The Invincible Rich Man (Gerald Crawford)

Chapter 553-600

Chapter 553
“Holy! Queeny? I already gave you an answer!” shouted Gerald with a jump. He definitely hadn’t
expected her to chase after him.


“What is with you? I’m just… concerned! Look, you may have won the lottery or something, and though I’m not sure how much you won, aren’t you acting a little too naively? Society’s going to eat you up! No matter how much you’ve won, be careful and don’t get tricked or you’ll end up in the streets later on!”


‘Yeah… That made much more sense. Gerald must have invested in the attraction with the lottery money.’ This was the only reasonable conclusion that she could come up with at that moment. Her
emotions were in disarray and she was feeling extremely upset by the sudden change in power dynamic. After saying what she needed to to calm herself down, Queenie immediately left the office, her cheeks puffed up.


“Hah. This girl… If she ever found out about my true identity, I’d never hear the end of it!” said Gerald
before chuckling.


As Blake went off to run his errands, Gerald decided to get some shut-eye before leaving the attraction and getting some proper rest.


He definitely didn’t want to join Queenie and her friends. Queenie didn’t want him around anymore
either. After some time passed, knocking could be heard on the door.


“Mr. Edward? I’ve brought the newcomer over to report to you!” It was a soft female voice and Gerald was slightly taken aback when he heard it.


“Come in!” said Gerald.


The door then slowly opened and a girl in a uniform entered the office. She had long hair and a nice figure. In her hands was a document and behind her was another beautiful girl.

“Mr. Edward, I’m…” The girl’s voice slowly trailed off. She was about to introduce herself, but her words just wouldn’t form the moment she saw who was sitting in the office.


Gerald was speechless as well. He simply stared at the two girls as the awkwardness in the office grew.


“M-Mr. Crawford! It’s you! I… I didn’t know you’d be here!” said the girl as she immediately lowered her head in embarrassment. She didn’t dare to make eye contact.


“…Xella? Sharon? What are you two doing here in Fuenti? Aren’t you supposed to be in Serene County?”
asked Gerald as he continued staring at the two.


When Gerald was investigating his company, Xella had learned of his true identity. As for Sharon, she knew too since she was present during the incident at the real estate center. This was why the situation felt so awkward for all three of them.


Though he remembered what Xella and Sharon had done to him in recent memory, he was still good friends with the two girls back in high school. Xella had even fought against Waylon for bullying Gerald.


He didn’t exactly have the time of his life in high school, but with the two girls around, his high school days still ended up being pretty nice. Even back then, a lot of people looked down on him but not these two. They really treated him like a good friend.


This was the sole reason why Gerald still felt reserved when it came to the two of them. Even though their friendship was no longer the same, Gerald still felt obligated to treat them kindly.


“Mr. Crawford, I’ll be going to the human resources department now. Sharon’s just joined the company. Oh, and since tomorrow is your birthday, the company’s assigned a few good looking girls to be escorts.”


‘Ah, so they still remember my birthday. Well this is a little weird…’ He thought to himself.


“Ah, I see… Well, Blake’s now busy decorating the place!” said Gerald as he stood up. The situation was
still extremely awkward.

Chapter 554
“...Oh yeah. So Sharon, why are you looking for a job now? What about Hayward?” asked Gerald.
Though he used to have a crush on her, he no longer had any feelings for her.


“Ah, well, after Hayward found out that you’re Mr. Crawford, he was so shocked that he refused to
leave his house for days. Besides, he knew about our past relationship, so…”


Sharon stopped there and simply left her sentence hanging.


‘…Ah, so Sharon’s looking for a job partially because of me!’ Gerald thought to himself.


Gerald then flashed an awkward smile before saying, “But you know, I’m still truly flattered, haha! Remember back in high school? The best birthday I’ve ever had then was in the canteen!”


Hearing that, both Sharon and Xella began reminiscing. During high school, almost everyone refused to hang out with Gerald, and his birthday didn’t change that fact.


His birthday that year had been on result day, and everyone had to go back to high school during the
holidays to get their certificates. It was Xella and Sharon who had suggested that they celebrate Gerald’s
birthday in the canteen. They wanted to celebrate it with him before he joined the military.


The two girls, along with Lilian, had bought a large cake for Gerald back then. Lilian was there since she was close to Sharon and though she was slightly hesitant at first, she still ended up celebrating his birthday with him anyway.


That was the first time Gerald ever had cake, and he felt extremely touched. That was the moment when he decided to stay friends with them for eternity.


Now, however, he realized how one-sided that decision had been


When university started, he continued staying in touch with both Xella and Sharon. Eventually, however,
both of them started ghosting him. They didn’t bother to even reply to any of his texts.

Two years later, Gerald was excited when he bumped into Sharon in Mayberry. Sharon had to admit that since he was still so friendly and talkative, he clearly valued their friendship very much even after so much time had passed.


However, Sharon had felt embarrassed being around him, so she avoided him at all costs. She even insulted him multiple times! There were times when she went overboard as well, resulting in him getting physically hurt.


Despite all that, Gerald continued to help her on multiple occasions and he didn’t even hold any grudges against her. She had taken advantage of that, which led to Gerald getting hurt even more. This was why Gerald eventually started giving her the cold shoulder.


As for Xella, she had looked down on him from the moment they bumped into each other again after so many years. She had been slightly embarrassed when they met, so she only had a polite conversation with him, even cracking a few light jokes here and there.


However, Gerald still thought that she valued their friendship just as much as he did back then. They were even supposed to go to the class reunion together! However, she went with Waylon instead which resulted in her feeling uncomfortable for most of that day.


Waylon had bullied Gerald a lot back in high school. Gerald simply never stood up for himself. There was even a time when Waylon threw a chair at Gerald which sent him flying to the back of the class. He was without a doubt, Gerald’s arch enemy.


Despite being aware of that, Xella still ended up getting close to him. Gerald had been incredibly hurt after finding out about that.


Now that the two girls realized that Gerald was the actual Mr. Crawford from Mayberry, they couldn’t help but regret their actions. Both of them thought that he was no longer the Gerald they knew, when in reality, Gerald had never changed. They were the ones who had changed.

Chapter 555
“I’m sorry, Gerald…” said both of them simultaneously. The two girls bore expressions filled with
embarrassment and regret.

“That’s quite alright!” replied Gerald as he gave a gentle smile. Though he was still being nice to them, all three of them knew that their friendship could never truly properly be mended. What’s done was done, and they could never go back to the way things had originally been. Gerald would only treat them as acquaintances now. Nothing more.


Both Sharon and Xella understood what Gerald was implying. The two knew that they couldn’t just rewind time to fix all their mistakes, and simply understanding that made them feel like their hearts were being pierced by thousands of needles. If only they were still friends, this reunion could have gone so much better.


Not wanting to prolong the awkwardness any further, Gerald decided to head back since it was getting late anyway. For all he knew, that psycho Queenie had probably gone home. Gerald really didn’t have
the energy to walk all the way back, so he simply used one of the company’s Audi A6 cars to drive home.


Just as he got to the entrance, Gerald bumped into yet another acquaintance. She was holding on to her purse and it seemed like she was waiting for a cab.


It was Michelle. Since Gerald hadn’t bothered to wind the car’s window up, Michelle managed to catch a
glimpse of him as he was about to drive out.


“Gerald?” called Michelle out to him.


Gerald didn’t like ignoring people, but he really wished he could just leave at that moment.


He wasn’t really fond of this person. After all, she had openly expressed her dislike toward him. She even had her own sister substitute her for her blind date with him! He treated this as a direct insult, which was why Gerald didn’t intend to speak to her this entire time.


“What do you want?” asked Gerald coldly as Michelle came closer to the car.


“Ah, well, I just wanted to thank you for today! If it wasn’t for you, we may not have gotten out of that situation unharmed! The other girls that came with me were my colleagues and some of them have

already gone home,” replied Michelle. Gerald noticed another shorter girl standing beside her as she
said that.


“There’s no need to thank me. If I were to have any say in this, I wouldn’t have let any of you in in the first place. It was Jarvis who did!” said Gerald coldly again.


‘It’s unnecessary at this point to show her any kindness.’ Gerald thought to himself.


His words were so blunt that her face instantly turned red with embarrassment.


She knew that the blind date incident had ruined their relationship before it even had a chance to start.
She understood very well that she had crossed the line, but she wasn’t willing to just leave it at that.


Michelle had initially not wanted to go through this embarrassment.


After all, it was fine to just remain as strangers and never speak to each other again. Wasn’t that what
she had preferred all along?


However, after that incident in the restaurant, she couldn’t just leave it at that. Just like everyone else, she just couldn’t bear seeing him make such an immense comeback.


‘You’re nothing more but of the many guys that I’ve rejected.’ This was what she thought.


If Gerald had remained the way she had initially thought of him, she wouldn’t have had such a big reaction. To think that this ‘optional’ man turned out to be this powerful! This made her extremely
upset, especially when he didn’t even seem to want to talk to her. He just went straight for the entrance with his Audi!


“I’d… I’d like to apologize for… You know…. Alright, I know I was wrong for flaking on you!” said Michelle
as she bit down hard on her lower lip.

“There’s no need for an apology. To be frank, I only see you as an acquaintance, so if there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading off now!” said Gerald dismissively as he immediately drove off.


Michelle was now terribly upset and angry. This was the first time she had ever been ignored by a guy. She felt her eyes start to water. Not only did he turn out to be extremely powerful, but he barely batted an eyelid when he ignored her and just drove away.


It wasn’t long before Gerald passed both Toiun and Fuenti.

Chapter 556
As he drove on, Gerald noticed something weird. There seemed to be a sudden increase in luxury cars in town. Most of them were parked outside hotels.


Though it was rather strange, Gerald didn’t think too much about it.


At that moment, Gerald’s phone began to ring. He saw that it was a call from Mrs. Winters.


“What’s the matter, Mrs. Winters?” asked Gerald with a smile after picking the call up.


“Gerald? Where are you? I saw that Queeny had driven home by herself earlier. She looked slightly upset. Did both of you get into some kind of argument? Did she leave you there alone?” asked Mrs. Winters, her voice filled with concern.


“Don’t worry, I’m driving back now in a friend’s car!” Gerald had no choice but to say that so that Mrs. Winters wouldn’t overthink the situation.


“I see! That’s good to hear… By the way Gerald, could you get a bag of rice in town on your way back? That way your uncle won’t have to go out anymore!”


“No problem!”


Gerald then found a supermarket nearby and bought two bags of rice, a bottle of peanut oil, and a few other items.

As Gerald moved the items into the car, he remembered that back when he had just returned to Serene County, Mr. Winters had refused to take any money from Gerald. Gerald had promised himself then,
that since they wouldn’t accept his money, he would just use the money to get necessities for them.


Realizing that he had almost forgotten his own promise to himself, he rushed back into the supermarket. After a few trips in and out to make sure he could carry everything, Gerald ended up buying a few boxes of milk, good wine, and an array of herbs and spices as well.


As he opened his almost filled to the brim car trunk again, he heard a surprised voice call out to him.


“Gerald?”


Gerald was holding a pressure cooker in his arms when he turned to see who had called him. It was a girl standing at the entrance of a hotel that was right next to the supermarket.


“F*ck! Leila? What are you doing in this town?”


The girl standing at the hotel’s entrance was definitely Leila, and that left Gerald equally as surprised as she was. After all, he had never thought he would see anyone from the Jung family again after that incident.


Gerald had just been too disappointed and heartbroken with them. Even after Willie encountered further problems, Gerald completely ignored them despite his father’s constant reminders to look after them on his behalf.


He hadn’t answered any of Leila’s calls either. This made their current situation more awkward than it
should have been.


“Well, we’ve just arrived and I was about to go buy something from the supermarket. I really hadn’t expected to see you here!”

Leila was still very kind and polite toward Gerald. She then began walking over to him. It was obvious that she wanted to continue chatting.


“We? Who else did you come with?” asked Gerald.


“My parents and my dad’s colleagues… They’re here to enjoy themselves!” replied Leila in a soft tone.


“I see!” said Gerald as he nodded.


Was there anything interesting in Touin? Why had so many people specifically come here to have fun? However, Gerald didn’t really want to continue talking to Leila anymore. Therefore, he didn’t bother to ask her for further details.


“Speaking of which, Gerald, are you still living in your house?” asked Leila.


“Of course. Where else would I be living at?”


“I see! I don’t think I’ve ever been to your house before… After all, you were the one who always came to mine when we were still kids!” replied Leila as she smiled.


“Well alright then, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll be taking my leave first! I have to hurry back home to
cook!” said Gerald, immediately changing the topic.


Leila was aware that Gerald didn’t want to talk to her. However, the more Gerald ignored her, the more
she wanted to chat with him!


After all, she was Leila Jung! Was she really that undeserving of his time and attention?


“By the way, Gerald, you only bought one cable for your pressure cooker. Don’t you plan on getting a spare one? After all, the voltage in villages can get pretty unstable and cables are prone to get burnt out easily!”

“Ah. I didn’t really think of that. Thank you!” replied Gerald with a slight smile. If she had only been this
kind toward him in the past, things could have been perfect.


After placing the pressure cooker into his car, he turned to re-enter the supermarket again to get another spare cable.


“Hehe… You know, since I’m going in anyway, you can just leave that to me!”


Before he could stop her, Leila had already ran into the supermarket. Shortly after, she returned with a spare cable in hand. Just as she handed it over to Gerald, a middle-aged man’s voice could be heard from the entrance of the hotel.


“Leila, what are you doing?”

Chapter 557
At that moment, two couples and a young man exited the hotel. All of them happened to see Leila talking to Gerald.


The middle-aged man who had called out to them coldly just seconds ago, was now walking toward the two. He seemed to be the leader of the group, and he was naturally none other than Willie himself


“What are you doing here, dad? I was just helping Gerald buy something!” grumbled Leila.


“What? You’re still buying things for him? Humph! I’ll never give anything to him! Even if I have to throw it away!”


Immediately after he said that, he snatched the cable from Gerald’s hand before throwing it onto the
ground.


Before this, Willie had been very dissatisfied as he was prepared to beg Gerald to use his connections to help him. However, in the end, Gerald had simply ignored him.


That made Willie extremely angry and frustrated.

“Didn’t I tell you not to have anything to do with him anymore, Leila? Why can’t you remember such a simple thing?”


Leia, who had previously been walking over, now stood beside Willie. She simply looked at Gerald with eyes filled with contempt.


“Uncle Jung, who is this person?” asked the young man from before who had also walked over.


“He’s just the son of someone I used to know in the past. He lives in Touin!”


“Why does it seem as though you have some kind of misunderstanding with this young man?” This time,
the other middle-aged man was the one asking.


The reason why this group of people had gathered wasn’t just to have fun together. Their secondary
purpose, at least for the two couples, was to get their children to meet.


Leila currently seemed to have a pretty good relationship with the young man. Since his son was also concerned about the matter, the other middle-aged man couldn’t help but pose his own question.


“Heh. Mr. Westwick, it’s not just a simple misunderstanding! This person right here isn’t well-mannered in the least! When Willie went to look for him last time, we couldn’t find him anywhere! We couldn’t even get a hold of him! The entire trip there was a complete waste of time!” replied Leia angrily.


“Humph! Let’s go, Leila. If I ever catch you talking to this kind of lowly person again, don’t blame me for teaching you a lesson!” yelled Willie coldly before stepping on the cable that Leila had bought earlier.


“Mr. Jung!” shouted Gerald. Naturally, Gerald wasn’t going to refer to the man as his uncle anymore.


“Pfft. What do you want?” asked Willie coldly.

“No matter what you say, I donated seventy thousand dollars to you last time. You could even say that I’ve done you a huge favor back then. If you continue talking to me like this, I’m afraid it’ll be no good for your own face if word about this matter gets out to the public.”


“Also, Aunt Leia talked about a wasted trip because you couldn’t find me last time. Could you perhaps have forgotten that time when I was in high school? When my father and I waited for you outside your house for up to four hours just to meet you? I remember clearly that when we finally got to meet, you immediately sent us off, saying you weren’t free. So I suppose I’m still the wrong one just because you made a wasted trip?” said Gerald.


“Pfft. What do you even mean? Willie’s a very busy man. Why would we ever have the time to entertain someone like you or your father? Thinking about it now, he did the absolute right thing by ignoring both of you back then! After all, you’re useless to us!” replied Leia angrily.


“Ah, I see there really is a pretty big misunderstanding. I had initially thought that we could ask this country boy to take us around this place. He could’ve been our tour guide or something. Looks like we’ll have to scratch that idea!” said the young man with a contemptuous smile.


“A tour guide? Consider our status! If we need a tour guide, we should look for one with at least a good
reputation and relationship with us!”


The other woman was now chiming in as well. Leia and Willie’s hatred toward Gerald made her feel
equally disgusted with him.


However, Gerald wasn’t angry. He simply smiled faintly at their retorts.


“Fine then. We’ll cross the bridge when we get there, Mr. Jung. See you again in the future!” said Gerald
before getting into his car and driving off immediately.


After finding out that the Audi A6 belonged to Gerald, the young man was dumbfounded.


“D*mn! He’s actually driving such a good car?”

He hadn’t expected that. He had backed his uncle up by insulting Gerald earlier, but even he couldn’t
afford to buy himself an Audi.


“What’s so great about that? It’s obviously a second-hand car. He probably can’t even afford to buy a new car anyway! Seeing him really ruined our good mood!” grumbled Leia.

Chapter 558
“Humph! Don’t even talk about him anymore!” snorted Willie coldly.


Meanwhile, Gerald had already arrived back home. His anger toward Willie had made the trip feel much shorter.


There seemed to be several cars parked in front of Mr. Winters’s house. Squinting his eyes, Gerald
realized that they belonged to the eldest, second, and third son.


With that, Gerald pressed on his car horn with the intention of getting some help to move some of the groceries.


A few people were standing in the courtyard at that time. When they heard and saw the Audi parked in front of the house, they couldn’t help but curiously come out to have a look. Mr. and Mrs. Winters followed them out as well.


When Gerald opened the car door and stepped out, everyone present was surprised.


“Gerald? You’re driving an Audi?” asked the eldest son’s wife, clearly taken aback. If this was the car
Gerald was driving, then he was much more capable compared to her own son!


“Humph! Don’t be fooled. This Audi clearly looks like a second-hand car!” replied Francis.


Francis bore an ugly expression as he said that. After all, he was driving a car that only cost thirty thousand dollars. Since Gerald’s Audi A6 probably cost much more, it was inevitable that his inferiority complex would fire up.

With a depressed look, Francis then walked over to the Audi and kicked its tires lightly. “There’s no need to make such a big fuss over this. Second-hand refurbished cars like these are commonplace. If the seller was an acquaintance, he could probably get it for about fifteen thousand dollars. You know, my friend once tried to persuade me to get a second-hand Audi as well. I refused his offer, though. Heh. After all,
the poorer you are, the more you want to drive a good car to show off!”


“He’s right. Only rich bosses should drive Audi cars!” replied another young man.


The young man in question was Jasper Winters. It seemed that he had come home this time.


“All of you seem to be misunderstanding something. This isn’t my car. The car belongs to someone else. I’m just lending it for a few days!” said Gerald with a faint smile.


“Oh! And here I thought you suddenly got rich and bought yourself a car! It turns out it’s not even yours in the first place!”


The few sisters-in-law present felt a wave of relief wash over them before they continued smiling contemptuously toward Gerald.


Looking around, Gerald couldn’t see Queeny anywhere. It felt odd that she wasn’t here, but he didn’t
question anyone about it.


Turning to look at Mr. Winters, he said, “Mr. Winters, I bought some things for you! Let’s move them into the house first!”


“Oh! Young kid, why are you spending so much money again? You bought so many things!” replied Mrs. Winters in mock anger. She just didn’t want Gerald to spend so much on them.


“It’s fine. After all, all of these are basic necessities anyway. They didn’t cost too much either. I got you a pressure cooker, so if you buy some bones and ribs, you can make some soup! That’ll be great for your health!” said Gerald as he smiled.

His goal was to get the items to Mr. and Mrs. Winters so Gerald simply ignored the ridicules from the other people.


“Oh my, this pressure cooker is actually branded! How much did it cost you?” asked the second sister-in- law, jealousy reflected in her eyes.


“It wasn’t that expensive. Just a little over seventy-five dollars!” replied Gerald.


“Heh. Then this pressure cooker can’t be compared to the one given to us for free by Francis’s unit. You get free stuff like this occasionally when you work for a public institution, and you know what they say, free things are always the best to use!” bragged the third sister-in-law.


“Queeny isn’t doing too bad herself. She usually gets some peanut oil, canned tuna, and other canned food from her company once every two months! We can’t even finish all of it so the cans are just piling at home! We barely have to spend any money on food at all!”


Not wanting to be outdone, the second sister-in-law continued saying, “Oh, and did you know? One of Queeny’s colleagues asked her out for dinner tonight. She gets invited out for dinner almost every night, so there’s barely a need for me to cook dinner for her at all. We really have so much free food…”


As the group continued bragging among themselves, none of them even considered to help Gerald move the things inside at all.


In the end, it was Mr. and Mrs. Winters who helped him move everything inside.


After everyone entered the house again, Gerald suddenly remembered that he had something to tell
them. “Oh, that’s right…”

Chapter 559
“You know, tomorrow’s my birthday and I won’t be celebrating it at home this time. I’ve already booked
a hotel for it. Will any of you have the time to attend?” asked Gerald.


