Chapter 369 Celia''s Dilemma


    Rachel was alert the entire time, but she didn''t answer. She opened the envelope in her hand and read


    it word by word, without missing a single dot.


    Finally, she couldn''t help swearing.


    Although Marcus ran a small foreign tradepany, his family''s influence could never be


    underestimated.


    His father, Larry Ji, was the current mayor of Ninwell City, while his mother, Connie Chen, was the


    chairman of Ninwell City Association. His family had originally nned for Marcus to inherit his parents''


    legacy and enter the political field in the future. However, that n fell by the wayside when he


    established his ownpany during his university years.


    On his own, he managed to gather a fewurels in thest few years.


    Although his parents had no choice at the moment, they were still hoping for their original n to


    materialize. Thus, they were strongly encouraging Marcus to marry a daughter of a political family.


    Now, a certain Celia Xu suddenly appeared in their son''s life, and she had single-handedly destroyed


    their ns.


    Marriage connections were not only popr in business circles, but were also outright weed by


    political families such as theirs.


    The letter in Rachel''s hand was written by Larry Ji, who demanded for the Fu family to stay out of the


    affair between Marcus and Celia and refrain from doing anything for the Xu family.


    After reading the letter, Rachel got the gist of the situation. She folded the letter and ced it back into


    the envelope as she waited for Jonathan to speak.


    After a moment of silence, Jonathan coughed and cleared his throat. "Rachel, Celia is your friend. I


    know that it''s a little heartless to tell you to stay away from her at this point, but our hands are tied. The


    Fu family has to bow out of this."


    Since the ancient times, business families had always been considered to be inferior to political ns.


    Rachel pursed her lips and said, "Dad, I know. I''ll keep my distance."


    Jonathan certainly knew that she gave the expected response without meaning to abide by it, but she


    already gave her word. He could not continue to badger her any further. The expression in his eyes


    changed, as did their topic. "I heard that Jack has recruited her father. Is that correct?"


    Although he was asking Rachel, she knew that Jonathan had already investigated on the matter


    beforehand.


    She was beingpletely forting when she said, "Yes, I heard him mention it the other day."


    Jonathan sighed. "Jack has always been close to that Ji boy. I''m afraid it was him who asked Jack to


    do such a thing."


    Rachel simply looked at him and didn''t say anything.


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    Jonathan continued, "If I told him to fire Dn Xu, he wouldn''t agree. On the other hand, your influence


    on him is different. He will surely listen to you. Our family cannot afford to offend the Ji family."


    He looked straight at Rachel, who couldn''t pretend to be silent anymore. She pursed her lips and said


    lightly, "Dad, Jack has always been a man who unabashedly does his own thing. How could he listen to


    me? But please, rest assured that I will tell him anyway."


    Jonathan didn''t say anything more.


    It never urred to Rachel that this matter might be much moreplicated than she had originally


    surmised.


    As the night fell, the sky gradually started weeping.


    Celia hesitated at the gates of themunity for a long time. After taking two steps forward, she turned


    around and left. She really didn''t want to go back to that house.


    But where else could she go?


    "Celia? Why don''t youe in?" It was an old nanny who live under the Xu family''s apartment. In that


    neighborhood, she was the only one who would greet Celia.


    Celia rubbed her frozen hands together and said with a smile, "I was just about to go back after


    finishing up a phone call."


    The nanny raised her eyes and said kindly, "Then hurry back in, dear. It''s a little cold at night. I went


    outside to the supermarket to buy a bottle of soy sauce. I was halfway done with cooking when I found


    out that I didn''t have any in my pantry."


    "Be careful on your way."


    Celia sighed and walked towards her home. As soon as she opened the door, even before she could


    take off her shoes, she saw two hands outstretched in front of her. Her stepmother, Bertha, shouted at


    her in a sharp voice, "Hurry up. Pay for the living expenses today!"


    Celia ignored her and put on her slippers. She nced at her coldly and was about to go to her


    bedroom when her stepmother grabbed her arm.


    Celia pursed her lips and said, "I forgot to withdraw money from the bank today, so I''ll give it to you


    tomorrow. Will you die if I''mte for one day?"


    "If you can only give me money tomorrow, then you won''t eat with us today. Your father has raised you.


    You are so ungrateful as you''re so reluctant to pay your living expenses even though you have a job


    now. Didn''t you eat your meals here at home? Do you think thosee for free?"


    Bertha''s words were full of sarcasm and ridicule, but she also brought up Dn''s position in this family


    intentionally. She nced at him sitting in the living room, his face evidently showing dissatisfaction


    and his lips slightly curled unpleasantly.


    Celia had grown used to listening to the diatribes from Bertha''s mouth that she felt rtively calm. She


    sneered and shook off Bertha''s hand. "I won''t starve to death if I don''t eat for a day."


