As Charlie was considering the issue, Claire asked impatiently, “What about you and dad? Have you found any clues on mom?”“Um…” Charlie looked at the pile of skewers and beer in front of him before he said, “We are still looking at many different mahjong halls to look for mom. There are no clues on her whereabouts for the time being.”Claire sighed before she said, “Then you can continue looking for her. Loreen and I will also continue looking for mom now.”“Okay.” Charlie hurriedly replied, “Don’t worry, dad and I will definitely work hard to find mom!”“Okay.” Claire replied, “Then let’s hang up first. Give me a call to let me know if you have any clues at all.”“No problem!”When Charlie hung up the phone, Jacob was already enjoying his meat with a good appetite.Jacob drank a glass of beer before he poured out a glass of beer for Charlie. As he enjoyed the barbequed meat, Jacob said, “My good son-in-law, no one will be bothering us today. Let’s enjoy a good drink together.
”How could I explain myself?” Jacob replied, “No matter how much I tried to explain the situation, it was a fact that something had happened between Elaine and myself. Matilda is obsessed with cleanliness. She wanted her life to be clean, and she also wanted her relationship to be clean and pure. She knew that Elaine was the one who got me drunk and planned for everything to turn out like this. However, Matilda felt as though she could no longer accept someone like me. Therefore, she broke up with me without any hesitation at all and she went to the United States.”Charlie deliberately asked, “Then, do you still have thoughts of her?”Jacob opened up his heart as he replied, “How could I possibly not think of her? She was the first woman that I ever had in my life, and she was the only woman that I have ever loved. Otherwise, I would not have changed the password to unlock my cell phone to her birth date…”Charlie nodded slightly before he asked, “Then, have you inquired about her c
Jacob would never have dreamt that he would receive another phone call from Matilda in this lifetime.What was more unexpected was the fact that Matilda was going to return to Oskia!Matilda went to the United States immediately after they graduated from college. After that, she continued living in the United States after she was done with her studies. None of their old classmates had seen her again ever since that day. It has already been more than twenty years since then.However, although he had not seen each other for more than twenty years, Jacob could not help but feel his heart getting stirred up as soon as he heard her voice.Therefore, he hurriedly asked, “Matilda, you…are you really coming back to Aurous Hill? When will you be coming back?”Matilda smiled before she said, “I will be getting on the plane soon. If everything goes smoothly, I will arrive at Aurous Hill by eleven o’clock in the morning. We should be able to have dinner together with all of our old classmates
”Yes!” Jacob replied excitedly, “The main point is that her husband is already dead! Hahaha! Don’t you think that god is helping me too?”Charlie nodded slightly before he said, “But dad, mom is not dead…”The expression on Jacob’s face changed before he said embarrassingly, “Don’t get me wrong. I am not cursing or hoping for her to be dead!”As he spoke, Jacob sighed before he said, “Don’t you think that it would be great if Elaine really eloped with another man, just like Hannah did?”Charlie shook his head helplessly. He was afraid that Jacob’s heart had already been fully occupied by Matilda who was about to return to Oskia soon. All the feelings that Jacob had left for Elaine had already completely disappeared.Charlie could only sigh as he said. “If Claire can accept mom’s disappearance as an elopement with someone else, then that would be perfect.”If Claire had the same attitude as Jacob did, then Charlie would just let Elaine disappear from the face of this world.For s
Elaine felt seriously wronged as she laid on bed.She had not eaten anything for more than twelve hours now and she had endured a severe and violent beating. She was already starving at this point. Even if she could live without eating or drinking anything, she could not stop her stomach from growling or making any noise!However, Elaine did not dare to offend Jennifer.After all, this stinky woman would hit and beat her really hard.Elaine thought that everything would be okay if she simply covered her head with her blanket and tried to fall asleep instead. Who would have expected her unsatisfied belly to grumble at a moment like this?Jennifer stood up immediately before she stomped toward Elaine and greeted her with a tight slap across her face. Elaine felt that her extremely swollen cheeks were already exploding in pain after this slap from Jennifer.Elaine could only plead desperately, “I am sorry. I am sorry. I didn't mean to do it…”Since she had already lost her two fron
After all, wouldn’t she have done the same if she was in the same situation as Elaine?Therefore, Lady Wilson did not intend to be kind or gracious toward Elaine at all.Moreover, Lady Wilson could not help but remember the humiliation that she had suffered at the villa at Thompson First today. At this time, she said coldly, “This is the result and price that you are paying for your own actions! You should just enjoy the consequences of your actions! This is just the first day. We are going to spend another fourteen days together!”After she was done speaking, Lady Wilson snorted coldly before she turned around and walked out of the toilet.Elaine was sitting on the toilet floor and she felt very hungry and cold. She really felt like crying because she was so helpless and desperate at this point. However, she immediately covered her mouth when she thought of the fierce and vicious Jennifer.However, she could not help it in the end and she simply hugged her legs tightly as she bur