In the previous years, Mr. and Mrs. Winters had always been the ones celebrating Gerald’s birthday with
him. This year would be no exception.

However, since everyone was already here, Gerald naturally felt obligated to invite all of them over to his birthday banquet as well.


The third sister-in-law coughed before saying, “As if we’d have the time to go there. Francis and the rest will be working tomorrow. We don’t have time to celebrate your birthday with you.”


“That’s right. What more, if you’re celebrating your birthday, shouldn’t you just be eating at home? Why did you have to book a hotel? Have you forgotten your roots just because you have some money now?” said the second sister-in-law coldly.


Since Gerald was initially very poor, everyone was used to looking down on him. The fact that he suddenly became rich from winning the lottery caused the power dynamic to flip, resulting in their increased dissatisfaction. This was the main reason why they were speaking to him even more coldly compared to how they used to.


“Well, it seems that we’re all busy. Looks like you’ll have to celebrate your birthday alone!” said the
eldest son next.


Just as his sentence ended, his phone began ringing.


“Hello? Mr. Walts! How are you? What’s that? Congratulations! Oh, I’ll definitely be coming with my
family the day after tomorrow! No, no, I’m free! I’ll definitely be free once I’m done with everything that I need to finish tomorrow! Haha!”


After that, the eldest son hung up. He looked somewhat excited.


“What’s the matter?” asked the eldest sister-in-law.


“It’s Mr. Walts’s son’s eighth birthday the day after tomorrow. We’ve been invited to attend his birthday celebration so of course I agreed!”

“Hmm? Didn’t you say that you had an important chamber of commerce meeting to attend on that day?”


“Humph! Mr. Walts’s son’s birthday has a higher priority! I’ll just cancel my participation in the chamber of commerce meeting!” lamented the eldest Son.


“Uncle, second uncle, I think we should start eating now. I still have a lot of important things to do tomorrow. I need to get back and rest as soon as possible! Actually no, I still have to make some plans once I get home since I’ll be meeting up with Mr. Jung tomorrow!” said Francis.


Naturally, he too would be busy tomorrow.


“Isn’t Mr. Jung already here? I said that I’d treat him to dinner tonight. Just ignore the fact that he’s only a department chief now. After all, since he was a pretty reputable figure in the past, he still has several relationships and connections in Serene County!” replied the third son in a prideful tone.


“It’s really a pity that he wasn’t free tonight. It seems that his schedule is already fully packed!”


As everyone began to chime in one after another, Gerald simply listened. He could only conclude that the Mr. Jung they were talking about was most definitely Willie.


However, he remained silent.


Since everyone said that they wouldn’t be free tomorrow, Gerald didn’t try to insist for them to attend
his birthday celebration anymore.


Not that it mattered to him. Everyone had their own things to do.


After eating a simple meal at Mr. Winters’s house, Gerald went back home.


Not too long after, he received a call from Mila.

“Happy birthday, Gerald!” shouted Mila.


“It’s not my birthday yet, why are you wishing me happy birthday so soon?!” said Gerald before laughing as he lay on his bed.


“What’s stopping me from wishing you twice? I’ll wish you happy birthday again at midnight! Not like I can take back my earlier wish anyway. By the way, Gerald, could you come over to look for me in two days’ time? Once you’re done settling your own matters of course. I’m at the television station now. I’ve just transferred to become an intern reporter today. I can finally do something that I’ve always wanted to do now!” said Mila happily.


Mila had told Gerald about this some time ago. She would take an examination to apply to become an intern reporter.


She managed to pass and she was now officially an intern reporter. Gerald was equally happy for her.


“Sure thing! I’ll come look for you in two days’ time. We’ll have a big celebration together for you then!”
replied Gerald as he smiled.


“Alright! Ah, do note that that date may not be fixed. I may have a short holiday in a few days’ time so we may need to discuss it again then. Speaking of celebrations, how do you plan to celebrate your birthday tomorrow?”


After the two talked about his birthday plans for a short while, Mila eventually said that she needed to take a bath, so they both ended the call.


Just as Gerald was about to put his phone down, his phone started ringing again.

Chapter 560
This time, it was a call from Giya.


“It’s your birthday tomorrow right, Gerald?” asked Giya as soon as he picked up.

“Hmm…”


“Humph! Why didn’t you invite me over to celebrate with you then? I was waiting all day for you to call me today! It’s already this late yet you still haven’t invited me… Could it be that you’ve already forgotten about me?”


“Not at all. It’s just that since I’m back in my hometown, I was just planning to have a simple birthday
celebration!” explained Gerald.


To be completely honest, Gerald really hadn’t planned to invite Giya at all.


Though she was very nice to him, Gerald simply wanted to be together with Mila now. He didn’t want to get too close to other girls. Therefore, he summarized that continuing to have such a complicated relationship with Giya just wouldn’t do.


What more, Giya had gotten into trouble when she was here with him the last time. Gerald felt embarrassed to even invite her to come over again.


“Whether you’re inviting me or not, I’m coming over to your house to look for you tomorrow. Unless… you don’t regard me as your friend at all…?”


Giya leaned her head against the bed’s headboard as she spoke through the landline. She was currently
in a room in a villa.


Over the line, Gerald could only agree helplessly as he nodded. Immediately after that, he came up with an excuse saying that he was busy and ended the call.


“Humph! You b*stard! You’re really heartless toward me!” said Giya with a desolate expression on her
face before hanging up as well.


She had initially expected Gerald to take the initiative to invite her over to celebrate his birthday with him. On the contrary, she now felt that if she hadn’t called him, he definitely wouldn’t have invited her over at all.

What more, since that major incident, whenever she tried looking for Gerald just to have a simple chat
with him, he’d always reply indifferently. At most, it was common for him to reply with just a few words.


This made Giya slightly uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable she felt, the more she couldn’t help but
overthink the matter.


At that moment, knocking could be heard on her bedroom door.


“Giya? Are you asleep? Your father and I have some things to discuss with you!” said Giya’s mother from
behind the door.


“Dad, mom, I’m not asleep yet! You can come in!”


Both her parents then entered her bedroom. Giya could see that her father had a very sad expression on his face.


“Giya, I know that you don’t want to hear this, but the Quarrington family in Yanken is giving us the orders this time. They want you to get engaged with the third young master from the Long family in Yanken. There’s really nothing else that we can do about the matter.”


“Mr. Crawford has already helped us settle our family’s economic problems last time. However, the Quarrington family is still pressuring us even now. We really can’t do anything about it and we can’t always rely on Mr. Crawford to help us. So tell us Giya, what do you think about a marriage contract with the Long family?” asked Giya’s father.


Giya’s mother sighed before saying, “Though we’ve already ended our relationship with the Quarrington family, the influence and power they hold over us is simply too great. Please don’t blame your father, he’s done everything he’s could. You have to consider how this is putting the company’s interests at
stake here. In extension, it’s also going to affect your uncles and all the other employees working for our family as well!”


“Is there really no other way? You know, we can still beg Gerald to help us! He’ll definitely help me!”
replied Giya, her eyes tearing up.

“Giya, though Mr. Crawford is very capable, the Mayberry Commercial Group is only influential in Mayberry City. The Quarrington and Long family, on the other hand, have even bigger groups and corporations in Yanken!” said her father with a sigh.


“What more, the third young master of the Long family may even come over to pay us a visit tomorrow. You’ll have to stay home and prepare to meet up with him. If he leaves a really bad impression on you, we may still have some time to think of a solution then!” added Giya’s father.


“No! I’m not free tomorrow! It’s Gerald’s birthday and I’m going to celebrate it with him!” replied Giya
angrily.


“You are not to go anywhere tomorrow. You shouldn’t bother Mr. Crawford about our issues anymore.
You’re just a young girl who doesn’t understand anything at all!”


As soon as he finished his sentence, Giya’s father pulled her mother out of her bedroom immediately.


Giya was so anxious about the whole thing that she was ready to burst into tears.


Moving back to Gerald, he woke up at six in the morning the next day.


Gerald had a call with Zack last night. He wanted to welcome his 22nd birthday.


Since the guests could arrive early, Gerald decided to tidy up the place a little first.


At that moment, a girl suddenly entered through the front door.


“Gerald! I heard from my mother that you had come back, but I’ve tried looking for you a few times and you were never home!”

Chapter 561
“Lolita?” said Gerald as he couldn’t help but smile.

He treated the girl like a younger sister. Lolita grew up with both Gerald and Xeno. She was also
somewhat related to Xeno’s family.


Unlike Gerald and Xeno, Lolita had a pretty good family background. Her family owned a shop in town, specializing in making cakes and snacks. Because of that, she usually lived in town, rarely ever coming home.


Since Gerald and Xeno were still paupers who couldn’t even afford any good clothes back then, Lolita
rarely played with both of them.


She didn’t talk to them much either, even though they were all classmates from the same elementary school. In short, there wasn’t much interaction between the two boys and her at all. One could say that it was similar to Gerald’s relationship with Queeny.


Unlike Queeny, however, they started interacting and forming a friendship late in junior high school.


In their first and second grade, Lolita coincidentally continued to share the same class with Gerald and Xeno. Even then, both parties still rarely interacted.


Things changed, however, when they were in their third grade.


Lolita had gotten into a fight with another girl then, and it was a huge one.


After school that day, Lolita’s way home was blocked by several ruffians from the same grade. The girl had ordered them to give Lolita some trouble to teach her a lesson.


However, Gerald and Xeno had seen what they were up to, and they led Lolita away from them.


Though Gerald was still a nobody back then, Xeno was famous for his fights at school.

When the group of ruffians saw him, they didn’t dare to do anything to the trio. In short, they had saved
Lolita from a world of trouble that day.


From that day onwards, Lolita treated both Gerald and Xeno nicely, and they became friends just like that.


She would always secretly buy cigarettes for Xeno. As for Gerald, she would bring him cakes and pastries.


When they reached the age of high school, Lolita found that she had been admitted into the Third High School. It was considered to be the worst high school in the county.


Since none of them had cell phones when they were in high school, they couldn’t keep in constant
contact with each other. They would only get a chance to get together and chat during New Year.


“When did you get back? Why didn’t you send me a text message or something?” complained Lolita.


“I’ve just been back for a few days! I’ve been wandering around town and the county. To be honest, I was just about to ask Xeno for your phone number!” replied Gerald as he smiled.


He wasn’t lying about that either. After all, he was planning to invite her over to celebrate his birthday
with him too.


“Humph! Well at least you haven’t forgotten about me yet! By the way, aren’t you up to date with the messages in our junior high school class group chat? …Actually, wait. I don’t think you’re in it. But either way, today’s Chase’s birthday! He’s said that he wanted all our old classmates to get together since we haven’t met each other in such a long time.”


“Since he was going to host a birthday celebration anyway, he decided to make it a class gathering as well to kill two birds with one stone! Even our junior high school class teacher and English teacher will be attending today. Will you join us?” asked Lolita.

“Mr. Weiss will be attending as well? Hasn’t he already retired this year?” asked Gerald as he tried to
recall who Chase was.


Though he had trouble remembering who the classmate was, Gerald could easily remember his class teacher, Mr. Carson Weiss. In fact, the memory of his teacher was very clear.


Mr. Weiss had been a particularly kind teacher who taught him the Weston dialect.


Back then, Gerald had a very difficult time at home and he couldn’t even afford to pay for his own textbooks. Mr. Weiss had always been there to help him, even going so far as to pay for Gerald’s textbook with his own money.


Gerald could still remember those scenes clearly in his mind.


In his first two years of university, Gerald would live a frugal lifestyle just so that he could save up some money. When he returned to his hometown for the New Year’s, regardless of how expensive it was, he would always bring some gifts with him whenever he visited Mr. Weiss. In the past two years, however, Gerald found it hard to even afford to pay for his own tuition fees. He was in such a destitute state back then that he couldn’t even visit Mr. Weiss at all.


“I heard that Mr. Weiss fell critically ill last year… Is he doing alright now?” asked Gerald.


“He’s recovered from that a long time ago. How else could he possibly have agreed to attend Chase’s birthday celebration today?”


“Actually, stop asking so many questions! You’ll be able to ask him personally when you meet him face to face later! He’s always thought very highly of you and Xeno, even from back then! He’ll definitely be very pleased to see you today. Though we’ve arranged to meet up at eight, you can bet that Mr. Weiss will definitely come earlier than that just so that he can chat more with us!”


“That’s great to hear! However, I don’t think I’ll be able to participate in the gathering,” said Gerald
somewhat embarrassedly.

Chapter 562
“Oh? Are you busy or something? Oh! Don’t worry, it’ll be Chase’s treat today! Even if we have to settle our own bills, I’ll back you up, alright?” said Lolita as she assumed Gerald’s worries.


Naturally, it wasn’t about monetary issues. It was just that Gerald still had to celebrate his own birthday today!


Even if Gerald turned her invitation down, it wouldn’t matter much to Lolita. However, since he now
knew that Mr. Weiss would be attending as well, he couldn’t help but feel like he would be letting his ex-
teacher down if he didn’t join the gathering.


“No, it’s not about the money… In all honesty, I was originally planning to invite you to celebrate my birthday with me today! But since you’ve mentioned Mr. Weiss, how about this? I’ll just go along with you to have a brief chat with him. After that, I’ll return and get back to my own celebration!” replied Gerald.


“…Oh? It’s your birthday today? Well this is embarrassing! Alright, I think your plan sounds good. We’ll
go there, have a chat with Mr. Weiss and the rest of our classmates, then we’ll leave together and celebrate your birthday! What about Xeno? Have you already invited him?” asked Lolita.


“I have, but he’s told me that he can only come over at noon. His business is still new after all, and he
hasn’t had the time to hire more employees yet. He has to deal with so many things!”


“Alright! And yeah, he’s really impressive now! Though my dad used to look down on his family, he
personally brought some gifts over to them yesterday!” replied Lolita, slightly enviously.


Gerald simply nodded without adding anything to that.


By the time their plans were finalized, it was nearing eight o’clock.


Both of them then rushed to the designated restaurant in town. Since Gerald lived in the main village, the main street in town was within walking distance.

Meanwhile, several of their former junior high classmates were already at the restaurant’s entrance.


They were all gathered together as they chatted among themselves. After all, wasn’t this the purpose of
all class reunions? Meetings like these would always be very cordial.


The contents of their conversations mostly regarded their current status quos as well as ample reminiscing of their shared pasts.


“Look there! Lolita’s here!” said a few classmates as they pointed toward her and Gerald.


“…Huh? That’s Gerald right? Well d*mn! I didn’t think that he’d be here today!”


“Hahaha! I know right? I thought he had already disappeared off the face of the earth. Nobody would have expected to see him here today!”


“You know, I heard some news that Gerald lived a miserable life in university. He was even struggling to pay for his own tuition fees! Another friend of mine told me that when he was having a meal with his own friend in Mayberry City, he saw Gerald washing the dishes in the kitchen! It was too embarrassing for him to even go up to Gerald and say hello!”


“Heh, he’s always been poor after all. He doesn’t really have a choice but to take on any jobs he can find!”


When everyone saw Gerald, he immediately became the main topic of their conversations and they simply laughed.


Within the group, one of the girls clearly stood out among her other classmates due to her outstanding temperament. She was just chatting with her friends when she heard Gerald’s name being mentioned.


She immediately felt goosebumps on her skin as she blushed and turned to look at Gerald who was still walking over.

“Hehe… You used to be in a relationship with Gerald, right Sherry? Don’t even try to deny that both of
you used to date!” said one of the girls as she covered her mouth with a hand, trying not to laugh.


“Don’t go spouting nonsense! When were we ever in a relationship?” replied Sherry as her cheeks
became as red as tomatoes.


“Both of you were definitely in a relationship at one point. I can still remember you exchanging letters
with him! You used to be very close to Gerald!” added the same girl from before.


“That’s not true…!” replied Sherry in a softer tone.


“Sherry, don’t you remember why Xeno beat someone up...? Hehe… Anyway, let’s forget about that. Let’s just talk about something else!”


Realizing that she had almost stepped on a landmine, the girl quickly tried to change the topic as she stuck her tongue out rather awkwardly.


“By the way, are you still seeing the guy who tried to beat Gerald up back then?” asked another girl.


“We’ve stopped seeing each other a long time ago…” replied Sherry as she blushed.


After saying that, she turned to look at Gerald again. She hadn’t met him for the past six years.

Chapter 563
When Gerald was finally close enough, he started greeting the classmates who came over to say hello to him.


He also saw Sherry, and Gerald couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed as well.


After all, both of them had dated before in the past. Though they technically hadn’t truly dated, the
relationship they shared back then was similar enough to dating.

In short, it had been quite an ambiguous relationship.


Sherry had also been the reason why Yale, the school bully, set his eyes on Gerald in the first place.


Everyone knew what happened next. In the end, Sherry got together with Yale.


Gerald had earlier wondered whether she would be here at the gathering as well.


It would be extremely awkward and embarrassing to meet her today. After all, he hated her. He hated her a lot.


Though Xeno and Gerald had done everything because of her, she still decided to be with their rival instead.


Xeno lost his opportunity to continue studying. And it was all because of her.


How couldn’t it be awkward for Gerald? He wasn’t even sure what kind of attitude he should show
toward her at this point!


Even though they had been quite close to each other before that incident, both of them completely stopped talking to each other after it happened.


Should Gerald strive to take revenge on her?


After giving it some thought, he realized that it was her own choice to be with him in the end. That had nothing to do with Gerald.


If he really wanted to settle the score, he should look for Yale.


Making his mind up, he simply decided to ignore her.

“Hehe… He’s quite ruthless. Gerald didn’t even bother to come over and say hello to you at all! By the
way, Sherry, doesn’t Gerald seem to have a pretty good temperament now? What more, he’s dressed so well now! He’s actually quite handsome!” said one of the girls as she laughed.


Sherry found herself fixing her own hair. She couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable when she
heard someone else praising Gerald. It felt as though someone had just landed a mental slap to her face.


After all, she had been the one who had dumped him. If he was truly living a better life now, of course she would feel uncomfortable!


“Yeah, he is pretty handsome!” replied Sherry casually.


“Hey! Our class teacher and Miss Yahn are here!” shouted a voice.


At that moment, a car stopped by the restaurant’s entrance. As the back door opened, an old man in his
sixties stepped out. It was Mr. Weiss in the flesh.


The one driving was a rather young lady who looked to be around the age of twenty-seven. She was equally mature, sexy, and beautiful. Bearing a very good temperament herself, the woman in question was Kristen Yang, their old English teacher from third grade.


Back when she taught them, she had just graduated from university at the age of twenty-two. She was a
replacement teacher for Gerald’s class.


Due to her beauty and youth, she got along easily with her students.


However, Gerald simply gave a simple glance toward her. He didn’t have any intentions of greeting her.


When he saw Mr. Weiss however, he immediately ran over to help him out of the car.


“Gerald? It’s you! Why didn’t you come visit me in the past two years?”

When Mr. Weiss saw Gerald, his wrinkled face was immediately filled with joy. As he spoke, he held on
to Gerald’s hand excitedly.


Mr. Weiss had taken really good care of both Gerald and Xeno in the past, and Gerald had never forgotten all the kindness he had received.


Gerald then quickly explained why he hadn’t been visiting.


“Pfft. Why are you here, Gerald? Just look at you. What are you even working as now? Why’re you
dressed so pretentiously?” said Kirsten as she skimmed a glance at Gerald. She had a satirical expression on her face.


Xeno once had a conflict with Kristen in the past. Ever since that day, she had hated both him and Gerald. Though Gerald hadn’t been directly involved with it, the friend of her enemy was also her enemy.


It was his own fault for being such good friends with Xeno.


Back then, she would consistently make things difficult for both Xeno and Gerald who were simply paupers in her class. How dare they go against her?


This was also the reason why Gerald hadn’t planned to greet her earlier. After hearing her remark, he simply looked at her without saying another word.


Mr. Weiss broke the silence by saying, “Gerald, you’re an adult now so you can drink alcohol! Why don’t
we use this opportunity? Accompany me and let’s have a drink!”


“Mr. Weiss, wait…”

Chapter 564
Just as Gerald was about to say something, he was promptly cut off by another person talking loudly. It was Chase.

“Wow! So many of our classmates are here today! All of you are really giving me a lot of face for attending! I’ve already made all the necessary arrangements today so why not enter first before continuing to chat?”


As he scanned through the crowd, he saw Mr. Weiss and Kristen. With a smile on his face, he walked over to both of them before saying, “Mr. Weiss! Miss Yahn! Welcome, let’s go in and have a seat first! Eh? You’re here too Gerald? Well Alright then! Let’s go in together!”


Chase was slightly surprised to see Gerald so he simply greeted him casually.


“Hey Sherry, come over here. Can’t you see that our class teacher is already here?” called out Chase
when he saw her.


As soon as she stood beside him, Chase immediately interlocked his fingers with hers.


Most of their classmates were taken aback when they saw this, and this included Gerald.


Sherry was apparently in a relationship with Chase!


Gerald immediately knew that it was only going to get more awkward the longer he stayed at the gathering.


However, he couldn’t just leave now because Mr. Weiss was still holding on to his hand.


‘I can tell Mr. Weiss about it then,’ Gerald thought to himself.


Once everyone had entered the room, the classmates continued chatting among themselves.


The common topic shared by most of the conversations, was regarding the classmates’ current situations.

Chase naturally seemed to be the one who was doing best.


