Chapter 2307: An Old Man With a Young Wife
"The thing is I don"t know what kind of attraction the hairpin holds for you. Why are you willing to spend so much money to get hold of it?" Gao Long asked curiously.
Qiao Mei looked into Gao Long"s eyes and whispered, "Uncle, what if I say that it"s part of my grandmother"s belongings?"
"What!" Gao Long said as he looked at Qiao Mei in shock.
Gao Long did not interact much with Gao Tao, but he knew very well that Gao Tao had already pa.s.sed away for many years by the time Qiao Mei was born. How did Qiao Mei know that the hairpin belonged to Gao Tao?
"My eyes and ears are much sharper than an ordinary person. Although that hairpin looks simple, there"s gold thread coiled around the edge of the black jadeite. The pattern on it looks similar to the jewelry I bought at the auction house in Country M. Moreover, there"s indeed a hairpin missing from that set of jewelry, so I guess that it used to belong to Grandmother," Qiao Mei explained.
"Then has it crossed your mind that it might be a replica? Or you may see wrongly," Gao Long said.
Back then, Gao Tao had countless admirers. Over the years, most of the Gao family"s things had already been plundered and Gao Tao"s things had also been sold by those two a.s.sholes. There were very few things that they could find by now.
It was particularly difficult during this time. Even if one had something nice at home, one would not dare to show it to anyone. Finding Gao Tao"s belongings was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"It"s just 5 million dollars. It doesn"t matter. At most, we can start all over again. There are many ways to earn money, but if we miss out on Grandmother"s belonging, it will be difficult to find it again. Moreover, this 5 million dollars will go to charity. No matter how we spend that money, we have done a good deed," Qiao Mei said very seriously.
Gao Long nodded in understanding. If he was in Qiao Mei"s shoes, he would have made the same decision as her.
Many people came forward to ask Qiao Mei for a dance after seeing how generous she was. Qiao Mei rejected them one by one. Qian"e and Nan Dong made their way through the big group of people to finally reach Qiao Mei"s side.
Qian"e sighed deeply and said, "You"re really too charming. Those who don"t know better would think that the center of the dance floor is here!"
Qiao Mei shrugged and said resignedly, "Are you blaming me for this? I"m thinking that I want to leave this place soon."
"That won"t do. You"ve become the focal point of this charity gala! If you leave early, it will be like a slap on the organizer"s face," Qian"e said.
"Mr. Nan, why don"t you sit down? There are still many seats here." Qiao Mei gestured with her chin in the direction of the sofa at the outermost corner. There were not many sofa seats in this spot. Gao Long was seated on Qiao Mei"s left while Qiao Mei and Qian"e sat together on the main sofa. There was no other seat for Nan Dong, but they could not possibly let him stand beside them like a waiter.
The organizer of this charity gala was the president of the charity a.s.sociation in the capital, Chen Fei. He was also Qiao Mei"s business a.s.sociate. Chen Fei specially brought his wife over to meet Qiao Mei.
"Madam Qiao, long time no see~" Chen Fei"s wife said.
Qiao Mei was caught off guard for a moment. Chen Fei was already in his 50s, but yet he had such a young wife. The person in front of her looked to be... around 20 years old. Based on what she remembered, Chen Fei"s wife did not look like this.
Qian"e whispered into Qiao Mei"s ear, "Chen Fei and his first wife have gotten a divorce. This is his new wife whom he married last month. Her name is Nan Li."
Another person with the surname Nan...
"h.e.l.lo, this should be the first time we"re meeting each other," Qiao Mei said.
"No, we met at a ball before. At that time, you had even expressed your concern about my health! If I hadn"t met you that day, I might have been fired from my job," Nan Li said.
Qiao Mei recalled that incident. At that ball, she had turned a corner and witnessed a waitress being scolded. She could not help but go forward to speak up for the waitress. She did not know that Nan Li was that waitress and definitely did not expect her to have become Mrs. Chen.
"I remember now! Then it"s really fate in motion," Qiao Mei said.
"Thank you for your kindness today, Madam Qiao and Mr. Nan. I wonder if the two of you are willing to have a dance together? In our rundown, we have made arrangements for the top four donors to grace the dance floor," Chen Fei asked tentatively.
Nan Dong stood up and said with a smile, "I"d be very honored to do that."
Qiao Mei looked at everyone without saying anything. She had always proclaimed in public that she did not know how to dance, so no one had ever forced her to do it. Then again, in the early days, there were indeed many people who mocked Qiao Mei for being from the countryside and said that it was normal for her not to know how to do something elegant.
"If Madam Qiao is unwilling..."
Before Nan Li could finish her sentence, Qiao Mei patted the corner of her skirt and stood up, saying, "Alright."
Chen Fei was overjoyed. This would be Qiao Mei"s first time dancing in public. There were many reporters around today, so he intended to pay off a few reporters to do a writeup on this.