Lucas also didn't expect that Alexis, the seemingly arrogant heiress of the Cole family, who had just thrown Kenneth and Nikki out of the exhibition hall over a slight disagreement, would really apologize to him so respectfully.

"It's alright, Miss Cole." Lucas waited for Alexis to straighten her back before suddenly saying, "Miss Cole, do you know me?"

He felt rather puzzled. Alexis appeared in front of him for the first time when he told Cheyenne that the three-legged cauldron was a replica. At the time, she was extremely scornful and hostile toward him, probably because she thought that he was deliberately babbling nonsense to tarnish the reputation of the Coles.

But after Kenneth and Nikki intervened later on, Alexis's attitude changed drastically, as she seemed to direct all her feelings of hatred and abhorrence toward them. In contrast, she became much more cordial toward Lucas. In fact, she even seemed to have a trace of curiosity in her eyes from time to time.

Afterward, Alexis even offered to recruit Lucas, even though she had yet to determine whether the three-legged cauldron was genuine or not. Moreover, even after he turned her down without hesitation, she didn't get angry at all and instead remained amicable toward him.

This was completely different from the haughty way she behaved when she had thrown Kenneth and Nikki out just now!

So Lucas was really confused and wondered if Alexis knew him. Or could she have heard of my name before, so when Nikki lashed out at me and called me by my full name, this heiress finally realized who I am? Is that the reason for her change in attitude?

Needless to say, Lucas's conjecture was what happened in reality.

But Alexis didn't admit to it and instead tilted her head while saying with a cute smile, "No, it's our first time meeting each other!"

Then she turned around and walked out of the door before Lucas could say anything.

When she was about to leave the exhibition hall, she suddenly turned around and blinked playfully. "But I think we will meet again very soon!"

The petite Alexis left the exhibition hall with her subordinates.

Lucas and Cheyenne looked at each other, both full of bewilderment. Why does Miss Cole seem rather peculiar?!

——

In the best private room of the Lion Restaurant in LA…

Three old men with grayish-white hair were sitting around a dining table and chatting over some wine in the elegantly furnished room.

There were several burly bodyguards standing outside the private room. When the service staff walked past them, they didn't even dare to look into the room, as they could tell that the people in the room were definitely extraordinary bigwigs whom they didn't dare to offend.

The three old men in the room were Sam Morgan, Robert Heron, who was Nikki's grandfather, and Edmund Cole from San Francisco.

"Edmund, you just got discharged from the hospital, and you're already drinking. Can your body stand it?" Sam asked after taking a sip of white wine.

Edmund chuckled and took a sip of wine as well. He laughed and said, "That's because of my chronic heart disease. Drinking has nothing to do with it. Besides, it's rare for the three of us to get together. Who knows when we'll get to meet again after this? It's a must to have a few drinks!"

The few of them laughed heartily. They were all in their seventies and had no idea how much longer they had to live. In their opinion, life would be too mundane if they had to abstain from wine.

After the three of them laughed and chatted for a while, Edmund suddenly asked, "Sam, you mentioned just now that someone flushed millions of dollars worth of top-grade Da Hong Pao tea leaves down the sewer like rubbish. What exactly happened?"

He had only heard Sam mention it briefly with anguish just now. After suddenly recalling it, he decided to ask about it in detail.

The thought of the matter made Sam's blood boil. He felt devastated that he didn't get to buy the top-grade tea leaves that had been flushed away like garbage. He couldn't help clutching his chest and said with a wave of his hand, "Forget it. Talking about it makes me furious! Let Robert tell you what happened. Actually, it concerns his relatives!"

Recalling this matter, Robert felt extremely embarrassed. He sighed. "Ah, it's all because of my in-laws who are country bumpkins that haven't seen much of the world. They've been preparing for their grandson's wedding for the past couple of days, so the husband of one of their grandchildren gave them a bag of top-grade Da Hong Pao tea leaves as a gift. It was of the best quality, and there was more than a kilogram in that box!

"But my in-laws have always looked down on that junior and so thought that the tea leaves he brought were imitation goods. Without even looking at it, he threw that bag of tea leaves into the trash and humiliated that junior before chasing him away. I can't even bring myself to talk about this!

"Later, when Sam and I went over, Sam managed to smell the fragrance of tea thanks to his sharp sense of smell, so he picked it up from the trash can and even offered to buy it for a million dollars. Unfortunately, my in-laws didn't believe it and were afraid that the tea would be harmful to his health, so they snatched the tea leaves away and flushed them down the sewer!

"Sam was livid at that point, and he left without saying another word! Even I felt awkward, though I was just standing at the side!"

Robert recounted the story briefly while Edmund widened his eyes in shock. "More than a kilogram of top-quality Da Hong Pao tea leaves? I heard that less than three hundred grams of such tea leaves are produced each year."

Although Edmund wasn't a tea-lover, people of higher statuses like him definitely had a slight understanding of tea.

Robert said regretfully, "Exactly. We're talking about more than a kilogram of top-grade Da Hong Pao! It's rarely found here, and Sam definitely couldn't have made a mistake! Ah, what a pity! Those tea leaves could have at least fetched a few million at an auction."

Sam said furiously, "Trust you to have the cheek to say that. The person who threw the bag of tea leaves into the sewer and flushed it away is your granddaughter! I wanted to tell her to stop but unfortunately didn't have time to do so. You're her grandfather, but why didn't you stop her?! I'm not feeling sad about the few million dollars but the tea leaves! I can't buy those top-grade leaves even if I want to!"

His words made Robert immediately blush. "Nikki is just that reckless. She was just obeying her maternal grandfather's instructions to throw the tea leaves away! I couldn't stop her even though I wanted to!"

Edmund found it a great pity too, but as the head of the Cole family, the focus of his concern was obviously different. "Robert, who is that junior of your in-laws? Since he could get so much top-grade Da Hong Pao tea leaves and give them away generously, he must be an extraordinary person, right?"

Robert answered ashamedly, "Actually, I didn't see who he was. By the time we arrived, he had already been… driven away by my in-laws!"

Edmund widened his eyes in shock. After a long time, he said with a strange smile, "My gosh, your in-laws are really… I'm speechless! They actually drove away someone who can casually give away a gift worth millions of dollars. Seriously… I don't even know what to say about them!

"Your in-law must be full of regret after knowing that he threw away millions of dollars worth of tea leaves! I actually can't decide who's in a more terrible plight, him or his grandson-in-law! Hahahaha!"