On Wednesday night, Jessie Sterling took a Rolls-Royce with dual license plates to Port Caldoria.
Sitting in the smooth back seat, Jessie Sterling leafed through the auction catalog in her hands. A ten-carat diamond necklace was up for auction at Christie's tonight. It was a very rare color: a purplish-pink diamond.
'Shouldn't summer be for wearing these kinds of bright, eye-catching gems?'
"Quincy, is there anything you like? I'll buy it for you tonight," Jessie Sterling said to the person beside her, her eyes never leaving the catalog.
In contrast to Jessie Sterling, who was dressed in what looked like a resort-style outfit but was actually a Vrkil haute couture gown, the professional attire of Quincy Sterling beside her seemed much more ordinary.
"No, thank you." Quincy Sterling didn't even look up as she replied. Jessie Sterling was the family's money shredder; she, on the other hand, enjoyed making money.
Quincy Sterling was holding a tablet, still in a video conference with someone.
Quincy Sterling hadn't come to Port Caldoria specifically to accompany Jessie Sterling tonight; she had a client to meet tomorrow.
Jessie Sterling pouted. Though she'd been turned down, she started racking her brain for what to buy Quincy Sterling anyway.
After the two sisters arrived at the auction house, Quincy Sterling finally finished her work. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are your plans for tomorrow? I heard Dad say he wants you to meet Victor Morgan this weekend?"
After returning from the dinner with the Grant family over the weekend, Seth Sterling had made an announcement at the dinner table the very next night.
The two families would have a formal meeting next week.
This meant that, barring any surprises, the Sterling family and the Morgan family would be officially joined by marriage.
Jessie Sterling hummed. "If he wants me to meet him, I'll meet him."
Quincy Sterling watched her with a probing gaze. "Something's not right with you."
She knew Jessie Sterling. Her sister might look fierce and feisty, but she was more spoiled than anyone. And in the past, she had never even dated. The person she'd always liked was Julian Grant; she had been single-mindedly set on marrying him.
Now, not only had she rapidly abandoned her own plan to marry into the Grant family, but she was also acting completely indifferent about marrying into a family in the capital.
"Did Julian Grant bully you?" Quincy Sterling asked, not even waiting for Jessie Sterling's answer before pressing on.
Jessie Sterling: "..."
She froze for a moment, then grinned and pushed Quincy's face away. "No. I just suddenly realized that chasing after a man is boring. Why shouldn't he be the one chasing me?"
Seeing that her expression was natural and she didn't seem to be lying, Quincy Sterling relaxed and said casually, "Don't you have people chasing you? You're just the one who looks down on them. But this is good, too. Men are no good anyway. It's fine if you just stay home. I'll support you."
Jessie Sterling immediately reached out and cupped Quincy Sterling's face, causing the latter to struggle, but Jessie didn't let go.
"Quincy, you're the best!"
Quincy Sterling, her face squished by Jessie Sterling, rolled her eyes and gave up struggling.
'Oh, well. She was used to it after all these years. Her older sister was just a child.'
The auction began soon after, and Jessie Sterling had even spotted several familiar faces.
The purplish-pink diamond necklace Jessie Sterling had her eye on wasn't the final showpiece of the night, but the bidding was fierce. In particular, a telephone bidder was matching the price in almost every round.
Jessie Sterling's mental limit was 250 million Port Caldoria dollars. She had just raised her paddle and was biting her lip when she heard the person who had been matching her bid unhesitatingly raise the price again, even adding fifty million directly.
Jessie Sterling dug her nails into her palm. "Who is this person!" she hissed into Quincy Sterling's ear. "So annoying!"
Quincy Sterling was just here to accompany the young miss to look at her favorite jewelry. When she heard the man to their right raise the bid, she wasn't as furious as Jessie Sterling. She stroked the ruffled peacock beside her. "If you want to buy it, we'll just raise the bid. I'll get it for you."
Jessie Sterling had been beautiful since she was a child. In other families, the older sister usually indulged the younger one, but in the Sterling family, their roles were reversed. After rapidly skipping grades with her extraordinary intellect, Quincy Sterling became the one who protected Jessie Sterling.
She was fiercely protective of her pampered older sister.
So naturally, she intended to buy the necklace Jessie Sterling had her eye on.
Having said that, before Jessie Sterling could react, Quincy Sterling raised the paddle for her.
The price of the roughly ten-carat purplish-pink diamond necklace was instantly driven up to 260 million Port Caldoria dollars.
In the proxy bidding section to the side, the bidder who had been relentlessly tailing Jessie Sterling raised their hand once more.
"Is he even consulting with his client about the price!" Jessie Sterling was fuming as she heard another massive price hike.
Seeing Quincy Sterling about to calmly raise the paddle again, Jessie Sterling put a stop to it.
"I don't want it anymore!" the young miss huffed, holding down Quincy Sterling's hand. "I'm going to New York Fashion Week next month. Leighton's has an auction too, I'll check that one out. If that doesn't work, I'll just buy some haute couture jewelry."
Quincy Sterling didn't understand. "Didn't you come here today specifically for this necklace? If you like it, just buy it."
Jessie Sterling sniffed. "It's only a ten-carat diamond. It's not like I have to fight someone for it. It's not worth it."
Quincy Sterling was speechless. She couldn't comprehend her sister's sudden and strange display of "frugality."
In the end, the purplish-pink diamond necklace was won by the mysterious telephone bidder for a final price of 300 million Port Caldoria dollars.
Jessie Sterling originally thought that would be the end of it. Today's auction wasn't exclusively for jewelry; it was "Jewelry and Jadeite." Based on the catalog Jessie Sterling had looked at earlier, Christie's was auctioning more jadeite today.
But she also had her eye on a pink diamond bracelet.
Even if she didn't get the purplish-pink diamond necklace she wanted, giving Quincy Sterling a pink diamond bracelet would be nice too. Jessie Sterling believed that pink diamonds, like rose quartz, could attract romance.
She didn't want Quincy Sterling to become such a workaholic that she had no time for love.
Who would have thought that this time, Jessie Sterling was no longer in a "frugal" mood? She went head-to-head with that same unknown telephone bidder, driving the price up to 320 million Port Caldoria dollars. When Quincy Sterling learned that she was bidding on the bracelet for her, she immediately stopped her from raising the paddle.
"What are you doing!" Jessie Sterling was clearly unhappy that her action had been interrupted. She glared at Quincy Sterling with her big, round, cat-like eyes. "It's not like I don't have the money!"
Quincy Sterling: "...Why didn't you say that just now?"
"How can that be the same? This is a gift I picked for you!" Jessie Sterling's brows furrowed as if she were chiding Quincy for being ungrateful.
'She hadn't even been willing to spend that much on herself!'
Quincy Sterling said, "I don't need it."
Since childhood, she had never been as concerned with beauty or fashion as Jessie Sterling. But even as a little girl, Quincy Sterling would happily give her own New Year's money to Jessie Sterling to buy new dresses.
She just loved seeing their family's young miss looking pretty every day.
While the two sisters were arguing over whether to raise the paddle, the auctioneer's gavel had already fallen. And with the fall of the gavel came the auctioneer's voice—
"Congratulations!..."
Jessie Sterling: "!!!"