As a man, Charlie understood the old man’s train of thought very well.Which man on earth would not want his woman to be happy?It was just that there were some people with limited capability, thus, unable to do it.Just like Charlie during those days, not only was he poor, but he also had no assets. There were times when Claire had her birthday or they had their wedding anniversary, Charlie wanted to give his wife a presentable gift. However, due to financial constraints, he could only wish for it.The first worthy gift given to his wife had been after Stephen had found him. At that time, he had bought his wife a jade necklace at Emerald Court.Despite Charlie’s desire to give his wife everything back in those days, with his ability back then, he could hardly even afford some decent makeup for her.Despite Jacob’s old age, his feelings for Matilda after twenty years were the same as first love. Thus, he naturally hoped to give her some presentable gifts.Based on this point, Charlie c
Seeing Charlie at this moment, the heart of the little girl within her burst instantly. She ran all the way to Charlie and held him tightly as she spoke softly, “Brother Charlie, I am going back to Eastcliff today. Are you reluctant to let me go?”Charlie laughed and said, “You should go home as you have to go back to participate in the rehearsal of the Spring Gala Festival. The whole nation is waiting to see your performance at the Spring Gala Festival.” Quinn was dissatisfied with his response and muttered, “You’re not answering me! What I asked was are you reluctant to let me go?”Charlie wanted to say that he was not reluctant, but he felt that if he said that, Quinn would show temper towards him. Still, he could not say that he was reluctant. This was because he actually wanted Quinn to go back quickly. Otherwise, she would continue to stay in Aurous Hill and bring trouble to him.If Claire found out what had happened between him and Quinn, she would be so angry.Thus, he said
While Issac was busy helping Charlie buy cosmetics, Charlie had arrived at Aurous Stadium.Today, the competition had reached the semi-final stage.In the previous round, Aurora’s performance in defeating Joanna had garnered attention on the internet, which had immediately raised the attention of this match to its peak. Thus, today’s semi-final match had attracted the attention of viewers from all over the country. Outside the Aurous Stadium, a majority of spectators had bought tickets at high prices to witness Aurora advancing into the final. Inside and outside the venue, Kobayashi Stomach Pills’ advertisement had been launched with great fanfare. Since they were the main sponsor, their advertisement elements were everywhere. Just using any camera to take a picture would reveal images of Kobayashi Stomach Pills’ advertisements.In fact, the broadcaster for this match also frequently displayed the Kobayashi Stomach Pills’ logo on the lower right corner of the television screen.
After all, Charlie’s appearance had subverted their perceptions of one another as master and apprentice. It had deeply impacted their enthusiasm. Nevertheless, Kazuki still hoped that Nanako could perform well. Even if she could not win the championship, based on her ability, she should have no problems getting the runner-up spot. However, if she could not perform well, she might not even be able to be the runner-up. Luckily, through the video, he found nothing unusual about Nanako as compared to her usual self.Nanako herself was not the type of player to be easily excited. Thus, before her big match, she was normally very calm, like how she was resting at the moment.Seeing that the time was almost up, Hiroshi spoke, “Miss, there’s still five minutes before you enter the venue.”Nanako opened her eyes, lightly nodded her head, and replied, “I know.”Hiroshi continued, “Miss, I am on a video call with Yamamoto-san, do you have anything to ask him?” As he spoke, he quickly switch
Nanako felt very mournful in her heart.After knowing that she had a limited outlook, all she wanted was to jump out of it. Unfortunately, Charlie would not give her this opportunity. Seeing her loss of expression, Kazuki hurriedly comforted her and spoke, “Nanako, now is not the time to think about this. You should win this game first. After that, we can consider the rest!”Nanako nodded heavily. Swiftly, she told Kazuki, “Master, I will enter the arena.”“Go on!” Kazuki encouraged her as he said, “You must give your best in this match no matter whether Charlie accepts you as his apprentice or not. You must let him see your ability! Therefore, in this match, try all you can to win as beautifully as possible!”“As beautifully as possible?”“Correct!” Kazuki affirmed. He continued, “Nanako, after Aurora defeated Joanna the last time, she became famous on the internet. I hope you will go to all lengths when you fight to unleash a killer move to defeat your opponent!”Nanako exclaimed, “
At that moment, the four players approached the two arenas respectively. One arena was on the left, and the other, on the right. Each arena was surrounded by spectators. Today, there were no empty seats. Before the match began, there were endless sounds of applause, whistling, and cheering.Charlie stood under the arena behind Aurora. This was also the spot for the Sanda coaches in the competition. The opponent’s coach looked at him nervously at that moment. He also looked at Aurora, who was in the area, from time to time. He had his towel ready in his hand. Once his apprentice could not support herself onstage, he would throw his towel in at the quickest time possible to admit defeat.In the arena, Aurora looked at her opponent, Victoria, with a callous expression.Before Charlie had helped Aurora to improve her body physique, she was indeed no match for Victoria. After all, this Australian girl was tall, and her body function was much better than Aurora.But now, Aurora was very c
