this."
Ashley Shaw reached out and saw the video was of a Lynch Group press conference.
In the video, in front of Rosalind Lynch’s father, Gavin Lynch, sat a table full of phones.
And those phone models were precisely the problematic batch that had been exposed.
Since it was on mute, she couldn’t hear what Gavin Lynch was saying, but could tell he was very emotional.
In the next second, Gavin Lynch suddenly picked up a hammer from the ground and smashed it hard onto the stack of phones on the table.
One after another, he didn’t leave a single phone untouched.
Soon, those phones were all smashed to pieces.
The video then came to an end.
A wave of astonishment swept over Ashley Shaw’s mind.
She didn’t remember anything like this happening in her past life, she only remembered that after the phone explosion incident, the Lynch Group fell and never recovered, plummeting from the top straight to the bottom.
"Did you see that, Ashley?"
Ashley Shaw lightly nodded and asked, "When did this happen?"
"Just yesterday afternoon, I just saw it on the news. It’s trending online because of it."
Ashley Shaw opened her phone to check, and sure enough, all over the trending list were terms related to the Lynch phone smashing press conference.
She clicked into the top trending topic #LynchGroupSmashPhones#.
The comments seemed as if they were all praise for Gavin Lynch’s actions, almost like bots had flooded them.
Ariana Grant said—
"Anyway, it seems that from the public’s view, their family barely got through this crisis. People think their attitude is okay and they’re willing to recall all phones of this model that were sold."
"Plus, they’re also compensating all consumers injured by this phone’s explosions."
"In short, public opinion has taken a complete 180 and is now entirely in favor of the Lynch Group."
"Oh, and the Lynch Group dismissed several of its top executives too, showing a pretty firm attitude."
Upon hearing this, Ashley Shaw understood why Claudia Jennings was previously considering introducing the Sutton Family’s eldest daughter to Warren Prescott and was rather cold toward Rosalind Lynch, but today she proactively invited the Lynch mother-daughter trio for dinner.
So that’s how it is.
Claudia Jennings must have seen the news and realized there was hope for the Lynch Family to return to its former glory, and since Livia Sutton wasn’t interested in Warren Prescott, she naturally preferred to match up the future daughter-in-law she initially favored.
Besides, Rosalind Lynch genuinely adored Warren Prescott, always showing respect towards Claudia Jennings, and they were childhood friends who knew each other well.
Looking at it this way, choosing Rosalind Lynch was more appropriate than forcing a match between Livia Sutton and Warren Prescott.
No wonder.
Ariana Grant whispered to her, "The Lynch Group is truly lucky, they got through such a big crisis. And using such a simple and crude method too."
Ashley Shaw said, "Simple and forceful solutions are often the most effective. Compared to lengthy apology letters that make consumers dizzy, people much prefer this approach. And their actions show they have the right attitude."
Ariana Grant shrugged, "You’re right, it is effective. I wonder how they thought of this idea."
Ashley Shaw glanced inside meaningfully, saying, "Perhaps... they had some expert advice."
"An expert? Who?"
In her mind, Ashley Shaw called out Warren Prescott’s name.
But she wasn’t entirely sure herself.
Because if this solution had been suggested by Warren Prescott, why didn’t he come up with it in her past life?
She had carefully recalled, and in her past life, the Lynch Group indeed fell, without this "destroy all problematic phone models" press conference.
"I don’t know either, I was just speculating," Ashley Shaw said.
"Anyway, I won’t buy their phones in the future. I definitely don’t want to get disfigured."
Just then, Mrs. Chase came out from inside.
"Ashley, come inside to have dinner now! And your friend, you both must be hungry."
Ashley Shaw smiled and nodded.
"Alright, Mrs. Chase, we’ll come in now."
Mrs. Chase had a good relationship with her mother, and often chatted with Ashley Shaw privately.
As they walked inside, Mrs. Chase casually said, "Thank you for finding such a suitable house for my son this time."
Ashley Shaw was taken aback and asked, "What house?"