Chapter 1508: Unexpected Acquaintance
“My dear Leslie, don’t you plan to introduce your boyfriend to me?” Elsa crossed her arms in front of her chest, smiled with her lips closed, then examined Jiang Chen who was enjoying his wine, from head-to-toe. There was a look of contempt but that quickly disappeared in her eyes, “Long time no see, your taste still seems to not have gotten better.”
Because Jiang Chen wore sunglasses and the light was dim, she did not see who sat there. In fact, even without sunglasses and dim light, it was not easy for her to recognize Jiang Chen. It was difficult for people of different race to recognize someone from another race, let alone it was rare for an important individual to sit in the corner and drink alone.
If this person was indeed influential, there would be countless people around him.
“Miss Griffin,” Leslie took a deep breath, looked at Elsa coldly, and there was a glamorous but standoffish curve curvature formed with the corner of her lips turned up, “I have no time to argue with you today.”
“Don’t be so cold, it’s rare for us to meet at a banquet,” Elsa said with a smile
While there was no verbal conformation at this moment, there was clearly sparks forming between the two women’s eyes.
“This is my business card.” Elsa’s companion smiled and nodded at Jiang Chen politely, handed out a gold-plated business card to him, then said in a gentle tone, “I hope we can have a good chat in the future.”
Berkeley Lewis, President of Dream Real Estate.
When Jiang Chen saw the name on the business card, he had a sudden look of realization.
He thought this person looked familiar, and now he finally recalled where he had seen him.
About three or four years ago, at the charity gala in Penglai City, Jiang Chen happened to encounter this man. He had pestered Emma, so Jiang Chen helped Emma and made Berkeley make a fool of himself at the banquet. Then defeated, Berkeley returned to Los Santos.
He didn’t know what happened afterwards to make the man who spent all his energy on women and alcohol to turn out like this.
Although the disdain and arrogance in his eyes could not be concealed, at least he learned to be humble and polite on the surface, and even managed to befriend Miss Griffin. If he recalled correctly, the family name of Lewis could only be considered as a nouveau riche name.
Jiang Chen glanced at the business card between Berkeley’s fingers, then just responded with a smile and did not accept it.
The outstretched hand was frozen in the air, and there was a flash of anger in Berkeley’s eyes. However, he quickly hid the emotion behind his smile mixed with contempt and mockery, then put the card back into his inner pocket.
“It seems that it is the first time Miss Leslie’s little boyfriend is meeting this circle. It is excusable to not understand the etiquette of the upper class.” Elsa looked at Jiang Chen with a hint of disdain in her eyes, “Let’s go, Berkeley. Standing with boring people will make the air worse.”
“Okay, my dear Miss Elsa.” Berkeley Lewis took a long look at Jiang Chen, then followed Elsa and left the corner of the banquet.
Leslie was finally relieved after her nemesis left.
Although her original intention was to see Elsa suffer a defeat in front of Jiang Chen, the impatient and annoyed look on Jiang Chen clearly said that he did not plan to intervene in their feud. Leslie quickly sensed this and did not respond to the provocation. The latter also left with a lack of interest after receiving no response.
While Leslie watched Elsa leave, she noticed that Jiang Chen’s eyes were on Berkeley, so she whispered.
“Berkeley Lewis, a nouveau riche from C State, Elsa’s third boyfriend this year…maybe fourth. Although he has no abilities, his father ranks in the top 30 on Forbes. Dream Real Estate is also one of the top real estate developers in C State, mainly targeting overseas immigrants, especially those from Hua…”
“I know, his father seems to be a shareholder of Warner Bros.” Jiang Chen chuckled.
“Do you know him?” Leslie was slightly surprised.
“We spoke a few words before, obviously he didn’t recognize me.” After he placed the glass on the table, he stood up and discarded the unpleasantness that just happened behind him. He paused for a moment, and then said, “Let’s go and see what’s good at the auction.”
Miss Leslie hurriedly stood up.
If her classmates were here, they would definitely be surprised. The third daughter of the Garcia family, who had always been like the flower blooming in the high mountains, aloof and standoffish, actually looked respectfully to a man.
…
Under the spotlight, it was difficult to be invisible, and the established consortium had long learned to keep a low profile after the early days.
Not only old consortia like B City Consortium, many families with “savings” also learned to put their wealth in different types of funds, offshore accounts, and shell companies. It did not affect the control of the wealth while at the same time, hid it to obtain tax exemptions in the name of “charity”, especially the heinous inheritance tax. Since the world’s real richest people turned invisible, who took their seats? It was Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and other middle-class billionaires that took this false name, and this situation made both the real and fake rich equally happy.
For example, Leslie’s father Otto Garcia possessed assets worth more than 100 billion dollars, but he did not show up on the Forbes wealthiest list. For another example, Jiang Chen himself, other than a few years ago where his name was on the top of the list, he had bought Forbes magazine to remove him from the list.
After all, the string of zeros attracted too much attention.
The auction was held in the conference hall on the top floor. Guests in formal attire entered the venue one after another as they took their seats in accordance to their numbers.
In Nouveau York, the family name of Garcia still carried some weight, and Leslie’s seats was near the front. After she walked in on Jiang Chen’s arm, she suddenly noticed an annoying figure. It was Elsa and her companion, Mr. Lewis, who sat not far from them.
Elsa sensed Leslie’s gaze, turned her head and responded with a confrontational look.
“They are really on our tails.” Leslie cursed under her breath, then no longer looked to that direction.
“Leslie is a bit weird today.” After Elsa turned her head around, she took her makeup from her bag and added some more to her delicate face, “Normally, there is no way she’d be so polite with me.”
Berkeley Lewis sat there, and his mind seemed to be a little absent as he didn’t even hear what his female companion said.
Just now, he suddenly saw a figure that lingered even in his dream.
“Berkeley? Are you listening to me?” Elsa glared at her boyfriend, dissatisfied, and there was a tone of suspiciousness in her voice.
Berkeley quickly recovered from his dazed state, smiled, and calmly focused back on his girlfriend and softly comforted her.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something…”
While he sweetly coaxed his girlfriend, Berkeley’s mind was no longer here.
After he glanced over the backless evening gown inadvertently, he suddenly had an idea…