Chapter 262: Chapter 262

Anna Thornton has always been decisive.

There were so many people in the meeting yesterday who couldn’t reach a conclusion, yet she spontaneously decided on the next film in the morning.

In the morning, she signed the contract, and in the afternoon, she bought train tickets with Mary to return to Veridia.

Just like when Anna Thornton decided to film Quinn Locke’s movie merely by reading the script he sent.

She even went as far as funding it herself to ensure the movie’s quick and successful completion.

No one else but Anna Thornton has such courage.

Who else dared to invest a mere ten million in an unknown, socially anxious director, who seemed perpetually unlucky?

Of course, in the end, it proved Anna Thornton’s insight and brought her hundreds of times in return.

So on this matter, Mary had no objections to following her lead.

"Anna, is Veridia your hometown?"

Mary had worked with Anna Thornton for so long but rarely inquired about her past. Get full chapters from novel⟡fire.net

Today, accompanying Anna Thornton back, it was Mary’s first time setting foot in Veridia.

Although Veridia is only a two-hour drive from Aethelgard, there is a significant cultural difference. Compared to the fast-paced life in Aethelgard, Mary felt a notable slowdown upon entering Veridia. Fewer skyscrapers and more greenery, it was indeed suitable for filming.

There’s a film base here, but after getting off the train, Anna Thornton had no intention of checking it out. Instead, she headed straight to the city’s central mall with Mary.

In a children’s clothing store at the mall, Mary and Anna Thornton were overwhelmed by the choices.

"Kids’ clothes nowadays are made to be as exquisite as possible," Anna Thornton overheard a customer in the store sigh.

"Anna, didn’t you promise to bring Little Pop a gift after finishing this film?" Mary asked her.

Anna Thornton came back to her hometown to film, but Pop had to attend kindergarten, so she couldn’t bring her daughter along.

Fortunately, the responsibility of taking care of Pop was not solely on Anna Thornton anymore.

Leaving her precious sweetheart with Conrad Sterling, that annoying dad, for two months was something Anna Thornton found difficult to part with.

Bringing gifts back as a compensation was a given, though it was still early for that.

Anna Thornton’s primary purpose today was to check out the current children’s clothing market in Veridia.

In fact, the Thornton Family’s company originally started in children’s clothing.

When Anna Thornton last returned to Veridia, Holly Sutton agreed to let her back into the company and even offered her a production line, which also focused on children’s clothing.

Logically, the Thornton brand should be prominent in the Veridia market, but after browsing for half a day, Anna Thornton didn’t find her brand.

Compared to her, Mary lost all rationality in the colorful children’s clothing world. In just ten minutes, she was already holding small dresses, pink ones, white ones, purple ones... She could already imagine how adorable Little Pop would look in those dresses.

Seeing that Anna Thornton hadn’t picked out anything, the store assistant proactively approached and asked, "Is there a particular style you like? Do you have a preferred brand for baby clothes?"

"Is this mall the one with the most comprehensive children’s clothing brands?" Anna Thornton asked her.

"Yes, we have a source for almost all the excellent children’s clothing brands, both domestic and international, that you can name."

"But I didn’t see the brand I was looking for after walking around for a long time."

"Miss, which brand do you like?"

"’Cute Lord’, do you have this children’s brand available?"

"Uh... We used to have this brand in our store, but I don’t recommend you buy it."

"Because the quality of this brand has problems. We received many customer complaints after selling it for a period. Although it has a good local reputation in Veridia, when we sent it for quality inspection, it failed, so we stopped cooperating with them. I advise you to choose another brand; after all, these clothes are for babies, and safety is the priority, don’t you agree?"

"That makes sense." Anna Thornton nodded.

Anna Thornton knew all along that when Holly Sutton last agreed to let her return to the company and offered her this brand and production line, it was not out of good intentions.

As expected, ’Cute Lord’ had a terrible reputation, and Holly Sutton passed this mess on to Anna Thornton.

Upon investigation, this isn’t the first time Holly Sutton has pulled such a stunt.

After taking over the Thornton Family’s company, she wasn’t sincere about doing business; she was after quick money.

She often cut corners on materials for children’s products, leading to quality inspection failures.

When discovered and flooded with complaints, she would abandon the brand and create a new one.

In the long run, it would ruin the reputation of the entire Thornton Group.

Besides, children have weaker immunties, and parents generally pay extra attention to what their kids eat and use.

How unscrupulous must Holly Sutton be to take shortcuts with clothing children wear daily?

"By the way, do you have clothes from ’Little Seagull’?" Anna Thornton asked the store clerk again.

"Yes! ’Little Seagull’ has been very popular recently, and many parents have inquired about it. We’ve been selling it since the beginning of the year, and sales have been consistently good."

The store clerk led them to another section, a brand specializing in boys’ clothing.

Before returning to Veridia, Anna Thornton had already heard from Uncle Douglas that this brand might have connections to Holly Sutton.

However, it was not under the Thornton Family’s company name.

It seemed Holly Sutton wasn’t content with bearing the Thornton’s brand name forever; she wanted to earn more and promote her own brand before completely ruining Thornton’s reputation.

Anna Thornton looked at the clothes and felt the material, realizing they weren’t great, just the same subpar quality in a different package.

The only redeeming feature was its decent style. It was hard to understand why it had suddenly become popular recently.

She didn’t understand, but Mary seemed to have figured out the reason.

Mary, whose hands were already full of dresses to send back to Little Pop, poked Anna Thornton with her free hand, pointing to the young boy in the promotional poster for the brand.

"Anna, look, doesn’t the endorser for ’Little Seagull’ look familiar? Is it the same Lola who shot the shampoo commercial with you?"

Upon hearing this, Anna Thornton looked in the direction Mary was pointing: "It really is Lola!"

From the photo, Lola still retained his cool demeanor, without any extra expression in front of the camera.

But the photographer was skilled at candid shots, capturing the little one looking adorable and particularly cute.

It truly makes one want to buy the products!

Anna Thornton suddenly remembered that she had also worked as a child model for a while as a child.

She did it purely for fun, modeling for her family’s brand and having endless pretty dresses to wear.

However, she didn’t last more than a few days, complaining it was too tiring and gave up.

Dad Thornton treated her like a gem, of course, letting her do as she pleased.

But it wasn’t the same for Lola. Although Anna Thornton hadn’t spent much time with him, she could tell from the filming set that the child was very camera-shy and clearly disliked being photographed.

One is voluntary, the other is a child being used by parents for money at such a young age; there’s a fundamental difference between the two.

And given the known quality of the children’s clothes produced by Holly Sutton, concerns are justified.

Anna Thornton was genuinely worried that prolonged wear of such clothes could harm the child’s health.