Julien hastily replied, "The Four-Sided Treasure Tower originally belonged to Oskia. It would be best if it could return to Oskia..." "But your father dreams of getting it back." Charlie asked, "Why don't you share the same thought?" Julien assumed Charlie was testing him, trying to see where he stood, so he immediately responded with an air of righteous indignation, "To be honest with you, my father is still full of imperialist thinking. He believes that anything he seizes is his, but it doesn't work that way now. We're living in a civilized society! The treasure tower was obtained dishonestly back then, so it's only right to return it to its rightful owner. I've been educated with modern legal principles, so I do have a sense of justice!" With a satisfactory nod, Charlie asked, "So, even though you are the first heir of the family and even though your father, the patriarch of the family, desperately hopes that the treasure tower can return to your family, you are still willing
A roar of the helicopter came from far away. Charlie's eyes lit up as he said, "Your son is back." Julien involuntarily muttered, "I hope they're not in trouble." A few minutes later, Hank and Royce walked into Charlie's room. As soon as they entered the room, Julien asked anxiously, "How was it? Did anyone stop you?" "Yes!" Royce blurted angrily. "The National Security Agency's radar blocked the airspace in the blockade area. As soon as our helicopter arrived near the edge of the blockade area, they radioed to warn us that all non-government helicopters were currently banned from taking off in the airspace for national security reasons. They also asked us to land in the designated area for inspection. I told them my identity, and after they verified it, they did not force us to land for inspection, but told us to stay away from the boundary of the blockade area." Hank, standing nearby, added, "This level of strict control hasn't been seen since 9/11." Hearing this, Charlie
Moreover, simply leaving the blockade zone wouldn't be enough. It was possible that the Rothschild family had secretly instructed these agencies to expand the blockade. The best course of action would be to find an opportunity to leave the United States altogether. Thinking of this, Charlie asked Julien, "Your family should have many assets and businesses around the world. It should be common and usual for you guys to go abroad. If you or any family member wants to go abroad at this moment, can you avoid inspection?" "Well—" Julien muttered, "My father intends to mobilize the entire family's resources and go all out to search the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. Everything else can be put on hold for now. Given this situation, he probably won't let us leave the country. Not only that, but many key family members overseas have also started returning to the U.S. After all, the matter of the family head's successor is at stake, and no one wants to leave at a time like this." Charlie smack
Julien was a little confused by Charlie's remarks. He took a deep breath and began in a solemn tone, "Helena is the Nordic Queen. Her visit to Canada is a relatively serious political event, and such matters are usually planned well in advance. Her scheduled visit to Canada is set for next Friday, which is nine days from now. How could it be moved forward just like that?" "Don't worry about it," Charlie reassured. "Just answer my question." Julien thought for a while and began, "My father is hoping that Royce will keep in touch with Helena. It was an idea some time ago. A few days ago, he expressed his wish that Royce could represent our family to meet Helena in Canada. They can get to know each other first and then see if there is a chance of marriage. If Helena visits Canada according to the plan, he should send Royce over, but because of the special situation, I'm not sure if he will change his mind." "I don't think he will change his mind," Charlie replied. "For one, Helena
"C-Curtis?" Julien exclaimed. "Do you mean the Curtis Wade who turned my family upside down 20 years ago?! So... You're Ashley's son?!" "Yes." Charlie nodded. "That's right." Julien took a deep breath to compose himself and sighed. "No wonder! No wonder the short video platform that your family owned refused to remove and ban the freaking videos. So, you’re Curtis's son..." After that, he muttered, "You are Curtis's son, and you're here for the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, so... Bruce's exposure of Brooklyn Prison and Biden as well as the video of Malcolm's affair with Bruce's wife... Those were all your doings?" "Yes." Charlie admitted frankly, "They were all my ideas." "Tsk..." Julien inhaled fearfully. "You're incredible. Just a few smart moves have left us in disarray. You truly carry the same demeanor as your father back in the day." Charlie responded in a monotonous tone, "You can stop your flattery now." As he said this, he took out his phone from his pocket, casuall
It seemed inevitable. Still, Julien was no fool. He quickly figured out the interests involved. If he didn't work with Charlie, Charlie might order Hank to kill him and Royce now. Hank had unbelievably become Charlie's subordinate. Charlie would not bear any responsibility for Hank killing them, and no one might even know about it. On the other hand, he would be in a safer place if he decided to work with Charlie. At the very least, he would still be alive, right? In addition, if he could help Charlie bring the Four-Sided Treasure Tower out of the United States, he could retain his position as heir. If he could keep his position as heir and outlive Harrison, he would be the patriarch of the Rothschild family. With so many advantages, Charlie's leverage over him would not be such a big deal. Moreover, the leverage wasn't always useful. The best time to use the leverage against Julien was when Harrison was still alive. As the first heir, Julien had to walk on thin
