Before Haoze met Sophia, he had already looked into her life in great detail.
He knew all about her background. But he still couldn't figure out where all those antiques came from. He only knew that not only his grandfather and grandaunt had bought paintings and calligraphy from her, even two large auction houses had bought many things from her too.
Even now, Haoze still didn't trust her completely.
But in front of the older guests, he didn't show it.
Everyone was just gathered to drink tea and chat.
Soon after they sat down, a server came to make tea for them.
While they were drinking tea and waiting for the food, Laoyezi started introducing Sophia. "My old friends, didn't you say you wanted to buy paintings and antique vases? This young lady here is the seller."
When Sophia heard Laoyezi introduce her, she quickly stood up and smiled politely, nodding to greet each of the elders.
Since Laoyezi was an elder and also the host in Peng City, Sophia followed his lead.
After that, Laoyezi began introducing each of the older men sitting there.
"This is Mr. Dong, the founder of Yaotian Group."
"This is Mr. Wang, the head of Mingtai Group. Even at his age, he still manages everything in the company."
Laoyezi went on, one by one.
That's when Sophia realized who these people were. They were powerful people with a lot of money. Laoyezi had brought her the perfect customers.
The kind of projects they handled were worth billions. Buying everything in her little exhibition hall wouldn't be a problem for them at all.
This was also another reason Haoze came. His grandfather brought so many important people to support Sophia. If anything went wrong with those antiques, the Zhou family's name would be damaged in this social circle.
After the introductions, the food was served.
They started talking about the items in Sophia's exhibition.
Sophia felt that Haoze was giving her a strange look. While chatting with Shuxun, she looked up and met Haoze's eyes.
Her smile faded a little. She looked straight at him for a second, then calmly looked away.
The dinner lasted a long time. The tea was refilled many times.
Sophia looked at the time. It was already past nine. The older guests were still full of energy and talking happily.
She felt tired and couldn't help but think about the saying: "Young people look half-dead, but the old ones are full of life."
In the end, it was Haoze who reminded everyone. "Grandpa, it's getting late. We should go back and rest. Don't we have to attend Haiwen's engagement party tomorrow?"
Only then did Laoyezi react and call everyone to head back to the hotel.
Haoze called the manager over to pay the bill right away.
They had not planned to attend Haiwen's engagement party at first.
The Wu family only invited them to be polite. Most families were just sending their younger members or people from Haoze's parents' generation.
But when they found out that Sophia was close by and also going, they changed their plans and decided to go themselves.
The real reason was that the old friends just wanted to use the engagement as a chance to meet up again.
If Haiwen found out, she would probably think, "So my engagement became your get-together?"
Because of this change, what was supposed to be a small event now had to be taken more seriously.
Luckily, they gave enough notice, so the Chen and Wu families had time to get everything ready.
When they returned to the hotel, nobody knew what the elders were doing. Sophia just took a shower and went to bed quickly.
She had to give a gift to Haiwen early the next morning.
She didn't go with Laoyezi and the others.
She woke up at 7 a.m. and left the hotel. The Wu family house was nearby, and it only took her half an hour to get there.
Sophia arrived when Haiwen was still getting her makeup done.
There were quite a few people in the room, including the makeup artist and Haiwen's close friends.
Haiwen saw Sophia through the mirror and smiled. "Sophia, you came!"
"Looks like I came just in time."
Sophia lifted the gift in her hand as she walked in.
She greeted the other girls politely.
Then she handed the gift to Haiwen.
The makeup artist paused for a moment. There were still hours before the engagement party started, so they had plenty of time.
Haiwen took the gift and smiled. "You even brought a gift?"
Sophia said, "Open it and see if you like it."
Haiwen opened the gift right away.
Inside the paper bag was a rosewood box. She took it out and opened it. Inside was a full set of jade jewelry.
Haiwen's eyes widened in surprise. She gently covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Sophia. "This is so beautiful."
Then she asked, "Did you plan this during your last visit?"
Even though she asked, her tone was full of certainty. She was clearly touched.
Her friends, who had been chatting on the bed and around a small table, came over to take a look.
"This orange jade looks really nice."
They all praised the jewelry.
These women had seen many luxury items before. They could easily tell how valuable this set was. They immediately started to see Sophia differently.
Before this, they had only heard about Sophia from Haiwen, but they weren't very interested. Their hobbies were different. They liked designer bags more than antiques.
But they didn't expect Sophia's gift to look so beautiful. The jade pendants looked like water drops.
"This jewelry would go great with your red dress."
One of Haiwen's friends said that.
Haiwen nodded. That was the dress she had shown Sophia before. It was a dark red gown she planned to wear that evening. For now, she carefully put the jewelry away.
She held Sophia's hand. "Sophia, thank you for this gift. I really love it."
Sophia gently patted her hand. "Wishing you a happy engagement."
After that, Sophia sat off to the side so Haiwen could finish her makeup and hair.
Because of what happened just now, the girls became more interested in Sophia and pulled her into their group chat.
Some of them asked about her background.
Sophia didn't say much. She only talked about her current situation.
After hearing her, the girls didn't believe her. "You live in the countryside? That's not possible. That set of jewelry you gave Haiwen is worth at least a few million."
"Yeah right, the countryside is probably just one of your houses. It's popular now to relax and live out there."
None of them believed what Sophia said.