Jacob was intimidated by Elaine’s loud growl, but he spruced himself up and said, “A straight foot has no fear of a crooked shoe!”Elaine glared at him and uttered, “Ah, I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Okay, I’m going out to play mahjong.”She then stood up and stretched out her hand at Jacob saying, “Give me your car key!”“What? Why would you need a car for your mahjong game? I want to use it later!”Elaine rolled her eyes and said contemptuously, “Why? Do you want to show off to your friends? No way! Give me the car key, quick!”Jacob sighed dejectedly and passed her the car key as he said, “Drive carefully, don’t scratch it.”“Argh, shut up! If you provoke me again, I’ll drive your car down the drain!”Jacob was extremely agitated, but Elaine felt as though she had gotten her revenge. She put on her jacket, a triumphant smile on her face, and walked out the door.After Elaine left, Jacob sighed again and said, “Charlie, go with me to the reunion later. Some of my frien
Hannah donned an apologetic expression and said, “Elaine, actually, I’m here to apologize to you…”She cleared her throat and continued, “Yes, I’ve always looked down on you in the past. Not only was I rude to you, but I also often badmouthed you in front of Mother. I know my mistakes now and I have deeply repented on it. So, I’m here to offer you my sincere apology.”Then, her face flushed as she bit her lips and bowed deeply to Elaine.Elaine was taken aback. She thought the lunatic was here to pick a fight with her, but unexpectedly, she had apologized and bowed to her!She had prepared herself for the verbal attacks, but she didn’t know what to do now that her enemy was being so humble instead of drawing a sword.When Hannah saw that Elaine had kept quiet, she put up her best dramatic disguise and knelt on the floor, crying and begging. “Oh, my dear Elaine, are you still angry at me? I’m very sorry! Over the past years, I had not figured out the truth. We are both sisters-in-l
A flash of light sparked through Elaine’s eyes!She had been worried that she wouldn’t be able to find an easy mark after Summer left the country, so she was thankful that Hannah had found one for her!Besides, she assumed that the easy mark was richer than Summer because she could only win several thousand from Summer, but this lady lost ten times the money in a day!She loved playing mahjong with people who had deep pockets but poor skills. She could make a mini fortune from the game!If she joined forces with Hannah and agreed on some secret codes, they could win for sure!With this thought in mind, she was overjoyed and excited!Money meant everything to her to the point she would definitely replace her parents with money!She was on the edge of her seat when she heard Hannah’s proposal!Seeing the excitement in Elaine’s eyes, Hannah hurriedly said in a low voice, “Let’s rehearse our little secret codes first. While we are at the table, we’ll look at each other’s gestures.
Jacob stared at the man standing in front of him for a while before he laughed and said in surprise, “Oh my God, is that you, Eric? Eric Shaw? Wow, we haven’t seen each other for about 30 years! Look at you, so smart and handsome! You must be doing very well, huh!”Eric shook his head. “Nah, I’m nothing compared to you, Jacob. You are, what the youngsters nowadays say, the rich kid on the block…”The Wilson family had been a noble family name back in the days.At that moment, Lord Wilson had been in his prime, earning his first pot of gold when he plunged into the business arena for the first time, subsequently earning himself an honored reputation too. Hence, Jacob was living a good life thanks to his father. His pocket money alone might be more than half of his classmates combined.Because of this, he had attracted the attention of Elaine from another class.Jacob chuckled bashfully at his friend’s remark, but before he could say anything, another middle-aged man and a young man
Charlie couldn’t help quenching his curiosity and asked, “Dad, who is this Matilda that everyone is talking about?”Jacob rolled his eyes and shushed him, “Shush! You don’t have to rub it in!”Charlie shrugged indifferently and kept quiet.Meanwhile, as more and more people surrounded them, Aaron spruced himself up proudly and introduced the young man standing next to him. “Guys, I would like all of you to meet my son-in-law, Jake Dunn. He owns a startup company in the internet service industry, and the company will soon be listed on the Growth Enterprise Market.”“Wow!” Eric exclaimed in shock. “How much will the company’s market be worth after listing? I bet it must be hundreds of millions, right?”“Hundreds of millions?” Aaron curled his lips pompously and blurted, “It starts with a billion, to say the least! Think about it, do you know how difficult it is for a company to be listed?! Without a certain foundation and stability, how could a company pass so many rounds of reviews
“High salary?” Aaron curled his lips into a smirk. “How high do you want? Is four to five thousand enough to hire you as a chef?”Jake wanted to please his father-in-law, so he said, “Dad, since he is your old friend’s son-in-law, I must give him some additional benefit. Okay then, I’ll give you ten thousand per month!”Charlie chuckled in amusement and said, “Pardon me, but I don’t want money.”Aaron frowned, confused. “You don’t want money, then what do you want?”“Whoever hires me has to marry his daughter to me. Let’s take my father-in-law as an example. He wanted to hire me to do household chores, so he married his darling daughter to me. So, Aaron, if you want to hire me, you must marry your daughter to me too!”Aaron’s face flushed in fury as he shouted, “You are so ungrateful! I’m being kind enough to offer you a job and this is how you repay me?!”The enraged Jake glared at Charlie and said, “Hey, buddy, my father-in-law has only one daughter, and she is my wife! Be care
