Hearing this, Rob finally understood.

Mr. Bateman was waiting for praise. He answered in resignation, "Not bad, Ms. Gladwell has good taste."

After saying that, Rob felt extremely guilty and quickly ran out.

Christopher happily appreciated his tie, while Janice meanwhile felt quite despondent.

After all, it cost her several hundred dollars.

Last night, she hesitated for a long time before buying it, and she didn’t expect that it would be taken by Christopher.

"Anyway, he has already worn it. I can’t let him return it."

She could consider it a kind of parting gift.

As for her father’s gift, she had to buy another one now.

But she didn’t have much money left. So she could only buy a cheap one from the counter.

Anyway, her father didn’t care about what she brought. It was just a formality.

Then she paid the bill and asked the salesgirl to pack it up. When she walked out with the gift box, she came across Vanessa and Gladys.

Both were carrying several high-end gift bags in their hands. It was obvious that they were shopping here.

Although Janice encountered them, she did not want to talk to them at all. When she was about to move around them, Gladys stopped her.

"Oh, Janice. Why don’t you say hello to your sister and me?"

Janice thought, "Every time I meet you, you’re always mocking me. Why should I say hello?"

"Do I have to ask them to mock me?"

She frowned, "What’s the matter? I’m in a hurry."

Gladys didn’t say anything. Instead, she looked at the bag in Janice’s hand and then sneered, "I just saw you come out from that store. You’re also here for some shopping?"

Janice said in her heart, "It’s none of your business."

However, it was not good to argue with Gladys in public. So she said, "If there’s nothing else, I should be going."

When she was about to leave, the gift box in her hand was taken away.

Now the gift box was in Vanessa’s hand.

Janice’s expression changed. Just as she was about to snatch it from Vanessa’s hand, Vanessa dodged.

"Vanessa, what are you doing? Give it back to me."

Vanessa opened the gift box as if she had not heard her sister’s words. When she saw a man’s tie inside, she sneered instantly.

"Janice, is this a birthday gift you bought for father?"

Janice knew that they would laugh at her, so she directly retorted, "It’s none of your business."

As she spoke, she snatched the tie and box from Vanessa’s hands and stuffed them into the bag.

Vanessa and Gladys looked at each other, then Vanessa said, "I have to remind you. Tomorrow night, father will invite all his friends and relatives from his business circle. If you give him this cheap thing, I’m afraid that you will bring shame to yourself."

Vanessa said sarcastically.

After Vanessa finished speaking, Gladys added a sarcastic remark, "How can you talk to your sister like this? Janice, your sister is joking. Please don’t take it to heart. You must come tomorrow night. By the way, you must bring your Hubby with you."

Gladys thought that there promised be a good show to watch tomorrow night.

...

Janice was extremely angry as she looked at the mess of gift in her hands.

How could she snatch things away so casually? So impolite.

She often suspected that she and Vanessa were born to completely different fathers.

However, what Vanessa had just said was right. Such a gift would probably be laughed at by the guests.

However, she had no other choice.

She didn’t have enough money to buy a new gift.

Forget it, let them laugh. Anyway, she had been used to that laughter all these years.

Then Janice stopped thinking about it and just left with the shopping bag.

The next day was Saturday, so she didn’t have to go to work. Janice stayed at home for a day. In the evening, she went to her father’s birthday party.

Although her father had asked her to bring Christopher, she didn’t want to tell him since they were about to get divorced, so she set off alone.

In the apartment, just as Christopher got home, Daniel called him. "Chris, I won’t be able to attend your father-in-law’s birthday party." "Birthday party?" Christopher was surprised. "When?" Daniel said, "Tonight, what? You don’t know?" Daniel’s surprised voice came through. Christopher frowned. Why hadn’t he heard of it?

When he realized that Janice had been quarreled with him recently, he understood her not informing him.

Although there was a conflict, he had to attend his father-in-law’s birthday party.

Thinking of this, Christopher said, "Let’s go together."

