Chapter 200 – 250
Chapter 200 – 250
Chapter 201 “Oh my god, someone really jumped down?!”
“Is he not afraid of death? That’s two Siberian tigers in front of him!”
“How is he unhurt after jumping down from this height? Could that kid be a martial artist!?”
“10 million dollars. Someone’s willing to risk his life for 10 million dollars! However, that’s two adult Siberian tigers. That kid is just asking for death!”
Quite a number of tourists broke out in discussions.
Selena, too, ran to the bridge while carrying Kylie. Seeing jackie jumping down, Kylie seemed to have sensed that it was dangerous. She shouted anxiously, “Mommy, it’s Daddy. Daddy jumped down!”
Selena was just as anxious. Those were tigers, not human, and there were two of them. Judging from the looks of it, the tigers were hungry. Their eyes were filled with killing intent.
“Don’t worry, Kylie. Daddy will be fine. Daddy is a hero. He’s there to save people!” Although Selena was deeply worried, she still tried to comfort Kylie who was in her arms.
“Thank you, thank you. If you save my son, I’ll pay you 10 million dollars. I really have the money. No, I’ll pay you 50 million dollars!” That middle-aged woman kept crying on the bridge. Now that somebody went down, her emotions were slightly more stable.
After jackie jumped down, both the tigers stopped in their tracks and glowered a jackie.
jackie did not try to immediately reach for the child. Instead, he looked at the little boy and yelled at him. “Shut up. Why are you crying? You’re not a man if you cry!”
The little boy was crying out of fear. Now that jackie shouted at him, he no longer dared to cry, but instead shut his mouth and sobbed quietly.
“Do you understand your mistake? It’s written there to not climb or play. Didn’t you see it?” jackie pointed at the signboard on the stone bridge, then stated, “If you don’t admit your mistake, I won’t save you!”
“Uncle, I know my mistake!” The boy whimpered. The little boy looked pitiful. After saying that, he once again lost control and cried aloud.
“F*ck me, this man is trying to teach the kid a lesson at a time like this?!”
“Although that teaching method is the right approach, they’re both about to die. What’s the point of teaching now?”
A number of tourists were at a loss on how to react.
The two tigers raised their heads slowly and roared at jackie. That sound carried along the domineering presence of a ruler.
“You beast, if you know what’s good for you, then get out of my way. In my eyes, you’re nothing but little kittens. You won’t be able to kill the person I want to save!” jackie’s eyes turned serious. A terrible killing intent flashed across his eyes.
“Little brother, look over there. There are some vines there. Quickly carry my son and run over there. You can climb up that vine onto the stone wall. That will get you up here!” The woman on the stone bridge directed after looking left and right.
However, jackie ignored her solution and coldly looked over the two tigers.
The tigers exchanged glances, then leaped at jackie simultaneously.
“Ah!” The people on the stone bridge closed their eyes out of fright. It was too scary.
“He’s doomed. Two Siberian tigers attack together as if a planned attack. That kid is dead for sure!”
“Humans die for money, birds die for food. Sigh, it’s because of his greed for that 10 million dollars! Oh no, it’s 50 million dollars. However, what’s the use of 50 million dollars if he’s dead!?”
Chapter 202 The crowd was extremely anxious. Quite a number of them exclaimed in terror. They all thought jackie would surely die. If it was one tiger lunging at him, jackie might be able to struggle for a moment. Although it was useless to struggle, it was still better to face them one on one.
However, with two tigers coming from both sides, anyone else would only be met with death.
Unexpectedly, the next instant stunned everyone. All of them almost have their eyes popped out of their sockets from the surprise.
Both the Siberian tigers that lunged at him were held down to the ground with his hands on their head.
The tigers bellowed deeply and struggled with all their might. However, it was to no avail. jackie’s strength pressing down on their head had them fully pinned down, unable to escape.
The Tigers continued to struggle. Their hind legs were kicking so much to the point of digging two pits behind them, yet it was of no help.
At that time, two zoo employees finally arrived at the scene. When they opened the metal gates, the sight they saw had them shocked to the core.
“Oh my god, am I seeing things?”
“Yeah. Is this man that strong??”
The two employees immediately rushed over and carried the child.
Although the two tigers were running low on strength, they still continued to roar in anger.
“What now? The tigers are angry. At this rate, even if he releases the tiger, we can’t calm them down and stop them from hurting people!” One of the guys asked nervously.
“You guys carry the child and go out first. Lock the door properly!” jackie turned around and instructed the two employees.
“Wait here brother. Just hold out a little longer. I’ll go get the tranquilizer gun!” The other employee immediately suggested.
“That’s right. If the tigers were not angered, they would still obey. Normally we’re the ones to feed them, so…”
“However, in this situation, if you let go, they will surely attack…” The other employee interjected.
“You both really talk a lot. If not because these Siberian tigers are protected animals, I would’ve killed them with a punch each! Get the child out of here and lock the door!” jackie stated sternly. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“Brother, w-w-what about you?” One of them was deeply touched. What a great man that was willing to sacrifice himself to save a child.
Moreover, in order to ease their worries, he was lying about his ability to kill the tigers in one punch. Such a nice person was really rare to come by.
“Go!” jackie yelled.
The two employees finally carried the child out and brought him to his mother on the stone bridge.
“Jake!” The woman hugged her son and burst into tears once more. This time, it was because of joy.
She quickly remembered something, then looked at the man holding the tigers by the head down there, feeling extremely touched. “Little brother, what about you? You must stay alive! I still need to repay your kindness!”
“Sigh, it’s already lucky enough that he managed to hold the tigers down by their head. Unfortunately, good people don’t live long!” said a guy from the crowd.
“The two employees are off to get the tranquilizer gun. Little brother, hold out a little more!”
On the bridge, others were cheering jackie on.
Chapter 203 Both the tigers kept up with their struggles. Time and time again they tried to raise their heads. Unfortunately, they were still held firmly on the ground by jackie.
Suddenly, jackie released both the Siberian tigers and backed off swiftly.
The tigers finally got up and glared at jackie intently.
After a moment, both of them once again rushed at jackie.
This time, jackie gave each a kick and sent both tigers flying a few meters back.
“Oh my god!”
The tourists on the bridge were worried about jackie and thought he was in trouble. Never did they expect jackie to resolve the danger once again.
After sending the two tigers flying, jackie turned around and dashed, arriving at the edge of the cliff. He then dashed upward. His legs took a few steps, flashing about, and got up in just a few simple moves. With another leap, he was already up on the stone bridge, standing in front of everyone.
The two tigers pounced forward and only caught air, only realizing jackie standing on the stone bridge after raising their heads.
Both the adult Siberian tigers roared at jackie, who was on the stone bridge, for some time before they finally lowered their heads and turned away.
jackie’s entire stunt added up to a total of at most two seconds. The speed was just too fast. To many of them, jackie was back with just a blur. After a momentary silence, it was followed by thunderous applause.
“Thank you, thank you, you’re my hero!” The middle-aged woman immediately grabbed jackie’s hand and said excitedly. “Pass me your bank card. It’s a promise. You saved my son so I’ll pay you 50 million dollars as a sign of gratitude!”
“Oh my god, 50 million dollars! Just who is this woman? She’s rich enough to actually pay him a reward of 50 million dollars?”
“Big risk, big rewards. This man struck the jackpot this time!”
Quite a number of tourists were looking at jackie with admiration. jackie’s show of strength earlier had similarly shocked them.
“Pretty lady, your husband is too amazing. How is he that strong? Moreover, it’s about three meters tall and he was able to get up here in one breath!”
Another auntie could not help but approach Selena. “Your husband is too amazing. Having married such a strong husband, you must be very happy!”
Selena squeezed out a smile, then said, “He’s been in the army for five years and just only came back from the battlefield!”
“No wonder he’s amazing. Those that battled the enemies on the battlefield and survived five years are definitely not ordinary folks!”
Upon hearing that, some of the men looked at jackie more respectfully. Such a person was worthy of their respect.
However, none of them expected what came next. jackie told the woman bluntly, “Don’t bother with the 50 million dollars. If it’s for the money, I wouldn’t have saved your son!” Having said that, he went forward and crouched down. He then gently touched the child’s ankle.
Upon hearing those words, the crowd was dumbfounded. 50 million dollars worth of reward. That amount, to any of them, was a huge incentive, yet jackie rejected it squarely. Perhaps that was what it meant to be a hero that served the country.
Hearing those words, Selena too had a smile on her face. She had not planned to take the money. After all, the reason jackie saved people was not for the money.
“Ah!” The child could not hold back from crying out. His face turned pale.
“I’ve already called the ambulance. It’ll be here very soon. I wonder what’s wrong with the leg. It’s all swollen. Who knows if it might be very serious!” The woman looked and explained with a worried expression.
“Let me handle it. This ankle is badly dislocated. If we don’t fix it, the blood vessels would be blocked and make things worse!”
“By then, if left for a long time, the bad circulation might lead to the possibility of amputation!” jackie looked at the boy’s ankle, then asked him, “Jake, right? This time, it might hurt a little but it’s unavoidable. You can only endure it!”
“Wait, are you a doctor? Can you do it? Aren’t you a soldier?” That middle-aged woman was extremely worried. “Kiddo, you saved my son’s life so I’ll definitely pay you that 50 million dollars. However, please don’t act rashly on my son’s injuries!”
Crack!
However, just as she finished her sentence, jackie quickly grabbed Jake’s leg and gave it a good tug, creating that sickening sound.
“Ah!” Little Jake turned around and screamed, then passed out.
Chapter 204 jackie stood up and let out a deep breath. He then reached for a cigarette and slowly lit it, taking a puff. However, his brows soon curved into a frown, feeling the gaze from the crowd turning abnormal.
“I-i-isn’t he a soldier that kills enemies? Isn’t he a fighter? Does he know anything about medicine?” Finally, one of the aunties asked slowly.
“How can he know anything about medicine? Killing and saving lives are two completely different things, okay? Furthermore, that child passed out. He’s not dead, is he?” An old man asked in a worried tone.
Hearing those words, Little Jake’s mother almost passed out from shock. She immediately glared at jackie. “What’s wrong with you? My son was just fine earlier. Why is he not moving now? Did you just kill him? Could it be that you knew my family is rich and think that 50 million dollars is too little?”
“No way?!”
A number of people from the crowd took a deep breath. If jackie really had such a thought, that would be too evil. 50 million dollars and he still finds it insufficient?
“Impossible. My husband is not such a person!” Selena immediately stepped forward, then confronted that woman. “If he wanted to kill your child, he wouldn’t have jumped down there in the first place. Saving him, then just to kill him? Isn’t that just redundant?”
Unexpectedly, that woman immediately grabbed jackie by the collar and shouted, “I don’t care. My son was doing just fine earlier. He was crying and could talk to others. Now he’s just lying on the ground, not even moving. I don’t care, I want my son to wake up right now!”
Selena was speechless. She then stood up for jackie. “Hey woman, why are you so unreasonable? My husband just risked his life to save your son. How can you think of him this way?”
“who knows if he jumped down for that 10 million dollars?!” The woman chuckled, then blabbered incoherently, “He must’ve seen me suddenly raising the amount to 50 million dollars and realized that I’m from a rich family, the super affluent. Now that he’s found me out, he feels that 50 million dollars was too little and wants more!”
“You crazy woman!” jackie’s expression darkened. “If I want more money, can’t I just ask you earlier? Why would I do something so redundant?”
That woman instantly lost all her bluster, feeling that jackie’s words made sense too. However, she did not plan to let go of jackie’s collar. She asked, “Then you tell me, do you have a medical license? Are you a doctor from a hospital?”
jackie was speechless. He smiled bitterly, “Although I have no medical license, nor am I a doctor, I have great medical knowledge. I know how to save people! Isn’t it sufficient to save someone?”
“look here everyone. He doesn’t even have a medical license. How can he prove that he can save people? He’s not even a doctor yet he dares to simply touch my son. If my son is dead, I’ll never let him go!” The woman laughed out loud, then stated in a loud voice, “Everyone here should be my witness. This kid is greedy beyond measure. I’m sure it’s because he thinks I’m underpaying him!”
jackie looked at her impatiently, then moved his cigarette to her arm.
Upon seeing that, she was alarmed and immediately let go of jackie’s collar then took a few steps back. “Kid, what do you want? You son of a b*tch, are you trying to burn me?”
jackie adjusted his own collar, then sneered, “Burn you? if you knew whose collar you were holding on earlier, you’ll be deeply regretful! I saved a life out of kindness, yet you look down on me like this?” Finishing his statement, jackie took another puff of the cigarette, then continued, “Your son was merely unconscious because it was too painful to bear. His leg is all better now. It’s still a little swollen at the moment. When the time comes, just apply some anti-inflammatory medicine and painkillers will do. You can even skip the trip to the hospital and get them from the pharmacy!”
“W-w-why should I believe your words?” The woman maintained her fierce stance, “I’ll wait for the people from the hospital to come and make an examination! Moreover, my son is still unconscious. How do I know what’s happened?”
“If you want to wait, then wait here yourself. Don’t waste my precious time. I’m enjoying the day with my daughter and wife. My time is very precious!”
Chapter 205 Having said his peace, jackie was about to leave with Selena.
“You’re not allowed to leave!” However, that woman blocked their path. “I think you’re just feeling guilty. Otherwise, why are you trying to leave?”
“That’s right. That boy was fine just earlier and would only need to wait for the ambulance, yet this guy tried to provide treatment? In my opinion, he’s just a quack that’s trying to show off but end up causing an accident!”
Some of them started to criticize jackie, stating, “The path to evil is paved with good intentions!”
Obviously, nobody would believe a soldier to do a doctor’s work.
The two zoo employees came running. When they saw the situation, they immediately exclaimed, “Wonderful, brother, you climbed up all on your own? That’s amazing!”
Having said that, he looked over to the little boy on the floor. “Wasn’t he just fine earlier?”
Hearing that, the woman immediately started complaining in tears, “That’s right. Everything was fine earlier. He was awake, but this guy came and offered to help. In the end, I don’t even know if my son is dead or alive now. I don’t care, if my son is dead, or his condition worsens, he’ll have to compensate accordingly!”
The employee’s expression darkened as he looked at jackie. “Little brother, we’ve already called the ambulance and it’s on the way. Why must you try to provide treatment? We have no idea about this child’s injuries. If you’re not trained in that field, it’s better not to do anything and let the doctors decide. Why didn’t you wait?”
“If I waited, he might require amputation!” jackie explained.
Right then, an ambulance drove to the edge of the bridge and the medical personnel ran over.
“Thank goodness the doctor is here. Doctor, how’s my son? This area was swollen earlier, but then this soldier here gave it a tug like this and my son went unconscious…” Noticing the doctor’s arrival, the woman went into tears and explained as though grasping at straws.
“Don’t rush. Let me have a look!” The doctor examined and said, “There’s nothing wrong. He’s just passed out and will wake up in a bit. Moreover, from what I can see, it must have been badly dislocated previously. It’s already being set back in place. This kid’s technique is spot on.”
“Y-y-you’re sure?” The woman swallowed hard as she stared at the doctor with wide-opened eyes.
The doctor said grunted impatiently, “Nonsense. I’m an orthopedic specialist. How can I not diagnose the situation? Go buy some anti-inflammatory medicine and apply it for a few days. It’ll be fine. The situation earlier should be much worse. If it wasn’t treated in time, that would be dangerous.”
“so the experts understand while the layman laughs!” jackie chuckled, then put out his cigarette and threw it in the trash bin.
“S-s-sorry. I’ve wrongfully accused you!” The woman lowered her head and said in an embarrassed tone, “How much money you want? I can pay you!”
“This apology is sufficient. No need for payment! Next time, don’t jump to the wrong conclusion and blame the good guy!”
Chapter 206 “I…” The middle-aged woman was furious beyond comprehension, yet she did not know what to say.
The people who had been criticizing jackie earlier now all turned on her, saying that she had gone too far, suspecting her own benefactor like that.
“Mom…” At this moment, the boy who had fainted regained consciousness. The crowd began to clap their hands again.
“50 million? You’re amazing, dear!” They walked off for a while before Selena finally smiled. “You’re really not tempted by that much money? If you took the 50 million, you could have easily solved the issue of Grandfather’s coming birthday!”
jackie gave a wry smile as he looked at his wife. “My dear, would you take the 50 million if it was from the person you had saved before?” he asked.
