However, the officer told her that since she was the prime suspect of a major transnational case, she was not allowed to meet or contact her family, or even hire a lawyer for the time being before the case was tried.The wrath of fury was burning violently inside Elaine, but she couldn’t vent it out.After entering the high wall of the detention center, the officer immediately took Elaine to go through detention formalities.It was quite a complicated and complex procedure. Her pictures had to be taken and her identity verified. Next, she had to take off all her clothes and belongings and hand them to the staff, then put on the prisoner uniform and take the daily necessities provided.After Elaine changed into the prisoner uniform, the officers who brought her here had already left. From then on, everything about her was to be managed by the detention center.A female prison guard brought her into the prison area, and as protocol, she explained while walking, “This is a twenty-per
Elaine was shocked when she heard the voice.She turned around and she saw Lady Wilson sitting cross-legged on the bed as she pointed her finger and cursed at her.Lady Wilson really did not expect to see Elaine at the detention center.Furthermore, Elaine was wearing the same prison uniform as herself in the detention center. It seemed as though she had just been arrested for committing a crime!Elaine was also very flustered after seeing Lady Wilson and Wendy.She really did not expect to be placed into the same cell as the both of them.She had just been wishing that she would not end up in the same cell as the both of them but she never expected herself to be so unfortunate.Therefore, she hurriedly yelled out of the small window on the iron gate while the prison guard was still nearby. “Comrade! Officer! Can you please switch me to another cell instead? I do not want to be in the same cell as these people!”The prison guard simply replied, “Do you really think that this de
When she saw that she had already achieved her purpose, Lady Wilson quickly burst into tears as she hit her own legs and started wailing, “I have been so miserable in this life! My family is really so unfortunate to have this kind of vicious daughter-in-law! I am already about to die, but my daughter-in-law is still yelling at me and reprimanding me!”Jennifer could not tolerate it anymore when she saw the old lady crying.She suddenly recalled the tragic appearance of her mother who had been sent to the hospital after drinking a whole bottle of pesticide. She did not die at that time, but the doctor had told her that her mother could no longer be saved because her lungs had already become irreversibly fibrotic after taking in such a large amount of pesticides.At that time, her mother had also been crying as miserably as this as she lay on the bed. Jennifer could not help but shed some tears as she thought of that heartbreaking scene.Since Elaine had forced and pushed this old la
While Elaine was suffering in the detention center, Charlie received a phone call from Isaac.As soon as the phone call was connected, Isaac said, “Young master, Elaine has already been locked up in the detention center. I have also arranged for her to be placed in the same cell as the old lady of the Wilson family and Wendy as per your wishes.”Charlie asked, “Have you already greeted the prison guard?”Isaac replied, “Yes, I have already asked my subordinates to greet the person-in-charge of the detention center. No one will bother butting in or doing anything even when Elaine is getting tortured in the detention center.”“Okay.” Charlie replied coldly, “I want her to suffer a little more inside!”Isaac hurriedly asked, “Young Master, do you want me to arrange for a few people to go into the detention center to get rid of Elaine directly? This way, she would never be able to provoke you again.”Charlie hesitated for a moment before he said, “Don’t worry. Let me see how things a
The prison guard took a step back before he pulled his leg out of Elaine’s grasp. After that, he simply told the two women who were supposed to collect the food, “Hurry up and come with me.”Both of them hurried forward as they followed closely behind the prison guard.Elaine felt very desperate and helpless.As soon as the prison guard closed the door behind him, Jennifer walked toward Elaine with a dark expression on her face. She ground her teeth as she said angrily, “The one with the last name Parker! You are really very bold! You actually dared to tell on me?”Elaine felt as though she was about to collapse! She quickly pleaded, “Sorry! Sorry! I must have been a little confused. Please let me off and forgive me this time!”“Forgive you?” Jennifer raised her hand and gave Elaine a tight slap across her face. Elaine felt a little dizzy as soon as she was slapped.Lady Wilson walked over to Elaine and gritted her teeth as she stepped directly on Elaine’s fingers and cursed, “Yo
