13 What Gift Did You Bring?
After leaving MC Enterprise, Wendy went straight to the mansion.
Since the Lucas family was extremely wealthy and influential, Mrs. Lucas's birthday affair should have been a grand and luxurious affair. However, Mrs. Lucas did not like extravagance and wastefulness, so her birthday dinner was to be attended by just family members.
In the Lucas family, Wendy was not liked by anyone besides Grandmother. Even Michael's parents were under the impression that Wendy was a materialistic gold-digger who was merely making use of Michael to climb the social ladder.
They had always had an uncaring attitude toward their daughter-in-law. If Mrs. Lucas had not forced Michael to marry Wendy three years back, Wendy doubted if she could have ever joined their family.
But, now that she thought about it, there was nothing good about becoming Mr. Lucas's wife. On one hand, Michael and his family never publicly announced or acknowledged her status. On the other hand, Michael had never trusted her character either. He had never even smiled at her.
Her perseverance in this marriage for the past three years was merely a one-woman show.
Wendy shook her head with a bitter smile on her face. She stopped her mind from wandering and handed her car keys to the servant who had stepped forward to greet her so he could park the car for her.
Holding the gift that she had spent the entire day working on, Wendy approached the living room. She had only taken a few steps when a cold aura suddenly enveloped her. Wendy subconsciously tilted her head and saw Michael standing beside her. She was under the impression that Michael would show up much later. After all, Yvonne had suffered so much earlier. She had assumed that Yvonne would spend a lot more time crying and whining to Michael.
Wendy wanted to talk to Michael, but nothing came to mind. She simply decided against saying anything.
The two of them walked side by side to the entrance of the living room. Laughter and idle chattering could be heard from within.
Michael suddenly reached out and wrapped his arm around Wendy's shoulders. In a cold voice, he said, "Don't get me wrong, we're doing this for Grandmother's birthday."
Wendy was stunned by his gesture. No matter what kind of person Michael was, he had always been very loyal to his grandmother. Otherwise, he would not have listened to his grandmother in the first place and married Wendy. Michael wanted to act like he had a good relationship with Wendy, which would certainly please his grandmother.
Even though Wendy understood his intentions, she still felt her heartbeat hopelessly accelerate. After all, Michael was the man she had been in love with for the past three years. A little bit of warmth from him, be it real or fake, was enough to satisfy her.
Upon entering the living room, Michael released his hold around Wendy with a smile and approached his grandmother. He said, "Grandmother, happy birthday to you."
When Wendy felt Michael retract his arm, her spirits dipped as well. She thought, even if his warmth was just an act, couldn't it have lasted a little longer?
Mrs. Lucas smiled happily when she noticed Michael and Wendy enter the living room together in such an intimate manner. She said, "Your presence has made my birthday a very happy one indeed."
She patted the empty space beside her and told Wendy, "Wendy, come and sit beside me. Let me take a good look at you."
Wendy approached Madam Lucas with a smile. However, instead of taking a seat, she said, "Happy birthday, grandmother."
After that, Wendy gave a slight bow to Michael's parents who were seated on the adjacent couch. She greeted them, "Hello, father and mother."
Then, she greeted Michael's other relatives.
There were many people in the living room, and the truth was that Wendy was not entirely sure of their respective identities.
The Lucas family was a huge empire, and they had a big immediate family as well. All Wendy knew was that Michael had two uncles and one aunt. His grandfather was deceased, leaving his grandmother to occupy the family mansion with her oldest grandson, Michael's father. As for Michael's cousins, Wendy was not quite sure about them. After all, the Lucas family had never acknowledged her status as part of them.
The only time the Lucas family would extend an invitation to her was during their grandmother's birthday.
To put it more accurately, it was Mrs. Lucas who invited her.
She was excluded from other major events like the birthdays of Michael's parents.
Hence, Wendy was not well versed about the respective members of the Lucas family.
Wendy greeted everyone around her courteously, but the only form of response she got was a slight humming sound from them.
