For the past hundreds of years, there were hearsays of the Rothschild family in Europe and North America.Some said that they ruled half of Europe, while others said that they ruled not only half of Europe, but even half of America.Their presence in Europe and America was almost everywhere—the most profitable bank was theirs, the most profitable oil refinery enterprise was theirs, the largest shipping consortium was theirs, even the largest military group was theirs.During the Industrial Revolution, this family was the one who had pushed for and controlled the railway transport in Europe and America. As for gold, diamond, and other important mineral resources, those were their traditional areas of strength.Based on rough estimates, the entire family’s asset value was worth at least trillions and above.This meant that based on the asset scale, one Rothschild was ten times of the Wade family. Even more terrifying was that as an established Jew, Rothschild had strong politic
This time, Charlie wanted to give them the medicinal pills, so for sure, they would be very happy. Once Travis, who was from Lancaster, heard of the news that Charlie was inviting guests, he immediately asked Harvey, Charlie’s friend from the orphanage, to drive him to Aurous Hill. Travis had quite a lot of properties in Aurous Hill. Thus, he planned to stay a night in Aurous Hill just in case any unforeseen circumstances might delay his journey. The reason for prioritizing this was mainly because, in his eyes, this opportunity was too rare. Emgrand Group’s Doris was the only one who had not received Graham’s notification.It was not that Graham had forgotten about her. The main reason was that Graham did not have Doris’s contact information. Before Charlie had taken over Emgrand Group, Doris had been the Vice President of Emgrand Group all this while. She was not a young lady from some big family nor was she a rich kid with power. Instead, it w
At this moment, at Aurous Hill’s People Hospital in the in-patient department.As the best-integrated hospital in Aurous Hill and even in the entire district, it was full of people at any time.There were no empty beds no matter which department it was.Not only was it full of patients, but many other patients were still lining up at home, waiting for beds, and seeking treatment.In the intensive care unit for nephrology, an unconscious man lay on the bed with tubes poking out from his whole body. He looked to be around fifty years old.Beside the bed, there was a middle-aged woman. This woman’s features were very similar to Doris.Outside the intensive care unit, there was a small living room and resting area for family members. After all, this was the intensive care unit with the best criteria. Hence, the interior structure was similar to a hotel suite.At this moment, in the living room stood two young people—a man and a woman.The woman was the Vice-President of Emgrand Gro
“Doris, as long as you are willing to leave Emgrand Group and join my company as the Vice-Chairman and also be my lover, I will immediately ask someone to use my private jet to bring the kidney to you. If you say yes to me today, Uncle will have a new kidney tomorrow. What do you think?” “Shameless!” Grinding her teeth, Doris said angrily, “Edmund, how dare you take advantage of me! Moreover, you are already married with kids! How could you disappoint your wife and kids with those kinds of actions?!” Curling his lips, Edmund answered with a carefree attitude, “For me, marriage is just part of fulfilling my family’s mission. Whoever my family wishes me to marry, I will marry her. As long as I’ve married the woman they have chosen, they will not interfere with my private life.” Then, Edmund continued with an oblivious sneer, “As for the kids, I don’t really care about them. They are still young. Wait till they are older, I will make them realize that money is more
Looking at Edmund’s back as he left, Doris was so mad that she was shivering as her tears flowed down her face. Two years ago, Doris’s father had had a severe kidney infection. It had been hard to find a suitable kidney because his blood type was RH negative. At that time, Doris had done a match test, but she was not suitable. Soon after, due to a stroke of good luck, one of her relatives had found a suitable match in Southeast Asia, and the other party had also been willing to donate. Subsequently, Doris had spent a million Oskian dollars to help her dad solve his kidney problem. Initially, she had thought that after finding the kidney, her dad would live for another twenty or thirty years with proper care. However, she never would have thought that just after two years, her dad’s replacement kidney would have a serious rejection response, and the kidney functions started to drop tremendously.Before the Oskian New Year, he had been fine. However, afte
Just then, someone pushed the room door open gently.A middle-aged woman came out and asked, “Doris, has Edmund left?”This woman was Doris’s mother, Faith Saunders.Doris quickly wiped away her tears and turned toward the woman as she nodded. “Yes, Mum. He has left.”Then, she hurriedly asked, “Mum, how’s Dad?”Faith sighed. “Still the same—unconscious.”Noticing that Doris had just cried not too long ago, she swiftly stepped forward and asked in concern, “Doris, why are you crying? What did Edmund say to you? Didn’t he give you his word that the kidney has been found? What did he say after that?”Doris sighed and whispered, “Yes, the kidney has been found, but he wanted me to work for him and be his lover…”“What?!” With her eyes wide open, Faith blurted out, “This… isn’t this person your former classmate? How could he be so shameless?!”Doris answered in extreme frustration, “I also didn’t know that he would become like this after a few years of graduation.”Faith hurried
