As soon as Vera thought of this, she looked at Marianne again, and she suddenly smiled as she teased, “Marianne, I don’t think you’re here to look for a job after coming to Aurous Hill all the way from Hong Kong!”Marianne asked in surprise, “Why do you say that?”Vera laughed and said, “It feels more like you’ve come to pursue your sweetheart despite all odds.”Vera’s seemingly teasing words touched the depths of Marianne’s heart. She was instantly flustered and hurriedly tried to cover up as she said, “How... How could that be? I’ve never been to Aurous Hill, and I don’t have any acquaintances here, let alone a sweetheart.”Although Marianne was in a hurry to hide her true feelings, Vera had already captured the panic in her expression.It was this slight change that made Vera even more certain that her judgment was definitely correct. Coupled with Marianne’s identity, who else aside from Charlie could make a rich young lady such as Marianne put everything aside to come all th
Marianne hurriedly said, “No need, Lady Carrick. I think this kind of thing needs to be encountered slowly by oneself. If you can’t encounter it, it means that your fate is not here and there will always be someone for you if you wait a little longer.”When Lady Carrick noticed her firm attitude, she sighed faintly and nodded slightly. After lunch, Marianne rested in Scarlet Pinnacle Manor for a while before she was then accompanied by Madam Marilyn as she headed to Aurous University for the interview.Vera smiled brightly as she sent Marianne to the car. After the car had left Scarlet Pinnacle Manor, Vera’s innocent and pleasant smile instantly dissipated as she turned around, and it was replaced by her usual calm demeanor. Logan followed behind and said respectfully, “Miss, can I ask you a question?”Logan was puzzled because he could see that Vera was playing tricks on Marianne just now. He had some doubts and wondered why Vera was doing this.Vera knew what Logan wanted to
Vera was not surprised at all when Logan was full of doubts and reported the information to Vera.She simply smirked and said, “Charlie is obviously married, but he is still attracting women everywhere. He could make Marianne come all the way to Aurous Hill for him after just a trip to Hong Kong, so he will probably attract other women too if he goes to other places. If you dig out Charlie’s trajectory over the past few years, you will probably be able to find many women who are infatuated with him.”Logan smiled embarrassedly and sighed, “I can only say that this kid really has extraordinary charisma. However, I’m afraid that Marianne will not be able to achieve a positive result if she has fallen for a married man like him.”Vera smiled faintly, thought of something, and asked Logan, “Can you find out what identity Charlie used and why he went to Hong Kong to meet Shawn previously.”“This can be settled easily.” Logan nodded and said, “I’ll just call Shawn and ask him about it.”
Emmett explained, “The Schulz family and the Wade family have been fighting both openly and in secret for so many years. They even had very unpleasant relationships in the early years. The Schulz family even took the lead in forming the Anti-Wade Alliance in Eastcliff back then just to work against the Wade family. Later, when Curtis Wade and his wife passed away unexpectedly, the Wade family suffered serious repercussions, and the Schulz family then became the most powerful family in Oskia and has always dominated the Wade family. It can be said that the two families have a long-standing grudge, so I don’t understand why Charlie would be working for Ito-Schulz Ocean Shipping Group...”Vera shook her head and said, “Your thinking is wrong. It’s not about why Charlie is working for Ito-Schulz Ocean Shipping Group, but it’s about whether Ito-Schulz Ocean Shipping Group is working for Charlie.”Neither Logan nor Emmett could understand the significance of Charlie’s mastery of Reiki.Ho
“Charlie conquered the Schulz family and Ten Thousand Armies?!”Emmett was horrified when he heard this and said, “Miss, this... this is a little exaggerated, isn’t it? The Schulz family has greater strength compared to the Wade family, and Ten Thousand Armies’ strength cannot be measured in terms of money. They have tens of thousands of mercenaries, and it is said that they have already invested and built their own permanent base in the Middle East now. How could Charlie have conquered this kind of organization?!”Vera said faintly, “Charlie’s strength is far from what Ten Thousand Armies can compare to. Otherwise, there would have been no way for Charlie to survive when the Schulz family and Ten Thousand Armies attacked Mount Wintry together. Although we don’t know exactly what happened on Mount Wintry that day, we can see from the results that Charlie was not affected in any way, which is enough to prove that the Schulz family and Ten Thousand Armies failed completely on Mount Win
“That’s strange...” Vera frowned. “Why would he pass the position as head of the family to his granddaughter if he has five sons? Not to mention that his granddaughter is a woman, but he even crossed over his children’s generation directly and chose his granddaughter to succeed him. Wouldn’t that easily cause dissatisfaction among his five sons? Even Sophie’s father would never be willing to accept the fact that he was skipped over directly.”Having said that, Vera then added, “Even if Cadfan values and thinks highly of Sophie, he should also pass the position as head of the family over to Sophie’s father first before letting his father pass the position onto her. This way, he would also be able to solidify Sophie’s position. Otherwise, how could Sophie keep her father, four uncles, and two aunts under control after ascending to the top directly? Even if she has Cadfan’s support, it would be difficult for Sophie to truly control the Schulz family.”Emmett thought of something and sai