Julien had his own plans. For him, the Wade family was nothing but one of the inferior families that tried to act tough. If he could smoothly transition to the position of the head of the family, he would never take them seriously. Although he was now in Charlie's hands, once he got through the ordeal and became the head of the family, he would be someone so prominent that Charlie couldn't possibly reach. The Wade family would certainly not be a threat to him. Of course, at this moment, he only dared to keep this thought to himself. On the surface, he feigned a polite smile and promised, "Of course! We will become each other's most important partners in the future!" Charlie knew that Julien was acting. He was likewise acting too. His phone was still recording their conversation. The more pious Julien was, the greater the deterrent power of this video would be for him in the future. Charlie sighed and asked, "I heard that your father is over 80 this year, am I right?" "Y
Charlie then ended the video recording and called Helena. There was a time difference of six hours between Northern Europe and New York. Northern Europe, which was further east, was six hours ahead of New York. It was dark in New York, but it was already morning in Northern Europe. At this moment, Helena was discussing her schedule for the next few days with the royal housekeeper. The sudden call from Charlie delighted her. She swiftly sent the housekeeper away and answered Charlie's call, her voice full of youthful excitement, "Hello, Mr. Wade!" Charlie felt a ripple in his heart when Helena's cheerful voice echoed from the other end of the line. He asked with a smile, "Helena, how are you?" "Pretty good," Helena answered. "Everything is fine, except for the family's never-ending nagging, but these are all small things." Charlie asked curiously, "You're the queen. Who would dare to nag you?" "Oh, you have no idea." Helena sighed and murmured dejectedly, "Yes, I'm the q
Unable to nitpick on the air stewardess' response, Elaine pouted, "Well, try to ask management to improve on your first-class cabins anyway. Maybe even make a premium-class or something since it's not like we can't afford it."The air stewardess quickly said, "We will definitely relay your message to the management."Nodding in satisfaction, Elaine waved her off. "Alright. You can go back to work now."Clearly relieved, the air stewardess bowed her head respectfully. "Always happy to be of service."After the air stewardess left, Jacob asked Elaine in curiosity, "Was the private jet that good?"Elaine rolled her eyes. "Didn't you see the stuff I posted in the chat group?""Not really," Jacob blurted. Elaine was ready to snap at him for not caring, but considering that they had made up now and she shouldn't fuss too much over the little things, she snorted, "Just remember to like and comment on all my posts in the chat group, otherwise, I will make you regret it!""No problem!"
While the ten collectors were taking turns studying the bronze sculpture, Jacob and Elaine were boarding their flight.As they were flying first-class, they had priority over the other passengers and boarded from the separate plug door at the first-class section.The capacity of the Boeing 777 was huge, and the wide-body aircraft could be connected to a special double corridor bridge where first class and business class passengers boarded separately from the economy class passengers.As the terminals to economy class and business class were connected, Elaine and Jacob were able to get through the first-class terminal unimpeded, but the passengers in economy class had a queue of over two hundred passengers. Even as she walked, Elaine was looking over her shoulder and exclaiming at Jacob, "Must be nice being rich! We used to have to queue like the rest of them, waiting for over thirty minutes just to board our flight." "In first class, we may be in the same plane, but we don't hav
Meanwhile, once Raymond had briefed everyone about the rules, he opened the door and invited everyone into Treasure Measure.It was not that wide but appeared spacious since the interior was mostly empty—it was not really crowded even with thirty-ish people.Then, locking the door from the inside, Raymond told them, "I can tell from everyone's faces that we are all veterans here, so I'm sure you understand the rules while appraising: no photos or videos, thank you very much."Indeed, there were many rules that governed the hobby, the most important being respecting the seller's requests and privacy.As the collectors listened, they knew that Raymond was selling but did not want the public to know too much about him.They all nodded, and those who had their phones out slid them back into their pockets.With that, Raymond took out the bronze sculpture that he had brought, leaving Trippy a little surprised.He had never seen the bronze sculpture with his own eyes before, only from
