The mysterious CEO's endless pampering

Amidst gasps of amazement, a stunningly beautiful figure immediately came into view.

She wore a starry long dress inlaid with countless diamonds, her noble and elegant face adorned with a pair of aquamarine eyes, her beautiful chestnut-brown long curly hair cascading down her slender waist, and her slightly pursed cherry-blossom lips that looked incredibly delicate. Anyone who saw her couldn't help but sigh, how could there be such a stunningly beautiful woman in this world, and a mixed-race woman that many people envied.

Almost everyone present was stunned by her appearance.

Elsa remained quite calm in the face of the astonishment of those around her.

She nodded slightly to everyone, then gracefully stopped in front of Li Zhanting and Xie Tingrui. A faint light flickered in her beautiful eyes as she spoke with ease and grace: "Zhan, it's been a long time."

Li Zhanting's cold, deep voice carried a hint of gentleness as he said, "Long time no see, Elsa."

Elsa attended the banquet solely to see Li Zhanting, a fact she had painstakingly gathered after much effort.

The Li Zhanting before her was more charming, more perfect, and more suitable for her than the man she remembered five years ago.

Just as she was about to get closer to Li Zhanting, Xie Tingrui suddenly interrupted, "Seriously, old classmate? We haven't seen each other in ages. Why are you only greeting Lao Li?"

A slightly apologetic smile appeared on Elsa's beautiful and pure face as she said, "Rui, I'm sorry, I got too excited when I saw Zhan just now. Please forgive my mistake."

Xie Tingrui waved his hand generously, "Never mind, it's not the first time I've been ignored anyway. But speaking of which, it's been about four or five years since we last saw each other. We didn't even have time to say goodbye back then, but seeing you like this now, Lao Li and I are relieved."

“It was five years, three months, and six days. I remember it all. I’m so sorry I didn’t say goodbye to you back then, but now I’m back. I hope it’s not too late.” As Elsa spoke, her smile was as gentle as the blooming and falling of a pure lotus flower, captivating many in the room.

Even Xie Tingrui, who had seen countless people, was amazed by her.

However, in Li Zhanting's eyes, no woman, no matter how beautiful, could make his heart flutter as much as his beautiful wife. Besides, he had only ever felt friendship towards Elsa.

While Elsa is breathtakingly beautiful in the eyes of men, she is a source of jealousy in the eyes of women.

"So she's the long-lost daughter that the Wilson family, America's number one family, just recognized. She's really beautiful; no wonder so many men can't take their eyes off her."

"What do you mean 'lost'? To be honest, she's an illegitimate child. I heard from my father that Wilson John was quite the womanizer when he was young, dating many socialites and heiresses, but none of those relationships lasted. Perhaps he got tired of the rich girls and wanted to have his way with a poor student. Unexpectedly, the poor student took it seriously and got pregnant. Wilson John gave that woman a large sum of money to have an abortion, but she refused and disappeared with the money. Elsa seems to be that woman's child." A blonde woman with heavy makeup and dressed in clothes adorned with various luxury brand logos said with a disdainful expression.

It seems that resentment towards women who are better than oneself is a common trait among all women. At this moment, another girl standing next to her chimed in, "Yes, I also heard it from my mother. Five years ago, Wilson John's only son, Jack, suddenly fell seriously ill. It is said that he has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. No one in the entire family is a match, so they had no choice but to bring Elsa back. The condition for Elsa to agree to donate bone marrow is that Earl Wilson recognizes her and her mother's identities and allows her to return to the Earl's mansion. In addition, she will also receive corresponding company shares and money. Today is also the first time that she has met everyone in public as the daughter of the Wilson family."

The two women started casually gossiping about Elsa.

"Look at how she's dressed, she's totally here to seduce men. What bad luck, I spent so much time preparing at home, and those stinky men didn't even bother to look at me."

"A bitch is a bitch. No matter how well she dresses up, she can't hide her filthy stench!"

At this moment, another Black girl who was on good terms with them cautiously advised, "Shh, keep your voice down, don't say anything. Look at the man next to her, he seems to have heard you. He looks terrified. Let's go away and avoid trouble."

The blonde beauty said completely unconcernedly, "Oh, what are you afraid of? It's such a high-class occasion. Even if she hears it, what can she do? She'll still have to put up with it. My family and Uncle John have been good friends for decades. Who does she think she is!"

The Black girl whispered again, "I think you should say less. If you don't respect Elsa, do you think you can ignore the men around her, especially those two Asian men? I remember my brother telling me that you can't afford to offend them, or you'll suffer a terrible fate."