“Of course not. I don’t save others to get money!” He quirked a brow when he heard that. “Heh. My dear, it seems like you desperately want me to fork out 40 million dollars to get your parents’ approval. I think
this proves that you truly love me, and you want to be with me.”
Selena’s face immediately reddened. “No way!” she protested hastily. “I just think that it’s a shame that you let 50 million dollars slip past your fingers just like that.”
The three roamed around the zoo for a while before exiting the place and was about to call a cab to go home.
However, they never expected a BMW to quickly pull up near them.
The driver rolled down the window. The man grinned towards Selena. “Oh, and I thought that I saw wrong. Never imagined to really run into the belle of our class!”
“Hugh Launer!” Surprise filled Selena when she recognized the man. Then she smiled toward her husband. “ jackie, this is an old coursemate from my university,” she explained. “He was like one of my bros, and we were pretty close before. Never thought I’d run into him here.”
“ jackie?” The man studied jackie, then looked at Kylie, who was being carried in his arms. His face suddenly broke into a smile. “I was wondering why this name sounded so familiar. Don’t tell me that you’re that delivery boy from last time,” he said. “Didn’t you enlist in the military? It seems like you’ve retired already.”
“That’s right. I’ve been back for quite some time now.” jackie offered the other man a smile. “I happened to have some time off today, so I came out to accompany my wife and my little girl.”
“Are you guys about to call a cab home?”
A woman sitting beside Hugh peered toward the young family. “Oh, so this is the class belle that Hugh mentions about frequently!” she said, smiling. “You married pretty early, didn’t you? Your daughter is so big already!”
“What class belle? Those boys had nothing better to do than to go around labeling everyone, that’s all!” Selena chuckled, slightly awkward.
She was not stupid. She detected the venom laced beneath the woman’s words.
“No way. Hugh told me that most of your campus’s beauties were in your class! So basically, it is not even an understatement if a class belle from your class is recognized as a campus belle!”
Chapter 207 The woman wore a black satin dress, which contrasted against her snow-white skin, giving her an ethereal appearance. Additionally, soft waves rippled down her hair, exuding a youthful countenance. Of course, the woman had a nice figure as well. She lacked some of Selena’s natural elegance, but she was equal in almost all other physical aspects.
“You’re too humble now. You’re such a great beauty yourself!” Selena chuckled and spoke politely.
“Are you guys calling a cab from here? It’ll be difficult, considering that it’s peak period now. There’ll be plenty of people calling for cabs too!” The woman scanned jackie and Selena. “Oh, what a drag it is to not have a car,” she commented. “It seems like your husband can’t support you very well!”
Hugh flashed an awkward smile at the woman’s words. “Right. Selena, it so happens that there’s a class reunion tonight. We’ve already invited quite a few of our old cronies over. Why don’t you come too? You can bring your family along!”
“Oh, yes! Come on over. It must have been years since you guys last met!” The woman nodded her head too. “You have to show up for our dear Hugh.”
“Well…” Selena drew her brows together, hesitant. She had been good friends with Hugh before, but she had not seen him in a few years. She was afraid that the old cronies he had been referring to would all regard her with judgmental eyes, like Rachel Linsay.
“What are you waiting for? Trevor Turner’s back in the country too. He says that he’s going for a job interview tomorrow in a huge corporation. Apparently, he knows a manager who works there. The interview is practically in the bag for him! Besides, we haven’t had a gathering in years. You, as our resident class belle, will definitely have to come!” Hugh quickly added on, “If you don’t come, I’m not your bro anymore!”
“All right, all right. I’ll come. Where is it? I’ll send my daughter back home first, and I’ll come tonight with my husband.” Selena’s smile was empty. She had no choice but to accept the invite at his persistence. Besides, she had not seen Trevor in a long time either. She had been pretty close with him too.
“The Lotus Bar and Lounge at eight. We’ll be waiting at the entrance for you. Be sure to turn up!” Hugh smiled and waved his hand. “Then it’s settled. I’ll be going off first. I have to change my clothes!”
After he finished speaking, he immediately drove off.
“Seriously? Why do you have to invite her to the gathering? They can’t even afford a car, and you invited them to such a classy place. We’ll be embarrassing ourselves too then.” Hugh’s girlfriend could not help but roll her eyes at him. “The people at this gathering are either driving a Benz or a BMW,” she said unhappily. “Your friend and her husband are in a completely different class from us. They are like the country bumpkins as if it was their first time stepping out into the world. They will become a laughingstock”
“What are you talking about? We graduated from the same university! Besides, we were close before, and it’s not easy to get everyone together. It won’t be a problem if she’s there!
“Other than that, I heard that she’s been running into walls over the past few years. It’s because she married a good-for-nothing and insisted on having the kid, so the Taylors practically forsook her. She can’t even find a job now!”
Hugh flashed a wry smile. “The Taylors are aristocrats too. Who knew that Selena would have fallen to where she is today!”
“Hmph. She’s such a pitiable creature, isn’t she? Perhaps you like her? She has a husband though, so don’t think about it!” The woman beside him spoke, envy tingling her tone.
Chapter 208 jackie and Selena quickly called a cab and left, with little Kylie in tow. However, jackie looked as though a thought occurred to him just as they drove through a street lined with 4S Audi retail outlets. “Sir, let us down here,” he told the driver.
“Here?” Selena was stunned, her gaze flickered with suspicion.
It was only after they got down from the cab did jackie explain everything.
“Honey, I think we should get a car. It seems as though the former classmates who’ll be showing up at the gathering are the classy sort. That woman just now was practically showing off, too. They might gossip terribly about you if you don’t drive a car there!” he insisted. “I’m fine with that, but I can’t let you suffer!”
“But do you still have money? Why don’t we wait until my pay comes?” Selena frowned. “I’m not afraid of suffering. If they look down on me, so be it. Everything’s fine as long as I’m happy. Let me live my own life; it’s not like I’d bother about theirs.”
“I still have money! We haven’t finished the bonus I was awarded for being in the military for five years.” jackie scratched his head and looked at Kylie before he turned to look at Selena. “Besides, it’s going to be hard taking Kylie to school during rainy days if we don’t have a car,” he added. “So this won’t do. And I don’t think one car is enough. We need at least one for ourselves, and another for Jenny to take Kylie to school!”
“You still have money? You spent 3.2 million already though, yet you still have money?” Selena was slightly taken aback. “How much did they give you, exactly? 5 million? 10 million? If you did get 10 million, you weren’t some regular grunt in the forces, were you? You must’ve at least been in special ops!”
jackie did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this. “Something like that,” he concluded. “Just don’t look down on your husband. Let’s go. We still have enough to buy a car!”
“All right then. Let’s get two!” Selena was in a good mood, and the smile on her face was evidence of that. “My family will be in for a shock when we drive the cars back home!”
“Heh. Let’s go!”
The family of three quickly walked towards a BMW retail outlet.
“Sir, Madam, are you here to see the cars? I’m sorry, but we’re about to close up shop!”
A saleswoman was mopping the floor inside, and she immediately stopped when she saw the three of them. “Come again tomorrow if you really want to take a look!”
“What are they looking for, anyway? It’s so late already, and I need to go for a date. Besides, the cars here aren’t cheap. They don’t seem like the sort who can afford them!” Another saleswoman walked over and said disdainfully, a frosty smile on her face.
“Joyce, be more polite. You can’t speak like that even if they can’t afford the cars.” The saleswoman who was mopping the floor rolled her eyes at Joyce.
“I’m polite enough as it is. See, this model is one of the cheaper ones, and it’s already 300 thousand dollars!”
“This one here is seven hundred. Do you think they can buy them?” The saleswoman named Joyce folded her arms across her chest as she sneered. She added arrogantly, “It’s so late, and everybody can’t wait to go back home. Why should we waste our time on them? Besides, it’s too troublesome to do all the loan applications and all that!”
The saleswoman who was mopping the floor nodded her head. “That’s true. It’s always like that. No one buys the car even after we spend nearly half the day introducing the models to them. What a waste of time!”
“ jackie, dear, forget about it. They’ve started mopping the floor already. It won’t be too nice if we leave our footprints all over the place either,” Selena spoke as she frowned.
Chapter 209 “True. Let’s go over to the Porsche store on the opposite side.” jackie nodded and brought Selena outside.
“Porsche?” The two saleswomen finally responded after the family of three walked out. They stared at each other, wondering if they misheard what jackie said.
The two thought the family would go to a store that sold cheaper cars when they heard the price of the BMWs. They never thought that they would actually go over to the Porsche store instead.
“Joyce, do you think we’ve lost a potential customer? What if he does have money?” The saleswoman mopping the floor frowned. Regret tinged her expression.
“No way!” Joyce replied instantly. “The clothes the woman was wearing don’t seem too bad, but the man’s clothes are basically market goods,” she argued. “How rich do you think a man like that can be? He probably just said something to provoke us to save his own face!”
After she finished speaking, she headed straight toward the entrance. “If you don’t believe me, let’s watch them from here. They definitely won’t go in!”
The saleswoman who was mopping the floor joined Joyce at the entrance. Her brows furrowed. “No way… Joyce, they went in. Don’t tell me they genuinely want to buy a Porsche.”
“No, no. It must be an act,” Joyce answered immediately. “They’re afraid that we’re watching, so they’re pretending to go in. They’ll come out in a while. I’ve seen plenty of that sort before!”
…
“Are we seriously going in?” Selena frowned at the Porsche store’s entrance. “Do you know how to pick a car? Porsches are very expensive, and you say you want to buy two. I’m scared that we can’t even afford one! How much money do you have left, exactly?”
After he heard this, jackie replied carelessly, “Honey, don’t worry about it. Don’t mention two cars; buying this entire store won’t be a problem!”
Anxiety washed over Selena. This man still wanted to joke around at this time. ‘Don’t tell me jackie actually received 10 million dollars from the military. In that case, he must’ve been a commander in his troop, or maybe a high-ranking officer!’
Selena drew her brows together as she considered the possibilities. Judging from jackie’s confident demeanor, he probably would be able to take out at least a few hundred thousand dollars even if he were exaggerating his wealth. Otherwise, they would just be embarrassing themselves walking in like this.
Yesterday, she happened to learn the positions of a commander and a captain; the former was in charge of leading a good hundred men whereas the latter would lead roughly a thousand or at least a few hundred men. Retired colonels could obtain 10 million, though it could even exceed that amount. Of course, some merely received 4 or 5 million.
‘He probably had 10 million. He had just spent three million and two hundred thousand earlier. If he buys two cars by the end of this, his spending could be about 5 million. He even promised to compensate my mother with the three million and eight hundred thousand that can’t be found anymore. He wouldn’t be that confident if he didn’t have at least 10 million!’ Selena slowly made the deductions in her head.
Noticing his wife’s absent-minded gaze, he spoke, “What are you thinking about, dear? Look around and see if you like anything. We’ll get whichever you like!”
Selena snapped back into reality. “I don’t know the price of the cars here, and you tell me to get whatever I like? Let’s just get whatever that’s cheaper! It’s a waste of money if we buy the expensive ones.”
After she said that, she stepped into the reception area and saw a saleswoman mopping the floor. Her expression immediately darkened. “Oh, come on. They’re about to close up, too! I don’t think we can get a car today…” she grumbled. “Let’s come back tomorrow.”
Chapter 210 The saleswoman was scrubbing the floor with vigor. Sweat trickled down her forehead due to the sweltering weather. She lifted her head and spotted a couple at the entrance. The man even had an adorable little girl in his arms. She immediately placed the mop aside and walked over, a smile plastered on her face as she did so.
“Are you two here to have a look at our cars? Please, please, come in. Do you want a drink? We have lemonade, coffee, plain water… Anything you like.” The saleswoman peppered them with questions, and the smile she wore never fell for a moment.
Selena was stunned for a moment before she looked at the recently mopped floor. “Aren’t you worried we might dirty the floor you just finished cleaning?”
“Don’t worry about it! You’re our customers, and you’re the king here. Step over the floor as much as you like!” After the saleswoman said that, she looked at Kylie. “What an adorable young lady,” she said,
smiling. “She’s so pretty. It’d be great if I had a daughter as pretty as her in the future!”
“That Dana… Why is she so welcoming toward anyone she sees? Does it do her any good?”
“Yeah. We sell Porsches here. Can that couple afford them? We’re about to close shop and here they are, wasting our time. Everybody worked so hard to mop the floor, and they just came in here dirtying the place. We’ll have to mop all over again!”
“I don’t care…she’s in charge of mopping, anyway. I’m just going to go home when it’s time to go.”
The salespeople who stood by the side observed Dana, quietly muttering among themselves. It seemed like they were displeased with their colleague’s actions.
One of the salespersons flashed a mirthless smile. “Dana is still at the bottom of this month’s sales performance,” he commented. “Hmph. She’ll probably receive a good scolding from the manager if she still can’t make sales, so she has no choice but to be friendly. Still, she’s such an idiot. She really doesn’t know how to pick her customers. Doesn’t look like she’ll make a sale this time either!”
Meanwhile, jackie was encouraging Selena to look at the cars. “Go and look around, dear. Just choose anything you like. If you want it, we’ll buy it!” jackie told Selena, smiling.
She frowned. “Don’t worry about the drinks,” she said to Dana. “What are the cheaper models around here?”
“This way, Miss. Take a look at this one. It’s a lower-end model that only costs 5 to 6 hundred thousand!” Dana smiled as she walked toward a model, introducing it to Selena.
“Honey, you have to buy a car you like. How can you use the price as a criterion?” jackie observed the situation and simply asked his daughter, “Kylie, why don’t you choose? Let’s just get whatever car that you like.”
Kylie scanned her surroundings. Then, she pointed at the 911 model, its design sleek and luxurious. “This red one looks good to me, Dad!”
“The red one?” jackie grinned when he heard that. “Then let’s get it!”
“Sure, it looks good. But how much does it cost?” Selena’s brows furrowed. She was worried that jackie would not have enough cash in his credit card, and that would be an extremely awkward moment for them all.
“You have a good eye. This is the 911, but this model is more expensive with better specs. Of course, this model isn’t all too pricey. It’s only about 2.7 million!”
A saleswoman of the shop felt her patience leaving her, and she strode over on purpose. “I knew you can’t afford it!” she mocked.
“2.7 million?” Selena took in a sharp intake of breath when she heard the price. She tugged on jackie’s sleeve. “Never mind, dear. It’s too expensive. Let’s just get the car she introduced to me earlier!”
The saleswoman’s lips twitched by the edges. Judging from Selena’s tone, it was as though they could still afford the previous car Dana introduced to them worth 5 to 6 hundred thousand.
Furthermore, it seemed that the couple was truly intent on buying a car. Could it be that Dana had stumbled upon an opportunity?
“No can do. Since you think it’s nice, and our daughter likes it, let’s get that one!” jackie smiled and fished out his credit card. “Do you have stocks of that red model?” he asked Dana. “I want two of them, and the exact same model!”
Chapter 211 “Y—Yes! Yes we do!” Dana was so elated that her voice quavered as she spoke. This particular model was extremely expensive; it was good enough if they could see one of them per month.
Although quite a number of people bought Porsche cars, they still could not regularly sell a model that cost over 2 million. More importantly, jackie requested for two of the same model.
“Did…did I hear wrongly?” The other saleswoman’s jaws slacked. She stared at the credit card in shock. “No, wait,” she said. “What card is this? Why haven’t I seen it before?”
jackie’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “It’s a specially made card. There’s probably less than five of its kind in the entire world. It’d be stranger if you’ve seen it before! I think I’m the only one in Daxia who has it.”
The saleswoman suddenly flashed a humorless grin when she heard that. “You’re lying. Less than five of its kind in the world? We don’t know if you can swipe that card with that much money charged to it. If you’re really the only one in Daxia who has this card, then no one will recognize it, but that also means no one can prove that it’s real either. Isn’t that right? You’re pretty clever, aren’t you? What a seamless lie!”
Selena stifled her chuckle with a hand over her mouth; her husband was exaggerating his wealth to another level. Less than five of that card in the whole world, and he was the only one in Daxia who had one? He really had an inflated opinion of himself. The lie was so bad that even the gods would frown upon him.
“You’re the best, Daddy!” Selena felt embarrassed when Kylie stared at jackie in pure admiration, her eyes practically sparkling.
“All right, let’s get the bill. The two cars will cost 5.4 million dollars in total.” Selena said to jackie, a stiff smile on her face.
