Chapter 129: Sand Cake
Julie wore a hastily put-together black evening dress. As soon as we met, she asked me first, "Does this look okay?"
The black slip dress was a bit thin for this season. Even though she had a light gray fur coat over it, she still looked cold.
Julie had a great figure—long limbs, smooth shoulder lines, and especially her collarbones, delicate and slender. Unfortunately, she only wore a very ordinary necklace, not eye-catching enough.
But thinking about the occasion ahead, being too eye-catching wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"It looks great, don't worry." I smiled to reassure her. "Just relax."
Julie fastened her seatbelt, took a deep breath, and said, "That woman Lisa deliberately told me the wrong time—is she trying to embarrass me? Or is she targeting Gale? Now that I think about it, I don't even have an invitation. Should I even go?"
She tried to suppress her anxiety, but I could still hear it.
"Of course you should go. You know what? I bet someone will hand you an invitation later, pretending they forgot and asking you not to blame them." I helped fix her hair and said gently, "This is your first time attending a party representing Gale. They want to intimidate you, exclude you. These are just cheap tricks. Just think of them as particularly difficult customers."
Julie thought about the various difficult customers she'd dealt with and gradually relaxed. "When you put it that way, I feel less nervous."
Just then, I got a call from Jacqueline asking when I'd arrive at the party.
I asked her back, "How did you know I was going?"
Jacqueline sounded confused. "Aren't you coming?"
"You're already there?"
"I'm at the entrance, waiting for you so we can go in together," Jacqueline said.
"I won't be there for another hour and a half—I only got the invitation this morning. When did you get yours?" I asked.
"Four days ago." She hesitated. "Should I still wait for you?"
"Go ahead in. I'm definitely going to be late, no need to drag you into getting mocked too."
Jacqueline reluctantly agreed, "Okay then."
After hanging up, I explained to Julie, "Normally people get invitations several days in advance. Mine was deliberately delivered only this morning to make me late or miss it entirely."
Julie's eyes filled with concern. I patted the back of her hand. "Don't worry. They want to see us embarrassed, but we're not going to give them that satisfaction!"
Over an hour later, we arrived at Crown Hill Estates. We were indeed late.
Karen's family status was too low to receive an invitation. Jacqueline had already gone in but had been lingering near the entrance. As soon as she saw me, she rushed over. "Thank goodness, you're finally here!"
She and Julie looked at each other curiously. As I introduced them, I suddenly remembered something from the past.
Back when Jacqueline was staying at my house, we attended a party at the Thornfield family's together.
Someone had offered us an elaborately decorated cake. Unexpectedly, the cake was filled with sand and small stones. Jacqueline bit into it without any warning. She was in the middle of losing her baby teeth, and one of her front teeth fell out.
The pranksters laughed hysterically. Jacqueline had eaten sand, lost a tooth, and though she couldn't understand what they were saying, she knew they were mocking her. She cried in distress and had nightmares for several days afterward.
I figured she probably had psychological scars from that, which explained why she was so anxious now.
Walking into the banquet hall, it was filled with elegantly dressed women, each one polished and dripping with jewelry.
A few light laughs rang out first, like a signal.
"Isabella, why did you come dressed so shabby? If you don't have nice clothes, I can lend you some."
"I heard the Sorelli family has fallen, but I also heard Platinum Haven Hotel makes good money. Was that just a false rumor?"
"You're actually wearing a business suit—are you here to sell hotel services?"
The blatant mockery grew sharper, with waves of laughter joining in.
A woman in a red dress standing next to Angelina covered her mouth and said, "So this is the one who has Lucas so infatuated that he broke with his family for her? She doesn't look like much. She's not as good as you."
Angelina's gaze swept over me, but she said nothing.
Though I was dressed like an office worker, my face wasn't ugly. These people were laughing at me purely to humiliate me.
Julie clenched her fists, wanting to argue with them. I stopped her in time. "Their mouths are their own. Let them say what they want."
Julie held back her impulse and asked me, "Aren't you angry?"
"Nothing to be angry about," I said, glancing at the crowd dismissively. "Just a pack of barking dogs."
Those close enough to hear me all looked displeased.
"Alright, all this noise is really unseemly." Diana, in the seat of honor, lazily diffused the tension. "Isabella is half the lady of Starstream City. Welcome her, but don't be too enthusiastic about it."
What was clearly mockery became a warm welcome in her mouth. I couldn't help but sneer.
The last time I saw Diana was at the auction on Elysara Isle. We didn't interact much, but I later heard she'd been scolded for failing to buy Roger and missing the chance to build a good relationship with me.
So the look she gave me didn't hide her displeasure.
"You all talk too much. Isabella can wear whatever she wants. I'm not going to fuss over that. Isabella, come here, let's sit and talk."
Diana had a voluptuous figure and stunning looks. Nearly forty but well-maintained, her wine-red waves were loosely pinned up with a few strands falling along her neck. She wore a dazzling amethyst necklace with matching large earrings.
The jewelry's brilliance highlighted the nobility and flamboyance in her features, even the fine lines at her eyes conveyed arrogance.
She seemed warm and welcoming, but without a shred of sincerity. "Why are you so late? One of these two is Jacqueline, from the Rivera family—I recognize her. And the other is?"
"I'm Julie Orlando, Gale's girlfriend." Julie introduced herself with dignity.
Diana wasn't very interested in Julie. She nodded and offered us hospitality. "Have something to eat."
Immediately, a server brought over a plate of sweet-smelling sandwich cookies. Jacqueline pressed her lips together, looking somewhat resistant.
"You're not eating? Are you trying to refuse?" The woman in the red dress held the plate right in front of us, her attitude forceful, as if she wanted to feed us directly.
Jacqueline picked up a cookie, her face growing paler.
Julie frowned slightly. Even without knowing about the sand cake incident, she sensed something unusual in the atmosphere.
"How could I dare refuse Diana's kindness?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking relaxed as I picked up a cookie and took a bite.
A bitter, fishy taste immediately filled my mouth. My teeth ground against sand, the rough, gritty sensation uncomfortable. I quickly spat everything in my mouth onto the plate.
The woman in the red dress was still holding the tray, her face livid. "How dare you!"
I spat a few more times.
Jacqueline's eyes lit up. She also took a small bite of the cookie and immediately spat it out forcefully.