Mrs. Lucas felt rather unhappy about it. The smile on her face faded a fair bit.
Holding Wendy's hand, Madam Lucas said, "Come and talk to your grandmother."
The fact was that Mrs. Lucas really wanted to publicly acknowledge Wendy's identity on behalf of the Lucas family and treat her with fairness. However, when Michael agreed to marry Wendy back then, they had agreed on the condition that her status is kept secret. Wendy had agreed to it and convinced Mrs. Lucas to let the young couple deal with their own problems.
Therefore, even though Mrs. Lucas felt anxious watching them, she could not interfere.
Back then, Wendy was extremely confident and believed that Michael would surely fall in love with her sooner or later. She believed that when that time came, her marriage with Michael would naturally be announced to the public. Unfortunately, her confidence had been misplaced.
Mrs. Lucas studied Wendy's physique and realized that her complexion had improved a lot. Smiling, she said, "Your complexion has finally improved, I'm relieved."
Turning her head, Mrs. Lucas pretended to reprimand Michael, "Don't bully Wendy, alright? If I find out that you've been bullying her, I'll teach you a lesson."
"With you backing up Wendy, who would dare to bully her, Grandmother? I don't even have the guts to lay a single finger on her," replied Michael. He would not anger Madam Lucas today.
Since their divorce proceedings had been unsuccessful and he had already brought her back home with him, it was only natural for Michael to go along with his grandmother and tell her what she wanted to hear.
Michael tilted his head to glance at Wendy. He realized that her complexion had indeed improved very much compared to the past.
He remembered how Wendy used to look-she was always scrawny with sallow skin. Even with make-up, she was so skinny that her eyes were sunken. Even though she was still very thin now, her complexion had undergone a significant improvement.
Michael could not help but frown. He wondered if his wife had been in a good mood recently.
"It's Grandmother's birthday today, and since you usually dote on her so much, I'm curious to see what gift Wendy has picked out for you to give. Do share it with everyone," said Michael's second uncle's wife.
"Yes, yes, we want to see it too," a group of people started chanting.
Wendy saw many gifts on the table when she first entered the living room.
Even though it was just a family dinner, the people present made sure to make a show of their wealth through their gifts.
As the gifts were all unwrapped, Wendy guessed that they had all been compared to each other already.
The difference between Wendy's gift for Mrs. Lucas and what other people had gotten for the old lady was as extreme as the difference between heaven and hell.
Put on the spot, she found it difficult to put her gift on display. However, in such a scenario, Wendy could not possibly get away without showing everyone her gift as well. Gritting her teeth, Wendy picked up her gift and handed it to Mrs. Lucas. She said, "Grandmother, I personally baked some pastries for you, I hope you like them."
"Pastries? Am I hearing this right?" someone said.
"This... Is it appropriate to give Grandmother pastries for her birthday? How stingy she must be, she can't even bear to spend money on a birthday gift," another person chimed in.
"Not to mention the fact that Grandmother dotes on her so much! I haven't started working yet, but I saved up one month's worth of allowance to buy a necklace for grandmother. How did Wendy bring herself to offer grandmother some pastries?" added a third person.
The familial relationships between the people in the Lucas family appeared friendly and harmonious on the surface, but deep down, things were more contentious.
Michael's company was growing bigger and bigger, and now that it was the leader of MC Enterprise, his uncles had grown very jealous. When Michael first married Wendy, they treated it like an entertaining drama and prayed that their little union would fall apart in the future.
Asking Wendy to reveal her gift this time was not done with good intentions. After realizing that all Wendy had to offer were some pastries, it was only natural that these relatives would seize the opportunity to mock her. Similarly, the expressions on Michael's parents' faces turned ugly as they sat by the side.
Even though they did not acknowledge Wendy as their daughter-in-law, she was still part of the Lucas family. They thought that her birthday gift of pastries was like a huge slap in the face to Michael in front of everyone.
