“This is a gift for Charlie?” Elaine was confused at Jacob’s explanation. “Jacob, what do you mean?”Jacob quickly explained, “Charlie, didn’t you help Ms. Jane with her villa’s Feng Shui today? Ms. Jane dropped by the association today to express her gratitude. She’s very thankful for your service today, and was impressed by your professionalism. She wanted to pay you for the service, but you refused to accept it. Ms. Jane felt bad and decided to buy this car under my name instead. She directly shipped the car to the association and requested me to accept her gratitude!”Upon learning the truth, Claire began to lecture her father. “Dad, how can you act on your own accord? Why did you accept such an expensive gift for Charlie?”Jacob replied innocently, “Claire, I didn’t plan to accept it, but the car was already under my name. Even if I reject it, the car still legally belongs to me. I was stuck in a difficult position too…”With that, he hurriedly turned to Charlie and explained,
No one would want to get into an accident with a luxury car worth ten million dollars or more, after all!If one collided with an expensive luxury car due to simple negligence, they would have to take responsibility. The one to two million dollar claim limit in their car insurance was simply not enough.The drivers around Jacob changed their attitude towards his slow driving, and that alone had greatly satisfied Jacob’s vanity.While driving, he felt like he was king of the road. He had never experienced such immense superiority before.Although he was asking Charlie what to do with the car, he quietly prayed that Charlie would let him keep it.Before Charlie could say anything, Elaine interrupted excitedly, “Charlie! This car is already here, so we shouldn’t return it anymore!”After that, she traced the golden line on the Cullinan’s body and said pitifully, “I’ve never sat in a Rolls-Royce in my life! Look at us! We’ve been living in Thompson First for quite a while, haven’t we
When Charlie agreed to keep the car, Jacob and Elaine almost burst into tears of excitement. Elaine was elated and kept clapping. She then ordered Jacob, “Jacob! Hurry up and open the door for me! Let me try the car, too! I’ve never been in a Rolls-Royce before in my whole life!”Jacob was in a great mood, so he did not turn Elaine down and hurriedly took out the car key to unlock the car. Then, he opened the passenger’s door for Elaine and invited her in.“Come over here. You should sit inside. I’ll show you the Rolls-Royce Star roof!”Elaine asked in surprise, “What’s a Star roof?”Jacob beckoned to her. “Oh, you’ll know once you come in and see it!”Elaine hurriedly climbed to the front passenger seat. She was astonished when she looked up. “Goodness! There are so many stars on the roof!”Jacob chuckled. “Look carefully. There’s also shooting stars from time to time!”Elaine was fascinated with the car and exclaimed in delight, “Oh, dear! Oh, goodness! That’s too beautiful!
Charlie laughed. “We can give them a chance to show off the car to vent and exhaust their energy. If we don’t give them this chance to brag, they’ll grow resentful to us for at least a year or two, or even longer! They’ll groan and sigh at us whenever we’re home, and blame us for not keeping the car. It’s better to keep the car and satisfy them.”Charlie thought of something, and then flashed Claire with a gentle smile. He arched his brow and asked, “Wife, what do you think?”Hearing that, Claire shook her head helplessly and lamented, “You’re right… If we do return the car, I guess the two of them won’t be able to get over this for the next year or two.”However, Claire suddenly grew worried. “Husband, isn’t Ms. Jane being too generous…? All you did was take your time to look at her villa’s Feng Shui earlier this morning. Yet, she gave us such an expensive car in return for your help. It seems very inappropriate…”Charlie remained indifferent and replied nonchalantly, “There’s not
Charlie could finally confirm Kylie’s objective. Her main motive of approaching him must be for the Rejuvenating Pill. Therefore, there was no need for him to feel threatened by Kylie’s kind favors.After all, the small favors she was giving his family were insignificant in comparison to the value of the Rejuvenating Pill.Yet, Claire was slightly apprehensive about the favor. “Maybe I should just reject her…”Charlie noticed Claire’s slight disappointment. “Wife, do you want to accept the project?”Claire hesitated a little at first, before finally answering him with a slight nod. “Well, I do…”She quickly explained to Charlie, “I’m interested in the project, but not for the money. Her villa provides a really good foundation and base to work on. It’s a combination of two villas. There won’t be any villas of this type in Aurous Hill anymore. Besides, she has a high budget for renovation and design. There will be more room for the interior designer to play with a higher budget. In
Charlie nodded solemnly and gave his approval. “Of course! I’ve always trusted your talent in design. Unfortunately, the Wilson family didn’t value you and buried your talent in the ground. If you want to develop further in this field, Kylie’s villa is indeed a good opportunity for you to showcase your strength and talent. I believe in you. Good luck!”Claire clenched her first in excitement and said with determination, “Husband, trust me! I’ll do my best.”…Meanwhile, Jacob followed Elaine’s instructions and drove the car to the villa next door.Once the car stopped, Elaine pointed at the car’s roof and said with anticipation, “Jacob, open the sunroof! I want to shout at them from there!”Jacob replied casually, “This car has no sunroof.”Elaine widened her eyes in shock. “What?! Isn’t this car worth more than ten million dollars? Why doesn’t it have a sunroof? Isn’t that too shabby? Didn’t your BMW 350 have a panoramic sunroof?”Jacob pointed at the car’s starry skied roof an