"Alright!" Trippy was at once fawning, tagging along behind Raymond like a little child.Around thirty people were waiting in front of Treasure Measure by now. The collectors came in twos or threes, and all ten numbers had since been taken.Before Raymond arrived, he had a brief look at the collectors' faces through the security cameras before walking over, and he was really relieved to see no familiar faces.Having traded Oskian antiques for years abroad, it was only natural that he was acquainted with some of the elite collectors in the country.He also knew that they were especially demanding with the quality of their collection and wanted almost flawless items. As such, the bronze sculpture which had been completely lost wouldn't interest them.Still, he was also a little concerned that amongst the elite collectors he knew, there might be some who were losing money and losing purchasing power in turn. If they happened to take an interest in the bronze sculpture on top of that,
Trippy grinned. "I mean, just look at my stall—ain't no way I'm getting any business here. Why not let me check out this item of yours? And see how interested they are? I'm really interested in learning and upping my game."Then, as if worried that Raymond would refuse, he quickly added, "Don't worry—I promise to stay in a corner and just watch."Still, Raymond could guess right then that someone must have sent Trippy to spy on him.It didn't matter whether it was Mick, Jacob, or Zachary either—they were all in this plot together, and one knowing meant all three knowing.Trippy was a gossiper in nature. If he was allowed to witness the whole process, everyone down Antique Street would definitely know before long.In fact, he could use someone like that right now, and Trippy had come straight to his doorstep.With that in mind, Raymond smiled, "Come join me if you're interested. It's not like there's anything to hide…"Pausing, he then warned Trippy, "But since you're going in my
After watching Mick's video, Jasmine's opinion of the man improved considerably.She was actually well aware that the decline of Vintage Deluxe was mostly due to Mick's incompetence.However, as Jasmine was now managing a billion-dollar company, she couldn't spare any time to ask many questions about Vintage Deluxe's performance. In her opinion, as long as Vintage Deluxe didn't lose too much money or ruin the reputation they had worked so hard to build, she wasn't interested in a regime change.It was the same mindset as Marianne Long, who begged her father to keep that lane full of food stalls in Hong Kong over sentiment.As such, seeing that Mick actually had some skill pleased her considerably.She couldn't resist checking out the comments of the video too.She saw that many were praising the manager of Vintage Deluxe for taking a tough stand against the scammer as well as how Vintage Deluxe's reputation was long-standing and without comparison.She soon noticed Jacob's comme
Soon, more collectors had gathered outside Treasure Measure even before Raymond showed up at Antique Street, with over ten of them gathered outside in no time at all.Since Raymond had only prepared ten slips, the rest left in disappointment seeing that they had no chance.Even so, the ten collectors who had gotten a number were nervous—save for the first man who had arrived.The details on the online sales post insisted that the price was fixed, and that first-come first-serve applies.If he bought the bronze sculpture, the other nine would have come all this way for nothing.However, if the seller decided to make it an auction, they would have a chance too, although their net profit would thin in turn. After all, they could have acquired the bronze sculpture for just 20 million, and that meant a solid 8 million in profit.An auction would at least raise the price to 27 million, and more would make it chicken feed.If they gave up at that point, it was a waste of a trip.If
Trippy naturally wasn't going to tell Mick everything word-for-word, so he said vaguely, "Uh, they were just being stubborn and refused to listen to anything I said. They kept saying that they wouldn't know until they saw the actual item."Mick got out of bed, staring at his phone as he mused to himself.This was getting a little ridiculous, was it not? A fool who was scammed, actually able to scam someone else? But if he really could sell it, wouldn't all their work be for nothing?With that in mind, he promptly called Zachary, who wasn't even up yet.Ever since he had started working for Don Albert, his daily routine was no longer the same as the days when he was a humble stall owner working on Antique Street, but a man of importance who slept late and woke up late.In the evening, he would be spending his time patrolling Don Albert's night entertainment properties as well as holding meetings with subordinates to decide on management policies and the like. That was why he wo
Seeing that Mick had a favor to ask, Trippy was naturally eager to seize the opportunity to get in his good graces."Don't worry, Mr. Crane!" He promptly replied. "Just leave it to me!"Returning to Treasure Measure, he went up to the first man who had come and said, "Hey, brother… Did you come to buy the bronze sculpture from Mr. Cole?"The man asked warily, "You know about the bronze sculpture?""Of course!" Trippy grinned. "I know all too well—it's actually famous here in Aurous Hill."Whipping out his phone, he played the short video that Mick had spent five grand promoting, saying, "Here—check this out!"Curious, the man took the phone and watched the video solemnly.The other latecomer soon hurried over as well and stared fixedly at the screen too.They watched as Bill entered a room with the bronze sculpture with Mick, the latter who checked it out and started commenting on it.The first man exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, it really is that bronze sculpture."The second ma