Chapter 3: It's Just a Piece of Glass, Why the Waterworks?
The banquet hall fell into stunned silence as the chattering business and political elites turned their attention toward the commotion. Glasses paused mid-air, conversations died on lips, and every pair of eyes focused on the scene unfolding near the exit.
Rain Lin's shrill voice had cut through the noise like a knife, and now everyone was watching.
Yvonne Yang, who had been fuming moments ago, saw Vera on the ground and immediately perked up. A nasty smile curled her lips as she hurried over to stand beside Rain, ready to pile on.
"Honestly, Vera, how could you be so careless?" Yvonne tsked, feigning concern. "If you're going to fall, fine—but what if you'd stepped on Rain's foot? Rain, are you okay? Did she hurt you?"
Rain shook her head pitifully, tears already forming. "My ankle's twisted, that's nothing... but my jade pendant is broken! What am I supposed to do now?"
Phoebe Lu jumped in, eager to join the attack. "Rain, stop crying. Whoever broke it should pay for it—simple as that."
Yvonne nodded vigorously. "Exactly! With all these witnesses, she can't just run off."
Vera sat on the floor for a moment, genuinely startled—not by the situation, but by the familiarity of it. In her previous life, Rain had pulled this exact stunt, but back then she'd deliberately ripped off her own pendant near the end of the party and thrown it at Vera's feet. Vera hadn't seen it coming that time. This time, she'd accidentally yanked it off, but the result was the same: Rain playing the victim, milking it for all it was worth.
"What's going on here?" Mei Ling, Jason's mother and the director of the Binhai City Museum, swept through the crowd like a queen. She'd been socializing with important guests when Rain's crying reached her ears, and now her perfectly made-up face pinched with annoyance. Who had the nerve to upset that little princess?
Rain's family had several high-ranking officials in the provincial government—connections that her husband, the Education Bureau director, desperately needed for his next promotion. If someone had offended Rain tonight, they'd practically slapped Mei Ling in the face.
Dressed in a chic Fendi suit and teetering on seven-centimeter heels, Mei Ling glided toward the scene. She didn't bother asking what happened; her sharp eyes simply landed on Vera with undisguised disgust.
"Rain, did she break your pendant?"
Fresh tears spilled down Rain's cheeks as she nodded pathetically. "Oh, Mrs. Mei... I'm so sorry to bother you. It's really nothing..."
Mrs. Mei patted her shoulder with practiced maternal care. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll handle this."
She turned to Vera, her smile pleasant but her eyes cold as she looked the girl up and down. So this was the little nobody who'd dared to cause trouble? Cheap clothes, no makeup—yet somehow still annoyingly pretty. No wonder Rain had it out for her.
The crowd pressed closer, watching with barely concealed interest. Some of them had clearly seen Rain trip Vera on purpose, but no one spoke up. Mei Ling was connected. Her husband was the Education Bureau director. These people were here to network, not to make enemies for some random girl they didn't know.
"So, girl." Mrs. Mei's voice dripped with false kindness. "You broke Rain's pendant. What do you propose we do about it?"
Vera slowly got to her feet, brushing off her clothes with deliberate calm. She recognized this woman—Jason's mother, the museum director. The woman whose casual word had doomed Vera's family to crippling debt in her previous life, setting off the chain reaction that led to her parents' murder.
In her past life, Vera had been a lamb to the slaughter.
Not this time.
She met Mrs. Mei's gaze without flinching. "What do you suggest, Mrs. Mei?"
The older woman's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It's simple. You break it, you buy it."
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Everyone knew what that meant. Rain's pendant was supposedly worth a small fortune. This girl couldn't possibly afford it.
But Vera just smiled—a small, confident smile that made Rain's stomach clench.
She walked over to Rain, reached into her pocket, and pulled out two crumpled one-yuan bills. She held them out.
"Here. For you."
Two yuan.
Someone in the crowd snorted. Others exchanged bewildered looks. Was this girl crazy? Or just stupid?
Rain stared at the money, her face darkening by the second. Two yuan. Vera was offering her two yuan for a "priceless" jade pendant.
Vera's smile widened. "Go buy yourself a new one. Keep the change."
This time, someone actually laughed.
Because the implication was clear: two yuan was more than enough. The pendant wasn't worth a cent more.