Claire originally did not know that Jacob had been drinking.However, after approaching Jacob, she could smell the strong scent of alcohol from his body. She could not help but feel very angry at her father at this time!She knew that her father normally enjoyed drinking. She has absolutely no opinion on his actions at all. However, the point was that her father told her that he would be going to several mahjong halls to look for her mother. Why did he come back drunk then?This…this simply proved that he did not go to look for her mother at all! He simply went out to…drink!When Jacob heard Claire asking if he had been drinking, Jacob hurriedly covered his mouth and took a few steps back as he was in a state of panic. After that, he hurriedly said, “Don’t talk nonsense! I was not drinking!”“You are the one who is talking nonsense right now!” Claire stomped her feet angrily, “I can smell the scent of alcohol on your body! You did not have the scent of alcohol on your body when yo
Claire could not calm down at all and she waved her hand before she said, “Forget it. I do not want to talk about this problem anymore. I am going back to my bedroom to calm myself down.”After she was done speaking, Claire turned around and walked up the stairs.Charlie could not help but sighed when he saw her walking up the stairs and disappearing at the top of the stairs.It seemed as though it would really be difficult to deal with Elaine.He could not kill her and he could not make her disappear or evaporate from this world without a trace at all. When she has already suffered enough, he would still have to bring her back home.However, it would also be very troublesome to bring her back. How could he possibly make her shut up without talking any nonsense at all?Through hypnosis?That would not be reliable at all!After all, the side effect of hypnosis was that once the person started to follow his psychological cues, that person would lose their own consciousness moment
Charlie chuckled. "Don't sell yourself short, Mr. Hart. There are plenty of business folk who got so used to their comfort zone that they became caught in the illusion that they can be successful in anything they do. It's a mindset that leads to them blindly developing new projects and new competition, and then they end up losing big."If memory serves, there have been real estate businesses that started mineral water brands, search engines that tried the car industry, e-commerce sites attempting social media, and vice-versa. All of them are multi-billion-dollar companies venturing into new frontiers, but all to unimpressive outcomes."Pausing, Charlie then continued, "You've mentioned rising above the competition amidst the development of the new energy industry. That would get anyone's attention, and it is why I believe that you definitely will make a strong impression with your strategizing and knowledge of the basic principles."Yolden found it hard to refuse, seeing that Charli
Having lost it all, Jacob really looked like he wouldn't be getting back up.But fortunately, he had a pillar in the form of Elaine.In fact, Elaine would serve to be a container, whipping Jacob into shape if he got too full of himself.But on the other hand, now that Jacob was utterly despondent, she would be forcing him to smile and function in general.Elaine's attitude to the entire issue was clear as well. Even though Jacob had just lost his job, she would make him go shopping with her in Dubai even if he fell into a coma. Even if he was dead, she'd just cremate him and bring his ashes along.Hence, with Elaine's firm grip around Jacob's leash, he went on strolls, going shopping and taking selfies with Elaine everyday, eventually easing the toll on his mood and spirit.-Back at Aurous Hill, Charlie was preparing for Yolden Hart and Matilda Hall's wedding as it approached.Yolden was a schoolmate of his mother, Ashley Layna Acker, as well as Charlie's elder.And while Cha
"See you." As soon as Charlie hung up on Matilda, Don Albert's call came right after.He sounded nervous as Charlie answered the phone, saying, "Master Wade, I think I might have gone too far…""Wait, what's this about?" Charlie asked."Your father-in-law, of course…" Don Albert sighed. "You asked me to leave him hanging for a while, so I did. I even refused when he asked to book a room in Heaven Springs.""Well, that's not a problem, is it?" Charlie shrugged. "He and Zachary ganged up for some real mischief. As you are Zachary's boss, it's right that you refused him because you didn't appreciate what he did.""That's just it. I thought that approach was just right as well," Don Albert quickly said. "I wasn't playing nice when Mr. Bay of the Calligraphy and Painting Association called me either. That's when he said he'd try to save Jacob's position as vice-president, but I told him it's none of my business."I then hung up on him without much thought, only for Zachary to tell m