“Romantic debt?”After listening to Vera’s sentiments, Emmett suddenly remembered something and spoke up, “Miss, I have the impression that the current head of the Ito family is also a girl, and her age shouldn’t be too far off from Sophie. Her name is Ito Nanako.”“It’s also a girl?” Vera could not help but wonder in shock, “What’s going on these days? Is it popular for girls to be the head of the family? Could it be that she is also connected to Charlie in some way?”Emmett hurriedly said, “Oh, by the way, Miss, you asked me to look into Charlie’s entry and exit records, and I found that he stayed in Japan for a while last year. Nanako took over the position of head of the family after he went to Japan. During that time, the three top-ranked families in Japan fought, and the Ito family had the last laugh, but Ito Yahiko lost both his legs because of that incident. Since then, he has retired behind the scenes to let his daughter take charge of the overall situation.”With that sai
Emmett exclaimed, “This... This is too unreal, right? They are people who live together daily, so how could they not know Charlie’s true identity?!”Vera said faintly, “In fact, they made a mistake just like you.”Emmett hurriedly asked, “What mistake is it? Miss, I hope that you can explain it to me...”Vera said seriously, “All of you instinctively do not want to think of Charlie as strong and powerful. You constantly feel that he can’t be that powerful, that he couldn’t have conquered Ten Thousand Armies, the life and death of the Schulz family, and that he couldn’t possibly control the Ito family as well as those Japanese families. You think that it’s impossible for him to have done all those incredible things by himself. You wouldn’t have known of Charlie’s true identity if I hadn’t gone to Eastcliff to find you. You probably wouldn’t have seen through his true identity even if you spent day and night with him, then.”Having said that, Vera added, “But I’m different from you.
The cabbie chuckled. "You're a local yet you're heading to Antique Street right away as soon as you land instead of going home? And you're still saying you're not trying to pick up a killer bargain deal?"Come on, man—it's not just you, I want that too. We cabbies work ourselves to death only for ten thousand per month at best while our friend over there made twenty million in one night. I could keep driving cabs for the rest of my life and still not make that much money."Jacob knew that the cabbie must be talking about Raymond and became even more miserable then, grumbling unhappily, "I'm going to Antique Street for business—I'm not trying to pick up some missed bargain.""No? Then you didn't hear what happened yesterday?"The cabbie was immediately curious, and without waiting for Jacob's answer, he exclaimed happily, "Look, man—it was so ridiculous not even Hollywood would put it in their script. There were these fools who were trying to sell an antique trader a replica, but th
It was nighttime in Dubai as Jacob dragged his weary body from the hotel back to the airport.As he was flying economy this time, he was left sitting at the hard bench near the boarding terminal, waiting for it to open.While he waited, his heart was torn as he tapped into the website of the Aurous Hill Charity Fund, found their donation account, and wired the entire 300 thousand he had made over to them.He had picked the Aurous Hill Charity Fund because the circles of antique collectors in Aurous Hill were all discussing how Raymond had donated half of the 20 million he had made to that same charity fund.After Raymond skyrocketed to prominence in Antique Street and became a star, it could not be denied that people admired his profound ability.However, there were also people who envied his skill in turning the tables just as there were those who were jealous he had made twenty million in a single night.Still, Raymond moved fast—soon after word spread that he had made twenty m
Elaine quickly asked, "Well, what if you can't get it done?"Jacob was apprehensive even as he sighed. "If they really pressed the issue, guess I can't even stay at the Calligraphy and Painting Association now… We will see. If things get bad, I'll just resign. I won't ask for much right now, just as long as I don't have to go to jail."Elaine nodded. "Then you should try to reason things out with Raymond Cole or ask for Charlie's help if push comes to shove. Being humiliated is still better than prison.""Okay!"-It was nighttime at Aurous Hill by the time Elaine and Jacob arrived at their hotel.Charlie and Claire had just had dinner, and Claire pulled out her phone, saying, "I just checked my flight app, and it says my parents should have landed two hours ago. They are probably at the hotel, so I'll check in on them with a video call."She had yet to open her WhatsApp when Elaine called her on a video call.Jacob was planning to check in with Claire and Charlie to put their
