Porter replied, “Mr. Wade, after they woke up, I arranged for someone to record all of their identity information. Since their passports were destroyed, I had someone help them contact the embassy for the replacement of their documents and then purchased tickets for them to go home. I gave each of them 3,000 US dollars in emergency cash and sent them on the plane one by one.”With that said, Porter added, “But the old lady and her son were exceptions.”“I arranged for the soldiers from Ten Thousand Armies to escort them back to the country personally, and they were then sent all the way home.”“Before leaving, the soldier in charge of escorting them wanted to give the old lady and her son 100,000 dollars according to my instructions, but the old lady refused to accept it. I thought about how you mentioned that you were going to visit them after returning to the country, so I did not ask the soldier to insist on giving them the money.”“I see.” Charlie frowned slightly. Although he
Charlie smiled faintly when he heard the other party’s question and said, “You must be Lady Jenson’s son, right? My name is Charlie Wade, and my father was an old acquaintance of your father. He asked me to come and see Lady Jenson.”The other party asked in surprise, “Your father knows my father?”Charlie nodded slightly. An old lady then slowly walked out from the cooking shed and looked at Charlie somewhat doubtfully as she frowned and asked, “Young man, you know my husband?”Charlie said, “You must be Lady Jenson, right? My father knows your husband.”The old lady hesitated for a moment and then quickly said, “Come in, come in!”With that said, she said to her son, “Jeremy, invite the guests into the house quickly and serve them some water.”The middle-aged man hurriedly opened the door and said politely, “Please come in and have a seat!”Charlie nodded, thanked him, and then entered the courtyard with Isaac.The small courtyard was not that big and was only a few dozen s
Only then did Charlie come back to his senses and say with a smile, “Thank you, but there’s no need for you to go through all the trouble. We’re not thirsty.”As he spoke, Lady Jenson washed her hands. She disregarded the water droplets on her hand and hurriedly trotted in as she spoke with some trepidation, “Our distinguished guests, please have a seat. I feel really sorry because our family is poor so we don’t have any decent furniture for you to sit on!”Charlie said respectfully, “Lady Jenson, please have a seat first!”Lady Jenson hesitated for a moment and then smiled as she sat down in front of Charlie. She looked at Charlie kindly and asked curiously, “Young man, you said that your father knows my husband, so I wonder what is your father’s name?”Charlie was suddenly at a loss for words. In truth, his previous idea was very simple. After finding the old lady, he would give her a Rejuvenating Pill under the pretext that he was the son of her husband’s good friend. He would
Charlie was shocked by the old lady’s words.He subconsciously thought that the old lady’s memory of him had not been erased by his Reiki as he had guessed before. This kind of thing had never happened in Charlie’s perception.So, he subconsciously wondered if this old lady also possessed the mastery of Reiki to a certain extent. So, he asked tentatively, “Lady Jenson, why are you asking such a question?”When the old lady saw that Charlie seemed to be defensive, she said very frankly, “Young man, to tell you the truth, I’m just making a guess.”After that, she paused slightly and continued speaking, “When I was rescued from Mexico by those heroes, I found that it was not just me and Jeremy, but everyone on the bus had lost their memories. We all remembered how we were tricked to go there and how those people mutilated us, but we couldn’t remember how we were rescued.”“Those heroes then told us that they used some kind of tear gas or something that must have caused our memory
Charlie did not conceal it any longer at this point and said solemnly, “Lady Jenson, I was hunting down the members of Crazy Juarez in Mexico when I discovered that they were imprisoning so many innocent people there by chance. So, I asked my subordinates to take all of you out and send you back home.”The old lady was pleasantly surprised and excited as she said, “It seems that my guess was not wrong. You really are our benefactor!”With that said, she trembled as she attempted to grovel before Charlie, but Charlie stopped her and said seriously, “Lady Jenson, you don’t have to do this. Any normal person in Mexico that day wouldn’t have sat back idly without doing anything.”The old lady was teary-eyed as she sobbed and said, “Thank you for saving our lives, Benefactor! If it weren’t for you, the Jenson family’s lineage would have ended with us...”Having said that, she looked up at the portrait on the wall, but what she looked at was not the man in the middle, but the child who w