“Sir, aren’t… Aren’t you going to bargain with us? We can provide special offers!”
The saleswoman’s expression was stricken with panic. It was the first time she had seen someone spending over 5 million dollars in one shot, and he did not even try to bargain!
“Hmm? No thank you. It’s too troublesome. It’s so late already, and we have an appointment tonight. How about this: just give us a toll card!” jackie inattentively bargained after he thought about it.
“All right. I’ll give you a toll card worth 20 thousand dollars!” Dana was practically jumping with joy. She quickly handled the necessary documents before bringing jackie to the payment counter.
The face of the salespeople who had been looking down on jackie earlier suddenly darkened. A sale of over 5 million, and Dana snatched up this bigshot customer.
“Sir, Miss, the insurance will be effective immediately, but you won’t have a license plate if you drive the cars now. It’ll take a few days before the plates will be issued, but we’ll provide temporary plates.” Dana spoke with a small smile as her heart leaped with delight. Never could she have imagined that this man would be such a wealthy tycoon.
“All right, then we’ll just drive it off first!” jackie nodded his head, and the husband-and-wife pair drove the cars from the shop. They stopped at a nearby gas station to refuel their cars before returning to the dilapidated garden.
“Wow, a Porsche 911!” Ben was resting in the garden. He opened the door to the sight of the two new cars, and he immediately cried out, “These are definitely not the lower-spec models either. Heh. It’s got to be at least 2 to 3 million per car!
“Who’s driving them? Why do I feel like they’re driving inside here? Don’t tell me that jackie offended some tycoon again and they’re here to create trouble for us.” Xena stood up too, gulping.
Soon enough, the cars came straight in, parking within the perimeter of the garden’s fence.
“Mom, we’re back!” Selena was grinning, pure happiness on her expression.
Chapter 212 For the past five years, their family had suffered together. At that period, Selena constantly thought of
how wonderful it would be to live a good life or drive a nice car. Unfortunately, she had not much of a choice back then. She could only grit her teeth and move on to survive.
It was only natural that she was overcome with giddiness as she could finally drive a luxury car worth more than 2 million.
“Huh? I—It’s Selena!” Fiona rushed out of the house. She noticed that it was jackie and Selena who got out of the cars, and she abruptly yelled to the house, “Andrew, come here! Look! It’s our daughter. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful car. It must have cost quite a pretty penny.”
“Selena, what…what’s going on?” Ben walked up to her. “It must’ve been expensive, and it looks new. Dear God, don’t tell me that this is yours?” he asked.
“Well…” Selena cast a glance towards her husband, frowning. She did not know how to explain this.
If she told her mother that jackie had plenty of cash on hand to buy these two cars, she would surely think that jackie had refused to take his money to compensate for her stolen 3.8 million dollars. She would not be so happy then!
jackie shared this thought and was just as stunned as his wife.
Fiona quickly stepped forward when Selena did not answer immediately. “I see… jackie, you little punk. Did you get my 3.8 million back?” she huffed. “And you just took the money to buy these two sportscars? That’s too much! That’s my money! How can you just use it to buy your car without my approval? These cars are too expensive; all they do is burn a hole in your pocket. It’s fine if we’re rich, but we wouldn’t even be able to feed ourselves if we weren’t!”
“Luckily jackie and Selena make good money now. It won’t be a problem!” Andrew chimed in from the side. He stared at the handsome new cars, the red coat of paint that gleamed over their bodies. The sight sent a chill down his spine.
“Where did you find the money then? Tell me, jackie, did you find my 3.8 million? I told you to find it for me, not use it to buy new cars.” Fiona glared at jackie, panting with anger as she asked the questions. That was her money—her life.
jackie thought about it for a while, and soon after, he chuckled. “Mom, how could I?” he said, smiling. “This isn’t your money at all!”
“Then is it yours? You punk. You still have that much money? How much do you still have? Take it out and give me my 3.8 million…” Fiona stuck her hand out towards jackie as she asked for the money.
jackie flashed a mirthless smile. “It’s not my money either. Tanya bought the cars for me. Heh!”
Selena also released a sigh of relief. “That’s right. Tanya does everything without a thought given to it,” she added quickly. “She just gave each of us a car after she found out that we have none. It’s so that we’ll have our own transport to work!”
“So Tanya gave them to you? That’s awesome! She gave such expensive cars to us just like that. My goodness, our luck might just run out!” Andrew was extremely excited. He stepped forward and carefully trailed his hand over the car as though he was touching a child’s unmarred skin. “How much is one of this? At least a million? It’s a Porsche, right?”
It was obvious that Andrew did not know cars.
“Dad, it’s the Porsche 911. The cheapest model costs at least 1 million, but this doesn’t look like the 1 million-dollars model!” Ben spoke as he raked his eyes over the car.
“Tanya is such a nice person!” Joan had just emerged from the kitchen. She had overheard the entire conversation and gracefully spoke, “I don’t know how we can ever thank Miss Tanya! She’s our savior; she’s helped us so much before, and now she’s given us such luxurious cars.”
To make everyone believe that Tanya had given the cars, jackie tacked on after he thought about it for a while. “These cars aren’t actually ours, either; they’re Miss Tanya’s. She just bought them to let us drive them, so basically they’re hers. We’re only given the chance to drive them around, but we’ll have to resign if I resign.”
Chapter 213 “Exactly! That’s how it is!” Selena managed an awkward smile. If her mother ever found out that jackie had used his money to buy two cars worth over 5 million, she would probably tell jackie to dig through his wallet in front of her.
Fortunately, jackie was quick on his feet. He just shoved the responsibility toward Tanya.
“The Drake family sure is rich. They let you two drive company cars, and they’re such luxurious models too!”
“How much did she spend to buy this?” Ben asked jackie with excitement.
“Not a lot, about 2.7 million per car!” jackie grinned.
“2.7 million per car… Just as I thought: A car like this would at least cost 2 million, and it’s actually 2.7 million per car. My God, it’s amazing. This is a car that a man should drive!” Ben was so excited that he gave a small jump. His body was practically quivering with delight.
“Then don’t tell me that two cars come to over 5 million in total? My God, a rich man’s world is unimaginable!” Xena was stunned too. She swallowed a bitter gulp.
She had intended to see if she could mingle with the upper class through Ben. After all, he was an aristocrat. Of course he had been chased out of the family, but who knew if Old Master Taylor saw the light one day. She never thought that to those who were truly wealthy, 5 million was a drop in the bucket.
“These are ours! They’ll be ours!” Fiona exclaimed.
“ jackie, Selena, that Miss Tanya is the daughter of James Drake, so she is the wealthiest woman in the entire Eastfield,” Fiona rambled in exhilaration. “The Drake family is probably even wealthier than the Four Major Families! It seems like Miss Tanya truly values the two of you, so I’m telling you to not do anything stupid. Just do a good job and maintain your position, understand?”
“I know that, Ma. We’ll definitely work hard, since Miss Tanya is so good to us!” Selena smiled.
“So if you don’t quit your job, the cars are basically ours!” Fiona crowed. “If others ask you whose car is this on the streets, just say that it’s yours. Understand? Just tell them that you bought it. Others won’t know the entire situation, so they’ll definitely believe you. We’ll have such an indisputable reputation!” Fiona’s vanity suddenly surged within her. “Heh… I want to ride in this car too one day. I have to go out into the streets in it!”
“All right, all right. Don’t worry. We’ll tell everyone that we bought it ourselves!” Selena looked at her husband and flashed him a humorless smile; she did not know whether to laugh or cry. The cars were theirs in the first place anyway.
“All right, all right. Why don’t you come in and rest first? Dinner will be ready once the rice is done!” A satisfied smile lit up Joan’s face. Everything would be all right so long as her son lived a good life.
She had always believed that her son would not let the Taylors down. Fiona and Andrew—as well as other members of the Taylor family—would certainly acknowledge her son eventually.
“Oh, right. Did you help to look for my money this afternoon, jackie?” Fiona raised the question when the hype had died down.
jackie’s lips curved into a stiff smile. “We did poke around for a bit, but there are no clues as of now. Miss Tanya called us by then and asked us to pick out a car. At first, I thought she was taking us to choose a regular car, but who knew that she would actually take us into a Porsche store.”
“You should start looking harder, then. I did give you seven days after all. You either find the money, or you pay me that amount of money. Got it?”
Chapter 214 “Don’t worry, Ma. jackie will definitely get your money back.” Selena gave her a tight smile and replied, “All right. jackie and I are going to a class reunion later. A few of my old classmates invited us to go and drink and sing our hearts out in a bar! I haven’t seen them in forever, so I have to go.”
jackie and Selena rested for a while before they went off to shower, and they then prepared to go out when it was about time.
“Huh? Mom, where are the cars?” Selena’s expression darkened when she saw the empty porch. She had heard the sound of a starting car when she was showering but assumed that it came from the road. She never expected that the Porsches would have been driven off.
“Oh. Xena and your brother took the cars out for a spin,” Fiona said simply.
The corners of Selena’s mouth twitched. “Ma, can’t they just drive one car if they wanted to drive that badly?” she said to Fiona. “Why did they drive both off? They knew that I had to go for an appointment. Why couldn’t they have left one car for me? What should jackie and I do now?”
“Ah, your brother just wants to go out and show off in front of his friends!” Fiona replied immediately, dismissing her daughter’s concern. “He asked you and jackie to call a cab to wherever you’re supposed to go first and let them drive the cars, and you can call them when you’re about to leave. He and Xena will take you.”
Selena was rendered speechless. jackie had put his life at risk on the battlefield to earn money for them, and he even bought her a luxury car so that she would be able to stand proudly before her classmates. She never imagined that her own little brother and Xena would take the cars out while they were bathing.
In the end, all she could do was flash a pained smile. “Looks like we can only call a cab now,” she spoke dejectedly.
jackie shrugged his shoulders, an equally tight smile on his face as well. “No way around it. Who knew that you had such an inconsiderate little brother?” He mused. “By the way, your old university mates are cultured, right? I hope they’re not as snobbish as Rachel.”
When he said that, jackie looked as though he just thought of something as he added, “Oh, yeah. Did something happen between you and Rachel during your university days? Why would she treat you so disdainfully otherwise? She could at least give you some respect after so many years, right?”
Selena felt overwhelmed at that moment. “She always thought that she was prettier than me back in university, so she thought that she should be the belle of the class. But…”
“Oh,” jackie concluded, “so it’s because she’s not as pretty as you, but she still thinks she’s prettier than you. And she envied you because of that. So now that she’s married to a rich man, she’s trying to stamp out your presence!” jackie quickly picked up on the underlying message. “Don’t bother about these people,” he added, “she actually has really low self-esteem!”
“That’s right!” Selena offered her husband a kind smile before her gaze fell on jackie’s clothing.
“Why don’t you buy some nicer clothes later on? You did buy mine earlier, but yours…”
jackie checked his watch. “Never mind, we don’t have that much time. My clothes are pretty clean too, and I just changed into them. We don’t need to go and buy a special fancy outfit. It doesn’t matter what I wear anyway, so long as you’re dressed up nicely!”
“You sure know your way around words!” The two of them exchanged words as they walked out. They quickly hailed a cab and went straight to The Lotus Bar.
At that moment, quite a few people had already gathered before the bar’s entrance.
Hugh gave a winsome smile. “Oh, right. There’s a surprise for all of you today. Our class belle Selena Taylor—who had disappeared off the radar for a long time—will join us! I so happened to run into her at the entrance of the zoo, and I managed to get her on board.”
“Really? We haven’t seen her in years. I wonder how she is now!”
Chapter 215 “She’s a woman of the Taylor family and had a knack for business. I remember how her results were always the best when we still studied together. She must be doing much better than us regular white-collar workers!” a woman spoke aloud. She was dressed in a crisp white shirt and a black pencil skirt.
“Heh… I don’t think you’ll ever be able to imagine what actually happened to Selena and what she’s doing now, Rosa!” A bespectacled man adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He exuded a smart, stylish countenance. “Five years ago, not long after we graduated,” he said to Rosa, “Selena got married!”
“What? She got married?” Rosa was shocked when she heard that. It was not considered too late for the modern woman to get married, especially for a strong, career-oriented woman like Selena. Furthermore, she was only 27 years old. Selena was about her age. If she had married five years ago, then her child— if she had one—would be able to walk and run by now.
“Isn’t that true though? I heard the rumor too!” Another woman said, smiling.
“She still needs to come!”
Rachel’s expression turned gloomy. She never expected Hugh to have invited Selena to their gathering. Just that afternoon, although she and her husband had walked away unscathed from jackie at the kindergarten, the people they had hired to fight for them had been beaten black and blue. They were all sent to the hospital and the total bill would probably come to about two to three million dollars.
Furthermore, these people needed to go for physical rehab, asides from the treatment fees. She and her husband would have to pay yet another pretty sum of money no matter what to appease them. The total amount she and her husband would have to spend was enough to make them cry.
“What’s wrong, Rachel? Why do you look so glum? Don’t tell me you’re not looking forward to seeing her?”
Hugh frowned. He always thought that Rachel seemed to have a grudge against everybody.
“Oh, right. Now I remember! You and Selena didn’t get along well, did you?”
The woman named Rosa Reyes then asked, “What’s wrong? Did you see her already? How is she now? Do you know?”
The more Rachel thought about it, the angrier she got. She had been bullied by that good-for-nothing husband of hers today. More importantly, they would not dare to offend the other party anymore in the future. Since jackie and Selena were not around, Rachel thought of saying something to destroy their reputation.
Mulling over it for a while, she then commented, “Don’t talk about it anymore. I just met her family this morning while we were registering our kid at a kindergarten. Selena is such a hypocrite now. She doesn’t have any money, yet she struts about as though she were a tycoon. Heh. I bet you guys don’t know that she married a delivery boy. This is what happened: the Taylor family had to send one of their sons to the military…”
Rachel narrated the troubles Selena had been facing throughout these five years in detail first before she wrapped up her story. “So think about it: How much money would a jobless, trash-picker have? Her husband has probably not been back for long either, and he’s definitely another impoverished soul. Even with all that, they still brought their daughter to register at Eastfield’s best privately-owned kindergarten today!”
“That’s right. They still want the best kindergarten even though they have no money? It’s all talk! I wonder who they borrowed money from to pay the tuition fees!” Dylan also came to the gathering, his rotund figure heaving heavily. He had not been in a good mood the whole day.
However, Rachel’s university mates—the female ones in particular—all had splendid figures and had pretty attractive features too. His sour mood was lifted slightly at the sight He thanked his lucky stars he came along tonight; his eyes were blessed with the sight of such pretty ladies!
“No way. That’s terrible. Never mind if they’re poor, but faking appearances too…” Rosa never thought that Selena would turn out like this. Not only did she not marry a good man, she even scraped her pockets just for the sake of her vanity. Her untainted impression of Selena immediately shattered.
Chapter 216 “Right? Selena is like a totally different person now. Such a hypocrite… She doesn’t have money, yet she likes to pretend that she does! And you guys haven’t met her husband yet,” Rachel rambled venomously. “He’s such a boorish man. All he knows is fighting, and he isn’t that educated. He does nothing but get into brawls all day. I can’t imagine how Selena’s future will be like, married to a man like that!”
The initially silent Dylan then fanned the flames by saying, “Right? People of his sort always have violent tendencies. Heh… If Selena provokes him one day, we might have a case of domestic abuse!”
Rosa grew frightened as she heard this. “No way… I hate violent men. What kind of man beats up women?”
“Isn’t it so? I think Selena doesn’t have a good life now!”
“But Selena shot herself in the foot too. She’s so pretty, so much so that she’s even known as the Beauty Queen of Eastfield. It’d be fine if she just simply married some rich fellow. Anyone would’ve been ten times better than her current husband!” Rachel huffed, looking as though she felt exasperated for Selena’s sake.
“The Selena from before wasn’t such a vainpot!” Rosa sighed. It was a real pity that Selena turned out like that.
“Heh… That’s because she had money before. She didn’t care too much about appearances because she was rich! Now she’s no longer the wealthy young missus without her family to back her up. She’s probably still not used to the poor man’s life even after five years, and she’s still thinking that she’s a high-class lady!” Rachel continued, chuckling.
After she finished speaking, she noticed Matt by the side, smoking silently. “Eh, Matt, why aren’t you saying anything?” she said. “Oh, I almost forgot… Selena was your ex, wasn’t she? You guys were dating for one year back in university, right?”
