Taking Care of Your Wife Is Only Natural

Julian Sterling curled his lips slightly and said carelessly, "Good point. Don't eat someone else's. Just eat mine."

"..." Zane paused with the hand holding his chopsticks, his cheek twitching.

Fuck, was this old fox doing it on purpose?

What was the meaning of him deliberately stressing the words "someone else's"? Was he trying to make Claire Bennett distance herself from him? He was Claire Bennett's childhood sweetheart—they had grown up together! Was he "someone else"?

At that moment, Ruby Sterling beside them quickly exclaimed in admiration, "Wow, you're way too considerate of Claire. Claire really is so lucky."

Julian Sterling said flatly, "Taking care of your wife is only natural."

Ruby Sterling quickly nodded and chimed in, "Claire, if you like it, you can have my portion too!"

After saying that, Ruby Sterling seemed to cast a vaguely provocative glance at Zane.

The veins on Zane's forehead twitched. Why did he feel like he'd miscalculated today?

With the two of them singing the same tune, he was no match for them all by himself.

Both of them had already offered up their portions, so if he kept eating his own by himself now, then in Claire Bennett's eyes he'd probably look like the kind of selfish, self-serving man.

So Zane said, "Claire, you can have mine too."

Claire Bennett was flattered and quickly waved her hands. "No need. I just wanted a taste. You don't need to give me your own portions."

She hadn't expected that just because she casually said this was tasty, Julian Sterling and Ruby Sterling would offer her their portions, and now even Zane wanted to give her his.

After that, the few of them started eating together, but no matter how you looked at it, the atmosphere felt strange. Zane stared darkly at Julian Sterling, while Ruby Sterling chatted and joked carefully with Claire Bennett, all the while staying on guard in case Zane tried anything else.

Claire Bennett felt that the atmosphere was a little weird, but she couldn't figure out why. She guessed it was probably because none of them were very familiar with each other yet.

Very quickly, she tossed the matter to the back of her mind.

Claire Bennett looked at Zane and asked curiously, "Zane, why did you pick this restaurant for dinner?"

In the past, Zane had been pretty frugal too. He didn't seem like the type who would come to a place like this.

Zane gave a light cough. "Of course it's because the food here is good. I wanted you all to try it."

What Claire Bennett actually cared more about was the price of this restaurant. If it was beyond what she could afford, then she would probably have to scrimp and save for quite a while afterward.

Feeling uneasy, Claire Bennett used checking her phone as an excuse and secretly looked it up online. It was one thing not to check, but once she did, she was shocked.

A single meal at this Cloud Pavilion cost as much as several months of an ordinary person's salary!

And that foreign-looking chef standing off to the side preparing the food, along with that Chinese chef in a Zhongshan suit, were the very people shown on the introduction page!

Claire Bennett wanted to cry but had no tears. She suddenly felt like what she'd eaten just now wasn't food but money—every bite was a glaring stack of cash!

Sure enough, she and Zane were no longer people from the same world.

Claire Bennett touched her pocket.

She had sold a ring before, but all that money had been used to buy a gift for Grandma Sterling's birthday banquet. This month's salary hadn't been paid yet either, so she didn't have much spare money for a meal this expensive.

Unable to hold back, she picked up her phone and sent Zane a message. "Zane, are you trying to get yourself killed? Do you know how much a meal here costs? Why the hell would you come to a place this expensive? Did you do this on purpose to screw me over just because I'm the one treating?"

Zane's phone vibrated, and he picked it up to look at it.

When he saw Claire Bennett's message, he curled his lips into a smile, then slowly replied, "Since your husband is treating anyway, stop trying to save money for him. Let him show off a little."

Claire Bennett: "Bullshit! His money is my money, so doesn't that still mean I'm the one paying?"

For no reason at all, Zane got a mouthful of PDA shoved at him.

It was seriously irritating. He had clearly meant to force Julian Sterling to expose his identity, but instead things kept developing in directions he had never expected.

At that moment, Ruby Sterling sharply noticed that Claire Bennett was actually messaging Zane!

She quickly shot Julian Sterling a covert look, signaling for him to pay attention to what was going on between Claire Bennett and Zane.

Julian Sterling gave Claire Bennett and Zane an indifferent glance, his brows knitting slightly. His chilly gaze fell on the two of them.

What little secret did Claire Bennett and Zane have that he wasn't allowed to know?

Julian Sterling calmly picked some food for Claire Bennett. "Claire, eat more."

Claire Bennett quickly put down her phone and said, "Okay, stop putting food on my plate. You should eat some too."

Zane had been happily chatting with Claire Bennett, but he hadn't expected Julian Sterling to cut in halfway. Claire Bennett had already stopped replying to his messages.

His face turned livid with anger, and he bit viciously into the pan-seared fish steak in his mouth as though he were treating it as Julian Sterling.

Although this so-called imperial set meal was extremely expensive, Claire Bennett thought it tasted very good, so it was still worth the price.

When it was time to pay after they had eaten and drunk their fill, Claire Bennett painfully took out her wallet to pay the bill.

It was finally the crucial moment!

Zane quickly reached out to stop Claire Bennett. "Claire, we agreed your husband would treat us to dinner, so of course he has to pay. You can't help him with it."