The old lady looked at the old man in the portrait and murmured, “Master Marcius’s name is Marcius Stark, and he’s a native of Coleham. He later began cultivating longevity and called himself Longevity Master. Master Marcius is the honorific name the Jenson family use to address him.”“Marcius Stark...” Charlie muttered. He had not heard of this name, but he was not very surprised either. The painting itself seemed to be very old, and the old lady’s family had been passed down for sixteen hundred years. It was not surprising that the person in this painting was someone from ancient times. The old lady then spoke up again, “Master Marcius was a scholar in high school, and he was an official in court, but later, he resigned from his position as an official because he got the opportunity to cultivate by chance. He then came here with his wife and son to concentrate on cultivation, but his wife and son passed away one after the other soon after arriving from an infection due to the wi
Charlie sighed. “Countless classics were lost in this kind of turmoil. Your ancestors knew what Phoenixica was, but very few people in the whole of Oskia and even in the world know what Phoenixica is now. Our current traditional culture and Oskian medication are all citing classics, but I don’t know how many classics have long been buried in the long history...”As Charlie spoke of this, he suddenly remembered something and asked in surprise, “By the way, Lady Jenson, you said that there were two bracelets?”“Yes!” The old lady said firmly, “The two bracelets are made out of Phoenixica and were originally a pair. They were the Jenson family’s heirloom. After Master Marcius rescued my ancestor, he recognized that the bracelet was made out of Phoenixica, so he asked my ancestor if he would be willing to give him one of the bracelets. He would then accept my ancestor as his disciple in return. My ancestor was helpless back then, so he naturally agreed without hesitation. Master Marcius
When the old lady heard Charlie mention the Rejuvenating Pill, she was horrified and asked, “Benefactor, you... you also know about the Rejuvenating Pill?!”Charlie nodded and said frankly, “I do.” There was a sentence that Charlie did not say aloud.That was the fact that he had also specially prepared a Rejuvenating Pill for Lady Jenson this time.Lady Jenson could not help but say with admiration, “You’re indeed a person with great supernatural powers just like Master Marcius!”Charlie only smiled faintly, but he was actually even more appalled. So far, although he had benefited a lot from the Apocalyptic Book, he still did not know who the author was.Now, when he learned that Marcius had already refined the Rejuvenating Pill more than a thousand years ago and had even given two of the Rejuvenating Pills to the ancestor of the Jenson family, he could not help but wonder, ‘Could it be that Marcius Stark was the author of the Apocalyptic Book? The antique jade pot vase that
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
Later, after Charlie told Jeremiah over the phone about the joint venture with the Ackers to establish Curtis Autos, the old man was awash with tears, especially after Charlie told him that it was Keith who suggested it. After all, Curtis was his favorite son whose death he could never really get over. Moreover, he once believed that only his family mourned Curtis while the Ackers never did, and he held a grudge over his son's passing. As such, he was surprised that Keith held such great respect toward his late son and didn't hesitate to say yes when Charlie invited him to Aurous Hill to sign an agreement with the Ackers.Still, Charlie wasn't in a hurry to arrange for a specific time, and he was going to let the Ackers sort out the human resources of Godot Autos over a few days. It still wouldn't be too late by then.Moreover, he was keen to allow the buzz to have time to grow so that the automotive industry would be astounded by the joint project between the Ackers and the Wade
