Charlie slowly drove into the Aurous University of Finance and Economics. At this time, it was already the university’s lunch break. Many students were walking on the campus ground. Most of them were walking toward the cafeteria and their dormitories, and some of them seemed to be heading out of the university to eat.Autumn asked Charlie, “Mr. Wade, would my father have already gone out to eat lunch? Should we contact him first?”Charlie nodded before he smiled and said, “I’ll call him in a short while. You should not say anything at all.”Autumn knew that Charlie simply wanted to give her father a surprise. So, she immediately agreed, “Okay…”Charlie parked the car below the administrative office building. After that, he called Yolden via WhatsApp.As soon as the voice call request was sent, the other party answered the call immediately. Immediately after that, Yolden’s voice came over the other end of the line, “Charlie, how are things over there?! Is there any progress?”Char
He knew that he did not have the ability to save his daughter and that he might not even be able to reach the place where his daughter was currently being detained. However, he hoped that he would be able to be closer to her. That way, he would be able to find some comfort in his heart.Just as he was feeling very restless and anxious, there was suddenly a knock on his door. Yolden’s chaotic thoughts were forcibly interrupted, and he could only walk to the door as he stretched out his hand to open the door.As soon as the door was opened, he saw a young and fashionable woman standing outside his door, but the woman was wearing a mask. He could not see her appearance, so he asked in surprise, “Hello. May I know what I can do for you?”Yolden did not recognize his daughter, who was standing in front of him.It was not to say that Yolden and his daughter were unfamiliar with each other, but in his memory, his daughter, Autumn, would not usually wear this kind of fashionable and femi
When Yolden heard Autumn’s words, he was instantly shocked. When he saw Autumn’s face, he yelled out loud in horror and shock, “Autumn?! Is it truly you?!”Although Autumn was standing right in front of him, deep down in his heart, Yolden could not truly believe that this woman in front of him was indeed his own daughter. This was because deep down in his heart, Yolden firmly believed that his daughter was still in Syria at this time.There was no way she could suddenly appear in front of him now.This was especially so since he had just spoken to Charlie just now, and even Charlie had not seen her yet.Moreover, the United States had not sent anyone over there to rescue them. So, it would simply be impossible for the Syrian armed opposition force, who had held his daughter hostage, to simply release her and let her go.Nevertheless, even if the Syrian armed opposition force were to truly be so compassionate and merciful, there was no way Autumn could appear back in Aurous Hil
As he spoke, he hurriedly asked, “Hurry up and tell me how the both of you came back! How did you manage to come back within such a short time? Was the entire process very smooth?”Charlie smiled as he said, “It did not proceed very smoothly at first, but it became very smooth rather quickly. I happened to meet and befriend the commander of the opposition force, and the other party was also very easygoing. So, he let Autumn go.”Yolden hurriedly looked at Autumn, who was aside, before he asked her, “Autumn, did you suffer any grievances when you were there?”Autumn adjusted her sitting posture before she replied awkwardly, “They locked us up in a cellar, and they did plan to kill us at first. But fortunately, Mr. Wade rescued us in time. Otherwise, we would have already been executed one after the other…”Yolden was extremely grateful as he told Charlie, “Charlie, I really owe you my life for bringing Autumn home safely. From now on, my life belongs to you! May I be punished and st
When Yolden suddenly asked this question, Autumn’s face turned even redder.She secretly thought to herself, ‘Am I feeling uncomfortable?! Of course I’m feeling uncomfortable! The lingerie that Charlie bought for me is two sizes smaller than the lingerie I usually wear! I’ve been suffocating all the way until this point, and I feel that it is even tighter when I sit down…’However, she certainly would not be able to say such words. So, she could only hesitate as she replied ambiguously, “Oh, Dad, I’m fine. Perhaps it’s because I’ve not eased my spirit yet, and I’m still feeling a little nervous…”Yolden did not think too much. He nodded gently before he said emotionally, “You must have suffered a lot after staying in that kind of place for such a long time. Moreover, you have experienced war and kidnapping. So, it is normal for you to be feeling a little mental tension.”Autumn had an embarrassed look on her face as she thought to herself, ‘I’m not feeling mentally tensed. I’m feel
As soon as the call was connected, Albert’s voice sounded over the other end of the line, “Master Wade, what are your instructions for me since you’re calling me?”Charlie said, “This is the case. I want to invite a friend over to have lunch. So, I want to ask you if there are any empty private rooms in the afternoon at The Heaven Springs?”Albert did not hesitate at all as he said, “Master Wade, you can just head to The Heaven Springs directly. We have already stopped serving guests in the Diamond Room in The Heaven Springs for a very long time. It is specially reserved for you. So, you can go there whenever you want to!”Charlie said in surprise, “Albert, you don’t have to do that, right? The Diamond Room there is so popular! If you do not serve any other guests, your losses would not be small!”Albert smiled as he said seriously, “Master Wade, I owe my life to you. So, what is a mere Diamond Room? As long you need it, it would not matter even if The Heaven Springs stopped servin
Charlie knew that Yolden had a background as a professor. So, this kind of senior intellect tended to think highly of themselves, and they were bound to be a little prejudiced when judging people like Albert.Still, the good thing was that Yolden did not continue dwelling on this fact. Instead, after listening to Charlie’s explanation of the general situation, he let go of his inner entanglement. Charlie stood up before he said to the father and daughter, “Uncle Hart, Autumn, let’s go.”Yolden nodded before he stood up instantly. As for Autumn, who was aside, she had already been long suffocated to the point that she could no longer stand it anymore. So, she could not wait to stand up.This was mainly because she really felt as though the feeling that she was getting suffocated to death when she was sitting on the sofa was seriously too unbearable.In truth, she had already wanted to stand up a long time ago. However, since her father and Charlie were both seated, she did not wan
‘But that should not be the case! Even if the quality is really bad, at most, there would be a loose thread of the silk, right? There is no reason for it to fall apart!’‘Could it be that…’A possibility abruptly emerged in Charlie’s mind, and he was instantly startled!He subconsciously looked at Autumn, and he suddenly realized that the curve of her upper body, which had been wrapped up by the fitting dress, suddenly seemed to be bulging a little more at this time.‘Could it be that the size that I bought was too small?!’Charlie suddenly realized the crux of the problem!The dress that he had bought was originally a high-end custom-made model. So, it truly showed off the person’s figure.In other words, a person’s strength and weakness would be distinctly exposed as soon as she put on this dress.When Autumn had been wearing this dress previously, he could see that her figure was not that great. Although she was not utterly flat-chested, she was not much better as compared t
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