Sweet like Wine: Love Your Dimples Even More-Chapter 73 - 46: Please, Be Cruel Only Once (To Silver Alliance Leader @Huan Yu)

Chapter 73: Chapter 46: Please, Be Cruel Only Once (To Silver Alliance Leader @Huan Yu)

The storms on the internet can drench many unprepared people.

The rumors in life always spread faster than the truth.

Gordo had long been accustomed to storms, not the kind of small internet celebrity who could be easily shaken by anything.

Sean Lowell asked Gordon Sterling to talk to Catherine Morgan, but for the first time, Gordo firmly refused The Jilted.

There wasn’t an inch of room for negotiation.

The identity of the protagonist from the incident nineteen years ago shouldn’t be obtained through the gossipy mouths of people like Catherine Morgan.

Gordo had no desire to continue any relationship with Catherine Morgan, who played with him, claiming to be a "devoted fan."

After the stream ended, Gordon Sterling immediately blocked and then deleted Catherine Morgan.

The reason he didn’t block her right away was that he didn’t know Catherine’s true intentions and didn’t want to create a hot topic unnecessarily.

Since Sean already decided to go to Scotland to seek the truth of nineteen years ago.

Gordon knew that under these circumstances, even trying to stop him would be futile.

Seeing this, he fully cooperated and expedited the visa process so Sean could find the answer he needed on his own.

Hearing from others, again and again, the rumors about his mother.

Whether or not Sean showed it, he couldn’t possibly remain unhurt.

If the truth is too cruel, then let it be cruel just once.

To go straight to the truth so the wound, which is already almost healed, won’t be repeatedly torn open.

From dorm mates to business partners, over eight years, Gordon wasn’t sure whether he was treating Sean as an "artist" to be cared for or a "family" to be protected.

Each person is but a tiny speck in the vast world.

Yet each small piece has its own ordinary, bizarre, fortunate, or sorrowful story.

...............

Before sending Summer Fairmont to the airport, Talia Tate cooked herself once again.

"The sales department manager mentioned several times that they received many orders for items identical to #TheJiltedSeeksMom#. I wanted to ask, do you have any opinions on pricing and sales?" Leo Vaughn talked business with Summer Fairmont.

Summer’s response was only two words: "I don’t."

Summer always spoke the truth; she had truly never considered how to deal with the whiskey that suddenly entered her life.

Summer knew Hieronymus left the Brunschwig Distillery to her, or rather, she was the sole legal heir.

But she had yet to open the family registers, letters, and investigation reports included in the will.

If it weren’t for The Pouting Siren, who fussed as soon as she heard Summer inherited over six hundred barrels of whiskey and rushed to promote using her Wine Winters Ambassador title, Summer might not have returned to that "old castle" devoid of pleasant memories for years.

If not for being expelled by the Scotland Whisky Association thirty-seven years ago, The Devilish Lolita would’ve started "hawking" in Scotland without wasting a second, likely beginning with The Wellness Punk Association.

Artie Vaughn had served five years as a Wine Winters Ambassador, but this was the first time he dealt with such a large batch of whiskey personally handled by an ambassador.

The Wine Winters Ambassador had good intentions, but reality was more complicated than Artie imagined.

Exporting a bottle of whiskey unrecognized by the Scotland Whisky Association was as difficult as smuggling.

The best option was to restart the distillery and gain recognition from the Scotland Whisky Association.

But this would take a long time.

So Artie turned his focus to Winters Spirits.

Compared to Artie’s bustling pace, Summer was far behind, still not straightening out the relationships involved.

Summer didn’t even know what varieties or original ABV the whiskey she inherited was.

These things had been sitting in the warehouse for decades before Summer arrived at the old castle, but she never thought about inheriting anything from Hieronymus.

Summer lived independently from ages 13 to 22, a span of nine years, not lacking skills to support herself.

Even working as a chef at a Chinese restaurant wouldn’t have been stressful for her.

Moreover, Summer was now one of Islay’s most popular independent bottling (IB) label designers.

Summer’s label designs appeared on over 20 types of limited edition Scotland independent bottled whiskeys.

She once designed a Japanese ramen label for a globally limited 816-bottle Speyside-flavored independent bottling whisky—Campbell Town.

It sparked a collection craze in the whisky collector world.

She also used imagery of swans seen near Lynwood Distillery to create a fairytale-like label for a limited 290-bottle Lynwood independent bottling, reminiscent of an Andersen story.

Designed by co-founder Summer of The Wellness Punk Association, the labels perfectly match the avant-garde bottling philosophy of the independent bottler.

This was Summer’s only connection to whiskey, apart from drinking the strongest ones, in her life so far.

"Leo, mommy called Artie, Summer darling home to eat, drink, and have fun. Why would a small general manager of a small company bring even a tiny bit of work home?" Talia Tate seemed to misunderstand "small" and "tiny bit" somehow.

The Nation’s Gentleman explained to his mom with great respect: "Isn’t Summer leaving tomorrow? When do I ever bring work home?"

"My silly son, knowing Summer is leaving, are you only thinking about work?" Talia responded earnestly to her gentlemanly son.

"Oh right, oh brother, aren’t you forgetting something important?" The Pouting Siren quickly cut into the group chat.

==========

[Whiskey Tip]: Scottish whisky is divided into OB and IB.

OB, an abbreviation for Official/Original Bottling, refers to official/original bottles, which are the mainstream now, with the vast majority of whiskies sold in the market being OB types.

However, before the 19th century, most Scottish distilleries didn’t do their own bottling; they wholesale the raw whisky in barrels, leaving independent bottlers to handle the bottling. IB stands for Independent Bottling.