As she spoke, her expression gradually became serious. She said, “Leni, let's make a promise. Let's try to live through this year first. If by next year, a miracle happens and neither of us has died, you can come to Oskia and meet my parents to get their consent. After that, I will go to the United States with you.”Leni, who had been cheerful all along, suddenly looked weary. He whispered, “There are still four months left until next year. I'm afraid that even if I don't die by then, I won't be able to come to Oskia to see you.”Shermaine's eyes reddened, but she smiled and said, “It's okay. We'll just video call each other every day. Everything has moved online now, anyway. Even courts often hold hearings online. If necessary, we can just hire a priest, and I'll marry you online.”Leni suppressed his tears, nodded gently, and smiled as he said, “Okay, it’s a deal. When I go back to the United States this time, I'll look for a priest to organize an online wedding ceremony for us on
Soon, the moment the sun set completely, everyone lit a bonfire and the barbecue pit. Since everyone had prepared ingredients and Charlie had specially bought more, this dinner was particularly sumptuous. Besides, Charlie also bought plenty of good wine, which further enhanced the mood and atmosphere. Basically, everyone decided to indulge in drinking that night.Therefore, Charlie specially infused some Reiki into the wine. This Reiki couldn't strengthen their bodies or treat illnesses, but it ensured that no matter how much they drank that night, they wouldn't even yawn at all. Moreover, once this faint Reiki was absorbed by their bodies, it wouldn't leave any traces behind. Even if Fleur came, she wouldn't notice anything.Yorkshire Hill was located on a plateau, and the temperature difference between day and night was relatively large. Combined with the altitude of Mount Turtle Back, the temperature dropped considerably after nightfall. So, everyone sat around the bonfire, wa
At this moment, with less than twenty minutes until sunrise, everyone added some branches to the bonfire and started waiting for the moment when the sun would rise from behind the mountain.After about ten minutes, the previously pale horizon began to glow with golden hues. This was the sign that the sun was about to rise over the horizon.Just as everyone was eagerly looking forward to it, Charlie suddenly sensed that someone far away was quickly approaching their location. Since he was worried about being discovered by Fleur, Charlie had been practicing the mental cultivation method taught to him by Ruby since last night, tightly sealing his own Reiki within his body.For cultivators, each person was like a submarine navigating in the deep sea, relying on sonar detection to find each other. Using this analogy, a person with higher cultivation was like a more advanced submarine with stronger firepower, better propulsion, and more advanced methods of detecting other submarines from
As she hiked up Mount Turtle Back and saw the several tents and a dozen young people not far away, she subconsciously furrowed her brows slightly.These people were all looking in the direction of the sunrise, clearly waiting to admire it. Fleur didn't suspect them, but she felt a bit annoyed and disappointed because these people were too close to the tomb of her senior, Elijah.The purpose of her visit to this place this time was to reminisce about the past at Elijah's grave and speak a few words from her heart to her senior.However, the position of these people was only two to three hundred meters from Elijah's tomb, and she would definitely attract their attention if she went there directly. That would make it inconvenient for her to talk to her senior.At this moment, Charlie caught a glimpse of the young and mature woman who had just appeared in the distance. Charlie could make out her appearance with his extraordinary vision.It had to be said that although Fleur had lived
Charlie's release of Marcius’ portrait in Aurous Hill had really shocked Fleur greatly, so much so that her biggest concern in coming to Oskia this time was exposing her identity.In her opinion, the young campers nearby were probably just students who were still in school. She didn't worry at all that any of these people could threaten her safety. However, she had just heard Charlie and Vera's conversation and knew that her behavior might seem suspicious to others. In this situation, she really felt a little hesitant.Her attention had also been inadvertently diverted by Charlie to another direction. Now, she was only worried about being suspected by others and hadn't suspected the identities of these young people.Just as Fleur was hesitating, a golden light spread out, and the rising sun had already risen from the east. The young people who had stayed up all night with Charlie were immediately excited when they saw this golden light. They cheered loudly as they saw the sun rise a
After turning on the camera, the two of them instinctively turned around, facing away from the rising sun and away from Fleur before they took a picture together. After taking the photo, Charlie quickly enlarged it. Thanks to the high-pixel front camera, Fleur's face was quite clear in the photo.After adjusting their poses, Charlie and Vera took more photos together, constantly taking snapshots with Fleur in the background using the front camera.Unfortunately, Fleur soon disappeared into the woods, and the front camera didn't have a zoom function. Trying to capture her in this situation was wishful thinking.So, Charlie kept his cell phone away and continued pretending to admire the sunrise with Vera.However, he was still carefully watching Fleur from his peripheral vision. After searching for a moment in the woods, Fleur chose a relatively open area, then took out a hammer and a cylindrical object made of wood from her bag.Fleur then spread out the yellow paper on the gr
Fleur hadn't visited Elijah's grave to pay her respect to him for many years. Even though it'd been centuries since she last came, she could still pinpoint where Elijah's grave was.Despite destroying the tombstone herself and the graves disappearing over time, she could still find the location of Elijah's grave. Although she knew that Elijah's body was not buried here, Fleur still regarded this place as the closest place associated with Elijah. Her current feelings were a mix of sadness, regret, and even a bit of resentment.As emotions overwhelmed her, past memories flooded her mind like a tide.Back then, Fleur had attacked Elijah impulsively out of love and hatred. After Elijah disappeared in front of her eyes in an instant, she guessed that the ring that their master gave to Elijah must have sent him to Vera. Therefore, she hurried out of the mountain and headed to Yorkshire Hill to search for him. However, the journey from Mount Tason to Yorkshire Hill was difficult and fa