After all, he had started working even before he finished high school. He had learned about the ins and outs of big trucks from his uncle.


Chase had used his family’s wealth to buy himself two big trucks. Now, he’s started his own small-scale logistics company.


Compared to the rest of his peers in the county, he was definitely doing very well. It was no wonder why Sherry chose to be with Chase.


“Heh, what a blessing for Sherry to be able to be together with Chase now. She must be enjoying the life
of a lady boss now! Hahaha!”


“I know right? She’s so beautiful. I guess that’s why she’s so lucky!”


Several of the classmates were talking about her enviously.


“By the way, Gerald, what are you doing now?” asked Chase out of the blue.


Though both Chase and Gerald didn’t have many notable interactions back in junior high, Chase was well aware of Gerald’s past with Sherry.


It was natural for a boyfriend to express hate toward his girlfriend’s ex, and this was exactly what Chase
was feeling at that moment.


What more, Gerald was dressed even better than he was! Seeing how well dressed Gerald was made Chase ask his tentative question.


Mr. Weiss was looking at Gerald as well.

“I’m just doing my own business!” replied Gerald.


“Hahaha! Oh god, Gerald’s actually started his own business?”


At that moment, a few female classmates immediately burst out laughing.


“What kind of business are you running? Are you selling socks at the night market?”


“Hahaha! Really now, are you just starting a business because everyone else is doing the same? Gerald, it’s not like we’re trying to put you down, but you should be more self-aware of yourself! Wouldn’t it be easier for someone like you to just look for a job somewhere?”


Kristen had been the one who asked that question. She then sneered before adding, “I’m not trying to pick a bone with you or Xeno, but even though both of you have really good grades, the two of you are at the bottom of society! Do you know why? It’s because both of you have no connections. You even
lack a proper family background! I heard that Xeno’s fixing cars for people right now, right? What future is there in doing something like that?!”


She ended her sentence as she smiled contemptuously.


“That’s not right, Miss Yahn. On the contrary, Xeno’s doing very well now. He’s opened his own large automobile trading company, or at least that’s what I heard!”


“Yeah, I heard the same thing. He was really lucky since the Dream Investment Group decided to invest in his company!”


When Kristen heard this, she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.


“So what? It won’t be long before those people will decide to withdraw their capital and investment!
When that time comes, Xeno will just have to go back to repairing cars then!”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Speaking of which, Chase, didn’t you inform Xeno about the gathering today?” asked Mr. Weiss quickly to change the subject, sensing the awkwardness in the atmosphere.


“Oh! No I didn’t! I don’t really keep in touch with him,” replied Chase as he put his teacup down before
sneering.


“I actually contacted him! Also, while I have all your attention now, Chase! You’re actually not the only one celebrating your birthday today! You share the same birthday with another of our classmates!” said one of the girls out of the blue.

Chapter 565
“Oh? Another classmate is celebrating their birthday today too?” asked Chase as he smiled with a
slightly raised brow.


“That’s right! Today is Kirk’s birthday as well! Going back to Xeno, when I told him about the celebration,
Xeno told me that he wasn’t free to attend today!”


Kirk was another of their junior high classmates. Though he was a pretty honest and straightforward person, academic-wise, he was always at the bottom of the class.


His family owned a cement factory and since he realized he wasn’t cut out for studying, he immediately
started working for his family after graduating from junior high school.


Everyone was now looking at Kirk.


“Well d*mn! Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday today too, Kirk? Well this is embarrassing! Hahaha!” said Chase.


“So it’s your birthday today too! Everyone, let’s add Kirk on WeChat so that we can each give him a red envelope for his birthday!”


Hearing the suggestion from one of their classmates, the crowd cheered in agreement.

Mr. Weiss simply smiled before saying, “Why don’t you young people give gifts as birthday presents anymore? When I was your age, I had to prepare my own gifts to give to other people! Now that we have WeChat, things have become much more convenient!”


“They really have, Mr. Weiss! We can just send red envelopes to settle everything! From birthdays, to wedding celebrations!” replied the girls as they laughed.


“I’ve already added you on WeChat, Kirk! Remember to accept the red envelope!”


“Alright, alright! Thank you so much, everyone! I really hadn’t expected my birthday to be on the same day as Chase’s!”


Seeing how well he was being treated by all his classmates, Kirk was feeling extremely flattered. He kept thanking them over and over again.


“What a coincidence! While Kirk and Chase share the same birth date, someone else does as well! Have you all already forgotten who else used to celebrate his birthday on the same day as Chase back in junior high?” said Lolita hurriedly when she saw everyone sending money over to Kirk for his birthday.


“Who? Nobody really comes to mind!”


Several of the classmates seemed very puzzled.


“Humph! If you really can’t guess, it’s Gerald! His birthday is today too! He’s always celebrated his birthday on the same day as Chase. Three of our classmates are celebrating their birthdays today!” said Lolita.


“Oh, so it’s Gerald!”


The classmates then nodded to acknowledge that they now knew. However, nobody said anything else.

“Speaking of which, Chase, I heard that there’s going to be some activities in Fuenti later in the afternoon. Let’s go over there and have some fun! My dad said that it’s really lively over there!” said one of the girls cheerfully to break the silence.


“Yeah, that’s what I heard too! Why don’t we all go there to enjoy ourselves later?”


Everyone there seemed to agree with the suggestion.


“I’m fine with that. How many cars do we have here? Oh, and Miss Yahn! You should come with us later in the afternoon too! Now let’s see if we have enough space to carpool everyone to save on cab fares!” suggested Chase.


After he said that, a headcount was done and there were just enough cars to accommodate everyone.


However, upon doing a second headcount, they found that one extra person wouldn’t be able to join
the carpool.


“Well this is awkward! There’s one person left and it really isn’t worth renting a cab just for a single
person!” said one of the girls.


One of the guys coughed before saying, “If that’s the case, then Gerald shouldn’t join us. He has his business to attend to anyway, so if he comes along, we’ll only be stopping him from doing his work!” He then laughed.


“That’s right. I think Gerald shouldn’t come along either! Hahaha!”


“I won’t be going anyway. All of you go have your fun. Mr. Weiss, the only reason why I came here today
was to meet you. I was originally planning to invite you over to my own birthday banquet today, but it seems that that idea would be inconvenient now. I’ll come meet you in the next two days. I’ll be taking my leave first to attend to some things!” said Gerald as he explained his plans to Mr. Weiss.

“That’s fine then, Gerald. Go on now if you’re busy!” said Mr. Weiss who knew that everyone was ridiculing and making fun of Gerald. He was aware that it would only continue to become more difficult for Gerald the longer he stayed here.

Chapter 566
After that, Gerald looked at Lolita and she nodded before bidding farewell to Mr. Weiss as well.


“What? They’re actually leaving? Did they really just come here to visit Mr. Weiss? What a load of bullshit! What about us? Don’t we exist?” exclaimed a few of the girls, visibly upset.


“Right? Are you holding a grudge against us just because we didn’t wish you a happy birthday?”


“Gerald, I’ll be frank. It’s not that I don’t want to wish you a happy birthday through Line, but I really don’t want your number on my phone in the first place! Hahaha!”


“D*mn! Roasted!”


Immediately after that, everyone began laughing. Laughing at him seemed to be their favorite form of amusement after all.


Gerald simply remained silent. He knew that it wouldn’t be difficult to make them eat their own words.
However, he decided to be the bigger person and just left with Lolita. Having a major reaction to his
classmates’ mockery would be pretty petty of him after all.


Sherry on the other hand, shook her head as she watched them leave. Throughout the gathering, she had been watching Gerald the entire time. She felt that Gerald was nothing compared to Chase and she was glad that she didn’t end up with him.


“Well that was infuriating! Did you hear what they said? Even Miss Yahn is still on to you! If I wasn’t this close to them I would’ve started a fight for you!” huffed Lolita.


“Don’t waste your energy on them!” said Gerald as he continued pulling Lolita’s hand.

Around twenty minutes later, both of them reached their hometown.


“So Gerald, are you celebrating your birthday at home? Do you want me to cook for you? Just so you
know, I’m pretty good at making noodles!” said Lolita.


She seemed to be worried that Gerald’s self-esteem was now in shambles. She took the blame personally since she was the one who had invited him to the gathering. She then continued, “Let’s just forget about them. Actually, since Xeno’s doing pretty well now, we could work under him and stick together! Just like in the old days!”


“Just like the old days indeed!” replied Gerald with a smile. “However, I won’t be celebrating my birthday at home. We’ll be celebrating it in Fuenti instead. I booked a spot at Sunny Springs.”


“…Huh? Sunny Springs? Real funny, Gerald. Someone’s already reserved the entire place! And I don’t just mean just the hotel!” said Lolita in a slight panic just thinking about it. “How could you even have managed to make a reservation there?”


Honestly, Gerald didn’t understand why Zack reserved the entire place either. From what Gerald had expected, there wouldn’t be any more than thirty people attending his birthday celebration. However, Zack could have added some of his own plans, thus Gerald didn’t question him about it.


Gerald then gave a gentle smile before replying, “You’ll understand later. Now let’s go, it’s already eight! We have to hurry since there are others I have to pick up!”


“Wait, you’re being serious? But how will we get there? Fuenti’s quite far away from here!” asked Lolita
as she tilted her head. Gerald was acting quite strange and this made Lolita increasingly confused.


“By car. Our ride’s in that alley over there. I’ll drive it out and then we can go pick up the Winters!” said
Gerald as he shook his car keys before her to see.


When they arrived at the alley, Lolita was left utterly shocked when she saw their ride.


“A-An Audi A6? Is this your car, Gerald?” asked Lolita, frozen in place.

“Nope. It’s a company car. You’ll be able to see mine in the hotel when we get there!” replied Gerald with a smile. He then turned to look at the shocked-frozen girl before saying, “Come on now. Get in while I give Mr. Winters a call…”

Chapter 567
After picking everyone up, there were four people in the car as they headed for Fuenti. It took roughly around twenty minutes for them to arrive at Sunny Springs.


Gerald really hadn’t expected to see such a huge crowd. Luxury cars continued to enter, one after another, and several hawkers had congregated at Sunny Springs’s entrance. After all, this was their prime opportunity to make a profit off the ever-growing crowd. Rather than a birthday celebration, it looked like an entire festival.


‘How lively!’ Gerald thought to himself.


A red carpet had been laid out from the entrance all the way to the hotel, and dozens of employees were rushing around, busy welcoming any honored guests they could see.


If it weren’t for Zack, Gerald really wouldn’t have thought of hosting something on such a grand scale. It didn’t even feel like the event was to celebrate his birthday anymore.


“Christ, there’s so many people here! How did you even manage to make a reservation, Gerald? It’s impossible for me to even imagine!” asked Lolita, still very puzzled.


“She’s right, sonny! Let’s just find a nice little diner to celebrate. Better yet, your momma could cook for
us! It’s just so crowded here and the food is so expensive!” exclaimed Mr. Winters.


“Don’t worry about any of that, we’ll still be celebrating here!” said Gerald with a chuckle.


Gerald knew that there was nothing to hide anymore. The celebration was made for him, and him alone. Just as Gerald was about to explain himself, Francis and a few of his friends approached them.


“Grandpa? Grandma? What are you doing here?” asked Francis when he saw them.

“Ah, Francis! You didn’t tell us that your grandparents were coming! We could’ve told the employees to let them in. We only got in because of our leader too!” said one of his friends.


Francis coughed before saying, “Just as you said, we’re only here because of our leader. It’s not like we’re here for work, but could we even ask for something like that? Since my parents weren’t invited either, even they can only hang out around this area!”


“Well, we’re here to celebrate Gerald’s birthday. Speaking of which, where are your parents now?”
asked Mr. Winters as he explained.


“Pfft! Gerald’s birthday? Then why are all of you even here? This entire place is reserved!” said Francis
as he glared at Gerald.


Francis knew how good-tempered his grandparents were. To him, Gerald had brought the two of them—who were both obviously clueless—over despite knowing full well that the place had been fully reserved. It was as though Gerald only wanted to embarrass him in front of his colleagues.


“Dad? Mom? What brings you two here?” asked Boss, his annoyance reflected in his tone. All of a sudden, the entire family seemed to have gathered over to talk to them.


The other Winters had attended the event, knowing that it was a celebration for some powerful figure. Not only was the celebration being hosted in the exquisite Sunny Springs, several celebrities had also been invited over. This was a prime chance for them to have some fun.


Aside from that, it was also the perfect opportunity for them to expand their network. This was the gist of why the entire family was here.


“Humph, why else? Gerald brought them here!” huffed Francis as he explained the situation to the rest
of his family.


“Hah! What a joke! Have a good look around you! As if someone like you could ever celebrate your
birthday here!” said Sandrilla as she chuckled, her arms crossed.

She thought that it was impossible for Gerald to reserve a table here. After all, if he had indeed managed to do so, that would mean that he was even more powerful than her own daughter! There was just no way that that could ever be true!


“Indeed! I thought that you’d just find some diner downtown to celebrate! Who would’ve thought that you would instead come over to Fuenti? If we knew your plans, we would’ve brought mom and dad over ourselves! Who do you even think you are?” added the third sister in law.

Chapter 568
“Settle down now, today’s Gerald’s birthday and he said that he’d treat us to dinner. Since all of you don’t seem to have anything better to do, let’s just celebrate his birthday together! Show us to the restaurant, Gerald!” suggested Mr. Winters.


“What? We’re busy dad. You know, we’re going to have dinner with some of Boss’s friends. Why don’t you come with us instead?” asked the first sister in law.


She then turned to look at Francis before saying, “Fran, Jazz, both of you can run along now. You don’t
have to waste any more time here, and remember to be on your best behavior when your leader
arrives!”


Francis and his colleagues nodded immediately. They knew how important the event was. After glaring at Gerald one final time, Francis left with his colleagues.


As for Queeny, she had been quietly observing Gerald the entire time.


Just a while ago, everyone was making fun of Gerald. Some were even openly insulting him. However,
Queeny knew better since she was already aware that Gerald had quite a bit of influence in the
attraction. Back in the day, Gerald would’ve just lowered his head in embarrassment. Now, however, he
was smiling. He had been smiling the entire time.


‘How is he so confident now? Where did all this confidence even come from?’


‘Could Gerald really be a powerful figure now?’

These were the thoughts swimming in Queeny’s mind. Queeny had been very uneasy since the day she last met Gerald. She just couldn’t put her finger on why. She was simply afraid of hearing any more about Gerald, thus she hadn’t told her parents anything regarding the incident.


However, after hearing Gerald say that he was celebrating his birthday here, she was now growing more and more worried by the second.


“Hmm? Mr. Winters? It really is you!” called out an old, husky voice from behind them. Gerald turned to
see who had spoken, and he saw an old man. Behind him, followed a family of four.


“Waxham! I didn’t expect to see you here!” exclaimed Mr. Winters excitedly.


Waxham’s family members greeted them politely as well. As Gerald scanned through the family, he froze when he saw the two girls standing behind the middle-aged couple. They were Michelle and Xabrina Waxham.


“So, how did the blind date go? I tried asking Elle, but she just wouldn’t tell me anything! I just want to know how it went. Oh Gerald, is our darling Elle really not to your liking?”


“Dad, stop talking about him! Maybe he just backed off because he knew he was too poor to be able to
date our dear little Elle!” said Michelle’s mother.


They hadn’t expected the old man to ask about the blind date right off the bat.


Though honestly, what else was there to ask about?


She had rejected him before they even met. Did the old man really think that no one would marry his granddaughter?


Mr. Winters then coughed before saying, “Well, Waxham, this here is Gerald. I’m equally as confused as to what happened that day as well!”

“What? He’s Gerald?” blurted Michelle’s mother. She was now too embarrassed to speak another word.
She simply gave a few more peeks at Gerald.


Xabrina on the other hand, immediately started jumping for joy. “Gerald! We meet again!”


Gerald simply gave a gentle smile at her. Michelle on the other hand, awkwardly took a few steps backward. It was clear that Gerald favored her sister much more than her.


“Mom! Dad! Look there, isn’t that Gerald?” shouted a feminine voice. A girl had pointed at Gerald and
she was now approaching them.


“Humph! He’s probably just here to check out what the deal is with this crowd. Who cares if it even is Gerald?” scoffed a middle-aged man.

Chapter 569
It was the Jungs.


Willie had been very excited about the event. However, as soon as he saw Gerald, his expression immediately darkened.


Gerald himself dreaded seeing them as well. In the past, he would’ve still greeted them out of
politeness. Now, however, such courtesy was no longer necessary.


“Oh my god, look! There are so many luxury cars!”


“Really? Where? Oh god, you’re right!”


Scream after scream could be heard from within the crowd as the cars made their way through. The crowd made sure to split accordingly to allow the cars to pass. As they did so, the employees readied themselves to welcome their new guests.

A middle-aged couple stepped out of the first vehicle, hand in hand.


“A warm welcome to Mr. Samuel Edwards and Mrs. Jennifer Edwards!” As soon as the employees saw
the couple, all of them immediately bowed.


“Oh my god, it’s the Edwards! Mr. Edward is the top philanthropist in Sunnydale! He used to be the
richest man there too! I didn’t expect him to come here! ”


“I know right? The Edwards retired early and have been traveling around the world since! I can’t believe they’re actually here right now!”


“Even television crews have trouble catching them on tape!”


Everyone was either gossiping or taking photos of Mr. Edward and his wife using their phones.


“Dad, gramps, this is exciting, isn’t it? Mr. Edward used to be the richest man in Sunnydale!” explained
Francis and Jasper smugly as they approached Gerald and his group of three.


This was the first time Mr. Winters had ever seen such a famous figure so close up. He could barely hide his shock and excitement, and the same went for the Waxhams as well.


From the next vehicle, another middle-aged couple stepped out and behind them, their son followed.


“My, my! It’s Mr. Novelzada! He owns quite a few film companies both in Hong Kong and in Mayberry!”


“What brings them here?”


“Oh! This is so exciting! Could they perhaps be planning to build a film company here in Fuenti?”


“Humph! You know, they really are planning on building a film company here! They were planning this when I was in office!” said Francis cockily as he heard the chattering from the speculating crowd.

At that moment, the crowd began cheering wildly again. Everyone was looking at the new guest that had just made his entrance.


“Holy! That’s Mr. Steven Russell! He’s the richest man in Mondale!”


The people in the crowd all stared at him in awe as he walked past.


“What are all these famous people doing here, dad? What’s the occasion?” asked Leila, still in shock.


Since Francis was working with the company, he had an idea of what was actually going on.


“Heh, who else would be this powerful to invite all these people? It’s definitely an event for Mr. Crawford! Though the specifics of how powerful he really is in this area is currently unknown, it’s safe to say that he definitely has quite the network!” explained Francis again with an extremely smug look on his face.


“What? Mr. Crawford? So he’s the one celebrating his birthday?” asked Leila.


The information caught on quickly and began spreading like wildfire among those in the crowd.


Everyone was exclaiming, “Oh, so that’s why! It’s Mr. Crawford’s birthday! Who else would come to a small town like Fuenti?”


“Speaking of which, why hasn’t there been any news about Mr. Crawford on the internet?” asked a
curious person in the crowd.


“Why else? Mr. Crawford just likes keeping a low profile!”


“That’s right! Only a select few in the world know what Mr. Crawford actually looks like!”

A loud discussion had now begun among the people in the crowd.


“So it really is Mr. Crawford’s birthday today! I was right!”

Chapter 570
It was then that the rest of the Winters realized that the celebration was being held for such a powerful figure.


Gerald, on the other hand, was being squeezed within the crowd, feeling slightly stunned. He hadn’t expected Zack to go all out with the celebration, nor had he imagined that so many famous celebrities would be invited over.


He had estimated for only thirty people to participate at most, and this was clearly way more than that!


“Wait! Guys, look! Isn’t that Mr. Zebriel from Sunnydale?”


“Oh f*ck, it is! Even Mr. Zebriel’s here!”


The crowd had been continuously shocked by the main guests of the event.


“Say mom, I’m going to go take some photos, could you guys take care of my stuff? Okay guys, let’s go!”
said Francis in a serious tone as he rushed off while holding his camera.


With celebrities arriving at the scene one after another, nothing could make the crowd shut up.


Mr. Winters himself was delighted. After all, he had only been able to see all these people on television before. Many famous actors and actresses were present for the celebration as well.


At that moment, several luxury sports cars arrived at the entrance and out stepped the many rich heirs of Mayberry.


“Oh god, there are so many cute guys! And they’re all rich heirs too!” squealed several girls.

“That’s Yoel Holden, Mr. Crawford’s godbrother! I’ve seen photos of him online! Though he’s a little on
the chubbier side, he still manages to pull the look off! He’s so cute, I love him so much!”


“And that’s Aiden Baker! He’s the best looking one among them all! He’s so tall and handsome! You know, I heard that he looks pretty similar to Mr. Crawford! I’d be able to die without regrets if he just gave me a tiny kiss!”


“Oh! Oh! And that guy there is…”


As the list went on, many of the girls gathered upfront, making sure to capture as many photos as they possibly could.


“Gosh, these boys are just so good looking, and they’re filthy rich as well! Now, I don’t really hope for too much from you girls, but if you find someone even half as good as they are, I’d be so much prouder of you!” exclaimed Michelle’s mother.


She had high hopes for her daughters. If they could someday successfully marry one of those rich heirs, her life would become so much better.


