After settling Elaine’s problem, Elaine and Charlie parted ways. Hugging the suitcase happily like a child holding a lollipop, Elaine went to the bank to make a deposit while Charlie went home.Upon entering the house, Charlie saw Claire’s shoes in the hallway, so he knew that she had returned and went straight to their bedroom.As soon as he entered the room, he saw his wife just hanging up the phone, her face painted with surprise and excitement.He asked curiously, “Dear, who was it on the phone?”Claire shrieked excitedly, “It’s my bestie, Loreen! Do you remember her?”“Yes, I do,” Charlie nodded and continued, “She used to study in Aurous Hill and was very close to you. In fact, if I recall correctly, she is the daughter of the wealthy Thomas family in Eastcliff, isn’t she?”“Yes!” Claire said, “Loreen’s family is quite prominent in Eastcliff.”Charlie smiled and asked, “So what is it about? Is she coming to Aurous Hill for a visit?”“Not just for a visit, she’s coming to
Charlie ordered her to keep an eye on Loreen after she started working and to always report to him if there were any abnormalities.After talking to Doris, Charlie took a taxi to the airport to pick Loreen up.When he was at the airport, Charlie disembarked the taxi and was about to go to the arrival hall when a Mercedes-Benz G-Class braked abruptly and stopped in front of him.Harold, Claire’s cousin, stretched his head out of the car window and frowned when he saw Charlie. “Why are you here?”“I’m here to pick Claire’s friend up. Why are you here?”Charlie frowned too when he saw the familiar faces sitting in the car—besides Harold, there were Gerald and Wendy.Harold sneered. “Do you mean Miss Thomas? We’re here to entertain her, you’re nothing but redundant, get lost!”Charlie snorted indifferently and said, “You get lost.”Thus, Charlie ignored them and walked directly into the airport’s arrival hall.Harold’s face turned into an ugly shade of red and he was about to swea
Charlie was a little surprised when he heard that Harold had also booked a suite at Heaven Springs.What a coincidence. Didn’t Albert say that he owned Heaven Springs? He had prepared a suite for him in the restaurant as well, hadn’t he?Meanwhile, Gerald gaped in shock. “Wow, Harold, did you actually manage to make a reservation for the Golden Suite in Heaven Springs? Not everyone can do it!”Harold laughed triumphantly. “Honestly speaking, apart from the Diamond Suite that’s really out of my reach, other suites are a piece of cake.”Despite his pompous statement, it was nothing but Harold’s bragging. Truth be told, in order to make a reservation for the Golden Suite, Lady Wilson herself had requested for a lot of favors from many people to book it.Loreen had heard about Heaven Springs even in Eastcliff. She hurriedly said, “We’re all friends, you don’t have to make such extravagant arrangements just for me.”Harold uttered coyly, “Oh no, you are our distinguished guest, how
Wendy asked with a coy smile, “Charlie, didn’t you also make a reservation here? Which suite? Bring us to check it out!”Charlie said flatly, “I didn’t think about which suite to reserve, to be frank. I just sent a text message to their boss and asked him to arrange it for me. I’ll check the message now, give me a minute.”Harold sneered disdainfully, “Shut your mouth! Do you know who the boss here is? It’s the famous Don Albert Rhodes! How dare you talk such bullsh*t here? Careful, if he hears you, he will squeeze you to death with his fingertips.”Charlie ignored their heinous remarks and proceeded to check his message on the phone. “He said he reserved the Diamond Suite for me.”Harold laughed instantly. “Hahaha…Diamond Suite? Charlie, don’t make me laugh, will you? Do you know who can enter the Diamond Suite? No more than ten people in the whole Aurous Hill! You’re nothing but a fart!”Loreen stayed silent in the midst of the commotion, although a thought was slowly brewing in
