Chapter 20 Birthday Banquet

The next day, during Celine’s birthday banquet. At 8:00 pm at Dijue Hotel. Although the banquet just started, most of the guests had already arrived. Most of Jincheng’s powerful and famous people were gathered in the luxuriously decorated hall and mingled under gorgeous chandeliers. The atmosphere was lively with extravagantly dressed up guests. Celine Jennings wore a lilac hand-embroidered long dress with a tube top design. The lining of the dress reached her ankles, and layer upon layer of sheer cotton pooled on the ground, making her look celestial and beautiful. With a glass in hand, she moved among the crowd and greeted the guests one by one. The way she spoke and acted was graceful and calm, and her manners were of a perfect lady from high society. Low bursts of praise immediately rang out around her. “Ms. Jennings is truly beautiful. She’s worthy of being an A-list flower in the entertainment industry.” “Naturally. Not only is she pretty, she knows how to pick partners! Not just anyone can climb up to the level of the Morton family’s young master.” “It’s only been a few years since her debut but she managed to climb to such a high position with just her abilities. Not everyone can do that.” “The Jennings can be considered to be blessed for having such an outstanding daughter. Now that they’re working together with the Mortons, I’m afraid it’ll be even harder to stand up to the Jennings in the future. The low buzz in the banquet hall made Celine’s mouth hook upwards in satisfaction. After all, gaining the recognition of everyone was something anyone would be proud of. Everyone from the Jennings family was smiling. Even Sylvia Walker could not help but feel proud. She looked around the hall of guests and asked Shaun softly, “Has Nell arrived?” Shaun whispered back, “Not yet.” Sylvia frowned slightly. Shaun muttered in a low voice. “Mother, she wouldn’t bail on us, right?” “She won’t.” Sally also had a hint of concern on her face. “Nelly is a person of her word. Maybe she’s stuck in a traffic jam or something unexpected happened? Should we make a call to check up on her?” Shaun scoffed. “What could have happened? We’ve already informed her two days in advance. What can’t be done ahead of time that she would have to put it off until now? “Besides, it’s not rush hour now, so how could she be stuck in a jam? If you ask me, I’d say that she deliberately refused to show up so that she can embarrass the Jennings family!” Sally forced a smile. “Well, even if she doesn’t come, the other guests won’t notice anyway. It’s just Mrs. Jones…” Mrs. Jones was Nell’s mother, Cathy Morrison's godmother. She was also the notary when Nell and Jason signed the marriage agreement back then. The Jones family could be considered an old family in Jincheng. Although their power was not as strong as before, it was still not to be underestimated, especially in the business sector. After all, Mrs. Jones’s maiden name was Garrett, and everyone in the country knew that the Garrett family from Kyoto was not one to be trifled with. Although it had been many years since Mrs. Jones went off to get married in a faraway place, she had maintained contact with her ties in Kyoto, so the Jennings family could not afford to offend her. Sylvia frowned deeply and said in a low voice, “Call her and ask her where she is. Tell her that if she doesn’t show up, don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Shaun immediately brightened and quickly agreed before excusing himself to make the call. At that moment, Mrs. Jones came over accompanied by her grandson, Blaine Jones. “Hasn’t Nell arrived yet? You said that Nelly voluntarily abandoned the marriage, so I came to have a look, but it seems that I was lied to.” The Jennings immediately paled. Sylvia quickly put on a smile and said pleasantly, “How could that be? Even if we wanted to lie, we wouldn’t dare to lie to you. She just called us and said that there’s a traffic jam, so it’ll take a while for her to arrive. She’ll explain everything to you when she gets here.” Mrs. Jones swept her glance over them and scoffed coldly. “That best be true. Otherwise, if I find out that you’ve been bullying Nell, I’ll never forgive you. I’m sure you don’t want to offend my Jones family!” The smile on Sylvia’s face stiffened before she nodded. “Of course.” Mrs. Jones snorted again before turning to leave. Just as she left, Shaun came back with his phone in his hand. Sylvia’s expression darkened as she asked, “How is it? Is she here yet?” “She is. She’s coming up now.” Sylvia finally relaxed and took a deep breath. “That’s good. I believe that that stupid girl won’t dare to play any tricks.” At the same time, on the other side. Matthew Starks just so happened to hand over an invitation to Gideon Leith. “Mr. President, the youngest lady of the Jennings family is celebrating her birthday today, and you’ve been invited. Do you want to go?” The invitation had actually been sent two days ago, but Gideon had been busy with important affairs, and so was Matthew, so they had forgotten about it. Now that the banquet had started, Matthew suddenly remembered this and quickly took the invitation to Gideon. Gideon lifted his eyes from the file on his desk and glanced at the two names on the invitation. “Is she going?” Even without having to ask, Matthew knew who he was referring to. He swiftly replied, “Yes. I saw Ms. Jennings’s name on the list.” Gideon paused while signing a document and nodded after a moment. “Go and prepare a congratulatory gift. We’ll leave soon.” “Understood.” … Singing and dancing continued in the banquet hall. The Jennings gradually grew restless. There was no other reason than that Nell had not appeared yet. Mrs. Jones sent someone to ask Sylvia about Nell’s whereabouts several times, and the answer she received every time was ‘she’s almost here’. However, even after more than an hour had passed, Nell had yet to arrive. Mrs. Jones gradually lost her patience and almost suspected that the Jennings family had lied to her. Just as she was about to confront them, she heard a loud noise at the entrance. Everyone turned to look at the entrance curiously. They could not help but gasp in surprise when they saw the source of the commotion. Heavens! Who was that? How beautiful! Nell wore a dark blue starry dress today. The long skirt showed off her tall and slender figure just right, and starlight seemed to spread from her waist to the soles of her feet, accentuating and emphasizing her narrow waistline. Her delicate face was elevated stunningly with light makeup, and the slightly wavy yet fluffy chestnut hair draped on her shoulders swayed gently as she walked. She walked into the hall and stood near to the door, looking at the guests in the hall with cold eyes. She exuded an aura of coldness that kept people at a distance away from her. Some of the guests who made eye contact with her felt a slight chill and had the sudden urge to flee in retreat. However, her face was so stunning that it seemed as if it would be a loss if they did not take everything in. Even though they were terrified, they were still reluctant to look away, hoping to watch her for a few more minutes.