Charlie nodded sternly. Since they wanted to remain so stubborn and audacious, he didn’t have to give in.“Grandma, since you don’t have a place to live, how about I arrange a place for you? It includes food and housing and doesn’t cost a penny.”“Shut up!” Lady Wilson chided disdainfully, “You want me to live in the old apartment where the four of us used to live, don’t you? No freaking way! I don’t want to live in such a shabby place! I will move into this Thompson First villa today!”Charlie said, amused, “Oh no, Grandma, you’re overthinking it. We bought the old apartment and we won’t let you stay in for free, of course.”He immediately took out his phone and texted Isaac.“The Wilson family has come to cause trouble at Thompson First. Call someone and lock these people up in the detention center for 2 weeks.”Isaac quickly replied, “Okay, Mr. Wade, I’ll get on it right now.”Elaine was extremely annoyed by Lady Wilson’s antiques, she tried to push her out the door with grea
Elaine hurriedly intruded, “Officer, don’t listen to her! She kicked my husband out of her family and cut ties with him a long time ago!”The officer looked at Elaine, then at Lady Wilson, and asked skeptically, “Is what she said true?”“Of course not!” Lady Wilson urged, “It’s something I said in the heat of the moment!”“The heat of the moment?!” Jacob was provoked. “Mom, you kicked me out of your house a long time ago, you kicked me and Claire out of Wilson Group, you deducted Elaine and I’s pensions in the company, and cut ties with me! Now that you’re in a downfall, it suddenly becomes something you said in the heat of the moment?!”The officer frowned in confusion. He asked, “Who does this villa belong to?”Charlie said, “It’s mine.”The officer nodded and asked, “What is your relationship with the old lady?”Charlie shrugged indifferently. “We’re not really related. She is my wife’s grandmother.”The officer turned to Lady Wilson, “Ma’am, you’ve come to the wrong place.
With two officers clutching his arms, Harold glared at Charlie in hatred as he was being dragged out of the house and shouted, “Hey, b*stard, is this all your doing?”Charlie grinned. “Take a wild guess.”Christopher yelled from the top of his lungs, “Charlie Wade, you’ll pay for this! I’ll kill you myself!”The leading officer scolded, “Shut up.”Then, the group of police officers escorted all four of them into the police car and drove to the station.As Elaine watched the car drive away, she was so thrilled she jiggled around, dancing and cheering, “Yes! We’ve finally kicked them out of here! The dead old woman is getting a dose of her own medicine!”Jacob sighed in disapproval. “Watch your tongue. It’s fine that you don’t want her to live here, but she’s still my mother and she’ll always be.”Elaine pouted contemptuously. “Huh, you can call that woman your mother all you want as long as she doesn’t live in my house!”Claire, who had been silent the whole time, sighed and sai
Elaine figured that Charlie the loser wouldn’t dare to disobey her if she asked for the money from him directly.As soon as she got the money from him, she could invite her friends for a meal at a luxurious restaurant followed by a spa and facial treatment. This was what they called the upper-class lifestyle.Charlie shook his head at her request. “Mom, I can’t give you the money.”“Why not?” Elaine frowned, perplexed. “Dad is now in charge of the household fund and expenses. If you want to use the money, you’ll have to get Dad’s approval first.”“What do you say?!” Elaine growled hastily, “My words don’t count anymore, do they?”Charlie nodded. “For anything regarding money, you’ll have to go through Dad first.”“Hey, don’t you dare use Jacob to overpower me! I’m your mother-in-law and if I ask you for money, you have to give it to me, no questions asked!”Charlie smiled. “Of course, I can give you the money if Dad says okay, I can even give you all of it!”“You…” Elaine con
Elaine trotted up the stairs to the second floor and tried to open the door to Charlie and Claire’s room. She grinned triumphantly when the doorknob twisted open easily.Once she was inside the room, she began to rummage through their stuff.However, it was their first day moving into the villa. They hadn’t had the time to keep their things in the closets and there was nothing valuable laying around.Elaine searched for a long time but couldn’t find Charlie’s wallet nor bank card. Just when she was in the midst of frustration, her eyes blinked enthusiastically when she saw Charlie’s coat hanging in the closet. She hurried forward and rummaged through the pockets for a while. Finally, she found a black and gold bank card in one of the pockets.The card was filled with words from some foreign language that she couldn’t comprehend except for the fact that the card was from Citibank. She didn’t know what kind of bank card it was even after looking at the cards back and forth carefull
Mrs. Lewis sighed, “It was my job to take you off the street and into the orphanage, but you don’t have the obligation to take care of me and pay for the expensive medical bills. Besides, I know very well how your life in the Wilson family is…”Then, she continued, “Don’t worry, Charlie, I’ll find a way to pay you back.”Charlie was moved. Mrs. Lewis had really treated him as her own son and cared so much about him.He said in a sincere tone, “Mrs. Lewis, you don’t have to worry about the money nor pay me back either.”“No, I can’t do that! It is a lot of money, I have to repay you!”“No, Mrs. Lewis. I’ll always remember your kindness towards me. It’s my duty to spend money on your treatment. If you still insist on paying me back, you’re treating me as a stranger and I might not want to see you again!”Mrs. Lewis smiled warmly at his remark, but she knew that she couldn’t accept his money just like that. She would return the money to him no matter what he said.But, she said on
Elaine immediately entered the wedding anniversary of Charlie and Claire into the ATM.The screen prompted, “Hello, honorable Citibank Supreme VIP member, your password is incorrect, you have one attempt left today.”“D*mn it!” Elaine cursed. “Wrong again? D*mn, I have only one chance left…”She was stomping anxiously, suddenly, a thought struck her mind. Could it be Charlie’s own birthday?She wanted to give it a try eagerly, but she suddenly realized that she didn’t know when his birthday was. She sheepishly took out her phone and called Claire.She hurriedly asked as soon as the call was answered, “Claire, when is Charlie’s birthday?”Claire asked skeptically, “Mom, why do you want to know?”She knew that her mother had always looked down upon Charlie, so she couldn’t comprehend why she wanted to know Charlie’s birthday so abruptly.Elaine said, abashed, “Oh, erm, Charlie got us a villa, didn’t he? He worked hard for that, so I want to reward him with something like celebrat
Elaine stared at the numbers on the ATM, shocked and befuddled!She felt like the world was crumbling all around her.Her heart was still thumping vigorously. She did not understand why Charlie had twenty billion in his account!“No way! How is it possible? Twenty billion! Am I crazy or is Charlie? Where did he get so much money?”Elaine’s hands were shaking violently. Twenty billion! Not two hundred dollars, not two million dollars, but twenty billion!She had never even dreamed of so much money in her life!Where did Charlie get so much money? Did he fool Bill Gates without their knowledge?At that very moment, her first thought was to call Charlie and ask him about the money.But the next second, she shook her head hard. “No! I can’t call him! He will know that I’ve stolen his card!”The thing she should do now was to transfer his money into her account as soon as possible before he found out!She immediately clicked on the transfer option and entered her bank account numb
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!