With hands in their pockets, Yoel and Aiden slowly walked toward the entrance. Since they had sunglasses on, the constant flashes from the cameras didn’t bother them at all. They had been told by the organizers that they would be taking a group photo in the plaza.


As he continued watching the employees greet the famous figures, Willie only grew more and more envious. His cheeks were a bright red due to all his pent up anger.


“See that guy? If it weren’t for him, I’d be the one welcoming the guests!” huffed Willie, green with
envy.


Only experienced employees were allowed to enter the building to greet the famous people. Since Willie was only able to watch from the crowd, it was obvious why he was feeling so upset.

“Look at that. The attraction’s employees brought their families and relatives along with them! Why don’t we have someone with such benefits?” said Sandrilla before sighing, her words filled with jealousy.


She then turned to Queeny before saying, “Darling, do your best and work harder, alright? Next time you’ll definitely be able to bring me along during similar large events!”


Though Queeny nodded, her eyes were staring into space. Her mind was completely blank. She wasn’t
even sure what to feel about such a big event.


‘Of course any sane person would want to walk on that red carpet. Who would ever settle for simply
being part of the audience?’ Queeny thought to herself.


“Excuse me, passing through!”


Gerald had decided at that moment that it was high time for him to enter the building himself. After all, almost everyone had arrived.


There was no way they could start the party without him. While he was thinking about this, he ended up being pushed back by the crowd.


“F*ck off! Stop pushing us, you freak!”


“Yeah, why are you rushing over? Ugh!”


The many girls gathered in the front row took turns rolling their eyes at Gerald, visibly disgusted.

Chapter 571
“Humph! Just look at you. Trying to squeeze in front like that!” scoffed Sandrilla as she watched Gerald get pushed to the back again.


‘D*mn it all!’ Gerald thought to himself. He couldn’t progress forward at all!

“Hey Gerald? Maybe you should just watch from here. I mean look at all the celebrities!” suggested
Lolita.


As she said that, the last guest arrived at the celebration.


In the conference hall, Zack himself was already on the stage, giving thanks to all the present guests. All
of a sudden, Zack’s phone began to ring and everyone went silent.


Despite the fact that there were so many people in the outdoor conference hall, it was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.


“It’s been hours… Which one of them is Mr. Crawford? Why haven’t we seen him yet?”


“Maybe he didn’t come? But that’s impossible, right?”


“Or maybe he’s already inside! Perhaps he just didn’t want to expose what he looks like?”


“Huh? Does that mean we won’t be able to meet him?” said a few of the girls in disappointment.


The girls had been eager to see what the billionaire looked like, much more so than simply seeing Aiden and Yoel. Knowing what Mr. Crawford looked like had been their main objective from the moment they knew who the celebration was being hosted for.


“Darn it, why isn’t Mr. Crawford showing himself yet?” asked Leia rather impatiently.


“Maybe he just doesn’t want to be seen!” responded Willie.


Meanwhile in the conference hall, the atmosphere was getting gloomier by the minute. Zack had picked up on the clear change in mood, but even he was slightly confused.

It was almost eleven and according to what was promised, Gerald should have already arrived after picking the Winters up.


Zack then smiled before saying, “Apologies, everyone! I’ll give Mr. Crawford a call immediately. He might be held up by something!”


After saying that, he pulled his phone out from his pocket and dialed Gerald’s number.


“Oh, did you hear that? He really is coming! Mr. Crawford’s just a little late!”


“Yeah! That means we’ll get to eventually see him, right?” cheered the girls.


At that moment, Gerald’s phone began to ring. Since the crowd was already so silent, the source of the
ringing was extremely apparent.


Everyone was now looking at Gerald in shock. After all, after Zack dialed that number, Gerald’s phone
immediately started ringing. It was just some coincidence, right?


“Hahaha! If we didn’t know any better, we’d have mistaken him for Mr. Crawford!” said someone in the
crowd before laughing.


“Hey, Mr. Lyle. I’m already here but I’m being held up by the huge crowd. I’ll be over in a minute,” said
Gerald after answering the call.


“My god, that person must be out of his mind! As if he could ever be Mr. Crawford! What a good actor!”


“I know right? What a funny guy!” Everyone then started making fun of Gerald.


After hanging up, Gerald began walking to the front. This time, none of the girls tried to stop him. Instead, they simply stared at him in shock.

“Gerald? What are you doing? Come back!” called out Lolita. She thought that Gerald was clearly out of
his mind as well.


As Gerald walked to the middle of the red carpet, everyone just continued staring at him with puzzled expressions on their faces. When they saw him, all the honored guests walked out of the building, led by none other than Zack.


“Cr*p, cr*p, cr*p, cr*p! He’s caught their attention!” said Lolita under her breath in a panic.


At that moment, all the honored guests simultaneously greeted, “Mr. Crawford!” Their voices were so in
sync, that the greeting echoed through the hall like an avalanche.


“M-Mr. Crawford? What?”


Chills were sent down everyone’s spines when they heard the intense, loud greeting.


Willie and Leia’s eyes widened, clearly in shock.


‘He’s Mr. Crawford…? How could that even be possible?’

Chapter 572
Willie had always thought that Gerald was nothing more than a mere acquaintance. He had never thought that Gerald would ever make it this far. Due to that, he had always looked down upon him. In the past, Willie had even tried his best to avoid him, just to prevent Gerald from asking him for help.


Now however, all these famous figures were calling him Mr. Crawford. The mysterious Mr. Crawford of Mayberry turned out to be Gerald this entire time!


This fact was…


Willie gulped hard. His mind was blank and the realization of the situation was akin to a massive slap to his face. He was so shocked that the corner of his mouth was even twitching.

Leila herself was covering her mouth with both her hands, equally as shocked as her father.


It wasn’t any different for the Winters who all looked shocked to their cores.


However, it was Waxham’s two daughters who had it the worst. It had never occurred to them that
Gerald would ever be the actual Mr. Crawford.


No wonder he was so rich! What was the meaning of all this?!


“A-ah! Mr. Crawford! You’re so good looking!” yelled a few girls toward him.


Gerald simply ignored the shouts of flattery before turning to Lolita, Mr., and Mrs. Winters who were still stunned at the revelation. With a smile on his face, he then said, “I told you I had a table reserved for us. Now let’s go!”


After that, he pulled Lolita by the hand and slowly guided the two Winters forward with his other arm. The four of them then walked out of the crowd together. Lolita found herself gulping once again, still within her state of utter shock.


When they got closer, Yoel, Aiden, and several other rich heirs came forward to welcome them.


“I’ll lead the way, mister!” said Aiden with a smile as he held Mr. Winters by the arm. Gerald simply
followed behind them.


As Michelle watched Gerald walk past her, she was instantly reminded of the blind date event just a few days ago.


“Sis, I don’t want to meet up with that poor freak! Could you go in my place and reject him?” said
Michelle.

“Yeah, my baby wouldn’t marry him even if he was the last man alive! Who does he think he is? Does he
really think he can provide for my little Elle? Think again, freak!”


This time it was Michelle’s mother who spoke, for she too was reminded of the blind date.


Despite saying that, the truth was that the two were now engulfed by both regret and embarrassment.


The same applied for the rest of the Winters, who were equally as embarrassed.


“Hey guys, tomorrow’s my birthday! If you’re free, would you like to have dinner with me? There won’t be a lot of people!” At that moment, all of the Winters were replaying Gerald’s invitation to them in their minds. He had even invited them with a welcoming smile the day before. But what had they said?


“We’re busy. Who has the time to celebrate your birthday?”


“I know right? Don’t go copying others and hosting birthday parties! Just look at you, can you even afford a birthday celebration?”


“We don’t have the time and energy to go to your pity party. Fran has work to do too!”


“…”


Gerald had tried to invite them twice, and now, all of them had mixed emotions brewing within them.


At that moment, Queeny’s phone dropped to the ground. She had constantly been worried that Gerald would eventually become better than her. Now, her worst nightmare had come to life before her very eyes.


No wonder Gerald was able to have everyone here cling to him. Even that Wadford guy from the day before had treated him with utmost respect! And it was now clear why Gerald had invited her grandparents to specifically celebrate his birthday here. Gerald was Mr. Crawford this entire time!

Willie himself was staring at him with hope in his eyes as Gerald walked past. Maybe there would still be a chance that Gerald would acknowledge his presence. Maybe Gerald would even wave at him.


All these years, both the Winters and Gerald had been the nicest to him. He had always wondered why the Dream Investment Group funded him when his project was facing difficulties. As it turned out, Gerald had always been looking out for him.


He had used to call him Uncle Jung as well, back when they were still a bit closer. Willie knew that it was his own fault for slowly distancing himself from Gerald. He was now regretting everything that he had done, and he wished that he could rewind time to start fresh with Gerald. However, he knew that that wasn’t going to happen, so all he could do was look toward the floor, filled with embarrassment.


“Holy! Look over there! What car is that?”


At that moment, a number of girls screamed as they pointed toward the entrance. They were secretly
hoping that their voices would catch Gerald’s attention as well.


As Gerald turned to see what they were pointing at, everyone was already in total shock. An extremely luxurious looking sports car was slowly heading toward the entrance!

Chapter 573
“Holy cr*p! That’s a Lamborghini Reventón! That thing costs more than 200 million!”


Everyone was exclaiming in awe.


At that moment, Sienna and Xeno stepped out of the car. Xeno then tossed the car keys over to Gerald
before saying, “Here you go, brother! I brought it here, just like you told me to!”


Gerald had asked Xeno for a favor two days ago. Since he didn’t have a car in this area and he still
needed some form of transportation, he had told Xeno to bring his car over.


Gerald smiled as he patted Xeno on the shoulder. They then entered the conference hall together.

“So that car belongs to Mr. Crawford!” said everyone with envy in their voices.


After taking loads of pictures, the birthday celebration finally started. According to Zack, this celebration
was way less grand compared to what Gerald’s sister had hosted back then.


Gerald didn’t have any trouble accepting that fact. After all, his sister had rented an entire island for her birthday party! That was just way too over the top, even if it was for her birthday!


The party continued till about three in the afternoon.


Though Giya had promised that she would come to the party, in the end, she didn’t. After Gerald tried calling her several times, she finally picked up. Her excuse was that she wasn’t feeling well so she couldn’t make it.


Slightly worried, Gerald asked her if she was okay, but she immediately hung up on him.


He decided not to question her any further after that. After all, it wasn’t obligatory for her to attend his
birthday party. After drinking a few shots, Gerald decided to rest in one of the waiting rooms.


“Hey, who are you people? No outsiders allowed in here!” said a bodyguard outside.


“I’m Mr. Crawford’s relative! I’m Mr. Jung!” replied the voice of a middle-aged man.


Of course it was Willie Jung. He had begged his colleagues to let him in, and after entering the hall, he immediately headed over to see Gerald.


He had two reasons to be this desperate.


Firstly, he knew that the rumors of him insulting Gerald would spread as quickly as a disease would. Due to that, he may end up losing even his current position. He was well aware that he had crossed the line back then.

Secondly, if he tossed his ego aside and begged for Gerald’s forgiveness, he may even have the chance
to get promoted back to his original position! For Willie, now was the time to go all out.


It was terribly upsetting for him after finding out that Gerald had such a massive network. He cursed
himself for insulting Gerald. If he hadn’t, his life could have been so much better now.


He had several questions about the Crawford family swimming in his mind. One of them was how he became so powerful in such a short amount of time. However, Willie knew better to keep those thoughts to himself at least for now. All that mattered at that moment, was for him to meet Gerald.


“Please, I’d like to see Mr. Crawford! Could you please tell him that his Uncle Jung is here?” pleaded
Willie as Leila and Leia waited behind him.


The bodyguard was rightfully unsure. He knew better than to mess with anyone related to Gerald. Hence, he entered the room and informed Gerald about Mr. Jung immediately.


After a while, the guard came out again, shooting Willie a dirty look as he said, “Mr. Crawford is resting now. If you’d like to meet him, you’ll have to wait!”


“Yes, of course!” replied Willie as he nodded profusely.


With that, half an hour passed…


Another hour soon followed after.


After five long hours of waiting, night had already crept in. However, Willie was still waiting outside the room, his legs sore from standing for so long.


“Mr. Crawford is currently having his dinner. He told you to come back another day, and he’ll consider meeting you then,” said the bodyguard after he came out of the room again.


The corner of Willie’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch again when he heard that.

Chapter 574
Willie knew that Gerald had purposely made him wait for that long. After all, he had made Gerald go through a similarly long wait in the past.


While this was happening, a Rolls-Royce Phantom was speeding down the roads of Yanken. It seemed to be heading toward Mayberry.


Sitting at the back of the car was a stylish and young, rich woman. To be frank, ‘woman’ would be an
overstatement since she looked more like a young lady who had freshly graduated from university.


“Are we there yet?” asked the lady as she opened her eyes slowly. She was focused on the scenery outside the car’s window.


“We’re almost in Mayberry City, miss!” replied the chauffeur.


“Tell the cars behind us to catch up!” ordered the lady after hearing that.


The chauffeur then did as she ordered by relaying the order through a walkie-talkie. Behind the Phantom, around twenty Maybach cars followed closely. Any other cars on the road had to make way for this group of expensive-looking cars.


“Mayberry City and its Mayberry University… These were the two forsaken places where I had to endure all those insults and humiliation… Heh, I’m finally back,” said the lady as she reminisced while clenching her fists.


She clenched so hard that her long nails almost dug into her skin.


“Miss, your sister is going to be studying at that university, isn’t she? Heh, if that’s the case, she’s going to be your junior!” said the chauffeur. “I’ve also heard that the seniors are going to organize a debate competition. Will you be participating in that?”


“Just shut up!” scolded the lady as she closed her eyes again.

The only sound left after that, was the revving of the car’s engine and it wasn’t long before they arrived
at Mayberry.


Moving back to Gerald, he woke up fairly early the next morning. Since he was done with most of the projects at hand, he decided that it was high time for him to return to university.


The three months of summer holiday had passed by extremely quickly. In just two days, the debate competition would be held. Hence, Gerald had decided to return to Mayberry and it was also why he had told Xeno to transfer his car over.


After bidding farewell to the Winters, Gerald was sent off by his sisters-in-law. They held onto his hands right up to the moment he got to his car. They even went so far as to chase after the car till they reached the town’s entrance. Only after seeing his car disappear on the horizon, did they return with reluctant looks on their faces.


“Look at Gerald now. He’s doing so well! Like I’ve always said even from when he was still a child, I always knew that he’d become someone whom everyone would look up to, right guys?” said Sandrilla every time she saw a friend.


While he was driving, Gerald received a phone call. It was from Harper Sullivan, the head of their dorm.


“When are you coming back to Mayberry, Gerald?”


“I’m actually on my way right now!” replied Gerald.


“Haha! Well, Benjamin and I are already here in the dorms!”


“D*mn! Are you guys pumped for the exams or something? Won’t your girlfriend nag you to spend more time with her?” asked Gerald with a chuckle.


“My baby’s gone back to her own university to prepare for her exams as well! Besides, our university’s debate competition is earlier than theirs! What more, my cousin’s going to start studying in our

university, so I just came along with her! Funnily enough, Benji’s cousin is also studying here so he’s already here as well!” explained Harper.


“Alright, alright, I’ll be at the university by today, so we’ll talk then!” said Gerald before hanging up and stepping slightly harder on the car’s pedal.


After their third year, some of the fourth year students had gone for their internships while the others chose to remain in the university for their post-graduation. Those from a select few majors however, still had three months left in their semesters.


During the holidays, Gerald barely had any time to revise at all. He had also missed seeing Harper and Benjamin after being separated for so long.


It was past nine when Gerald finally arrived at the campus. Just as he had anticipated, it would seem that it was the first day for many of the new students, which explained the hordes of unfamiliar faces.


“Oh wow, though I’ve heard rumors that Mayberry University was filled with rich heirs, just look at that! What kind of sports car even is that?” gossiped several girls as soon as Gerald’s car arrived at the entrance.

Chapter 575
“Could that be Uriah’s car?” By then, quite a large crowd had gathered at the entrance.


Even though Gerald had decided not to keep his identity a secret anymore, he still felt embarrassed to have so many eyes on him. It was difficult, to say the least, for Gerald to adapt to all the sudden attention he was receiving. After giving the situation some thought, he decided not to drive into the campus.


Instead, he turned the car around and parked it in a little forest nearby, just as he had back then. He then began walking over to his campus.


“Gerald?”

At that moment, Gerald heard his name being called out and he was shocked when he noticed the petite uniformed girl who had called out to him.


The girl was equally as shocked when she saw Gerald as well.


After a moment, she smirked before saying, “Heh, what a coincidence that we bumped into each other here!”


“You were able to pass the Mayberry University entrance exams?” asked Gerald in return. He really
hadn’t expected to meet her here.


“Of course I did! What, you thought someone with grades like me can’t get into this university? Haha!”
joked the girl as she continued looking at Gerald.


The girl was none other than Xavia’s sister, Natasha Yorke. Since he was Xavia’s ex-boyfriend, he had been acquainted with Natasha in the past.


His initial impression of her was that she was quite the party animal. During her high school years, she would frequently skip her classes to go to pubs. She even got herself a tattoo on her arm and picked up smoking. She was basically a rebel and her grades back then weren’t the prettiest either.


Back when she had first come to visit Xavia in Mayberry, both Xavia and Gerald didn’t have much money. To ensure that Natasha would have a good time, both of them had applied for part-time jobs. It came to a point where Xavia even asked Gerald to help Natasha with her homework.


However, the first thing that Natasha said when she first met Gerald was, ‘Hey sis, why did you find
yourself such a poor boyfriend? He’s not rich, nor does he have a strong network. What an utter joke!’


Gerald had decided not to go against her that time since he wanted to be the bigger person.


From that day on, Natasha had constantly looked down on Gerald. Since she would usually visit Xavia during the holidays, both Natasha and Gerald were fairly acquainted due to them occasionally bumping into each other during such occasions.

Gerald hadn’t expected to see her as a freshman in the university!


“Yeah, it truly is a coincidence,” said Gerald with a soft chuckle.


“Hey Nattie, who’s this?” asked a feminine voice. A group of girls who seemed to be her friend was now
standing close to Natasha.


“Heh, he’s my sister’s ex! He’s an utter joke!” responded Natasha.


It was quite obvious that Xavia hadn’t told Natasha much about Gerald. Gerald himself didn’t want to prolong the conversation with Natasha any longer than he needed to. As he turned around to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.


Raising his head slightly, he asked, “Your sister… Xavia. How’s she been?”


Back then, Xavia wasn’t able to bear the humiliation and she ended up dropping out of university. In all honesty, however, she was the one who had asked for it. After all, she had crossed Gerald’s boundaries multiple times.


Despite that, Gerald still felt slightly guilty for ruining her future. What he had done seemed to be too harsh of a punishment, now when he looked back at it.


Still, everyone had a choice. Who was he to force her to choose him? This was the main reason why Gerald still felt guilty for what he did to her.


“Well listen here, you jerk! My sister’s doing very, very well! Just you wait and see, you’ll definitely be hit by karma for dumping my sister!” said Natasha as she raised a fist toward him. She seemed to be even feistier than she used to be.


“Ah, alright then!” said Gerald before smiling softly and leaving.

As she watched him walk away, Natasha’s smile grew even cockier than it had initially been.


“Say Nattie, is that the Gerald you were talking about?” whispered one of her friends into her ear.


“He is, though I’m not the one looking for him. My sister is. I have no idea how much he hurt her, but he’s definitely done for this time!” said Natasha with a cold smirk on her face.


She then took her phone out and began dialing a number.

Chapter 576
By then, Gerald had already returned to the dormitory.


When Harper and Benjamin saw him, they immediately rushed over to give him a big hug.


“Welcome back, Gerald!”


He was very pleased to see them as well. In no time at all, the three of them started chatting and catching up with one another.


Gerald had returned to the campus first just to see Harper and Benjamin. He would later still have to head to his company.


As the trio continued chatting with one another, the dormitory door suddenly creaked open.


Gerald was startled when he saw an unfamiliar girl standing at the door.


“Brother!” shouted the girl happily as she looked at Harper.


“Hello, Benjamin! And you must be Gerald, right?”


“That I am. Nice to meet you! Are you Harper’s younger sister?” asked Gerald.

“I am! My name’s Roseanne! You’re so handsome, Gerald!” replied Roseanne with a smile.


“Speaking of which, my brother told me that he’s bringing me out for lunch with my new roommates later. Are you coming along with us too, Gerald?” asked Roseanne this time.


It seemed to Gerald that Harper had mentioned him quite often to his sister.


“I’d love to have lunch together, but I don’t think I’ll have the time to, since I still have to return to the
office for a short while. How about this, you guys can go have lunch together first and I’ll make some
other arrangements for us later in the evening. I’ll treat you all to a nice meal later!” suggested Gerald as
he smiled.


“I see! That’s not good… Alright, Gerald! You should attend to your things first…” said Roseanne, her
voice slightly upset. Her eyes reflected her slight disappointment as well.


However, they quickly lit up again as she asked, “Actually, what time will you be done, Gerald? You’ll still have to have lunch, right? If you’re only going to your office for a short while, you can still join us! We’ll just have our lunch a little later than usual!”


“That’s true. If I have nothing else going on later, I’ll definitely join all of you for lunch! Well, I better get
going now so that I can finish up what I need to do faster!”


Gerald felt like he couldn’t turn her down a second time.


“Alright, let’s go down together! My brother’s going to be bringing me around anyway and my friends
are already waiting for me downstairs!” suggested Roseanne.


