She told Paige Walsh about Zara Walsh’s situation. Of course, she didn’t mention The Metropolis Residences, only that Zara Walsh had abused her position for personal gain.

Hopefully, Paige Walsh could persuade her husband and son not to get involved in Zara Walsh’s affairs any further.

Without the Simmons Family pulling strings to help, the Walsh Family alone might not be able to save Zara Walsh.

Just as Melody Summers put down her phone, she saw a new item being brought onto the auction stage.

The auctioneer on stage introduced it, "A jade pendant. Mr. Miles Howell was hailed as a genius designer right when he entered the industry, and he has always been dedicated to charity work."

"This piece is an old keepsake left behind by Mr. Miles Howell’s late father. He hopes that through this jade pendant, more people can receive aid during natural disasters, to comfort his father’s spirit in heaven."

Hearing this, Winnie Summers looked toward the auction stage. When she saw the pendant on the large screen, she let out a small, surprised "Ah!"

Melody Summers and Joanna Dunn also looked up at the sound and turned their gazes to the large screen.

After getting a clear look at the pendant on the screen, Miss Joanna Dunn smiled and said, "It looks like the material is Jadeite, but the quality isn’t very good. If you like this kind of pendant, I’ll give you a much better one later!"

But Winnie Summers shook her head and replied, "My dad once gave my mom a jade pendant... and it looked exactly like the one on the stage!"

Melody Summers was taken aback. "Grandpa gave Grandma a jade pendant? Mom, how come I’ve never heard about this?"

Winnie Summers patted Melody Summers’s hand and replied with a smile, "It was over thirty years ago. You weren’t even born yet."

Amid their curious gazes, Winnie Summers briefly explained the whole story.

It was only then that Melody Summers learned that when her maternal grandfather proposed to her grandmother, he had given her a jade pendant.

Although the pendant wasn’t very valuable, for the villagers at the time, it was considered a rare treasure. Her grandmother had always cherished it.

After her grandfather passed away, the pendant became a memento for her grandmother to remember him by.

Unfortunately, Winnie Summers’s younger sister, Maeve Summers, was mischievous as a child. Ignoring Winnie’s protests, she insisted on playing with the pendant, and in a moment of carelessness, she dropped and shattered it.

The pendant had an openwork carving, and the fall broke it into several pieces. Winnie Summers tried for a long time to glue it back together, but she couldn’t manage it.

Maeve Summers was terrified. Fearing a scolding from their mother, she tearfully begged Winnie Summers not to tell anyone what had happened.

Seeing her sister crying to the point of nearly passing out, Winnie couldn’t bear it. She helped her sister hide the broken pendant, and when their mother came looking for it, Winnie simply said she had accidentally lost it herself.

After hearing Winnie Summers’s story, Melody Summers decided to win the pendant at the auction.

Miss Joanna Dunn was right. The pendant’s material was ordinary, and the carving wasn’t particularly good, so the starting bid was very low, only 3,000 yuan.

Not many people were interested in it. After bidding a few times, Melody Summers successfully won the pendant for a price of 12,000 yuan.

In the VIP lounge, Mr. Rhodes and Ronan Rhodes watched Melody Summers bid on the pendant through a gap in the curtains.

Ronan Rhodes was the first to speak. "The quality of this pendant is just average. This Miles Howell... he’s made a lot of money over the years with his ’genius designer’ reputation, but I didn’t expect him to be getting so stingy."

Mr. Rhodes didn’t respond. He mulled it over for a moment before saying to Ronan Rhodes, "Call the butler right now. Have him find the Phoenix Peony jadeite pendant your grandmother left behind and have it sent over to me."

Ronan Rhodes was stunned and asked in confusion, "Grandpa, why do you want that pendant all of a sudden? Are you going to auction it off too? If you want to donate, just tell me how much, and I’ll do it for you. That jadeite pendant was Grandma’s; you should keep it."

Mr. Rhodes resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said with a frown, "Just do as I say! Stop asking so many questions!"

Seeing that he couldn’t stop him, Ronan Rhodes had no choice but to take out his phone and call the butler.

...

Half an hour later, the auction ended. Melody Summers and the others went to the reception room to collect the items they had won.

A staff member handed Miss Joanna Dunn the Red Jade Peace Pendant she had won. Miss Dunn took the box and said, unable to put it down, "Look at this quality. It’s so fine and smooth, it’s practically glowing. My mother will definitely love it!"

On the other side, however, the staff member who had gone to retrieve the jade pendant for Winnie Summers was taking a long time to return.

The four of them sat and waited for a while. Watching other people leave one by one with their auction items, Winnie Summers murmured in confusion, "Why is ours taking so long...?"

Miss Joanna Dunn patted her hand reassuringly and said, "Don’t worry. Let’s just wait a bit longer."

So they sat and waited until everyone else who had won items had left, but their jade pendant still hadn’t been brought over.

Just as Melody Summers was about to find an attendant to ask about the situation, the auctioneer from the event came hurrying over.

The suited auctioneer walked up to Winnie Summers, gave her a slight bow, and said in an apologetic tone, "I’m very sorry, Ms. Summers, but there’s been a problem with the jade pendant you won. We can’t give it to you..."

Winnie Summers stood up and asked, "What kind of problem?"

The auctioneer replied, "The original owner of the pendant just contacted us. He said he was disappointed to learn that the pendant only sold for Twelve Thousand Currency."

"The original owner said that since the pendant was, after all, something his father left him, if it only sold for that price, he would rather keep it for himself. He is willing to pay you double in compensation to cancel this auction." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Hearing the auctioneer’s words, Winnie Summers was at a loss. She had never been to an auction before and didn’t know how to handle such a situation.

But she truly wanted that jade pendant. She wanted to make up for her mother’s regret.

So, she spoke in a negotiating tone, "Was our price too low? We genuinely want the pendant. Can we add more money?"

Before the auctioneer could speak, Joanna Dunn, who was beside them, frowned and said, "The fall of the hammer is final at an auction. How can someone go back on their word? Is this how you conduct business?"

At her words, the auctioneer hurriedly bowed repeatedly in apology. "We are truly sorry. This is the first time we’ve ever encountered a situation like this! Our auction house has been negotiating with Mr. Miles Howell, but no matter what we say, Mr. Howell insists on canceling the transaction..."

Hearing this, Miss Joanna Dunn had a look of sudden realization. "Miles Howell? So it’s him! I didn’t place the name earlier..."

Melody Summers saw her reaction and asked curiously, "Miss Dunn, do you know this Miles Howell?"

Miss Joanna Dunn shook her head and replied, "I don’t know him personally, but I’ve heard of him! This Miles Howell was hailed as a genius designer right from his debut. There was an endless stream of people wanting him to design their jewelry. A friend of mine wanted him to design a necklace, and she was on the waiting list for three or four years."

"These artistic types are all more or less eccentric... A lot of people say Miles Howell has a bad temper, has a lot of rules, and is hard to get along with. People pay him to design things, and he still cusses them out... If it’s him, then it’s certainly plausible he’d do something like canceling the transaction..."

Melody Summers frowned. "No matter how eccentric he is, how can he go back on an agreed-upon deal?"

She looked at the auctioneer and asked, "Isn’t there any other solution?"