Chapter 112 Cassandra''s Final Decision
Vernon''s case was finalized at court; the judges finally gave him a ten-year jail sentence.
Edith wailed with agony, however, Cassandra seemed so indifferent that not even a hint of tears could
be found on her face.
Since the responsibility of managing the Qin Group fell on her shoulders, she did not have the luxury of
time to allow herself to fall into sadness. There was a more pressing need for her to immediately start
devoting herself to the hectic work schedule ahead of her.
Apanied by Cassandra and Cloris, Edith stepped out of the courtroom. The sky was clean and
blue; the clouds looked pure and white.
Having made up her mind to disperse all the grief-stricken memories that had been afflicting her family,
Cassandra felt the need to say to herself silently, ''I will try my best to support the family, to maintain and
sustain all the things that we have been enjoying.''
Finally, the Union of Real Estate was soon to be established in G City. The election of the Director of
the Union was rather imminent, and everyone was highly concerned about this event. People from all
walks of life were enthusiastically guessing which group would be able to win over the other, the Tang
Group or the Dawn Star Group.
Although the two parties had their own strengths, it seemed that the Tang Group had a higher chance
of winning the game. Recently, the Tang Group was exhibiting an overall enthusiastic aura. As the
manager of their architectural design department, Cassandra was granted a resounding award thanks
to her outstanding performance in an American architectural designpetition. Meanwhile, the Tang
Group had already invested in some projects in G City, such as the construction of Nursing Home
Project and the Amusement Park n, which had all won the group a positive reputation as a strong
foundation.N?velDrama.Org is the owner.
While the Dawn Star Group had undertaken just the same amount of projects as the Tang Group, due
to these projects being of smaller scale, it was difficult for thepany to broaden their sphere of
influence in the city. Although thepany did have a great number of business counterparts, it was
highly likely that it would be at a disadvantage when it came to the scale factor. Given this, it was
difficult to say whether or not Dawn Star Group could seize the votes of their partners.
Right at this critical juncture, a piece of rather heavy news was just disclosed by the insiders, which
could possibly reverse the situation.
Vernon, who had just been sentenced to jail for bribing an official, was found to be rted by marriage
to Horace Tang, the Chairman of the Tang Group.
Even more shocking was the news that Cassandra was Vernon''s biological daughter.
As the information was bombarded throughout the people in G City, thepanies of real estate
experienced much turmoil.
As Vernon was found to be guilty of his crime, the people turned cautious as to avoid any signs of
connection with him. To the everyone''s surprise, the Tang Group had quite a close rtionship with the
Qin Group.
The residents could barely stop their imagination from running wild. Since the Tang Group was so
closely tied to the Qin Group, how could it be as clean and uncorrupted as it appeared to be on the
surface? The inner workings were probably not much better than those of the Qin Group. They could
be all tarred with the same brush.
For example, thergest private hospital in G City had nned to build a hospital branch recently. Such
a crucial project ended up being taken over by the Tang Group. Although Jenks and Horace did share a
friendly rtionship, with someone spreading the news entangled with rumors, many still chose to
believe that it was not as simple as it seemed to be—the Tang Group must have done something
behind the scenes to get such an opportunity.
The discussions inevitably reached Horace''s ears, who could do nothing but foamed with anger.
"Who could''ve done this? They exposed the rtionship between me and Vernon at this crucial time. It
must be part of some n against the Tang Group!"
After mming his hands on the table to vent his anger, Horace suddenly began to cough heavily.
In a hurry, Jill rushed up to him to pat his back and ease him as he channeled air back into his lungs.
"Don''t be angry. Don''t be angry. Lionel told me that the election for the Director of Union willmence
soon. Is it going to get affected?"
Still in a blur, Jill could barely understand theplex business world with such an innocent mindset.
"Of course it''s going to be affected! And the effect is huge!" Horace eximed.
Again, he fell into a coughing fit so hard as if he were coughing his lungs out. He could barely catch his
breath.
In a panic, Jill hastily asked someone to call Doctor Jason in.
His eyes clouded by a dark mist, Horace was both angry and anxious. Who could''ve purposely
disseminated the information?
It was timely, just before the election. If the Tang Group''s reputation was damaged because of the
incident, they would consequently lose the election, allowing the Dawn Star Group to take the winning
position.
Unfortunately, the bad news didn''t end there. Someone had also taken a photo of Lionel apanying
Ivy to prenatal care whichter became another hit headline for the public. If the baby was Lionel''s,
news would get out that he hadmitted adultery.
In the past, the public only knew of his mistress but wasn''t aware of Cassandra''s existence as his legal
spouse.
As it became known that Lionel was a soon-to-be father of his mistress''s baby, the public wouldn''t stop
gossiping about it.
Maybe because it was a part of human nature, spectators loved to stick their noses in other people''s
businesses andment on other people''s affairs. The two incidents had been the hottest topics of
people''s daily conversations now in G City. Cassandra, who stood at the center of the gossip tornado,
was under the most pressure.
It was already unusual for her to be the manager of the architectural design department right after
her graduation from college, which many considered a stroke of undeserved luck and envied. Very few
individuals truly appreciated her talents from the beginning. It was her hard work and skills that shut the
others'' judgmental mouths. Not only was she acknowledged by the employees of the Tang Group, but
she also received manypliments and des from her clients as well.
Still, all her efforts and aplishments seemed so trivial under the storm of rumors.
