A man in his forties was sitting in the back seat of the car.
He smoked a cigarette, puffed out a smoke ring, and said with a gentle smile, "Don't you see that boy looks very ragged? I don't think he has a job. He needs the old woman's money, so he can eat."
"But then he walked into the Ruby Hotel?" the driver said.
"Hey, you're such a fool. Can't you see that he can't afford to eat? Maybe he's looking for
work? I think he went into the Ruby to ask for a job as a security guard or something. It's
hard to know what he's doing," replied his boss.
"You're smart, boss." The driver scratched his head and asked, "By the way, boss, aren't you going to treat everyone to their meal at the Ruby tonight? It's almost eight o'clock. Don't you need to go up now?"
"Aren't you just my driver, or are you running my schedule too? I have to wait until they're
almost all here before I can make my appearance. That way, I can make more of an
entrance", said the man.
"Okay, you're clever, boss," the driver said with a smile.
**
Alex found the meeting room that Phillipa had told him to go to. He adjusted his clothes and hair in a mirror and walked in.
There were ten tables in the room and eight or nine people at each table for a total of about eighty or ninety guests. Almost everyone had arrived.
On a wall along the side of the room, there was a long red banner with the words Texans Meet in Washington, D.C.
Half of the people in the room had a Texan accent.
Alex was about to go inside, but his phone rang. It was his mother, so he answered it.
It turned out that Alex's mother missed him a lot. She had already reserved a room in the
best hotel in Washington, but she was eager to see her son, so she had come to the Ruby
Hotel and reserved that hotel's best meeting room, room 888. She asked him if he was
already at the party and if he could come to see her first if he wasn't.
But he said that he was already in meeting room 304, so his mother gave up and told him to just see her as soon as it was over.
He hung up the phone and thought about how they were both now in the same hotel.
He was very excited.
"Alex!" Phillipa had seen him walk in. "Why did you come here dressed like that? Come over here, and let's sit at this table", said Philipa.
He smiled and followed her to a table. To his surprise, Myriam was also at the same table.
"Phillipa, who is this? Why are you dressed like that?" asked Myriam.
A few people in the room also noticed Alex's appearance.
"Yes, his clothes are dirty. What's that on his forehead… sweat? Why couldn't he take a
shower first?" said a man sitting there.
"He's a little smelly. What's that smell?" a woman sitting next to him held her nose.
Alex had not expected such a response, as he had thought that everyone would be very
kind.
"Am I that naive?" he wondered.
He had not taken a shower, so he couldn't disagree with a few complaints. He tried to smile.
"Miss Henley, you haven't finished what you were saying just now. Let's talk about it again,"
said a young man sitting near her as he smiled.
Myriam was the most beautiful woman at the table and the whole room, for that matter. The men
weren't really interested in what she was talking about—rather, they wanted to impress her and win her favor to see if they could score a date.
The young man's proposal received unanimous approval from the rest of the table.
"Oh, I won't tell you about that again, rather I'll tell you something more interesting. I can
guarantee that no one has heard of it." She flipped her hair.
"Oh, tell us before the food comes, so you can relieve our boredom", said the young man.
The other people at the table looked very interested.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat, glanced over at Alex, and then she began to say, "Last time I came back from a tour with a friend, I got off at the high-speed railway station, and then I
went to check-in at the Crown Hotel that was nearby."
She had always wanted to find a super-rich boyfriend, so when Jake Grant wasn't present,
she described him as a friend rather than a boyfriend to allow other men an opening. "What if she finally met another man with more money than him?" Alex wondered.
"Crown Hotel… I haven't stayed there before. It costs at least five hundred dollars a night,
which is too expensive", blurted a young man at the table.
"Yes, I guess that Miss Henley can stay at the Crown Hotel. I'm envious", said another.
Her listeners were all commenting on this expensive hotel.
Alex also listened to her talk about it. He had a bad feeling, looked at her, and scoffed a
little.
"When I got to the front desk, I saw a man waiting to check into a room. But he was
wearing terrible clothes that looked like they didn't cost more than twenty dollars. His pants and shoes were covered with dust, and his face had a lot of sweat, just like… like—"
She pointed at Alex and continued, "The man, who looked similar to this guy, was standing there waiting to check-in."
The other people looked at Alex with incredulity and started to talk among themselves.
