A Beautiful Misunderstanding

Chapter 201 Set Me Up No Way!

"Are you deliberately trying to humiliate my wife?" Zac leaned over and whispered to Mary's ear with restrained anger.

"What are you talking about? I asked her before we arrived here and she said she knew how to play the piano." Casting him a stare, Mary said in a sharp tone, "The daughter-in-law of the Rong family is very popular and behaves very well at any parties of celebrities. Do you want an exception for her?"

"No other woman could ever compare with my wife." Zac took Essie's hand while he stared into her eyes and murmured, "I'll play with you."

There was a subtle smile on her face and she said nonchalantly, "There's no need for that. Could I play just any song?"

"If you really don't know how to play, you could just go and play 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'," Valery burst out with a huge contemptuous smile plastered on her face. In that moment she could already imagine how Essie would make a fool of herself in front of the audience. 'Mommy is so clever. Essie will be the laughing stock of the whole high class societies by tomorrow. Too bad for her, she won't be able to show herself to the public after this,' Valery thought to herself with her lips curling into a sinister grin.

Essie couldn't even bother to respond to her, as if the words went straight out to her other ear.

She walked with elegance to the stage, and she had a calm and graceful demeanor.

Mary was surprised at the sight of her composure as she went to the front.

"I will now begin my performance," Essie said with a smile that made her look like a blooming lotus.

When the sound rang from the piano, the whole banquet hall settled down into silence.

Both Mary and Valery's faces contorted into a revolted expression at the same time.

Essie played a piece called 'Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op.30' composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, which was considered one of the ten most challenging piano concertos in the standard classical piano repertoire. It was one of the pieces that famous pianists would play to show off their technical skills.

Besides that, the section of the piece that Essie played was the most difficult part.

Her fingers moved with whimsical exuberance along the keys. The series of running notes ran around like ten thousand horses galloping in a desolate field, majestic and powerful. It could also be compared to a waterfall gushing into river, shocking everyone in the audience.

A loud and rapturous applause burst out from the audiences in the banquet hall.

Zac himself was also shocked as he watched his wife on stage.

His little fool was not only a skilled and excellent golf player, but was also talented and masterful in playing the piano.

He wondered how many more secrets he would discover from her.

"Sister-in-law is remarkable! I can't even properly play this concerto until now." Ivy gawked at Essie's figure with praise and admiration.

"I also failed to complete this piece as I found it too difficult. Never thought that sister-in-law would be so good at playing," interjected Daisy, who was also overwhelmed with astonishment.

Valery watched with hard staring eyes as anger brewed inside her soul. She started to get dizzy and felt like she was about to faint. It felt like she had come from the moon and had fallen into the bottom of the Great Rift Valley. In this moment, Valery was reminded of her childhood nemesis, Cathy, who could

master the world's top ten piano concertos. In their youth, she would catch everyone's attention by playing different challenging piano pieces, and would leave Valery completely invisible to everyone.

She had always hated Cathy so much that she cursed her a hundred times every night before she went to bed.

Essie was like an exact replica of Cathy, who had always cast a huge shadow on her.

Besides her family background, she was completely outperformed by Essie in every other aspect.

On the other hand, Mary sat beside her while her face turned blue and her lips trembled. It seemed as though she was inflicted by the cunning fox. Her plan was to initially humiliate her, so that her two sons would lose interest in her and mock her instead. She didn't expect that she would end up making a fool of herself. She turned back her head to look at Walt, who didn't even spend a single second taking his eyes off Essie. It appeared as though his soul had completely been sucked in by her. Now, Mary didn't know how he would be able to pay attention to any of the other girls, and the ball had not even started.

'Damn it! This turned out to be a mistake,' Mary thought with repressed vehemence.

Essie's fingers slipped from the treble of the keys to the bass, just right before the music ended abruptly.

Her performance was flawless and impeccable.

She received a thunderous applause and a standing ovation from everyone in the hall.

"Anyone who could have the privilege to become a hostess of the Rong family really must be an extraordinary woman."

"I suppose that if the son of the Rong family would take an interest on her, she must be a really talented and beautiful woman."

The socialites all gossiped amongst themselves.

Essie stood up and with an elegant curtsy, she yelled while waving her hand, "Thank you, everyone!"

As soon as she returned next to Zac, he held her into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. In his eyes, it was only her shadow that could be seen. She was the only woman in the world who could catch his attention, and the glamour of his other fans totally repulsed him.

There were eyes that were green with envy from all the girls surrounding them.

Jealousy and unimaginable pain instantly struck through Walt's core. He turned his head away immediately, not wanting to see such an agonizing scene. When Mary noticed the hurt expression on Walt's face, she started to get really anxious.

'Oh god. Our family is screwed! Both my sons would end up hurting each other because of this one bitch. The Rong family will fall into chaos and will be doomed forever!'

"Walt, the girls in this ball have been handpicked and not only are they the most eligible in Dragon City, but in the whole country. If you fancy any one of them, you can ask them to dance."

"Mommy, what if I choose a girl but you don't like her?" Walt asked all of a sudden.

Mary was taken aback when she heard this, but understood what he had implied straight off the bat.

"I believe in your preference. Whoever you choose, I will like," she said hastily. However, the reality was that she would accept any girl as long as it was not Essie. Any girl who would take his mind off from her would do. If there wasn't a suitable girl from Dragon City, she would go out of her way to help him choose one from all over the country. If not, she would not think twice about scouring the whole world for better woman. In Mary's eyes, there were too many women in the world and she was sure that she would be able to find one who was better than Essie.

The women all around the room gazed at Walt with eagerness and anticipation, hoping that they would be chosen to dance with him.