Aurora’s voice pierced the air, shocking Victoria!She had seen the match between Aurora and Joanna, and she knew that Aurora had explosive power. With this kick, she was afraid would fly directly out of the arena, just like Joanna had. As a result, she quickly withdrew her right leg in a single step. Her left and right leg formed a triangle on the surface of the ground, and this would further strengthen the stability of her lower body. Next, she put both her arms in front of her, preparing to block Aurora’s kick with a blocking motion.Alas, she was not Joanna, and she did not have the slightest idea as to how strong Aurora’s kick was! She only felt her arms being hit by a tremendous force. The next thing she knew, she heard two crisp fracture sounds—both her arms had been broken by a single kick from Aurora! This was quickly followed by intense pain. She could not withstand that powerful force. Like Joanna in the previous match, she immediately rose high into the air! A huge excl
Charlie looked on from a distance. He could not help but feel surprised. He never thought that Nanako could be beaten by the American girl. Nanako seemed very passive and would not fight back.Furthermore, her beautiful face was also bruised and bleeding due to repeated hits, especially the corner of her right eye, which appeared cracked. Looking at her made one feel anxious.He could not resist coming over to the side of the arena. He carefully observed Nanako and noticed that even though Nanako was injured and very passive in the situation, both her eyes stared at the opponent’s every move intensely. He could not understand. Since Nanako was observing her opponent, why didn’t she fight back? What was she waiting for?At this moment, Nanako saw Charlie.Besides feeling amazed, she was also surprised. This was because she could see a bit of distress in Charlie’s eyes. She asked herself in her heart, ‘The distress in Charlie’s eyes, is it because of me? Is he caring for me?’ The ne
The lawyer then finished, "To be honest, cases of regretting a donation and seeking a lawsuit to get the money back? Law firms usually won't even get one per year, and that makes it especially newsworthy for the press."Also, court records are always public. That means anyone can access the verdict, and there's no hiding anything. So, if you want the lawsuit, you'd better be prepared."Jacob was already left in despair.All he wanted was to get his money back, but he didn't think that it would end up as public knowledge.And Mr. Bay had just told him over the phone that he would try to quell the scandal's pressure and try his best to protect Jacob's place as vice president.If Jacob's name was suddenly mentioned in a lawsuit attempting to reclaim an 'accidental' donation, even Mr. Bay couldn't save him at that point.Hence, after thinking long and hard about it, Jacob realized that he was not getting his 300 thousand back.The thought crushed him, and he burst into tears, "What
At this hour, most of the employees at Talbot Associates had already left.However, there were several lawyers who had just finished a meeting regarding a certain case, and they were just leaving when Jacob arrived.Seeing that they were packing up their bags and ready to leave, he asked, "Excuse me, are you still able to take cases?"The leader smiled, "Yes, but it's a little late now. Why don't you come again tomorrow morning?"Jacob shook his head impatiently. "This is very urgent—please help me and hear me out, then see if it will work. 300 thousand banks on this, so I'll give you twenty percent whether or not I get it back!"300 thousand was really neither here nor there.However, if it were an easy civil case, that twenty percent commission would still mean sixty thousand.The lawyer thought about it. "Fine. Tell us what your problem is, and we will assess the situation first. If it's easy, we can give you a general strategy right now. But if it proves difficult, we'll hav
The cabbie nodded. "Well, Talbot Associates, it is! They're said to be number two."-While Jacob was heading off to consult a law firm, Charlie was calling Julien Rothschild over the phone.The manchild had just had room service and was lounging on the couch, fiddling with his phone.After visiting the kennels with Charlie, he had been idling his days away at the hotel, waiting for Salem and his son to post that video of them being out at sea.Once that was done, Julien would return to the States, once more the heir apparent of the Rothschilds. Still, it was boring to simply lounge around in the hotel, and he would really like to strengthen his ties with Charlie.However, he was also afraid of being too forward as Charlie could be intimidating, and he could upset him—just like a fan eager to get close to their idol but was still worried about their idol getting disgusted with them.As such, he never expected Charlie to call him, and he immediately answered eagerly, "Good even
Pausing, Mr. Bay continued, "If they're not that upset with the idea, I'll bang my gavel and make the call so that you can at least stay as a vice president."If they keep refusing, I just have to promote Mr. Zonda to become a vice president while you take over his position of head-of-department as insurance. What do you think?"Jacob certainly wouldn't protest the idea of insurance, especially when he thought he would be forced to leave the Calligraphy and Painting Association altogether earlier. He quickly exclaimed gratefully, "Thank you so much, Mr. Bay!"Mr. Bay chuckled, clearly relieved as well. "Come on, Jacob—you don't have to be so formal. I'm like a brother to you! Don't you think that's what I should be doing?"Jacob laughed earnestly for once. "Well, brother, I'm honestly relieved…" He trailed off but soon pressed on, "But I have to ask, won't the other members have things to say even if you manage to persuade the other vice presidents? What if they remain unhappy?
