A Love Trap

"By the way, Ashley, have you noticed that every time we chose the shop and wanted to sign the contract, the owners would
change their minds after getting a phone call?" It had suddenly occurred to Ellie and she asked Ashley if she found that strange
as well.
"Yes, you're right," Ashley replied after thinking about it for a moment.
For the past two days, they had scoured the city to find a shop to lease for their new cake business. Each owner that they met
was nice to them and everything went smoothly. But whenever it came to signing the contract they all had different excuses as to
why they had changed their minds and didn't want to lease the shop out to them.
It could be a coincidence if it happened once or twice. But they were rejected every time they planned to sign the contract. It was
so strange.
Ashley didn't know why Lena had suddenly popped into her mind.
When Lena first came to the Luo Group, she was anxious to see Ashley leave the company, but before Ashley left the company,
Lena seemed to have a change of heart and didn't want her to leave.
Also, both Ashley and Ellie had lived in J City for a long time and hadn't offended anybody. Even if some people didn't like the
two, how could they get involved just when the contract was about to be signed? Could they have spied on the two ladies?
After thinking it over for a while, Ashley came to the conclusion that only Lena would be capable of sabotaging anything that they
wanted to do. Lena was also the only person who the girls didn't have a good relationship with.
"It must be Lena who is behind it," Ashley suddenly blurted out.
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, Lena can't control everything. J City is so big. Surely we can lease a place to open a shop,
somewhere?" Ellie said to comfort her.
"Hmm, forget it. I don't want to think about it any more. I am so tired after these past two days and I have to go on a blind date
tomorrow. I need to go to sleep now," Ashley expressed helplessly.
"Do you still dare go to a blind date arranged by the Mu family? Aren't you afraid that they might try and trick you again and then
make you marry someone for their own interest?" Ellie asked as she stopped Ashley who was walking to the bedroom.

"What else can I do? I have no choice. I can't disobey them. Otherwise, they will say that I am ungrateful and don't want to repay
the Mu family for their kindness."
"The Mus didn't do anything for you except adopt you. They haven't done you any favors. How dare they say that?" Ellie hated
the Mu family to the very core.
She had never seen such a stingy wealthy family. They adopted Ashley but didn't care about her when she was growing up. But
now that she had grown into a beautiful woman, they wanted to take advantage of her for their own interests and expected her to
repay them.
It was only one more mouth to feed and a wealthy family could afford all sorts of luxuries. They made such a big deal out of
adopting Ashley.
"All right, Ellie. That's enough. Anyhow, I will go on the blind date tomorrow as Mrs. Mu requested. And she has promised that as
long as I go on this date, I can end the relationship with the Mu family. It's a good deal," Ashley spoke indifferently.
After Ashley had started high school, she never addressed Peggy, as her mother in public.
Firstly, it was Peggy's demand because she felt embarrassed if others knew she had such a daughter. She thought Ashley was
not graceful enough to be her daughter. Secondly, they thought there should only be one princess, in the family and it should be
their biological daughter, Lena. The adopted daughter couldn't possibly be the second one.
Ashley was actually happy with that arrangement. She didn't like Peggy at all and it would only make her feel awkward and
uncomfortable if she had to call her 'mom, ' in public.
Ellie nodded and
asked, "Need me to go with you?"
Ashley replied, "No need. It's no big deal, only a blind date. I'll be fine. I'll probably only ever see him once. Besides, the guy may
not take a fancy to me, anyway," Peggy had assured her that a man like him was rare to find in the world.
At three o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, Ashley went out on time. She found the coffee shop as Peggy told her the address
before hand.
Ashley dressed in an unusual style today.

She let her black hair down around her shoulders randomly and wore a pair of ugly big black-framed glasses that covered a
large part of her face.
She wore an old-fashioned and eye-catching dress with designs of small flowers on it and had an antique bag on her back.
When Ashley entered the coffee shop, everyone stopped to look her up and down as she had expected they would.
The people sitting in this particular coffee shop were all successful men or the top managers of successful companies. Everyone
did well in the commercial field. They were all certainly dressed well and formally.
Suddenly they noticed a girl dressed in a ridiculous outfit and it was unusual. She stood out among them all but not in a positive
way.
Ashley didn't care about them because she did this on purpose. Instead she checked the note in her hand to find the reserved
seat.
She saw the guy sitting with his back to her. He was dressed in a decent suit. Judging from his back, she thought he looked nice.
Ashley walked around to his front and was startled when she saw his face.
She thought the guy wouldn't be ugly because even Peggy praised him as a rare gem. She had never expected that the man
would look so grotesque.
He had a square face and beady little eyes with thick brows, which reminded her of an ant. His nose was flat and his mouth was
too big.
In brief, anybody else wouldn't be able to bear to look at his ugly face.
Ashley was silent. She knew she shouldn't have believed anything that Peggy said.
She thought, after seeing this disgusting face she wouldn't even want to eat anything for several days afterward.
After recovering from the shock, Ashley put on a smile which she thought was beautiful and asked, "Excuse me, you must be Mr.
Su, right?"
"Yes, I am. May I ask who I am talking to?" Leo Su, who was sitting glared at her with doubt and disdain.

No wonder he had such a reaction to her.
The fact was that his aunt told him the girl was a beauty and had even sent him a picture of her.
For the sake of meeting that beauty in the photo, he had finally agreed to come here on the blind date.
Otherwise, given his economic condition, why would he come to such a place for a blind date?
Leo looked at Ashley and disliked her even more and he rudely said, "Lady, this seat is taken. You must have the wrong table?"
Ashley pretended to be ignorant. She glanced at Leo and replied, "No, it's not wrong. This is the table number Mrs. Mu told me to
come to."
"Mrs. Mu? Do you mean Peggy Su?"
Ashley nodded, "Right."
Leo raised his bushy eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Are you Ashley Mu?"
Ashley was honest and nodded.
"Wait a minute," Leo stated as he reached into his wallet, took out a photo and held it up to her. "Is this you?"
Ashley glanced at the familiar photo and had to bite her tongue not to laugh. She squinted at the photo and pretended to be
surprised. "Isn't she the daughter of the Mu family? She is so beautiful. How can that be me?"