Christian was the first to exclaim in approval, "Yes! Curtis Autos sounds wonderful! It has my vote!""Seconded!" Kaiden nodded, pumping the air with his right fist. "I've looked up to Curtis the most, and I absolutely agree with naming the company after him!"Jaxson was nodding too. "Me too!""Yes!" Lulu chirped.Yolden couldn't help agreeing as well. "Curtis Autos is definitely a good name!"Merlin raised his hand gingerly as well. "Quit it with your flattery already," Keith chuckled, and he turned toward Charlie solemnly. "In the end, Curtis is Charlie's father, and the final decision goes to him!"Charlie's eyes were welling up with tears—his parents had been gone for almost three decades, yet he had never thought of dedicating anything to their memory.As such, Keith's suggestion to use Curtis's name for the car company left him thrilled. After all, wouldn't his father's soul be honored if Curtis Autos rocked the country, maybe even the world?With that in mind, he nodd
Charlie also had to agree that this was an opportunity to formally reconcile the Wades and the Ackers.While he couldn't reveal himself just yet, the Wades and the Ackers had been in-laws for years. Even if they had had a dispute for the longest time, restoring good relations made sense now that the Ackers had come to Oskia, and it wouldn't arouse any suspicion.That was why Charlie agreed to it without hesitation, even making a mental note to invite his paternal grandfather, Jeremiah, to Aurous Hill.The old geezers could meet up and clear the air while deciding on the partnership.Yolden was prepared to resign as a professor as well so that he could help the Ackers and Charlie fully develop their automotive company.With a general direction planned, he asked everyone, "Since we're creating a new brand, has anyone come up with a name?"No one was feeling inspired at that moment, but that was when Lulu, who had been silent throughout, said, "Since Charlie and our family are worki
Neither Charlie nor the Ackers expected Yolden's insight to cover all corners.In fact, it felt like the man had a blueprint ready and was only waiting for the time to put it to use.That was why everyone was immensely approving of Yolden and wanted no other man for the job of CEO.Kaeden smiled, "Well, since everyone has agreed, let's put this to rest as soon as possible—this will be a joint investment between our family and the Wades, and Professor Hart will take the post of CEO. Let's all do our best to make this a good one!"Yolden also made up his mind, deciding that he didn't want to let slip a chance to realize his ambitions. "I'll resign from the university after my honeymoon trip. It probably shouldn't be long, and I can get involved in early preparations via teleconference."Charlie nodded. "Then, we can have Uncle Kaeden stay on schedule while I'll ask the Wades to send a representative over to sign a memorandum for the investment."Keith smiled and nodded. "You should
Charlie hadn't been born and raised in Aurous Hill, but he still started living here at the age of eight and was more attached to this place than Eastcliff.If he was going to take part in this automotive investment with the Ackers, he naturally found Aurous Hill the ideal location.Not only would it create a huge number of jobs for Aurous Hill, but it would also rake in much economic flow for the region.Yolden also nodded at his suggestion. "If the first plant is meant to cover the demand of the entire local market, there's no reason for a coastal plant. Aurous Hill stands at an intersection between the north and the south, so transportation is convenient. It's also killing two birds with one stone, as Mr. Wade is fond of the city."Charlie couldn't help but agree. "I won't lie—Aurous Hill has been good to me, and I hope to give back. Nothing's better than succeeding in that respect."Yolden spread his hands, "Heavy industries are certainly ideal to contribute to Aurous Hill's e
Yolden had actually been researching new energy for a while—in fact, it was when Tesla's first car models were produced.He was passionate about the subject and had his own opinions as well as ambitions, but he was busy teaching, so he couldn't realize any of it.But was this not a golden opportunity tailor-made for him?Seeing that Yolden was clearly interested, Charlie turned toward Kaeden, "Actually, the professor is getting married soon. There's no way we'd split up newlyweds so soon after the wedding, right? So, is it possible to set up base in Aurous Hill instead?""Not a problem!" Kaeden replied without hesitation. "Our family is planning to return to Oskia anyway, and everyone knows about Ashley and Curtis. So, why don't we invest in this enterprise alongside the Wades and have the base set up in Aurous Hill? And then bring Godot under as a subsidiary?"Turning to Yolden, he continued, "By the way, Godot's plant is already in the province—barely 100 miles from Aurous Hill,