In order to turn the tables, Jake recalled a name that Aaron had mocked Jacob with, Matilda. So, he pretended to be curious and asked, “Dad, what’s the issue with this Matilda that you talked about earlier? You guys seem to be very close to her, I’m rather curious…”Aaron threw a sideway glance at Jacob and said with a grin, “Matilda Hall was the most beautiful girl in our batch, and a lot of boys fell in love with her. In fact, if her admirers queued up, it would circle the university twice.”Then, Aaron deliberately raised his voice and laughed, “Eventually, Matilda must have been hypnotized or something, because she chose Jacob! Since he was in love with the most beautiful and popular girl in school, he had to avoid walking into people for fear that he would be ambushed and beaten.”“What happened later?”Again, Aaron looked at Jacob in amusement and giggled. “Then, Matilda dumped him and flew to the United States. She hasn’t come back since.”Then, he turned to Jacob and asked
The crowd gathered to walk into the school together. Someone asked Eric, “Hey, what did you talk about just now? It seemed to be an intense conversation.”Eric laughed and said, “We were talking about Matilda Hall. By the way, will she come today?”Someone laughed. “Jacob didn’t even ask this question, don’t be too nosy.”“Well, I ask on behalf of him! Matilda was his first love, I wonder if he still remembers her after all these years.”Aaron interjected with a sneer, “I bet he can’t forget Matilda for the rest of his life, given his dire and catastrophic life now.”“Huh? What happened?” Someone asked curiously.“I’ll tell you more in detail once we get to our classroom.”Jacob huffed irritably, “Oh, can you just shut up for a second?”Aaron chuckled and said, “But I want to talk about it, can you control my mouth?”As they walked into the classroom, the group of men looked around them, and the nostalgic memories of their good times in university flooded their minds. Some of
Raymond chuckled at the title, humble as ever, "The Duke of Wastage? Now, that's quite the royal title, and I don't think I deserve such an honor…"Trailing off, he then made an especially curious look, "By the way, how'd you know they were calling me that?"Seeing that he was still so ignorant, Jacob scoffed. "You bought a Renaissance-era bronze sculpture earlier, didn't you?"Raymond nodded. "I did. But technically, it's medieval and not Renaissance, along with a Renaissance-era base."Jacob clutched his stomach as he laughed, "Oh, please! Medieval? Hahaha… You're killing me, Mr. Cole!"Raymond kept a serious look on his face. "It's really medieval. Why don't you take a look?""No way," Jacob snorted, pursing his lips. "Anyway, word has already spread that someone was selling a counterfeit bronze sculpture to defraud Antique Street for some serious dough. He went first to Vintage Deluxe, but their manager, Mr. Crane, saw through it and didn't buy it… and then he came to you, an
That was why most of the collectors only knew that such an item existed but they did not know in whose possession it was.After registering a new account and paying the ten thousand registration fee, Raymond got in.It was very safe as it was anonymous, and he posted a photo of the bronze sculpture and an announcement with an asking price of twenty million.In his opinion, it wasn't that expensive—if it was still gilded, it would be worth around a hundred million. Without it, it was plenty reasonable to cut the price down to just thirty million.And Raymond was cutting another ten million off that, so twenty million was plenty reasonable.Moreover, medieval bronze sculptures were exceedingly rare, and less than one specimen showed up annually at times. Collectors who desired it would therefore be willing to break the bank for it, and that was why Raymond was sure that someone would put in an order once he posted it.As he wrote the summary of the item, someone knocked on his door
Jacob frowned in disdain. "Why would I be worried? He's no longer the manager of Vintage Deluxe, and he just lost a shit ton of money for messing up his appraisal. I am also the vice president of the Calligraphy and Painting Association, so why would I be worried about some loser who will soon be kicked out of Antique Street?"Straightening his collar, he snorted coldly, "I am now going to see Raymond Cole and humiliate him face-to-face! He thinks he's impressive, doesn't he? Let's see how he will keep up that facade!"Zachary chuckled, "Yes, exactly! People like him need to be given a slap in the face! As hard as you can! Don't worry—I'll be right behind you. If he gets physical, I'll rush in to help. If he doesn't dare to start a fight, you just insult him as much as possible!""Good plan!" Jacob nodded since he was concerned that Raymond might get physical when pushed too far.And with his body, there was no way he could beat anyone…Spreading his arms, he exclaimed, "Come! I'l
Mick inspected every video to see who was getting the most views, and he then paid out of his own pocket to use paid advertising to get the video viral.It cost five thousand and it hurt, but reaching the trending page was definitely worth it.Mick was quite shrewd too, making sure that the paid advertising was focused locally. After all, he knew all too well that five thousand didn't buy many clicks, and clicks from elsewhere might be too sporadic to gain any worthwhile attention.As he worked in Antique Street, he naturally had to come up with a plan to promote himself in this place, ideally presenting himself as a master appraiser.That way, his fame would slowly extend throughout the province and perhaps Eastern Oskia, and eventually the country.As such, focusing on Aurous Hill was the best idea.Moreover, he also had another idea—if Jasmine Moore happened to see this video, she would see him in a new light.When that happened, he could look forward to getting really rich!