Loreen was taken aback in astonishment and bewilderment. She didn’t expect Harold to be so well-connected in Aurous Hill. He was so much more reliable as compared to Charlie. She contemplated that it would be more convenient for her to get close to Harold for her daily routine.The man in a black suit escorted the group respectful to the door of the Diamond Suite. He took out a bill, handed it to Charlie directly, and said softly, “Sir, please sign here.”The Diamond Suite was specially reserved for Charlie and his signature was needed for confirmation.Charlie smiled and took the pen and paper, but before he could sign his name, Harold’s loud shriek echoed.“D*mn it! Put the pen down!”Harold marched forward with a gloomy face. He snatched the pen and paper from Charlie’s hands, signed his name quickly, and yelled at Charlie, “You shameless rat! Do you really have no f*cking idea who reserved the room? Who do you think you are to sign your name here!”The man in black was take
On the other hand, he was scared because there was only one set of the extravagant banquet menu ready in the Diamond Suite and it had already been served to these people. What should he do when the real honorable guests were here?Harold raised to his feet and shouted in dismay, “What are you doing? I reserved this suite, who do you think you are to create trouble here?”Bill pointed at Harold and asked, “You’re Harold Wilson?”Harold nodded and said proudly, “Yes, I am!”Bill commanded coldly, “Bring him to me!”Two sturdy men immediately pulled Harold out of his seat and dragged him away.“What do you think you’re doing? Let me go!”“F*ck, shut up!”One man kicked Harold’s knee and he knelt directly in front of Bill as he shrieked in pain.Bill eyed Harold from head to toe with his cold and dagger-like glare, making him shiver like a scaredy-cat.Slap!The signature bill was thrown directly at Harold’s head.Bill shouted loudly, “Who gave you the right to use this room?”
Gerald was so frightened that he shivered uncontrollably and almost pissed himself. His stuttering voice sounded, “Big Boss Bill, I’m the White family’s…”“The White family?” Bill grinned sinisterly. “What the heck? Don’t make me laugh, okay!”Bill spat disdainfully. He kicked Gerald to the ground and snarled, “The don just finished teaching an idiot from the White family a lesson yesterday, that fool was slapped by one of our guys ten thousand times in the face! You still have the nerve to mention the White family to me, huh!”“Huh?” Gerald recoiled in extreme shock.He thought that Kevin had been beaten while being robbed, but it turned out that it was actually Don Albert who had beaten him up!Just as he was still in the midst of extreme shock and terror, Bill raised the bat and slammed it down against his head!Bang!Gerald felt the world spinning around him. A buzzing voice kept humming inside his head, blood flowed from his mouth and nose, his vision was getting blurry and
Don Albert was here!Mr. Wade? Who was Mr. Wade?Albert marched into the room and pounded Bill to the floor. “You f*cking idiot, how could you not recognize Mr. Wade! I’ll f*cking kill you!”Albert cursed while kicking Bill frantically.Bill, who was so invincible and pompous earlier, was crouching on the floor yelping like a dog being beaten.Loreen was genuinely bewildered. What was going on?All the men were also panicking. Was the young man actually Mr. Wade? They had almost laid their hands on him too. They were literally digging their own graves!Albert growled at the rest of the gang, “And you fools too! What are you standing there like stupid logs? Apologize to Mr. Wade now!”“Mr. Wade, we’re so so sorry. We were a bunch of fools to not have recognized you! Please forgive us!”All the men knelt down simultaneously and apologized profusely.Bill was equally terrified. He slapped himself in the face while begging for mercy. “Mr. Wade, I’m terribly sorry, please forgive
Unable to nitpick on the air stewardess' response, Elaine pouted, "Well, try to ask management to improve on your first-class cabins anyway. Maybe even make a premium-class or something since it's not like we can't afford it."The air stewardess quickly said, "We will definitely relay your message to the management."Nodding in satisfaction, Elaine waved her off. "Alright. You can go back to work now."Clearly relieved, the air stewardess bowed her head respectfully. "Always happy to be of service."After the air stewardess left, Jacob asked Elaine in curiosity, "Was the private jet that good?"Elaine rolled her eyes. "Didn't you see the stuff I posted in the chat group?""Not really," Jacob blurted. Elaine was ready to snap at him for not caring, but considering that they had made up now and she shouldn't fuss too much over the little things, she snorted, "Just remember to like and comment on all my posts in the chat group, otherwise, I will make you regret it!""No problem!"
