It was obvious that Harold looked down on Charlie.Moreover, he was full of resentment towards Claire, who was a company director.When Harold saw that the couple were actually here to view the properties at Thompson First, he wanted to seize the opportunity to satirize and make fun of them.Charlie sneered as soon as he heard Harold’s satirical tone towards Claire and himself. “What? If someone like you is able to view the properties at Thompson First, then why can’t we come here today?”Harold sneered before he said, “The reason why my family and I are able to come here today is because we can afford to purchase one of the houses here! Can you even afford any of the houses here?”Charlie smiled before he replied, “How sure are you that I can’t afford any of the houses here?”Harold snorted at this time. “If you can afford to buy any of the properties here, then I am a ghost! Do you know how much the houses here cost? Even the smallest house in Thompson First is one hundred and
At this time, the sales lady walked up to Charlie before she said, “Sir, if you’re not going to buy a house today, then please leave now. Do not affect the other customers who are here to purchase our properties today.”Claire sighed before she tugged at Charlie’s sleeves and said, “Let’s go, Charlie. Let’s have a look elsewhere instead.”Other people also started booing Charlie at this time. “If you are poor, then please leave instead of being an embarrassment here!”Charlie remained motionless before he said with a smile, “Do you know why all of you cannot afford to live in the villas here? It’s because you’re all short-sighted and there’s no way any of you will be able to afford to live in a villa in this lifetime!”Harold continued insulting Charlie at this time. “Hahaha! Charlie, are you really going to continue to lie here? Is there anyone here today who isn’t richer than you?”Charlie raised his brows before he said, “Harold, you keep saying that I’ll never be able to affor
The sales lady was panicking because she was worried that she would lose her job since she had offended Charlie. However, Charlie simply waved his hand before he said in a faint manner, “Don’t worry, this is a small issue. I won’t hold this against you.”After that, Charlie continued speaking, “By the way, could you please explain what Villa A05 is to all these short-sighted people here today?”The sales lady hurriedly explained, “The villas in Thompson First are divided into four different categories: A, B, C, and D. The scarcest category is category A, which has the largest area. The villas in category A consists of three levels, including a basement. There is also a private elevator within each villa, with each villa measuring more than one thousand square meters large. It also consists of a front and rear courtyard. The price of one of these villas is over one hundred million dollars. This is the most expensive villa in Thompson First and perhaps even in the entire Aurous Hill!”
It was Charlie’s mother-in-law, Elaine!The person accompanying Elaine at this time was none other than her husband, Jacob!Charlie and Claire were a little surprised at this time. Why were they here?Claire hurried forward before she asked, “Mom! Dad! Why are you here?”Elaine replied, “Your aunt and uncle called us to inform us of their intention to check out the houses at Thompson First as they’re intending to buy a house here. They invited us here to help them look around today.”In fact, Elaine glared at Charlie as she said this sentence because she felt a little annoyed at this time.Elaine did not want to come here today because she had just gotten into an argument with her daughter last night as she wanted to move out of their house. Unexpectedly, she actually received a phone call from Christopher, asking her and her husband to come over to check out the properties with them.What did they want them to check out? Weren’t they just trying to show off the fact that they
When Christopher heard his words, he thought that Jacob was deliberately trying to mock him. Therefore, he could only glare at him as he said in a furious tone, “Jacob, enough is enough! Why are you saying all this? I know that you are going to move into the villa at Thompson First. Are you trying to show off now?”Jacob was stunned at this time. “Huh? I am going to live in a villa at Thompson First? What are you talking about, Elder Brother?”Elaine was also very confused at this time. “Brother, is there a mistake here? Are you sure there’s no misunderstanding on this matter?”At this time, Christopher pointed his finger at Charlie before he said with a dissatisfied expression on his face. “Your son-in-law is the owner of the biggest villa in Thompson First! You can ask him all about it!”Elaine and Jacob were dumbfounded at this time. After that, they stare at Charlie in astonishment before they asked in disbelief, “Charlie, is what your uncle said true? Are you really the owner
Wendy and Christopher could not accept this fact at all. It felt as though they were being slapped and humiliated in public! They really wanted to bury themselves in a hole right then.This was insane!Just then, an old man suddenly walked out of the villa.The old man walked towards Charlie before he asked in a respectful manner, “Hello, are you Mr. Wade?”Charlie nodded before he replied, “Yes, I am. May I know who you are?”The old man replied, “Hello, Mr. Wade. I am Mr. White’s butler and I am responsible for taking care of this villa. I am Barry Landon but you can call me Barry. I am in charge of the maintenance of the villa.”“Barry?” Wendy stared at him in shock as though she had just been electrocuted.Wasn’t Barry her fiancé, Gerald’s butler? Why was he here?Did this villa belong to the White family?If that was the case, then why was it given to Charlie?Wendy quickly asked, “Barry, what is going on? Does this villa belong to the White family?”Barry replied, “Yes