Elaine almost peed her pants upon hearing Jennifer’s words.She did not doubt Jennifer’s words at all because she could tell that Jennifer was a very vicious person. The fact that she had already been beaten up so badly by Jennifer earlier had already cast a psychological shadow on her.Lady Wilson hurriedly relied on Jennifer’s support as she kicked Elaine and cursed, “So, are you going to write the letter or not?”Elaine yelled out in pain before she said, “I will write the letter. I will write the letter for you now, okay?”Jennifer gave her a tight slap across her face before she said, “You are really a miserable wretch! You simply refused to cooperate when people asked you nicely, but you only act accordingly after getting beaten up!”Elaine felt seriously wronged and blurted out, “You are also the same! You did not even bother to talk to me nicely and simply raised your hand to hit me as soon as you came up…”Jennifer ground her teeth in anger before she raised her hand and
After she was done speaking, Lady Wilson raised her hand before she slapped Elaine again. Then, she said coldly, “I have not liked you ever since the day Jacob wanted to marry you! Since you have already disgusted me for so many years, I must hit you until I am finally satisfied!”Elaine broke down completely!She never expected Lady Wilson to be so shameless!She was the one who made her the promise, but she had gone back on her words just like that!However, there was nothing Elaine could do right now!Furthermore, since Jennifer was here, Elaine did not even dare to voice out her dissatisfaction at all!As she thought about this, Elaine was extremely sad. She could only desperately hope that this was just a nightmare and wish that she would be able to wake up sooner!After a short while, the two people who had gone out to collect their dinner finally came back with two large plastic baskets in their hands.There were many different lunch boxes packed in the same tupperware.
Elaine, who had been beaten up severely, was also very hungry at this point.She did not even manage to eat a single bite of the food that Charlie prepared for lunch at noon. After that, she was immediately arrested by the police.After all the commotion in the afternoon, coupled up with all the shock and beating, she could not help but feel extremely hungry after all the physical exertion.Therefore, she cautiously crawled over to the bag of food before she took a lunch box from the plastic basket. She was about to hide in a corner to eat by herself but at this time, Jennifer suddenly shouted, “Elaine, what do you think you are doing?”Elaine hurriedly replied, “Big…big sister, I am going to eat…”“Eat?” Jennifer shouted, “You are a bastard who is not even filial to your own mother-in-law and you still have the audacity to eat?”“I…I…” Elaine suddenly choked up but she did not know how to answer Jennifer’s question.Jennifer was very dissatisfied and she continued reprimanding
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!
Soon, the video of Mick's staged act was uploaded to the online group, and everyone eagerly watched it as soon as it was done uploading.Mick certainly set a new bar with his acting as none of them could see that it was an act.Moreover, everyone could see that the bronze sculpture looked like the real deal, and they might have been swindled if it were them.As such, they couldn't help being impressed as Mick had easily seen through Billy's con, and he was the definition of a pro in that video.No matter how Billy had packaged it, there was no tricking real experts like Mick Crane. Just a quick glance and he had seen through that it was a postmodern replica, matched with a base from the Renaissance era to misdirect and beguile.With that, many fellow antique dealers changed their opinion of Mick.After all, Vintage Deluxe's business had been declining after Mick took over as manager, and people were presuming that his skills were lacking.But now, they were all shown that he had
"Amazing, Mr. Crane!""It's Mr. Crane who shines through, in the end! His eyes see through everything!""I guess Miss Moore made the right choice firing Raymond and appointing Mr. Crane! Mr. Crane is infinitely better!"Mick was immediately thrilled to see them fawning over him, and he laughed, "You flatter me—I'm merely sharing my personal perspective on this. In this trade, anyone who knows would understand how hard it is to get the good stuff in this age of technology.""There are plenty of people who hold ulterior motives and change their tactics knowing that there are always those scheming to get their hands on vintage treasures, so they just have to make it. That is how they started making counterfeits of everything, from scrolls to sculptures to statues, each of them so real just to trick those fools who think they could get rich overnight!""Exactly!" Someone promptly agreed. "There's never a lack of any such fools, and I just happened to meet one. I had this piece of jade