The four of them then headed downstairs together and after exiting, they saw a few girls standing right outside the dormitory.


It was only the first day of orientation but almost everyone’s faces looked a little bored. Despite that, having bored expressions didn’t change the fact that a few of the girls still looked very beautiful.

After greeting them, Gerald accompanied the group and walked with them for a while before leaving the university and returning to the company.


“Hey, hey! That senior’s really handsome!”


The moment Gerald left, a few of the girls immediately started talking about him.


It was natural since the common topic of discussion for female freshmen was usually about guys. They’d talk about which guy in class was most and least handsome, which senior they walked past looked the most flawless and so forth.


This was usually the case for the boys too though in the reverse gender.


“I know right? He’s kind of gentle and he has quite a good temperament as well!”


Several other girls were now chiming in as well.


“Does Gerald have a girlfriend, Harper?” asked one of the girls.


He simply smiled before replying, “Of course he does. Actually, do you girls know who he really is? I
don’t think I’ve even told Roseanne about his true identity yet.”


“Oh? Who is he really?” asked Roseanne curiously.


“Well, have you girls heard about the mysterious Mr. Crawford from Mayberry City?” asked Harper in a
suspenseful tone.


“What? Isn’t he that amazingly rich heir from Mayberry City? Aside from him being wealthy, I’ve also read a post on some forum stating that more than half of the big and reputable figures in the Sunnydale Province attended Mr. Crawford’s birthday banquet!”

The girls were surprised to hear Mr. Crawford being brought up. They obviously knew who he was.


“Well, that’s him! Gerald’s Mr. Crawford in the flesh!”


The girls all immediately began either screaming or squealing.

Chapter 577
“Oh my god! That was him? We were actually walking together with Mr. Crawford of Mayberry City?!”


“Harper, you’re not pulling our legs, are you?” asked several of the girls in unison.


“What would I gain from lying to you? Gerald’s always been low-key and we honestly just found out
about his real identity quite recently!” replied Harper as he smiled.


“No wonder I kept feeling that Gerald was a little too attractive while we were walking together earlier! So he really is the one and only Mr. Crawford!”


Everyone continued laughing and chatting about Gerald after that. He was now their main topic of conversation.


Harper had planned to take his sister and the other girls around campus to show them where places like the library and swimming pool were. After that, they would be taken to the campus’s cultural exhibition center.


It wasn’t long before a few of the girls couldn’t walk any further. After all, Mayberry University was quite
enormous.


“Stop! I can’t go on anymore! I need to take a short rest and I’m thirsty!”


One after another, the girls cried out.

“You should’ve mentioned it earlier if you were thirsty! I’ll go get you girls some drinks!” replied Harper.


“I’m coming along as well!” said Benjamin. He figured that it would be awkward for him to stay with the
group of girls by himself so he decided to follow Harper.


The nearest supermarket was about eight minutes away and once they got there, Harper bought six bottles of black tea.


As the duo left the building, they saw two Maybach cars parked at the entrance of the supermarket.


Eight young men wearing sunglasses were standing attentively in front of the two cars. All of them were staring at Harper and Benjamin.


When both of them tried to leave, all eight men stepped forward to block their path.


“What are you trying to do?” asked Harper.


“Follow us!” said the person who seemed to be the leader as he pointed at the fence behind the supermarket. His tone was frigidly cold and he had long hair. Though he looked like a woman, his cold temperament would make anyone shudder in fear.


“Why should we when we don’t even know who you are?” asked Benjamin in return.


Immediately after he spoke, he tried to leave with Harper. However, his attempt was thwarted when the
leader instantly grabbed Benjamin’s shoulder.


The rest of the young men acted swiftly as well, and they all grabbed both Benjamin and Harper. The duo was then forced toward the fence behind the supermarket.


By them, several people in the supermarket had noticed the scene and they were all equally stunned.

After all, there were two Maybach cars parked at the entrance and it was obvious that the eight young
men weren’t ordinary people.


About ten minutes later, the group of people returned, cracking their necks and wrists as they left the fenced area.


The leader wiped what seemed to be blood off his hands with a piece of tissue before tossing it to the side.


They were now walking toward the supermarket.


A girl was waiting for them there and she giggled as she licked her ice-cream.


“Miss Natasha, it’s done!” replied the long-haired leader.


His voice was apparently cold no matter who he was talking to.


“Haha… Thanks for the hard work, Dante. It’s such a pity that my informant came back to report early. That’s why you didn’t get to capture Gerald too. D*mn it! This is so unsatisfying!”


Though Natasha had just arrived at the university for a day, she already had many followers of her own.


She was also acting rampantly so nobody dared to provoke her.


What more, she had arrived at the university in a very-high-profile convoy on the very first day of school. This made everyone afraid of her.


“It wasn’t hard work at all. I’m always honored to do anything for Miss Natasha and Miss Xavia!”


“Alright then, you can return for now. Be ready for my next call as it could be at any time!” said Natasha
as she waved her hand to send the men away before licking her ice-cream again.

Meanwhile, the girls back at campus couldn’t help but feel like something was off.


“It’s been quite long… Why aren’t Harper and Benjamin back yet?”


“It’s been about twenty minutes already… Why don’t we go over instead to try looking for them?”


“Let’s go!”


Before they could leave, a girl who seemed to be their classmate from the neighboring dormitory suddenly ran toward Roseanne and the others.


“R-Roseanne! Something bad has happened! When I went to the supermarket earlier, I saw your
brother getting stopped by several men before getting beaten up!”

Chapter 578
“W-what? Where is he now?” replied Roseanne as she trembled in shock.


“Follow me!”


The group of girls then ran after her immediately. When they arrived at the scene, Roseanne saw both Harper and Benjamin bleeding profusely on the ground.


“Brother!”


“Roseanne! I’m fine but those people… They were ruthless!”


Though Harper was used to fighting, he couldn’t help but feel a lingering fear as he replayed the scene
from earlier in his mind.

When the group of men started beating them up, the duo had naturally tried to fight back. However, Dante was able to lift them with just one hand.


After receiving a swift kick from Dante, Harper felt his world turn black. The same went for Benjamin. Neither of them ever stood a fighting chance, and both of them ended up being beaten up badly.


“Who’s responsible for this? I’m calling the police right now!” cried out Roseanne.


Before she could do so, Harper grabbed her hand first. “Call Gerald, I think those people were after him instead!”


“I- I will!” replied Roseanne.


Meanwhile, a conversation was happening in the underground parking lot of a restaurant.


“Jane- wait, no, I believe I should be calling you Miss Zara now! Haha! Congratulations, you’re now the boss of the newly developed bar at Yorknorth Mountain!”


The comment had come from Flynn who had just exited a restaurant together with Jane after sharing a meal.


Jane’s status had been rapidly rising due to her relationship with Gerald. One could say that her status was equal to Flynn’s now. After all, she was now a boss herself!


There had been several great changes in Mayberry City for the past two months. Some of the shops in Yorknorth Mountain had even already been booked in advance.


“Miss Zara? Come on Mr. Flynn, you can just call me Jane!” replied Jane as she smiled.


“Larry, go get the car so that you can send Miss Zara back!” instructed Flynn as he looked toward the six
bodyguards dressed in black following closely behind them.

Larry complied as soon as he heard Flynn’s orders.


However, even after waiting for up to six minutes, Larry hadn’t returned with the car.


“What on earth is happening?” asked Flynn.


As two of the bodyguards walked over to the corner to investigate, one of them immediately let out a sharp scream.


This caught Flynn’s attention and he immediately rushed over.


At that moment, several Maybach cars started moving quickly. Both the entrance and exit of the underground parking were now blocked.


Flynn and Jane found themselves being sandwiched between several men wearing sunglasses. Of the many men who had stepped out of the Maybach cars, one of them had long hair and his face was as pale as a corpse. He seemed to be the leader of the group.


“Well this is f*cking interesting! Nobody in Mayberry City would dare to treat me like this. I can see that
all of you are new faces. Where do you come from?” said Flynn calmly as he lit a cigarette.


He was, after all, Zack’s top thug and bodyguard. Situations like these weren’t alien to Flynn.


The long-haired man simply pointed at Jane before asking, “You’re Jane, correct? Come with us!”


Flynn could see that the young man was being awfully cocky, even choosing to completely disregard
Flynn’s question. As a result, he immediately gestured at his own two men.


The two guards immediately rushed forward but before they could even get in front of the leader, the men standing behind Dante had already rushed forward and kicked them to the ground.

Startled for a second, Flynn then threw his cigarette to the ground.


“You’re pretty skillful. However, if it’s Jane you want, then you’ll have to go through me first!” said Flynn
as he immediately began rushing forward.


His aim was Dante’s face.


At that moment, a loud sound was heard.


Flynn had stopped moving forward and after a brief moment, Jane saw Flynn’s legs go weak as he slowly
started kneeling.


As Flynn’s body lowered, Dante’s fist was revealed.


Everything was now a blur before Flynn, and he could already feel blood flowing out of his mouth. He was in utter disbelief.


Despite that, he mustered up all his strength to grab Dante by the collar.


His action caused Dante’s shirt button to open, and it revealed a tattooed word on his chest.


‘Dragon.’

Chapter 579
While this was happening, Gerald had just found out about Harper and Benjamin’s situation from Roseanne. After hearing the news, he immediately rushed to the hospital.


“What happened?” asked Gerald anxiously as soon as he saw the duo. Both of them had been severely
beaten up.


“We don’t know much either! We were beaten up by a group of men that we’ve never met before. They seem to be coming for you, so be careful!” replied Harper.

Gerald was surprised to hear that. Coming for him?


“Who could possibly want to beat me up?”


“Brother Gerald, one of our classmates informed us that the one who had instructed the men to beat Harper and Benjamin up was a girl from our department! Her name is apparently Natasha and she’s very domineering!”


“What?! Natasha?!” Gerald was now even more surprised.


Based on what Harper and Benjamin had told him, the group of men wasn’t ordinary gangsters or thugs. Not only were they skillful in fighting, they had also arrived in Maybach cars! All this hinted at them being very well-trained bodyguards working for a wealthy and prestigious family.


But… Natasha?


How could that possibly be? Gerald knew Xavia’s family background like the back of his hand. There was
no way they would be able to hire such powerful bodyguards, right?


Though there was confusion, one thing was for certain. Natasha was definitely targeting him.


At that moment, he recalled the triumphant look that Natasha had on her face the last time they had met on campus. So she had already been planning to get her revenge on him even from then.


Then again, it wasn’t Natasha who was holding grudges against him. She didn’t even have any feud with
him.


No, the person who wanted to exact her revenge on him, was none other than Xavia.


After all, Felicity had already told Gerald about this back then. That when she went to Yanken, she had met up with Xavia and she seemed to be a completely different person from who she used to be.

What more, before Xavia left the university because she couldn’t stand all the humiliation, she had
specifically warned Gerald that she would one day return to exact her revenge on him!


In all honesty, Gerald had always felt ashamed of himself for causing Xavia to drop out of school due to his poor handling of that particular matter. However, he was her target. Why would she retaliate against Harper and Benjamin as well?


Gerald’s phone started ringing at that moment. It was a call from Zack.


“…What?!” Gerald was taken aback once again as soon as he heard the news from Zack.


After ending the call, he looked at both Harper and Benjamin before saying, “I’ll come back to visit you guys later. Jane and Mr. Flynn have also met with an accident. I’ll go there immediately to see what on earth is going on!”


After saying that, Gerald rushed to another hospital. When Gerald got there, Zack and Michael were already present.


Flynn wasn’t looking too good. His nose was broken.


Jane on the other hand, was also injured. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything as severe as Flynn’s injuries.
Only her cheeks were hurt though both sides were terribly swollen.


Gerald was now certain that the mastermind behind all this was definitely Xavia.


If he recalled correctly, Jane had slapped Xavia on her face before in the past. It was clear that that
specific grudge had caused Jane’s injuries today. What on earth had Xavia gone through?


When they saw him, Zack and Michael immediately went over to greet him. “Mr. Crawford!”

Gerald was still in shock as they said that. After all, he was now staring at an extremely haggard-looking Flynn.


How couldn’t he be?


Flynn was an exceptionally good fighter and he had several men under him. The fact that he was actually beaten up to the point of hospitalization was bewildering.


Since it was inconvenient for Flynn to explain himself, Zack took the liberty of doing so, detailing everything that had happened while Gerald listened.


“Mr. Crawford, I’m almost certain that this was done by the Long family from Yanken!” said Zack.


“The Long family?”


Gerald had heard of them before. If he remembered correctly, Giya had told him that the person who had forced her to get betrothed was from that exact family.


However, how was the Long family related to Xavia and her sister?


“Have you sent anyone over to ask them what they want?” asked Gerald.

Chapter 580
“We’ve already approached them about the matter. However, they refused to admit to having any part
of this!” replied Zack.


Whatever the case was, Gerald knew that the top priority now was for him to personally meet up with Xavia so that they could talk things over clearly.


“Take good care of them and keep an eye on my two buddies as well. I’ll handle the rest immediately!”
replied Gerald. Since all this was happening because of him, he needed to deal with it personally.

He wasn’t really afraid of the Long family.


To be honest, if the matter was truly urgent, he could just mobilize and use his family’s biggest weapon. Even if the Long family from Yanken was very powerful, Gerald would be able to take them down indiscriminately.


However, no matter what the case was, Gerald had already summarized that Xavia only became this heartless and distorted since he had treated her the same way in the past.


There was no use crying over spilled milk.


In order to proceed, he would first have to look for her!


As Gerald descended the stairs, he called Felicity to ask her for Xavia’s phone number.


“What? I don’t have her phone number. Why are you asking for it anyway? I thought-”


Before she could finish her sentence, Gerald had already hung up. If she didn’t have her phone number, only one other person would.


Gerald would have to confront Natasha.


He immediately drove back to the university. After asking the auntie in charge of the girls’ dormitory, he
easily found out which room Natasha was staying in and he rushed up to the third floor.


Though the auntie had initially thought of stopping him, she knew that Gerald was a person with an extraordinary background as soon as she saw the car that he was driving. She didn’t even dare to try to stop him from ascending the stairs after that.


A loud sound was heard as Gerald kicked the girls’ dormitory room door open.

“What- Ahh!”


A girl who was standing in the corridor screamed as several of Natasha’s roommates did the same while
covering their chests. They were all terrified.


“F*cking pervert! Get out of here!” shouted the scared girls as they gathered together.


Natasha was smoking on the balcony at that moment, and when she saw Gerald approaching her angrily, she had a fair guess as to why he was here.


She simply continued smoking as she stared at Gerald.


“Where is your sister?” he asked.


“And why should I tell you?”


“I want to see her if she’s back!”


“Why would she even want to meet you? My sister’s told me that she doesn’t want to see you at all!”
replied Natasha.


“Then stop pushing me into a dead-end! Were you the one who had sent those men to beat my friends
up?” asked Gerald as he grabbed Natasha’s wrists.


The sudden pain made her grimace in pain.


“You- You listen to me first!” shouted Natasha as she tried desperately to get away from him.


She then shook her head before saying, “I know that you must be feeling quite puzzled about a lot of things now. You must surely be wondering when my sister and I gained this much influence and power right?”

“Alright then, since you’re already this furious to the point where you even rushed into the girls’ dormitory, there is one thing that I can tell you. Come with me and we’ll talk downstairs!” replied Natasha.


She then led him to a small park nearby. After arriving there, they simply stopped walking and stood there.


“So Gerald, or should I call you Mr. Crawford? I just learned of your true identity yesterday. It’s amazing to think that you’re actually Mr. Crawford from Mayberry City in the flesh. It’s no wonder why you hurt my sister so deeply. However, don’t you think you were way crueler toward her compared to how I
treated your friends? You’re already this upset after we taught your friends a lesson. But do you realize
what you did to my sister?”


“Do you even know that you nearly killed her and left me sister-less?”


“Me? I nearly killed her?” responded Gerald who was both taken aback and in disbelief at her
statement.

Chapter 581
Though Gerald was aware that the incident had a huge impact on Xavia, he never once thought that it would almost end her life.


“That was the worst and darkest day in my sister’s entire life. And it’s all because of you, the infamous peasant! You’re well aware, I’m sure, that everyone looked down on you and nobody would even talk to you back then. Nobody except for my sister. She would hold your hand in school, go shopping together, and even dine out with you! But did you ever consider that doing all that with you would affect how
everyone looked at her?”


“Hey, hey! Everyone, look! It’s Xavia Yorke! The girlfriend of our school’s biggest peasant!”


“That was what everyone was calling her back then. Despite that, she persevered and ignored the mockery just because she wanted to be with you. However, every girl has their self-esteem and one day my sister just couldn’t take it anymore. She felt that she was being treated unjustly and yes, it was the day she broke up with you!”

“But look at you now, still daring to claim that my sister is at fault!”


Gerald remained silent. He knew very well that Xavia wasn’t at fault since everyone had their own right to choose their own partner. Even so, the way Xavia ended up becoming after that event was a surprise even to Gerald.


“Do you remember how my sister begged you that day?” asked Natasha, her eyes baleful.


“Do you remember how you ignored her? As a result, she became so overwhelmingly embarrassed to
face you and her classmates that she quit studying completely! That’s the reason why she dropped out! There were only a few more months to go before you guys would graduate but you ruined her at that very last stretch. Ten whole years of studying, gone, just like that!”


“After she left, she made up her mind to avoid you as much as possible which led her to move to Yanken
since nobody knew you there. She was going to try to find a job there.”


“However, upon arriving there, her purse was stolen! Nobody can survive in Yanken without money so what could she do? Thankfully, she found a bar looking to hire which allowed her to finally settle down. Not that she had much of a choice at that moment since she was already penniless.”


“Her luck, however, eventually turned to misfortune since one of the bosses there had molested her due to her being so pretty. She slapped him out of anger and because of that, she almost lost her life! The one she had slapped was a very powerful person!”


“After getting on his bad side, it became even harder for her to find a proper job there. The boss wasn’t allowing her to leave Yanken either. She couldn’t even get train tickets to go home, and they continued to force my sister to obey every word they said!”


“Do you even remotely understand how scary it is for a girl to live in fear like that every day?”


“In the end, she ended up washing plates in a regular restaurant. She wasn’t paid in cash, but instead with meals and a place to stay in. All was not well though, since the lady boss kept bullying and even hitting her!”

“At her lowest when she was about to end herself, a miracle presented itself before her. The Long
family’s butler coincidentally saw her and since they were short of maids to serve their second young master, Fred, he approached her asking if she would like to work for them. It was a blessing and she instantly agreed. What more, the second young master ended up falling in love with my sister and
they’re now engaged!”


“Can you believe it, Gerald? The first half of my sister’s life was as terrible as what an arse like you would probably have wanted her to experience. I’m sure you would never have imagined that she would finally have her time to shine! Let me tell you this, my now brother-in-law is very obedient to my sister!
Everyone that used to bully her is now bankrupt and the same goes for the boss that had made my sister’s life a living nightmare. He’s living in complete misery now, though that’s beside the point. What I’m getting at here, is that her biggest enemy is still you!” said Natasha with a cold-blooded face.


Gerald would never have imagined that so much had happened to Xavia after she left, nor would he have thought that she almost died because of him. However, the more surprising thing now, was that Xavia was now engaged to Fred. So that’s how Xavia and her sister got so powerful. The puzzle pieces were starting to fit together.


“I see. So why don’t you tell me where she is now?” asked Gerald.


“Not a problem. Come with me if you would like to see her!” said Natasha as she motioned a finger
before turning around and walking off.


Frowning slightly, Gerald simply followed her.


Eventually, both of them reached a bar and the duo entered a room. Gerald could clearly see that nobody was in there.


“Where is Xavia?” asked Gerald again.


“You really wish to see her, don’t you? Sure thing, I’ll let you meet her right this instant!” said Natasha
as she clapped her hands.

At that moment, the sound of several footsteps could be heard outside. The second the door opened, at least ten security guards dressed in black rushed in before immediately surrounding Gerald.


“Hahaha! Did you really think that I’d bring you to her, Gerald? She despises you! Why would she ever want to see you, idiot! You knew I was going to hurt you eventually, yet you came along anyway!”

Chapter 582
“Humph! That’s enough talk, get him!” ordered Natasha.


As soon as they received the order, the men in black immediately obeyed and held on tightly to both of
Gerald’s arms.


“When will the revenge end?” asked Gerald calmly.


“Honestly, I don’t even know when we’ll ever stop but that’s beside the point. Don’t even dream of leaving this room tonight!” sneered Natasha.


“Is that so? Actually, Natasha, did your sister ever tell you that this street used to be called Mayberry
Commercial Street? And that the bosses of these shops all know who I am?”


“Of course she has! But did you know that my sister’s bought this bar? The bar’s boss is just my little b*tch now! Bet you didn’t think that far ahead, did you?” replied Natasha proudly before walking toward him and giving him a tight slap on the face.


“That’s for my sister. You’ve made her suffer for far too long. Today, I’m letting you have a taste of what she experienced after all this time!” Natasha was going to look for him even if he hadn’t come on his own accord today.


“Unfortunately, I’m afraid you won’t be able to torture me today,” Gerald replied.


“What do you mean by that, you little rascal?” asked one of the security guards in return.

Just as his question ended, however, he immediately let out a scream before falling to the floor. His hands were pressed against his neck and his whole body trembled.


“What’s the meaning of this?” asked Natasha, visibly shocked.


