Elaine completely forgot about her money when she was immersed by the scene of the people wailing and crying.When the thought struck her mind, she turned to Charlie and yelled, “Hurry, ask them to return the money to me! They won more than two million dollars from me!”Charlie asked them to donate their money to Hope Foundation for two reasons, one was to punish them and the other was to teach his mother-in-law a lesson.You were always so greedy and dissatisfied with your current situation, weren’t you?You were addicted to gambling, weren’t you?You thought that you could make a fortune and be rich by playing mahjong, didn’t you?Well, I let you lose all your money so that this experience would stick in your mind!Charlie looked at the women on the floor and asked, already knowing what their answer would be, “Hey, about the money you won from my mother-in-law—quickly discuss how you’re going to repay her!”They exchanged befuddled glances and cried, “We’ve donated all our mo
Elaine was on the verge of collapsing.She couldn’t collect the two million dollars and she broke the five million dollar jade bangle. It was a terrible loss!She turned her glare at Gianna and shouted hysterically, “You! You didn’t donate your money! Give me back my money! Give me all my money back or I’ll kill you! I’ll f*cking kill you!”Gianna knelt on the floor in fright, crying and pleading, “I don’t have any money, I’m very poor. I only have around sixty thousand in my savings account. I’ll transfer it all to you if you want it…”Elaine slapped her furiously and growled, “I don’t believe you! Show me your balance! Hurry!”“I really don’t have any money, I have an income of two thousand something a month. I wouldn’t have joined Linda to con people if I were rich…”Then, she took out her phone, opened the mobile banking app, and showed Elaine her balance. It really only had sixty-three thousand dollars in it.Elaine nearly fainted.What could she do with sixty-three thousa
Charlie shook his head slightly and said, “Forget it, Albert. Sometimes, there are things that you must learn to accept, be it good or bad.”Albert glared at Elaine indignantly while she crouched at the side, trembling in horror.She didn’t dare to mention a word about the money anymore and kept the grief and bitterness in her heart.At this moment, several cars stopped abruptly in the villa’s courtyard. Isaac got out of the car and personally escorted five adults who were tied up into the house.Fear and terror were written all over the five people’s faces. As soon as they saw Linda after entering the door, a young man blurted, “Mom, what’s going on?!”Linda looked at the crowd and wailed in despair when she saw her husband, children, and children-in-law being taken into the house.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault… I’m so sorry for dragging all of you into this…”A man in his fifties hurriedly asked, “Dear, what’s going on?!”Charlie said coldly, “Are you aware that
Blood drained from the woman’s face. She blurted, her voice shaky, “I… I’ve never been involved in the operations, I just do the accounting…”“Accounting?” Charlie said flatly, “That makes you an accomplice too! You’d better go with them to redeem yourself. All of you are really a bunch of scum!”Isaac said, “Master Wade, I know this woman. Her father is Lucas Frank and he runs an underground casino nearby. Do you want me to destroy them?”“Investigate their operations and background and see what they’ve done. If their sins are unforgivable, just kill them.”The woman collapsed on the floor, frightened and befuddled.Soon, three Toyota Coaster mini buses drove into Thompson First and parked in front of the villa. Albert’s men broke Hudson’s leg along with the rest of his gang’s before sending them into the bus.Charlie said to Elaine, “Mom, let’s go.”There was a dash of embarrassment on Elaine’s face. She pulled Charlie aside and whispered, “They filmed me, the shameful kind. Q
Elaine knew that if she was busted, she could be charged for gambling. Worse still, if her husband and daughter knew that she had gambled with such a large amount of money, they would be infuriated.She would be condemned for what she had done.Although the money was gone now, at least she did not end up worse than those people who were sent to the coal mine for the next one to two decades. Yet, she couldn’t help feeling depressed with the money and bangle lost.She could still explain herself about the broken bangle. She had taken the broken pieces with her anyway, she could tell her family that the bangle broke.What explanation should she come up with regarding the money?Jacob did not have his own bank account. All the household money was in her own hands, including the money her husband earned from reselling the antiques.Now, she had lost all the money to gambling. If Jacob were to find out about it, he would be extremely angry at her!Elaine was sighing in depression an
Charlie smiled at him. After finding out that Claire and Elaine were not in the living room, he asked, “Have Claire and Mom returned?”“No and yes,” Jacob gestured indifferently and said, “Your mom went into the room as soon as she came home, saying that she was not feeling well. I wonder what’s wrong with her, she must have lost money playing mahjong and is heartbroken!”Charlie nodded and asked attentively, “Dad, don’t you want to check on her? Just in case?”“Argh, forget it.” Jacob gestured, unconcerned. “She only knows playing mahjong and nothing else, I’m sick of it. Even if she loses, it’s only about several thousand, just leave her be. She’ll know how to slow down after crying for two days!”Charlie tried to stifle his laugh.Several thousand?Dad, you should multiply that by eight thousand!Your wife has lost more than sixty million today!Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t help but sigh at Elaine’s stupidity. She had lost more than sixty million in a mahjong ga
While Christopher indulged in his imagination, thinking about how to make Elaine his long-term cash withdrawal machine, Lady Wilson walked in from the outside with a gloomy expression.Christopher jumped from his seat and greeted, “Mom, you’re home! How’s everything?”Lady Wilson huffed indignantly and said, “The bank will soon start the bankruptcy liquidation process, they said that it will start next Monday. Once the process starts, they will seize this house. Where is the eight million that you promised? Why haven’t you transferred it to me yet?!”Christopher chuckled pretentiously. “Mom, stop rushing me. Didn’t I tell you that the money is stuck in the fixed deposit account? My fund manager is trying to withdraw it as soon as possible. I promised that I’ll give you the money, just be patient.”If possible, he didn’t want to give his mother even a penny. However, something changed his mind.He depended on Lady Wilson to inherit the anonymous assets that Lady Wilson had hidden a
