Hearing Janice's words, Gladys said, "Janice, don't blame me for being suspicious. Your father has just recovered from being ill, so we have to be more careful about these things."
After that, she scanned the code on the bottle, but only a jumble of letters appeared. She sneered and said, "Look, the scan result shows that this item is a fake."
Janice's face darkened. Earlier, she had also wondered where did Christopher get the money to buy the alcohol, and if he had bought fakes.
But she still had to defend him. "Auntie, what are you talking about? How could it be fake? We picked it ourselves."
"I'm just saying that you young people don't know how to buy things. Real good things can't be that cheap?"
"You..."
"Alright, stop fighting."
Malcolm's expression was glum. He looked at the liquor in front of him and felt very uncomfortable. He usually hated these superficial things. He had initially wanted Christopher to join their company, but he didn't expect him to be so unreliable.
He said with a dark face, "Janice, I taught you to be down-to-earth since you were a child. When did you pursue such superficial stuff?"
Janice felt wronged. "Dad, I didn't..."
Before she could finish her words, Gladys interrupted, "Janice, just admit you were wrong. It's not a big deal. We are all family. It doesn't matter whether he is rich or poor. But the main thing is that he must have a good character. He can't cheat and try to pass off fake things for real. That's what a liar will do."
Gladys called Christopher a liar. Janice was very angry, but she had no words to defend him.
She glanced at Christopher sitting next to her, and found that he was sitting there motionless and calm as if the argument was unrelated to him.
Janice was ready to explode, but she didn't want to lose her temper on the spot because it would be an ugly situation. She could only tug at Christopher and said, "Christopher, let's leave."
"Don't worry, wait a moment."
Christopher pulled her back unhurriedly.
Janice was surprised. What was he doing? If they didn't leave, wouldn't they continue to accuse him of being a liar to his face?
Janice was a little speechless, but Christopher gave her a reassuring glance as if everything was in his control.
Janice didn't know whether she was under his spell, but she sat down obediently.
Only then did Christopher calmly ask Gladys, "You just said that it was a fake whisky. I want to know what method you used to judge."
Gladys didn't expect Christopher to question her. She snorted, "Of course I have my own way of checking."
"Really? Can you show me?" Christopher said calmly.
Looking at Christopher's calm expression, Gladys couldn't help sneering in her heart. "Since you want to embarrass yourself, I'll help you."
So, she handed over her phone across the dining table. "Well, just enter the barcode number and the details will be displayed..."
Christopher just glanced at her screen expressionlessly and interrupted her. "Did you know that this brand has its own authentication method?"
Gladys was stunned for a moment, and then she put away her phone awkwardly and snorted, "If you young people don't know the method, then don't pretend to show off."
Christopher said slowly, "I'll give you a way to check its authenticity. This brand of whisky is currently the best on the market. To prevent fake knock-off liquor from misleading and cheating customers, their company has an exclusive app to check its authenticity. You can try this method."
...
Gladys didn't take him seriously. "You bought this wine, how would I know if this method you said is reliable?"
She sneered.
Christopher snorted. "If you don't believe me, you can just call this number. This is the official authentication hotline of the brand. You'll know when you call. That, I can't fake."
As Christopher spoke, he placed an embossed business card in front of Gladys.
Gladys looked at the print and quality of the business card, it seemed very classy and didn't seem to be forged. She felt a little flustered for a moment. Did she really make a mistake?
At first, Janice was worried that Christopher would make a fool of himself. But now, seeing that he was handling the situation with ease, she relaxed.
When she saw Gladys did not make the call, she snorted and said, "Auntie, are you afraid to call? Do you want me to make the call instead?"
"It's just a phone call, let me do it."
Vanessa picked up the business card and dialed the number without waiting for Gladys to speak.
By the time Gladys reacted, it was too late to stop her.
Vanessa even purposely put the call on speaker, in order to publicly humiliate Janice.
She didn't expect that, after she followed the call's step-by-step prompts, a very pleasant female voice sounded on the phone, "Thank you for becoming the 105th member of the MT Group."
Vanessa's face darkened instantly. She met Janice's gaze and hung up the phone resentfully.
"So what if it's real? What's so great about it? Don't be so cocky."
Vanessa was peeved.
Janice snorted and said, "I can't stand being framed and accused. Auntie, why are you so quiet?"
Janice turned to look at Gladys.
At this moment, Gladys felt a little embarrassed. After all, she had said such mean and unpleasant words earlier.
"Don't stop eating, everyone. Eat while the food's hot. It won't taste good when it gets cold."
Gladys awkwardly changed the subject.
Janice was persistent. "What do you mean? You were accusing us just now, and in the blink of an eye, you seem to have forgotten what you said. Auntie, don't you think you should apologize to us?"
Hearing Janice's words, Gladys was very angry, but she gritted her teeth. "Janice, we're family. What's this talk about apologies?"
Janice snorted. "Why didn't you say we were family earlier when you were accusing us of giving dad fake products?"
"I..."
"That's enough!"
Malcolm finally spoke. He said to the two sternly, "Both of you stop arguing. Let's eat!"
As soon as Malcolm finished speaking, Gladys fell quiet.
But Janice felt like there was a stone in her heart. Why should they not get an apology?
She said, "I don't think there's any need for us to continue eating. Christopher, let's leave."
After saying that, Janice stood up and walked out of the door.
Christopher did not have a reason to stay. He nodded at Malcolm before standing up to catch up with her.
After Janice and Christopher left, Malcolm threw his cutlery down angrily. He just wanted the family to have a proper meal together, but it had to be disrupted. He turned his head to Gladys and said, "What was your intention? It's not easy for Janice to come home for dinner, but you had to doubt that the stuff they bought was fake. That kind of behavior is beneath you."
Gladys had nothing to say in her defense, but she muttered in her heart, "How could that poor guy knows so much about that top-notch liquor?"
On the way back, Christopher was driving with Janice in the passenger seat. She felt wrong when she thought of how her father had refused to even speak up for her.
To think she had earlier tried to help with the company's financial problems. It turned out that she had always been an outsider.
"What's wrong?"