There were times when making a person despair to some extent could be a people-strategy.For example, when your distant acquaintance asked for a ten grand loan but you could only lend him one, you couldn't tell him directly that. It would make them think you were being insincere.The better option would be to tell them how you were worse off than they were and had a debt yourself, or that some other friend had borrowed money for three years and never repaid it.And when that mere acquaintance was in despair, you could tell them that if it was really important, you could lend them one thousand with a credit card loan.That way, while the mere acquaintance wouldn't exactly be awash with gratitude, they at least wouldn't complain about your lack of sincerity.That was exactly what Mr. Bay was doing.He had no intention of offending Jacob, but he also couldn't directly tell him to give up on claiming the position as president of the Calligraphy and Painting Association. Otherwise, Ja
Jacob felt absolutely horrible just then, and he certainly did not expect Don Albert to give him the cold shoulder.If he had known, he would have just stayed content with the 200 thousand he had made and enjoyed his trip to Dubai! If he had, the Calligraphy and Painting Association wouldn't have found out about the bronze sculpture plot, and Don Albert would still be on friendly terms with him.Absolutely regretting everything, Jacob got in the backseat of the cab, tears of grief almost welling up and out of his eyes.Then, noticing that the cabbie was quietly watching him from the rearview mirror, he turned his face aside, whipped out his phone, and called Mr. Bay.As soon as Mr. Bay answered, he asked, "How did things go over there? Have you sorted out Zachary Evans yet?"He was waiting for Jacob to ask Don Albert for help so that the latter would pressure Zachary into posting a statement retracting his previous claims.However, Jacob knew full well that there was no hope for
Ramond replied, "I'm not planning on getting my name out there—I was just thinking I could start slow from one shop, but now, I'm suddenly so popular everyone's consulting me for appraisals, so I guess that's the short end of this."Either way, I'm planning to let things cool off by opening the shop late and closing early. That way, I'd receive fewer customers, and the hype will die down in a month."Once it does, I'll lead a slow life, which is perfect in Aurous Hill since it's how things are here. I'm not aiming to get rich or expand my business, and it's a comfortable life, so I plan to retire here."Charlie nodded. "The Rothschilds are relatively manageable, but I'm not sure if the Qing Eliminating Society is still looking for you and the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. You'll be completely free once they are wiped out.""And I'm sure with your abilities, Mr. Wade, that day will soon arrive." Raymond smiled and soon remembered. "By the way, you probably haven't had dinner yet, right
Charlie was never one who covered up misdeeds, and what Jacob had done reflected his corrupted character and clear refusal to feel remorse.As such, Charlie naturally refused to offer any help, completely giving up and allowing Jacob to keep going off on his own tangent, tearing himself apart in the process.Still, Raymond did put a good word in for Jacob. "Actually, one can understand Mr. Wilson's motives from a certain point of view. I was the one who set him up so that he broke that vase, and had him beaten up so that we didn't arouse suspicion. He has every reason to bear a grudge."Charlie sighed, nodding. "There's no issue with holding a grudge or getting revenge—in fact, I have no problem with him trying to salvage some pride. However, what he did was unseemly, and he doesn't know when to stop."He didn't lose anything before Zachary exposed everything. Even if he had missed a killer deal, he bought it off someone's hand in the first place and made two hundred grand in clean
With those words, Jacob didn't wait any further as he turned and left Antique Street, intent on seeking legal counsel.Raymond watched him leave before returning to Treasure Measure.He wasn't going to leave, but he had said so because he didn't want to waste much time with Jacob.Still, to avoid any trouble, he turned the sign outside to 'closed' before locking the door from the inside.That was when a man suddenly arrived, asking through the glass door, "Can I still take a look inside, sir?"Raymond was ready to refuse without even turning around when he realized that it was Charlie.He turned around and saw him standing outside just as expected.Smiling, he hurried over to open the door for him. "It's been a while, Mr. Wade!"Charlie was aware that Raymond was sticking to his identity of 'Raymond Cole' who had not been in touch since Raymond had been fired from Vintage Deluxe.Charlie chuckled in turn. "It has indeed. And you're a business owner yourself now, too.""It's j