Matt’s expression darkened. “Rachel, why do you still like to speak such nonsense?” he responded. “How old is your kid now? Probably older than Selena’s, right? You’re already a mother, but why do I feel like you’re still keeping petty scores against her?”
“What a chivalrous man, speaking up for her. Don’t tell me that you like her? Perhaps you still secretly harbor feelings for her?”
Rachel flashed a mirthless smile, not caring about Matt’s girlfriend who stood right beside him. Her expression morphed into a grimace.
“Matt, is that true? That Selena Taylor is your ex? Do you still like her?” The pretty young woman standing by his side huffed at him. She was clad in a provocative mini black dress.
“Don’t listen to her, Brit. That happened ages ago. We’re about to get married anyway. Do you really care about all this?” Matt immediately explained to Britney before him. She was from a well-to-do family and was considered a wealthy young lady; Matt on the other hand was an attractive young man. He was with Britney to live a comfortable life.
He understood that a man without money was not a man at all. Someone like that would be regarded as trash no matter where he went. That was why he chose to live off his girlfriend—to come into money, to enjoy a rich man’s life.
“Hmph. I want to see if this class belle of yours is prettier than I am. She’s already given birth to a kid. She must look like an old goat now!” Britney harrumphed frostily, evidently displeased. She was only 24 years old. Not only was she young, but she also had an excellent figure. She did not believe that she was less attractive than this so-called Selena.
“That’s right. She’s definitely not as pretty as you are. She had a kid and is picking up trash for a living now. How can she ever compare to you, the young mistress of Lee?” Matt immediately tried to appeal to her.
“Of course!” Britney lifted her chin, looking like a proud giraffe.
“He’s here! Trevor’s here!”
At this moment, Trevor—who had just returned from overseas—parked his car near the entrance.
“Not bad, bro. Nice BMW!” Dylan instantly grinned when he saw it.
“Aren’t you driving a BMW too? And his model isn’t as expensive as yours!” Hugh commented, not knowing whether to laugh or cry about his own fate.
Chapter 217 “Oh right, Rachel’s husband is going to treat us, right? He’s a factory manager, a big boss. This small amount of money is nothing to him,” Rosa said, smiling.
Dylan’s expression darkened. It was true: he had said that he was going to treat everyone to bolster his reputation. However, the incident from that morning cost him a lot of money. Moreover, their factory had not received a lot of orders these past two months. He might not be able to foot the bill if they ate and
drank until it raked up to a few hundred thousand. More importantly, he would need to pay plenty of medical bills to the hospital.
“N—No problem!” Rachel managed an awkward smile. She had said that while she was boasting. She could not turn back now, not when her reputation was at stake.
“Hello, everyone. Long time no see!” Trevor chuckled heartily as he walked over.
“That’s right, Trevor. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. We’re gathered here today to welcome you back!”
Hugh smiled. “What happened? Your girlfriend isn’t with you?”
“Oh, she had some business to attend to tonight. That’s why she isn’t here.”
Trevor scanned the crowd. “What’s wrong? Aren’t we all here? Why aren’t we going in yet?”
“Heh. A very beautiful woman hasn’t arrived yet. Want to take a lucky guess, Trevor?” Rachel spoke in a mysterious tone.
“A very beautiful woman?” Trevor was stunned for a while, and after racking his mind, he answered, “You’re already here…so the only other person who you call ‘beautiful’ is Selena Taylor, right? What happened? You guys managed to get in contact with her?”
Rachel never expected Trevor to guess the answer so fast. Her expression soured slightly. “That’s right. We got into contact with her. Only, she’s changed so much over the past few years!”
After she said that, she quickly launched into yet another narration of Selena’s life to Trevor, who had just returned to the country.
At this moment, a taxi pulled over on the roadside. Selena and jackie got down from it.
Selena wore the branded outfit jackie had bought for her. She was already exuding elegance on her own; she seemed even more of a lady when she wore the new clothing.
She smiled sweetly at everyone when she got down from the car. The men were taken aback by her appearance.
“Matt, you’re here!” Selena was slightly shocked at the sight of her ex. Back during their university days, she had dated Matt because she thought he was attractive.
Unfortunately, Selena only allowed Matt to hold her hand even after nearly a year of dating. She told him that she wanted to save everything else for marriage. She never expected Matt to actually argue with her over this. He subsequently cheated on her and slept with Rachel behind her back. Selena could not accept something like this. She could not accept how Matt told her that he loved her yet had slept with her friend. Needless to say, she broke up with him. Of course, Matt and Rachel were not together either. Matt wanted money and so did Rachel, yet the two did not want to look for the money themselves, so they chose to find rich partners. If Selena had known Matt was here, she never would have come no matter how much she was pressed. She was already here though, so all she could do was manage a small smile.
“Oh, so this is your ex. She’s really pretty!” Matt’s girlfriend, Britney, stepped forward. She had a frosty smile on her face as she spoke, “It’s a pity that a gorgeous woman like you married a foot soldier. He can’t even afford a scooter, and you guys used a cab to come over. What a waste of an excellent face and figure!”
“Ex?” jackie was taken aback for a moment before he gave a wry smile. It seemed that this was not going to be a peaceful night.
Chapter 218 Selena turned to look at her husband. She gave him a bitter smile. “Do you want to hear the whole story? We only dated for one year during university.”
jackie nodded his head. “No need to explain.”
It was true that she did not need to explain anything. After all, everything that happened before he met Selena was her business. Additionally, he clearly remembered what he saw—blood on the sheet—during their wedding night. It indicated that Selena was not someone who slept around. jackie was not angry in the least, and this took Selena aback.
Furthermore, he took a step forward and faced the woman who had been the first to spark a drama— Britney. “Does it matter how we come here, Miss?” he challenged. “Is it so wrong to use a cab?” Here, jackie paused for a bit before continuing, emphasizing every word, “Besides, don’t look down on soldiers. Would you live such peaceful lives without us?”
“I always heard that poor people are ill-mannered. It’s the first time I’ve met someone so poor yet so rude!” Britney chuckled and gestured to an Audi A6 parked by the side. “Do you see that? That’s my car. It’s not very expensive, but you guys probably won’t be able to afford it even if you worked your entire life. This is the difference between us!” she said. “The others also drove here; Audis, BMWs. Don’t you feel like a failure as a man?”
“Hmph. What’s there to be sorry about?” jackie gave an unamused smile. “If you want to use cars as a measurement for wealth, then we’ll go get the two Porsche 911s that we have in our house. Doesn’t that mean we’re richer than you? Will you get on your knees and call me Daddy then?”
“Porsche 911?”
Britney was stunned for a moment, then she sniggered. “Hilarious! Would anyone who has two Porsche 911s call a cab?”
Here, her gaze sidled toward Rachel. “This lady said that you called a cab when you took your kid for registration too,” she added. “You two can’t even afford an Alto, and you say that you have 911s? Tell
me: how much did the Porsche 911s cost you? Is it the type that requires you to frequently change its battery?”
A few of them could not help but laugh when they heard this.
“Oh, Selena, I never expected you to turn into such a prideful person! You’re just like your husband. There’s nothing wrong with calling a cab, but you guys claim that you have a Porsche 911—two of them!” The woman named Rosa released a sigh. She felt that Selena had truly changed. She pretended to have money even though she had none—all for the sake of vanity!
Was this the same classmate who did not place that much importance on money?
“Rosa, my husband isn’t lying. We do have two 911s. We bought them in the afternoon, thinking that it would be easier for us to just drive to work!” Selena explained, wearing a stiff smile.
“Fine. Whatever you say. Not like I’m going to sit in your car anytime soon!” It was obvious that Rosa still did not believe her.
“Oh, you two are here. What a coincidence!” jackie walked over to Dylan and Rachel. His eyes narrowed. “It seems like you’ve been wagging your tongues about us before we arrived, eh?”
Fear gripped Dylan when he recalled how skilled of a fighter jackie was—how his men were still lying on hospital beds. He quickly waved his hand dismissively. “No, no. We were just chit-chatting. We just told them that we ran into you in the morning. That’s all!”
The rest of the group exchanged glances. Dylan was usually booming and boisterous, but now the factory manager seemed a little afraid of jackie.
Chapter 219 “Nevermind. Some people are too thick-faced, and we can’t do anything about it! If she says that she has a 911 and yet she doesn’t drive it here, what can we do? We can’t just go to her house to take a look at it, right?”
As a plan brewed on its own in her head, Britney then spoke with a disdainful grin, “All right then. How about this? Since it’s a class reunion, why don’t we just go Dutch for today’s bill? We’ll split expenses by counting heads. I believe that someone who drives a Porsche 911 would have no qualms about this?”
No one was dumb enough not to realize the implication of this; they knew Britney was stirring trouble with Selena on purpose. She was evidently not pleased, looking at her boyfriend’s ex. Matt had even spoken up on her behalf earlier, and this only made a petty person like her even more vexed. The bill here would definitely not be cheap and everyone would still need to fork out quite a bit of money even after they split it. It would be awkward for Selena and jackie if they did not have any money.
“Sure thing! I think this works out. Dylan is a factory manager, but it’s not easy for him to earn money too. We can’t just take advantage of his generosity. Let’s go Dutch!” Hugh’s girlfriend stepped forward and spoke, a small smile on her face.
Dylan and Rachel did not want to treat everyone in the first place, so they were happy when they heard this. The couple immediately agreed to the idea. Since the majority agreed, including the fairly earning Rosa and the stylish bespectacled man who did not lack money, the others also agreed.
“So what now? Everyone has already agreed to it. What about you two? It isn’t cheap here. You better think twice! Still, even if we call for a vote, you’d have to go along with the majority, so your vote doesn’t matter!” Here, Britney seemed even more arrogant.
“I’ll go along with whatever you decide, Honey!” Selena was unsure of their financial circumstances. They had just spent 5 million to buy two cars today. She did not know how much was left in jackie’s card. If they did not have at least one or two hundred thousand dollars, they really could not go in to have dinner. After all, jackie must have spent almost all of his money by now. Ever since he came back, he spent over 8 million in total.
“Whatever you want, really. I intended to treat them to dinner tonight. After all, I haven’t treated your classmates to a meal after we married. This is the first time I’m meeting all of you, so I thought that I’d
treat everyone this once. I never thought that you guys wanted to go Dutch but, since it’s like that, let’s do it then!” came jackie’s sincere assurance, though with a wry smile on his face.
He had spoken with Selena on the way here. These were her old schoolmates and, as her husband, he should be the one up keeping her reputation. He did intend to foot the bill. Of course, then they could call for another gathering had they turned out to be kind people. Since they were snobs and unsightly people, this was going to be the last dinner they had together.
He never expected that woman to think he could not even foot the bill if they split it. What a joke! Never mind going Dutch: He could probably buy the entire Lotus Bar and Lounge.
“Hah! Since you wanted to do that, who are we to rob you of that opportunity?”
Britney was stunned for a while. ‘This fellow was making empty brags for the sake of his pride again,’ she thought. If this was the case, it would fit just fine with her agenda.
“You’re going to treat us to dinner? True. You’re the husband of our class belle. It’s only natural that you treat us, having married such a beautiful woman!” The bespectacled man adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. A coy smile played on his lips.
“What’s going on now? Just now you said that it was not easy for Dylan to make money, and now you think that it’s not easy for me to make money because I’m the one treating you to dinner?”
jackie thought that the situation was hilarious. These people wanted to turn him into a joke.
Chapter 220 Everyone visibly stiffened when they heard this, especially Britney. Her features immediately contorted.
“That’s different,” Britney retorted, “and Dylan isn’t obligated to treat us to dinner. He’s just generous. Anyway, you said it yourself; it’s your first time meeting us. This and that are different! What now? Don’t tell me that you’re scared because we want you to treat us now?”
Quite a few people barely stifled their laughter. After jackie heard that they were going Dutch, he did say he wanted to treat them to dinner. Why did he not say anything earlier if he wanted to boast so badly? It was obvious that he wanted to pretend that he was rich, even though he had no intention of forking out money. Unfortunately, everyone had a terrible impression of both Selena and her husband now, thus they mocked them without thinking twice anymore.
“All right then. This meal is on me. Let’s go! Let’s drink to our heart’s content!” jackie said after he gave it some thought.
“Let me warn you that this bar is pretty expensive. The least you’ll have to pay is 10 to 20 thousand dollars. I can’t say how high the bill will go. A few hundred thousand or even more, perhaps! Also, the people who frequent this bar are mostly rich young men from affluent families. Are you sure you want to treat us?” Britney said, grinning.
She assumed that jackie would be scared sh*tless after he heard this, and he would not have the confidence to go in.
Yet jackie replied blithely, “Rich young men? I’ve seen plenty of them. Ken Clark, Michael Wilson, Neil Hugo, and the likes!”
Everyone took in a sharp intake of breath when they heard this. These three men were all young masters of aristocratic families. Before Dylan and the others, Britney was regarded as a wealthy young lady, but the Lee family was regarded as a second-rate blueblood family. As for someone who opened a small factory like Dylan, he was nothing to these aristocrats. They did not just dabble in the manufacturing of one product, and they certainly did not open just one factory.
“My God, you know that many aristocrats?” Dylan gulped. The light in his eyes as he regarded jackie shifted.
“Of course, especially Ken Clark and Neil Hugo. I’ve beaten them up real good, though I haven’t touched Michael Wilson yet!” jackie flashed a wicked smile as he spoke bluntly.
Everyone’s faces twitched. Was this guy serious? This guy had beaten up those two young masters? Would their underlings stand for it?
“Hmph. You really know how to brag!” Britney’s lips quickly curved into a frosty smile after her initial shock subsided. “You’ve seen them before, do you? Plenty of people have seen them too. If you walk on the streets and spot them from afar, that counts as ‘seeing’ them too. And did you really think that we’d believe that you’ve beaten them up? You’d be long dead if you had done that!”
Anxiety twisted Selena’s guts. jackie was speaking the truth, but it was too preposterous for them to believe. If she had not seen it with her own eyes, she probably would not have believed it herself.
“Seriously though, you speak lies so easily as though you’re being honest. You almost had me fooled, but we’re not idiots. It’s so easy to see that it’s impossible once you put some thought into it. You’re just a retired military man. Could you still be here talking to us, alive and well, if you really beat up the young masters of the Clarks and the Wilsons? Oh, wait, don’t tell me… You’re a spirit talking to us!”
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smiled, his eyes narrowing. “Oh dear. Never mind that Selena is now a prideful person who brags about things she doesn’t have—I never expected her husband to be an even greater braggart than her! You two are truly a match made in heaven!”
“Quiet, Carl!” Only Hugh spoke up for Selena and jackie; he did push them to come over, after all. Now that everyone was belittling Selena, he felt guilty.
It was only when he saw that Hugh was not happy did Carl say, “All right, all right. Let’s go in. I’m drinking more if someone’s buying!”
“Sure, sure. Drink more!”
Chapter 221 Britney encouraged them to drink up some more and looked at her boyfriend, Matt. “You too!” she spoke. “You have to drink more, you hear that?”
Annoyance spiked in Matt’s heart but a smile was still plastered on his face. “Definitely, my dear! I’ll listen to whatever you ask me to,” he responded.
After a while, everybody finally entered the lobby hall of the Lotus Bar and Lounge. The lobby was on the first floor, and the atmosphere was lively. jackie and the others found a private room and sat inside.
This private room was separated from the outside with tempered glass in between. Whatever happened outside the private room could be seen, but this could be resolved by pulling the curtain on the tempered glass.
“Dear Sirs and Madams, if you’d like to use this private room, the minimum consumption will be 50 thousand dollars. The price in this menu is for your reference when you’re ordering snacks and alcohol!” A lovely server approached the group, showing the group her most beautiful smile. “There’s no time limit, so you may have fun here until the sunrise!” the server continued.
“ jackie, you don’t think this is expensive, do you? Since there are a lot of us, a small private room can’t fit us all. Moreover, we really want to help to save some hard-earned money of yours, so we’ve no choice but to pick a medium-sized private room.” Carl said as he sat down and lying her leg over and across the other leg, an indifferent smile surfaced on his face.
“I think it’d be so much better if we go to the opulent big private room. They got a top-notch soundproof system there, and it’s on the second floor too. You could watch everything from above like a king overseeing his kingdom! The best part there is a grand piano inside that big private room. Selena was an excellent pianist back then, and she graduated from The Bachelor Fine Arts in Dance! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen her dancing and playing the piano!” Rachel, on the other hand, whined unhappily about their room size.