"What? People like him stay at the Crown hotel… are you sure about that?" asked the young man. "I'm wearing more than three hundred dollars' worth of clothes, and I can't afford to stay at that hotel. How can a loser with cheap clothes like him do it?"
"You must be kidding us? He might have asked the front desk lady if there were any waiter jobs at the hotel. How can a loser stay at that hotel?" asked another curiously.
"No, no, no… he didn't come to look for a job. He came to stay at that hotel. First, he
asked the front desk lady for a big and elegant room, and then he wasn't happy with it, so
he asked for the most expensive luxury presidential suite! Do you know what card he
pulled out to pay for the room? He used a Metro Sky Bank premier card!" she said.
The others look at her in surprise.
"Damn it! The luxury presidential suite at the Crown hotel costs four thousand dollars a
night! But that's nothing… the Metro Sky Bank card in his hand indicated that his personal
assets reached at least twenty million dollars!" exclaimed one person.
She continued, "I thought that this man must be wealthy but very low-key. A lot of people are so unassuming. When you look at a small car driving down the road, that person might have more than ten Ferraris in their garage. They just drive a small car when they're tired of driving their fancy cars."
The young man was startled by what she had described, and the others were the same. They all fixed their eyes on her. "What happened afterward? Did the manager of the hotel also come out to meet him?" they interrogated.
"Ha, ha," she giggled, but the others didn't understand what she was getting at, so she said,
"Just like you, I thought this was a low-key, super-rich man, but I didn't expect that
the front desk lady wouldn't be able to get his card to work. Finally, she asked if he had another credit card or some other way to pay. So he rummaged through his backpack, but only found a couple of hundred dollars in his wallet. So, he couldn't pay for the room, and then he ran away."
"I don't know where I could go to get a room looking like such a mess with a stupid card. If
he dared to come into my shop, I'd chase him out!" someone exclaimed.
"Ha, ha, I know right?" Myriam said with a smile. She looked at Alex and asked, "Alex, do you think that man was funny?"
Alex had his head down as he was looking at his phone and didn't answer her.
"Why has Lester not arrived yet? It's already twenty minutes after eight." Many people started to notice that Lester Yates, who was in charge of the event, had not yet arrived.
"Mr. Yates is going to say a few words to us, so he should be here soon. Let's start serving
the food now. Miss Myriam Henley can preside over things", said the host.
When a man saw that Lester, the leader of this group, had sent a message, he stood up and said in a loud voice, "Who is Miss Myriam Henley?"
"I am." Myriam stood up, motioned to all the people, and said modestly, "I've met with Mr.
Yates a few times. He asked me to preside over this event. I'd like to get things started."
Myriam called the waiter over and asked them to start serving the food.
The relationship between Myriam and Lester wasn't as simple as she had implied. She was
still Jake's girlfriend, but she had been leading Lester on for several months. It was on her
initiative that she was hosting that day.
Soon, all kinds of dishes were served around the room.
"Well, before we start, allow me to speak a few words. This is a gathering for fellow Texans, and we will help each other in the future. It's our first meeting, so I suggest that we all introduce ourselves in turn and tell everyone a little about what we do. This way, if we ever need help, we'll know who we can ask." Her proposal was approved by all present.
Alex looked at her as she stood on the stage, but he couldn't help frowning. Phillipa gently
nudged him and looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you
here."
He smiled faintly and said, "It's okay."
He thought that although he sold pancakes, he could take care of himself and that there was nothing to be ashamed of. After he had this thought, he was much calmer and continued eating.
"Well, let's start now. My name is Myriam. I'm still studying at university, so I might not be
able to help you in this city. I have to rely on your help more at this stage in my life", she concluded.
Although it didn't matter if she was in the city or not, she looked beautiful, so no one looked down on her. Her voice brought comfort and love to the men present.
The next step was for the others to stand up and introduce themselves.
"I'm an executive with a major retail car company. If you want to buy a car, you can come to see me", said a young man with a smile.
"I'm a university professor. If you're having any problems in education, please talk about it
with me", said another, adjusting his glasses.
"I'm with a major online sales company", came another voice.
"I work at the hospital,'' said another.
One by one, they all talked about their jobs. Nobody wanted to lose face in front of their
fellow Texans. Even if they were just a minor staff member, they had to describe how
powerful their company was. After all, everyone was impressed by their determination and
assertiveness.
"Okay, you can go next. Please stand up and introduce yourself," Myriam said, excitedly
looking at Alex.