Chapter 42: Not Enough Money to Pay for Takeout, Losing Face and Substance!

The music stopped, and the surrounding girls vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Monica, worried about looking bad in front of her friends, quickly walked to Queenie's side and whispered, "Sis, give the money."

Queenie remained silent, just looking at her calmly.

Monica was anxious. "Sis, give the money quickly. Don't embarrass me, I'm begging you!"

Queenie smiled lightly and slowly walked over to the sofa, sitting down. "Whoever ordered the takeout needs to be the one who pays for it."

At this moment, one of Monica's girlfriends glanced disapprovingly at the mother and daughter duo. "Can't you even afford $11,000 for takeout? Are you really a wealthy heiress as you claim?"

Monica's face turned embarrassed, glaring at Queenie.

The leading chef in the kitchen looked at Queenie, then at Gilda before stating the house number. "Excuse me, who is the owner of this house?"

Queenie sat on the sofa, composed and unhurried, not in a rush to answer, with a faint smile on her lips.

Monica anxiously stared at Gilda, signaling her to give the chef the money.

If they didn't pay the money for the food, and if Queenie admitted to being the owner, they would be done for!

How could she hold her head high in front of her girlfriends ever again?

Gilda's face stiffened, and she walked unnaturally toward the chef in the kitchen, opening her WhatsApp payment code. "Scan it."

The chef took out his POS machine and scanned it.

"Beep-beep." After two sounds, the chef furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"I'm sorry, Gilda, the balance is insufficient. Please choose another payment method."

As his voice fell, the surrounding girlfriends started whispering to each other.

Monica became even more anxious and walked over, reproaching, "Mom, how could the balance be insufficient!"

As she spoke, she opened Gilda's WhatsApp account to check the balance, which showed only $5,000 dollars, instantly channeling her inner drama queen.

"Oh no, mom, you forgot. You only transferred $5,000 yesterday..."
"Didn’t you buy a bag for over $40,000 dollars using your WhatsApp account? No wonder you don't have any money in your WhatsApp! You should use your credit card quickly."

"Sorry, our hotel does not accept credit cards," the kitchen staff reminded politely.

At this moment, a young girl burst into laughter.

"Tang Banquet is the most famous sushi restaurant in Coast City. The biggest feature of this hotel is that all the sushi ingredients are carefully selected from the top and freshest seafood, and only the best parts are used while the rest are discarded, hence the high prices."

"Another fun trait of this hotel is that it does not accept credit or debit cards. The merchant fees for credit cards are too high. Monica, all the socialites and wealthy individuals in this circle, including Queenie, know this. How come you and your mother don’t know this?"

Monica's face froze, but she managed to force a smile. "Oh, I've been to too many places, I forgot."

Monica nudged Gilda with her elbow and whispered, "Hurry up and pay."

However, Gilda looked at her Alipay account and realized she didn't have enough money. She had to scramble and first pay $5,000 through WeChat Pay, and then another $3,000 through Alipay.

No matter how she tried to make up the rest, she couldn't gather the remaining amount. Both her pride and dignity was lost.

"We are still short by $3,000," the kitchen staff reminded Gilda.

Gilda had no choice but to look at Queenie and snapped, "You stubborn girl, hurry up and pay!"

"Why should I?" Queenie calmly smiled back.

"Why? Because you said you're the head of the household! The food was delivered to your place, and if you don't pay, who will?" Gilda blurted out in frustration.

Before she could finish, Monica glared at Gilda angrily.

At this moment, one of Monica's friends caught onto the conversation and spoke sarcastically.

"What? Monica, isn't this house yours? How did it become your sister's? I bragged to my friends that it's my friend's own house, but now they won’t be able to come and play!"

"Sure, come anytime you want!" Monica was very concerned about her image and felt more embarrassed than being dissected. "My sister's house is my house, too. As you all know, when my parents pass away, in the future, even my sister's share will belong to me. That's how it's always been in our family."

Gilda felt uncomfortable hearing the words "when my parents pass away."

Queenie's face turned cold. "The distribution of the family property is the prerogative of our parents. I have no say in that. However, when it comes to this house, I am the head of the household and my decision stands firm! Your friends are not welcome here. Whoever wants to come to my house must have my approval."

"Oh Monica, just stop talking. This house is not yours, and you don't have the authority. Forget it, I'll leave. I don't have to cater to someone's mood."

The sarcastic girl didn't have any intention to bring her friend, she was just trying to provoke Monica.

She couldn't stand Monica the most.
The girls, speaking sarcastically, picked up their forks and ate sashimi while making snide remarks.

"Monica, this is all your fault. The house is clearly not yours, yet you insist on pretending to be rich and claiming it as your own. Now you're losing face, aren't you?"

"Yeah, if you would have told us it was your sister's, then we wouldn't have looked down on you! After all, a big penthouse like Bund Bay is so expensive!"

"And Monica, didn't you say that your whole family dotes on you? You always brag about how your siblings fulfill your every wish. It seems that's not the case now!"

As the girls taunted Monica, she was getting increasingly upset. She stomped over to Queenie, standing tall and looking down at her on the sofa.

"Are you satisfied now?"

Queenie leisurely propped up one leg and elegantly looked at her without responding.

The young cook in the kitchen had overheard and understood the gist of the situation. He cleared his throat and reminded Gilda and Monica to pay the remaining balance.

Monica glared at Queenie, "Hurry up and pay! You think we have been embarrassed enough?"

Queenie smiled lightly, "You and your mother truly live up to being mother and daughter."

Monica furrowed her brows, sensing something was off, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you two will never learn how to treat people with respect. One tells me to die and the other can't even address me as sister, just calling me Queenie. A family doesn't beg, but shouldn't there be some basic manners before asking someone for a favor?"

At this point, Sarah, who had encouraged Monica to come to her sister's penthouse, couldn't hold back anymore.

"Ms. Lorente! You're my sister's colleague, and I call you Sister Lin. We're family, so why are you making such a big deal out of this? It was just inviting your sister's friends over for dinner. That’s not a big dead if you're rich, right?"

"Oh, because you married a rich man, you look down on your sister and yourmother now? Is it necessary to be this stingy? Is this how you treat guests? How can someone like you be a teacher to others?"

Monica nodded, chiming in, "Exactly!"

"With the way you treat your own family, I'll record it and post it online to see what the internet trolls have to say! Don't forget, not too long ago, you were exposed on the internet!"

Sarah threatened Queenie, pulling out her phone. She wanted to teach Monica's sister a lesson since she was already planning to bring her friends to this house the next time she was invited over .

Queenie, who disliked everything being posted online, showed a slight change in her expression upon hearing that the threat. Sarah noticed and smirked, bringing her phone closer.

"Pay up or be exposed online, your choice."