She didn’t know what was happening. She could only feel—but not see—the presence of a shadowy figure in the room.


As she continued trying to make sense of the situation, her neck was suddenly locked by two firm arms.


At that moment, she realized that two men had entered the room without her realizing.


The other man was holding on to a long, silver needles. A second later, it was gone from his hand and the remaining man holding on to Gerald dropped to the ground. The other fallen guard was already foaming by then.


“Apologies for being late, Mr. Crawford!” said both men respectfully as they stood before Gerald. They were none other than Drake and Tyson.


Gerald simply responded with a nod.


He had been well aware that he needed to be cautious around Natasha. Both she and her sister were no longer the same people he used to know.


Gerald would never have allowed himself to follow her without some kind of backup plan. Thus, before he came here, he had contacted Drake and Tyson through his family’s specially made communication device so that they would know Gerald’s location at all times from that moment.


Since Natasha was being held hostage, the rest of her underlings didn’t dare to move an inch.


“Now tell me where Xavia is… Or do you want to end up foaming on the ground like that guard over there?” said Gerald as he looked at her, his eyes deadly serious.

Chapter 583
“I-I don’t know where she is! She only came to the school to visit me once. Other than that, we’ve only communicated through the phone!” cried out Natasha.


“Call her then!” ordered Gerald.


He had to meet up and deal with Xavia as soon as he could. Gerald couldn’t have her troubling him all
the time.


‘If I’ve done anything wrong to you, take your revenge on me! Your mistake was hurting those close to me,’ Gerald thought to himself. He just couldn’t stand people like that.


As Natasha reached for her phone, she kept signaling to her subordinates—using her eyes—to take down Gerald and the duo. However, none of the guards even dared to move. They all knew how strong Gerald’s people were so they didn’t do anything. Only people like Scorpion would be able to deal with Tyson and Drake.


Understanding that they weren’t going to act, Natasha could only hand over her phone to Gerald in
defeat.


Gerald quickly found Xavia’s number and called her. He soon found out, however, that Xavia’s phone
had been turned off.


“Why is her phone turned off?”


“H-how should I know?”


“If you aren’t going to be honest with me, maybe this will make you more willing to comply. Tyson!”


“Yes, Mr. Crawford!” He then pulled out another silver needle and brought it close to her neck.

“W-wait!” At that moment, Natasha began crying before she said, “I-I’m telling the truth! That really is my sister’s number!” replied Natasha between wails.


No matter how much Tyson threatened to bring the needle closer to her, she kept repeating the same thing.


Tyson looked at Gerald. Gerald frowned before waving his hand. Tyson then immediately let go of her after seeing the gesture.


Gerald was just trying to scare her into telling the truth, but apparently she hadn’t lied in the first place.
Even if he really wanted to beat Natasha up, he knew he could never bring himself to actually do it.


After all, he was the reason why Xavia dropped out. It was the only reason why he had taken the slap earlier. He saw it as returning a favor to Xavia.


Knowing that it was no use staying here, Gerald continued to frown as he walked out of the room.


“Mr. Crawford, what should we do with these people?” asked Drake as he pointed at the bodies lying on
the ground.


Gerald simply nodded before leaving.


A second later, horrible shrieks could be heard coming from inside the room. Those guards had no right to be begging for their lives.


Walking over to the bar, Gerald ordered a beer. He was deep in thought, wondering how he should deal with Xavia.


When Gerald turned to look to his side, he was surprised. Sitting beside him was a girl, sipping on her champagne.


He considered talking to her, but eventually chose not to.

However, his curiosity got the better of him and he ended up looking at her again, just to check if she was really the person he thought she was. Much to her annoyance, the girl noticed his second glance and turned to look at him as well.


This resulted in both of them staring at each other in shock.


“….Gerald?”


“Maia?”


At that moment, both of them simultaneously called out each other’s names.


“Why are you here?” asked Maia.


“I just came for a drink. What a coincidence!” replied Gerald, still feeling surprised.


Maia was Gerald’s acquaintance from high school. However, the two of them never shared the same
class, so how did they end up getting to know each other?


Well, since Gerald’s grades had always been extraordinary during his high school days, he had often gone for competitions with a team representing the school.


Back then, Gerald was always happy when he got a chance to participate in competitions since he would be able to somewhat gain a sense of honor. Aside from that, he would also be able to eat good food and stay in fancy places.


The team consisted of 24 people, with twelve being male and the other twelve female. Maia was on the team as well, and her main role was the team captain.

Chapter 584
Back then, Gerald knew little about Maia aside from the fact that she was the team captain.

The only other things he knew was that she was very close to her grandfather and her parents were in politics. This resulted in her growing up in a rather lavish environment.


He also knew that while she and her family were locals, after the final examination, all of them moved to Mayberry.


Though Gerald was excellent in his studies, he was never good enough for Maia. She would only talk to him as the captain whenever they were representing the school in a competition. Outside that, they
weren’t close at all.


Gerald on the other hand, had a very good impression of her since she was both hardworking and capable. To top it off, she was also very pretty and she had good tastes too.


In short, she was a goddess to his past self.


Many guys had tried to befriend her but she would only befriend those who had their own ‘specialties’. Such ‘specialties’ included either being rich or having a powerful family with a great background.


Normal people would never get the chance to even get close to her. This caused the past Gerald to be satisfied to just be able to momentarily talk with her.


Gerald hadn’t forgotten that feeling, so he was rather nervous now that she was in front of him again.


“It’s been pretty long, hasn’t it? I heard you went to police school. Are you still practicing?” asked
Gerald.


Maia simply nodded and continued looking at him for a while before saying, “So, why are you at this
bar? Shouldn’t you be working?”


Though she was the one who had initiated the conversation, she wasn’t really paying attention to him.
Her eyes were clearly looking elsewhere.

“I haven’t found a job yet. Also, what are you looking at?” asked Gerald as he turned to look where her eyes were gazing at.


“Don’t look. I see, so you have time to talk to me then!” commanded Maia in a strict tone, just like she
used to back in high school.


Gerald had no idea what was going on so he simply nodded.


She then took another sip of her champagne before looking at Gerald with a smile, immediately causing him to blush. At that moment, something caught Maia’s eye and she instantly grabbed her walkie-talkie before shouting, “Action!”


Maia then rushed out of the bar, running toward a young man. Gerald saw a few other young people running over as well, and in no time at all, the young man had been surrounded. It looked just like a movie scene.


The young man who had been drinking was stunned as he was pressed against the ground by a few people. A few bystanders witnessing the scene screamed as one of the young people shouted, “Don’t move! Police!” The person on the ground was then cuffed up.


Well d*mn! So she already was a cop and she was even on duty!


So that’s why she was talking to Gerald. She had even smiled at him! It was all just for show, and Gerald smiled bitterly as he came to realize that.


At that moment, Gerald remembered that Drake and Tyson were still inside beating up the guards from before. They wouldn’t let themselves be caught by Maia, right? If it somehow came to that, then things would become extremely awkward.


“We’ve finally caught the little rascal after so many days! Good work, Maia. Let’s go for a drink later!”
said a tall, good-looking guy as he smiled at Maia.

As the suspect was taken away, a few other female cops came over and said, “Wow, Warren, we want drinks too! Why don’t we get invited over for drinks?” asked the girls rather enviously.


“I’ll get drinks for all of you! Let’s head to another bar right now!” replied Warren.


“Oh, by the way, Maia, did you know that guy? I saw you talking to him earlier!” said one of the girls as
she pointed toward Gerald who was still sitting in the bar.


“Yeah, he’s one of my high school acquaintances. Back then, I was the competition team captain while
he was one of the members!”


“I see! I thought your relationship would be something like that! Haha! Why not ask him to join us? He’s quite good looking! Also, what does he do?” asked the other girls.


“I’m not too sure about that and I was just about to ask him if he’d like to come along!” said Maia as she
shook her head with a smile.


She then looked toward Gerald before saying, “Hey Gerald, come over here!”

Chapter 585
She gestured with a finger for him to come closer.


Gerald really didn’t want to go over to them after being ordered like that. After all, he was no longer the same person he used to be. He didn’t need to listen to her orders anymore.


He remembered snippets where she would order him to do things like this in the past.


“Gerald, have you moved those boxes of mineral water?”


“Gerald, go help everyone else with their luggage!”


…Maybe that was why Maia was so used to ordering him around.

Eventually, though he was left speechless, he found himself walking toward the group.


“Haha! So it really is true! Gerald really listens to you!”


“As if he would dare not to! Not only was she his team captain in high school, she’s now a cop too! He has to listen or he’ll be locked up!” joked another girl.


“Anyway, say Gerald, I heard that you’re still pretty poor. How did you afford to drink at this bar? Did you get rich or something?” asked Maia. She had been curious about this from the moment they met.


“Huh? Gerald’s poor?” The girls looked surprised when they heard that.


“Yeah. You know, back in high school, Gerald was well known for being broke. He used to only eat one meal a day and sometimes, he couldn’t even pay for his school fees! He was exceptionally poor!” replied Maia.


Though she said that, she hadn’t meant to be mean about it. It was just the personality she had grown up with. Regardless of how Gerald would feel, she was just the kind of straightforward person to say anything that was on her mind.


It was the same in high school as well. No matter how embarrassing it would cause others to feel, Maia would always speak her mind without filtering any words.


Though being poor may not have been a big deal for Maia, the other girls were now looking at Gerald differently. They were all sympathizing with him since they had initially thought that he was some rich heir.


“I see… Well, you should definitely start putting more thought into both, furthering your studies and finding a better job!”

“Yep! You know, I had a middle school classmate who suffered from some brain injuries due to a high fever. Though he ended up dropping out of school, he started working and he now owns a shop! With a little more effort, you can definitely be like him, Gerald!”


Before Gerald could even reply, the girls were already talking non-stop, so he just remained silent while nodding, a bitter smile on his face.


“Alright, I think that’s quite enough, Maia. Now let’s go get those drinks!” said Warren as he took a
cigarette out of his pocket. He was far too arrogant to talk to Gerald.


“Alright! Are you coming along, Gerald?” asked the girls.


“What could he even do if he followed? He won’t understand most of what we’ll be talking about!” said
Maia.


She knew that her colleagues were just being nice, but if Gerald ended up taking it seriously, it could spell trouble for her. What more, she didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea of Gerald following them around.


With a smile on her face, she then waved at Gerald one final time before leaving together with the others.


When Gerald turned to look at the bar again, he saw Drake and Tyson leaning against the bar’s wall
while smoking. It was clear that they had been watching over him for a while.


“Is it done? Where’s Natasha?” asked Gerald.


“She’s still crying inside!” said Drake with a chuckle.


Gerald simply shook his head with a smile. The three of them then left the area.


“Were those your classmates, Mr. Crawford?” asked Drake as they walked further away.

Chapter 586
“One of them definitely seemed to be his high school classmate. Why?” asked Tyson.


“Well, from the looks of it, they either graduated from the police academy or they’ve undergone some military training,” said Drake as he took a few puffs of his cigarette.


“Both of you are really something… It’s amazing how much you can find out about a person just by looking at them. Her name is Maia and she graduated from the police academy. She’s now part of the police force’s criminal department and she’s pretty good at her job!”


“Well, since she’s your classmate, we’ll just say this, Gerald. This friend of yours, along with her
colleagues. They may be in for some trouble tonight!” replied Tyson after getting the clarification that
he needed.


“…Huh?” Gerald was stunned.


“When they rushed out earlier, I saw two people following them. Both of them had a weapon strapped to their sides, and they exuded equal amounts of murderous auras. I’m pretty sure that the duo following your classmate has undergone military training before. Worst come to worst, there’s a possibility that they’re both experienced killers well!” said Tyson.


Gerald wouldn’t have believed such a claim if it wasn’t Tyson telling him about it.


Earlier, Gerald himself had watched Maia and the others rush out but he hadn’t noticed anything out of
the ordinary. .


‘Still, who am I to compare myself to Tyson regarding such things’ Gerald thought to himself.


Either way, Gerald was at least sure that the two people mentioned weren’t here to play any games.


It was true that Gerald wasn’t really all that close to Maia. After all, they were barely friends back in high
school. However, no matter what the case was, they were still ex-classmates.

How could he rest easy if he didn’t save her after knowing that something bad would happen to her?


However, Gerald was certain at that moment that he didn’t want to expose his identity yet. After all,
keeping it a secret would allow him to do a lot more things in the future!


He now had a plan in mind. After discussing the plan with Tyson and Drake, Gerald immediately rushed toward the bar where Maia had gone to.


By the time he arrived, Maia and the others had already started drinking. They were now seated in front of a poker table.


“Maia, look! Why is Gerald here?” said one of the girls as she spat out a mouthful of wine in surprise
while pointing at him.


The moment he spotted the group, he instantly started approaching their table.


“Why are you here?” asked Maia with a frown on her face.


Earlier, she had only invited him to join them for a drink as a mere gesture of friendliness. She hadn’t
expected him to actually join them.


“I only came here to warn you. Don’t stay out too late! It’s dangerous! I saw someone spying on you earlier!” said Gerald.


For now, this was all he could say to give Maia a heads up of what was to come.


“Huh? Someone’s watching us? Who the hell could be doing that? I didn’t notice anything at all!
Actually, who are you to say that someone is spying on us? If anything, you’re the only one doing that!”


If it was the leader who was warning them, Maia and the others would definitely take the warning seriously.

If it was a warning from a close friend, she’d definitely feel grateful.


However, since the warning was coming from Gerald, Maia felt like it was a direct insult to her career. It was similar to prey telling a predator what to do even though the predator would naturally know better.


It was infuriating to say the least.


However, Gerald had been prepared for such a response before he even entered the bar. After hearing her reply, he simply nodded before leaving.


“God, I hate him so much! Who does he even think he is? What a show-off!”


“I know right? Was he the most hated guy in high school, Maia?”


The other girls didn’t like Gerald either since he was being so nosy.


“I don’t really want to talk about him… Why are we even talking about him in the first place? Anyway, Maddy, Tina, follow me to the toilet will you!” said Maia.

Chapter 587
The trio then headed for the ladies.


As Maia was washing her hands, through the mirror, her eyes caught sight of two women with long, curly hair walking toward her. Their eyes were equally cold and stern.


As she continued looking at them through the mirror, she immediately felt that something was wrong.


“What are you guys doing?” asked Maia and the other two girls in unison.

It took her a moment, but Tina suddenly exclaimed, “Huh? Aren’t both of you men dressed up as women? Maia, look! They have Adam’s apples on their throats!”


“Heh, you’re pretty smart! It’s too late for that though! We’re here to kill you!” sneered the two men as
they each pulled out a pistol with silencers attached to them.


They were both aiming at Maia.


“Ahh!”


Since the other two girls were only newly-recruited police officers, both of them were scared witless in this life-and-death situation.


Maia herself was drenched in cold sweat.


It was at that moment when she remembered Gerald warning her earlier about her being spied on. If
only she had been more aware of her surroundings, this turn of events wouldn’t have happened!


“Humph! This is for arresting so many of our brothers! Let’s kill them now!”


Both men then immediately pulled their triggers and Maia shut her eyes to brace for impact.


Two bangs were then heard.


All of a sudden, the two men started holding on to their necks. Their bodies took turns convulsing and stiffening before eventually, both of them dropped to the ground, motionless.


“…Huh? What the hell just happened?”


The two terrified girls from before were both delighted and surprised simultaneously.

Maia then nervously looked outside to see if anyone was there. As soon as she poked her head outside, she found that there was quite a commotion going on.


Rapid footsteps echoed outside the bathroom and soon, Warren and a few dozen police officers were standing in the toilet.


“Maia, are you guys alright? D*mn it, that poor kid was right! Something was definitely wrong! I’ve just received a call from the Alpha Squad. They informed us that international hitmen are lurking around us and their sole mission is to kill us!”


As he looked down, he instantly noticed the two guys lying on the ground. He was utterly shocked.


The captain and his squad arrived at that moment and he, too, saw the two hitmen lying motionless on the ground.


After inspecting the two bodies, the captain said, “It’s them! Both of them are Class-A International
Most Wanted Criminals!”


“Who was the one who subdued them, Maia?” asked the captain, curious.


“I… I have no idea either. Earlier, the two were about to shoot us, but they suddenly held on to their necks, froze in place, and eventually collapsed to the ground!”


Maia’s mind was blank. The way the two men had been taken down was simply too comical to register.


“Amazing! This is the Silver Needle Vessel Technique, thought to have been lost in the mists of time!”
said the captain who was surprised after further inspecting the two hitmen covering their necks.


“Silver Needle Vessel Technique? Was it an expert who had saved Maia and the others?” asked Warren.

“When I was in the army as a special forces soldier, I once heard an instructor say that the Weston military had produced two superior fighters who eventually became well-known in the west. The duo was best known for their Silver Needle Vessel Technique!”


“In the west, they were known as the Drake and Tyson Duo,” said the captain, his admiration apparent
in his eyes.


“After the war, the Drake and Tyson Duo disappeared somewhere in the West, or so I’ve heard. It wasn’t until two years ago when news broke out that they were—and currently still are—serving a mysterious family. By the looks of how the two criminals were apprehended, I can safely say that it feels very much like their techniques! God, I wonder why they’re both here in Mayberry?” said the captain.


After hearing what he had to say, the rest of the team were left in disbelief.

Chapter 588
When Maia heard Drake and Tyson’s name, her face instantly beamed with excitement.


“Maia, have you come across anyone that could hold that much power to help you? We were initially surprised when we received the 911 call, but it seems that someone knew that this event was going to happen ahead of time. They had stepped in to save you!” said the captain.


“Huh? I… don’t think I’ve contacted anyone that would fit that bill… I’ve only contacted Gerald…?”


But that wasn’t possible, right? Why would Gerald even know such powerful people?


Thinking back, however, Gerald had been aware of the threat. After all, he had even warned her about them in advance!


‘Gerald must know something!’ Maia thought to herself.


Moving back to Gerald…


While Tyson had subdued the two criminals, Gerald himself wasn’t present at the rescue scene.

After all, this was just a minor incident. He wouldn’t just meet Maia again by chance, would he? For
now, he would focus more on worrying about Xavia Yorke.


By noon, Gerald reached the university and just as he arrived at the entrance, he saw someone familiar.


It was Giya Quarrington. Unlike her usual self however, she looked both pale and dispirited. However, when she walked past Gerald and noticed that he was there, she immediately tried to compose herself.


“Gerald? When did you come back?” asked Giya with a surprised look on her face.


“I just got back today!” replied Gerald as he laughed.


“I’m very sorry, Gerald. Though I had promised to attend your birthday celebration, something came up so I couldn’t make it there!”


Giya still treated Gerald the same as always. After all, she knew that he was a good person. She also seemed like she had a lot of things to tell him at that moment.


Gerald could sense that, so he readied himself to avoid her.


Though he wanted to just walk away, after giving it some thought, he felt that it would be a bit too cold-
hearted for him to do so which led him to ask, “Is there something wrong?”


“I’m fine. Also, Gerald, could you take a walk with me? If that’s alright with you,” replied Giya as she looked at him.


“Sure,” said Gerald.


While this was happening, a rich young man dressed in expensive clothing was seated at the back of a Maybach car parked on the other side of the road from where the two were standing.

As Gerald and Giya started walking side-by-side, he glared at the two, anger and resentment flashing in his eyes.


“Mr. Long, that’s the person Giya previously escaped with! She had even hidden in his house! His name is Gerald, and he’s the actual Mr. Crawford of Mayberry!” said the driver.


“That’s the Gerald my sister-in-law had to deal with, right? What a b*stard. Not only did he mess with my sister-in-law, he even laid hands on my girl! I’m much more ruthless than she is, so let’s see how I’m going to deal with this kid,” replied Mr. Long.


Mr. Long wasn’t a fool, and he had already thoroughly investigated everything there was to know about Giya’s case.


“Apologies Mr. Long, but though the Long family is powerful, Gerald and his sister are the tyrants of
Mayberry! We can’t go overboard this time, can we?” said the driver, slightly hesitantly.


“F*ck you, I don’t care if he’s the ruler of Mayberry! In the eyes of the Long family, they’re all scum!”
said Mr. Long as he smacked his driver.


“Worry not, Mr. Long. I’ll take care of him for you right this instant!”


The icy cold voice came from a man with long hair and a deathly pale face who was seated next to the driver.


“There’s no need for that, Scorpion. You don’t have to do anything for now. Mr. Lennon’s right. His sister, Jessica Crawford, is way too powerful in Mayberry. It would be foolish to get him out in the open. Fear not, however, for I have a plan!” sneered Mr. Long.

Chapter 589
While Gerald was walking next to Giya, his phone started to ring. It was a call from Zack.

“Gerald, there’s a celebrity banquet tonight and I hope that you’ll attend. Since a master treasure appraiser from the South will be attending, you can have him appraise the jade pendant when you meet him. A few other celebrities from Mayberry will be attending as well.”


Zack was still helping Gerald track down Xavia.


He had brought up the celebrity banquet a few days ago as well. The celebrity banquet was a yearly event and celebrities from all walks of life usually turned up. Since it wouldn’t look good on Gerald’s part if he refused to attend, Gerald simply agreed to go.


When evening came, Gerald arrived—together with Yoel and Aiden—at the banquet which was being held at Mountainview Manor. As was expected, the venue was packed.


The large manor was usually used for gathering events, second only to Wayfair Mountain Entertainment.


