Charlie, who was on the other end of the line, had just bought some fragrant aromatherapy for Mrs. Lewis, Stephanie, and Claudia, to put in their new home.The welcome lunch was originally to celebrate the housewarming, so the housewarming gifts selected were usually some suitable souvenirs for the new home. Aromatherapy was something that most women liked, so Charlie chose some high-end aromatherapy gifts.He suddenly received a call from a local unfamiliar number. He did not think much about it and answered the call according to his usual habits. Madam Marilyn’s voice sounded over the other end of the line. “Hello, Sir, I’m going out right now, so I may not be able to wait for your delivery. Please put my courier in the property center. I’ll go and pick it up when I get back.”Charlie said casually, “Sorry, you may have called the wrong number.”“Huh?!” Madam Marilyn exclaimed and said, “Let me see... Oh, I’m sorry, I really called the wrong number. I’m sorry to bother you!”
Vera said, “Okay, tell Logan before you take off so that he can send someone to pick you up at the airport.”“Okay.” Emmett said, “I’ve sorted out some local connections in Aurous Hill, and although some of them are retired, their words have always carried enormous weight in Aurous Hill. I’ll get them to help you investigate the Charlie that you’re looking for, then!”Vera smiled and said, “No need. I’ve already found him.”“What?!” Emmett asked in shock, “You’ve found him?! So quickly?!” “That’s right.” Vera said seriously, “Life is like this. As long as you make a few right choices, you can achieve success even without doing anything. It’s the same when it comes to finding someone.” With that said, Vera said again, “Today’s experience was even more interesting. I’ll tell you about it when you arrive.”“Okay!” Emmett said quickly, “I’ll get ready to leave, then!” After that, Vera did not get out of the car again. Logan and his wife did not delay for too long either. After
After sighing emotionally, Vera was accompanied by Madam Marilyn as she climbed up to the highest courtyard.When she stepped into this courtyard, she realized that it was even more pleasing to her than she had just imagined. Every brick, tile, plant, and tree here was actually very elegant and elaborate, and there were even patches of moss growing on the bluestone on the ground of the courtyard. There was also a beautifully designed open-air hot spring pool in the corner of the courtyard. The rockery next to the pool was lifelike, and many bonsai plants were planted there, which made it appear as a miniature of the real mountain. Madam Marilyn followed her and introduced to her, “Miss Lavor, this hot spring pool is connected with the natural hot spring water of Mount Xvilou in Aurous Hill. The hot spring water is transported up the mountain from the underground pipeline. The water temperature can be used directly in the summer, and the water temperature will get cooler after tr
Moreover, she knew most clearly how much importance Logan attached to this highest courtyard. Why did she have to be here whenever anyone came here? It was because Logan did not want any of the servants to damage the furnishings and arrangements here. But he was now generously giving this place to Vera to live in. It could clearly be seen that Vera held a very important position to him!At this time, Vera asked Madam Marilyn, “By the way, how many people are working here?”Madam Marilyn replied, “There are sixteen maids, four bodyguards, and two drivers who make up a total of twenty-two people, so there are a total of twenty-three people including me.”Vera asked in surprise, “There are so many maids here?”“Yes.” Madam Marilyn replied, “There are four maids responsible for washing and cooking, eight maids responsible for sanitation and maintenance, and four maids who are responsible for gardening. However, some of them are more flexible and can be temporarily deployed if there i
Vera was a girl with a withdrawn personality and a bit of aloofness.She did not like to interact with people, and she liked to stay at home alone to read books, drink tea, write calligraphy, paint, and burn incense to tell fortunes. Logan’s manor really surprised her. She thought of how she had been running around for days and simply wanted to have a good rest here for a while and slowly regain her slow and leisurely pace of life.Moreover, she had already decided not to contact Charlie before school started, so it was the best plan for her to practice self-cultivation here and occasionally visit some famous places here in Aurous Hill.So, she came up with a list and asked Madam Marilyn to help her purchase the items on the list. There were a hundred ancient books, seal incense made out of ten different materials, tea leaves from five different origins, and various pens, inks, paper, and inkstones. When Madam Marilyn got the list, she asked Vera with some doubts, “Miss Lavor, I
“I don’t have one.” Vera shook her head and then said immediately, “But there is one person who does.”After saying that, Vera did not beat around the bush and told Logan and his wife, “I came to Aurous Hill this time to find a man named Charlie Wade. He saved my life in Northern Europe.”To Vera, Logan and his wife were absolutely credible, just like Emmett. She could not have come to Aurous Hill this time without their help, so she did not hide anything from them.After saying that, Logan and his wife were naturally shocked and speechless. When Vera spoke about how she had found out Charlie’s identity step by step, Logan exclaimed, “Miss, your benefactor is Keith’s grandson?!”Vera nodded and then asked him curiously, “Do you know Keith Acker?”“Yes, I do.” Logan nodded and said, “The Acker family was in the rubber business in the early years in the United States. We had a collaboration, and almost all the rubber that I had on hand was sold to him, so we could be considered to
