Chapter 301 Jealousy, Picking a Fight

Chapter 301 Jealousy, Picking a Fight

"Calista, look! I can't believe they actually showed up!"

Zoey pointed at Emily and Kaia, speaking to Calista with righteous indignation.

The reason she noticed Emily was because the people she'd just been talking to suddenly all looked toward the entrance with amazed expressions on their faces.

Zoey frowned, curious, and followed their gazes to the entrance, immediately spotting the two of them.

At first, she hadn't thought much of everyone looking toward the entrance with such amazement, but now she was suddenly burning with anger.

Even the people nearby noticed and automatically distanced themselves from her.

Zoey, realizing this belatedly, managed to control her expression, but she couldn't be bothered to explain nicely to these people. She hurried off to find Calista.

When Calista noticed the two of them, her face also darkened.

"Don't forget why you're here today. If you want to win Daniel's affection, just having family background isn't enough—you've seen that clearly. Even if you eventually get the chance to marry into the Smith family, without ability, the Smith family won't see your value, and there's no way you'll get a piece of the Smith family business. Don't put the cart before the horse. As for Emily, I'll test the waters for you first."

Calista herself was extremely disgusted with Emily, always feeling that everything had gone wrong since running into her. So this time, she wanted to take action herself.

Of course, what she said was also quite rational.

Zoey lowered her head obediently. "Calista, you're right. I understand what to do now."

"Good, go ahead!"

Calista nodded with satisfaction and waved her hand, signaling her to go mingle on her own.

Her tone naturally carried a sense of superiority.

How could Zoey not feel it? Back in Silverlight City, most people usually tried to please her, but now that she was here, she had to bow her head. It was impossible not to feel the difference.

But she also knew she couldn't afford to offend Calista, so she had to endure it.

Zoey left.

Calista slowly walked over to a few girls nearby, wine glass in hand.

These girls had a decent relationship with her.

Plus, with her good family background and Axel Stevens as her fiancé, they all showed her some deference. Seeing her approach, they all greeted her warmly with smiles.

"Who's that? She's really beautiful. How come I've never seen her before?"

As Calista chatted with them, she casually glanced in Emily and Kaia's direction and asked with apparent surprise.

Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing and all shook their heads, looking unfamiliar.

Someone couldn't help but speak up. "I've never seen her in our circle before either. She really is beautiful—when she came in just now, almost everyone couldn't help but look at her. Logically, if she were this beautiful and in our circle, we'd know about it. Could she be from somewhere else, trying to climb up the social ladder?"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh with disdain.

Someone nearby wasn't as malicious and said instead, "Probably not, right? Her outfit doesn't have that tacky social-climbing vibe, and the dress she's wearing is a limited edition—it can't be fake, can it?"

"We're so far away, who knows if it's a knockoff."

Someone else laughed lightly, their words quite dismissive. "Anyway, it's not like we haven't seen this type before."

Quite a few people nodded in agreement.

There were one or two dissenting voices though. "But she seems to have come with Kaia. She wouldn't bring in someone vain and superficial like that."

This wasn't what Calista wanted to hear.

Calista cleared her throat lightly and said with a smile, "Since everyone's curious, why don't we go take a closer look? If she really does have ulterior motives, our elders are here too—we can have her thrown out to prevent anyone from being schemed against."

Some of the smarter ones had already vaguely figured out that Calista knew Emily and even had hostility toward her.

However, they weren't about to offend Calista for someone they didn't know. Staying quiet and keeping their distance was the best option.

In the end, those who remained were either people who genuinely disliked Emily or those who wanted to curry favor with Calista.

Emily occasionally noticed hostile glances, but she'd long grown used to such things, so it didn't affect her at all.

Just then, Kaia spotted some acquaintances and wanted to go say hello. Emily didn't follow along and instead thought she'd find a quiet corner to eat something and rest.

Just as she'd taken a bite of a pastry and was slightly closing her eyes at the good taste—

This enjoyable moment was her finally starting to forget the pain of her past life, finally beginning to enjoy life.

But in Calista and her friends' eyes, it looked like she'd never seen anything good before.

"Hey, you, how did you sneak in here? Have you never had such delicious pastries before?"

The first to speak was a girl in a red dress. She was one of Calista's followers, so she especially liked charging into battle for Calista.

Her opening words toward another girl were full of malice.

This made Emily look up at her with a cold gaze.

From the corner of her eye, she also quickly glanced at everyone who had gathered around.

Among them was Calista.

Seeing her appear, Emily understood why she was being targeted.

Emily swallowed the pastry in her mouth, put down the rest, and only then looked at the speaker with neither servility nor arrogance. "Are you this arrogant and full of malice toward every stranger? What excellent manners you have!"

"You! Isn't it true though? It's just a pastry, and you act like you've never had one before. Plus, I've never seen you in Emerald City's upper circle before. Who knows where you came from? Do you even have an invitation? You just waltzed in here. If you know what's good for you, leave this kind of place right now, and stop thinking about latching onto someone rich and powerful."

Emily couldn't help but laugh.

The other person frowned. "What are you laughing at?"

Emily didn't hide it. "What do you think? I shouldn't have any grudge against you from before, so you wouldn't come after me for no reason. Most likely someone put you up to this. Have you considered the possibility that someone sold you out and you're still helping them count the money?

Of course, if that's not the case, then I can only say that whatever thoughts you have yourself make you see everyone this way. We're both girls—why so much malice!"

Emily didn't want to cause too much of a scene at this kind of event. Not that she was really afraid, but she found it troublesome, plus she'd come with Kaia today.

"You really are from who knows where, daring to talk to us like this. You're the one with no manners! Tell us, what's your name? How exactly did you sneak in here? Show us your invitation!"

Having been called out by Emily, the other person was somewhat embarrassed, her face even contorting. She fired off several questions in succession.

Only then did Calista take the opportunity to speak. "That's right. Since you speak so righteously, you must have confidence. If my friend has misunderstood you, as long as you can prove your innocence, I'll have my friend apologize to you later.

So, can you produce evidence to prove you didn't sneak in? Where's your invitation?"

She'd just called the security at the entrance and learned that Emily had come in with Kaia. Kaia had an invitation; Emily was just tagging along.

This was the basis of Calista's confidence in saying this.

Emily indeed didn't have an invitation.

Meeting Calista's confident gaze, she knew that Calista obviously knew this too.

Getting an invitation wouldn't actually be that difficult for Emily.

Not to mention anything else, she could just ask Daniel. He could probably get an invitation with one phone call.

However, Daniel wasn't here right now—most likely he was in some private room discussing business with someone. She didn't want to disturb or trouble him.

Then there was Aaron, or Otto—one was her most trusted business partner, the other wanted to acknowledge her as his daughter.

Emily's thoughts turned briefly, and she'd already decided on her first choice.