After taking the phone, Lady Wilson tried to dial Hannah’s number, but the same notification came through.She said in confusion, “What’s wrong? Why has she switched off her phone?”“Mom, it’s quite common for the phone to turn off automatically when the battery is dead. Besides, she’s outside and it’s inconvenient for her to charge her phone.”Lady Wilson threw the phone to him and chided angrily, “Then keep calling until the call gets through!”Christopher sighed. He sat on the couch and kept calling and hanging up.It went on for half an hour but he couldn’t get through to her.As Christopher attempted to call her again, he felt that something wasn’t going right as they had planned…Logically speaking, the mahjong scam that Hannah and Linda had planned was not held outdoors but inside a house. Charging a phone should not be a big problem.Moreover, he reminded her again and again to always keep in touch just so he could go and save her if anything happened.Hence, it was im
Trippy rolled his eyes as he texted back: [Hell no. I need to start my business instead of wasting my time. You morons can come get a number yourself if you like. Haha!]Still, Trippy had just sent his text when a trio arrived in a hurry outside Treasure Measure.Seeing that the doors were closed, the leader asked Trippy, "Excuse me, can I ask if this is Treasure Measure? Owned by a man named Mr. Cole?"Trippy was at once surprised. "You mean Raymond Cole?"The leader quickly said, "We don't know his first name, only that his last name is Cole, and his handle name was Treasure Measure's Mr. Cole."Trippy chuckled. "That'd be him. Has to be, since he hand wrote that shop sign."Pausing, he then asked in curiosity, "So, you've come to see him being a sucker?"The leader was naturally curious as to what Trippy was talking about. However, he was also reluctant to reveal why he had come since there was a killer bargain at stake. In fact, every other collector who was coming was k
Raymond also added that the 20 million price tag wouldn't be cut or increased. To put it simply, the bronze sculpture was right there in Aurous Hill and waiting—it was a race.Hence, many reputable collectors contacted expert appraisers throughout the night, some even booking night flights straight to Aurous Hill.The best amongst them was a fanatic collector of bronze items in Eastcliff.Following a brief exchange with Raymond online, he immediately called an expert who was also a close friend. As soon as his call was answered, he asked the other man if he had time to travel to Aurous Hill so that no one else would beat them to it—and they would drive out in the night if at all possible.After all, the earliest flight was at six in the morning, and it'd be eight by the time they made it to Aurous Hill Airport and nine by the time they got to Antique Street in a cab.Therefore, the ideal way to get there was by driving over six hundred miles at top speed, and that meant reaching A
While Jacob was feeling delighted after pulling off his con, Raymond had posted details of the bronze sculpture online.The website he was using was the biggest platform for antique collectors and the antique trade where each user could set a favorite tag in the antique category and era. If a user who preferred canvas art pieces of the Tudor dynasty set that label as their favorite, they would immediately be notified with text or desktop notifications in regards to any item with the same label.As medieval bronze sculptures were rare in the first place, most who were interested had already set that label on their favorites and were immediately notified soon after Raymond posted pictures of the bronze sculpture online.The collectors were naturally eager to check it out as gilded sculptures of the medieval era were really rare, and most collectors would go a lifetime without picking one up for their collection.On top of that, the seller had even listed a major flaw and was only ask
"Nope," Jacob chuckled. "We were both working separately and just happened to get back in at the same time."Then, he immediately became smug and excited, "Guess what, dear? I made 200 thousand out of the deal! In net profits!""For real?!" Elaine gaped. "200 thousand in just one night?! That's amazing! How did you do that?"Claire was surprised to hear that too, and she came over to ask, "What deal was it, Dad?"Jacob grinned, "Oh, it's nothing to brag about. It's just that I managed to pick up a nice antique item thanks to my wisdom and then sold it for 200 thousand."Pausing, he then sighed in dismay, "However, the buyer wasn't too rich—I would have squeezed him for 400 thousand, but he couldn't afford more, so I had to settle for less."Elaine quickly exclaimed, "Shit, we're talking about a loss of 200 thousand! People would work a year and still never earn that much…"She trailed off for a moment before asking, "By the way, dear—are we still flying out first thing tomorrow?
Jacob laughed. "Put that issue behind us? Sure, but we're not becoming friends. Hell, I can't even hold a grudge now that you're shit out of luck."Then, his tone changed sharply and suddenly became icy, "But you see, Aurous Hill is not a place you can stay just because you want to. No… After this, you're not going to be able to make a living in the antique trade.""If I were you, I'd be running a thousand miles away, far away from Aurous Hill where no one would know my face to start over. That way, you just might be able to make a living."Raymond simply kept smiling, "You need not be concerned about how I'm going to survive here, Mr. Wilson. I'd be very grateful if you'd cease any form of harassment once you leave my premises."Jacob pursed his lips, staring at Raymond in disappointment. "I'm plenty magnanimous, so I won't stoop to such pettiness. Just do whatever you like!"Clicking his tongue, he huffed, "Tut, tut… And here I'd thought you're tough, but you're just yet another
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!