Chapter 24
Ophelia glanced at Della's confused expression and picked up a pen from the desk to jot something down on paper.
"When I was visiting clients before, I got to know the owner of an organic farm on the outskirts of town. Their vegetables and fruits are all freshly picked and delivered, healthy and fresh."
"Plus, the farm has its own team of chefs, and their food is really delicious, way better than those assembly-line dishes from hotels."
She knew that nowadays clients had seen all kinds of fancy food, and were actually more interested in this kind of natural, organic stuff.
"But what about the venue setup? The rooftop garden is completely bare - we can't just have guests standing around eating, can we?" Della was still worried and pressed for more details.
Ophelia smiled and pulled up an image on her computer. "Look at this - we'll use rattan tables and chairs, hang some warm yellow string lights, and put some potted plants around."
"The farm has lots of unused bamboo baskets and hay that we can use as decorations. It'll save money and look classy - way more original than those cookie-cutter hotel setups."
Della leaned over to look, her eyes lighting up. "That actually sounds doable! But what about the string lights and plants - is there enough budget for those?"
"Whether it's enough depends on how you spend it." Ophelia opened a shopping app. "Look at these solar-powered string lights - they're really cheap wholesale online, and the rooftop gets good sunlight, so we won't need to wire them up."
"For the plants, we'll go to the flower market and pick ones that are about to wilt. The sellers are desperate to get rid of them, so we can bargain them down to rock bottom prices. Trim them up a bit, and they'll still look great."
She was calculating in her head - all these things together wouldn't cost much, and she could keep the rest of the budget for emergencies.
As they were talking, Freya walked over in her high heels and glanced at the computer screen.
"Is Ms. Blake working on the anniversary setup?" Her tone was sarcastic. "With a hundred thousand dollar budget, you still want to be creative? I bet it'll end up looking like a casual get-together at best."
Ophelia didn't look up and continued briefing Della. "Go to the farm this afternoon, talk to the owner about the menu and delivery time, and tell him I sent you - he'll give you a discount."
Freya got even more annoyed seeing her being ignored, and reached out to touch the mouse. "I'm telling you, don't waste your effort. With a hundred thousand dollars for an anniversary event, won't you just embarrass the Smith family?"
Ophelia raised her hand to block hers, her eyes turning cold. "Ms. Stewart, if you don't have anything to do, go work on your own stuff instead of wasting our time here."
"I'm just trying to give you friendly advice." Freya pulled back her hand with a cold laugh. "When you mess this up, Ms. Smith won't let you off, and Mr. Nelson won't be able to protect you either."
"That's none of your concern." Ophelia stood up, half a head taller than Freya, her presence instantly overpowering her. "Whether I can pull this off or not, we'll see from the results. That's better than some people who just stand around being negative."
Freya was left speechless. Looking at Ophelia's confident demeanor, she felt inexplicably anxious.
She had a feeling Ophelia might actually pull this off, but she didn't want to believe it. She could only leave with a "just you wait" and walked away looking defeated.
After Freya left, Della breathed a sigh of relief. "Ophelia, she's too much, clearly waiting to see you fail."
"You get used to it." Ophelia sat back down and rubbed her temples. "The more she wants to see me fail, the better I need to make this event, to prove her wrong."
She actually wasn't completely confident either, but at this point, she had no choice but to push forward.
That afternoon, Della came back from the farm with good news. "Ophelia, when the farm owner heard I was sent by you, he gave us a 20% discount right away, and said he could throw in a few extra dishes and guarantee generous portions."
"That's great." A weight lifted from Ophelia's heart. "What about the venue? How did it go with property management?"
"Property management said we can use the rooftop garden, but we need to clean it ourselves and can't damage any existing facilities," Della said. "The cleaning fee will be about three thousand dollars."
"No problem, we'll take that from the budget." Ophelia nodded. "Also, contact a renovation company and have them send a few people over to help set up a simple stage - nothing fancy, just needs to be big enough for people to stand and speak."
"Got it." Della agreed and went out to handle it.
Ophelia had just wanted to take a breather when her phone rang - it was William calling.
"Hello, Mr. Brown." She answered, her voice somewhat tired.
"I heard you took on the Smith family anniversary planning?" William's voice came through the phone with a hint of concern. "Is the budget really tight?"
Ophelia paused. "How did you know?"
"I have friends at the Smith Group, just asked casually." William chuckled. "Need any help? I know some good suppliers who can give you discounts."
"No need, but thank you, Mr. Brown." Ophelia politely declined. "I've pretty much solved the problems on my end, don't want to trouble you."
She didn't want to owe William too many favors, especially at a time like this, to avoid gossip.
"You really don't need help?" William pressed. "The anniversary is a big deal - if it doesn't go well, it'll really affect your position at the Smith Group."
"I know." Ophelia's tone was firm. "But I want to handle this on my own, so people won't talk."
William was silent for a few seconds, his tone carrying a hint of admiration. "Alright, I support you. If you run into any problems you can't solve, call me anytime."
"Okay, thank you, Mr. Brown." Ophelia hung up, feeling warm inside.
Although she had declined William's help, having someone willing to offer support at this time still moved her.
Over the next few days, Ophelia worked almost non-stop. During the day, she handled various matters at the Smith Group, and at night, she went to the rooftop garden to supervise the cleaning and setup progress.
The rooftop garden hadn't been used in a long time and was covered in dust and weeds everywhere, making it especially difficult to clean.
Ophelia didn't just stand around either - she worked alongside the workers, moving tables and chairs, hanging string lights, arranging plants, working up a sweat.
Seeing how tired she looked, Della couldn't help saying, "Ophelia, take a break, let us handle this work."
"It's fine, many hands make light work." Ophelia wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled. "The sooner we finish the setup, the sooner I can relax."
She knew this anniversary event was crucial for her - it had to succeed; failure wasn't an option.
Around 10 PM, the rooftop garden setup finally started to take shape.
Warm yellow string lights hung throughout the garden, twinkling like stars. Rattan tables and chairs were neatly arranged, surrounded by various plants and flowers, with a faint floral scent in the air.
Standing on the rooftop looking down, the entire city's night view was visible, brilliantly lit and especially beautiful.
"Ophelia, it's gorgeous!" Della couldn't help exclaiming. "It's way better than I imagined - you'd never guess we only spent this much money."
Looking at her handiwork, Ophelia also breathed a sigh of relief, a long-absent smile appearing on her face. "Not bad. We'll fine-tune the details tomorrow, and it should be perfect."