Meanwhile, Charlie brought Claudia back to Mrs. Lewis’s new home from the shopping mall. Both Charlie and Stephanie gave Mrs. Lewis a helping hand in the kitchen like they did back in the orphanage to help her to cook a table full of good dishes. Mrs. Lewis and Stephanie were very happy to learn that Claudia’s schooling matters had been taken care of. They both expressed their full support for Claudia’s decision to pursue an archaeology major. After the four of them had lunch happily, Stephanie suggested, “Charlie, do you have anything to do in the afternoon today? If you don’t have any plans, let’s take Claudia out to visit all the famous scenic spots in Aurous Hill together today!”Charlie said apologetically, “It might not be convenient for me this afternoon. I just came back, so there are still some things that I have to attend to urgently.”Charlie had already asked Isaac to go to Porter to ask him for the current address of the old lady who had given him the Phoenixica. A
When Rosalie heard that Charlie was coming, she told her parents as well as her grandfather, Holden, about this matter immediately. They were all so excited that they hurriedly gathered all the Harker family members and waited in the courtyard to welcome Charlie. When Charlie arrived at the Harker family villa, the Harker family was already lined up on both sides to wait for him. Sheldon, who had a completely new look, was also among them. As soon as Charlie got out of the car, Holden led the Harker family to kneel on the ground in unison and said respectfully, “Hello, Mr. Wade!” Even Sheldon knelt beside Yashita and Rosalie without hesitation after seeing all the Harker family members kneeling. Charlie was a little surprised and hurriedly said, “Please get up quickly. It’s not the first day you know me, so why are you still giving me such a grand welcome?” Holden, who was kneeling at the front, said respectfully, “Mr. Wade, you have shown great kindness to the Harker famil
Charlie was driving Jacob to Thompson First when the latter received the text from Matilda.Seeing that they were reaching the front gates, Jacob promptly snapped at Charlie, "Charlie, stop the car now!"Charlie did so and asked in curiosity, "What's wrong?""Matilda just texted me," Jacob replied, showing the chat log between him and Matilda.Charlie was just glancing at it nonchalantly when he saw that Matilda's contact name was 'AAA July Florist'."Wait, why is that Aunt Matilda's contact name?" He exclaimed in surprise."I changed it."Jacob explained gingerly while reading through the text Matilda sent. "Her profile picture is an iris, so I changed her contact name to a florist since I'm mostly worried Elaine would peek into my phone.""Anyway, she's asking if I'm attending her wedding with Yolden. They would send us an invitation if I accept, extended to our whole family… what do you think I should say?"Charlie asked in return. "You're planning to skip it, aren't you? T
Then, Matilda suggested, "How about this—I'll ask him before deciding." "I'll pass on inviting the rest of my former classmates too. They're too vain and love comparing, so I'd rather not have anything to do with that. Also, there are our Korean friends who have it together, and they were telling us to invite them if we were going to get married. We have to keep our promise, right?""Yeah—then, it's basically decided. Aside from Charlie, we shall invite our colleagues and Korean friends while we wait for an answer from Jacob."Yolden nodded and said, "Now, I'll talk about the honeymoon—cut me short if you have a different opinion."Matilda nodded, resting her chin on her hands and smiling. "Shoot. I'm all ears."Feeling a little embarrassed by Matilda's glowing stare, Yolden took a sip of his ice water before continuing, "My idea is to head to the States for our honeymoon after the wedding…"He trailed off, staring at Matilda and waiting for a response.However, she was merely
"Oh, Jacob…?"Matilda chuckled awkwardly. "Just today, he offered to buy me dinner, but I said I didn't have the time, and I also told him about our wedding… So, we should invite him since he's aware of it.""Jacob offered to buy you dinner?" Yolden exclaimed in surprise. "Did he say why?""Nope," Matilda shrugged, smiling. "Probably just dinner between old classmates."However, she was actually smart enough to guess Jacob's intention even though Jacob was inviting her somewhere near campus. That was why she had also mentioned she was marrying Yolden while turning down Jacob, all so that he would give up on her.After she had managed to get over their past fling completely, she didn't want to give Jacob false hopes before she walked down the aisle.In the same regard, she didn't want to worry Yolden, and therefore, had deliberately discouraged Jacob.Be that as it may, Yolden was smart too.He knew about Matilda and Jacob's past and that her son, Paul's full name was Paul Jam