Christopher exploded in a rage, furious. He kept cursing as he struggled to get to his feet. He reached for his crutches, ready to rush to the balcony to argue with Elaine.Lady Wilson was just as irritated. However, she quickly stopped Christopher and advised, albeit in a grumpy tone, “Elaine’s already recovered from rock bottom. We can’t afford to provoke her. You better not go out!”Harold froze momentarily at that before sighing dejectedly, agreeing with his grandmother. “Yeah, Dad, didn’t you hear from Wendy? Charlie was the one who helped her with her current job. Right now, our family relies on Wendy’s income for support. If you offend Elaine, that means our livelihood will be in jeopardy again…”Christopher’s expression turned ugly. He said grimly, “That’s true, Charlie did help Wendy and us. He’s kind to us. Considering that he’s Elaine’s son-in-law, I’ll forget about how she offended me before…”Christopher paused, and soon, his fury returned. “But she’s shouting your mom
Elaine sighed mournfully as she mentioned Hannah. “Hannah and I are sisters-in-law. We’re both miserable and unlucky, and became the Wilson family’s daughter-in-law. We both understand each other’s suffering…”Elaine paused before crying in mock sadness, “Ah! Hannah has it worse than me! She got pregnant at such an old age and miscarried. It’s so terrible for her health! I want to invite her out for a ride in our new car so that she can relax and feel better!”Christopher listened as Elaine yapped on and on, her fakeness obvious. He grew livid when she brought up Hannah’s miscarriage.He pointed a furious finger at Elaine and barked, “Elaine, you… You..!. You’re such a terrible person! You should’ve known! Hannah ran away! Why are you still humiliating me in such a way? I… I…I’ll smash you to death!”Christopher wanted to throw the crutch under his arm at Elaine and let it fall on her, smashing her. When Elaine saw that, she broke out in a cold sweat.Christopher might not be able
However, to Jacob's shock, Elaine wasn't misled at all as she growled icily, "Why would I ask anyone else?! If there's someone I must question, it's Matilda! She's getting married, isn't she? Good! I will be there and ask her why she hooked up with my husband!"Jacob turned pale right then.Matilda's son and even some of their old classmates would be attending her wedding.If Elaine went, he would be exposed, and he wouldn't be able to stay in Aurous Hill out of shame!His nerves gnawing at him, Jacob could only plead, "Please, just trust me this once! Anything else aside, she's getting married, anyway—there's no way that I'd have anything to do with her! That alone should prove my innocence!"Elaine snorted. "If Matilda returned when I was arrested, it means she has been back for a while! And you're saying nothing happened since? Hell, even if she's married, it doesn't prove that she wasn't up to some hanky-panky with you! Maybe while I was arrested and refused a divorce when you
The driver was left dumbstruck—this wasn't how it was supposed to go.Still, he blurted, "C-Crashing into a Cullinan? I might end up dead instead…""Fine! Then let's change cars, and you crash into ours—how about that?!" Elaine promptly retorted before continuing, "Or we could just stand right in front of your car while you run into us! I just happen to have a death wish, but if you don't kill me now, I'll kill you! Don't think about getting away either—I know your car plate! I'll sell this car and use the money to put a bounty on your head! I don't care what happens to me now! I'll claw my nails into the devil's face even if he shows up!"The driver was actually quite experienced, but even he had yet to meet someone as ridiculous as Elaine.Barely able to keep his hands steady, he threw them up as he apologized, "I'm so sorry, ma'am—I just lost my cool. I'm merely a humble driver of a Honda Civic while you own a Rolls. Hell, I spent fifty bucks buying that red emblem from Amazon,
Elaine may have led a life as if she was above the rules, but beneath that tough exterior lay crippling insecurities and a horrific inferiority complex.She was always afraid of being belittled—but more than that, of being ostracized and betrayed.Over the years, the greatest source of her complexes could all be traced back to Matilda.After all, Matilda had been a star back in their school days. Because Elaine was a close friend of hers, many boys would get chummy with Elaine, but only because they were interested in Matilda.Being from a poor farmer's family, Elaine had been scorned plenty and therefore felt exceedingly inferior around Matilda.It was from that sense of inferiority that Elaine had inadvertently developed a one-sided rivalry against Matilda, and she believed her greatest triumph over Matilda in this life was the moment she had stolen Jacob from her.However, while Elaine presumed that she could hold that victory over Matilda's head, Lady Wilson had soured that v
