Chapter 343 The Expensive Gift
Chapter 343 The Expensive Gift
It was very extravagant pendant.
Now that electronic locks were used almost everywhere, and only a passcode was needed to open a door, a key chain wasn't particularly useful. However, it could still be used for carrying car keys, or hung on a bag.
Summer nodded. "Mr. Xi, don't worry. Maria will like whatever gift you give her!"
James's eyes lit up with a smile. "Go and give it to her.
"Yes, sir."
Summer immediately rushed to the DS Group. As soon as she entered the lobby, the receptionist at the front desk asked politely, "Hi, who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for Ms. Song. I'm Summer Jing, the secretary of Mr. Xi from HL Group. He asked me to bring her a gift," Summer replied with a smile.
'So this is the special assistant of Mr. Xi! And she has even brought a gift for Ms. Song.' Quickly recovering from her shock, the receptionist said, "Welcome, Ms. Jing. I'll take you to see Ms. Song right now. This way, please!"
"Okay, thank you."
Summer followed the receptionist to the floor where Maria's office was located. Upon seeing her enter the floor, Peggy immediately greeted her. "Hi, Summer." "Hi, Peggy. Is Maria here?" Summer asked.
"Yeah, come on, I'll take you to her office. What's the
matter?"
As they walked, Summer showed Peggy the paper bag in her hand and said, "Mr. Xi has ordered me to personally bring a gift to Maria."
Excitement flickered in Peggy's eyes as she looked at the bag in Summer's hand. "Ah, Mr. Xi is so kind to Maria! I envy her!"
"Who doesn't?" Summer smiled.
Maria was sitting in her office and staring at her phone absent-mindedly, lost in her thoughts about Bob.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door before the door swung open, and Peggy walked in, followed by Summer. "Hi, Maria," Summer greeted. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
"Summer? Why are you here?" Maria stood up and walked towards her curiously.
Summer waved the paper bag in front of Maria and grinned. "Mr. Xi asked me to bring this to you."
Maria asked Peggy to make a cup of tea for their guest before taking the paper bag. "What's this?" she asked Summer.
"You'll know when you see it!"
Maria took out the exquisite-looking brocade box and opened it. The pendant on the key chain dazzled, reflecting the lights in the office. "A key chain?" Why had James suddenly gifted her a key chain?
Summer nodded. "A partner of HL Group gave this amethyst to Mr. Xi some time ago. Look, the shade of purple has a hint of wine red in it, which makes it look attractive. As soon as the partner
left that day, Mr. Xi asked me to get the best jewelry designer in our company to make this pendant for you."
Maria couldn't keep the burst of joy she felt from seeping into her eyes, but she pretended to be unimpressed and deliberately said, "Why did he give me this? I don't really use keys." "Don't worry, I've already thought about that for you. You can use it for hanging your car keys, or you can hang it on your bag. It's such an expensive and precious object, though. If I were you, I would keep it safe in my jewelry collection!"
Maria chuckled. "Well, I think I'll put my car keys on it." That way, she could carry James' gift with her all the time.
"Sure."
Peggy returned with a cup of tea and handed it to Summer. The three women chatted and giggled about James for a while, and then Peggy saw Summer off.
Once she was alone in her office, Maria fidgeted with the key chain in one hand and typed a message on her phone with the other. "Mr. Xi, you gave me fifty-one million dollars in the morning, and an expensive gift now. Do you want me to repay your kindness with my body?"
"No, just give me a son," came the quick reply. It was obvious that there was more to his words than met the eye.
Maria stared blankly at the word "son" for a while, feeling slightly uneasy. Did he already know about Bob's real identity? Or was he just speaking casually, and she was the one reading too much into it?
Either way, she couldn't give herself away, so she just replied, "No hurry. We already made an agreement, remember? You have to wait for a year."
Looking at her text, James smiled. Instead of bickering with her, he just replied, "Okay."
Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry. He was sure that he would find Bob soon. And when he did, he wanted to see the look on Maria's face.
Maria couldn't help but feel that something was off. Lately, he had been so nice to her, and this made her feel uneasy.
She didn't know if he was just being playful, or if he had an ulterior motive.
After hesitating for a while, she sent him another message. "Do you miss Bob?"
"Yes, I do," James replied. How could he not miss his own son?
However, Maria was a little surprised by his answer. She had always thought that James didn't like having Bob around.
While she was pondering over it, she received another message from him. "Do you know where his family live?"
"I don't know."
"Do you miss him too?" he asked.
"Yes." Of course she missed her own son, especially since she had barely gotten a chance to see him recently. She was afraid that James would find out the secret, so she had kept her distance from Bob.
When she received the next message, her eyes widened in surprise. "How about this? I'll ask someone to investigate his parents' whereabouts, so we can visit them together one day."
Maria was shocked. If he investigated it, he would find Bob in a minute! Then again, she had taken care to hide the baby very well, so maybe he wouldn't be able to. Suppressing her nervousness, she pretended to be calm and sent a message saying, "No, that's okay. Maybe they don't want us to disturb them."
"True, that makes sense." Seeing his reply, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Little did she know that James could imagine the exact reaction on her face, and that he was even amused by it.
At this moment, Norman was sitting in his villa and looking at the baby, who was sitting in the stroller and playing with toys.
With a warm smile, he said, "Your mother's such a bold woman! How dare she ask me to raise James' son?"
The baby thought Norman was playing with him, so he giggled happily and waved his hands in the air.
Norman was speechless. This baby smiled and laughed so much that he didn't look like James at all.
Narrowing his eyes playfully, Norman continued, "Do you think I should take you to James and ask him for money? The sole heir of the Xi family must be worth at least tens of billions of dollars, right?"
At this, Bob puckered his cute lips and spat out a bubble.
Norman was amused. "You are like a fish! You really love spitting out bubbles, don't you?"
Bob giggled even harder, and his movements became more excited.
Seeing this, Norman tilted his head and looked at the baby curiously. What was this little guy so happy about?
Babies were so strange.
"Do you think you should call me your uncle? But I don't want to be James' brother."
He pinched the baby's cheek and said, "Call me Uncle."
Knowing that the man was playfully teasing him, Bob giggled again.
Norman shook his head. What would James do if he found out how happy his son was in his villa?
In his opinion, it was meaningless for Maria to keep Bob's identity a secret from James.
James deserved to be tortured by the knowledge!
Anyway, Norman had already gotten wind of the news that James was looking for a child, which meant that he must have already suspected Bob's real identity.
In fact, it would be really stupid of him to not suspect it. James was, after all, a smart man.
'Well, in any case, it looks like I'll have to let Maria down again,¹ Norman thought to himself.
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