Doris reached into her pocket, retrieved a pack of ladies’ cigarettes, took one out, and put it in her mouth. Then, she reached for the lighter again, but she had a hard time lighting the cigarette as her hands were trembling. After several attempts, she managed to light the lighter, and the cigarette was finally lit.Her face was extremely pale under the reflection of the fire.When the cigarette was ignited, Doris gently bit the cigarette with her pinkish lips and took in a deep breath. Right then, it was so quiet that she could hear the unique sound of the burnt tobacco.Doris rarely smoked, and she did not like to smoke either, but due to her diligence at work, she was often overly tired as well as upset. Therefore, she would occasionally smoke a cigarette to bring her some relief.As the smoke puffed out from her delicate nose, feeling the stimulation produced by the nicotine in her brain, Doris couldn’t help shedding two lines of hot tears down her cheeks.Her mother’s words
Doris was incomparably frustrated as this was the cruelest and most crucial choice she had ever faced in her twenty-something years of life.***Meanwhile, Edmund sat in his Rolls Royce and simply drove away from Silverwing Hospital.Edmund’s full name was Edmund Whittaker. He was an American whose family was a famous real estate developer in the United States.He had been Doris’ collegemate in earlier years and had always taken a fancy to her, but because he had still been under the watchful eye of his family at that time, he hadn’t dared to take the plunge and pursue a woman of Oskian descent.Nevertheless, Edmund had changed radically from his student days. He now had enough resources in the family as well as the control power, and now that he had taken his business to Oskia and started to enter the real estate sector here, he instantly set himself free from all the nuisances.The first thing he wanted to do was to court Doris.This was not only because he had always taken a
Soon, more collectors had gathered outside Treasure Measure even before Raymond showed up at Antique Street, with over ten of them gathered outside in no time at all.Since Raymond had only prepared ten slips, the rest left in disappointment seeing that they had no chance.Even so, the ten collectors who had gotten a number were nervous—save for the first man who had arrived.The details on the online sales post insisted that the price was fixed, and that first-come first-serve applies.If he bought the bronze sculpture, the other nine would have come all this way for nothing.However, if the seller decided to make it an auction, they would have a chance too, although their net profit would thin in turn. After all, they could have acquired the bronze sculpture for just 20 million, and that meant a solid 8 million in profit.An auction would at least raise the price to 27 million, and more would make it chicken feed.If they gave up at that point, it was a waste of a trip.If
Trippy naturally wasn't going to tell Mick everything word-for-word, so he said vaguely, "Uh, they were just being stubborn and refused to listen to anything I said. They kept saying that they wouldn't know until they saw the actual item."Mick got out of bed, staring at his phone as he mused to himself.This was getting a little ridiculous, was it not? A fool who was scammed, actually able to scam someone else? But if he really could sell it, wouldn't all their work be for nothing?With that in mind, he promptly called Zachary, who wasn't even up yet.Ever since he had started working for Don Albert, his daily routine was no longer the same as the days when he was a humble stall owner working on Antique Street, but a man of importance who slept late and woke up late.In the evening, he would be spending his time patrolling Don Albert's night entertainment properties as well as holding meetings with subordinates to decide on management policies and the like. That was why he wo
Seeing that Mick had a favor to ask, Trippy was naturally eager to seize the opportunity to get in his good graces."Don't worry, Mr. Crane!" He promptly replied. "Just leave it to me!"Returning to Treasure Measure, he went up to the first man who had come and said, "Hey, brother… Did you come to buy the bronze sculpture from Mr. Cole?"The man asked warily, "You know about the bronze sculpture?""Of course!" Trippy grinned. "I know all too well—it's actually famous here in Aurous Hill."Whipping out his phone, he played the short video that Mick had spent five grand promoting, saying, "Here—check this out!"Curious, the man took the phone and watched the video solemnly.The other latecomer soon hurried over as well and stared fixedly at the screen too.They watched as Bill entered a room with the bronze sculpture with Mick, the latter who checked it out and started commenting on it.The first man exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, it really is that bronze sculpture."The second ma