The owner of Mountainview Manor, was Wallace Quinnens, a middle-aged man in his forties whom Gerald had met on several occasions. Due to Wallace’s slick personality, Gerald didn’t really have a good impression of him.


“Well look who’s here? It’s Mr. Crawford!” said Wallace as he hurriedly trotted over when he saw Gerald, Yoel, and the rest.


Many other wealthy businessmen began approaching Gerald’s group as well, and the parties all greeted
each other.


“Hello, Mr. Quinnens!” greeted Gerald as he forced a smile. A greeting was good enough.


Yoel then headed to a familiar round table in the manor and took a seat. The moment he sat down,
Wallace immediately jogged over and said, “Hey, Yoel, Aiden! You can’t sit here today!”


“Huh? What do you mean by that, Wallace?” asked Yoel, dumbfounded.

He had attended similar celebrity banquets like this in the past. This seat in particular was always taken
by his godsister, Jessica Crawford. As Jessica’s godbrother, he naturally sat together with her.


Now that Gerald—his godbrother—was the richest man in Mayberry, Jessica’s seat was Gerald’s to take.
This of course, meant that both Aiden and Yoel should continue to sit where they usually did.


“There’s nothing inherently wrong, but though you’ve sat here in the past, this year, some things have
changed so you can’t sit here anymore,” sneered Wallace.


The attendees for this year’s banquet were celebrities from all over the city. Seeing what had just
happened, the big bosses and rich businessmen surrounding Gerald began walking over.


“Humph, if we can’t sit here, then we won’t! It’s not like we want to see your face anyway. Let’s find another seat, Aiden. You stay here, Gerald!”


Naturally, Yoel had to think about his godbrother first. Just as Gerald was about to sit down, Wallace
shouted again. “Hold it!”


“What now?” By then, even Zack and Michael had come over to see what the commotion was about.


“I’m afraid that Mr. Crawford can’t sit here this year either,” said Wallace with a laugh.


“Are you out of your mind, Wallace? What did you say? Say it again if you dare!” shouted Yoel as he
grabbed Wallace by his collar.


This son of a b*tch was seriously getting on his nerves.


“No need to be so aggressive, Yoel! I’ll just repeat the statement one final time, this seat isn’t for Mr. Crawford this year!” said Wallace with a smirk.


“Explain yourself,” ordered the rich men standing by Gerald’s side.

“We just have an even more important guest coming today, and this seat is reserved for him!” explained
Wallace as he shook Yoel’s hands off him.

Chapter 590
By then, several celebrities had already noticed that the main seat was still empty, and hearing
Wallace’s words shocked them even further.


“What’s going on?”


“Well, Mr. Crawford was about to take the main seat, but Wallace didn’t allow him to!”


“What? How dare he do that? That seat had always belonged to Ms. Crawford in the previous years since she was the CEO. As her younger brother, Mr. Crawford should rightfully inherit her estates. Why the hell is Wallace acting so boldly?”


“Humph, who knows? Mr. Crawford must be feeling embarrassed by now!”


As the crowd continued gossiping, something else was happening outside.


Eight Rolls-Royce Phantoms had arrived at the manor’s entrance, and immediately after they stopped, more than a dozen bodyguards wearing black suits got out of the cars before quickly forming two rows.


The grand entrance soon attracted the attention of the crowd, and even Gerald was compelled to look out the manor. The main car’s driver got out and respectfully opened the Rolls-Royce Phantom’s door.


Out stepped a rich, young man dressed in a suit with both hands in his pockets. When they saw him, his bodyguards instantly bowed.


“Who is he? This is such a grand entrance!”


Most of the crowd was astonished by the scene.

Wallace on the other hand, quickly rushed toward the young man to greet him. “Mr. Long, thank you for attending! Your presence here makes Mountainview Manor shine!” said Wallace excitedly before bowing as well.


“What? Mr. Long? He’s the rich heir of the Long family! Their family has centuries’ worth of history!”


“F*ck! No wonder Wallace was being so bold today!”


“So it was Mr. Long who was giving him this much confidence!”


The crowd continued whispering among themselves until eventually, all of them looked at Mr. Long before simultaneously saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Long!”


“Greetings, uncles, and elders! Hahaha! You’re all being way too formal toward me! This is my first time officially being here in Mayberry. With that said, it’s also my first time attending a celebrity banquet
here! I’d never have imagined that all you people would be so nice to me!” said Mr. Long with a smile.


“It’s an honor to have you here, Mr. Long. Please, have a seat!”


“Indeed, Mr. Long. You’re more than worthy to take the main seat!”


By then, most of the wealthy businessmen and higher-ups—including the ones from Mayberry—had started showing their true colors as they shared their sentiments.


Though there were some families in Mayberry who had big names and long histories comparable to the Lourdes and Walt family, none of them could hold a candle to the Long family.


After all, it was said that the Long family had a very strong position in America since they were one of the first few people to settle there. Their power and influence had only grown stronger since then.


“Ah, everyone’s being so nice to me, but today, I’m not the main star of the banquet. I’m just here to
accompany my sister-in-law and have a good time! Hahaha!” replied Mr. Long as he laughed.

“Sister-in-law? Could you possibly mean Fred Long’s fiancée? I heard some time ago that Fred Long found himself a fiancée and they’re already set to marry!” said Wallace as he rushed forward with a smile on his face.


“You’re absolutely right, Mr. Quinnens!” responded Mr. Long with a wry smile as Mr. Quinnens moved
out of the way.


From the car behind him, its driver got out and opened the door to the passenger’s seat.


A noblewoman dressed in an expensive-looking dress then stepped out. In her arms, was a cute little dog and her two maids immediately stood next to her.


“Sister-in-law, join us, please!” said Mr. Long, his face beaming.


The woman then walked toward the main street as the crowd stared in awe. Aiden and the other simply stared at her, their eyes widened, before looking back at Gerald.


Gerald himself couldn’t believe who he was seeing before him.


The girl with the dog in hand was none other than Xavia Yorke, the person he had been searching for all this time.

Chapter 591
Gerald had been searching for her for two whole days now. During that time, he had constantly thought about what Xavia had become.


While Gerald was angry that she did all those excessive and terrible things to him, he just couldn’t bring
himself to hate her.


To counter that, he kept reminding himself that the current Xavia was no longer the same girl that he used to know during his freshman and sophomore years. She was a completely changed person.

He also told himself that with all the power and wealth he had now, it would be easy for him to retaliate against the two sisters. He knew that if he had really wanted to teach Natasha a lesson earlier, he
could’ve just ordered for her to be crippled on the spot.


Gerald knew very well that he didn’t need to hold back or even be polite to Xavia any longer.


Despite all that, whenever he tried to be cruel toward her, he just couldn’t. His mind would wander back to the times when they were both still together. After all, Xavia hadn’t hated him at all back then, even though he was so poor.


When Xavia saw Gerald, she simply sneered before looking away. Led by Wallace, she slowly walked toward the main seat.


“Why do all of you seem to be in a daze? Your seats are over here! Oh, and of course, if you wish to sit there, Mr. Crawford, it’s not like I can stop you! Haha!” sneered Wallace as he looked at Gerald while pointing toward the seat right next to the main seat.


While it would be a great honor for anyone else to be able to sit there, Wallace’s proposal carried a
different meaning for Gerald.


It clearly meant that Wallace no longer saw Gerald as an important person. This made everyone who came here with Gerald very eager to get into action.


The other wealthy businessmen and reputable figures simply sneered as they watched the scene unfold.


Gerald, for one, wasn’t stupid. It was now clear why everything had happened the way they did today.


Many of the people there had clearly chosen to go against him, opting instead to seek refuge under the Longs.


As it turned out, the people who had greeted him warmly and with respect earlier were simply setting up the scene for this exact moment!

By then, both Xavia and Yunus had already taken their seats. Xavia was smiling the entire time as she stared at Gerald. Pairing the expression on her face with the look in her eyes, it seemed almost as though she was asking whether it felt good being humiliated.


“You better watch it, Wallace Quinnens!” said Yoel angrily. He was so mad that his face had turned pale.
He was prepared to fight at any moment.


However, Gerald stopped him. He didn’t want to deal with today’s affairs too rashly. Instead, he started
making his way toward the side table.


“Pfft! You’re still thinking of hitting me? Some people can be so thick-skinned!” sneered Wallace.


However, this person really was very thick-skinned.


Looking toward Gerald, he said, “Come this way, Mr. Crawford! I’ll accompany you over!”


Once they got to the side table, Gerald was just about to take his seat before Wallace shouted, “Oh,
apologies Mr. Crawford! That seat is reserved for another wealthy businessman! You can’t sit there!”


Hearing that, some of the wealthier businessmen burst into laughter.


Gerald simply took in a deep breath before moving to sit on the chair next to that seat. Before he could, however, Wallace simply said, “Sorry, Mr. Crawford! That seat’s for yet another businessman!”


Gerald then glared at Wallace with a fierce expression before proceeding to move to yet another seat.


“Oh sorry Mr. Crawford, but-”


Wallace’s sentence was cut short.

Gerald had just given him a tight slap to the face. He used so much of his strength in that slap that Gerald could feel a burning sensation on his palm.


Wallace cupped his hurt cheek as he sat on the ground. This was proof of how hard Gerald had slapped
him. Naturally, the slapping sound drew everyone’s attention.


“You… You dare hit me?”

Chapter 592
Wallace had an incredulous look on his face as he held on to his now swollen cheek. After all, he was someone who had Mr. Long to back him up!


“Oh, sorry Mr. Quinnens! My hands felt a little itchy today so I couldn’t help myself from hitting you!”
sneered Gerald.


As soon as Wallace heard this, he immediately stood up again. The nerve of this person! Wallace got into position, seemingly ready to hit Gerald back.


However, Gerald simply continued glaring at Wallace with one hand in his pocket. He didn’t move an
inch.


It was at that moment when Wallace suddenly came to his senses.


He realized that regardless of who was backing him up, he was still dealing with Gerald right now, the richest man in Mayberry City! And his sister was even more amazing than he was! Putting their family background aside, the Crawford family wasn’t too far off in terms of wealth and power compared to the Longs.


If Wallace actually hit Gerald now, the Long family would probably be unable, or rather, unwilling to protect him! After all, why would the Longs start a war with the Crawfords just for his sake?


Wallace shuddered as he thought about it.

Today, he had already assumed some unwarranted authority to embarrass Gerald. Since he had already
done that, he knew he shouldn’t push his luck.


Wallace was now well aware that he shouldn’t provoke Gerald any further.


“I’ll sit here then, Mr. Quinnes, or is there going to be another problem?” sneered Gerald as he slowly shook his slightly swollen hand. Before Wallace could reply, Gerald had already sat on one of the previous seats he had earlier been denied.


“That won’t be a problem at all, Mr. Crawford. Feel free to sit there!” said Wallace, his tone much more
decent now.


As for Xavia, she could only stare at Gerald in surprise. She had initially thought that Gerald would still be as conscientious and low-profile as before, but he had changed! He was now completely different from how he used to be in the past.


The slap he gave Wallace really surprised her earlier.


Regardless of her slight shock, it still wouldn’t affect anything!


After that scene, the banquet simply resumed. It was as if nothing had ever happened. Many of the guests—who had most probably been bribed by Yunus—gathered around the man to give toasts to him. All of them neglected Gerald on purpose.


“Say, Yoel, Aiden, I’m going to the gents. Accompany me, will you?” said Gerald with a wry smile on his face.


The three of them then headed to the gents together.


“For f*ck’s sake! I’m so angry right now! Everyone’s trying their hardest to flatter that Long family guy! Mr. Crawford, I think Yunus and your ex, Xavia, are deliberately trying their hardest to go against you!” said Aiden angrily as he punched the wall.

“He’s right! I can still remember when my godsister was here in the past. As long as she was present, nobody would even dare to breathe loudly. In one of the past celebrity banquets, Wallace accidentally knocked over a cup in front of her. You should have seen him! He was so frightened that he immediately knelt and kowtowed in front of her! You’re simply too nice toward everyone, Mr. Crawford!” said Yoel.


Both Yoel and Aiden were aware of how kind-hearted Gerald was. It was the reason why they were always worried and concerned about him wherever he went. After all, Gerald treated both of them very well.


Although he grew up with his sister, the two siblings had completely different personalities.


“Just forget about it. We’ll talk about this later, I just want to-”


Gerald was wiping his hands with a tissue paper as he spoke. However, his sentence ended prematurely when he saw the girl standing near the gent’s entrance. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning against the wall.


All three of them had no idea how long she had been watching and listening in to them.


The girl simply sneered at them as she stared at Gerald.


Gerald had initially wanted to say that he wanted to settle the matter regarding Xavia first.


To his surprise, Xavia was already waiting for him outside the bathroom.


Seeing Xavia, Yoel and Aiden looked at Gerald before saying, “We’ll wait for you outside, Mr. Crawford.”


After saying that, both of them left.

Chapter 593
“Well this is perfect! I’ve been looking for an opportunity to have a good chat with you!” said Gerald as
he felt himself blush slightly. Gerald was feeling an onslaught of complicated emotions at that moment.

“Oh? What exactly do you want to talk about?” asked Xavia with a smug and arrogant look on her face.


She then started walking toward him before saying, “You know, I’m curious about something. I’m sure you’re well aware that I’m no longer the same Xavia you used to know. Before this, I could only ever dream about living a life as luxurious as you wealthy people do. To think that that dream would one day become true! I’m now part of a wealthy and influential family, Gerald. You may have humiliated me in
the past, but I’m on equal footing with you now. Tell me, Gerald! How do you feel about that?”


“I don’t mind it at all. I simply want to make things clear to you. If you think that I’ve let you down and you hold grudges against me, attack me, and only me! Don’t take your revenge out on the people around me!” replied Gerald.


“Hahaha! ‘If I think’? So you aren’t even certain if you’ve completely let me down? Don’t you think that the way you treated me before this was a bit too much?” said Xavia, her eyes growing red.


Xavia herself had reflected on her own behavior in the past. It was true that she too had mistreated Gerald a bit too much when she got together with Yuri back then. However, she had only done so to relieve herself from all the grief, poverty, and humiliation she had to suffer for being in a relationship with Gerald for those two years.


At the time, the more Xavia thought about it, the more she felt that life was extremely unfair to her. It made her feel very useless.


She knew she was quite beautiful, so why couldn’t she have the things that other girls had? The other girls had boys who took them out and bought them bags, branded cosmetics, and even iPhones! They would get to eat good food and experience a wide array of entertainment!


But not her. On the contrary, she was the one who had been spending money on him for two entire years. Where did she go wrong?


She simply didn’t want to continue living like this anymore. In the past, she would willingly endure all this out of love.

Eventually, however, was it really that wrong of her to want to be a bit more realistic?


Was it wrong of her to want to relieve herself from all her suffering? To satisfy her own vanity?


What she never anticipated, however, was that Gerald would suddenly become rich the moment they broke up.


And not just rich. He was filthy rich.


How couldn’t she have regretted her actions back then? Justice had finally been served and she was finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However both of them had already parted ways.


It was impossible for her not to regret it.


After that, she waited. She waited for Gerald to come look for her so that both of them could reconcile. In fact, as long as Gerald mentioned it, she would definitely return to his side and commit herself to him wholeheartedly.


But he never did that. Instead, he started flirting with other girls.


Xavia was filled with hatred when she came to know about that! This resulted in her taking even more drastic and extreme actions.


In the end, his true identity was exposed. Gerald was actually Mayberry City’s reputable Mr. Crawford!


On that day, she was faced with feelings of great joy, but also agony.


She felt as though she had suffered a great disadvantage. After being together with him for almost three years, she could have finally gotten a chance to experience riches, honor, and glory! Alas, he had already fallen in love with another girl!

That day, she completely disregarded her own self-esteem and dignity as she pleaded Gerald to give her another chance. All she got, however, was a view of his back leaving her.


After that, she could only leave Wayfair Mountain Entertainment like a dog that had been cast aside.
She didn’t even have the face to continue staying in the university anymore.


Who could understand and guide her through all the confusion that she had to face for the future? And all the hardships that she had to endure in society after leaving university?


She hated it. She hated all of it!


All this happened because of Gerald. Her sole motivation was to make him suffer as much as she had.


She wanted him to regret everything he had done to her. To be filled with remorse when he saw how well she was doing now.


However, even now, he hadn’t even bothered to apologize to her.

Chapter 594
To think that he had even waited for her to come to him instead of the other way around!


At that moment, Xavia raised her hand and gave Gerald a tight slap.


Gerald didn’t retaliate. Instead, he simply said, “If this can help you vent and release all that pent up anger, then go ahead and continue hitting me! Once you’re done, I hope that both of us can call it quits and have nothing to owe each other anymore!”


“Fine by me!” shouted Xavia as she raised her hand again.


However, before she could slap him, she paused. She then slowly put her hand down again.

“You think I’ll let you call it quits that easily? Don’t even dream about it. Do you really think that a few slaps to the face can resolve everything when you’ve hurt me so badly in the past?” said Xavia as she took a deep breath before returning to her cold and indifferent expression.


“What do you want then?” asked Gerald.


“Oh, nothing much. Speaking of which, Gerald, I heard that you’ve gotten quite a number of female
friends since we broke up. One of them is called Queta, right?” sneered Xavia as she crossed her arms.


Gerald immediately raised his head and said, “What do you plan on doing to her? If you lay a finger on her, Xavia, I won’t let you off that easily!”


In response, she took in a deep breath before frowning and saying, “Hahaha! The truth is, Gerald, I don’t care about anything anymore!”


After saying that, she took her cell phone out and began playing a video for Gerald to see.


He could see Queta sending some children home from kindergarten. Someone was constantly keeping tabs on her and Queta didn’t even seem to realize that she was being observed.


“You no longer have to try to scare me! I’m not afraid of you. I can afford to do anything I want to, and I don’t even mind losing everything now. Gerald, do you believe that I can end Queta’s life in just ten
seconds? Do you believe that I have the ability to do so?” asked Xavia maliciously.


“And don’t even think about going there to save her or informing her about this! Doing that will only
push me to want to fight you to the death even sooner!”


“Then what exactly do you want? As long as you promise not to harm any of those around me, I’ll definitely agree to most of your conditions!”


As soon as he said that, Xavia immediately gave him another slap.

“Well that’s just perfect! You’re being extremely sentimental and affectionate now! So why in god’s name were you so heartless and ruthless to me in the past?!” said Xavia, trying very hard to hold back her emotions.


“There’s a way for you to get me to stop harming those people! It’s simple, really. You just need to do a few things for me. Once you’re done with them, both of us can call it quits! Worry not, I won’t be asking you to murder someone or commit arson!”


“Deal!”


“Very well! Then the first thing I want you to do, is to give me a toast in front of everyone else later!”


Gerald simply nodded before saying, “That won’t be an issue.”


“We’ll do that first then!” said Xavia rather smugly as she took a step out of the washroom.


However, she immediately turned around again.


“I know that you’re probably thinking that I’m just some filthy woman who would casually sleep around with others for money. However, you should know that from the very beginning, I was never the woman you imagined me to be. Even though I’m already engaged to someone, I can proudly say that I’m still a virgin!”


After saying that, she left the bathroom.


Gerald was startled by her statement. He really hadn’t expected her to say that at all.


Complicated emotions brewed in his heart. He didn’t really know whether he should be feeling grateful or touched.


To think that Xavia was actually still a virgin.

The thought made Gerald feel slightly guilty now about how he had treated her in the past.


Despite that, there was nothing he could do about that now. Xavia was no longer the same person she used to be. While a person should refrain from hurting others, they should also remain vigilant so that they themselves won’t get harmed!


As Gerald left the washroom, he pondered about Xavia’s request. What exactly was her goal of asking him to propose a toast to her in front of everyone else?

Chapter 595
Gerald soon arrived at his seat. Even as he sat down, a few of the wealthy businessmen were still not done proposing their toasts to Yunus.


At that moment, Xavia looked at Gerald, hinting with her eyes for him to take action.


“Just look at what they’re doing! Just wait till my godsister comes back!” said Yoel, dissatisfied.


Gerald simply took in a deep breath before picking his wine glass up and walking toward Xavia.


“…Bother? What are you doing?” asked Yoel.


“Don’t interfere. Mr. Crawford definitely knows what he’s doing!” said Zack though he too was quite surprised when he saw Gerald heading toward her. However, he knew Gerald well enough to know that he wouldn’t be doing this without a purpose.


“Ah, Mr. Crawford, you came here to propose a toast as well?”


As soon as the businessmen there saw him, they immediately made way for him.


They were all the same as Wallace. Regardless of whether they had the Long family backing them up or
not, they couldn’t afford to offend Gerald.

After they hurriedly stood to the side, Gerald stood in front of Xavia.


Yunus was also there, and he sneered at Gerald while staring at him, his hand in his pocket.


“I’d like to propose a toast to you, Xavia!” said Gerald as he raised his wine glass.


While Xavia should have stood up to accept the toast, she simply remained seated while slowly shaking the red wine in her own glass.


Without the slightest warning, she then splashed the red wine all over his face!


“I accept! This glass of red wine is to repay you for how much you hurt me in the past!” sneered Xavia.


“Also, don’t you dare call me Xavia anymore! You don’t have the right to use my name! Pay more attention to that in the future!”


“…What?”


Seeing her splash the wine all over Gerald’s face left many, if not all, of the businessmen stunned.


F*ck! This wasn’t as simple a slap to the face anymore!


