At this moment, at Shangri-La.The auction was already over, but Charlie didn’t leave immediately. He originally prepared a whole Rejuvenating Pill for the three VIPs tonight, half of which was to be given to his grandfather, Jeremiah. The other half would be divided into two, to be given to Old Master Lennard and the old queen of Northern Europe.The reason why the auction attracted so many rich customers from Europe and the United States was all thanks to these two, who had helped Charlie to promote and endorse the Rejuvenating Pill. Therefore, Charlie prepared a simple banquet at Shangri-La and invited the three of them over for a late-night snack.Jeremiah and Chandler already knew each other and so, both of them chatted happily at the dinner table. The old queen of Northern Europe, however, was feeling quite left out and it made her rather uneasy. Although she was once the queen of a country, she had already abdicated the throne now and had lost her status. Furthermore,
Charlie shook his head and said seriously, “I’m not saying that you were abrupt. I’m saying that there’s no need for you to compete with them because you’re a VIP. Regardless of whether you have more assets compared to them or otherwise, your position here with me is higher than all of them.”When the old queen heard this, her inferiority complex eased a little.Although she wasn’t strong enough, the fact that Charlie was showing her so much respect was already more than enough for her to stand with confidence. Although she failed to win the bid for the Rejuvenating Pill at the auction tonight, she did feel a little more respectable because of her presence as a VIP. She said respectfully, “Thank you, Mr. Wade, for thinking so highly of me. The Elliot family also owe all that we have today thanks to you.”After saying that, she hurriedly brought up her granddaughter, Helena, and said seriously, “Mr. Wade, Helena often talks about you to me. She’s been missing you very much and is
The three VIPs didn’t dare to hope that they’d be able to participate in the auction or get the Rejuvenating Pill as a gift from Charlie, Charlie thought otherwise. Since he invited them, how could he possibly let them make a trip here for nothing?He divided a Rejuvenating Pill into three parts. In his opinion, giving his grandfather half of the Rejuvenating Pill and a quarter of the pill to both Old Master Lennard and the old queen was a reasonable way of distribution. Among these three, his grandfather, Jeremiah, had not eaten the Rejuvenating Pill yet.Jeremiah wasn’t too old, so half of the Rejuvenating Pill would give him great improvement. Moreover, Charlie needed a backup plan. If he were to give his grandfather a whole Rejuvenating Pill, it’d definitely be very troublesome for him if the old man suddenly got ambitious and had the desire to regain control of the Wade family.If he gave Jeremiah half a pill and let Jeremiah experience the pill’s effects, Jeremiah would ha
Jeremiah’s expression contorted into an annoyed sneer. “Previously, your maternal grandfather’s family was rather dissatisfied with the Wade family. When your mother married here, her natal family didn’t even bother to come. I’ve never met with any of your uncles before. But I did meet your second uncle, Kaeden Acker, in a summit in Sweden some years ago. I saw him from afar because he was on stage, and I happened to be off stage. I thought of getting close to him and paying him a visit, but he wasn’t willing to see me.”Charlie laughed. “It seems the Acker family has no respect for the Wade family at all.”Jeremiah laughed to himself. “He didn’t look up to me, true. At that time, he said that among everyone surnamed Wade, he’d only acknowledge you.”Jeremiah continued, “To think your eldest uncle came to participate in the auction. He even wanted to take the Rejuvenating Pill away. I wonder who he is planning to buy it for? Perhaps your maternal grandfather or grandmother?”“I’m n
For ordinary people, getting the contact information of a top tycoon like Jeremiah would be an impossibly difficult task.But it was not so for Christian, who was able to inquire Jeremiah’s contact information with ease.Very soon, he obtained Jeremiah’s cell number. He didn’t hesitate to call Jeremiah immediately.Jeremiah was chatting with Charlie when his cell phone rang. He picked it up, glanced at it, and saw that it was an American number. He frowned. “Charlie, I’m going to answer a call.”Charlie nodded and made an inviting gesture for Jeremiah to do so.Jeremiah picked up the call. “Hello, may I know who this is?”Christian, who was on the other end of the line, greeted with a smile, “Hello, Uncle Wade!” Jeremiah was momentarily stunned, puzzled by the speaker’s words. It was an unfamiliar phone number, and as soon as the call was connected, the person referred to him as Uncle Wade. Could it be a child of an old friend of his? In his surprise, he came to realize tha
This made him relax a lot and so, he said over the phone, “Uncle Wade, you’re right. Both of our families are relatives, but we haven’t had much contact with each other for so many years now. We should have more contact when we have the opportunity to do so in the future.”“Yes, yes, yes.” Jeremiah was also a witty old man and so, he naturally would not lose out to anyone when it came to putting on an act. So, he said very politely, “Christian, there must be a reason why you’re suddenly calling me on my cell phone. Since we are all family, you don’t have to be so shy, and you can just get to the point directly.”Christian smiled and said, “Uncle Wade, you’re really a very straightforward person! In that case, I will not be so formal with you.”After saying that, Christian then said again, “Uncle Wade, I heard that the Wade family also participated in the auction for the Rejuvenating Pill in Aurous Hill. I even heard that you were a VIP at the auction. Was there really such a thing?”
When Jeremiah saw that Christian was unwilling to reveal the purpose of buying the medicine, he followed Charlie’s previous instructions, and he casually made a promise to Christian first before using the delaying tactic on him.Christian also knew very well that Jeremiah had to be hiding something from him and so, he spoke up and said, “Uncle Wade, the Acker family will definitely not mistreat you if you can help with this matter!” As Christian spoke, he said again, “I heard that the Wade family lost a lot of money to Ten Thousand Armies some time ago. If the Acker family helps, it would not take long for you to make up for the loss!”Christian thought that he knew the mentality of the rich and powerful who had suddenly plummeted in value very well. In fact, they were no different from gamblers. As soon as there was a great fluctuation in assets, their mentality would also change greatly. The Wade family had lost half of their assets all at once, and as the head of the Wade fami
As Charlie spoke of this, he smiled faintly and said casually, “It doesn’t matter. Just let them be since they feel good about themselves.”Immediately after that, Charlie then said again, “By the way, Grandpa, I will be going to the United States in a couple of days, and I will not be back for a month or so. I will have to trouble you to take care of the Wade family’s affairs at that time.”Jeremiah asked curiously, “Charlie, why are you suddenly going to the United States? You’re not going to visit the Acker family, are you?”Charlie shook his head and smiled as he said, “Why would I? I’m accompanying Claire to attend a training.”Jeremiah nodded and said, “Okay. Don’t worry about the Wade family. As for your eldest uncle’s side, I wouldn’t rush to look for him, anyway. I definitely won’t go to see him either even if he wanted to find me.”“Okay.” Charlie stood up and said, “Grandpa, it’s getting late. You should rest early. I should also go home. When will you be going back to
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