Hearing what Jacob had said, Elaine became anxious and pressed him as he hung up, "What's going on? You're leaving? But we just got here! My shoes have just caught Dubai dirt, so why are we leaving so soon—"However, Jacob was wiping the sweat off his brow as he mumbled quietly, "Well, at this point, I have to leave or I won't be vice president anymore."Elaine immediately fumed. "We've been married for half our lives, and this is supposed to be our honeymoon, yet we're just leaving? I've posted about this on social media too—there are plenty of people who're waiting for more posts on our trip!"And don't forget—we spent a lot on our flight tickets and our hotels! The hotel bookings can't be refunded either!"Jacob scowled dolefully. "Well, what can we do? Why don't you stay? I'll go home and get this sorted out first….""Well, how long would that take?" Elaine asked."How should I know?" Jacob sighed, uneasy and annoyed. "Don Albert is saying I have to go back and donate the 300
"But I spent 98 thousand on that bronze sculpture!" Jacob exclaimed in agitation before he knew it. "I made 300 thousand from it, and that means my profit was 200 thousand at best, but I'm supposed to return that to him as well?! That means I'd have lost my own capital too!""I can't help you if you can't bear to part with that money, Mr. Wilson," Don Albert said quietly. "In that case, you'll just have to handle it yourself.""Wait, wait, wait!" Jacob immediately became antsy and cried out right then, "Please, Don Albert! I'll return the money! I'll return it, alright?! The entirety of my profits—202 thousand, okay? At least let me keep the money I spent, okay?""By that reasoning, Mr. Wilson, when a phone scammer is told by the cops to return the money they've made from defrauding, should he be allowed to keep the money he spent on telco charges? ""Oh, I…" Jacob was left stumped and could not come up with an answer.Don Albert then pressed on, "Mr. Wilson, I've offered a prom
"Mr. Wilson, what you boys did was truly heinous!" Don Arnold growled. "I scolded Zachary myself when I found out, and I was the one who told him to post that statement!"Jacob was shocked. "But why, Don Arnold? Are you friends with Raymond Cole?""Never met the guy," Don Arnold replied.That left Jacob even more confused. "Then why are you taking his side?""I've been doing my best to clean up my image over the past couple of years," Don Albert replied coolly. "I rarely get involved in mob business or anything illicit, and everyone in Aurous Hill knows that Zachary is my right-hand man, yet he confessed to committing such a heinous crime behind my back. What is that if not sullying my reputation?"Jacob was left reeling as he didn't expect Don Albert to be so serious, but he quickly explained, "I'm sorry. I didn't expect it to affect you so terribly… It's all Zachary's fault! I wouldn't have been aware that Raymond had returned at all, but he just had to tell me and come up with
At this point, Don Albert could very well be Jacob's personal messiah.Even if he did threaten Zachary with calling Charlie persistently, he actually wouldn't dare call Charlie.After all, how would he start explaining that he was involved in a crime? And telling Charlie was basically telling his daughter—what would they think of him after this? Would he ever be able to hold his head high in the family again?As such, his only option now was to ask Don Albert and see if he would help.What he didn't know was that Don Albert was with Charlie, who had already anticipated Jacob's move.When Jacob realized he couldn't stop Zachary, Jacob would find someone who could, and Don Albert was the best man for the job!To no surprise, Don Albert's phone soon started ringing with a call from Jacob.Don Albert didn't answer right away, however, instead turning toward Charlie as he asked gingerly, "So, shall I stick to your script, Master Wade?"Seeing Charlie nod, he pressed on, "Should I
As soon as Jacob sent the voice message, Mr. Bay called.Jacob quickly answered, asking nervously, "How are things over there, Mr. Bay?""How, you ask…?" Mr. Bay sighed in exasperation. "The entire Calligraphy and Painting Association was demanding your dismissal as soon as Zachary Evans posted his statement, thinking that you have no business being the administrative vice president let alone have a place in the association."Even those officials came asking me questions, and you know how they are—gossipers, every last one of them, always finding out about the juicy stuff instantly even if it's really no big deal. The only excuse I have to stop them is that we don't have the facts, but this issue still needs to be taken care of."So, be straight with me. Were you a part of this? If you don't, do you have any definitive evidence that can refute Zachary's claims?""I… Uh…" Jacob stammered, unable to answer.He certainly wanted to say no, but he had no evidence to back himself up.
Jacob bellowed furiously, "Raymond Cole made over 19 million dollars! From my bronze sculpture! Yet you're telling me to refund that 300 thousand too?! You're just fucking with me, aren't you?!""Well, if you don't like it, just do what you like, then," Zachary replied calmly and quickly hung up before Jacob could answer.Jacob was left twitching and shaking endlessly, and there was no telling if it was from rage or fear.Beside him, Elaine quickly asked, "What did Zachary say, dear? Can he get that bronze sculpture back?"Caught by surprise at her question, Jacob flinched, and his phone slipped out of his grasp.As it seemed to hover in the air, he tried to catch it twice but failed, but Elaine managed to grab it.It was then that she noticed that he was sweating all over his face, and she promptly asked, "What's wrong, dear?"Coming to his senses, Jacob's eyes went wide with rage. "Zachary is trying to kill me! He leaked the whole thing to his Twitter page—it's like he's pulli