Walt walked around slowly, shifting his gaze towards the women around him, when his eyes finally fell on a sweet and gentle woman. She was the daughter of a high-ranking official.

The woman looked up straight into his eyes, and she immediately blushed.

Walt walked towards her and gracefully reached out his hand. The woman smiled and took his hand. Everyone else found themselves a suitable partner and followed them into the dance floor.

Both Ivy and Daisy calmly sat on their chairs as they watched everyone. They had no interest to go out to dance as they already had someone in their heart. They only came here to support Walt.

Valery, of course, was pregnant, so she couldn't dance. She simply stayed next to Mary throughout the night. Both of them were still distressed from Essie's performance, so they stayed next to each other to comfort and give warmth towards one another.

Around that time, Zac was already dancing with Essie on the dance floor.

"Honey, I finally believe that you have an IQ over 160 after seeing that performance," he whispered softly to her while he gazed longingly at her without wasting a single moment blinking. His deep eyes shone softly from the light.

"Well, of course, I had taken a professional IQ test," said Essie passively with a complacent smug smile, revealing her white pearly teeth. Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

"But in my eyes, you will always still be my muddleheaded fool," he teasingly said with a smile.

"Why?" she asked with discontent. It was clearly based on prejudice.

"Although you have a highly intelligent brain, more than an ordinary person, you are still always in a daze due to the short circuit. So you can be baffling at times." A charming smile appeared on his face and he softly pecked her bright red lips.

Essie wondered if that was really the case.

Was it really just her who experienced this side effect?

She raised her eyebrows and asked, "Don't you ever experience a short circuit?"

"The phenomenon only occurs when I am with you." A subtle, mysterious smile appeared on his face. Ever since they met, Zac would easily go out of control, and his mood had been erratic. He would go from feeling happy to feeling angry and sorrowful. He had always been an indifferent person, but meeting Essie had changed him completely.

Before they met, he was a wandering star who didn't show any signs of emotion. When they first met, he was instantly pulled by her magnetic forces and had become her satellite. He revolved around her day and night, unable to rid himself from her trajectory.

"Could you really infect someone with your short circuits?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Probably," he replied pursing his lips together with a teasing smile.

"Well, then I should go out of my way to infect you so that you could make a fool out of yourself." She made a face and stuck out her tongue at him.

"It doesn't matter to me if I look like a fool in front of everyone, as long as I have you by my side." He lowered his head and faced towards a different direction, then, he suddenly pulled her by the waist and dragged her out of the dance floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked staring at him, surprised from his sudden movement. She did, however, really enjoy the dance.

"Giving you the chance to infect me with your foolishness," he whispered in a low and hoarse voice.

"There are so many people. Can we try to be a little more inconspicuous?" She pushed his shoulder gently while her cheeks blushed like a bright red rose.

"No way," he spoke arrogantly while he bowed his head. He had always done things in his own accord, and had never cared about how others perceived him.

When the song ended, Walt chose a new dance partner and indicated a gesture that everyone should do the same.

Ivy, who was still sitting on the chair, covered her mouth with her hand while she giggled and said, "Cousin, let's make a bet that he will dance with all the women in this room tonight."

"Is that necessarily a good thing?" Daisy asked with raised eyebrows.

"Of course, it's a good thing! That means he can now change his girlfriend even more frequently than before," Ivy said with a giggle.

"Well that just means that he doesn't really fancy any one of them," responded Daisy, curling her lips.

"Cousin has already made his mind up with his little sun. Of course, he wouldn't take any of them seriously. He's just trying to have fun," Ivy said softly, but loud enough that Mary was able to overhear.

"What little sun?" Mary suddenly turned her head in surprise.

"Nothing... Nothing." Ivy was still and shut her mouth immediately. However, Mary wouldn't let it go and said, "Tell me, there's no reason to hide it from me. I can give you an extra of half your allowance for

next month."

She moved aggressively, making it look like she was desperate to find out.

A helpless expression appeared on Ivy's face. "Well, if I tell you, can you give me the other half too?"

"You little devil, you're already learning how to bargain." Mary flicked her forehead and continued, "If you tell me everything you know, I'll give the extra half as well."

Ivy restrained herself from laughing out loud. She coughed and explained slowly, "The little sun was a woman that cousin met in his travels years ago. He spent years looking for her, and only found her again a few days ago."

"So there is already a woman that he likes?" Mary asked in surprise. She wondered if was possible that that woman they pertained to was Essie.

"Yes, but he is still in the process of trying to pursue her." While she spoke, Ivy picked up a cold glass of cocktail from the table and sipped slowly.

"Are you telling me the truth?" Mary asked with a face flashed with subtle light.

Ivy nodded firmly.

A cloud of suspicion filled all over Mary's mind.

'Was I just mistaken?

Maybe Walt doesn't have any feelings for Essie. He's probably just trying to be a good brother-in-law...'

She turned to the dance floor and watched over Walt and noticed that he was talking to a girl with a smile on face. It seemed as though they were having a nice conversation.

Walt had always been the one who treated women with gentleness and consideration. Which was the total opposite of Zac, who spent all his life being cold towards woman and never showed any signs of tenderness towards them. She had flashbacks of when they were young children, when Valery would come over to their house to play with them. Whenever she fell over and cried, it was always Walt who helped her get back up, and would even find ways to make her laugh. On the other hand, Zac, from a very young age, never noticed Valery. He always felt as cold as an iceberg.

She didn't know why Valery had chosen to fall in love with Zac, and on top of that, she didn't want to be with anyone else besides him. If only Valery had chosen to love Walt, she probably would have been married by now, and she wouldn't have been tormented from having a baby with Zac.