“You’re right. We’ve all graduated from the Fine Arts faculty. Unfortunately, I do think that the luxury big private room is a little too much for us. Besides, I heard that the minimum consumption in that huge room is a million!” Rosa chimed in with her own opinion, smiling bitterly. “My current pay is around 10 thousand at most. I can only go there once if I stopped drinking and eating and instead, work my butt off for 10 years.” Rosa then turned around, facing Carl and asked, “Oh right! How’re you doing now, Carl?”
Carl offered a small smile and replied to Rosa in a pretentious humble manner, “How am I doing? Nah. I’m doing so-so, just a shareholder of a tiny company. Annual income plus the bonus will be around 10 million dollars or so. I could only visit the big-sized private room in Lotus at most 10 times in a year.”
“My goodness! I never thought that you were this successful! You’re amazing!” Rachel responded in a surprising tone, “There are so many employees in my husband’s factory, but the net earning is also around 10 million.”
Rosa, with an envious expression over her feature, looked at Hugh and asked, “How about you, Hugh? You were helping in your folks’ hypermarket store, right?”
Hugh smiled abashedly. “Yup, the same old job,” he meekly replied. “We used to have only three stores, but now we’ve managed to expand to another seven stores. It’s enough for house expenses, I’d say.” Hugh was genuinely humble, not at all like Carl. Carl’s humility was pretentious and intentional.
“It seems like I’m doing the worst here!” Trevor gave a bitter smile and continued, “I haven’t attended my interview, so I’m kinda an unemployed person now.”
“Hey, you just came back from oversea, right Trevor? It won’t be hard for you to apply for an assistant manager in the Drake family’s company. I heard that for this position, the monthly salary can be up to 20 to 30 thousand dollars!” Britney responded, smiling. “Not to mention, your lovely girlfriend is the supervisor of that company and can surely help. This job belongs to you!”
At the end of her speech, Britney cast her glance towards Selena and continued in a mocking tone, “Well. You’ll never be as bad as someone who picks up trash for a living, will you Trevor?”
“Honey, I never thought that you knew how to dance and play the piano. Let’s go to the big private room! I want to see you dancing and playing the piano!” jackie said to Selena excitedly, ignoring Britney completely.
Everyone who was boasting confidently a moment ago went silent in a blink of an eye. Their jaws dropped and their eyes widened into spheres as large as saucers.
Chapter 222 “Wow! We didn’t hear it wrong, did we? Are you talking about the big, opulent, private room of Lotus Bar and Lounge?” Rachel was taken aback. She started to doubt that she heard it wrongly. jackie wanted to go to the room that had a million-dollar price tag as its minimum consumption?
Everyone in the scene was suspicious of jackie’s words. ‘How could jackie request for the big room when he did not even have the spending power for the middle room?’ they questioned.
“Didn’t you say there’s a piano there? I want to listen to my wife playing the piano. We have to go there.” jackie shrugged.
“That room is so expensive… No way, we’re not going there! I’ll play piano for you when I’m free. Be a good boy for me, okay?” Selena rolled her eyes at jackie, and continued, “We’ve already spent more than 5 million for two cars today! You think your wallet is bottomless? Don’t squander anymore!”
“Huh? Porsche 911 for 5 million dollars? Are you kidding me? Have you ever seen a Porsche, Selena? You’ve already exposed yourself!” Dylan interrupted the couple in a mocking tone. “You should at least see how fishes swim even if you haven’t enjoyed them!”
“They were saying two Porsche 911s and that the price will be around 5 million for two. Don’t twist their words!” Rachel echoed in a sardonic tone, laughing uncontrollably. “They wouldn’t make such a shallow
joke, okay?”
“Stop faking your spending power! If you really have 5 million, take it out and treat us tonight in this medium room! That big room of Lotus is for world class businessmen to have their business discussion. I don’t even dare spend money alone there.”
Carl grinned sardonically. “Stop pretending! I can’t bear it anymore!”
Matt, who stayed quiet all the time, finally voiced out, “You have my respect for being the most pretentious couple, echoing one another! How shameless!”
He then looked at his ex, Selena and said, “Selena Taylor, are you trying to prove that you’re doing better than I am? Do you really have to do so? Don’t you dare to think that we didn’t know what happened to you in the past few years! You think you could cover it up by not contacting us all this while?”
“I agree! Who doesn’t know that you had been cast out by the Taylor family, couldn’t find a job anywhere, and was forced to pick up trash for a living? Someone even saw you picking up trash with a kid! What now? Trying to fake your wealth in front of us? Is it so hard for you to admit that you’re actually poor?” Britney stepped forward and chimed in perfectly.
She then continued, “If you really want the big private room, ask me. I’m the richest and wealthiest here! Our family, the Lee family, is a third-class aristocrat family! A million is a mere peanut to us!”
“You’re right. I was forced to pick trash for a living, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Selena’s face dropped and replied, icy-cold as she did so. “But that was before. Now I’m with jackie, and we both have proper jobs with medium range salaries. It’s not as bad as you think. It’s enough for us to live comfortably.”
“Wow! You sure? You have a job?” Matt smirked. “What kind of job can you do? A bodyguard? I’m so curious!”
A wry smile hung on Selena’s face. “You’re right. jackie is indeed a bodyguard right now, but he’s so much better than you anyway. Do you have a job now? Or your own business?” she retorted expressionlessly.
“Oh, I forgot! You, too, have a job! Your job is to please Miss Britney, right? She’s the only daughter in the Lee family, and you’ll get all her money when you marry her, am I right?” She continued bluntly. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. I knew you pretty well back then. Your two criteria for a life partner is good money and her being the only child of the family.”
Chapter 223 “Bullsh*t!” Matt snapped.
Selena’s words pierced right through his weak point, sharply. Matt’s expression indicated that he was truly exasperated. “We love each other earnestly. It’s not your place to critique and destroy our relationship! What about yourself, huh? Married to a soldier must be the most agonizing incident in your life! It’s such a waste that an attractive woman like you married a poor man.”
Selena burst out laughing. “That’s because I’m not you, and I never wanted to leech off of somebody. Besides, I don’t think that my man isn’t excellent enough. Just a moment ago, he was willing to spend a million just to see me dancing! What do you think of that? It says that my man loves me more than anything and is willing to spend for me even if there’s only a hundred thousand in his bank account!” Selena chuckled as she spoke. She leaned toward jackie and held his hand with pride.
jackie was a little shocked by Selena’s action, and he felt happiness blooming within him. This was the first time Selena initiated the first move in public!
“Well said, dear! Our love is true love and theirs is just living under a roof together!” jackie was overly excited that he turned his face toward Selena and stamped his lips on her cheek.
Selena’s face immediately turned as red as a tomato. She never thought that jackie, this sneaky yet adorable b*stard, would exploit this opportunity to plant a kiss on her cheek! The sight of Selena’s
gorgeous face searing with blush harbored the jealousy in the others and further induced their poor self- esteem. Although jackie was a bodyguard and seemed like someone who was incapable of anything, he was able to make Selena his wife! This point itself had already made others drown in envy. Besides, their relationship seemed wonderful and stable!
Matt, on the other hand, was seething inwardly. He recalled that during the one-year relationship with Selena back in university, Selena was so conservative that she had only let Matt hold her hand, let alone a small peck on her cheek. That was what made his fury spring to life and decided to sleep with Rachel; his childish act to madden her. Of course, right now, the scene before him defeated him terribly.
“Keep on boasting! If you’re as capable as you say you are, let’s go to the big private room then!” Matt gritted his teeth with anger, and before long, he sneered, “The minimum consumption in that room is one million. Listen carefully: one million, minimum consumption. It also means that it might exceed that amount. Since you have the gall to treat us, please don’t be a crybaby when you realize you have no money for it!”
“Humph, forget it! He’s just a poor, stinky, and useless bodyguard. How much money will he have to treat us there? Moreover, it’s been only a few days since he returned from the military, right? This bodyguard job is probably a new job, and he might not have gotten his first pay yet!”
Britney sang a duet with Matt delightfully, seeing that her boyfriend was hostile with the couple.
“A useless bodyguard?” Selena was speechless for a moment. “Have you seen a useless bodyguard with 20 million pay a month? I really don’t understand what you’re bragging about when your salary is like a peanut next to my husband’s.”
“Wow! Your joke is getting better now! Which family on the earth can afford a 20 million bodyguard? Even the Drake family’s bodyguards aren’t paid such a high salary!” Britney was so angry that she could feel her resentment growing inside her like a tumor. She stepped forward and yelled, “Don’t think that I
don’t understand the market. I belong to a third-class aristocrat family! I know exactly how much a bodyguard earns!”
“Oops, sorry! Then you really don’t understand the market. I do so happen to be the Drake family’s bodyguard, and for them to hire me for only 20 million, it’s a boon!” jackie retorted.
Chapter 224 After hearing that statement, everyone present almost burst out laughing. How outrageous would it be to say that the Drake family benefited from hiring a bodyguard for 20 million? If that was the case, it would mean the family members were complete idiots.
“how comical this is! A bodyguard for 20 million and they benefited from it? Please, they can hire a few hundred bodyguards with that kind of money. Excellent ones, even!” Rachel cackled out loud.
“Right, are you taking the Drake family for a bunch of fools? Not even their commander gets paid that much, right?” Carl added.
The statement Selena made earlier was basically saying jackie was more impressive than them, and they were more offended than what they let on. They could not understand how a mere bodyguard could be better than them who made more than 10 million annually.
“It doesn’t matter if you guys believe me or not, but that’s how much my husband is getting paid. That was personally assured by Miss Tanya herself, so it can’t be a mistake!” Selena was incredibly furious as she originally thought of this as a simple casual gathering. She never expected that there would be a few snobs among them.
Moreover, if she had known both sugarbabies Matt and Rachel would be here, she would never have come. Since the situation had already progressed to the way it was, she had to fight for her pride. She had been very patient toward them from the start, yet she did not expect them to keep testing her patience by calling jackie a useless soldier. If it was not for jackie fending off the enemies in the frontlines, would they still be able to enjoy their comfortable and peaceful life?
“Alright, alright. Everything you say is true, okay?” Trevor chuckled. He then turned toward Selena and asked, “Didn’t you get a job as well? What job is that? Share it with us and let’s see if it’s better than the job I found.”
Selena frowned. She was rather close with Trevor and Hugh when she was still studying back then, and she was only willing to come this time mainly because of them both. She did not expect Trevor would come forward at this moment to target her as well.
Selena did not answer his question. Instead, she questioned him back. “You’re going for an interview tomorrow, right? For the position of a manager’s assistant? 20, 30 thousand per month? What company is that to have offered such high wages to an assistant?”
Trevor chuckled. “It happens to be a prominent company. It’s Drake Dynasty Real Estate under the Drake Group. Not to mention, they’re currently in charge of a major project, the same project over at South Hill Real Estate!”
Trevor had a prideful look on his face as he pompously added, “Don’t worry. I’ll nail the interview tomorrow, no doubt!”
“Really now? That confident?” Selena frowned. Was that not the same company she was currently working in? “Which department manager’s assistant are you interviewing for?” she prodded further.
“The procurement manager’s assistant,” Trevor answered, another short chuckle escaping his lips. “My girlfriend happens to be a supervisor there as well, so my interview will go on smoothly. Besides, my resume is pretty impressive too. When they heard that I returned from overseas, who wouldn’t worship me? It doesn’t matter if I had wasted my life overseas or didn’t learn much… Who knows what exactly I was up to overseas, right?”
“Moreover, with the sheer mention of being abroad—on top of me boasting a little on my resume—would naturally win over people these days. Of course, my girlfriend is the supervisor there, so she can help put
a good word in for me. How is that not a guaranteed success?”
Trevor then added, “I heard that the procurement manager is a beautiful lady. However, she might’ve had an affair with the Drake family’s young master to be in that position. Otherwise, how could she be a manager the moment she entered the company?”
Trevor had a smug look on his face.
jackie felt awkward while he listened on the side. Was this manager he mentioned not Selena?
“That female manager had an affair with the Drake family’s young master? Your girlfriend told you that? Does she have any proof?” Selena’s expression dimmed. She did not expect Sonia would say that about her behind her back. It was a good thing she came to this reunion, and it was fortunate that Sonia was absent today. Selena might never know about this if this did not happen.
Chapter 225 “Is it necessary for proof now?” Trevor cackled out loud and spoke in a very prideful manner, “Do you know who my girlfriend is? She’s a distant relative to the Drake family and had worked there for a good number of years now. She should be the one getting promoted to the position of a manager, but that manager of theirs appeared out of nowhere. She’s attractive and dresses suggestively, so if she isn’t having an affair with the Drake family’s young master, would she even get special treatment like this?”
As he was making that statement, he continued with a much more exciting statement, “The previous manager only had about a few hundred thousand dollars per month but when this manager enters, guess how much she makes a month? A monthly wage of over a million! Now you tell me: isn’t that fishy? This woman has to be hooking up with the young master and had sexual relationships with him privately. How else would she get such treatment?”
“Too many women are making a living based on their appearance these days!” Matt joined in.
“Do you think anyone is exactly like you?” Selena was beyond furious as she gave him a murderous glare.
“I wasn’t even talking about you! What are you getting so worked up for?” Matt had a very dissatisfied look on his face.
“You guys are making baseless accusations. You’re asking for a beating!” jackie’s expressions dimmed as he subtly clenched his fist.
However, Selena who was sitting beside him shook her head and signaled at him not to act so rashly. jackie held himself back after seeing Selena’s reaction.
“I heard Rachel mentioned that you’re a rash brute for being a soldier previously. I see that it’s true. You keep saying that people are asking for a beating for minor things. Do you think that everything can be solved with violence? You have to use your head next time!” Hugh’s girlfriend rolled her eyes at jackie.
jackie laughed. “As long as you’re powerful enough, everything can be solved through violence,” he spoke. “If a single punch can’t, then two punches can do the trick!”
After he was done speaking, he immediately spoke to the waitress, “Hey, lady, mind switching the room for me? I won’t be stingy on your tips later if you’re still going to be our waitress!”
After the waitress heard that, she was immediately delighted. “Thank you, Sir!” she beamed.
After she was done, the waitress immediately led them to a different room. “This way, please!”
“Don’t be too happy so soon, Miss. This man just so happens to be a veteran and now he’s working as a bodyguard. Do you genuinely think his monthly wage is 20 million?”
“Even if it’s true, he was only back a few days ago. He hasn’t even gotten his paycheck yet, so I think he might not be able to foot the bill later. Everyone will be detained here!”
Everyone got into the elevator and arrived at the second floor together. From the second floor, everything on the first floor could be observed. The second floor encircled the entire perimeter and its middle portion was empty.
The huge building looked like an overturned bowl.
“No, I believe him. He was willing to fork out a couple million just to listen to his wife play the piano. Someone who loved their wives this much would never lie!” the waitress replied with a smile. Since she had worked as a waitress here for a long time, she had seen and met all kinds of people. She believed in her judgment.
“Since you have a sweet tongue, your tips tonight won’t be lower than 10 thousand!” jackie replied, a smile on his face as he did so.
Chapter 226 “10 thousand dollars?” Rosa gasped after hearing that; jackie must have been lying.
She had worked so hard for a month only to receive meager pay. To put it in a much better way, she was only a supervisor yet she felt extremely exhausted. Yet, here jackie was: casually telling the waitress that he would give her 10 thousand as her tip. That was too much, was it not?
“Thank you so much, Sir!”
The pretty waitress was also very delighted. The usual source of income would be the commissions they make from the alcohol they serve. Nonetheless, these commissions were very low. Adding that to their base salary, the total was not even close to 10 thousand.
Indeed, there would be customers who gave them tips, yet getting 3 to 5 thousand as their tip would make their day.
Even if their guests were some young masters from second or third-class aristocratic families, a generous tip from them would be about 2 to 3 thousand dollars; waitresses like them were very
insignificant to their eyes. If they enjoyed their company, they would reward them. If they did not, they might even yell at them.
“Don’t worry about it!” jackie smiled; the impression the woman left on him was positive. She basically would not say anything she should not on top of keeping a professional smile on her face. She looked very respectful.
Suddenly, Trevor chuckled. “A boastful man you are,” he commented. “The thing is that someone actually bought it!”
