Soon, several physicians came over and instantly rushed Harrison, who had suffered a stroke, to the emergency room for immediate treatment. As Harrison was being rushed to the emergency room, Devin quickly synchronized the incident to the immediate family members. At this moment, Julien was staring at his phone in Canada. He had received the news about the Four-Sided Treasure Tower's return to Oskia a few minutes ago, so he kept looking at his phone, waiting for anyone to send news about Harrison's sudden illness. Julien figured that at Harrison's age, the numerous setbacks coupled with the news of the tower returning to Oskia would deal Harrison a huge blow. A serious illness would be the least of it. There was a real chance that he would pass away due to the shock. At this moment, a notification appeared on his phone, which was the Rothschild family's communication software. Overjoyed, Julien quickly clicked on the notification and saw the message from Devin that said. "D
Charlie entered the room, and the minute he saw the wide grin on Julien's face, he knew that something must have happened to Harrison, so he asked, "Oh, why are you so happy? Is it about your dad?" "W-What?" Julien stammered. "D-Do I look happy?" Pointing to his lips while nodding, Charlie teased, "You are literally grinning from ear to ear, and it seems impossible to uncurl it." Julien hastily rubbed the corners of his mouth and mumbled, "I just couldn't help it..." Then, he resisted a smile, feigned a sad grimace, and said, "I received news from the family. M-My father had a stroke." Charlie nodded calmly, feeling no surprise. Harrison was in his eighties, after all. His golden age combined with the devastation of the loss of the Four-Sided Treasure Tower that he treasured so much had definitely taken a huge blow to his body and soul. He should count his blessing that he hadn't died right away. The Rothschild family's medical team must have played an indispensable role be
The current situation was clearly favorable to Julien. No matter how well Harrison recovered after a stroke, there would inevitably be many after-effects, and more importantly, his spirits would likely be greatly affected. All of this would reduce his chances of continuing to lead the family. Julien felt that he effectively held real power as he could directly inherit the family now or in certain contexts, he could manage all family affairs in the capacity of an heir. Therefore, he could not interpret that Charlie was actually warning him. He assumed that Charlie had advised him not to be so happy so that he could control his emotions better after returning to New York. This was the first time he was truly moved by Charlie's actions. He had always been upset with Charlie, whom he reluctantly saw as a partner, but he was now moved by the fact that Charlie cared about him. He muttered under his breath, "He's so nice to me. It would be rather cruel of me to fall out with hi
The only leverage Charlie had to completely control Julien was that Julien had betrayed his family and helped send the Four-Sided Treasure Tower out of New York and back to Oskia. In order to control him using this leverage, Charlie had to make sure that the sly Harrison was in real power. Otherwise, if he informed Harrison of Julien's betrayal after Julien ascended the throne, Harrison would be left with no choice but to swallow his grievances, or Julien would come at him. - Julien met up with Royce, who had come to Canada earlier, and took a helicopter back to New York. While they were cruising mid-air, Harrison, who was lying in his family mansion's emergency room, began to stabilize. Despite the stabilization, his nervous system had been severely affected. The most serious condition was that he had almost no nerve sensation on the right side of his body. In addition to his right hand, right arm, right leg, and right foot, the muscles of his face and tongue on the ri
The doctor's stern advice made Harrison reconsider the matter of the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. It was true that he had invested a whole lot of effort into retrieving the tower, and even his health had been jeopardized. However, if he continued to cling to it, it would only expand his losses, and he would not have a chance to recover those losses. Hence, the most reasonable thing to do now was to halt the mission. He had to admit and accept the fact that all his previous investments had gone down the drain. It would be the best solution in the current situation as long as he could let go of it. After all, as the head of a prominent family and an expert in investment, Harrison realized that the situation was not salvageable, and he immediately solidified his resolve to cut his losses in a timely manner. So, he summoned Devin and said, "Tell all departments to end all blockades in New York, and no one is allowed to mention the matter of the Four-Sided Treasure Tower in the future
Devin had no intention of flattering Julien. He had studied the book "Art of War" some time ago and researched some ancient Oskian documents on power tactics. He was taking this opportunity to flatter Julien, making him feel invincible to consequently force him to make unintentional mistakes. After all, Harrison was still alive and held absolute power in the family. If Julien carelessly made any mistakes, Harrison might be repulsed by his attitude and disqualify him from his position as an heir. On the other hand, Devin had no intention to compete for the position of heir. He merely felt that Harrison's continued reign was the best situation for them, and it was much better than any other sibling succeeding the throne. Julien was over the moon when his brothers came to him with pleading looks and humble statures. They were brothers, and there was no class difference between them. But now, he was finally about to take the decisive step as an heir, which indicated that his brothe
On one hand, these patriarchs wanted to pass on the position of the head of the family to their heirs in the future. Still, on the other hand, they tried to delay the inheritance as long as possible so that the heirs took the position early enough. Moreover, they didn't want their heirs to show any excitement and expectation about inheriting the position, nor did they expect any usurpation before the inheritance. If Julien had shown any sign of passion when his brothers flattered him, albeit a little bit, Harrison would have been furious, filled with anger and resentment toward him. However, Julien's reaction exceeded his expectations, and in his view, it was nothing short of perfect. Thanks to Charlie's advice, Julien composed himself, and the minute he entered the ward and saw Harrison on the bed, he immediately curled his lips down and donned a sad grimace. With teary eyes, he walked quickly to the bed, knelt on one knee, looked at Harrison, and asked in a choking voice,
Julien's heart skipped a beat as he listened to Harrison stammered his words. For the past two days, he had felt uneasy and frustrated toward Charlie as he had been manipulated to betray Harrison and his family. Yet, at this moment, he couldn't help but feel grateful for Charlie. He sighed and thought, 'Wow, Charlie is really something. Everything has unfolded according to his plan!' "As soon as the news of the tower's return to Oskia came out, Dad really fell ill and lost the will to continue running the family. My brothers and their kids also lost the chance to achieve anything in this matter. As Dad's eldest son and the original heir, I have naturally taken over his position!" "Perfect? Well, this is damn perfect! How wonderful would it be if Royce were half as good as Charlie?" Despite his excitement, Julien maintained his respectful posture and said to Harrison, "Dad, rest well now. I'll talk to the doctors and discuss the best treatment so that you can start rehabilitat
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