While the ten collectors were taking turns studying the bronze sculpture, Jacob and Elaine were boarding their flight.As they were flying first-class, they had priority over the other passengers and boarded from the separate plug door at the first-class section.The capacity of the Boeing 777 was huge, and the wide-body aircraft could be connected to a special double corridor bridge where first class and business class passengers boarded separately from the economy class passengers.As the terminals to economy class and business class were connected, Elaine and Jacob were able to get through the first-class terminal unimpeded, but the passengers in economy class had a queue of over two hundred passengers. Even as she walked, Elaine was looking over her shoulder and exclaiming at Jacob, "Must be nice being rich! We used to have to queue like the rest of them, waiting for over thirty minutes just to board our flight." "In first class, we may be in the same plane, but we don't hav
Meanwhile, once Raymond had briefed everyone about the rules, he opened the door and invited everyone into Treasure Measure.It was not that wide but appeared spacious since the interior was mostly empty—it was not really crowded even with thirty-ish people.Then, locking the door from the inside, Raymond told them, "I can tell from everyone's faces that we are all veterans here, so I'm sure you understand the rules while appraising: no photos or videos, thank you very much."Indeed, there were many rules that governed the hobby, the most important being respecting the seller's requests and privacy.As the collectors listened, they knew that Raymond was selling but did not want the public to know too much about him.They all nodded, and those who had their phones out slid them back into their pockets.With that, Raymond took out the bronze sculpture that he had brought, leaving Trippy a little surprised.He had never seen the bronze sculpture with his own eyes before, only from
"Alright!" Trippy was at once fawning, tagging along behind Raymond like a little child.Around thirty people were waiting in front of Treasure Measure by now. The collectors came in twos or threes, and all ten numbers had since been taken.Before Raymond arrived, he had a brief look at the collectors' faces through the security cameras before walking over, and he was really relieved to see no familiar faces.Having traded Oskian antiques for years abroad, it was only natural that he was acquainted with some of the elite collectors in the country.He also knew that they were especially demanding with the quality of their collection and wanted almost flawless items. As such, the bronze sculpture which had been completely lost wouldn't interest them.Still, he was also a little concerned that amongst the elite collectors he knew, there might be some who were losing money and losing purchasing power in turn. If they happened to take an interest in the bronze sculpture on top of that,
Trippy grinned. "I mean, just look at my stall—ain't no way I'm getting any business here. Why not let me check out this item of yours? And see how interested they are? I'm really interested in learning and upping my game."Then, as if worried that Raymond would refuse, he quickly added, "Don't worry—I promise to stay in a corner and just watch."Still, Raymond could guess right then that someone must have sent Trippy to spy on him.It didn't matter whether it was Mick, Jacob, or Zachary either—they were all in this plot together, and one knowing meant all three knowing.Trippy was a gossiper in nature. If he was allowed to witness the whole process, everyone down Antique Street would definitely know before long.In fact, he could use someone like that right now, and Trippy had come straight to his doorstep.With that in mind, Raymond smiled, "Come join me if you're interested. It's not like there's anything to hide…"Pausing, he then warned Trippy, "But since you're going in my
After watching Mick's video, Jasmine's opinion of the man improved considerably.She was actually well aware that the decline of Vintage Deluxe was mostly due to Mick's incompetence.However, as Jasmine was now managing a billion-dollar company, she couldn't spare any time to ask many questions about Vintage Deluxe's performance. In her opinion, as long as Vintage Deluxe didn't lose too much money or ruin the reputation they had worked so hard to build, she wasn't interested in a regime change.It was the same mindset as Marianne Long, who begged her father to keep that lane full of food stalls in Hong Kong over sentiment.As such, seeing that Mick actually had some skill pleased her considerably.She couldn't resist checking out the comments of the video too.She saw that many were praising the manager of Vintage Deluxe for taking a tough stand against the scammer as well as how Vintage Deluxe's reputation was long-standing and without comparison.She soon noticed Jacob's comme
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