On the other side of the city, the warm afternoon breeze blew across the garden causing the women to sigh in satisfaction as they sipped their tea.
Eve Zheng smiled as she glanced around and caught a glimpse of the pleased smiles on the faces of all the women around her.
She knew that the reason why her daughters were so adamant about making this tea party a success was to impress the women whose family they wished to join someday.
This she had given them the freedom to do as they pleased so that they might secure their futures with the respective men of their likes.
'Even if Renee couldn't attend the party, at least Moira is here.' She sighed and turned to look at the Lady of the Huo family.
The fact that her daughter, Valerie had a huge crush on Moira's son, Louis was not a tightly sealed secret.
Half the city was aware of the fanatic methods that Valerie had chosen to adopt in order to gain the right to stand next to the man.
Yet, even to this day, she has not succeeded in gaining his attention for a single second.
Even her older daughter Talia had managed to interact with the Ice Emperor, Reuben Ming on various occasions thanks to their close family ties but the same could not be said for Valerie.
Hence, she was glad that Renee wasn't here which gave Valerie a chance to mingle with Moira Huo on a more personal level.
Why did she have such a thought?
The credit to that would go to the undying rivalry between the two women who were the matriarchs of the two most powerful families in the city.
If these two women were at the same event then the chances of them getting into a scuffle were extremely high.
Therefore, when she received the news of Renee's ill health, Eve had felt relieved in a certain tiny corner of her heart.
'I hope she does well!' She wished her baby daughter luck as she watched them sitting together.
The area where Eve's eyes were fixed was a table that had three older women and one young woman sitting in their midst.
Valerie Zheng tried to push down the nervous feelings in her stomach down to the best of her abilities as she sat opposite to her 'future mother-in-law'.
"Have the arrangements been to your liking, Mrs. Huo?" She inquired after taking a sip of her tea.
Each table had a set of three different types of teas that the sisters had acquired after putting in much effort.
Since they wished to go all out for this party, they spared no expenses to gather the best ingredients to impress their respective mothers-in-law.
Sadly, only one of the sisters was able to get the chance of impressing their targets while the other sister moped in the corner of the garden.
Moira glanced at the tea sets on the table which was a product of this same resort, including the arrangements of the tea party, and the garden they sat at.
"Your choices are impeccable." She answered meaningfully which caused her two best friends to chuckle.
Valerie tilted her head to the side as she was unaware of the reason for the women to chuckle when nothing funny was said.
"I… I am glad that you liked the place. Our Zheng family has a premium membership card here so it wasn't much of a hassle to gain entrance here." She revealed with a proud expression.
The women tried their best to stop their daughter as they nodded at the younger woman who did not know who she was talking to.
"I see… The place is great. I will make sure to let Louis know about this." Moira responded while nodding her head.
'Will Mrs. Huo mention about me and my party to Brother Louis?' Valerie's eyes sparkled at this thought and she was dazed for a few seconds.
'After all, my Louis owns this resort.' She smiled at the young woman who looked confused and oblivious to this knowledge.
However, the women with Moira were frequenters to this resort thanks to their close relationship with her and they knew exactly whose name was on the ownership agreement of this vast piece of land.
But they did not bother to educate the young woman about this as they desired to see her speak further about how she was able to enter this resort at ease.
Moira was least bothered about the mischief her friends were playing at the hostess's expense so she lazily scanned her eyes across the garden.
This was when she noticed something fishy.
At the far end of the garden, she watched three women who seemed to be lost in deep discussion as they had not noticed her direct gaze aimed at them.
"Mrs. Huo, would you like some more tea?" Valerie offered as she rose from her seat to pour tea for the woman before she could have answered.
'What is Jie doing?' She panicked while blocking Moira's view with her body.
After she was done with serving warm tea to the three women, she glanced over her shoulders and sighed when she saw that the women had disappeared.
Moira frowned when she noticed the same and lowered her head with a frown.
Everyone thought of her as a dumb bimbo who had succeeded in snagging a rich husband like Mr. Ralph Huo but she was more than that.
'I know drama when I see one.' She reckoned as she had a keen sense of when things would escalate quickly.
Just as she had expected, soon her sharp ears caught hushed whispers coming from one of the tables.
Turning in its direction, she noticed the two women whom she had caught sight of upon her entry to the party as they were now being surrounded by another group of older ladies.
Everyone who had been invited to this party was from an influential family and they had all something to claim for their prestige and honor.
Among all the famous women in the city stood the only infamous woman in the city, Mandy Rong with Jeanette Liang by her side.
"Oh my poor child, how did you hurt yourself?" One of the kind older women inquired as she turned her concerned eyes towards Jeanette Liang.
Mandy Rong and Jeanette Liang glanced at each other and the sparkle in their eyes which disappeared in a moment indicated that they were finally about to begin the mission that they had come here for.