When the old queen heard Jasmine calling her name, she stood still and stroked her chest as she took several deep breaths. It was only then that she gathered her courage and stepped into the ballroom.She enjoyed a high social status in Europe, but to the rich and powerful in North America, Middle East, and Asia, she was just a poor old lady with an empty noble title. A very interesting scene unfolded immediately as she showed herself to the audience. The European aristocrats among the crowd stood up and bowed slightly to show their respect, but the rest of the crowd were filled with disdain.Just as the old queen entered the venue, Jeremiah, who was outside the door, greeted Chandler respectfully.“Old Master Lennard, we’ve finally met again!”Chandler nodded, and replied with the same politeness and respect, “How have you been, Lord Wade?”Jeremiah gave him a faint smile. “There have been some things that made me a little anxious, but after Charlie’s return to Eastcliff, most of t
Never in Jeremiah’s wildest dreams did he imagine that Charlie would give him so much respect and prestige at this auction.It was already a great surprise for him to have the chance to participate in the auction as a VIP. He didn’t expect Charlie to go so far as to give him the grand finale appearance as well.While the grand finale appearance was already good enough, what was even more unexpected was the fact that Jasmine would actually make the call for everyone to stand up and applaud as they welcome his entry. This was simply the highest-ranked treatment for such a grand occasion!After all, the participants were without exception top tycoons whose economic prowess were a thousand times stronger than the Wade family’s.Yet, right this very moment, these people were standing up and applauding his entrance.Jeremiah’s vanity was greatly satisfied. At the same time, such grand treatment made him nervous. He didn’t know whether he should step on his right foot or his left foot
“If you are aiming for the whole Rejuvenating Pill, please do not participate in the first four auctions for the divided Rejuvenating Pill. Once you successfully acquired a portion of the pill, you will lose the qualifications to bid for the whole Rejuvenating Pill at the auction’s finale.”“Aside from the Rejuvenating Pill, all the goods that you bid in tonight’s auction will be directly reserved and sealed for you, as everyone has paid a deposit of fifty million dollars. If the transaction amount is lower than the security deposit, we will deduct the payment automatically and return the remaining deposit to you. If the transaction amount is higher than the deposit, you will need to make up for the remaining payment as soon as possible after the auction ends.”“Finally, if you bid for the Rejuvenating Pill, our staff will give you a cell phone. You can contact your finance department and request them to complete the transfer as soon as possible. We will give you the Rejuvenating Pil
As soon as these words fell out of Jasmine’s lips, the crowd burst into excitement.All of them expected the Rejuvenating Pill auction to be pushed to the back and be slowly released after a warm up. To their delight and surprise, it was actually the first item to be auctioned!This was a deliberate arrangement on Charlie’s part. He desired an excitement akin to blowing up a field as soon as it entered into his view. He didn’t need to put in a lot of effort to heat up the field, but simply threw a heavy bomb to denotate and destroy the entire field in an instant. Having the Rejuvenating Pill be the first auction item would also allow the audience to witness its effects with their own eyes in record time. That way, their desire for the pill would be ignited to unprecedented levels. At this moment, Charlie was sitting comfortably in the monitoring room as he watched the live broadcast of the ballroom. “Jasmine’s performance is much better than I had expected. She’s found the ri
Many were still stunned from astonishment. Amid this, Travis didn’t hesitate to raise his hand and shouted determinedly, “I’ll pay one hundred million US dollars!”Charlie, who was in the monitoring room, smiled admiringly. “Travis Lane is really smart. He knows because of his lacking finances, he’d have to compete for the first quarter. If he can’t win the first quarter, it’d be even more difficult for him to get the next one.”“That’s right.” Isaac pulled up one of the images to show a close-up of Travis’s face. Smiling, he added, “Look, Young Master! Travis’ bid is very impressive, but you can tell from the look on his face that spending so much is very painful for him.”Charlie looked at the close-up and burst into amused laughter. Nodding, he said with a chuckle, “Out of the two hundred people who came today, at least half of them will decide to give up when the starting price is announced. They went through all the trouble to come here because they want to see how powerful the
The main reason why auctions were so popular all over the world was because while there was a lower limit, there was no upper limit for anything.Therefore, any item could fetch a sky-high price at an auction. Everything depended mainly on the strength and mentality of the competitors. When they get on each other’s throats, even the most worthless items could fetch a surprisingly high price. In addition, few tactics were available in regard to a straightforward bidding method. There were only two commonly used methods. One was to either raise the price suddenly to scare the other party’s momentum, implying to the other party that you had money and could easily destroy them. The second was to slowly follow up and maintain your composure, to show the other party that you would play until the end.Travis’s first method didn’t work, so he could only use the second. His plan was to simply raise the price by the ten million US dollars mark each time, so long as the price was still with
Therefore, he increased the price by nearly two hundred million as soon as he started bidding just to get his hands on the Rejuvenating Pill.This was equally surprising for Travis, the old queen of Northern Europe, and the Middle East billionaire who had bid earlier. None of them expected the African tycoon to be so powerful! In just a flash, he had raised the price of the previous bid to an outrageous level.Travis was depressed.Five hundred million US dollars converted into Oskian dollars was easily more than three billion dollars. He could afford the price, but he was reluctant to pay so much.In the previous Rejuvenating Pill auction, he managed to win a full pill with just two billion dollars. Now, he needed to fork out three billion dollars for just a quarter pill. He was unwilling to do so.While he was struggling to decide, the old queen of Northern Europe had already made up her mind. She raised her hand and made another bid, saying, “I’ll offer five hundred and fifty
When the African tycoon placed a bid of eight hundred US dollars, the old Northern Europe queen immediately slumped in her seat in disappointment. A hint of reluctance flashed in her blank eyes.The newest price had exceeded her affordable limit.Even if she was offered an opportunity to purchase it at this price, she wouldn’t be able to pay. She knew she was out of luck to get this Rejuvenating Pill.At the same time, the crowd burst into hushed conversations. Everyone knew there were four portions of Rejuvenating Pills for bidding tonight, as well as the full pill. The price would skyrocket quickly, as the final bidding price for the first quarter of the Rejuvenating Pill would set the expectations for the next bidding.The rest of the Rejuvenating Pills might become ridiculously high because of the first bidding’s high price.Travis was now on the brink of insanity.He cursed in his heart, ‘Eight hundred million! In US dollars! That’s about four billion dollars in conversion f
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