Chapter 2 Hooked Up With Mr. Shen
Although he could sense the provocation in Norman''s tone, James was still indifferent as he
answered, "Then, Mr. Shen, congrattions in advance!"
From afar, the two men could look as either friends or foes. It would be hard for an outsider to
distinguish.
As Norman heard James'' response, he smiled without saying anything.
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Since they didn''t have much inmon, they promptly separated in order to socialize with other
guests.
As soon as Alina dragged Maria to a corner, she loosened the grip on her wrist. With a cold look in
her eyes, she stared at Maria and asked, "Why did youe back to H City?"
Maria rubbed her aching wrist and exined, "I didn''t n to, Alina. It was Mr. Shen who asked me
to apany him to the party. I couldn''t refuse him, so I came."
''Humph! How could I note back? I would be a murderess for the rest of my life if I stayed away
forever,'' Maria thought to herself, concealing her true feelings. Her sudden return to H City seemed
unexpected to a lot of people. At the moment, Maria wanted to get Alina''s guard down so that she
could deal with herter.
Despite the softness in Maria''s voice when answering the question, her timidity was long gone.
Alina failed to notice this as her only focus was on finding out why Maria had returned so abruptly.
"You used to be mute. When did you recover?" Alina asked.
With a smile, Maria replied, "Right. I happened to meet a doctor who was able to cure me. Alina,
don''t you think I was lucky?"
After a few years without seeing each other, Maria looked even more gentle and delicate, far from
the bold look suggested by her morous dress and makeup.
"James and I are about to get engaged soon. I advise you to forget what happened between you
two in the past, or I''ll make you disappear from H City for good." Maria could hear the obvious threat
in Alina''s voice.
''They''re about to get engaged...'' From an angle that Alina couldn''t notice, Maria sank her freshly
manicured nails into her palms, but her face remained unaffected. "Alina, please don''t worry. I
divorced Mr. Xi a long time ago. I don''t hold on to any fantasy about him anymore. If there''s nothing
for me to do in H City in the next few days, I''ll leave soon." Alina nodded with satisfaction. "Good. At
least you''re still wise to know your ce. Now, if you''re done here, just leave. You''re not wee to
my birthday party!"
"Okay! I''m leaving right now," Maria answered without any hesitation.
The next moment, several youngdies from high society came out of nowhere and surrounded
Maria. A woman approached her contemptuously. "Oh, Maria Song! How did you manage to hook
up with Mr. Shen?"
"In my opinion, Mr. Shen is dating her just for fun. How could a gorgeous man like him take a fancy
to someone else''s ex-wife?"
"You are absolutely right! Maria, what''s the use of a murderess like you dressing up so nicely?" This
time, a woman in a blue evening dress walked over to Maria and pinched her chin, raising it to look
into her eyes. "I advise you to stay away from Mr. Xi and Mr. Shen from now on. You bitch don''t
deserve to even dream about men like them!"
As soon as their eyes met, Maria recognized the woman in front of her. She was Ste Qin, Alina''s
confidant and the youngest daughter of the Qin family''s head.
Maria didn''t say a word while she listened to their insults.
Realizing that Maria wouldn''t respond, Ste Qin took two steps closer and provoked her further.
"You know that Mr. Shen and Mr. Xi are sworn enemies. Yet you still dare to shamelessly hook up
with Mr. Shen. You''re doing this to attract Mr. Xi''s attention, aren''t you?"
Ste Qin looked at the other woman, and her jealousy got the best of her as she raised a hand to
p Maria in the face. "Bitch! You like to pretend you''re this poor thing, but I''ll show you... Ouch!"
Maria grabbed Ste Qin''s hand still in motion and knocked her head against the wall, neither
heavily nor lightly. Therefore, the expected p sound never came, and it got reced by Ste
Qin''s cry of pain.
Several people, including Alina, looked at the scene stunned. Alina couldn''t believe that it was Maria
who did this.
After Ste Qin''s head hit the wall with a bang, she was in so much pain that it took her a long time
toe to herself again.
Taking advantage of Ste Qin''s helplessness, Maria pressed an arm against her neck andughed
hard. "Ady should never resort to force, but to reason. Miss Qin, when you wanted to p me just
now in front of all these people, was your intention to show them how rude you truly are?"
Maria didn''t want to waste too much time or energy on Ste Qin. She was just a harmless fish in a
pond, not her real target. But despite her willingness to bear anything others had to say about her,
she wouldn''t allow being touched.
Alina was the first toe to her senses. Relying on her position as both Maria''s cousin and
James'' fiancee-to-be, she scolded Maria in a low voice, "Let go of Ste!"
At the sound of her voice, Maria sneered in her heart. She was doing this to as a warning to Alina.
And now, she wouldn''t let go of Ste the second Alina asked her to. So, without releasing her
immediately, she warned Ste Qin with a nk face, "This is thest time you try to touch me!"
Alina''s face darkened as she realized Maria had ignored her. This time she had gone too far! "Let
go of Ste now!" insisted Alina.
At that moment, Ste Qin had recoveredpletely from her shock. The throbbing pain on her
head, however, only got her more furious. As she was still pressed against the wall, she struggled to
free herself but failed. "Maria, let go of me at once, or I''ll make you suffer!" she yelled.
Listening to her bark, Maria let go of her and patted the dust off her hands as if she had just
touched something filthy. "I would like to see you try!"
The moment she saw herself free, Ste Qin rushed to stand behind Alina. Covering her bruised
forehead with her hand, she said, "Alina, look what she did to me. It''s your birthday party, but she
came only to cause trouble. Let the security throw her out right away!"
Maria smoothed her neat hair and told them, "Don''t bother. I''m leaving now!"
The only reason she had shown up to the party was to let people know that Maria Song was back in
H City, and better than ever.
Over half of the most wealthy and powerful people in H City attended Alina''s birthday party. After all,
she was the most famous female personality in town. Obviously, Maria''s goal had already been
sessfully achieved. So for what reason would she stay any longer? She wasted no time and
walked towards the exit after that.
Noticing that she was about to leave as if nothing had happened, Ste Qin didn''t want to let her go
so easily. "Maria, stop!"
Compared to Ste Qin''s blind rage, Alina was surprisingly calm as she stopped her friend. "Ste,
calm down!" Alina knew that Maria''s return was definitely not as simple as it looked. She must be up
to something.
In fact, Alina had always thought that Maria was quite cunning. Otherwise, how could she defeat her
two sisters and marry James back then?
Alina was determined to investigate Maria''s intentions. She was going to be engaged to James
soon and didn''t want anything unexpected to happen before that. After Maria walked out of the
hotel, she got in a ck limited edition car. Taking the back seat, she took off her high heels and
leaned back with her eyes closed, deep in thought.
The tall figure in her mind was getting clearer and clearer. In the past few years, he had
be more mature and charming than he used to be.
Soon, Maria opened her eyes and shook off
those thoughts. Stretching out her hand, she
took a cigarette and a lighter from Norman''s storage box in the car. She skillfully lit the
cigarette and rolled down the window to blow out the smoke.
As the smoke curled up, the woman''s every move seemed quite elegant behind it.
In the silence, her phone rang all of a sudden. It was a call from Norman.