Homer was already twenty-six or twenty-seven this year, a marriageable age. Quinn was also in her twenties. She would be a good match for Homer. If both of them fell in love with each other through the charity dinner and fostered a good relationship, wouldn’t that make Nathaniel the one responsible for bringing them together?From a traditional Oskian concept, someone who united a couple in marriage deserved great credit. The Fox and the Golding family would owe him a large favor!Thinking of this, Nathaniel said without hesitation, “Don’t worry, Young Master Fox. I’ll help you pass the message.”Upon Nathaniel’s enthusiastic agreement, Homer was certain: his bait had been successful! Delighted, he smiled and said, “Thank you so much, Chairman Luke.”…An hour later, in Eastcliff. It was already past eleven o’clock at night, but Quinn was still practicing the newly choreographed dance for the concert with her choreography team in the rehearsal room.Every time before the concer
Quinn’s curiosity was roused by Dorothy’s question. “Why? Is there anything special about this charity fund?”“Of course there is!” Dorothy smiled. “This fund is dedicated to help the North American Oskian orphans to solve their daily needs. It also intends to support their education until they enter society and generate a stable income.”The expression on Quinn’s face changed a little at this. She nodded repeatedly and began muttering seriously, “So, it’s specifically to help orphans… That’s really meaningful… Okay, check if the time’s convenient for me that night. If it is, I’ll attend the dinner.”Dorothy curled her lips into a small grin and deliberately teased Quinn, “Look at you! Just because your Brother Charlie was an orphan, the act of rescuing and helping orphans is infinitely elevated in your eyes. If that’s the case, is a charity fund for widows or the elderly a lesser one in your eyes?”Quinn blushed. Embarrassed, she retorted, “That’s not what I meant! Don’t talk nons
Dorothy sat up straight, her demeanor exuding severity. “The idle work I’m talking about is just like one who stands on top of Mount Everest. If you stand at the foot of the mountain and shout at this person at the top of your voice, he wouldn’t be able to hear what you’re saying. You can keep shouting until your voice is gone, but he still won’t hear it.” “Let’s apply the same situation in your case. Charlie Wade hasn’t made up his mind to marry you, but you’re already doing idle work. Three years later, his thoughts will probably be exactly the same as they are now! What are you going to do if he still hasn’t made up his mind to marry you? Wait for him for another three years, and continue doing another three years of idle work?”At this, Quinn’s face instantly turned pale, as white as paper.She understood the meaning behind Dorothy’s words.She also realized Dorothy was right.Thinking of this, she humbly asked Dorothy for advice, “Dorothy, oh dear Dorothy! Please teach me!
Inspired by Dorothy’s speech, Quinn trotted back to her private lounge alone with her cell phone.There, she immediately called Charlie.At that moment, Charlie was lying on the recliner sofa in the hotel. He was bored out of his mind.Claire had gone to class, so he was left alone in the hotel with nothing to do. He was dying from the sheer boredom. Porter’s subordinates had arrived in New York one after the other, but they still couldn’t find any clues related to Finley. He seemed to have disappeared without a trace, not even leaving his scent behind.Upon realizing that Quinn was calling him, he pressed the answer button immediately to answer the call.Quinn's sweet voice reached his ears. “Brother Charlie, are you busy?”“No…” Charlie stretched his back and laughed. “I'm just being lazy. What's up? Is there something wrong?”Quinn said in a somewhat coquettish tone, “It’s like this, Brother Charlie… I’ll be going to the United States soon, and the New York Oskian Chamber
After all, there was a large difference in strength between the two sides.Trying to find someone who was an acquaintance of the Acker family in the Oskian Chamber of Commerce was even more difficult than picking out Lionel Messi from the national football team.After that, Charlie’s worries were no more.However, he was unable to push away the lingering unease within him, partly because he and his men had yet to find Finley.As such, he ordered Porter to send some men to secretly protect Quinn's safety after she arrived in New York....Meanwhile… After Quinn confirmed that Charlie was willing to accompany her to the charity dinner, she relayed her reply to Nathaniel.Nathaniel was thrilled beyond words to have received a positive reply. He was quick to inform Homer of the good news as well.Homer was naturally ecstatic.He didn’t expect Finley’s bait would be so effective! To think he was able to lure Quinn Golding, the number one female singer in Oskia, into his trap so e
The Ten Thousand Armies deployed over a thousand soldiers to New York for several days in a row, but they still failed to track down Finley's whereabouts.Porter was very ashamed about this, and he called Charlie almost every day to apologize.Charlie didn’t blame him. He knew that in looking for clues, a complete chain was necessary. If a link was missing, it would be impossible to restore the chain. Without a proper trail, nothing could be found. Forget the Ten Thousand Armies, even the United States' National Security Agency would fail. Finley couldn’t be found at all since his arrival at the New York JFK Airport, and the Ten Thousand Armies was temporarily unable to fill in this small hole in their search. Naturally, it was impossible for them to find Finley's whereabouts.Porter soon thought of a way to break out of their predicament. He planned to investigate all the vehicles and helicopters that entered and left the airport within a few hours after Finley's arrival in New Y
After pausing for a moment, Finley continued, “Once their customer enters an indoor environment, they would conduct a security check of the surroundings to sniff out any bugging or filming equipment inside, and to determine if there are any security risks. If they confirm the room to be safe, they will only focus on the entrance and the exit of the room, which is generally the door and the windows.”“In guarding indoors, they’d generally arrange for guards at all of the windows and the doors. The only exception is the bedroom window. If it’s a room on the first floor by the window, they’ll arrange for manpower outside the window. It’s quite complex, you see. If someone attacks from the outside, the bodyguards inside will react first. Their colleagues inside will also be informed about the attack immediately.”“If we attack from the window on the first floor, we’ll have to deal with the bodyguards outside first. If we go to the upper floors, we’ll have to deal with the bodyguards insi
Finley’s perfect plans sent Homer into a world of excitement. It sounded flawless, as if everything had been well thought out.After the accident, The Palace Hotel belonging to Homer's family won’t have to bear too much of the blame. Everything happened because of the mole, after all. As the saying goes, it was difficult to prevent a thief in one's own home. Fisher would take the fall. Thinking of this, Homer asked, "What about Fisher Charles's family?"Finley curled his lips, his face sinister. "There’s no other way. We have to kill them all. I’ll get the ninjas to kidnap Fisher’s family and pass them to my subordinate. After the incident, I’ll have the ninjas leave the United States and order my subordinates to kill Fisher’s family. When the police find the corpses, they’ll definitely think that it was the ninjas’ doing. They’d believe the story I made up even more!"Homer was rather startled. It took him a long while before he spoke. His voice was slow as he said, “You’re…goi
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