Chapter 179 - Chapter 179: Conjecture
Due to the sudden incident, the tea party ended before it even started.
The other invited guests were all blocked outside the teahouse.
“What’s the meaning of this?” The guests had the invitation but were not allowed to enter, which made them very angry. “Is this the etiquette of the Ford family?”
Butler Hatton ran out with sweat all over his head and bowed to apologize to everyone. “I’m very sorry, distinguished guests. We just received news that a few wild bears have broken into the tea house and are running around the tea garden. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of all the ladies, the tea party held in the teahouse has been canceled. If all the ladies don’t mind, our Madam has already reserved a venue in the Aurora Club. We invite all the ladies to move there.”
The Aurora Club was a top-notch club, and the Ford family had reserved a venue here. It could be said that they were very sincere.
However, the guests had dressed up and took more than an hour’s drive to the tea garden in the suburbs. They were already quite tired, and now they had to change the venue again. Wouldn’t that be a waste of time? As a result, many people had the intention to retreat.
Among them, some of the smarter people had probably realized that what Butler Hatton said was not reliable. Besides, there might be wild bears running down the mountain at this time.
Judging from how Madam Ford had treated people in the past, it was impolite to change the venue before the tea party started. As the hostess, she should have come out personally to explain the reason for the change and not just send her butler to deal with them.
So these noble madams had enough reason to guess that something so serious had happened in the teahouse that Madam Ford couldn’t get away, and so had pushed the butler out to entertain them.
Thinking about today’s banquet, Mrs. Hall would be present, so they wondered if what happened inside had something to do with Mrs. Hall.
However, there were people guarding outside the teahouse, so they couldn’t get in. Even if they had some guesses, they couldn’t get more clues.
One of the smart ladies rolled her eyes and suddenly asked the butler, “Didn’t you say that Mrs. Hall was invited to today’s tea party? The tea party has already started, but Mrs. Hall is still nowhere to be seen. Is she not coming? Or did you inform her in advance and let her enter the Aurora Club first?”
As soon as she said that, the crowd fell silent and looked at Butler Hatton.
Butler Hatton knew from their frenzied eyes that they didn’t believe the excuse he had just made. However, the attack on Mrs. Hall was too serious, and it was likely to involve many forces, so they had to be careful.
Before the situation was clear, this matter could not be leaked from their side. Thus, he could only come up with such a poor excuse to stop the guests who were going to the tea party today.
Hatton pretended not to notice the gazes of the ladies. He bowed slightly and said, “My madam has already contacted Mrs. Hall. After Mrs. Hall found out
about what happened at the teahouse, she said that she won’t be attending today’s tea party since it’s not a coincidence. She’ll invite everyone to her dinner party when she has time.”
Many people had come to the tea party for Mrs. Hall. After hearing that Mrs. Hall wasn’t going to attend, the guests felt that it was troublesome. All of a sudden, they were even more unwilling to make another trip to the Aurora Club, so they found an excuse to go back.
The teahouse was still in a mess. Hatton was already very busy and hoped that these ladies would leave soon. After hearing their words, he did not show any unhappiness from being rejected. Instead, he sincerely apologized to the guests again.
Just as everyone was about to leave, a fleet of cars suddenly appeared in front of them. They seemed to be heading toward the teahouse.
A sharp-eyed customer saw the logo of the car in the lead. It was the Anderson family’s.
But at the same time, she was a little puzzled. Although Old Madam Anderson was an iron-blooded lady when she was young and was decisive in all kinds of ways, she usually did not like to put on a show. Therefore, every time she went out, she would usually only be followed by three or four cars. When had she ever had such a big show?
When the convoy arrived outside the teahouse and they saw Edwin getting out of the car, they realized that the person sitting inside was not Mrs. Anderson, but the young master of the Anderson family.
The crowd was even more confused. This tea party only invited female guests.. Therefore, even if the Anderson family had accepted the invitation, shouldn’t it be Old Madam Anderson who attended the meeting?