Chapter 283 Rowing Competition
Chapter 283 Rowing Competition
Charles nodded, his face full of anticipation.
"Of course, Ms. Collins. If you can help us attract more visitors online, that would be amazing.
Maybe Royal Peaks Manor could become popular again, and then I'll give you a year-end bonus."
Sophie patted Charles on the shoulder, her face beaming with a bright smile.
"Great, great! Then it's a deal, Charles! Don't worry, leave it to me!"
"Okay, then it's settled!"
Charles replied, rubbing his hands together, somewhat impatient.
"I'll go check things out by myself first. You guys go rest.
After I'm done playing around, we'll have dinner together.
By the way, they do serve dinner here, right?"
Dylan pouted, looking indignant.
"Ms. Collins, who are you looking down on?
Of course there's dinner here, and it's a buffet dinner. Plus, there's an outdoor barbecue at night with fresh ingredients.
Not only that, if we go through that dead wood archway over there and walk a bit further out, there's a lake that belongs exclusively to Royal Peaks Manor.
You can even fish in the lake yourself.
There's a type of boneless fish here that's really famous, and the meat is so tender and delicious, it melts in your mouth."
"Really? Now you've got me even more interested in checking it out."
Sophie's eyes lit up. She turned to look at Isabella, her tone full of encouragement.
"Bunny, why don't you skip the rest too, and let's all go through the haunted house area to the lake? We probably won't have time for the haunted house today anyway.
We can take a walk by the lake. We've been sitting in the car for so long—we could lie down there, sunbathe, and feel the lake breeze. What do you think?"
Isabella hadn't really wanted to rest anyway. She glanced at Sophie, then at Melinda, Charles, and Dylan.
Sophie's eyes were sparkling with excitement, Melinda looked curious, and Charles and Dylan were clearly eager to go.
Obviously, their eyes were all gleaming with the desire to have fun.
Isabella helplessly pressed her hand to her forehead and said,
"Alright then, let's go upstairs to drop off our luggage first, and then I'll go check it out with you guys."
Seeing that the group didn't want to rest and wanted to head straight to the lake, Zola opened her mouth to stop them, but her voice was quiet, as if stuck in her throat.
Seeing everyone chatting and laughing without noticing her voice, she swallowed her words back, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, a trace of worry flashing in her eyes.
She looked up at the clock hanging at the hotel reception—it was an old-fashioned wall clock, its hands moving continuously, showing it was already four in the afternoon.
She figured they probably hadn't brought any barbecue equipment with them, so they'd likely just play by the lake for a bit and wouldn't be there too long.
So she didn't remind them, just silently watched their backs until they disappeared at the stairway.
After Isabella and the others dropped off their luggage, they came back downstairs together.
They walked straight through the looping horror corridor. The corridor walls were hung with some old photographs.
The people in the photos wore clothes from decades ago, their smiles eerie,
as if staring at everyone who passed by. The corridor's lighting was dim, with gusts of cold wind that made people's hair stand on end.
Charles and Dylan were so scared they hunched their necks and followed closely behind Isabella, not even daring to breathe loudly.
After passing through the corridor, they arrived directly at the lake behind Royal Peaks Manor.
"This place is beautiful!"
Melinda was the first to run out. She spread her arms and spun around on the lawn, her skirt flying. She took a deep breath, her face full of delight, and said,
"It's so beautiful here. The air smells like grass and lake water. If we held a lawn wedding here, it would be so romantic."
The lawn was lush and green,
like a huge gemstone. It felt soft and springy underfoot,
very comfortable.
Some wildflowers of unknown species grew by the lake, colorful and blooming brilliantly.
The lake water was crystal clear and sparkling. The distant mountains were reflected in the water, like a beautiful landscape painting.
Sophie walked around the edge of the lawn with steady steps.
From time to time, she bent down to feel the height of the grass, measured it, and said,
"This lawn is very flat and very fertile.
Look how well the grass grows here. The key is that the grass here is all about the same height,
which means someone maintains it regularly.
Strange, I see you have very few staff here.
How can one person manage to take care of everything here?"
Sophie muttered to herself, her brow slightly furrowed, clearly having noticed something odd.
Charles and Dylan were just high school students who had recently started college.
They actually didn't know much about business, so hearing Sophie's words, they just scratched their heads, looking confused.
And Isabella had never done business at all, so she didn't pay much attention to these details either.
So among this group, Sophie was the only one with business sense.
Seeing no one respond, Sophie didn't push it. She shrugged and followed everyone toward the lake.
By the lake, two or three small wooden boats were floating and bobbing. The hulls were somewhat worn, with oars placed on them, the oars covered in moss.
Unfortunately, the lake surface was bare, with no plants growing on it, not even a lotus flower, making it look somewhat plain.
Plus, the sun had just set, and golden twilight was spilling across the lake surface.
Although it looked nice, if you stayed in an uncovered boat in the middle of the lake, you'd actually get a bit of a headache from the sun.
Thinking of this, Melinda and Isabella didn't suggest going on the boats. They just stood by the lake, admiring the scenery before them.
But Charles and Dylan were in a playful mood. Each jumped onto a boat, the hulls rocking and creating ripples.
They waved at the three girls and said,
"Come sit with me, I'll take you to the middle of the lake!
This lake is really interesting. Although there's no cover on the lake surface,
when you get to the other end in the middle of the lake,
the mountain shadows there block the overhead sunlight, so it's not sunny at all.
When the breeze blows over, it's so comfortable,
you could even sleep on the boat."
Dylan also waved at Melinda, his face full of anticipation.
"Melinda, get on my boat! I'm really good at rowing!"
Although Melinda looked like a delicate socialite, she actually had a very outgoing and bold personality. She agreed without hesitation.
She held onto the side of the boat with both hands and carefully jumped on, waving at Dylan.
"Give me the other oar. Let's row together and get to the middle of the lake faster!
How about we have a race? Let's see who can row to the other side first!"
Melinda suddenly turned to Charles and said, her tone full of excitement.
Charles nodded and vigorously waved the oar in his hand.
He waved frantically at Isabella.
"Cousin, hurry up and get on! We're about to race!"