Gerald was also stunned.The villa at Thompson First was the most valuable property owned by the White family.This house was owned by Zeke, the current head of the White family, who was Gerald’s uncle.Zeke was Kevin’s father, and Gerald’s father was only second-in-command.Even though Gerald and his father really loved Thompson First, there was no way they could afford such an expensive villa!Therefore, Gerald felt extremely shocked and uncomfortable when he heard that his uncle had actually given this villa to Charlie. He immediately told Wendy over the phone, “Wendy, give me a minute. I will ask my uncle about this.”Wendy hung up the phone before she glared at Charlie as she gritted her teeth and asked, “Charlie, what did you do? How did you trick Uncle White into giving you this villa?”At this time, Charlie replied in a light manner, “Mr. White offered me this villa on his own accord.”“You are lying!” Wendy suddenly blurted out. “You’re not related to the White family
”Charlie, is this… did the White family really give this villa to you?” Jacob asked Charlie in surprise when he finally regained his senses.“Yes, dad,” Charlie replied as he smiled.“This… you…” Jacob stuttered. He felt as though he was still dreaming.Claire hurried over to her father before she said, “Dad, why don’t you sit down and rest for a while? Since Mr. White has already explained the situation to everyone, everyone should know clearly now that this villa rightfully belongs to Charlie.”Claire specifically emphasized the words ‘rightfully belongs’ because she wanted her relatives to hear her loud and clear.Hannah held her hand against her chest in disbelief before she muttered, “The White family must be really insane! If they wanted to give this villa to someone else, why didn’t they give it to me instead?”Hannah was not the only one in disbelief because the rest of them were also very shocked at this time. In fact, Harold was extremely jealous of Charlie.He could n
Pausing, Charlie then said, "I'll call Steve to drop by later too. I'm sure folks in Aurous Hill won't know him, but your potential troublemaker might.""I-Is that really fine?" Yolden blurted."What's not fine about it?" Charlie chuckled. "He has been treated like a tool ever since he came to Aurous Hill, and now that he has a chance to strut about, he wouldn't ask for more."Yolden appeared slightly relieved at that, and Charlie asked, "By the way, where's Paul, Matilda, and Autumn?""Getting their makeup done," Yolden replied. "Paul's my best man while Autumn's the maid of honor.""Good," Charlie nodded with a grin. "Don't worry—the wedding's going to be a success."As they spoke, Matilda stepped out of the dressing room in a stark-white wedding dress, flanked by Autumn and Paul.Seeing Charlie, Autumn nodded politely, "Good morning, Mr. Wade."As Charlie nodded in turn, Paul started, "G-Good morning… Mr. Wade…"Seeing that he was nervous and tentative, Charlie knew that he
As Yolden and Matilda were remarrying after living abroad for years, the wedding ceremony was much simpler, skipping Oskian customs and having a simple wedding reception for their guests at the hotel hall.There weren't that many guests either—aside from their children and close friends, only a handful of Yolden's colleagues at Aurous Hill University were invited.As the celebrant, Charlie didn't have much to do and was mainly the emcee.He brought along his jacket as he headed out to Shangri-La, not wearing it immediately so that Claire wouldn't guess that he was attending Matilda's wedding.Arriving at the Hanging Gardens before the guests were supposed to arrive, he found Yolden working with the staff to finalize the preparations.Seeing Charlie, Yolden approached him and said, "Thanks for coming this early, Charlie."Noticing that he was a little tired, Charlie asked in concern, "Had a bad night?"Yolden nodded, sighing, "Paul's uncle caused a huge mess. Both Matilda and I a
Tarlon nodded. "How do you suggest we find them?"Fleur scowled. "There's no rush. There are things which I'm still confused about, so just keep a close eye on the Ackers and the Wades for the time being. Report to me right away if anything important comes up—don't afford our enemies any opportunities to exploit.""Yes, milady!" -The next day, more news outlets were covering the joint project between the Ackers and the Wades as word continued to spread.However, neither family revealed too many details, be it the name of the company, who was the CEO, or the scale of their business.While the public was dying with curiosity, nothing else was known.Still, Aurous Hill's officials were especially interested, with the town hall visiting the Ackers the next day and showing utmost sincerity by leasing a whopping 2-million-square-meter land along the southern highway. Still, the condition was for the Ackers to come true on their promise to propel the city's economy to 15 billion US d
