Chapter 148 - Ready, Nana?

Mandy Rong sat impatiently in the Main Hall of the Yang Manor as she waited for the car that her father had sent for them.

Lucille was even more nervous than her daughter when she thought of how she would be meeting all the important people in a few minutes from now.

'I need to take complete advantage of Mandy's debut and integrate myself into their circles.' 

Her ambitions were acting up once again.

While these two were thinking of how to improve their social standings, Richy was trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

'I hope that everything goes on properly today. This event is an important step to fulfill my plans here.' He glanced at the two women all decked up to the nines.

Mandy decided to wear a pure white lace and fishnet ball gown which made her look like a pure and untouched maiden.

'I need to shine the brightest today since it is my special day!' That was her thinking while she was purchasing this beautiful dress.

Though she was not as pretty as Lina, Mandy had her own charms. 

After all, she had inherited her looks from her mother who was once a very hot secretary that worked in Yang Group.

Mandy checked her makeup by using the camera on her phone and was satisfied with how she looked.

Lucille on the other hand wore a beige sober A-line chiffon gown which gave her the look of a fragile yet beautiful woman.

"Mrs. Rong, Miss Rong, the car has arrived." Butler Ping informed them of the arrival of their transportation.

"I am about to be introduced as daddy's daughter to the entire city and you still insist on calling me with my old surname?" Mandy's good mood soured when she heard the way he had addressed her.

"I apologize, Miss. But we can discuss this later, you will be late if you do not hurry." He bowed and politely reminded them of the time.

The party would begin at 8 PM and it was 7:15 PM right now. 

They would have to rush immediately to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

"I am the main reason for this party, how can they begin without me?" She harrumphed yet her feet swiftly moved towards the door.

How could she anger her father when the last time he was here he gave them such a strict warning to behave themselves.

'Once everyone accepts me then I won't have to live in this fear of being forgotten.' She settled her insecure emotions and walked out of the door.

Lucille shook her head when she saw her hasty steps. 

She then silently sent out a text before following after her daughter.

*I will see you soon.* 

As she entered the car, she received a reply.

*Hmm*

Putting her phone away, Lucille concentrated on the buildings that flashed by.

When they reached the banquet hall, quite a few of the guests had already arrived.

As expected, the media was standing right outside the hotel in hopes of catching sight of a few big names.

The moment Lucille and Mandy exited the car, the flashing of cameras almost blinded them.

But they weren't fazed, in fact, they posed gracefully before the cameras and then waved as they walked in.

As they entered the banquet hall, Mandy made heads turn as she walked with her back straight and her head held high.

However, she could not find her father or anyone else she knew for a matter of fact.

"Mom, where do you think daddy is?" She whispered in Lucille's ears.

Lucille glanced around the excellently decorated room and tried to find Patrick but to no avail.

"Hello, madam. I am a business partner of Mr. Yang." A short man with a slightly bulging stomach walked up to Lucille and greeted her.

Lucille did not know who he was but she did not want to be called rude or uncultured so she spoke to him for a while.

'Let me go find my friends.' Mandy searched for someone in the crowd.

She was looking for those with the invites that she had personally sent out. They were from Jeanette Liang's group who weren't invited.

This was the perfect method to show those stuck up women that she too had power and influence.

Spotting one of them, she sauntered in her direction.

While Mandy and Lucille were socializing, Patrick Yang and the Luo men arrived in style.

Patrick made his way through the guests and greeted them just like how a good host would.

While Patrick was greeting the guests, Wayne and Wallace Luo were surrounded by their business partners who wanted to discuss their future projects.

Not many people here knew Wade personally but they had guessed that this was the worthless twin from the Luo family.

So no one even tried to greet him.

Wade just made his way across the hall and sat on an empty chair as he played with his phone.

They were waiting for all the guests to arrive before they could bring Lina out. So right now, Lina was being kept busy by Stacy.

Wade and Stacy were keeping in touch through texts to let the other know what was happening.

Slowly all the guests were filling up the room and one such guest was the Liang father and daughter pair.

Burt Liang escorted his lovely daughter to greet his friends.

He knew that it was common courtesy to greet the host first but he could not be bothered to look at Patrick's face.

'I wouldn't have come today if it wasn't for her.' He gnashed his teeth when he saw Patrick roaming around the hall.

Jeanette was looking around to find her friends and when she saw Mandy, she informed her father and then left to greet her.

"Oh my God, you look so good today!" Jeanette gave her a big hug and looked at her from top to bottom.

The dress that Mandy was wearing was extremely expensive and it was definitely not something she could have bought on her own.

'Mr. Yang really values her. I was right to make her my friend.' Jeanette evaluated the cost of Mandy's dress and was impressed with how it looked on her.

"Daddy bought it for me. Isn't it gorgeous?" Mandy boasted about how much her father loved her.