Meanwhile, Charlie was downstairs in Claire's office, waiting to pick her up and head home.That was when Matilda called him, asking as soon as he answered, "Charlie, do you know how Jacob is doing? He never answered any of my texts—is he going to be alright?""I wouldn't know," Charlie replied. "Both he and Elaine are in Dubai on a trip… What's wrong?""He resigned," Matilda sighed. "I only saw the public statement that the Calligraphy and Painting Association posted this afternoon. It says that he tendered the resignation himself, but it doesn't really feel that way. I wonder if he's at odds with other members of the association…"Charlie was actually surprised to hear that Jacob had resigned.He had told Zachary to expose the truth of the bronze sculpture fraud case to teach Jacob a lesson so that Jacob would understand the meaning of true pain.However, he anticipated that Mr. Bay would at least keep Jacob around with an unimportant job even if Jacob did lose some money and e
Falling apart in both mind and spirit, Jacob was crying as he disembarked and took a cab to the hotel.Elaine, who had been lying around for 24 hours, was stunned speechless as she watched him enter, crying like a child.In contrast, Elaine looked like a mother to Jacob just then as he threw himself into her arms and bawled, "Darling… That prick Mr. Bay screwed me over… I have nothing left now…"Taken aback for a moment that Jacob would bawl in her arms like that, Elaine soon came to her senses and patted his back as she comforted him, "Oh, stop crying already. Who cares about some Calligraphy and Painting groupies? We certainly don't! Just hear me out and don't ever go there again!"Jacob kept sobbing, "But I care… I want to go…"Annoyed, Elaine's hand that had been patting Jacob a moment ago slid down to his hip and pinched him viciously before he noticed."Ow!" Jacob yelped in pain, and he demanded indignantly, "What was that for?!""Shut up!" Elaine snapped, glowering. "I wa
Jacob couldn't even be bothered by the looks others were giving him, and he called Mr. Bay immediately.Mr. Bay had already gone home and was seated on the couch with his wife, watching his phone and waiting for Jacob to call and demand an explanation.Mr. Bay knew that he had to answer for this and that if he avoided Jacob, it may well be a confession that he had screwed Jacob over.So, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decided to come clean with Jacob.Naturally, by coming clean, he meant passing the buck as his wife had suggested.Hence, as he answered Jacob's call, he immediately sighed in embarrassment, "Hey, Jacob. I'm so sorry about that…"However, Jacob was so furious he immediately started bellowing, "Mr. Bay! Are you fucking with me here?! You said that the resignation letter was more of a formality, but you just made it public instead! So, all those things you said about helping me were just a trap, was it?! You're despicable! And to think I've been so good to you, even
The repeated flights had left Jacob tormented.Even before he actually had the time to enjoy Dubai, he had already gotten sick of the place and didn't want to ever return.And on the flight, he couldn't stop his thoughts from going astray.Now that he was not getting back the money he had lost, his only hope was Mr. Bay.Fortunately, Mr. Bay was serious about his promise that he would at least save him a job as department head. That was why, despite his thoughts running astray, he never considered the thought that he would be kicked out of the Calligraphy and Painting Association.As soon as his flight landed, he didn't wait to turn off his phone's flight mode, waiting for the internet connection to return so that he could ask Mr. Bay about the meeting.Once he did, he received a ton of messages from public accounts to acquaintances—many had already found out that he had resigned from the post of administrative vice-president and wanted to ask how he was doing.And Matilda was
The Calligraphy and Painting Association was certainly efficient—soon after the meeting was dismissed, the news that the administrative vice-president had resigned was posted on their official page and social media.The notice was simple and never mentioned what Jacob had done, only that the administrative vice-president had asked to resign for personal reasons. The request had since been voted upon, and all members had agreed to it.And that was how a simple and short message kicked Jacob out of the Calligraphy and Painting Association entirely.In the city, other associations closely connected with the Calligraphy and Painting Association were the various cultural societies and circles of antique enthusiasts and the Senior University. In fact, most fans of the public page of the Calligraphy and Painting Association were from the Senior City, and every lecturer, student, and even guest lecturer were subscribed.As a matter of fact, that was entirely Jacob's doing. After his lect
There weren't that many members in the Calligraphy and Painting Association—just a handful over twenty.Hence, at Mr. Bay's request, everyone showed up at the conference at 1 pm.He chose the afternoon as there were a handful who were away on outreach, including Walker, who was subbing for Jacob's lectures.Once the entire Calligraphy and Painting Association save for Jacob was informed of the mandatory meeting, every member was there on the hour, seated primly and in attention in the huge conference room.Mr. Bay didn't waste his breath on the preamble either—as soon as he saw that everyone had arrived, he announced, "Everyone, I've gathered you here today because our administrative vice-president, Jacob Wilson, has been alleged to be involved in a certain malicious scheme."Last night, Mr. Wilson submitted his resignation to me, and after a discussion with my vice-presidents, we've all decided to hold a vote. It will be open to every member in the association as we will be decid