Therefore, he did not dare to continue arguing with Charlie on this issue.After all, he still intended to catch Ito-Schulz Ocean Shipping Group, which was a big fish to him. So, it would be best for him not to turn against Charlie. He would have to pretend that he did not know about this matter as long as Charlie did not make it clear that he was laughing at him for being cuckolded.So, he quickly changed his expression and laughed as he said, “So, that’s the case, Mr. Wade. It seems as though I’ve misunderstood you. I’ll drink a cup of wine as punishment, then!”Having said that, he picked up the wine glass and drank the wine in the glass in one go.Charlie nodded with a smile on his face as he said, “I really did not expect that a mere roast goose would make Mr. Long so unhappy. If that’s the case, we don’t need to eat roast goose tonight.” Shawn did not expect that Charlie would still be mentioning roast goose at this time. So, he could only force a smile and say, “Okay, then
Shawn was finally relieved and relaxed when he saw that Charlie seemed to have a crush on his daughter.The fish had already opened its mouth, and the rest would depend on when he bit the hook.After having a satisfying meal, Shawn said, “Mr. Wade, I still have something to do at the company in the afternoon, so I will not be accompanying you. Let Marianne accompany you to have a good time going around Hong Kong.”Charlie nodded and said casually, “Mr. Long, feel free to go ahead and get busy if you have something to do. It’s good enough for me to have Miss Long accompany me.” Shawn nodded in satisfaction and instructed his daughter, “Marianne, be sure to be a good host and entertain Mr. Wade on my behalf.” Marianne was also unambiguous as she asked directly, “When will you arrange for the donation of the fifty million Hong Kong dollars that you promised me?” Shawn casually replied, “I will ask the finance department to transfer the money to your foundation’s bank account with
Charlie casually took over the box, carried it, and left the villa with Marianne.After arriving in the yard, Marianne walked directly toward a normal version of the Tesla Model 3.This was Tesla’s cheapest entry-level sedan which looked completely out of place in a yard filled with Rolls-Royces and Maybachs. Charlie did not expect that Marianne would actually drive an electric car that was just more than two hundred thousand Oskian dollars. So, he could not help but feel a little surprised. Marianne could also see the look of surprise in Charlie’s eyes. So, she spoke up and said, “Mr. Wade, my car is a little simple. I hope that you do not mind it.”“No.” Charlie waved his hand and smiled as he said, “I’m not particular about cars. Not to mention four-wheeled electric cars, but I would also be fine even if it was a two-wheeled electric vehicle.”Marianne nodded and said a little coldly, “That’s good. Please help me put the things in the car trunk, Mr. Wade.”“Okay.” Charlie r
Tsim Sha Shui was one of the busiest and most prosperous commercial centers as well as a shopping paradise in Hong Kong.According to Marianne, she and her classmates had been doing a charity sale to raise funds in the central area of Tsim Sha Shui commercial center over the past few days. According to everyone’s original division of labor, she was supposed to come back tomorrow. It just so happened that Shawn had called her to go home from school at noon, and since she had agreed to bring Charlie around in the afternoon, she simply brought the things that she had prepared for the charity sale to send over on her way.Moreover, Marianne really did not know where to bring Charlie. She had spent most of her time at home and school, and she had no other recreational activities other than doing some charity. So, she was also at a loss now that she was supposed to act as Charlie’s tour guide. Therefore, she decided to get busy with her own affairs first, and she brought Charlie along wi
When he had suddenly bumped into Marianne just now, he had thought that God was really helping him and that this was just a good way for him to put on an act without showing any signs.However, he never would have thought that Marianne would not appreciate it.She even managed to push him into a dead end with just a few words. Now, it was difficult for him to go back on his words. If he did not want to embarrass himself, he could only honestly cash in the donation of ten million Hong Kong dollars. Furthermore, he could only make an anonymous donation, according to Marianne. When Marianne saw his embarrassed expression, she then said indifferently, “It does not matter if you regret it and want to go back on your word, Dillion. You can just pretend that I did not say anything.”As soon as Dillion heard this, he blurted out without hesitation, “No! Absolutely not! How could I, Dillion Brown, go back on my words?! Isn’t it just ten million Hong Kong dollars? I will transfer the mone
Marianne’s first reaction when Charlie grabbed her hand was as if she had been electrocuted. She wanted to break free, but Charlie’s grip was strong, and Marianne simply could not pull her hand away at all.Moreover, she did not dare to blatantly pull her hand away. This was because she was afraid that Dillion would see through their act immediately. If that happened, she would only end up worse off than when she had been trying to gain an advantage. So, she could only suppress her anger and say to Charlie, “You’d better do as you say!”After saying that, she said to Charlie, “Let’s go!” Dillion’s face was pale as he blurted out and asked, “Marianne! Who is this guy?!”Marianne felt very irritated because Charlie was still holding on to her hand, so she said angrily, “Didn’t you hear what I said just now? He’s my fiancé!”“How can that be possible?!” Dillion spoke angrily as if someone had offended him greatly, “My father just had dinner with Uncle Long last week, and Uncle L
After saying that, she saw that Charlie seemed to be really afraid. So, she spoke up and said, “But you can just say so if you’re really scared. I’ll ask my father to arrange for you to run away and leave Hong Kong. They should not be able to do anything to you, then.”Dillion also overheard their conversation, and he yelled coldly, “Kid, you want to run away after f*cking messing around with me?! Let me tell you, I will never let you off today if you refuse to kneel and grovel three times before me while slapping yourself a hundred times!” Charlie looked up at Dillion and asked with a puzzled expression, “Are you joking with me?”“Joking with you?” Dillion thought that Charlie was afraid, and he said angrily, “Who the f*ck do you think you are? Would I, Dillion Brown, joke around with the likes of you?!” When Marianne saw Dillion’s fierce appearance, she could not help but realize that the situation seemed to be getting out of hand. She did not bother about the fact that Charlie
Marianne was on the verge of an emotional breakdown at this point. She could no longer care about Charlie holding her hand, and she only wanted to quickly resolve the trouble that she had caused. She had seen people using another man as a shield many times on television, but she had never done it herself. It just so happened that Charlie had been teasing her earlier, so she could not help but think of pranking him.However, she really did not expect that step by step, Charlie had been able to turn things into such an unmanageable and out-of-control situation that it was now.This also made her feel scared for the first time for joking. Her voice was even a little shaky as she pleaded, “Charlie, I’m begging you! You should leave Hong Kong first. You can come back later in the future at most, but it will definitely be very troublesome if you do not leave by today!” When Charlie saw that her eyes were flushed red and that she was about to burst into tears, he stopped in his trac
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