After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 137: Short-sighted Fool
Over here, Scarlett Jewel was racking her brain for a way to save face.
She needed to make her wedding look less deserted, lest she become a laughingstock.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town.
Roxanne Peyton and Stella Thorne were laughing so hard their stomachs hurt when they heard what was happening.
They found a moment when Claire Mercer had a break from her duties.
The two of them eagerly filled Claire in on all the juicy gossip.
Roxanne Peyton said, "You’re over here greeting guests until your back aches."
"And over there, Scarlett Jewel is just standing around like a wooden post, with nothing to do."
Claire Mercer asked, "Isn’t she supposed to be greeting guests?"
Stella Thorne waved a hand dismissively and laughed. "Don’t even get me started. There’s barely anyone there."
"I heard they planned for a hundred tables, but so far, only a little over thirty have filled up."
"And more than half of those are from Rose Gable’s side of the family, plus some distant Sinclair relatives..."
"They barely managed to scrape together thirty-five tables."
"Huh?" Claire Mercer was genuinely surprised, as she hadn’t heard about this. "Really? That’s what’s happening?"
Roxanne Peyton nodded. "The Sinclair Family invited guests, and the Rowan Family invited the same ones."
"But how can the Sinclairs possibly compare to the Rowans?"
"Naturally, any guests invited by both families came to your recognition ceremony."
"And just like that, the wedding of that scumbag Gavin Sinclair and the homewrecker Scarlett Jewel was left deserted."
Stella Thorne chimed in with a laugh, "The Sinclairs have always been so high-profile and arrogant. When have they ever been this humiliated?"
"You should have seen the looks on the Sinclairs’ faces. They were so dark you could wring ink from them."
"And the look on Scarlett Jewel’s face was especially priceless."
"Her face, usually caked in white makeup, was purple with rage."
Hearing how deserted the wedding was, Claire Mercer couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
’To think that the wedding Scarlett Jewel had been anticipating for so long would turn out to be so empty...’
’I can only imagine the colorful expression on her face. It must be a sight to behold.’
In a desperate attempt to salvage her desolate wedding,
Scarlett Jewel racked her brain and finally came up with an idea.
She immediately went to find Felix Sinclair and Rose Gable.
"Mom, Dad, so few people have shown up for the wedding. It’ll be humiliating if word gets out."
Rose Gable shot her a look of utter contempt. "You think I need you to tell me that?"
"I have an idea that might salvage the situation," Scarlett said.
Felix Sinclair narrowed his eyes at her. "What is it?"
Scarlett Jewel explained, "Since we’ve already booked all these tables, it’s impossible to cancel now."
"Rather than let all this food go to waste with the tables empty, making us a laughingstock..."
"...why don’t we invite people off the street to come eat for free?"
Felix Sinclair’s eyes narrowed. "Invite people off the street?"
Scarlett Jewel nodded.
"Yes. While it means giving these strangers a free meal, at least the banquet won’t go to waste."
"Plus, our wedding won’t look so pathetic, and we won’t bring shame to the Sinclair Family."
"Most importantly, we can use this as a chance to boost our public image."
"It’s like we’re doing charity work—inviting the public to a high-end banquet for free. It’s like the nobles of old giving out porridge to the needy."
"Of course, anyone who wants a free meal will have to say a few good words about the Sinclair Family."
"We can’t just let them eat and run."
"There’s no such thing as a truly free lunch, is there?"
"This way, we can start to repair the Sinclair Family’s reputation after all the recent scandals."
"We’ll earn a reputation for giving back to the community."
Hearing Scarlett Jewel’s suggestion, Felix Sinclair fell into deep thought.
Rose Gable, however, was resentful and immediately objected.
"Why should we let those peasants eat such a high-class banquet?"
"They’ve probably never set foot in such a fancy hotel in their entire lives."
"I’d rather let all this food go to waste than give those peasants a free meal..."
"The Sinclair Family isn’t a charity, and our money doesn’t grow on trees..."
"Shut up," Felix Sinclair snapped, cutting her off with extreme displeasure.
"You short-sighted, foolish woman."
After shooting Rose Gable a cold glare, he turned to Scarlett Jewel.
’Just moments ago, I was thinking this daughter-in-law of mine was completely unpresentable.’
’But now, her suggestion isn’t a bad way for the Sinclair Family to salvage its reputation.’
’In any case, it’s a waste to let all these tables sit empty.’
’Besides, we booked a hundred tables, and more than sixty of them are empty.’
’If word of that gets out, won’t the Sinclair Family become a complete laughingstock?’
’We’d lose all our dignity and gain absolutely nothing.’
’Given the circumstances, it’s better to do as Scarlett suggests.’
’Invite people in for a free meal, on the condition that they say good things about the family.’
’That way, the Sinclair Family really could restore some of its reputation.’
’Using my son’s wedding banquet to treat the public to a free meal...’
’That would actually bring some honor to the Sinclair name.’
The look he gave Scarlett Jewel was no longer quite so disdainful.
"That’s not a bad idea. Go ahead and do as you said."
Felix Sinclair immediately had his assistant arrange for it to be done.
Meanwhile, the second branch of the Sinclair family gazed at the empty banquet hall, their grins so wide they could hardly contain them.
The wife of the second branch, in particular, was practically blooming with delight.
She let out a gloating sneer and said to her daughter, Shanna Sinclair,
"See that? This is what they get for being so wicked."
"They invited guests for over a hundred tables, and only thirty-something showed up."
"When has the Sinclair Family ever been so disgraced? If word gets out, it reflects poorly on me, too."
"If we weren’t all Sinclairs, I’d be next door at Claire Mercer’s recognition ceremony right now."
But at the mention of Claire Mercer’s recognition ceremony, the smile on her face faded considerably.
"It’s just a shame that because of all the terrible things the main branch did to Claire..."
"...the Rowan Family now despises our second branch right along with them."
Just a moment ago, the wife of the second branch had been quite pleased, relishing the joke of Gavin Sinclair’s deserted wedding.
But now, thinking about how the main branch had offended Claire Mercer...
...and dragged their second branch down to be despised by the Rowan Family as well...
...a wave of frustrated anger washed over her.
The Rowan Family was the most powerful family in Rhonia. Countless prominent families were desperate to curry favor with them.
And though the Sinclair Family was the wealthiest in Rhonia...
...if they could get on the Rowan Family’s good side, it would bring them nothing but benefits.
But no, the main branch had to act so inhumanly and do those despicable things to Claire Mercer.
Now, not only had they failed to curry favor with the Rowans, they’d been completely blacklisted.
If the Sinclair Family hoped to climb to even greater heights, it would now be next to impossible.
The thought made her chest ache with anger.
"Mom, everyone knows there’s no love lost between our branch and the main one," Shanna began.
"If we really want to connect with the Rowan Family, why don’t we start with Claire Mercer?"
"Back when Claire was living with the Sinclairs, our branch of the family treated her reasonably well."
"We never gave her any trouble or plotted against her."
"The ones who wronged her were Grandma and Aunt Rose’s family. Our branch never did anything to hurt her."
"If we could use Claire to build a connection with the Rowan Family, our competition with the main branch would be over before it even began."
Hearing her daughter Shanna’s words, the wife of the second branch had a sudden epiphany.