Before Charlie had arrived, Jacob was still furious that Matilda would soon marry Yolden.After Charlie came, however, he was instead worried that Matilda would send him a wedding invitation.Meanwhile, Matilda and Yolden were discussing their list of guests.They had different social circles, but most of their friends were Stateside, and they only had some distant relatives in this country.Still, they had colleagues in Aurous Hill. Matilda had classmates too, but she was out of touch with them aside from Jacob, whom she often met.Still, as they discussed who should be invited, Matilda first suggested, "Let's go through everyone. First, our Stateside friends… I don't think we should tell them at all since it's a long journey, and inviting them would seem tactless. What do you think?"Yolden nodded, smiling, "I was just thinking the same thing. We're close with our Stateside friends and always keep in touch, but inviting them to our wedding might be a stretch. We'd just hit a wa
With that being said, once Matilda was thrown in the mix, Elaine would suddenly become an African honey badger, with every bit of black air force energy that was implied.As such, if Jacob had managed to be brave and take that one step back then, Charlie would have tried to help, stopping Elaine from harassing Jacob or Matilda.However, the reality was that Jacob had to bungle the chance when Matilda offered it to him.That was why the best option was for Jacob to understand that he couldn't get together with Matilda now so that he would feel much better.And since he had always been a coward, Charlie's slight intimidation cleared his head considerably.He then sighed, "Well, that's just life—you don't always get what you want, and you should never try to claim what you couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to choose Matilda over thirty years ago, so not being together now only makes sense.""Now, I can only pray that Elaine never finds out… or at least that things don't get out of h
Then, Jacob quickly pressed, "Dear boy, maybe you could stay a few days instead of taking more jobs. At least you could be there to stop my wife if she snaps.""Sure," Charlie chuckled, cheerfully agreeing to it. "Don't worry—Claire's returning in a couple of days too, and you'll be fine with us around. You're cheating in your mind, anyway…"Pausing, he then added a reminder, "But if she's really furious, just bear with her beatings and clawings. Live and let live, as they say."That left Jacob sulking, however. "What the hell! If I knew this would happen, I should have just taken her to court and divorced her openly! That way, I'd definitely make things work with Matilda. Yolden wouldn't even stand a chance!"Charlie had to keep a straight face. "Now, you're not quite right there—don't you know what would happen to your wife if you took this to court?"Jacob snorted coolly. "Elaine would just snap at me, hit me, and make sure I don't get a cent in the divorce. That's no big deal—
"Fuck!" When Jacob heard what Charlie said, he was horrified. He nervously asked, "Matilda isn't going to come to our house to deliver the invitation, is she? If Elaine finds out that I've been hiding Matilda's return from her all this time, I'll be so dead!" Charlie, having long seen through Jacob, knew he would never escape the shadow and claws of Elaine. He shook his head and said, "Whether they'll invite you, I have no way of knowing. If you're worried, you can tell Matilda that you don't want to be invited to her wedding and that you don't want to go." Jacob sighed. "That's just a temporary solution. Even if she doesn't know now, she'll probably find out sooner or later. A lot of our mutual friends already know about Matilda's return. You went to the gathering too. But those friends are not really in contact with Elaine, so she hasn't found out yet." Charlie smiled and said, "Matilda's return to the country was at a pretty sensitive time. If I'm not mistaken, she came b
Jacob then realized that Charlie was also driving a Rolls-Royce, and it was a more expensive Phantom. Surprised, he asked, "Charlie, where did you get this car?" Marilyn had prepared the car for Charlie when he left Scarlet Pinnacle Manor. He had driven it to Thompson First, so he had decided to use it today. Charlie replied, "A client lent it to me. You sounded urgent, so I drove it over." Then, he added, "You're something else. You're crying like a baby yet you're still in the mood to ask about the car. What's going on? Your friend said you'd cried twice already?" "That bloody Simon!" Hearing this, Jacob became furious and cursed, "He still doesn't have the slightest clue! He's such a damned fool! The more I try to avoid him, the more he keeps blabbering on and on. Argh, he's so stupid!" Charlie asked, "What exactly is bothering you?" Jacob's face instantly turned dejected, and with a long sigh, he choked up and said, "Charlie— Matilda— She's getting married—" "Gettin
Things were a little different and unique in the United States, though. Westerners tended to approach marriage with greater caution. Many couples stayed together for years, had several children, and yet remained as boyfriend and girlfriend. Being together, having children, and raising them jointly didn't necessarily mean they would get married. In fact, it was not uncommon for some to walk down the aisle only after having multiple kids. Because of this environment, elderly couples in the West often limited their relationships to dating, and at most, cohabitation. Very few progressed to the stage of marriage. However, Yolden, like a young man in the throes of passionate love, had invited her on a trip, secretly prepared a proposal ceremony by the seaside, and gotten down on one knee with a ring to propose. These actions deeply moved Matilda and, at the same time, gave her an unprecedented sense of security. Now, Yolden had moved their wedding up a big step and set the date just on