Insufficient Funds

Madam Lucas's birthday was quickly approaching.

While working on her designs, Wendy also prepared a birthday gift for Michael's grandmother.

She did not have much money on her now, most of her expenses were a loan from Zen. Moreover, the Lucas family was extremely affluent. Wendy thought, 'Madam Lucas has probably seen many things in her life. She might not necessarily like expensive items.'

Hence, the gift that she had prepared was not expensive-it was a handcrafted gift that she had spent the entire day working on.

Madam Lucas's birthday dinner was scheduled for 6 pm. However, she gave Wendy a call in the morning, urging her to go over earlier.

Wendy wrapped her gift neatly before giving Michael a call.

A long time passed before he answered.

"Michael, it's your grandmother's birthday today. I intend to go over earlier so I can keep her company," Wendy explained herself, "I do not have any ulterior motives behind this call, I just wanted to let you know."

Wendy herself was unaware of when she began to develop the habit of having to explain everything she did.

"Come to the company," replied Michael in his usual icy tone.

"Huh?" Wendy thought she must have misheard him. She could not believe that Michael was taking the initiative to summon her to the company.

"Don't you understand English?"

"No, I ..."

"Report to my office within half an hour."

Thereafter, a beeping sound was heard over the phone, indicating that Michael had hung up.

Wendy did not know why Michael asked her to return to the company. But it was difficult for her to reject his requests.

Wendy arrived at Michael's office just as instructed.

Upon entering, Michael handed her a black credit card and said coldly, "Go to Chaumet Jewelry and purchase a good piece of jade for grandmother's birthday gift. Come back here once you're done, we'll go home together."

Wendy suspected that she must have misheard him.

She thought, 'did Michael just hand me a black card to buy a piece of jade? On top of that, he wants to go home together?'

Wendy opened her mouth slightly and asked subconsciously, "Why don't you ask Mr. York or Yvonne to get your grandmother's gift instead?"

Michael glanced at her unhappily. He replied disdainfully, "Grandmother adores you so much, do you find this task too troublesome for you?"

"That's not what I meant ..." Wendy said quickly.

Michael studied the cautious expression on her face and felt irritated. He replied, "You should know what my grandmother likes. There's a higher chance that my grandmother will appreciate the gift if you were the one who chose the jade."

Indeed ...

Wendy smiled bitterly.

The only reason why Michael wanted the both of them to return home together was so he could please his grandmother.

She felt foolish for being delighted, having mistakenly thought that Michael had gained some trust and affection for her.

Chaumet Jewelry was a reputable jade brand in Lake City.

After Wendy arrived, she browsed the jade bracelets on display carefully.

She did not have a good understanding of jade, so she could only rely on her own instincts and preference when deciding.

However, even after some time, nothing caught Wendy's eye.

Frowning, Wendy asked, "Hello, do you have better-quality jade than this here?"

The sales assistant glanced at how Wendy was dressed. With despise in her gaze, she said, "Those jade bracelets on display cost hundreds of thousands, are they're still not good enough for you?"

Wendy thought, 'is she implying that I can't afford it?'

Rather than flare up at the sales assistant, Wendy continued speaking, "Do you have jade in a deeper color? A more expensive price range is fine too."

Hundreds of thousands of dollars was indeed a big sum of money for Wendy. However, the jade she was buying today was meant for Madam Lucas. On top of that, it was Michael's money she was using.

If she bought something too cheap, Madam Lucas might not appreciate it and Michael might also suspect that she picked it out on purpose.

Since Michael was so rich, buying a jade bracelet worth millions of dollars should mean nothing to him.

Therefore, Wendy did not have any intention of helping Michael save money.

"Miss, we have plenty of superior jade in our shop, but such good quality jade is not meant for everyone to see. If just about anyone is qualified to do that, the workers here at Chaumet Jewelry would be really busy," the mockery in the sales assistant's tone grew increasingly evident.

She did not wish to entertain a customer like Wendy.

Surveying the cheap clothes that Wendy was wearing, the sales assistant doubted that she could afford their jade at all.

"I came here to buy jade," Wendy said in a much firmer voice as she grew unhappy with the sales assistant's attitude. "If you continue to give me this attitude, I'm going to lodge a complaint against you. Bring out your best jade, I want to take a look at your bracelets."

After all, the sales assistant was on payroll. She had the right to look down on other people, but if a complaint was really lodged against her, there would definitely be some impact on her.

Hence, she could only go and retrieve the jade that Wendy requested.

The sales assistant took out more than a dozen jade bracelets. Every single one of them was worth over one million dollars. She placed them on the table with extreme care.

She said, "These jade bracelets are worth millions of dollars. Be careful, if you accidentally break them, there's no way you can afford to pay for the damages."

Wendy thought, 'these bracelets are really worth their value.'

Their color was much deeper than the ones she had seen on display.

She picked out the bracelet that she liked the most and said delightedly, "Please wrap this for me..."

Before she could finish speaking, a woman's voice could be heard beside her, "I want that jade bracelet."

With that, the woman snatched the jade bracelet from Wendy's hands. It was a voice that Wendy was very familiar with.

As expected, it was Yvonne.

Yvonne stared at Wendy with disdain on her face. She said, "What are you doing at Chaumet Jewelry? Do you even know what this place is? Can you afford it?"

Yvonne was very certain that Michael had not given Wendy any money. With Wendy's usual salary, there was no way she could even afford a broken jade bracelet.

"It's not up to you to worry about whether I can afford it. In any case, I saw this jade bracelet first," Wendy replied. At that, she turned her head to the sales assistant and told her, "Wrap this bracelet up for me."

"Hold on," Yvonne said to the sales assistant. "She's a mere personal assistant and was recently fired by her company. Do you think she has enough money to afford this bracelet? Sell it to me, I can afford it."

Those words were very revealing of Yvonne's status as a nouveau-riche.

Wendy shook her head with a smile on her face. She had no idea how Michael ever fell for a Woman Iike her.

The sales assistant, who had looked down on Wendy all along, scrutinized Yvonne and saw that she was dressed in designer clothes that were worth at least one hundred thousand dollars from head to toe.

As far as purchasing power was concerned, it was for certain that the sales assistant would choose to obey Yvonne instead.

Hence, with a smile on her face, the sales assistant spoke to Yvonne, "Miss, please come this way. I'll wrap the bracelet for you immediately."

"I saw this first," Wendy told the sales assistant indignantly.

However, she was met with the sales assistant's indifferent response, "You can just pick another bracelet."

With that, she went to the counter for Yvonne to pay the bill.

Yvonne glanced at Wendy contemptuously, a look of triumph plastered on her face.

Wendy never dreamt that she would run into Yvonne here, or that Yvonne would steal the bracelet from her.

She had spent a long time choosing before deciding on this particular bracelet. Unable to swallow this injustice, Wendy trailed after Yvonne to snatch the bracelet back from her.

She watched as Yvonne handed over her silver credit card to the sales assistant with a wide smile on her face.

"Yvonne, I saw this bracelet first. Can't you just choose another one?" Wendy tried her best to suppress her fury. "Chaumet Jewelry is such a big place, there are plenty of other good jade bracelets to choose from."

"I wasn't fixated on this jade bracelet at first, but since you're so insistent on it, I can only apologize as I want it now," replied Yvonne with a despicable look on her face.

"You ..."

Wendy was about to reason with her again when the sales assistant informed Yvonne apologetically, "Miss, there are insufficient funds in your card. Do you have another card?"