Upon noticing Trevor was going out of his way to pick on jackie, Selena smiled and said, “Trevor, you said it yourself earlier: You didn’t study much while you were abroad. You spend every day enjoying life there then boast about it when you return. You’re telling me that you want to work as that manager’s assistant with that behavior? I think you’re a little too full of yourself!”
“Full of myself?” Trevor cackled out loud and said, “There isn’t much of a choice for that female manager. My girlfriend faked a preliminary interview and rejected everyone that came for that position, leaving only my resume and another girl’s resume. However, that girl doesn’t even exist. Till then, all Sonia needs to do is tell their manager that the girl caught a cold and couldn’t make it!”
“That means I’m the only one left to be chosen. Besides, I had been abroad for some time, and that fake resume won’t be more outstanding than mine. So you can tell me now: If it isn’t me who will attend the interview, who else can it be?”
The longer Trevor spoke, the more prideful he became. “This is called benefiting from having a mole on the inside. Do you understand?”
“that’s pretty impressive!” Selena chuckled before looking at Rosa beside her. She said, “That’s right, Rosa, your monthly wage is about 10 thousand, right? That’s not bad, what job is that?”
A sigh escaped Rosa’s lips. “It’s not worth mentioning. That tiny company is depressing. Sometimes, they wouldn’t pay me for the overtime I did. I’m just a supervisor and yet I had to do a lot of things outside my job scope. Moreover, it’s construction work! Such meager pay. Now that I’ve paid my rent, I don’t have much left to save up after my meager budget for food and other necessities.”
Upon bringing up her job, Rosa cracked a bitter smile as she said, “Supervisor on paper but in reality, I’m busier than anyone else…”
After she was done speaking, she looked at Selena and said, “Selena, I remembered you being quite capable at work. Why don’t you come work for my company? I’ll talk to my manager to see if they’re able to offer you some work. Now that you’re exiled from the Taylor family, you’re no longer the lady you once was and you should accept reality now, okay?”
After Selena heard that statement, her heart was moved. It seemed Rosa cared about her a lot since she hoped that Selena could have a better life for herself.
It was then when Hugh spoke out, “Yeah, my purpose of inviting Selena out today was to ask everyone if any of you have any suitable job for her. However, since Selena mentioned she got a job earlier and it’s uncertain if it’s real or not, I was a little shy to bring it up!”
“My factory lacks manpower to move things. If a pretty lady like you thinks it’s okay, then you can come to work!” Dylan mused.
Rachel chuckled coldly before mocking her intentionally, “What are you talking about? Her husband makes 20 million a month. It doesn’t matter if she works or not, right? Does she even need to do hard labor?”
“Fair point. I almost forgot about it!” Dylan laughed hysterically.
Chapter 227 Selena merely shrugged him off as she took out a name card and handed it to Rosa. “This is my business card, so just hold on to it first. The offer will be much better than your current job. I have faith in your abilities. You’re a smart and hardworking person!”
“Alright, alright. I’ll keep it.” Rosa assumed Selena was on her high horse again. Still, she could not be bothered to expose her so she awkwardly laughed instead before shoving her business card into her purse.
A cynical grin appeared on Matt’s face. “Not bad; you can still recommend jobs to people. I didn’t expect you to be recruiting, judging from the look of things. Your job isn’t too bad!”
Selena simply ignored him in silence as they made their way to their luxurious private room.
“Holy sh*t. This is the luxury room? This is my first time here… It’s so big!”
“The piano here is a Yamaha! The screen here is huge too!”
Rosa was extremely excited after inspecting every nook and cranny.
“Not bad! Not bad!”
Everyone else was also nodding in agreement.
“ jackie, you said it yourself that you’d be footing the bill tonight. We won’t fork out a single penny!” Britney once again reminded jackie. She was interested to see how long jackie could keep up his facade.
jackie nodded carefreely. “Of course. Order to your heart’s content, guys!” he spoke. “Order anything, and we’ll have as much fun as we can! Besides, it’s not every day we get an opportunity to loosen up.”
“Alright, alright. Bring the menu here and we’ll order now. Everyone is drinking red wine right, and we’d be ordering the more expensive ones. Besides, the lowest one can spend here is a million. We’re not going to order anything too cheap!” Trevor got seated and started ordering.
The veteran then turned to his wife. “Honey, I want to watch you dance!” jackie beamed.
Selena was flustered in an instant. “I haven’t danced in years!” she squeaked. “Forget it, I’m too embarrassed!”
“Someone should be playing the piano while she dances, right? Who’s playing? I haven’t played in years and I think I’ve even forgotten how to play!” Hugh let out a bitter chuckle and said, “If one wishes to dance while someone plays, both must be in sync. If they are, it’ll unite and become a beautiful symphony both visually and auditorily.”
To this, Matt started chuckling coldly as he stared at jackie. “If Selena dances, it wouldn’t be appropriate if we played the piano, right? Someone would be jealous if the duet turned out nicely, no?”
“That’s difficult. If he’s the one playing, he wouldn’t be jealous.”
Trevor chuckled coldly. “Of course, someone here didn’t even have proper education. He could be playing a chaotic tune too,” Trevor mocked, to which everyone started laughing. “How else can Selena dance to the music?”
In their eyes, jackie was nothing more than a mindless brute. How would he know a thing or two about the piano?
Never did they anticipate that jackie actually approached the piano, sat down, and said, “Honey, I’ll play and you dance. Let’s both perform a duet!”
Chapter 228 Selena became skittish right away. This fellow here was a soldier; how could he possibly know how to play the piano even though he was not always a mindless brute?
Music and dance would be extremely sacred to people who understood them as it was something that could connect souls. How could one not take it seriously?
She would not mind if her husband was to play poorly, but even if she was to dance majestically, she could never be in sync with a ‘chaotic tune’.
jackie’s level should not be too poor at the very least. Only then could she forcefully dance with his tune.
“F—Forget it. Everyone will be singing and drinking later anyway…” Selena laughed mirthlessly, her statement sounding more depressed than what she let on. Even in her eyes, there were shreds of disappointment and sadness inside.
She had not danced in a very long time, and she had almost forgotten that ‘Selena’ who used to dance so elegantly on the stage like a swan. She would feel different every time she got on stage to dance back then; it was as though the entire stage was hers and only hers. The cheers from the audience would make her feel incredibly fulfilled.
Of course, these were things of the past and she could no longer have the same feeling she felt from back then; the feeling of understanding the deeper meaning of a dance through her heart and soul.
“I think you should just forget about it. Your hands are made for swords and spears, so please don’t embarrass yourself with elegant things like holding a pen or performing a dance!” Britney laughed, a cynical undertone detected in her chuckle.
“Matt, your piano skills are pretty impressive back then. It’d be a perfect performance if you play the piano and Selena dances. That’d be a perfect balance of music and dance!”
Rachel then added fuel to the flame, saying, “You’re no longer together, but you’ve dated back then, no? Why don’t you just give it a shot, Matt? I believe both of you will be a perfect match!”
Needless to say, she said all that to provoke jackie.
“Let’s begin, Honey!” jackie simply ignored her as he gently touched the black and white keys; it was as though he was caressing a baby’s skin.
A press on a key made jackie titter. Five years of battle had almost made him forget about his childhood dream.
His childhood dream was to become a pianist. He had never expected he would become a soldier. Even more so, he never expected he would be fighting on the battlefield to defend the borders. Of course, times have changed and he no longer held regrets. It was being on the battlefield that he felt true friendship between his comrades. He felt the fighting spirit between his comrades. If it were not for the countless near-death encounters in the last five years, he would not have been honed into such a sharp blade.
A simple touch made his thoughts race endlessly. Soon, he found himself swimming in childhood memories as he immersed himself within that sacred ground. All of that turned into an orchestra of music and notes surrounding him as they danced.
“No way… He knows how to play the piano!” Britney was so shocked that her lower jaw almost fell to the ground. Was this brat not a takeout delivery boy that had gotten enlisted as a soldier for five years? Surely there was no piano on the battlefield.
Moreover, jackie was just an ordinary man back then, and if he could keep himself warm and fed, it would have made his day. How could he still have the time and money to learn how to play music?
Yet, here jackie was. His fingers seemed to be moving on its own and the harmonic tone made everyone feel as if they were floating mid-air. It soon picked up the pace and turned softer like water flowing under the bridge.
“Good lord. This… This is way better than our piano teacher back then. He’s amazing!” Hugh gulped, completely flabbergasted.
“He… He’s playing the Croatian Rhapsody!” Rachel was electrified. That was how Maxim described music as it mainly focused on the aftermath of war.
Chapter 229 The aftermath of a war, a dusty battlefield, mountains of corpses laid dead while a crow wept under the setting sun. This single song surprised everyone as their hearts were instantly touched, so much so that those images came alive in their minds. At that instant, they no longer perceived jackie as a mindless brute. No one else dared to think he knew nothing about music. Instead, they were the complete idiots.
Selena was completely stunned. She never knew jackie’s piano playing had already reached such godly heights.
“What are you still standing here for? Hurry up and go!” Rosa nudged Selena soon after she snapped out of her trance.
It was only then did Selena eventually settle back into reality. Selena then gracefully lowered and did a split while raising her body slightly, resembling the image of an injured swan.
Her body was lithe and flexible as both arms swayed along to the music. At that moment, both music and dance started to merge into a single entity. With a counter spin of her legs, her body started to slowly get up as she was completely lost in the harmonic balance of music and dance, unable to escape. She had returned. Everything had returned. Selena felt like she had once again returned on stage and found the familiar feelings she felt back then; that excitement and determination she felt in her heart way before.
The melody stopped and the dance concluded! Everyone was entranced, and they stayed that way for a good amount of time.
“That was magnificent!” Dylan suddenly started clapping, and everyone else could not help but applauded them thunderously.
It no longer mattered how much they looked down on jackie before; all of them were clapping. They were praising their duet, their emotions sincere from their hearts and free from their feuds and petty grudges. Their souls seemed to be completely cleansed at this instant.
“That was amazing. A perfect performance, perfectly done!” Hugh was extremely emotional, at the brink of tears. “I’ve never expected even after graduating so many years ago, I’d still be able to hear such a powerful piece of music and witness such a perfect dance,” he gushed. “Both aspects were perfectly combined.”
Hugh was so emotional, he repeated the word ‘perfect’ four times.
“Honey, you compliment me well!” jackie smiled as he got up.
“You played it exceptionally well!” Selena was slightly flustered as she rolled her eyes at jackie. However, her heart felt like it was slathered with a sweet essence as though she had eaten honeydew.
“Right. If anyone wants to play, go ahead. I want to grab a drink!” jackie smiled as plenty of snacks and red wine were already brought in.
“Forget it. After your impromptu recital just now, we don’t want to embarrass ourselves!” Hugh waved his hand and he no longer dared to mention he was a music graduate in front of jackie ever again.
“Let’s drink, let’s drink!” Dylan was still lost in the music earlier. “Good lord. After listening to that, I feel like money is merely worldly possession, so let’s all drink to our hearts’ content. Come on guys, cheers!”
jackie smiled at Selena as Dylan with his rounded waist chugged down a glass full of wine. It made him seem more like a mindless brute than jackie would ever be.
Chapter 230 Rosa pulled Selena to a corner.
“Selena… They said that your husband was a mindless brute and I genuinely believed them,” Rosa whispered. “I didn’t expect him to know how to play the piano, and he played it so well too. I don’t believe he’s just some grunt anymore… Anyone who knows how to play the piano can never be a mindless brute!” she added. “I think he’s a well-versed person as he knows how to fight and play the piano!”
“Hmm… Has he become god-like to you now?” Selena chuckled humorously as it seemed this change in attitude was a little too quick.
Rosa sighed. “After thinking about it earlier, that has to be some nonsense Rachel concocted. Man, that woman has gone too far since she never seemed to like you even in our university days. She always assumed you were stealing the spotlight away from her. We’ve all graduated, and it’s been so long. I thought it’s all behind us now and we don’t care much about the past. I didn’t expect she could be this petty!” Rosa seemed to have understood something as she then grabbed onto Selena’s hand and murmured, “I’m sorry. I misunderstood you a while ago.”
“Don’t worry about it, I didn’t really take it to heart anyway,” Selena assured her. “Besides, I offended Rachel this morning, so her trying to ruin me in my absence is well within my expectations!”
Selena offered a bright smile before adding, “Consider my offer well when you get back. You can help me out in my company since we lack the manpower.”
“Alright, I’ll think about it,” Rosa replied, a smile gracing her face before she tugged on Selena’s arm. “Let’s go pick some songs to sing!”
On the other side, Britney was sitting next to Matt as she whispered to him, “Do you know how much in total we’ve ordered?”
“How should I know? My job is to drink and drink some more. If it’s not enough, we can order more. F*ck it, I refuse to believe a veteran would be able to fork out that much money. We’ll spend a little more and when he can’t pay up, the owner here will never let him leave!”
Matt was ruthless in the way he spoke, and he glanced at jackie from across the room. jackie was nothing more than a veteran, and no one expected jackie would be able to marry Selena. Selena’s current figure seemed as though she had never given birth before. She was still as stunning as she was
back then. Not to mention the way Selena looked when she danced. She looked like a pure and innocent swan. Her beauty was mesmerizing, and the feeling of regret bubbled in him.
If only he persisted a little harder back then, he might have been the one married to Selena. Even if he was not married to her, he might still end up dating Selena. A shame he could only be with Britney, whom he had no feelings for whatsoever. Dissatisfied was he in silence.
“Our bill is over 1.3 million dollars. That idiot is doomed!” Britney chuckled and took a sip of red wine from her wine glass before saying, “Alright, I need to use the washroom real quick!”
When Britney was on her way to the washroom, she noticed an extremely intricate display case in the hallway housing two bottles of red wine. Moreover, there were two servers guarding that case while every corner around the red wine had spotlights shining at it. It was very attractive to look at.
“What are you looking at?” Rachel who had just exited the washroom noticed Britney was staring at blank space in front of her. Rachel approached her while she giggled.
“Rachel, do you think jackie has the money to actually foot the bill?” Britney frowned after she pondered about it.
Chapter 231 “Impossible. Where does his money come from anyway?”
Rachel spoke without hesitation, “He did it for his pride, he’s boasting!”
“But he can’t be that dumb, right? This is the Lotus Bar and Lounge, and the owner is a member of a first-class aristocratic family. He isn’t going to dine and dash now, is he? Does he have a death wish?” After Britney broke it down in detail, she started to doubt if jackie had enough money to pay the bill.
“Fair point!” In that instant, Rachel was no longer as certain as she was. “I doubt that jackie knows who the owner is, considering he’s just returned from the army,” she commented, “so how would he know so much?”
“I think you make a much better point!” Britney nodded then swiftly said, “Hey, I heard when those veterans came back, those who stayed for quite some time in their department would be able to get a good sum of money since they contributed to the country, and they’d be able to retire in glory. It seems jackie might’ve gotten some money.”
“So you’re saying it might be around 1 or 2 million? This idiot decided to spend every penny tonight just to save his wife’s pride?” Rachel was a little shocked as she continued, “So that’s why he was so confident when he spoke. Moreover, he enrolled his child to school this morning and paid up. I thought he borrowed that money, but it seems he does have some money!”
“Yeah, but I’m guessing it’s not much and should only be a million or two. Otherwise, those two wouldn’t come here in a cab!” Britney continued her breakdown, “Because that money didn’t come easy, and since jackie risked his life for that money, they spent meagerly. It’s just that they didn’t expect us to look down on them and jackie is known to act pretentiously. To stop his wife from getting bullied, he agreed to switch up the room. Don’t you think this is the case?”
“Good lord, you’re on to something now. You’re not the lady of a third-class aristocratic family for nothing!” Rachel chuckled immediately and sneered, “Since people like him loved to pretend, we’ll allow him to. Besides, we’ve spent so much of his money, it might hurt him after this!”
“Exactly!” Britney’s expression suddenly dimmed. “We can let them off the hook so easily… What if they do have the money to pay our bills tonight?” she fretted. “Also, Selena is Matt’s ex-girlfriend and I just can’t stand that woman. I don’t want them to walk out of Lotus Bar and Lounge today, so we can’t let them off the hook so easily!”
“But, what can we do when they have money?” Rachel sighed. “I too wish to see them struggling to pay the bill then be caught by the boss and, heck, might even get beaten to a pulp,” she spoke bluntly. “I’d be a happy gal!”
Both women bonded through their similar vile behavior!
