Jacob’s concern was straightforward and simple, he was worried that Elaine would return home suddenly in the next two days. His precious chance to invite Matilda over to his house would be thrown out the window if she did return.He wouldn’t dare, even if anyone pointed a gun at him, to invite Matilda to his house when Elaine was at home. Elaine would kill him there and then!Hence, he should grab the chance when it comes his way as soon as possible.Matilda stumbled into the reminisce of her past too.Since she was from Sudbury, she had to live in a dormitory when she was studying in Aurous Hill.Moreover, back in those days, people were not open-minded enough to brag about them being in a relationship, they were rather shy and low-key, they didn’t even dare to let their family know. She always wanted to cook a meal for Jacob but they never found a suitable time and venue to do so.In fact, it was not as convenient as it was now.Nowadays, couples could simply rent a hotel apar
Charlie understood right away that the two elderly people must have some unusual memories of “cooking” or “coming home with him” that made them react so awkwardly.Paul also noticed the peculiarity, but he was too embarrassed to point it out, so he turned to Charlie and said, “Charlie, let’s go to our suite first.”Then, he turned to Matilda and said, “Mom, you’ve been on the plane for more than ten hours, you must be tired. Let’s go to the suite and talk if you have something to say to Uncle Wilson.”Matilda suddenly regained her composure. She was thinking about her past with Jacob and even recalled the details of their first love-making experience. She blushed shyly and said, “Oh, look at me, I’m so absent-minded! Yes, let’s go to our suite and talk!”Jacob echoed hurriedly, “Yes, let’s go to the suite. It’s my fault, once I started talking, I forgot about all of it!”Charlie shook his head and even sighed helplessly. They were like firewood and raging fire finding each other a
Charlie didn’t expect that Paul would ask such a straightforward question! However, he knew that Paul was simply guessing and he would never admit it.Before he could deny it, Jacob chuckled and said, “Oh, Paul, you are overthinking this. Charlie is our family’s live-in son-in-law. If he really is from the Wade family of Eastcliff, it would be a Cinderella story! All of us would prosper!”Although Jacob was kind of a slack who hadn’t worked for a day in his life, he knew about the Wade family.In fact, there were not many people in the country who didn’t know the Wade family because they were so famous.Because of this, he was absolutely certain that Charlie was not one of them. There were a lot of people with the last name Wade in the world, but there was only one Wade family.He knew Charlie’s life experience like the back of his hand. He lived in the orphanage when he was young, then worked on the construction site at the age of 18, later, Lord Wilson took him home when he was
Matilda asserted, “Wow, I didn’t expect that you still remembered all of it. Frankly, I don’t even remember some of the dishes myself.”Then, she sighed and continued, “Actually, the Sudbury cuisine is delicious too, but, I don’t know why, ever since I attended college here, I prefer Aurous cuisine more.”Jacob said with a regretful smile, “I still remember that you always said that you wanted to make a few Sudbury dishes for me to try, it’s a pity…”He sighed and quickly asked, “Oh yes, by the way, Matilda, what do you think about going to my house to cook dinner? To be honest, I’ve been waiting for so many years, I hope that my dream can come true someday!”Matilda was touched by his remark and uttered, “I’m okay, but I don’t know if Paul is available tonight.”Then, she turned to Paul and asked, “Son, do you have any plans tonight? If not, how about we go to Uncle Wilson’s house for dinner later? I would love to meet his daughter too.”Paul nodded graciously. “No problem! Let’
After all, Paul had grown up in a strict upbringing with high intellectual development, he was quite a broad-minded and unbiased gentleman. Thus, he was calm and collected when he heard Charlie describe his ‘job’, unlike others who usually looked at him differently afterward.As for Charlie, there was nothing for him to feel embarrassed or ashamed of. He was a live-in son-in-law for three years now, it was nothing new for people to learn that he was a moocher.At this moment, Paul said, “By the way, Charlie, since you know Mr. Cameron from Shangri-La, I wonder when is it convenient for you to introduce him to me? Well, I intend to actively expand my local resources and network in Aurous Hill since I’ll be shifting my company here. I will be very grateful if you can help me with this.”Charlie didn’t want Paul to know how close he was to Isaac Cameron. He almost guessed his connection with the Wade family just now, after all, it could be possible that he would discover more details a
Jacob glanced at Matilda in bewilderment. “Matilda, are you very proficient in law and the firm?”Paul chuckled and said, “Uncle, don’t underestimate my mother. In fact, she is also a Ph.D. graduate from Yale. She and my father met at the Master’s School at Yale and married afterward. Later, my father founded the law firm and my mother was always there to assist him. If not because of my mother, my father’s career would not take off and sail so smoothly.”Then, he sighed, “Too bad I’m still not capable of handling the firm myself yet, so I need my mother’s help to assist me.”Matilda chuckled, “Son, you have done a great job. I hope that you can grow up as soon as possible and take over the company as a whole, then I can finally enjoy my retirement.”She couldn’t help sighing, “Now that I’m back to Oskia and Aurous Hill, my biggest dream is not to start our family business here, but to enjoy the retirement life of an Oskian old lady peacefully.”Then, she secretly gazed at Jacob a
The lunch gathering at Shangri-La was delightful and fun. Jacob and Matilda were feeling equally happy. She was feeling under the weather after her husband’s death but it seemed that the sky had cleared now.Paul was very pleased to see his mother in such a good mood.As for Charlie, he felt sorry for his father-in-law.The reason was nothing more than Matilda being too perfect for him. He couldn’t imagine what would happen when such a glamorous, elegant, wealthy lady who was also single returned to Aurous Hill. She would attract a lot of attention, especially the pursuit of other wealthy old men, which would only accumulate troubles for Jacob.Matilda and Paul were rather exhausted after traveling for long hours back to Oskia. Hence, after lunch, Jacob and Charlie sent them to their room at Shangri-La.Again, Jacob was taken aback because Matilda and Paul checked into the extremely luxurious executive suites.The executive suite in Shangri-La was second only to the presidential
Jacob suddenly turned his head to Charlie and asked worriedly, “Charlie, do you think your mother-in-law will ever come home?”Charlie frowned rather awkwardly. “Dad, what do you want me to say? Should I say yes or no?”Jacob startled in bewilderment then said sheepishly, “Hey, stop beating around the bush. I know you are not satisfied with your mother-in-law too just like me, right?”Charlie turned to him in shock and exclaimed, “Dad, I never said that!”Jacob looked askance at him and said, “It’s just between us, you don’t have to hide with me. Claire is not here anyway, we can say whatever we want, am I right?”Charlie knew what his father-in-law was thinking.He was looking for a partner in crime.He didn’t want Elaine to come home, but Claire wanted her mother to be found as soon as possible. Hence, a psychological confrontation had formed between the father and daughter which made the current score at 1:1. Charlie was the neutral party, in this case, so Jacob desperately
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!