“Therefore, even if it meant that I had to draw a sword and fight the Qing army face to face, I would do it without hesitation. This was what I thought, and it was what I did in the end.”“I became the third member of the Qing Eliminating Society from the day when you and my elder brother established the Qing Eliminating Society. At that time, both you and my elder brother strongly opposed my involvement, but I was determined and insisted on fighting side by side with the two of you no matter what it was.”“Back then, I said that it was for the sake of national justice, but in reality, I am just an ordinary woman who didn't care about the country's fate or its rulers. I only wanted to be by your side so I could be with the man I love.”“If you said that this is our country and we should defend our country and king, I would draw my sword and stay by your side to fight the Qing army to the end. If you said that you only wanted to live peacefully regardless of who ruled the country, I
Pausing, Charlie then said, "I'll call Steve to drop by later too. I'm sure folks in Aurous Hill won't know him, but your potential troublemaker might.""I-Is that really fine?" Yolden blurted."What's not fine about it?" Charlie chuckled. "He has been treated like a tool ever since he came to Aurous Hill, and now that he has a chance to strut about, he wouldn't ask for more."Yolden appeared slightly relieved at that, and Charlie asked, "By the way, where's Paul, Matilda, and Autumn?""Getting their makeup done," Yolden replied. "Paul's my best man while Autumn's the maid of honor.""Good," Charlie nodded with a grin. "Don't worry—the wedding's going to be a success."As they spoke, Matilda stepped out of the dressing room in a stark-white wedding dress, flanked by Autumn and Paul.Seeing Charlie, Autumn nodded politely, "Good morning, Mr. Wade."As Charlie nodded in turn, Paul started, "G-Good morning… Mr. Wade…"Seeing that he was nervous and tentative, Charlie knew that he
As Yolden and Matilda were remarrying after living abroad for years, the wedding ceremony was much simpler, skipping Oskian customs and having a simple wedding reception for their guests at the hotel hall.There weren't that many guests either—aside from their children and close friends, only a handful of Yolden's colleagues at Aurous Hill University were invited.As the celebrant, Charlie didn't have much to do and was mainly the emcee.He brought along his jacket as he headed out to Shangri-La, not wearing it immediately so that Claire wouldn't guess that he was attending Matilda's wedding.Arriving at the Hanging Gardens before the guests were supposed to arrive, he found Yolden working with the staff to finalize the preparations.Seeing Charlie, Yolden approached him and said, "Thanks for coming this early, Charlie."Noticing that he was a little tired, Charlie asked in concern, "Had a bad night?"Yolden nodded, sighing, "Paul's uncle caused a huge mess. Both Matilda and I a
Tarlon nodded. "How do you suggest we find them?"Fleur scowled. "There's no rush. There are things which I'm still confused about, so just keep a close eye on the Ackers and the Wades for the time being. Report to me right away if anything important comes up—don't afford our enemies any opportunities to exploit.""Yes, milady!" -The next day, more news outlets were covering the joint project between the Ackers and the Wades as word continued to spread.However, neither family revealed too many details, be it the name of the company, who was the CEO, or the scale of their business.While the public was dying with curiosity, nothing else was known.Still, Aurous Hill's officials were especially interested, with the town hall visiting the Ackers the next day and showing utmost sincerity by leasing a whopping 2-million-square-meter land along the southern highway. Still, the condition was for the Ackers to come true on their promise to propel the city's economy to 15 billion US d
Fleur had repeatedly mentioned the conspiracy theory of Ashley using a body double over the last twenty years.Tarlon had investigated from many different angles, but everything from the gender, age, dental records, to body figure pointed to the fact that the deceased was Ashley Acker.And yet, Fleur had never bought it, insisting that Curtis was prepared for them just because Curtis' son had gone missing soon after.There was no way Curtis would save his son but not his wife, and the disfigured corpse only added fuel to Fleur's suspicion.Thus, over the last twenty years, Fleur had kept a close eye on the Ackers, arranging for two 'scholars' to be embedded amongst their ranks as sleeper agents. She went that far all to determine if Ashley was dead or had faked her death.However, the scholars had since been killed in action, and they had no spies within the Ackers left.As for Tarlon, he still doubted Fleur's theory even now, but he remained respectful as he spoke, "Milady, I mu
Meanwhile, on the edge of the South Pole, Tarlon Griffin rushed outside of Fleur Griffin's room, knocking the door gingerly as he announced, "I have news, my lady!"Fleur didn't respond, but the thick wooden door between them slowly opened as if pushed by an invisible force.Tarlon entered to find Fleur seated on the floor with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her eyes remained closed as she molded her Reiki, asking, "What is it?"Tarlon quickly answered, "News from Oskia. The Ackers are partnering with the Wades on a joint venture into electric-powered vehicles."Fleur slowly opened her eyes, asking quietly, "And you're telling me because?"Tarlon quickly explained, "It just came out of the blue, so I thought I should report it to you right away."Fleur sighed. "After I tried and failed to wipe out the Ackers so many times, they wouldn't dare set foot stateside. If anything, they must have decided to seek asylum in Oskia by offering a substantial investment, and it's a base whe
Silent for a while, Matilda then asked Yolden, "Do you think I can do it?""Yes!" Yolden nodded without hesitation. "You definitely won't have any problems!"Matilda sighed, shaking her head. "We traveled far abroad to study while we were young, but we didn't return to Oskia to help the country's development. It's been thirty years since, and now that we have returned to the country at the same time, I definitely wouldn't turn down such an opportunity to help."Pausing, she then said, "That said, major corporations make it a point to not hire family members. Forget spouses—employees aren't allowed to date, and one of the two will be asked to resign if necessary."Don't you think it's inappropriate since we are legally married, having gotten our certificate and all? And if we set these precedents, we would have trouble asking other employees to follow that policy. You are going to be a CEO, so you need a very clear answer on this issue."Yolden shrugged. "In the first place, that p
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