Some merely turned their blind eyes to her achievements and imed that she had assumed the role
because she was the daughter-inw of the Chairman of the Tang Group.
Others imed that she didn''t have a real rtionship with Lionel and that their marriage was simply
an arrangement where the two had agreed to not intervene in each other''s life.
Some even made the absurd im that Lionel turned to Ivy because of Cassandra''s inability to bear a
child.
The overwhelming rumors gave Cassandra a severe headache to the extent that all she wanted to do
was cover both her ears and shut her eyes until the nonsense cleared away by itself.
"It''s all bullshit!"
as she fixed her coffee at the table, Ste advised her to ignore all the gossip.
Though Ste had always been straightforward and strongly worded, she indeed made sense and
Cassandra had gotten used to the way she expressed herself.
While she tended to be rather carefree, Ste was well capable of doing her job.
In fact, she had arranged an interview with one of the local business newspapers and asked the
journalist reporters to craft an interview journal with the Tang Group. In the question and answer
session, she purposely threaded the topic about the widest spread rumors regarding the Tang Group.
"The Tang Group is the pioneer real estatepany in this city and even in the province. One of the
integral reasons for its sess lies in the development of its employees. I am aware that our
architectural design manager, Cassandra Qin, has been allegedly involved in some scandals recently. I
can promise everyone that it is because of her ability that she has assumed her current position. As for
her personal life, I hope that she is not unnecessarily disturbed by the public and is able to stay away
from public focus. After all, everyone has the right to guard what he or she treasures in life," Ste
stated.
Her solemn expression and ambiguous answer aroused even more curiosity in the public.
What was Cassandra trying to guard? After the interview, there was a sudden shift in attitude and focus
of the public, and people started believing that it was Lionel who had done something wrong.
All of a sudden, the post headlines became criticisms on Lionel''s affair and they were everywhere. The
agitated public spoke on behalf of the diligent architect and condemned the disloyal husband.
In fact, when Cassandra''s true identity was revealed, Ste had contested her, "Cassandra, am I not
your friend? How could you hide that from me?"
Her anger almost brought her to tears.
"Ste, I didn''t mean to keep it from you. I just didn''t want anyone in thepany to treat me differently
because of my identity as the Tang''s daughter-inw," she exined.
After seeing Ste''s reaction, Cassandra realized that the secret she kept from her had hurt her friend
deeply. Although she was aware that trust was paramount between good friends, she still hesitated to
confess to Ste until the moment it was unveiled by someone else.
"Do you really think I would do that? Would I judge you and doubt your skills just because of your
rtionship with the chairman?" With stern words, Ste challenged her friend.
Cassandra''s betrayal seriously damaged Ste''s trust in her. She was a straightforward person, so she
naturally disdained any form of insincerity. Among the people in the Tang Group, Cassandra was
someone she trusted the most, but she turned out to be the one who wasn''t even honest in terms of
her very identity.
"Ste, it''s not only that I don''t want others to see me as the chairman''s daughter-inw. Can''t you see
how the rtionship is between me and my husband?" Heaving a deep sigh, Cassandra tried rifying
further.
As much as she didn''t want to point out the harsh truth, that was her reality.
She simply wasn''t capable of forcing herself to act as Lionel''s dear wife in front of other people or
follow him wherever he went. Her acting skill was not evenparable to that of Lyndsy, and she could
barely hide her true feelings as well as Ivy could.
It turned out that Cassandra''s exnation didn''t do well for Ste, as she didn''t buy it. Though she
knew that Cassandra must have had her reasons, she wasn''t so eager to find them out. All she knew
was that she felt cheated—how could she not be the first to know of it?
Having heard the news from someone other than Cassandra was uneptable to her.
"Then, what do you n on doing next? Are you going to take over your dad''spany?"
Quickly, she pushed aside her negative feelings and let her concern for Cassandra surface.
"I''ll take over, of course. That''s my dad''s only asset in his entire life. I''ve tried so hard to save it and I''ll
guard it for as long as I''m able to."
Her tone was determined and firm.
"What is this nonsense?" Lionel shouted in anger.
The blogs and posts online only ignited his burning fury and almost drove him to throw hisputer
against the wall to vent out the fury.
"Mistress of Lionel Tang Forced His Wife Away!"
"A yful Man and a Forbearing Woman, How Can the Able Woman Win the Game?"
The article titles that drew the eyes of the public portrayed Lionel as some kind of bastard Casanova of
his era.
While Lionel was deeply irritated by the public judgment, Ivy, being one of the protagonists, was
unconcerned by the offensive remarks online, for all she cared about was how to beat Cassandra. She
had a vague feeling that by breaking the news, it would be harder for Cassandra to stay in the
Tang family.
It was Cassandra who was under the most stress, being pressed by the Qin and the Tang families at
the same time.
The Tang Group was eager to explore the market and expand themselves, while the Qin Group, under
usation, was on the brink of copsing.
Being right in the middle of these two matters, Cassandra had no way to stay bnced.
If she supported the Tang Group, it would definitely doom the Qin Group; and if she decided to support
the Qin group, Horace would be disappointed.
It was a tough situation. ''Which side will you choose, Cassandra? What will you do to break out of the
predicament?
Which side will you tilt the bnce to? Are you going to be trusted by the Tang Group as you were
before?'' Ivy asked silently.
As if she were the evil witch who saw Snow White with the poisonous apple in her hand, Ivy''s mouth
twisted into a wicked smile. She wanted to know how Snow White would make her final decision.