The Wife Is A Superstar 3

Chapter 520 - The Manoban Family's Old House Part III

Chitthip and Grandma's eyes widened after hearing that most of the souvenirs came from Chaerin.

"Please say thank you to Madam Chaerin," Chitthip said. "Oh, I should probably start calling her Vizcondesa now!"

Someone from the branch families snorted in derision. Just as how Jennie was unpopular to them, her mother Chaerin was also thought of badly by many people among high society.

Both Grandma and Lisa looked at their direction with cold eyes. Their expressions were almost identical. Indeed, they were grandmother and grandson.

Jennie pretended that she didn't hear the rude sound. Although her expression remained generally pleasant, her eyes narrowed and turned cold as well.

Grandma gave a cold glare at the branch families before smiling warmly at Jennie.

"We've already met your father and Jia but not your mother. Ruby my dear, how about we invite the viscountess for a meal?"

"Mother, that would be lovely!"

Jennie smiled at the two older women. "I'm sure my mother would be delighted."

After the eventful greetings and tense introductions in the front hall, they all headed to the dining area for lunch.

"Is Hyung not coming today?" Jennie asked while they were walking.

"Oh, he's supposed to come but he called early this morning to say that he wouldn't be able to because of schedule issues. It looks like his work today got delayed," Chitthip explained.

"We'll be able to see that boy tomorrow. Don't worry, Ruby my dear. If that boy doesn't attend the grand launch tomorrow, I'll make sure to lecture him well and teach him a lesson. Leave everything to Grandma, alright?" Grandma assured.

"Thank you, Grandma," Jennie replied.

Lunch was even more awkward and tense than during the introductions earlier. Chitthip was a good host and tried to make the weird atmosphere more pleasant even though she felt displeased by the branch families unexpected presence. As for Grandma, she completely ignored them. The matriarch focused on chatting with Jennie and Lisa instead.

Thus, it felt like everyone was eating in two different places because of the clear division between the two groups. The main family plus Jennie on one side while the branch families on another side.

This made the branch families resent Jennie even more.

Jennie just ignored them and temporarily erased their existence from her mind. She and Lisa visited the old house to eat lunch with Chitthip and Grandma, not with them.

After lunch, everyone headed to the nearest lounge area to drink some digestive tea.

This time, Geo and the others who worked for Manoban Corporation pulled Lisa to speak about some business matters.

"Go ahead. I'll stay here and chat with Auntie and Grandma," Jennie told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded.

"If you want to leave, just tell me anytime. Okay, love?"

"Okay. Now go."

Lisa left and followed Geo and the others to another room to speak business in private.

In the meantime, Jennie shared her experiences during the Sommet International Film Festival with Chitthip and Grandma. The two were fascinated about the prestigious event, especially knowing that Jennie won an award from there.

"I'm so proud of you, my dear," Grandma told Jennie.

"I watched your acceptance speech. It was so romantic of you to bring my son to the stage with you," Chitthip said. Her eyes reddened and she began wiping her teary eyes. "Oh, I'm getting emotional just remembering it."

Jennie held Chitthip's hand. "Auntie, thank you for giving birth to Lisa. If you didn't, I wouldn't have met him."

"Oh!" Chitthip's tears gushed out like mini-waterfalls from her eyes.

Grandma comforted her daughter-in-law while nodding approvingly at Jennie's words.

Later, Jennie excused herself to go to the nearest powder room. After relieving herself and refreshing her appearance, she exited and found several people waiting for her outside in the hallway.

Jane and her female cousins immediately surrounded Jennie, cornering her to the wall.

"Hello, everyone. Do you need to pee, too? Go ahead. There's no one inside now. I'll just go ahead," Jennie said in an overly pleasant voice. Her eyes, however, were completely cold.

"You're not going anywhere!" Jane announced.

Her cohorts blocked Jennie's way, preventing her from leaving. One of them even tried to push Jennie hard, intending to make her stumble to the floor, but Jennie deftly avoided the movement by stepping away. The girl's hands missed, making her look stupid. This angered many of them.

"Don't think too highly of yourself, Jennie Kim!" Jane said. "Just because Lisa, Aunt and Grandmother all accept you doesn't mean that the rest of the clan do!"

The other girls nodded. They were just the echo to her main voice.

"Diana is many times more suitable for Lisa than you! She's the CMO of Manoban Corporation. Do you know what CMO means? I bet you don't because you're STUPID! You don't know anything about business, unlike Diana who's a super smart businesswoman."

Jennie almost yawned at these girls' attempt of bullying her. It was like having small, ugly, toothless dogs yipping and growling down at her feet. The New Girls and Jieun threw worse insults at her back then than these bully wannabes. However, her eyes became colder after hearing Diana being compared to her.

Jane continued, "Since you're STUPID, I'll tell you what CMO means because I bet you don't know. CMO means...Chief Ma...Chief M-, uh, Chief Manager Officer! Yes, that's what it means!"

"You're so smart, Jane!"

"Chief Manager Officer! It sounds so impressive!"

Her sidekicks did their job and praised Jane, feeding her inflated ego and her desire to bully Jennie.

Jennie tilted her head to the side and said in a rather lazy manner, "Actually, that's incorrect. CMO means Chief Marketing Officer. At least, that's the most common meaning. In other companies or organizations, CMO can also mean Chief Maintenance Officer or Chief Medical Officer. There are many variations to it. But I've never heard of a Chief Manager Officer before. That's a first. Maybe you mean Chief Management Officer? That's uncommon too, but it's a more correct term than Chief Manager Officer."

Jennie explained all of these terms with such ease that the other girls couldn't help but feel impressed.

However, Jane felt humiliated that Jennie pointed out her error. Pride made her refuse to accept that she made a mistake.

"No, you're wrong. I'm right. CMO really means Chief Manager Officer!" she insisted. "It's a unique position in Manoban Corporation because my family's company is the best in the country and in entire Asia!"

Jennie pretended to widen her eyes in surprise. "Your family's company? Manoban Corporation?"

"Of course! I'm a Manoban. All of us here are Manobans, except for you. So we own the Corporation!"

"Hmmm. That's not how a business works," Jennie murmured, tapping her a finger on her chin. "Business ownership depends on how much shares of the company you own under your own name. Just because you have the same surname as the majority owner or a shareholder doesn't mean that you automatically own the company too. It's like saying that the children and relatives of a country's president also deserve to be president just because they have the same surname as the political head. Besides, it's not only the Manobans who own the Corporation. Grandpa—I mean, Grandfather Jian also owns exactly half of it. He never gave away or sold any of his shares ever since he founded the company with Lisa's grandfather."