The blonde woman scoffed twice, "Are you kidding me? This is America. No matter how powerful an Asian man is, do you think he can reach into our territory?"

The Black girl finally panicked, "Are you out of your mind because of drugs? Is that an ordinary Asian man? That's Li Zhanting, the president of Shengtian International, the head of the Li family, and he has important collaborations with many families here. Offending him is like offending half of American business!"

"Shengtian International, OMG!" The woman who had always looked down on Elsa shut her mouth in terror, not daring to say anything more. Even if she was jealous, she didn't dare to jeopardize her family's fate, otherwise, how would she afford to go out and have fun in the future?

Realizing this, she immediately covered her mouth, grabbed her friend, and ran away looking dejected.

They were having such a lively discussion, and Elsa wasn't deaf, so how could she not hear them? But she turned a deaf ear, displaying the elegance of a noblewoman, and continued to chat and laugh with Li Zhanting and Xie Tingrui.

In fact, Li Zhanting did have people investigate back then, but for some reason, they couldn't find anything. However, if they investigated further, it would easily arouse suspicion from the US government, so the matter was dropped.

According to those gossipy women, Elsa's status seems to have undergone a complete transformation. After all, she went to university on a scholarship, but now, any one of her belongings is worth a fortune, indicating that she is living a much better life than he imagined.

Xie Tingrui usually hates people who gossip behind people's backs. If it weren't for the fact that they are women, he would really like to give them a good scolding.

With a slightly somber expression, he comforted the woman beside him, saying, "Elsa, you don't need to care what those people say. No matter what your status is now, you will always be our good friend."

Elsa looked at him gratefully. "Thank you, Ray. I'm fine, and what they said is true. I am indeed Wilson John's illegitimate daughter from when he was young. I was taken back because I was afraid his youngest son was sick. But they are wrong about one thing. The reason I agreed to help Jack was not for status or money. It was for my mother. She loved my father very much."

Even though she hated that lying man.

After Elsa finished speaking, she looked at the man she had been longing for. "Actually, after my father took me away, I always thought about contacting you, but in order to let me stay and cooperate with Jack's treatment, my father had the bodyguards completely control my movements. So I'm sorry to have made you worry."

Xie Tingrui said with some heartache, "Alright, Elsa, you had no choice in the matter. You don't need to keep apologizing to us. Do we look like such petty people?"

A relieved smile appeared on Elsa's beautiful face. "Okay, after the banquet, let's find a place to have a proper get-together. It'll be my way of being a good host, how about it?"

Although she kept talking to Xie Tingrui, her gaze remained fixed on Li Zhanting.

Li Zhanting glanced at the time on his wrist, thinking about how he would video chat with Shen Yanran afterward, so he declined Elsa's invitation, "Sorry, I'm not available today. You and Arui can get together."

"Old Li, are you sure?" Xie Tingrui had noticed a long time ago that Elsa's feelings for Li Zhanting were unusual, and he even thought that the two would get married after graduation. But then Elsa suddenly disappeared, and Old Li went to join the army, and the two lost contact.

Although Li Zhanting is already married, Elsa was once a good friend of theirs, so it would be too cold of him to refuse her invitation like this.

Li Zhanting glanced at Xie Tingrui indifferently, "What, is that not allowed?"

Fearing that Elsa would feel awkward, Xie Tingrui added a few more words of persuasion, "It's not that it's not possible, what I mean is, it's rare for us to reunite with Elsa here, wouldn't it be nice to catch up?"

Elsa was certainly not expected that Li Zhanting would reject her so directly. Her beautiful face turned pale instantly, but she still maintained her elegance and said gently, "It's okay, Zhan. If you're not available, that's fine. We can reschedule for another day. I think the auction is about to start. Let's go over there first."

She had thought it through carefully. As long as she reconnected with Li Zhanting, she was confident that she could make this man fall in love with her. There was no need to rush it.

And the task her father gave her would naturally fall into place.

After everyone was seated, Xie Tingrui leaned close to Li Zhanting and whispered, "Why did you reject Elsa so directly just now? It made her so embarrassed."

Li Zhanting sat on the sofa and said calmly, "Wouldn't it be the same if you went?"

"Whether I go or not doesn't matter to her at all. It's obvious she wants to ask you out, isn't it? Her eyes never left you the whole time." Xie Tingrui rolled his eyes helplessly. Did he really not see it or was he just pretending not to see it?

Li Zhanting's expression darkened. "You're overthinking it."

Xie Tingrui raised his chin. "Absolutely not. You'll see if you don't believe me."

Li Zhanting remained unmoved, instead looking at Xie Tingrui with deep eyes and asking, "Have you forgotten that I got married?"