Soon, the video of Mick's staged act was uploaded to the online group, and everyone eagerly watched it as soon as it was done uploading.Mick certainly set a new bar with his acting as none of them could see that it was an act.Moreover, everyone could see that the bronze sculpture looked like the real deal, and they might have been swindled if it were them.As such, they couldn't help being impressed as Mick had easily seen through Billy's con, and he was the definition of a pro in that video.No matter how Billy had packaged it, there was no tricking real experts like Mick Crane. Just a quick glance and he had seen through that it was a postmodern replica, matched with a base from the Renaissance era to misdirect and beguile.With that, many fellow antique dealers changed their opinion of Mick.After all, Vintage Deluxe's business had been declining after Mick took over as manager, and people were presuming that his skills were lacking.But now, they were all shown that he had
"Amazing, Mr. Crane!""It's Mr. Crane who shines through, in the end! His eyes see through everything!""I guess Miss Moore made the right choice firing Raymond and appointing Mr. Crane! Mr. Crane is infinitely better!"Mick was immediately thrilled to see them fawning over him, and he laughed, "You flatter me—I'm merely sharing my personal perspective on this. In this trade, anyone who knows would understand how hard it is to get the good stuff in this age of technology.""There are plenty of people who hold ulterior motives and change their tactics knowing that there are always those scheming to get their hands on vintage treasures, so they just have to make it. That is how they started making counterfeits of everything, from scrolls to sculptures to statues, each of them so real just to trick those fools who think they could get rich overnight!""Exactly!" Someone promptly agreed. "There's never a lack of any such fools, and I just happened to meet one. I had this piece of jade
In groups like these, any gossip would immediately spread like wildfire as people share everything here with their other circles.Within minutes of these people's good work, Antique Street was abuzz even as the skies darkened: one of the antique traders had been swindled for 300 thousand, and it was Raymond Cole—the former manager of the Vintage Deluxe at that!Some of them wondered when Raymond had actually returned while others were laughing.He was supposed to be the former manager of the Vintage Deluxe, but he had messed up as well? You had to be kidding!Many were dumbstruck too—how would Raymond survive in Antique Street after losing so much money? It had been so long since such a major scam had been pulled!As such, all the antique dealers were asking one question: how did Raymond Cole get fooled?Meanwhile, Mick didn't leak the security footage right away, instead sending his people out to spread the news in other channels, claiming that Raymond thought he had won big by
Mick had already clipped the security footage and was waiting for Zachary's word.He had checked the footage repeatedly as well and was only getting more impressed with his masterful acting by the second. He looked just like a maestro, and every detail he mentioned was flawless and showed experience.Zacahry even said that Raymond had truly slipped up with that bronze sculpture, leaving him endlessly thrilled.The proverbial missing piece of the puzzle was here!Hence, calling all the staff he trusted, he told them excitedly, "Spread the word right away—Raymond Cole slipped up, spending 300 thousand on a fake Renaissance-era bronze sculpture!"His staff had no idea of the conspiracy involved, only that Mick had said that someone had tried to sell a counterfeit bronze sculpture but he had seen through it right away and chased him away, only for Raymond to end up buying the fake bronze sculpture soon after.Someone asked, "Mr. Crane, don't you think Raymond Cole bought from the man
Raymond had said everything he should and shouldn't and with complete sincerity exactly because Billy would never believe it.As Billy just wanted to swindle him, it didn't matter how sincere Raymond was—he wanted the 300 thousand whatever it took. The key here was that Billy had refused a better prospect when told it was possible, and there was evidence that would support Raymond if either he or Zachary realized the truth and came to start trouble.That meant Raymond had nothing to worry about—they could take this to the United Nations but he'd still win this case.Having been in the antique trade for so long, he had seen every form of oddity and was always cautious with people, considering every aspect of any issue.Hence, once he downloaded the security footage to his phone, Raymond decided that he needed to sell the bronze sculpture—not because he was in urgent need of money, but because he realized that there were those who wanted him out of Aurous Hill's Antique Street.Afte