At this moment, Cheyenne was naturally unaware that her cousin and Kenneth had already conspired and hatched a plot to make her sleep with Kenneth.
She was standing beside Lucas and quietly admiring the plethora of valuable exhibits around them.
“Wow, the exhibits here are so exquisite and beautiful, as expected of treasures scoured by the Coles from San Francisco!” Cheyenne exclaimed with genuine amazement.
But Lucas said nonchalantly, “Actually, this exhibition is average. Of the exhibits here, some are authentic, but there are also some replicas being passed off as genuine. I wonder if the Coles have poor judgment or if they’ve deliberately brought these replicas to make up the numbers.”
“Huh? There are replicas? That can’t be true, can it?” Cheyenne asked in astonishment.
Lucas pointed to a three-legged cloisonné enameled copper cauldron from the Ming dynasty in front of them. “Take this enamelware for instance. It’s actually a flawed replica that was imitated very well.”
Lucas’s voice was not actually that loud, but as soon as he spoke, someone interjected furiously from the side, “Who’s spouting nonsense here? How dare you say that there are replicas in my family’s antique exhibition?!”
A young woman in her twenties was standing close by behind them, and she had clearly heard everything Lucas said. Besides, the fact that she said that it was her family’s antique exhibition made it easy to deduce that she was probably one of the Coles!
Lucas was just whispering to Cheyenne at first, but after hearing the young woman’s furious hollering, everyone else looked over at them.
In the distance, Kenneth and Nikki also seemed to be gloating. Seeing that Lucas already dug his own grave and offended a Cole, they hurriedly came over to see what was going on.
Lucas glanced at the livid young woman in front of him and said indifferently, “Why is it impossible for replicas to appear at the Coles’ antique exhibition?”
The young woman retorted coldly, “The Coles have always been known for never selling or exhibiting any replicas. There’s no way we would pass off replicas as genuine at the exhibition today just to make up the numbers! I will regard your words as an insult to the Cole family! You have just smeared and tarnished the reputation of our family, so you must apologize to us!”
If someone else were in Lucas’s shoes, they would very likely bow down and apologize immediately after hearing that they were speaking to a Cole. No one was willing to offend the Coles and get into a conflict with them.
But her identity meant nothing to Lucas.
Lucas merely narrowed his eyes and said indifferently, “It’s not up to you to say if it’s genuine or not. Are you trying to say that even replicas will turn into genuine antiques just because they belong to the Coles’ exhibition?”
He was just having a private conversation with his wife, and moreover, he was stating facts. He didn’t see the need to apologize just because someone popped up out of nowhere and accused him.
“You!” The young woman was fuming. Lucas was making it seem as if she was throwing her weight around just because she was a Cole!
“Lucas Gray, you call yourself a man? How can you bully a girl like that?” Kenneth stood beside the young woman and naturally targeted Lucas, acting as if he was standing up for justice.
Lucas glanced at him coldly and said hostilely, “When have I ever bullied her? If you’re doing this just for the sake of sucking up to the Coles, you’d better come up with another reason. Don’t get me involved!
“If you’re just looking for trouble, you don’t have to drag the Coles in to back you up! It’s really distasteful of you to be so sneaky about it!”
“You! You’re just a good-for-nothing. How dare you say that about me?!” Kenneth flew into a rage. Not only was he furious at Lucas for putting him to shame in front of so many people, but he also felt that Lucas had seen through his thoughts and was thus feeling incredibly ashamed and enraged.
He wanted to lash out at Lucas. But if he did so in front of everyone, he would be stooping too low, which would affect his reputation as the esteemed scion of the Parker family.
Kenneth might have his concerns, but Nikki didn’t. Besides, she couldn’t tolerate the fact that Lucas had the audacity to speak to Kenneth in such a manner.
Nikki stepped forward and pointed at Lucas while cursing furiously, “Lucas Gray, who do you think you are? How dare you speak to Kenneth like that?! He’s a direct descendant of the Parkers and will be succeeding his family’s empire in the future. What about you? You’re just a good-for-nothing who sponges off your wife!
“Also, everyone needs an invitation to come in! You were stopped at the entrance by the scurity guards just now because you tried to force your way in without an invitation! How did you manage to sneak in? Don’t you think you owe the Coles and everyone here an explanation?”
Nikki took the moral high ground and even pointed out that Lucas didn’t have an invitation card, which immediately made everyone around look at Lucas with a frown on their faces.
The guests invited to the exhibition today were all wealthy people of significant statuses, and they were extremely honored and pleased to have received an invitation from the Coles.
But Lucas was dressed in extremely ordinary and shabby clothes, so they didn’t think that he was from a wealthy family, especially after hearing Nikki call him a good-for-nothing. They thought, What right does he have to come in and stand together with prestigious people like us?
Many of them were immediately displeased.
Kenneth smiled smugly and said to the young woman of the Cole family, “Miss Cole, this person has very likely sneaked in to cause trouble at the exhibition! I suggest that you ask the guards to take him away immediately and investigate his identity!”
Kenneth thought that he was just giving her a kind reminder. But to his surprise, she glared at him and rebuked, “Are you teaching me what to do?”
Kenneth’s face stiffened. Why isn’t this woman acting the way I thought she would? She’s taking my kindness for granted.
But she was a Cole, so he didn’t dare to argue with her at all. Instead, he hurriedly said, “No, no, no, how could I? I just have good intentions and don’t want someone with malicious thoughts to ruin the exhibition that the Coles have meticulously prepared! This person really doesn’t have an invitation. I can testify to this!”
Nikki hurriedly raised her hand and said, “I can vouch for Kenneth too! About ten minutes ago, he tried to sneak in with us! He was stopped at the entrance only because Kenneth instructed the guards to do so!”
Seeing that these two people were nitpicking on Lucas and accusing him of having an ulterior motive for sneaking in without an invitation, the other people around them also looked at Lucas with hostile expressions.
Something became convincing when multiple people said the same thing.
Cheyenne began to panic a little, but she knew that Lucas wasn’t willing to reveal his identity, so she naturally couldn’t say that he was the owner of this arts center. He was definitely qualified to stand here no matter what.
Suddenly, Lucas sneered and said slowly, “Just half a month ago, the Kingstons held an auction in Orange County. At that auction, there was also a young man from the Parker family who questioned someone else’s right to attend the auction and even tried to chase that person away. But he ended up being thrown out by the auction organizer instead.
“Afterward, said Mr. Parker still wasn’t convinced and continued to create trouble, but Russell Duncan, who hosted the auction on behalf of the Kingstons, declared on the spot that none of the Parkers were allowed to attend any auctions that he was in charge of in the future! He created trouble for nothing and caused the entire Parker family to be blacklisted by Russell Duncan! Mr. Parker, do you know who I’m talking about?”
