Alistair Forrest might not have seed at all serious in front of Vera Xavier. But when it was ti to talk business, his smile vanished and he transford into the very picture of a shrewd businessman—a completely different person from the one he was with her.
Vera Xavier paid the little incident no mind, walking ahead and examining the raw jade stones.
While The Jade Market wasn’t yet the size it would be in twenty years, it was still quite large. At their current pace, they wouldn’t be able to see everything in a single day.
Aaron Cheney looked at her with concern. "Vera, that guy is obviously bad news. You should just ignore him."
Jack Judd chid in, "He’s obviously one of those spoiled rich brats from a TV drama. A total piece of trash! He’s not even worthy of carrying Young Master Nathan’s shoes!"
Vera Xavier glanced at them and nodded in agreent. "You’re right. Nathaniel Nathan truly is the best man in the world, bar none."
Aaron Cheney’s face lit up with excitent. "I bet you’ve never said that to Nathaniel’s face! I’m going to tell him what you said!"
Jack Judd jabbed him with an elbow. "Are you an idiot? Sothing like that has to be said to Young Master Nathan by Vera herself. What good would it do coming from you?"
Aaron Cheney scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh, right!"
Vera couldn’t help but laugh. Just then, a shrill female voice cut in. "Well, look what we have here. Country bumpkins trying to gamble on jade? Do you even have enough money in your pockets to buy a single raw stone?"
In that era, in the eyes of certain people, anyone who wasn’t a Veridia local was a country bumpkin.
Vera didn’t even have to turn around to know it was Skylar Crowe’s voice. Too lazy to even look, she simply asked, "Who’s that ’country bumpkin’ you’re yelling at?"
"I’m yelling at you!" Skylar Crowe shouted.
A small smile played on Vera Xavier’s lips. She turned around, still smiling, and said, "Oh, so you’re the country bumpkin. Do *you* have enough money in your pocket to buy a single raw stone?"
Skylar Crowe froze, rendered speechless by the coback. Furious, she looked ready to start a fight again.
Vera’s faint smile never wavered. "What’s wrong?" she asked. "Didn’t you get enough of a beating yesterday?"
Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "Now that the swelling’s gone down, your face doesn’t look quite so much like a pig’s head. Want a repeat performance?"
Seeing the faint chill emanating from Vera’s eyes, Skylar was inexplicably reminded of how Vera had looked while slapping her the day before. She had been utterly powerless to fight back.
Yesterday, she had applied the dicine Susan Caldwell gave her to the injuries on her face. The swelling had subsided considerably by now, but her face was still a patchwork of black and blue bruises, a colorful ss.
Jack Judd, never one to miss a chance for a jab, added, "That pig’s head is way too ugly. I wouldn’t eat it even if it were cooked!"
Aaron Cheney chid in, "Exactly! I’ve never seen such an ugly pig. Ugly on the outside, and black-hearted on the inside."
Skylar Crowe was so furious she was about to charge forward, but Susan Caldwell held her back with an outstretched arm. Susan then turned to Vera, her eyes crinkling into a smile. "Yesterday was just a misunderstanding. Let’s let bygones be bygones!"
Vera Xavier simply raised an eyebrow, remaining noncommittal.
Skylar Crowe gritted her teeth. She knew Susan Caldwell well enough to understand that the gentler Susan’s smile, the more anger she was suppressing. Susan had been just as humiliated by yesterday’s events.
Knowing Susan, she would never let this go. So, Skylar simply stood there, glaring at Vera with eyes that could spit fire.
Irene Jensen’s cold was mostly gone today, so she had co along as well. She had heard about what happened yesterday and was extrely curious about Vera Xavier.
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