"Oh? You mean..." she paused to think. "Is the actress not your girlfriend? Then, is your girlfriend Miss Chen?" Jasmine probed. She continued guessing and was not about to let Justin off the hook easily.
Before her brother could respond, Leena butted in, "What? Miss Chen? No, no, no! That girl is so rude. And I don't think she deserves to be with Justin." She might not get along well with Justin, but she felt she had to jump in and speak on the young man's behalf. She knew this so-called Miss Chen and her assessment of the girl was that she was ill-bred.
"Are you serious?" Jasmine asked in disbelief. She had seen Miss Chen before and thought she was a pretty girl. But she had no idea what kind of person she was.
"Well, you'll know if you spend some time with her. I heard she is determined, but has a bad character," Leena offered. She quickly shook her head after saying this. She was not fond of gossiping, but several of her friends had complained to her before that this Miss Chen was very rude.
"Are you here for the food or the gossip?" an impatient Justin asked. He was fed up with all the gossiping, and he didn't even know who this Miss Chen was, so the guy decided to interrupt the discussion.
"Of course we're here for food. But what's wrong if I chat with Auntie Leena?" Jasmine fluttered her innocent doe eyes while looking at her brother. She was perplexed by Justin's behavior. Usually, her brother was calm and gentle, but Jasmine noticed that whenever Leena was around, he was easily pissed off.
"Let's leave him out of the conversation," Leena suggested. "I had a manicure yesterday. What do you think of it?" She held out her hands to show Jasmine her newly-painted nails. There were countless topics that women could talk about when they hung out together.
Blowing out a breath, Justin didn't know whether to laugh or cry in exasperation. Surrounded by three women, he was no match for them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to relax. Then he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Jasmine had planned to hang out with Joyce after lunch, but her grandfather called and asked her to come home right after. She had no choice but to bid everyone goodbye.
Meanwhile, Leena and Justin still had work that afternoon, so Joyce was left alone. She didn't want to go back home yet to avoid her mother's nagging. The young lady decided to head straight to CY Technology instead.
After years of hard work, Rain successfully turned CY Technology into a well-known multinational corporation, whose worth and prestige was many times more than what it was before. Rain had faced a lot of challenges in the past few years; he had had to manage the company and deal with the Ke family. His father, Sanford, had died two years ago, and eventually, the Ke family members stopped their attempts to harass Rain.
When Joyce arrived at the office of the CEO, it was an empty room that greeted her. She pouted before throwing herself on the couch.
"Where could Dad be? Is he in a meeting?" Joyce mumbled. "I'll just wait for him here," she said to herself and settled down. The man she was looking for was chatting with Edward.
"I really envy you," Rain sighed. "You hardly need to work with Justin taking over the company," he said. Inhaling deeply, Rain wished he had a son like Justin. But by his estimation, he needed to work for at least several more years. Huey was strong-minded and independent, and no one could make him change his mind.
"Do you really believe Justin is easy to influence? If I hadn't feigned illness back then, I would probably still be busy working like you," Edward said with a cunning smile. In the beginning, Justin refused to take over the company and wanted to travel around the world. Edward had been afraid his traveling would last for many years, so he had bribed Tom to tell Justin that Edward had developed a serious disease and needed rest and quiet to recover, leaving Justin with no choice but to take over the company.
"As far as I know, your son is a clever boy. So I can't figure out why he fell for that ploy so easily," Rain said to express his doubts. The two men knew Justin was as cunning as his father, Edward. So, it was quite baffling and strange for Justin to allow himself to fall in that trap.
Rubbing his chin, Edward remarked, "I didn't even think about it until now. I agree that it is strange." It made him ponder about his son and his life. Now middle-aged, Edward was as handsome and charming as before. And many women still fell for him.
"Well, stop thinking about it then! Justin is your son, and he will not turn against you, all right?" Rain advised. He patted Edward's shoulder while he shook his head. He felt his friend was thinking too much.
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