Chapter 25 Gloating
Colby exined, "Fosun Entertainment has been growing by leaps and bounds. They''ve expanded
into real estate, finance, and hospitality. If you think about it, it makes sense. Why would you not
want venues that carry your own movies or concerts? Forays into finance would yield returns that
fund these venues. And you''d want hotels that cater to your own stars, right?"
While the men were talking about business, Maria only focused on food. She wanted the crab, but
the legs were served uncut. She had to keep an elegant image in front of all the businessmen.
Besides, her nails were just manicured, so it was inconvenient at best to dine on crab without help.
She couldn''t help butin inwardly about the service here. Why didn''t they score or split the
crab legs? And at a dinner party? Right away, she decided to cklist this restaurant.
N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.
Noticing her gaze, Summer understood Maria''s desire for the crab legs. She snickered.
Summer reached for the te of the crab legs, picked up a few for her own te, put on gloves,
and began to peel the crab legs. She took one part of the leg, cracked it in half, and pulled the shell
off to slide the meat out.
Watching Summer doing this, Maria rested her chin in her hand. She envied Summer so much. If
she had known this, she wouldn''t have had her nails done. That way she could enjoy crab too. Her
stomach grumbled.
A few minutester, after shelling the crab legs, Summer put them on a clean te. When no one
noticed, she passed the te to Maria.
Seeing the te, Maria was a little surprised. Then she looked at Summer.
Summer winked.
Maria understood what she meant and felt warm in her heart. She took the te and epted her
kindness, enjoying the sulent crab meat.
Both women thought they were being sly, but they didn''t know that they were being watched.
James couldn''t help wondering, "Summer and Maria haven''t seen each other for six years.
How could they still be so close?''
After finishing the crab meat, Maria was full and her feet were hurting. Her new high-heeled shoes
she bought didn''t fit well. The backs of her heels felt like they were on fire.
She looked around and no one was paying attention. She quietly kicked off one of her shoes to
rx her feet.
''Very low-ss, Maria. Some people were just born that way, I guess,'' James thought with disdain.
It didn''t escape his notice.
His eyes shed. Next, he took the wine decanter and filled his ss. Suddenly, he stood up and
raised his ss in a toast.
As soon as he got to his feet, others at the table had to stand as well. Maria was no exception.
Thanks to James, she didn''t even have time to return her shoe to her foot. It wasn''t forck of trying
—she searched under the table with her foot for a bit before finally getting to her feet.
She had no choice; she had to stand on one foot.
She only hoped that James could finish his speech quickly so that she could sit down soon.
The man of few words not only decided to propose a toast, but also talked a lot. Maria wondered if
he did that intentionally.
Two minutes had passed, but James wasn''t done.
A few minutester, when Maria was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he continued, "Join me in
raising a ss to everyone here." Everyone cheered, then took a drink. "Mr. Zheng, would you like
to share your opinions with us?"
And Colby began to propose his own toast.
No one knew how embarrassed Maria was. She had been standing on one foot for five minutes,
and there looked to be no end in sight.
When she looked over at James, that was when she saw it. The man was looking at her, obviously
gloating.
Maria was confused. What was he gloating about? Did he do it on purpose? Did he know that she
had taken off one of her shoes?
But she put it out of her mind. James couldn''t be so childish, so petty, could he?
These business tycoons yammered endlessly, each of them making their own toasts. Maria couldn''t
stand it anymore. She looked at Summer, who stood straight, a smile on her face the whole time.
She was a consummate professional.
Everyone stood there with their ss in hand. The waitress kept filling their sses with wine. Then
she went back to the door and did not notice Maria''s embarrassment at all.
Maria had no choice but to try to search for her shoe again. She nced around under the table
carefully, but didn''t find it. It was not nearby Colby''s feet.
Standing, Mr. Qin had already continued the toast. Maria bent down slightly and looked towards
James'' feet. Beside the man''s brand-new ck business leather shoes, there was a lonely high-
heeled shoe, quite familiar to her. Maria was overjoyed, but then she felt trapped. She was maybe a
half-meter from James. How could she fetch her shoe without being noticed?
If only James would be willing to kick it to her, which was extremely unlikely.
Then Maria came up with an idea. She put her watch on the edge of the table when no one was
watching, and then dropped it. She pretended it was by ident.
The watch fell to the floor,nding nearly silent on the plush rug. Colby offered to grab it for her, but
she declined. Maria looked at him apologetically and said in a low voice, "Excuse me, I dropped my
watch."
Then she bent down to pick up her watch and nned to grab her high-heel shoe on the same trip.
She managed to grab her watch, but when it came to her shoe, she saw a ck leather shoe
stepping on it.
At this moment, Maria was certain that James did this on purpose. When she looked up slowly
along the straight legs and finally met the man''s eyes, the man was also looking at her, an evil glint
in his eyes.
Maria was at a loss whether to cry or tough. So the notorious Mr. Xi really was that childish
sometimes.
Just when she was in a daze, James uttered, "I have to leave. Let''s have one final toast, and then I
bid you all adieu. See you all next time."
Hence, Maria still didn''t have time to pick up her shoe. She had to stand straight again and finish
the liquor in her ss.
After everyone finished their ss, James left and took Summer with him.
Everyone walked him to the door to see him off, which gave Maria a chance to grab her shoe.
The high-heel shoe finally returned to her foot, she breathed a sigh of relief. She half-walked, half-
jogged, following the crowd to see James off.
''You son of a bitch! You stepped on my shoe on purpose, and I have to pretend nothing happened, ''
Mariained inwardly.
She was irritated. She always knew the world was so unfair and today she got confirmation of that.
The crowd had just gotten to the elevator when Summer stood in their way. "Please excuse us, Mr.
Xi would like some privacy." The two entered the elevator and the doors closed.
Then everyone else returned to the private room and continued eating and talking.
What Maria didn''t expect was that some of the guests were two-faced. One man, seemingly gentle,
snorted, "James Xi is way too arrogant!"
Someone immediately echoed him, "Exactly! He really thinks he''s somebody! We have to please
him as soon as he shows up. I''m normally fine with it, but he''s gone too far this time. Mr. Zheng
should not be his toadie! Mr. Zheng is the head of a top enterprise here. Why would he need to
please James Xi?"
Hearing the mockery, Maria sipped her tea more slowly. She knew this bald man who was ranting
about this. He was the chairman of LC Group.
Well, if he just simplyined about James behind his back, Maria wouldn''t care. She wanted to
bitch about him too. But his words seemed designed to drive a wedge between James and Colby.
''This man is digging his own grave, isn''t he?'' thought Maria.
He kept ranting, his words getting more hostile, his positions more extreme. Maria set her teacup
down and smiled at the chairman, the lights in the ce glinting off his bald head. "Mr. Qi," she
started in a gentle tone. "I have a different take on things, if you''ll allow me to share it."