“No!” Suddenly, Alan roared and interrupted the discussions that were going around. Gone was his shocked expression. Now in its place were red-rimmed eyes and a fierce gaze as he turned to Fred and Stellar. “No longer manage? Do you think you can just take what belongs to the Grahams anytime you want to? “I’m telling you right now that things are different! The Grahams family is much stronger than we were five years ago! Our roots are strong here in Sea City, and those properties you gave us belong to us now! Without my approval, you’ll never get them back!” Then, Alan turned to look at Fred, whose expression had been calm the entire time. Icily, Alan continued, “I never expected that you’d be Fantastic Group’s Great One! But in my eyes, you’ll always be a good-for-nothing wimp! You can keep dreaming if you think you can suddenly go from a wimp to the owner of the Graham family!”“Alan Graham, are you trying to rebel?” Stellar shouted. “Rebel? Hah! I’m going to do mor
“It’s over for the Grahams!” Gossip had always spread like wildfire, and within Sea City’s upper class, most news just could not stay hidden.Merely one hour after the fiasco in Graham Group Tower, news of it as well as of Alan, the head of the Grahams family, falling to the floor in despair had spread to the Hanks villa all the way on the other end of Sea City.Neville, Yousef’s father, the head of the Hanks family, and the chairman of Hanks Group, was notified at the same time.“Already? Fantastic Group?” Yousef was rushing home when he heard his father and asked in surprise, “D-Does this have anything to do with that wimp?”“I don’t know!”Neville shook his head, but his eyes narrowed slowly. “But this is a matter of our family’s future. We must prepare accordingly and make haste!”‘The family’s future!’Those three words gave Yousef immense pressure. The Grahams had met their end too quickly, and Yousef had yet to get his head around it.His father, Neville, might not
West of Sea City was a small rural village, known as Peach Blossom Village.Stellar stared at the bustling village in confusion.Initially, he believed that the reason Fred disappeared for five years was because of something else. Never would he have thought that this village would be the reason why.Confusion filled Stellar’s mind, but it only lasted for a second.Fred explained calmly, “This is where the Yates live now!”‘The Yates?‘The family that adopted Fred?’Instantly, Stellar pieced the puzzles together.‘That’s right!‘A living legend and the ruler of the world would never disappear just because of something like that!‘Familial piety is the only reason that makes sense.’After what happened back then, those people must have redirected their focus to Fred’s family once they realized they could not do anything about Fred. Therefore, the Cadmans must have played a part in the Yates enjoying their peace now. That explained why someone like Fred would be willing to liv
“Mom, is something happening at home today?”Considering who Fred was, the man could easily hear the whispers among the other villagers.A sight frown donned Iris’ pleased expression when she heard Fred’s question. “I-It’s not a big deal, really… It’s just, well, she’s home today too!”‘She?’Fred suddenly smiled.After the Yates adopted him, they had given birth to a daughter who they named Wanda.As of today, Wanda should be in university making the most of her youth.Fred chuckled happily. “No wonder you said we’ve got two things to celebrate today. Looks like both your son and your daughter came back to visit you at the same time!”“W-Well yes… b-but…”Iris stammered for a bit as if hesitating whether she should explain, only to relent in the end. “But she’s back with her boyfriend!”“Her boyfriend? That’s great news!”Fred did not quite understand. When Fred and Valerie got married, Valerie was very unwilling. In the end, it was only at the old Mr. Cadman’s insistence
Fred immediately greeted.This was enough to trigger Midhaa’s tears as he patted Fred on the back repeatedly. “Good! Very good! It’s nice to have you back, punk! Don’t just stand there. Come in and sit!”“A-Are you alright, Philip?”A voice interrupted the heartwarming scene.They turned to look at the table where a young lady had turned toward the young man beside her worriedly. With a piece of tissue, she was trying to wipe dry the splatters of tea from the dropped teapot.There was nothing wrong with her action alone, but what the man said next thickened the tension in the air.“How could I be alright? This suit is Armani, and a limited edition one too! How can you be so careless?” the young man complained.Midhaa’s expression turned sour.Most future sons-in-law tried their best to be in the favor of their girlfriend’s parents. Yet today, Midhaa had been the one serving this young man only to be called careless.There was no way Midhaa could accept this with a smile.Iris
‘That ‘Fred’?‘Which Fred?’Both Midhaa and Iris frowned. They could tell that there was something deeper to this when they heard Philip’s question.Wanda’s expression changed as she looked over as well, afraid that he would say something wrong. Not that Wanda knew exactly what ‘something wrong’ entailed, but her heart thumped in her chest anyway.“And you are…?”Fred looked at Philip calmly and asked.That calm gaze angered Philip.After all, how dare someone dressed in something one could buy from street stalls for less than 20 bucks look at him like that?! Did Fred not hear that he was wearing a limited edition Armani suit?Still, Wanda introduced them. “This is my boyfriend, Philip, the eldest son of the Cohen family, who are the owners of Farseas Group. Philip, this… is my brother, Fred!”Wanda even glanced at Fred when she brought up Farseas Group just to see how her brother would react.After all, it was a huge deal for a small village like Peach Blossom Village to hos
Fred replied calmly.What work could Fred be doing when he had married into the Cadmans as their crippled son-in-law?The contempt in Philip’s gaze grew when he heard this.Fred was exactly as he had described just now, a useless piece of trash with no job! “Then, what major did you take in university?” Philip asked again.“I didn’t go to university,” Fred replied.“You should at least know how to use designing or coding software, right?” “I’ve never used them before…”‘He’s a piece of trash! Utterly so!’After a few questions, Philip’s final evaluation of Fred was that the latter was a useless piece of trash.Philip then spoke in an exaggerated troubled tone. “Oh, my! This is going to be difficult, then. I can’t get you a nice job if you don’t know how to do anything!”Iris’ expression fell from hopeful to despair when she heard Philip. She even began to scorn herself for telling Fred that they only had enough money to send one of them to university.Had she not told him
Maserati!More than one too! All of them were black and of the same model. They lined the village road that led to the Yates’ residence. The sleek cars looked extremely out of place against the scenery of Peach Blossom Village, but it was still a thunderous sight to behold.‘Holy sh*t! T-They’re here for Old Man Yates? So many cars, too?”“This car is that Maserati brand, right? I saw them on television before! Just one car costs millions of dollars! And there are so many of them here! That’s more than enough money for a few… no! For a few dozen lives!”“That’s not all! Look at their car plates! Excluding the first one that’s 8055, the rest are in order, 1111, 2222, 3333, and so on… T-They must’ve cost a huge fortune!”The appearance of this line of cars caused an immediate uproar among the villagers of the usually quiet Peach Blossom Village.Midhaa and his wife were standing by the door when this happened. The sight had rendered them too shocked to speak. They were also slightl