He hung up the phone, changed clothes, and called Rob to prepare gifts.

At six o’clock in the evening, Janice came to the hotel where his father’s birthday party was held.

She followed the sign at the door and walked in, finding that the decoration in the hall was full of the atmosphere of birthday.

It was more like a western birthday party. As she walked in, as expected, all the guests inside were wearing formal dresses.

Janice was depressed since no one had told her that there was a dress code. She just wore an ordinary suit.

She suspected that someone was intentional.

But since she was already here, it was not good for her to go back. Therefore, she forced herself to come in.

As soon as she walked into the banquet, she tried to look for her father.

Soon, she found her father among a group of guests not far away.

Malcolm looked very energetic tonight.

Janice was about to walk up to him.

"Hey, isn’t that Janice? Why are you dressed like this?"

A sarcastic voice suddenly came from behind.

Janice turned around and saw Gladys and Vanessa.

Both of them were dressed very beautifully tonight, especially Vanessa, who was in a high-end dress. Her long curly hair hung over her shoulders, making her look like quite regal.

They were accompanied by several of Gladys’s friends, and the mocking words were from one of them.

"Gladys, you should have sent someone to guard at the door. You can’t let a person dressed like this come in. Aren’t you afraid of ruining the atmosphere here?"

"That’s right. Look, which of the guests here is not wearing formal clothes? Only your stepdaughter who wants to lower the standards here."

..

The women chattered among themselves, completely ignoring Janice.

It seemed that these women only knew how to gossip.

Janice thought, "What’s wrong with me dressing like this? I didn’t steal or rob them. It’s none of their business."

Just as she was about to leave, she heard Gladys say, "Never mind. Janice is too busy to change her clothes. You know, she’s a reporter."

"Oh, you mean like a tabloid writer?"

"Yeah, those kinds of people will do anything for a story."

Upon hearing this, Janice could not stand it anymore. She would never allow anyone to insult her profession.

"Who have told you that the reporters are paparazzi? Look here, I am a reporter, do you see it clearly?"

Janice took out her reporters’ certificate and retorted.

Fortunately, she had the habit of taking her reporter’s card with her.

The faces of the women changed, and while they were embarrassed, Gladys said, "Janice, you should be polite to them."

Janice snorted.

"Bah!"

She scoffed in her heart.

"Sister, you even take your reporter’s card with you. Do you have any camera with you today?"

At this time, Vanessa, who had been silent, opened her mouth. Janice glanced at her and turned around to leave. "Sister, just casual talk. Do you have any camera?"

Vanessa stretched out her hand and was about to take the bag of gifts in Janice’s hands.

Janice did not pay much attention to her. After being pulled by her, the bag was broken and the gift box fell to the ground.

The tie inside rolled to the ground and finally stopped in the middle of the banquet.

Seeing this, Janice rushed to pick it up, but unexpectedly, someone stepped on it.

She was about to push the woman away, but she picked it up first.

"What is it in such an exquisite box?"

As the one spoke, she directly opened it, and then a red and blue tie appeared in front of everyone.

"Oh, I thought there’d be some rare treasure inside. It’s a tie. But I’m afraid it’s from some discount store. So sad."

The person sneered.

"Let me have a look too. Wow, it’s true. How dare you give it as a gift? Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

A few women sneered, other guests also surrounded.

Seeing more and more people gather around, Gladys hypocritically said, "Don’t say that. This is also Janice’s birthday gift."

"Pfft, I’m afraid that it was made from cheap materials."

"Yes, looks like it."

As they spoke, these women laughed out loud.

Seeing Janice silently standing there, Vanessa thought, "This isn’t like Janice. Why is she being so patient?"

She planned to provoke Janice, but unexpectedly, her sister did not respond at all.

At this moment, Vanessa saw a waiter walking towards her with a cocktail in his hand. She immediately came up with an idea. When no one was looking at her, she quietly stretched out her leg to trip him up.