Moreover, given Elaine's ridiculous temper, Jacob knew she would definitely go overboard and destroy him.He wouldn't even have a place to live at that point, and it would really be game over if she held a grudge and stormed the Calligraphy and Painting Association!Under such circumstances, he couldn't ask for a divorce—hell, he might even refuse a divorce if Elaine asked for one!However, that was when Elaine laughed coldly. "Oh, my… You're really not going to divorce me?""Come on—how long were we married?" Jacob quickly reasoned. "Getting divorced at our age? People would laugh at us."Elaine scoffed. "Now I'm curious… Matilda's quite old too, and she's a divorcee marrying again. Won't people laugh at her?""Technically, she's a widow—"Jacob blurted out, but soon turned pale, tensing up again not a second after he had just calmed down, asking gingerly, "W-Why would you suddenly mention her?'Elaine stopped pretending right then and snapped, "It's actually impressive that y
Horrified, Jacob promptly grasped the steering wheel and brought the Cullinan back under control while not hesitating to snap, "Are you crazy?! We're on the highway—that could have killed the both of us!"However, Elaine ignored him and seized the moment to open the armrest box, pulling out the large white envelope.As she opened it, she muttered, "So, it really was a wedding invitation… You really are a terrible friend, Jacob Wilson, hiding a wedding invitation like this! What's the point? Just look at that nervous face of yours—would I suspect you of having an affair with the bride-to-be?"She flipped open the card and was experienced enough to check the names first while disregarding the usual preamble. She wouldn't care about the venue or the time either, focusing solely on the professor who had somehow made Jacob very nervous.That was how Elaine found the names in less than a second: Yolden Hart and Matilda Hall.Matilda?!The name could well be knives stabbing Elaine in th
Jacob's brain blanked out, leaving only a dull hum as soon as Walker mentioned 'Professor Hall'.Already feeling nervous in the first place, he quickly said, "Okay, okay—I got it. Anyway, I'm hanging up if there's nothing else!"With that, he promptly pressed the button to hang up.Nonetheless, Elaine was soon asking in curiosity, "Who's Professor Hall?"If Jacob had any semblance of composure, he would have said 'a colleague at Senior University' as if it was perfectly natural, and the matter would have been forgotten.But the reality was that he didn't—in fact, he was the champion when it came to dropping the ball as a casual question from Elaine left him sweating all over his brow.Even as he slid nervous glances at her face, he stammered uncontrollably, "N-Nobody…"Elaine promptly noticed his strange reaction and frowned. "I'm talking about Professor Hall. What do you mean, nobody? Who are they? And what's this about an invitation? Inviting you for what?"Seeing that he was
Jacob had really had too much to drink and couldn't remember the later parts of what had happened last night—even how he had gotten home was a blur.Naturally, he also forgot that Walker had brought Matilda's wedding invitation, and therefore didn't hesitate to answer the in-car answer button.Over the phone, Walker was positively fawning as he asked, "Mr. Wilson? It's Walker. Why didn't you come in today? Had too much to drink last night?""Uh-huh," Jacob grunted, lethargic. "I did—my head still hurts now… Anyway, what's up? Trouble at the association?""No, of course not," Walker quickly said. "I was just worried you're still hungover, so I called to ask. If you need a driver or anything, you just need to ask!"Then, before Jacob could answer, he continued, "By the way, my wife is somewhat knowledgable in Oskian medicine, and she has recipes for brews that cure hangovers and nourish the liver. I'm sure you'll need the latter since you're always drinking at social events, so I as
Fortunately, Elaine and Jacob's bickering never escalated.Even though Elaine was winning, Jacob found it tolerable.After Jacob finished his lunch and cleaned up, he never looked up as he said, "Charlie sent a text, saying Claire's flight would touch down earlier at three. We will leave at two."Elaine grumbled. "Why leave so early? She's coming back from abroad, and there'd be checkpoints she has to clear—she'd be lucky if she could leave by half past three. I'm sleeping a few winks now, and we'll leave at half past two."As she left the dining room, she didn't even look back as she said, "Clean up for me too."Jacob had a million complaints but said nothing as he kept his head down, throwing Elaine's lunchbox in the trash can as well.With Elaine gone, he sat on the couch as her hangover slowly cleared while his mood soured with the lack of alcohol.In the end, the pleasure of being fawned over at the Diamond Room was but temporary—the pain of his beloved leaving with someone
Vera kept her plan to investigate the identity of the abbess deep in her mind and told Charlie nothing.Instead, she smiled as she said, "It seems that it's both yours and Ms. Ito's good fortune that she has attained enlightenment. You've never had anyone who could attain enlightenment and master Reiki at the same time, so Ms. Ito will definitely be a great help to you in the future."Charlie chuckled and said calmly, "I'm not hoping for her to help. I'm simply happy for her with her enlightenment and excited to have another comrade in my solo ventures into the dark forests."Vera nodded in understanding, and she murmured emotionally, "I've lived for so long, and it's only when I opened my heart to you that I felt that sensation you described."There was a flicker of wistfulness in her eyes.She really did not expect to attain enlightenment before meeting Charlie.Years ago, she thought that she would eventually avenge her father.Now, she no longer hoped to murder Fleur Griffi