The other antique traders who were keeping tabs on the situation were left confused by Trippy's message.[Maybe even those out-of-towners know that Raymond is a sucker? So they traveled overnight just to see what happens?][I know Raymond is in trouble, but is it really worth traveling hundreds of miles just to watch?][Maybe they know he's a sucker, so they came to sell him more counterfeits?][Shit, that must be it! Suckers are rare these days, after all!][Damn straight! Just knowing that there's one in Aurous Hill, you'd be eager to come over.]Even Mick Crane who had just woken up and saw the message immediately sent a voice message: "Those conmen are just like flies flocking around shit as soon as they smell it.""Oh, but what they don't know is that Raymond has no more money! I heard he only had a few hundred thousand for the startup, and the bronze sculpture must have cost most of it. I'm afraid those people won't even get their gas money and toll costs back after travel
Trippy rolled his eyes as he texted back: [Hell no. I need to start my business instead of wasting my time. You morons can come get a number yourself if you like. Haha!]Still, Trippy had just sent his text when a trio arrived in a hurry outside Treasure Measure.Seeing that the doors were closed, the leader asked Trippy, "Excuse me, can I ask if this is Treasure Measure? Owned by a man named Mr. Cole?"Trippy was at once surprised. "You mean Raymond Cole?"The leader quickly said, "We don't know his first name, only that his last name is Cole, and his handle name was Treasure Measure's Mr. Cole."Trippy chuckled. "That'd be him. Has to be, since he hand wrote that shop sign."Pausing, he then asked in curiosity, "So, you've come to see him being a sucker?"The leader was naturally curious as to what Trippy was talking about. However, he was also reluctant to reveal why he had come since there was a killer bargain at stake. In fact, every other collector who was coming was k
Raymond also added that the 20 million price tag wouldn't be cut or increased. To put it simply, the bronze sculpture was right there in Aurous Hill and waiting—it was a race.Hence, many reputable collectors contacted expert appraisers throughout the night, some even booking night flights straight to Aurous Hill.The best amongst them was a fanatic collector of bronze items in Eastcliff.Following a brief exchange with Raymond online, he immediately called an expert who was also a close friend. As soon as his call was answered, he asked the other man if he had time to travel to Aurous Hill so that no one else would beat them to it—and they would drive out in the night if at all possible.After all, the earliest flight was at six in the morning, and it'd be eight by the time they made it to Aurous Hill Airport and nine by the time they got to Antique Street in a cab.Therefore, the ideal way to get there was by driving over six hundred miles at top speed, and that meant reaching A
While Jacob was feeling delighted after pulling off his con, Raymond had posted details of the bronze sculpture online.The website he was using was the biggest platform for antique collectors and the antique trade where each user could set a favorite tag in the antique category and era. If a user who preferred canvas art pieces of the Tudor dynasty set that label as their favorite, they would immediately be notified with text or desktop notifications in regards to any item with the same label.As medieval bronze sculptures were rare in the first place, most who were interested had already set that label on their favorites and were immediately notified soon after Raymond posted pictures of the bronze sculpture online.The collectors were naturally eager to check it out as gilded sculptures of the medieval era were really rare, and most collectors would go a lifetime without picking one up for their collection.On top of that, the seller had even listed a major flaw and was only ask
"Nope," Jacob chuckled. "We were both working separately and just happened to get back in at the same time."Then, he immediately became smug and excited, "Guess what, dear? I made 200 thousand out of the deal! In net profits!""For real?!" Elaine gaped. "200 thousand in just one night?! That's amazing! How did you do that?"Claire was surprised to hear that too, and she came over to ask, "What deal was it, Dad?"Jacob grinned, "Oh, it's nothing to brag about. It's just that I managed to pick up a nice antique item thanks to my wisdom and then sold it for 200 thousand."Pausing, he then sighed in dismay, "However, the buyer wasn't too rich—I would have squeezed him for 400 thousand, but he couldn't afford more, so I had to settle for less."Elaine quickly exclaimed, "Shit, we're talking about a loss of 200 thousand! People would work a year and still never earn that much…"She trailed off for a moment before asking, "By the way, dear—are we still flying out first thing tomorrow?
Jacob laughed. "Put that issue behind us? Sure, but we're not becoming friends. Hell, I can't even hold a grudge now that you're shit out of luck."Then, his tone changed sharply and suddenly became icy, "But you see, Aurous Hill is not a place you can stay just because you want to. No… After this, you're not going to be able to make a living in the antique trade.""If I were you, I'd be running a thousand miles away, far away from Aurous Hill where no one would know my face to start over. That way, you just might be able to make a living."Raymond simply kept smiling, "You need not be concerned about how I'm going to survive here, Mr. Wilson. I'd be very grateful if you'd cease any form of harassment once you leave my premises."Jacob pursed his lips, staring at Raymond in disappointment. "I'm plenty magnanimous, so I won't stoop to such pettiness. Just do whatever you like!"Clicking his tongue, he huffed, "Tut, tut… And here I'd thought you're tough, but you're just yet another