    Even when she closed the door to her bedroom, she could vaguely hear Berthaining to Dn in


    the living room, saying that he had an ungrateful, narrow-minded child who had a rich, powerful


    boyfriend and yet was still terribly clueless on how to help her family out.


    Celia covered her ears, not wanting to hear such words again.


    Her phone suddenly vibrated on the bed, and she picked it up. Lea''s voice seemed to be always full of


    vitality. "Celia, I went shopping today and found a new wedding dress shop in the south of the city.


    When''s your off day? Let''s go check it out together."


    "Lea, I..." Celia thought that Rachel no longer wanted her as a bridesmaid for her wedding.


    How could she tell Lea about this?


    She edited and rearranged the words in her mind for a long time, but Lea interrupted her before she


    could speak. "Forget it. I don''t think I have the patience to wait for your next off day. Why don''t you take


    a taxi toe here after work tomorrow? I''ll send you the address. I''ve asked the owner to keep the


    shop open until ten o''clock in the evening."


    Then, in keeping with her whirlwind personality, she was suddenly gone.


    Celia stared down at her phone. After a short while, she received a text message containing the details


    of the wedding dress shop. She had yet to finish reading it when another message popped up. "I called


    Rachel just now, but she said she don''t have time tomorrow. Please don''t stand me up, or I will be


    really angry!"


    In the end, she sent an angry emoji.


    Celia sighed. Maybe she would be able to tell Lea the entire story face to face.


    Rachel was out of focus when she received the phone call from Lea. Thinking that she had an


    academic meeting in the afternoon, she outright refused Lea''s invitation.


    On the next morning, however, she found out that the meeting would be held the following Wednesday,


    so she called Lea and told her that she could go to the wedding dress shop.


    When she arrived at the shop, she saw Lea sitting on a sofa and reading a magazine, while a shop


    attendant standing beside her warmly weed her. With a smile on her lips, Rachel sat down on the


    opposite chair and remarked, "Why aren''t you trying on any dresses?"


    Lea shook her head. "Someone else ising. Let''s wait for her and try on stuff together." At the sight


    of Rachel''s confused expression, Lea shot her a look and said, "I''m not your only bridesmaid. You need


    to wait until all of the bridesmaids are here, right?"


    Rachel''s heart skipped a beat. Yesterday, when Lea told her on the phone that she would go to the


    wedding dress shop alone on the following day, she had subconsciously thought that Celia would not


    be there.


    But now...


    The wind chime at the door suddenly jangled. Rachel turned her head and saw Celia enter with her


    head ducked and fingers fidgeting with the tassels on her bag.


    She greeted her in a low voice, "Hello, Celia."


    Celia raised her head and said expressionlessly, "I suddenly remember that I have a prior engagement.


    I''m leaving now."


    It was like she couldn''t stand being in the same room as Rachel for even one minute.


    Rachel lowered her head to hide her disappointment. When she raised her head again, her face bore


    its normally calm expression. She picked up her bag and smiled faintly. "I''m not feeling well. Celia, you


    can apany Lea to try on the dresses. You can pay for it first and then I can wire the money to your


    ountter."


    Thatst part was addressed to Lea.


    Lea frowned slightly, stood up, and asked, "What''s wrong with you?"


    Rachel waved her hand and said, "It''s nothing. My stomach just feels a bit ufortable. I''m leaving


    now." She exited the shop quickly.


    Seeing this, Celia didn''t intend to stay. Just as she was about to leave too, Lea grabbed her arm. "Hey,


    what''s wrong with you two? You just got here, and now you want to leave so soon?"


    "I really have something else to do," said Celia with her head lowered.


    Lea rolled her eyes and remarked, "Do you think I''m stupid? Don''t try to hide it from me. Be honest—


    what happened between you and Rachel?"


    Just then, the shop attendant walked toward them with another magazine and said excitedly, "Miss,


    please look at this magazine. Thetest styles in our shop are all here."


    The corners of Lea''s mouth twitched. "I''m sorry, we have an urgent matter to discuss so we have to go


    now. We''lle and look at them next time."


    After saying that, she pulled Celia out of the wedding dress shop. She looked around and pointed at a


    rtively quiet-looking coffee shop across the road. "We can''t talk out here. Let''s go to that shop and


    sit down. Then, you can tell me what happened!"


    Looking at the traffic jam in front of her, Rachel heavily mmed on the horn in frustration.


    She knew that her annoyance was not caused by the traffic—it was because of Celia.


    Jonathan had told her not to get in touch with Celia and to cut her offpletely from her life, but


    Rachel promised to do so only for the sake of cating him. In her heart, she promised no such thing.


    Emotions were like rebellious teenagers—the more you denied them, the more they would go against


    you.