Technically Patrick had asked his secretary, Erica to pay for the dress so that she would stop calling him while he was at work.

As though the stars had aligned for today's party, the three old business families all arrived in quick succession.

First came the Zhengs. They strode in with their usual pride and went to meet Patrick Yang.

Valeria stole glances at the star of the party, Mandy as she was surrounded by Jeanette's minions.

While her sister, Talia was the undisputed queen in her age group, Valerie's biggest competition was Jeanette Liang.

Both of them were competitive with each other in their studies, in their boyfriends and now in their social circles.

Talia was bored out of her mind and kept looking at the door in hopes of catching a glimpse of her Brother Reuben making an entrance.

A few minutes later, someone made an entrance and everyone turned to stare at them.

In came the Huo family but what shocked everyone was that the rarely seen heir of this family, Louis Huo had made an appearance today.

Wade looked up from his phone when he noticed the hushed mummers in the room.

'Oh, so he finally decided to show up?' Wade smiled as he got up and strode in Louis' direction.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Huo." Wade greeted him with a handshake when he reached his place.

"How could I have missed this event when you repeatedly asked me to attend it?" Louis tilted his head and smirked as he replied to Wade's greeting.

'This man has a sharp mouth. I pity Lina.' Wade shook his head and then turned to greet Louis' parents.

The Huo couple was shocked to see that their silent son was conversing with this vagrant son of the Luo family.

'Are they familiar with each other?' Moira wondered as she smiled at him.

'The news about the younger son of the Luo family being a good-for-nothing... Is it a fake rumor?' Ralph speculated because he knew that his son would never converse with people he did not have connections with.

As the parents watched their son talk about random stuff like weather and traffic with Wade, a new commotion arose in the hall.

This could only mean one thing, the Mings had arrived.

Moira turned around and glanced at Renee who was walking hand in hand with her husband.

Renee's eyes fell on Moira and as though she wanted to mock her, she took off her Cashmere shawl and ran her fingers across her neck.

Every single woman in the hall gasped when they saw LY's latest Red Pigeon blood necklace adorned on Renee's neck.

'Yes, that was the expression I want to see on their faces!' She held her head high and strode towards the Huo family.

"Oh, is it hot in here?" She fanned her neck when she reached Moira just to attract attention to the necklace.

"I wouldn't know because I don't have so much fat around my body." Moira retorted instantly which shut Renee up.

'Oh, so the little mockingbird can talk?' She smiled at Moira but did not respond to her insult.

While the two men spoke about their recent businesses, the women went their separate ways to meet their friends.

Left in the same spot were Wade and Louis who stood in complete silence.

'This is getting awkward! I can almost hear the crickets chirping!' Wade looked at his phone from time to time.

Luckily, he was saved from the awkward silence by his ringing phone.

"It's time." He heard Patrick's voice before the phone was hung up.

'Finally!' Wade excused himself and then strode off to get Lina and Stacy.

When he reached their room, he found the girls giggling as they sipped tea.

"What are you talking about?" He asked curiously as he stood before the mirror and looked at himself.

"Oh, nothing. Just talking about which position Aya likes better." Lina covered her mouth to stifle her laughter after she revealed this to him.

"TMI, lil sis." He almost choked when he heard her words.

"You were the one who asked!" She pouted but then turned to face him when she remembered something.

"When can we leave this room? I can hear the music already so why are we still here?" She glared at him and then glanced at the time.

It was 8:30 PM already.

'The party starts at 8 but we are half an hour late. I mean the star of the show arrives late but why am I stuck here?' She pouted when she thought of all the juicy gossip that she could have heard by spying on the other guests.

'Stacy is the star so she should stay here! Not me!' An oblivious Lina Yang was still stuck in her own misconception.

Wade knew what she was thinking about so he did not delay her any further.

'This is her day after all, even if she herself doesn't know about it.' He chuckled and stretched his hand out to her.

"Come on then, don't you want to go meet the guests?" He pulled her up from the couch and helped to tuck the hair behind her ear.

'My Nana is so pretty, what if someone tries to steal her away from us?' He wondered and a frown appeared on his face.

His big brotherly concerns gave him an ominous feeling about today's party but he ignored them and led her to the door.

"Why are you escorting me? Take Stacy, I'll just sneak in from the back." Lina tried to reason with him but Wade wouldn't let her go.

"No. You go on, I'll come in a few minutes." Stacy chimed in to help Wade in convincing Lina's stubborn demands.

'You need to appear before them soon. I'll slowly follow after them.' Stacy recalled the plan that they had decided upon.

As they walked to the banquet hall, Lina was carefree as she casually strode with no sense of the shock that she would soon be facing.

"Ready, Nana?" Wade asked as they stood before the door.

"Huh? Let's wait for Stacy…" Her words were cut off when the door opened.

"Too late. Let's go!" Wade smiled at her and then led her out of the door.