Britney pointed at both bottles of red wine. “Say, would those two bottles of red wine be expensive since they’re guarded by two waiters?” she snickered.
“You mean to say?” Rachel seemed to have thought of something as her eyes lit up.
Both women then swiftly approached the display case and asked the waiters, “Is this wine expensive? What are you guys standing guard here for? Is it only for people to admire?”
“Ladies, both of these bottles of red wine happen to be our establishment’s most prized possessions. They are produced in…”
After they were done explaining, a waitress then concluded, “This bottle costs 6.66 million dollars and only less than 10 bottles exist in this world. Drinking a bottle would mean one less bottle in the world.”
“Perfect!”
A glint of sinister intent could be seen in Britney’s gaze as she immediately said, “Send a bottle to our room. We want one!”
Chapter 232 “You want a bottle? This costs 6.66 million; it’s too expensive!” Rachel gasped. “How can you order something this expensive? Are you trying to kill him?” she stammered.
Britney chuckled menacingly and replied, “What are you afraid of? He said it himself: We can order anything we want. Besides, if we didn’t order a little more, how can we get him to stay behind?”
After some thoughts, she immediately exclaimed, “No, no, no. A bottle isn’t enough…we’ll take both. I’m quite interested to taste what this establishment’s prized possession tastes like!”
“Two bottles? That’ll be over 13 million including the 1.3 million earlier. Oh, good lord, it’s too expensive… It’s over 14 million!” Rachel was flabbergasted. She wanted jackie to be in a tough spot and
also wanted him to be embarrassed silly, but… Would spending over 14 million not pressure him to death?
“Didn’t you notice how he was acting earlier? He claims to be rich and told us to order anything we want so blatantly. This time, we have to teach this brat a very good lesson!”
Britney pulled Rachel away from where they initially stood and whispered, “This is an extremely rare opportunity, though.”
Britney suddenly scoffed at the thought of something. “That reminds me… Didn’t he mention he makes 20 million a month? Didn’t he also say he bought two Porsches? Even we don’t have the heart to buy one and he bought the 911 model. This time, he’s in for a world of bad luck!”
“Right, right, right!” Britney said with mocking laughter. “Failing to foot the bill will put them to great shame, and worst of all, they’d be offending a first-class aristocratic family since this business belongs to them!”
Britney chuckled before leading Rachel back to where those wine bottles were and said, “We’ve decided to have both bottles, so send it to Room 207! When you arrive, you don’t need to ask a thing; just open it for us!”
“Well, both bottles will add up to about 13 million. Are you sure you want to open both bottles at the same time, ladies?”
One of the waiters was already startled and wondered if he had misheard them. No guests had ever ordered that wine for the two to three years the bottles were placed there. Even if they were young masters, they would give up after asking for the price.
Besides, most people would feel spending more than 6 million for a bottle of wine would not be worth it.
“Yeah, just open them when you bring them in. We were also like that when we ordered plenty of wine bottles previously!” Britney nodded with a smile.
Soon, both Britney and Rachel returned to the room. It was jackie’s first time to come to a place like this. It was a one-of-a-kind way to enjoy life and listen to Selena’s sweet voice singing.
“Come now, Brother, let’s drink. This will be a toast for you defending us and our country in the frontlines. This is my respect to you!” Hugh had a grin on his face as he approached jackie, a glass of wine at hand.
“Thank you!” jackie smiled.
After clinking glasses with him, he chugged down the wine immediately.
“That felt good!” Hugh laughed as he also chugged the wine down with a single gulp.
No one expected that even Dylan the alcoholic would also sit with them at this moment. “I didn’t expect your piano skills to be this good, jackie,” he started, “and you’re pretty handsome, too. I see now why a beauty like Selena would be your wife! Although I hated you this morning, you have my respect tonight!”
jackie was flustered. He did not expect Dylan would say something like that after drinking so much.
“Come on now, I need to drink with you. At least as gratitude to your treat. You’re treating me to drink in such a lavish spot. I personally can’t bear spending this much money!”
Chapter 233 Dylan’s face was flushed red from drinking too much. It seemed he was more talkative after some drinks. Matt was drinking alone on the other side of the room. He was chugging down wine after wine; he wanted nothing more than to bankrupt jackie.
“What are you doing? Why are you drinking so much?” Britney spotted him the moment she returned and immediately went to his side.
“Doesn’t he just love being pretentious? This wine I’m drinking costs 50 thousand a bottle. F*ck it, I’ll keep asking for more wine after I’m done with this. Let’s see what he’ll do when he doesn’t have enough to pay.”
Matt turned to look at jackie on the side with a sinister chuckle.
“Ah, then let me tell you…” Britney immediately leaned to Matt’s ear and whispered everything to him.
“That expensive!” was Matt’s first response, a gasp escaping his lips. However, a shred of sinister intent flashed across his gaze and said, “Good. Let’s do that since he said it was on him anyway. I won’t help him even a penny.”
“I wonder if he’d kneel and beg us to split the bill with him later.” Britney cackled out loud and bragged, “No one will agree to it, especially when Rosa’s pay is only 10 thousand a month and has basically no savings. She can’t afford to fork out any money when he splits the bill!”
Matt laughed then poured Britney a glass of wine before handing it to her. He said, “You truly are smart. Those two bottles would cost him his life.”
“Well, that’s not too certain. What if his monthly pay turns out to actually be 20 million dollars?” Britney took a sip of red wine before saying that while chuckling coldly.
“Only a fool would believe him. A mere bodyguard could have a monthly wage of 20 million? Do you take the Drake family for a fool?” Matt chuckled.
It was at this moment that a waiter brought in a bucket of ice and two bottles of red wine. After greeting them with a polite smile, the waiter opened both bottles of wine and placed it on the glass table.
The waiter soon got out. jackie and the others did not notice what had happened as they were busy singing and drinking, but both Britney and Matt cracked a grin.
That pretty waitress who was standing on the side and had been serving them all this time noticed the bottles and frowned. After some thought, she walked out.
However, it did not take her long to return. Her expression turned bitter after she noticed Britney pouring a drink for everyone at the moment.
She had gone out to gather some information. Supposedly, two women from this room had made the waiter serve up those bottles of wine. She felt something was amiss when she connected the dots to jackie and Selena being a married couple. However, she dared not approach them to say much. All she could do was stand on the side and smile while waiting for everyone’s orders.
Eventually, jackie went out to use the washroom. After some thought, the waitress was too antsy that she chased after him.
“Sir, Sir! I don’t know if I should, but I want to inform you of something.”
It was only when jackie made the return trip did the pretty waitress decide to approach him. “I… I feel like you’re a kind person and I’m worried you might be toyed by people, so I wish to ask you something. Don’t tell anyone it was me who told you, okay?”
“Toyed?” Of course, jackie was stunned for a moment, but he quickly recovered with a smile on his face. “Every scheme or plot will be useless in the face of true power! Tell me: who tried to trick me?”
Chapter 234 The waitress never expected jackie would still have the mood to crack a joke. His behavior made her giggle anxiously before she added, “Sir, I’m afraid you’ll need someone extremely powerful to back you up in addition to an extremely strong financial ability because you’ll need 14 million.”
“What do you mean 14 million?” jackie’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Oh no… You really have no idea, don’t you?” she murmured.
“Weren’t two bottles of red wine brought in earlier? Those that were claimed as extra orders? I didn’t notice it then but when I looked at the bottles, I knew something was off. Those happen to be the most prized possessions of our establishment. It’s 6.66 million per bottle! There’s only two in total, and they actually opened it!”
“I was so shocked that I had to sneak out to ask my colleague, and they claimed they were ordered by those two women. Oh, that’s right… They were that Matt’s girlfriend and that Rachel lady who made the order!”
The pretty waitress frowned and nervously asked, “What are you going to do? You didn’t know about it, and it seemed those two were messing with you intentionally.”
“Heh… I didn’t expect both women could scheme so much!” jackie scoffed and looked at the pretty waitress in front of him. “Thank you for telling me this. Don’t you worry. It’s only over 10 million, and it’s no problem for me!”
“Good if it’s n—no problem at all!” The waitress let out a sigh of relief. “I think you and your wife are pretty close together so I decided to tell you,” she explained. “Also, your piano performance earlier was very good. It was my first time listening to something this amazing!”
jackie chuckled at her praise. “Thank you for your kind praises!” jackie smiled and was getting ready to return.
“By the way, there’s a boxing match on the third floor later. Only guests in the luxury rooms are allowed to watch. You guys can spectate later! Moreover, if any guests here can attempt that challenge and they win, the bill will be free! Moreover, they’ll also win 3 million dollars!”
After some thought, the pretty waitress slowly explained, “Although you’re a veteran, you can never—by any means—register for the challenge. The champion of the ring is just too powerful! He’s from America,
and the man is extremely huge and tall. I’m pretty sure he’s over two meters. Those few people who came forward to challenge a few days ago, well…they’re all beaten to death.”
A long sigh escaped her lips. “Some people didn’t take the challenge for the free bill. Some did it because he—an outsider—had murdered a few of our best fighters from our Daxia. They were very dissatisfied so they took that challenge.”
The waitress sighed for the nth time and said, “That American is too scummy. Although everyone signed a waiver before each challenge, no one had been killed before. The fight stops when one of them yields. The worst-case scenario is just crippling someone. But this man… Ever since he came, he killed a lot of our people. He murdered them!”
The waitress clenched her fists and gritted her teeth just by relaying the information she knew.
When both countries were at war back then, each war would last a couple of years. Since Daxia won, jackie and the others could retire in glory. However, it seemed the Americans stepped foot on Daxia’s soil to stir up the occasional trouble. Since both countries signed a truce, minor frictions like these would naturally be ignored. Minor hiccups like these boxing matches, of course. After both parties signed a waiver, they could murder Daxians with no recourse.
“F*ck!” After jackie listened to her, he could not hold himself back from swearing. “I have to join. I’m pretty sure he did all of that intentionally.”
“No, don’t. Good sir, I’m informing you because I wanted you guys to spectate since you had already spent this much, so you have the right to watch the match on the third floor.”
Chapter 235 “Sir, he’s too powerful and had ten consecutive wins…”
The startled waitress frantically tried to talk him out of it. She was afraid that it would cost jackie his life after what she had told him.
“Thank you so much for telling me. It’ll be fine if I’m oblivious to it but since I already know now, that American will die!”
jackie left her with that cold statement before striding back to the room. “It seems our expenses will be saved,” he spoke as his figure retreated back into the room.
“But…he’s really…powerful!’
The pretty waitress frowned as she stared at jackie. Regretting her decision, she mumbled, “I shouldn’t have told him. He’s so loving to his wife… What if he dies in the name of defending Daxia? That’d be bad!”
Time slowly went by and when it was almost 11 o’clock, everyone felt like they had enough to drink.
The taste of both bottles of red wine was amazing as both jackie and Selena drank a glass.
“ jackie, it seems like these two bottles of red wine have an incredibly distinct taste over the rest, and that’s strange. What’s stranger is that Rachel seemed to have come to her senses and helped pour us a drink!”
After she was done speaking, she gasped and spoke in a slightly frightened tone, “Oh dear… Nothing’s wrong with these two bottles, right? They wouldn’t have been poisoned now, would they? Or…”
jackie felt awkward as he cracked a suppressed laugh. “Honey, I didn’t expect your imagination would be this big, but don’t you worry; they’re not. Though, you’d know soon enough if there’s anything fishy about those two bottles of wine!”
jackie stood up and was about to pay the bill.
“Oh boy, it’s about time. Did everyone have a good time?”
Britney smiled immediately and said, “Of course. We’re incredibly happy. I don’t come here often to places like these. I didn’t expect you, jackie, a bodyguard can afford to treat us here, in this place. I truly didn’t expect it.”
It was at this moment, a supervisor came in and smiled at everyone in the room. He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, since your room happens to be the highest spender tonight and also broke the record of our Lotus Bar and Lounge in the ten years since we’ve opened, our manager agreed to offer you guys an 8.8 percent discount!”
“Oh my! Really?” Selena was delighted as she said, “I didn’t mishear it, right? An 8.8 percent discount can save us a lot of money!”
Of course, it did not take long as realization dawned on her. “That’s impossible though, right? We’ve only spent 1.3 million. Isn’t the lowest spending rate here a million? How could we possibly break a ten-year record?”
“No way, right? Breaking the record just like that?” Dylan was dumbfounded as well. “Judging from the looks of things, people who came here were all spending on a million dollars budget, right? We merely spent a little more than that, and we broke a record?”
“I’m afraid that he still won’t be able to pay the bill even after the 8.8 percent discount!” Britney scoffed as she waited for everything to unfold.
Rosa and Hugh both looked at each other and were considerably worried if jackie had the money to pay the bill. If he did not, things would be bad.
“What do you mean 1.3 million? The total amount you guys have spent is 14.67 million. After the discount, it’d be 12.9 million. Our manager said he can round down the value, so all you guys have to pay is 12.9 million!”
The supervisor smiled and took out a few bottles of red wine. “That’s right, these are your gifts,” he spoke. “You guys can enjoy it back home.”
Chapter 236 “Impossible… How could it cost 12.9 million? We’ve checked every order and it only totaled to 1.3 million. Even after adding a few bottles, it shouldn’t go past 1.5 million. How could it be this expensive?” Selena was flabbergasted, but the shock slowly sizzled into anger. “I think you’re scamming us; maybe you mixed it up yourselves,” she fumed. “Check it again and see if something went wrong!”
“Yes, something must’ve gone wrong. It shouldn’t be over 10 million, since we didn’t order that much!” Rosa was shaken as well. Based on her current salary, she would not be able to pay this off even if she worked here for the rest of her life.
“You did. Did you forget?” The supervisor frowned and added, “You’re not trying to get out of this, are you?”
She then looked around and pointed at the two empty wine bottles on the glass table before adding, “You ordered these signature bottles and you’ve finished those. Are you trying to get out of paying for it?”
Three more waitresses followed behind the supervisor. They were the ones who guarded the wine bottles. They were holding a few complimentary bottles they had prepared to give to the person paying the bill.
Laughing, one of them walked up and said, “You need to realize where you are right now. Listen to what people have to say about what happens if you don’t pay for your meal!”
“A signature bottle? What…what alcohol is this?” Selena frowned; something was off.
Indeed, she did sense that the wine from the two bottles tasted much different compared to the regular red wine when she drank them. She was just talking to jackie about this. Could that be the signature bottle?
“Our signature bottles have been here for years, and they’ve never been sold. There are two bottles, and one bottle costs 6.66 million…”
The supervisor smiled and began introducing the bottles. After that, she said, “You’ve ordered it, you’ve finished it, so you have to pay for it now.”
“W—We didn’t order it!” Selena was left speechless. “When did we order it? How could I have ordered such an expensive bottle of wine?”
Seeing Selena’s worried look, Rachel, Britney, and Matt could not help but smile coyly aside.
“What’s wrong? What signature bottles? I didn’t order them!” A tipsy Dylan was shocked as well. He grabbed the bottle and took a good look at it. “F*ck, this bottle is that expensive? I wasn’t really drinking wine; I was basically drinking money!”
“Get the manager here and get a few more people; these people drank the signature bottles. I thought I bumped into real billionaires who were willing to splurge with their money, but it looks like they’re playing dumb here, trying to get out of paying for it!” the supervisor said to one of the waitresses.
The beautiful waitress who was serving jackie and the others stood aside with a dark expression. Did jackie not say it would be fine? Why was he not saying a thing?
Seeing jackie was standing silently and pulled out a cigarette to light it, Britney sneered, “ jackie, why aren’t you saying anything? You told us to order anything we wanted. Rachel and I ordered these bottles. What’s wrong? Can’t afford them?”
“What? Aren’t you two going a little overboard? How could you order such expensive bottles? Aren’t you obviously trying to set us up?!” Selena was angry beyond relief. She oh-so badly wanted to beat those two women.
Chapter 237 “Dear, you’re too…” Dylan never anticipated that his spouse would do something like this. Despite their altercation with the couple this morning, he had always looked down on people who used dirty tricks.
Rachel gritted her teeth and barked, “You can’t blame us, can you? jackie mentioned that we could order anything we wanted, and we saw these two bottles. Is it wrong that we wanted to taste it?” Rachel scoffed. “If he couldn’t afford it in the first place, don’t pretend to be someone he’s not and ask us to order anything we want!”