Fleur had repeatedly mentioned the conspiracy theory of Ashley using a body double over the last twenty years.Tarlon had investigated from many different angles, but everything from the gender, age, dental records, to body figure pointed to the fact that the deceased was Ashley Acker.And yet, Fleur had never bought it, insisting that Curtis was prepared for them just because Curtis' son had gone missing soon after.There was no way Curtis would save his son but not his wife, and the disfigured corpse only added fuel to Fleur's suspicion.Thus, over the last twenty years, Fleur had kept a close eye on the Ackers, arranging for two 'scholars' to be embedded amongst their ranks as sleeper agents. She went that far all to determine if Ashley was dead or had faked her death.However, the scholars had since been killed in action, and they had no spies within the Ackers left.As for Tarlon, he still doubted Fleur's theory even now, but he remained respectful as he spoke, "Milady, I mu
Meanwhile, on the edge of the South Pole, Tarlon Griffin rushed outside of Fleur Griffin's room, knocking the door gingerly as he announced, "I have news, my lady!"Fleur didn't respond, but the thick wooden door between them slowly opened as if pushed by an invisible force.Tarlon entered to find Fleur seated on the floor with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her eyes remained closed as she molded her Reiki, asking, "What is it?"Tarlon quickly answered, "News from Oskia. The Ackers are partnering with the Wades on a joint venture into electric-powered vehicles."Fleur slowly opened her eyes, asking quietly, "And you're telling me because?"Tarlon quickly explained, "It just came out of the blue, so I thought I should report it to you right away."Fleur sighed. "After I tried and failed to wipe out the Ackers so many times, they wouldn't dare set foot stateside. If anything, they must have decided to seek asylum in Oskia by offering a substantial investment, and it's a base whe
Silent for a while, Matilda then asked Yolden, "Do you think I can do it?""Yes!" Yolden nodded without hesitation. "You definitely won't have any problems!"Matilda sighed, shaking her head. "We traveled far abroad to study while we were young, but we didn't return to Oskia to help the country's development. It's been thirty years since, and now that we have returned to the country at the same time, I definitely wouldn't turn down such an opportunity to help."Pausing, she then said, "That said, major corporations make it a point to not hire family members. Forget spouses—employees aren't allowed to date, and one of the two will be asked to resign if necessary."Don't you think it's inappropriate since we are legally married, having gotten our certificate and all? And if we set these precedents, we would have trouble asking other employees to follow that policy. You are going to be a CEO, so you need a very clear answer on this issue."Yolden shrugged. "In the first place, that p
Yolden nodded slightly. "He does.""My gosh…" Matilda murmured. "That's too much… Ashley's son? A member of the Acker family and the Wades?!"Pausing, she then asked in confusion, "Wait, if Charlie has so much power and influence, why would he permanently reside in Aurous Hill… No, why would he be content as Jacob Wilson's son-in-law? Does Jacob know who he really is?""Definitely not," Yolden shook his head. "There were some compelling circumstances, and his identity is a sensitive one. That's why I'm asking you to tell no one except Paul—and even then, you should only tell him if he can keep the secret."Matilda was sharp enough to pick up on the reasoning, too. "Charlie's hiding because of his parents' accident, isn't he?""Yes," Yolden sighed. "He has his plans, but I didn't pry since I can only do that much, let alone help him on that.""Got it," Matilda nodded repeatedly. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed… And you just said you're resigning? Are you going to help with this e
"That would be Ashley Layna Acker," Matilda replied without hesitation. "She was our age, as well as a major investor in Silicon Valley, while we were only starting to get our first clients. It's no exaggeration to say that she's the shining example in many case studies when it comes to business."Pausing, she then continued, "And she used to be your classmate, right? I remember you mentioning that in our conversations before.""Yes," Yolden sighed emotionally. "She was a classmate and the star of our generation."Matilda nodded but soon shook her head, "Wait, weren't we talking about Charlie's car company? What does that have to do with Ashley Acker?" "Here's where I let you in on a secret," Yolden said. "But first, you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone except Paul."Matilda nodded without hesitation. "Don't worry—if it's a secret, I won't tell Paul either."Yolden scratched his head. "Actually, Paul should know. We are going to marry soon, and he's my stepson, lega
In fact, the legal department of major enterprises covered many responsibilities, the chief of which concerned intellectual property, which was why veterans were needed to lead.Additionally, Charlie trusted Matilda's accomplishments in the legal field, especially since she had worked in the United States for years.With Curtis Autos' intended expansion worldwide, that meant the legal department should also know the laws of countries abroad, ready to file or respond to lawsuits at any time. After all, competitors may use the law to impede their growth, along with the government applying unfair policies to impede their development and impact on local businesses.Moreover, Charlie considered Paul young and therefore lacking in experience, not to mention that it was not likely he would abandon his family's law firm. As such, the ideal solution was to poach Matilda for now.As for Matilda, she was still in the dark and had no idea what she was in for, asking Charlie in confusion, "Lega