“Presumptuous!” shouted Zack as he and a few others immediately stood up. A conflict was imminent.


However, Gerald simply wiped the wine off his face as he signaled for the others to leave it be.


“Very well then, Miss Yorke. It should be fine for it to be done now, right?” asked Gerald as he raised his
wine glass again.

“Indeed!” replied Xavia as she laughed slightly. However, after raising her second glass of red wine, she poured its contents all over Gerald’s head!


“This one’s for my personal revenge!”


Everyone was simply dumbfounded by the scene.


She finally drank a glass of red wine after Gerald’s third toast to her.


So it turned out that Xavia had personally been waiting to deal with him there and then. Gerald couldn’t
help but feel a slight bitterness in his heart as he returned to his seat.


In all honesty, he wasn’t afraid of her at all. However, he was already at wit’s end. He just didn’t know
how else to deal with her anymore.


Knowing that she was still a virgin made it even harder for him. The whole situation just made Gerald feel very confused and conflicted.


After the banquet ended, Zack went to look for Zayden, the master appraiser who had come all the way from Northbay.


Gerald on the other hand, went to look for Xavia.


She knew that he would definitely come looking for her, so she was already waiting for him outside the manor.


“I’ve done as you asked, Miss Yorke. I hope that you’ll order your men to leave Queta alone now! You’ve already achieved your goal of humiliating me today anyway!” said Gerald.


“Haha! Rest assured, I only hold a grudge against you. I don’t have a reason to hurt her. However, do remember that you still have to do two things for me!” replied Xavia.

Gerald sighed before saying, “Go on.”


“These two things are actually relatively simple for you to accomplish. Firstly, you’ll have to let me live in
your Mountain Top Villa for a few days! And don’t worry, I won’t blackmail you into giving the entire building to me! You just have to let me live in it for a few days. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?” asked Xavia.


“Not a problem!” replied Gerald as he nodded.

Chapter 596
“As for my final request, it too, is quite simple. All you need to do is to teach a certain person a good lesson by forcing him to close down his shop permanently. Besides, he’s quite a terrible person so you’re not exactly being placed in a difficult situation either!” said Xavia.


“And who exactly is this person?” asked Gerald.


“He goes by the name of Hugh Lynch. He’s from the same village as my parents and he used to be my father’s best friend in the past. However, to start a business in Mayberry, he borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from my family. After eventually becoming successful, Hugh never once considered paying off the debts he owed us. And that’s not the worst thing about him either! Do you remember when I told you about what happened after I took a leave to go home during sophomore year? It turns out that it was Hugh who had hired the people to beat my father up!” replied Xavia as she slowly quieted down after explaining the situation.


She was talking about their past after all. That would naturally make her feel uneasy.


“I remember, but why are you asking me for help? You clearly have the means of teaching him a lesson yourself now!” said Gerald, genuinely confused.


Xavia simply sneered as she replied, “If I were the one who did it, he may not remember about the incident in the years to come. Besides, it would be inconvenient for me to use the Long’s people but that’s beside the point. The main reason I’m asking for your help, is because you’re famous in Mayberry. Having you do it instead of me will definitely leave a lasting impact on him!”

“Well, that person is definitely wicked enough for me to deal with. I remember when he even ordered someone to ambush you at the university. Is he the same person who founded the bar?” asked Gerald as he recalled their past together.


“That’s him alright! You know, he’s even abducted a few young girls from my village and all of them are ruined now. Even my younger sister almost suffered the same fate… Don’t you think he deserves the worst of punishments?”


“Fine. I’ll help you deal with him, on one condition. Don’t ever target my friends again!”


“Agreed! I’ll order my subordinates to leave, right this instant!”


After saying that, Xavia immediately turned around and re-entered her car. The driver then drove her away.


Upon seeing the car leave, both Aiden and Yoel rushed toward Gerald.


“Mr. Crawford, what did you say to that woman? Don’t you think you showed her a little too much respect today?”


“That’s right!” said Aiden, angry for Gerald’s sake when he heard Yoel’s comment.


“I get where you’re coming from, but just know that I’m not exactly afraid of her. I just don’t want anything more to do with her. With any luck, once all her anger has been vented, she won’t create further messes for me to deal with and we won’t have anything to do with each other after that!” replied Gerald calmly.


“Also, I need to go back and get a change of clothes. After that, both of you will have to follow me somewhere. In the meantime, get our men ready! We’re going to go do something together!” ordered Gerald to both Aiden and Yoel.


“Will do, Mr. Crawford! We’ll start preparing immediately!”

Though they didn’t exactly know what the incident was about, they swiftly began to make a few phone calls without questioning Gerald any further.


Gerald himself returned to Mountain Top Villa to change his clothes.


Once all three of them were done, Aiden drove them straight to a small bar in Mayberry under Gerald’s
orders.


“Mr. Crawford, what exactly are we going to do here?” asked Yoel after the three of them got out of the
car.


Puffing his freshly lit cigarette, Aiden smiled as he said, “I heard that this place is quite unsanctioned.”


“You heard right. We’re here because some illegal things are happening in this tiny bar,” replied Gerald
with a bitter laugh.


“For real? Don’t tell me you came here to have some s*x?” asked Yoel, shocked.


“Nonsense! Today, we’re here to…”


Gerald then started whispering to both Yoel and Aiden. By the end of his explanation, both of their eyes sparkled with excitement. With the plan made clear, all three of them then strode into the bar.


Upon entering the large hall, they chose a random booth and sat in it. Immediately after, Gerald began scanning the place.


It wasn’t long before a bald, middle-aged man with tiger tattoos all over his body caught Gerald’s attention. The man was talking to a few people from the community near the bar, with his hands in his pockets.


Gerald definitely knew who the man was. He was the one who owed Xavia’s father money.

When that man had tried giving trouble to Xavia in the past, Gerald had also been beaten up by his subordinates. If it wasn’t for Xavia bringing up the incident again, Gerald wouldn’t have remembered that it happened in the first place.


However, rather than to have personal revenge, Gerald was only here to settle the score for Xavia since he had promised to help her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have bothered coming here in the first place.


“Can I take your order, sirs?” asked a young woman who was dressed up gorgeously as she stood in
front of them.


Gerald, who was now lying on the sofa with both of his legs on the table, simply closed his eyes as he
said, “I’m not interested in ordering anything.”


“Is… Is that so? But sirs, we offer all sorts of-”


“F*ck off! Don’t you understand English? He said he isn’t interested in ordering anything!” shouted
Aiden as he stood up and kicked the table to the side.

Chapter 597
Aiden’s action caused quite a racket, and several of the present people turned to look at Gerald’s booth.
This included the middle-aged man from earlier, though he didn’t say anything.


Bosses who founded both regular or karaoke bars here, usually had some sort of background or great influence backing them up. It wasn’t uncommon for people to try creating messes in these places, which explained why the middle-aged man wasn’t too bothered about the trio.


While all this was happening, a girl sitting in a booth on the other side of the bar asked, “Eh, isn’t that the guy from before?”


Having heard the commotion that had just taken place, the girl had peeked to see what was going on, and she was shocked when she saw Gerald.


“Huh? You know one of those people, Tina?” asked another girl sharing the booth.

There were nine other young men and women sitting in the same booth, and the group had come to the bar to have some fun.


“I do!” replied Tina as she nodded.


One of the males in the group coughed before rather jealously saying, “Since Tina is now working in the police force, she’s definitely in touch with a much wider range of people. Tell us Tina, what exactly is
that group’s leader’s background? He seems rather full of himself!”


His jealousy was warranted since everyone in the bar had gone there to have fun. In a place filled with handsome men and beautiful women like this, literally everyone wanted to be the center of attention and be able to act smugly in front of the others. Despite that being the case, not many people could actually pull that off properly.


Now however, a rare reckless individual had appeared, so all the attention was naturally on him. The male who had spoken before was socially obliged to ask about him.


“I’m not actually that close to him… I only came to know about him this morning while I was handling a case. He’s a high school classmate of one of my colleagues,” replied Tina.


The colleague in question was of course, Maia. Tina even remembered teasing Gerald that morning, asking whether he had a girlfriend. Naturally, she had been just fooling around then.


However, their meeting this morning seemed so distant now.


There were a lot of mysteries surrounding Gerald, and both Tina and Maia were curious about his actual background.


After all, Gerald had been the one who had warned them about the hitmen, even though they didn’t
take him seriously at all at the time.


Eventually however, they came to learn that the threat he had warned about was the real deal. Though they faced a life-or-death situation for not taking his words seriously, all three girls present in the

bathroom made it out unscathed that morning. They had been saved by an exceptionally powerful person.


However, they had no clue who had saved them. Hence, Maia and Tina were keen on cracking the mystery behind the mysterious, powerful individual.


Their best guess was that Gerald’s warning had been entrusted to him by the exceptional individual.
From what Maia could assume, Gerald was just doing the powerful person a favor.


Tina on the other hand, wasn’t scratching off the possibility that Gerald was secretly the powerful person in question. After all, he was Maia’s high school classmate and he even knew about the hitmen before they even showed themselves! He was definitely the most suspicious person.


Maia didn’t buy that theory at all. She claimed that it was impossible since she was sure that Gerald didn’t have such great capabilities.


Though she had initially wanted to call Gerald over to talk about the case, her superiors had transferred
the case to another party, so both of them weren’t allowed to investigate any further into the case.


As for the celebration party that had been interrupted that morning, it was agreed upon that it would be resumed the next day. During both her trips to the bar, Tina hadn’t been able to have a great time. Since her other friends invited her out to a bar tonight, she had taken the opportunity to finally be able to get a quiet drink.


Meeting Gerald here was quite unexpected. What more, he seemed like he was about to create a messy scene here. Seeing all this unfold before her eyes made Tina even more curious than she was before.


“But then why is he acting so smugly? There are only three of them yet they seem like they want to
cause trouble here! Didn’t you ask your colleague about his background?” asked another girl.


“I know about his background. In high school, he was apparently extremely poor and it doesn’t seem like anything’s changed since then. When I met him today, he was drinking alone in the bar. To think that he would come again at night! I initially thought that he was quite an honest man, but upon closer

inspection, he seems to just be some kind of ruffian! Humph! He doesn’t have any good prospects, that’s for sure!” replied Tina.


“Well d*mn! How bold of him to come here and act all arrogant despite being such a poor guy. The boss, Hugh, is definitely going to ruin him! He’s quite powerful and influential along this entire street!” said one of the men in the booth.


“He’s right. Someone else came to the bar about three months ago to cause a big mess. He was then promptly ruined terribly by Hugh,” added another man.

Chapter 598
It was clear that they enjoyed watching the misfortune of others.


Tina herself was thinking that both parties involved weren’t nice men. She didn’t need to directly involve herself with them since they were just fighting among their own kind. However, she was ready to call the police if things got too messy.


At that moment, a loud crash was heard. Gerald had apparently knocked down a vase.


The shrill sound of shattering glass further attracted the attention of everyone in the bar.


“Good sirs, you’ve clearly done it now! Not only did you refuse to order anything, you even smashed one
of the vases here!” sneered the woman as she crossed her arms. She knew that the trio before her didn’t mean well.


“F*cking hell! It’s just a vase! We’ll just compensate for it!” shouted Yoel in return.


“I’m glad you’re willing to do so! But I first need to ask my boss regarding the exact price you’ll have to compensate!” replied the woman as she looked toward the spot where Hugh was standing earlier. Hugh however, had already started walking toward the group.


“What’s the meaning of all this?”

“Boss! These three refused to order anything and they even broke one of our vases! They’re definitely here to create trouble! They have agreed on compensating for the vase, though,” explained the woman.


As he took a cigarette out, Hugh simply sneered before saying, “It’s good that you’re at least willing to compensate! Acting all bold and audacious before me, how dare you even offend me! However, I’m a nice person, so you’ll only need to give me five hundred thousand dollars!”


He then puffed his cigarette as he continued glaring at Gerald’s group.


Everyone’s eyes were glued on the scene happening before them now. After all, who wouldn’t want to
watch others get hit by misfortune? Even the DJ had turned off the stereo system.


At that moment, a few men who had their hair dyed in multiple different colors began surrounding
Gerald’s group. They seemed to be people who frequented the bar to have fun.


“What’s wrong, Hugh?” asked one of the men.


“Oh, it’s nothing much. He just broke a vase so I told him to compensate for it,” replied Hugh with a
smile.


“See these people? If you fail to pay up the five hundred thousand dollars, I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave this place tonight!”


After Hugh said that, the ruffians started cracking their necks intimidatingly. They seemed to be ready to attack at any moment.


However, Gerald only smiled faintly before saying, “Hugh, Hugh, Hugh… I really didn’t expect you to still be this reckless and arrogant. Five hundred thousand dollars for a mere vase? You dare say that to my face? Do you even remember who I am?”


“Huh? Have we met before?” asked Hugh, slightly stunned by Gerald’s retort.

Squinting his eyes slightly, Hugh finally realized who Gerald was.


“So that’s why you looked so familiar! You’re the boyfriend of that Yorkes lady! F*ck! And here I was thinking who you were! You audacious, b*stard! Didn’t I teach you a lesson before? It seems like I
wasn’t harsh enough!”


“Tell you what, if you’re able to compensate for that five hundred thousand dollar vase, then the issue
will be resolved. If you aren’t, then you’d better start thinking about the consequences!”


As Gerald gave a subtle smile, Aiden stood up and said, “I’ll go get the money then! Wait for my return!”


“Boss, he could be trying to call someone over!” said one of Hugh’s subordinates.


“Leave him be. I want to see who he’ll even be able to call over!” replied Hugh as he smiled
contemptuously.


“Hot d*mn! What a great mess this has become! That guy actually dared to challenge Hugh! Doesn’t he know that Tiago owns Hugh’s bar too? Do these guys even want to continue staying in Mayberry?”
asked a few of the guys sitting at Tina’s booth excitedly.


“Say Tina, didn’t you say that he’s your colleague’s ex-classmate? Don’t you want to help him out?”
asked a girl from the same booth.


“Humph! And why should I? He’s already so weak but he doesn’t even have any self-awareness! Hugh may be bad news, but Gerald should already know that he can’t afford to offend people like him!” said Tina as she crossed her arms again.


A short while later, someone in the bar suddenly shouted, “Hey, look! Isn’t that Tiago? Tiago’s here!”

Chapter 599
“…Wait, someone’s walking in front of Tiago… Holy cr*p! Isn’t that the guy who went out earlier?”

“He is! He went out to call someone, but to think that the person he had in mind was Tiago! Actually, is that really the case?”


Some of the people present inside the bar began discussing the situation through whispers. Others simply stared at the scene, wide-eyed. The only constant was that everyone was currently filled with disbelief.


Not long after, a loud rumble could be heard and several loud footsteps soon followed. A large group of bodyguards dressed in black suits entered the bar. Among them, there were also several young men dressed like rich heirs.


It was nothing short of an impressive scene.


Hugh himself was feeling stunned. The men in black had different dispositions compared to the ones he was used to seeing. Even the group of rich youths seemed like people he would never dare to offend.


“Mr. Crawford, the guy I’ve brought here goes by the name of Tiago. He’s Hugh’s backer!” said Aiden as
he walked forward before sitting beside Gerald again.


“M-Mr. Crawford! I’m not a sensible and insightful person so please forgive me for trusting the wrong guy! I cooperated with the wrong person so please, please accept my apology!”


Tiago looked like he was more than forty years old, yet at the time, he was sweating profusely in between hasty bows while he continued to repeat his apologies anxiously.


He clearly seemed to know what was at stake here.


“Tiago? Why are you being so cordial toward this guy?” asked Hugh in confusion.


As soon as Tiago heard those words, he immediately slapped Hugh. “You f*cker! Do you realize what you’ve done?! If you dare to offend Mr. Crawford you’ll suffer terribly! I’ll personally ruin you later!”

“What’s happening? Did anyone else see that? Tiago seems to be bowing to Gerald!” said a man
standing beside Tina.


“Yeah, what’s happening? Also, did anyone hear what Tiago called Gerald earlier? It’s too noisy, I can’t hear a lot of things clearly!” said another girl.


“I couldn’t catch that either. What on earth is going on?!”


Tina herself was having trouble listening in to the conversation. However, she was able to see Gerald
smacking the back of Hugh’s head who was now lying on the floor. Hugh didn’t try to fight back, clearly confused as to what was happening. He seemed frightened to death. After that, Gerald slipped a hand into his pocket and immediately left the bar, leading the large group of people out with him.


Even Tiago ran after Gerald, just to see him off.


Seeing this, many of the customers then got on their feet and began rushing out the bar’s entrance. All of them wanted to observe how the rest of the situation would play out. After all, nobody could have ever anticipated the plot twist that had just taken place before their very eyes.


They all needed to know who the influential and powerful boss actually was.


“Tina, why don’t we go have a look ourselves? Can you hear the uproar outside? I wonder what’s even happening!”


The girls were so eager that they just couldn’t hold themselves back any longer. After a short pause, Tina agreed to join them. The scene from earlier had made her jaw drop and she was now immensely curious as well.


Her first impression of Gerald had been that of a poor loser who she would never be able to take seriously.

She was now, however, aware that he was actually an extremely powerful and influential person! Any girl would be shocked after finding out about that! This was especially true for Tina since she was now able to tie this situation to the previous one. It was impossible for her to hold herself back now.


With that, Tina and her group ran out of the bar as well.


Upon exiting the building, they finally understood why the others were screaming outside. Before she was even able to cover her mouth, Tina found herself screaming as well.


There were several dazzling Ferrari sports cars and even more Maybach luxury cars parked right outside the bar.


There were just so many expensive cars! Not many people could resist the temptation to awe at them.


Being graced by so many of them at the same time made for an absolutely magnificent scene.

Chapter 600
Tina’s face was flushed in astonishment. When she came to her senses again, she immediately started
looking for Gerald within the huge crowd.


The most luxurious car at the scene was a Lamborghini, and Tina saw Gerald standing right beside it. After a bodyguard opened the door for him, Gerald entered the car and left the scene in it.


“….Tina, did you lie to us? What on earth did we just witness? Didn’t you say that he was just some poor loser? What we all saw was the complete opposite of that!” said a few of her friends as they gulped, still astonished at what they had just experienced.


“I… I didn’t lie to you… He really is…”


Tina was unable to finish her sentence. At that moment, she was equally nervous and didn’t know what
to say anymore.


She then tried to recall what her real first impression of Gerald really was on the day she first met him.

‘…I… think I first thought that he was quite handsome and classy the first time I met him… I even asked if he had a girlfriend…’


‘Wasn’t I thinking about getting to know him better since I don’t have a boyfriend and knowing a handsome man would be a treat...?’


‘When exactly did my impression of him change so drastically?’


‘Oh, right. It was when Maia introduced him to us. I started feeling slightly disgusted by him then since I became aware that he was poor and incapable. Even so, he still went to the bar…’


At that moment, Tina’s train of thought stopped. She now had one specific detail about Gerald on her
mind.


From the very beginning, Gerald didn’t seem to say much at all. The only exception to this, was when he
found out that they were in danger. Gerald had gone over to the other bar just to tell them about it. Despite that, they only ridiculed him so he left after that.


After they got attacked and saved however, the captain mentioned something about how powerful people had been involved in their rescue. It wouldn’t be a stretch now to imagine Gerald ordering those people to save them back then.


There was no need to question it anymore. She knew that her assumptions were definitely true.


Gerald wasn’t how Maia had pictured him to be. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He was definitely extremely powerful and influential.


“Who are you exactly, Gerald…?” asked Tina anxiously to herself.


At that moment, she was ready to tell Maia all about her great discovery.

Before she hit the call button however, she stopped and put her cell phone down again. It was better if Maia didn’t know about it. After all, a person’s sense of maturity was dependent on their ability to keep some secrets to themselves.


Why did she have to reveal everything that she knew to Maia?


Moving back to Gerald, he was now standing before Xavia.


“Here’s the key to Mountain Top Villa. You can stay there for a month. I’ve helped you deal with Hugh so once I give you the key, let bygones be bygones. I hope that you understand that if I ever choose to be serious, you won’t be able to threaten me,” said Gerald as he threw the key to her. He then immediately turned around to leave.


“Humph! And what do you mean by that! Do you really hate me that much? You aren’t even the slightest interested in speaking with me, are you?” replied Xavia, her tone anxious.


“I’m not!”


“I’m aware that you have a new girlfriend now. I’ve heard about the incident between you and Giya as well! You seem to be quite close to her, but since I’m your ex, I can’t help but want to advise you about one thing. For your own good, don’t meddle further into any affairs regarding Giya!”


“Let me tell you Gerald, you don’t know the full story about the Long’s background. You don’t even know what kind of person Yunus really is. Though your Mayberry Organization is powerful, if the Longs wanted to destroy you, they could do so extremely easily. Do you understand?” said Xavia as she took the key.


“I don’t plan to meddle any further into any affairs regarding Giya anyway. However, do know that even
though that is so, I’m not afraid of the Longs either. You don’t have to try to scare me!” replied Gerald.


“Humph! I was simply trying to be kind to you! How ungrateful! Just stay away from Giya in the future or you’ll come to regret it!” said Xavia as she peeked at Gerald one final time before leaving.

It was true that Gerald didn’t want to meddle with Giya’s affairs anymore. He wasn’t her boyfriend, so he wasn’t obligated to help her that much. What more, the affair involving both the Longs and Giya was a proper one.


What more could he even do?


At that moment, his phone started to ring.