Chapter 20: Attending the Banquet With Her

For Ethan Yu, this recent bit of trouble wasn't much of an issue.

As long as they denied the divorce rumors, no one could really prove whether they were true or not.

Still, appearances mattered.

Like Chai Xiyang had said—they needed to save face, maybe even put on a bit of a show for the public…

Before night had even fallen, Ji Chuan, Ethan Yu's personal assistant, arrived at Hailey Tang's home.

Standing respectfully in the living room, he addressed the woman seated gracefully on the sofa. "Madam, President Yu asked me to escort you to this evening's banquet."

Hailey glanced up at him in surprise.

She recognized Ji Chuan. She was fairly familiar with most of the people around Ethan.

However, Ji Chuan had only met her a handful of times in this life, and they weren't particularly close.

"A banquet?" she echoed, raising an eyebrow.

Ji Chuan nodded. "Yes. Tonight is a celebration banquet for Dongfang Corporation's successful listing on the U.S. stock exchange."

Hailey froze.

Memories from her past life came rushing back. Dongfang had also hosted a celebration banquet back then.

But at that time, she had just been involved in that car accident with Lin Xinyue. She'd been a wreck—constantly crying and pestering Ethan. He was sick of her by then, barely came home, and definitely hadn't brought her to any banquets.

In fact, she hadn't even known the banquet had happened until much later, when she overheard it in passing.

Even worse, she'd eventually found out that Ethan had taken Lin Xinyue as his date that night.

Yes, that night—he never came home.

She'd always suspected that he'd spent that evening with Lin Xinyue.

That was the night her hatred toward Lin had solidified, the start of her relentless obsession with driving her away.

She was a woman—her instincts had screamed that Ethan viewed Lin Xinyue differently from others.

In her panic and insecurity, she had lashed out again and again, trying every trick in the book to get rid of her.

But this life… this time, she had already decided to let them be together.

So why, of all people, was Ethan asking her to attend the banquet with him?

Hailey was no fool. It didn't take her long to piece things together.

The divorce rumor had just broken out today. Ethan must be bringing her to the banquet as a way to squash the gossip and prove everything was fine.

How ironic.

In her last life, she had desperately wanted to be part of that event but had been cruelly excluded.

And now, when she had no desire to attend at all, she was being pulled into it.

Life really did enjoy playing tricks.

"When does the banquet start?" she asked coolly.

"Seven p.m.," Ji Chuan replied promptly.

"It's already five. Why are you only telling me now?"

Ji Chuan hesitated. "This… was President Yu's order…"

Hailey folded her arms, her tone chilled. "Clearly, he didn't want me to attend. So why the sudden change of heart?"

Ji Chuan began to sweat. He hadn't expected the seemingly quiet and young Mrs. Yu to be so sharp—or so hard to deal with.

"I-I'm not sure… I just follow the president's instructions."

"Who was originally supposed to go with him?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

"I… I don't know," Ji Chuan stammered.

Hailey gave a half-smile, clearly seeing through him. "I heard it was Director Lin. If that's the case, tell her to go instead. I'm not feeling well today."

She had no interest in playing along with Ethan's charade.

Even if they didn't stage a fake reconciliation, Ethan could still handle this small crisis on his own. Why should she have to help him save face?

Besides, wasn't she supposed to be giving Lin Xinyue opportunities? If they were to fall in love, didn't Lin need time and chances to be close to him?

But Ji Chuan's next words stopped her cold.

"Madam… by Director Lin, do you mean Lin Xinyue? She's no longer the secretary director. She was reassigned to the design department after being penalized for a serious mistake."

Hailey blinked. "Penalized? What mistake did she make?"