“Rachel, Britney is childish, and you know how her temper is. If she’s messing around, do you have to do what she does as well?” Hugh’s face was dark. Their spending had gone over 10 million dollars, and if Selena and jackie were forced to stay behind, what would happen then? If they could not pay, they might pay with their lives.
After all, this establishment was owned by a first-class family. The owner behind the scenes should not be offended at all. Even Hugh’s girlfriend was no longer speaking. She did not expect that the others would order such expensive bottles.
“Who’s making a scene at our Lotus Bar and Lounge?!”
At this moment, a plump woman walked in with several angry-looking men clad in black shirts. “Our signature bottles have been there for long, and no one has ever ordered them. After you ordered them and finished them, you’re trying to not pay for it? We were planning to give you a discount and a few complimentary bottles. Are you trying to not pay for your meal?”
“Pay for it, jackie. You’ve said it yourself: we could order anything!” Britney sneered.
“That’s right. Act like the size of your bank account; don’t pretend to be someone you’re not in front of us!” Matt chimed in, his gaze filled with disdain.
“This man and his wife are the hosts, we’re just his guests, and this has nothing to do with us. If you want to capture or kill anyone, get them!” Seeing the number of men in the room, Rachel was terrified. She distanced herself from the crowd right away.
“ jackie, what should we do? Where can we find that much money? If only we knew, we wouldn’t have come here tonight. Some of these people are no longer the classmates from way back then. I think they’ve changed… They’ve become devils!”
Selena was overwhelmed with regret. The restaurant was demanding over 10 million dollars at that moment; where would they find that kind of money? If they did run out of ideas, they might have to call the second daughter of the Drake family to see if she could help them out.
jackie merely chuckled in reply. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. This is nothing to your husband!”
jackie smiled nonchalantly. With a flick of his finger, his cigarette butt flew right into a wine bottle next to him. It might or might not be a coincidence, but it was staggeringly accurate.
“Tsk, tsk! How powerful, still playing dumb at this moment. If you’re so rich, then please pay the bill!” Matt’s gaze was filled with sarcasm. He had waited for this moment for too long.
“If you don’t pay the bill, you and your wife might not live through tonight!” The men in black rubbed their fists together, and their faces seemed muscular. They seemed threatening.
Selena thought of something, and her eyes lit up. “Right, jackie, I nearly forgot. Aren’t you friends with the Goddess of War? Why don’t you call her and ask her for a loan to pay for this bill? Once you get your salary, we can pay her back with it.”
Selena prayed that jackie was not making up stories and that he was genuinely acquainted with the Goddess of War.
Chapter 238 “War-the Goddess of War is his friend?”
The manager inhaled sharply after hearing that. Tons of people wanted to meet the Goddess of War; even if they got the chance to say a sentence to her, it would be of the greatest honor.
Many media houses wished to interview Eastfield’s Goddess of War Lana Zechs but were all rejected by the cold Goddess. No one expected that the average joe in front of them was the Goddess of War’s friend.
“No way, he knows the Goddess of War?” Britney inhaled sharply as well. If jackie was a friend of the Goddess of War, and a good one at that, she might be in trouble.
After all, Rachel and her had started this today, and she was considered the mastermind behind it. If jackie was going to use his connection with the Goddess of War to blame it on them, they and the entire Lee family would be finished.
“Impossible, do you really think the Goddess of War is that easy to be reached?” Matt sneered and said, “The honorable Goddess of War would require marshalls of a certain level to be able to reach her, right? He was only a soldier for five years so if he only saw the Goddess of War from afar while being on the frontlines, his claims of knowing her mean that many other people could say the same thing!”
“F*ck, this guy was just faking it!”
“I think he was just putting on a show with his wife and pretending to be friends with the Goddess of War so we could void his bill. Respecting him means respecting the Goddess of War, right?”
“Yes, that might be the case!” The men in black began laughing.
“Since it’s late, the Goddess of War is probably asleep by now. I won’t call and trouble her to come over since it’s just over 10 million dollars!” jackie was nonchalant about it. He turned around and said to
Selena, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine!”
“Hey, look at how good you are at lying. Before you, no one would claim to be number one at it!”
“It’s only 12 million dollars? You don’t want to trouble her to come over? My God, who do you think you are? Even if it was Eastfield’s richest man James Drake standing here, the Goddess of War wouldn’t care to come over, would she? On the contrary, there’s a higher possibility for Mr. Drake to go over to see her!”
Britney crossed her arms in front of her chest, her face filled with disdain. jackie was lying about everything unrealistically.
After saying that, she sneered. “Look, seeing that Selena and Matt were university mates, both of you can just kneel before me and slap yourselves a few times while saying you’ll never pretend to be someone you’re not again. I’ll even pay for the bill tonight!”
“You want my wife and I to kneel before you and slap ourselves?” jackie was stunned, his expression turning dark.
jackie did not want to cause trouble but it did not mean he was a coward. He was willing to tolerate people looking down on him. He had been thinking that they were all his wife’s ex-classmates and Selena would not want to ruin any relationships. That was why jackie did not bother to stoop to their level.
However, he did not expect these people to ask for more. Not only did they secretly order the most expensive bottles of wine, they were now asking him and his wife to kneel down and slap themselves? As a man, he could not take this anymore no matter what. Moreover, he was Daxia’s only Supreme Warrior!
“You heard me right, that’s exactly what I meant. Kneel before me and my man, slap yourselves, and say you will stop pretending to be someone you’re not from now on!”
Britney continued looking arrogant, being merciless toward jackie and Selena. jackie looked over at Selena next to him. Selena was a little angry as well but seemed afraid of them. After all, they were people from a third-class family.
Chapter 239 jackie could not stand it anymore after seeing Selena’s face. He walked over and slapped Britney twice.
“Slap!”
The sound was incredibly loud as the room instantly turned silent.
“Are you dreaming? My wife and I were willing to buy you drinks so you should be feeling thankful. On the contrary, you’re asking us to kneel before you? You’re still stuck in your princess dream, aren’t you?” jackie’s expression was ice cold. His gaze was filled with a terrifying aura.
Britney froze. She had never been hit in her life. She was the only daughter of the Lee Family so her parents treated her as the apple of their eyes and she had always been treated as the family’s gem. She did not expect to be beaten by a bodyguard today.
“Matt, what are you standing there for?” Britney was pissed seeing how Matt was also terrified.
“F*ck you, what kind of man are you to hit a woman?” Matt clenched his fist and charged toward jackie.
Unfortunately, spoiled, pretty, and useless brats had no combat capabilities whatsoever. Matt was instantly kicked by jackie before landing on the sofa.
“Ah!” Matt screamed in pain while clenching at his chest.
“I’m telling you that you’ll regret this!” Britney was pissed. She pointed at jackie and Selena, saying, “Fine, I was just thinking that if you couldn’t afford it, I could help you pay the bill. Now I won’t pay a single cent even if you kneel before me. I won’t pay for it, so just wait till you get beaten up by the men of the Lotus Bar and Lounge!”
After saying that, she walked over to help Matt up. “The owner of the Lotus Bar and Lounge is the brother of a first-class aristocratic family’s master. I’ll wait and see how you two get out of here tonight!”
jackie sneered. “To me, the only things that matter are those who deserve to be hit and those who don’t, as well as those who deserve to be killed and those who don’t! If we were on the battlefield, you both would be dead by now!”
jackie paused after saying that and looked over at Britney. “Remember this, your family might spoil you in your house but I won’t do the same!”
Selena sighed and asked jackie, “ jackie, what should we do now? Can you afford to pay the bill?”
jackie smiled unexpectedly and said to the manager, “I heard that at 11 o’clock, there’s a boxing competition on the third floor of your building, right? Customers of the luxurious private room will get to watch the competition as they’re eligible to do so!”
“Right, so what? Do you want to watch it?”
The manager was stunned before adding, “If you want to watch it, there won’t be a problem. You’re eligible to do so but what does that have anything to do with you paying the bill?”
jackie smiled and replied, “Of course it has lots to do with paying the bill. Didn’t you say that if someone joins the competition and wins, his bill would be voided?”
“That is the case, but are you saying that you want to sign up?”
The manager looked at jackie and shook her head. “Young man, if I were you, I’d rather kneel and apologize to this woman, kowtowing for 100 times than joining the competition. With that body of yours, your opponent would only need one punch to knock your brains out. There are already ten professionals in Eastfield who died in the challenge. The opponent has already won ten matches consecutively!”
At this moment, the female manager stressed it again, “It’s ten consecutive wins!”
Chapter 240 “Young man, if you’re signing up, you’re just asking for death. It’s just as easy as killing an ant!”
“That’s right, the American is huge and strong. He’s almost two meters tall and his arms are thicker than your thighs. With that body of yours…”
The fighters began sneering after seeing jackie’s body.
“Tsk tsk, ten professionals were killed consecutively? This American is pretty rough!” Hugh lamented, “But previous competitors only used to injure the opponents, right? This man actually killed people?”
“America and Daxia have been at war for years. Although it has finally ended, there is still hatred from both sides!”
“Although the countries have been conducting diplomatic relations, there is still tension!” Rosa forced a smile and said, “Since it’s a competition and there are consent forms involved, the opponent will definitely be merciless!”
After saying so, she looked at Selena and added, “Selena, talk your husband out of it. Otherwise, if he dies, it’ll be a problem. Let’s come up with other solutions for the money. As long as he stays alive, anything can be solved!”
“He killed that many Daxians? I have to kill him! Moreover, if I win the competition, I could void the bill and earn three million dollars reward from it, isn’t that right?”
jackie clenched his fist as rage flashed through his eyes. His fighting spirit sent shivers down people’s backs.
“Of course. If you want to die, we won’t stop you! Since you dare to not pay for your meal here, you can pay for it with your life then!” The female manager sneered. jackie was definitely going to die in her opinion.
“Are you really going? The opponent is strong! Although you’re pretty good, if you’re no match for him then…” Selena was clear on the fact that jackie had seen too many bodies of his comrades on the battlefield. It was near impossible to stop him at the moment. Moreover, the opponent was someone from the enemy’s side who killed many competition participants.
“Selena, don’t worry. I have to go do this and I will win!” jackie smiled. He seemed relaxed as if he was making a casual remark.
“Okay, be careful. Think of me and our daughter!” Selena bit her lips before nodding.
jackie felt warmth in his heart. He held Selena’s hand and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll just be cleaning out the trash. I have to kill that guy, regardless of it being for us or for Daxia!”
“Stop stalling, people have already gone up. If you’re trying to die, hurry up, alright? I’m telling you this, if you die then the money you owe will have to be paid by your wife, understood?” The female supervisor became arrogant. She was no longer the gentle and polite person who had passed jackie his bill before this.
“great, this is great!” Britney began laughing, and her gaze seemed crazy. “Who knew that your lie about being friends with the Goddess of War would now be exposed and you’d be fighting in the ring. Tsk tsk, you’re going in the ring just to pay the bill. Do you really think that after being a soldier for a few years, you can beat your opponent? I’ll tell you this now, I heard that someone was beaten to death two days ago!”
“*sshole!” jackie’s eyes were filled with terrifying-looking blood vessels upon hearing that. After saying that, he walked toward the door and said, “I’ll kill this American bastard!”
“Go go, why aren’t you following him? What if he runs off? It’s a 12 million dollars bill. If he runs off, can you afford it?” Britney followed the crowd and sneered.
“you dared to hit me just now. You’re a rash man and I won’t stoop to your level. I’ll see how you get your brains blown up with kicks, or how you’ll look when your neck gets snapped in half!”
Chapter 241 “Right, I’ll snap a photo of you as a memory when that happens!” Matt was so angry that he said that with burning hatred.
“No one is allowed to use phones there…” The manager began reminding the crowd.
“Fine!” Matt was slightly disappointed.
Soon after that, the crowd arrived on the third floor. The third floor was a giant, sphere-shaped court; there were galleries everywhere and in the middle of it all was a boxing ring, lights trained on it.
“ jackie, why is he here?” On the other side of the room, Young Master Clark and Neil were about to watch the competition together with some other rich boys.
Since the day Ken had found out that Neil seemed pretty against jackie, the duo began contacting each other. Ken was especially unsettled about jackie. It was the reason why he had asked Neil out tonight to talk about how they could end jackie or make jackie divorce Selena. They did not expect jackie to be here as well.
“Selena is here too!” Neil’s expression darkened. The couple seemed like they were on good terms.
“Aren’t the only people who get to come here those who booked the luxurious private room?”
Ken thought about it and took a look at the people next to jackie. “Looks like Britney Lee bought them dinner. That’s weird, how did Britney meet Selena and jackie? How could she be willing to spend over a million dollars to buy them dinner?”
“Who knows, seeing them together annoys me!” Neil said angrily.
Neil thought that his father was too cowardly. He made him kneel before jackie the other day to apologize to him. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he was; it felt like a mental health problem was developing inside him. This bastard was just a veteran, was he really that terrifying?
“Neil and Ken are here too!” jackie looked over and smiled.
“These rich boys know each other so it’s normal. Moreover, they’re on the same wavelength and are usually up to no good!” Selena said with disdain.
After saying that, she looked at the boxing ring and said worriedly, “Be careful, don’t do anything beyond your capabilities. If you can’t defeat him, think of ways to protect yourself!”
“So I’m actually that important to you!” jackie looked at Selena with a smile.
“No you aren’t!” Selena turned shy and rolled her eyes. “I just don’t want Kylie to lose her dad!”
“Fine, it’s 11 o’clock. I believe everyone’s been waiting for long!”
“Tonight’s match will be incredibly entertaining as the man who came for the challenge is an officer who has just returned from the army. In fact, he’s a marshal!”
“His name is Dennis Howard!”
Chapter 242 “Dennis, why is he here? Ken inhaled sharply upon hearing the name. He did not expect that this good friend of his had signed up for the match tonight.
“F*ck, you know Dennis?” Neil was stunned before adding, “He’s a marshal, the type with explosive combat capabilities!”
“Of course I know him, we’re friends!”
“If that’s the case, this American is dying tonight!” Ken became a little excited. “the match tonight looks entertaining already!”
“I don’t care if it’s entertaining, we’re here for the show!” Neil laughed before whispering to Ken, “Since you said that this marshal Dennis is your friend, why don’t you get him to kill jackie silently one day? As long as he dies, we’ll have our chances, won’t we?”
Ken’s expression darkened upon hearing that. “Did you think I’ve never thought about it before this? I did ask him for help to mess he up but somehow, Dennis ended up telling me to not cause trouble for jackie. In fact, he said the entire Clark family might be in trouble!”
“Really?” Neil’s expression darkened as well. He was afraid. “Motherf*cker, could it be that this guy is stronger than a marshal? If that’s the case, does that mean that he’s the legendary King of War?”
“If he really is the King of War, we’re in trouble. However, we haven’t heard anything about a King of War named jackie White in Eastfield, have we? I’ve searched for this online too!”
“If he really is the King of War, he’s only one or two levels under the God of War. Therefore, we can’t offend someone like that!”
Ken forced a smile and looked over at jackie again. “Anyway, I think jackie isn’t a King of War. If he was, would he still be staying in that old house with his wife? He could’ve bought a mansion by now! A King of War would definitely get awarded a handsome sum of money after leaving the army!”
“That makes sense!” Neil nodded. “But why does Dennis fear him a little? Could there be any other reason for that?”
“Another reason?” Ken scrunched his brows together as he began thinking about it.
After some time, his eyes lit up as he said, “I got it. There are only two possibilities to why Dennis would speak in jackie’s favor; one, he’s no match for jackie, which is pretty impossible. jackie was probably just a normal soldier so how could he beat a marshal? As for the second possibility, jackie might have given Dennis some benefits or promised him something!”
“Benefits? What benefits could jackie promise Dennis? He’s clean!” Neil forced a smile; he did not think it was possible.
“Young Master Hugo, don’t forget that jackie’s wife is beautiful. What if jackie promised Dennis that Selena would spend a night with him? If Dennis heard such a proposal, do you think he’d say no?”
“Although Dennis is into my sister, I don’t think any man could control himself before a woman like Selena if she was being seductive and dominant!” Ken said coldly.
“You’re right, no man would be able to reject a beauty like that!” Neil nodded and added, “Looks like Selena is just putting up a show as well. She might actually do something like that to impress a marshal!”
“young man, I’ve signed you up but it looks like you might not get the chance to participate tonight. After all, I didn’t expect that the challenger tonight would be the marshal Dennis Howard!” The manager said to jackie.
“This man is my idol. This time, quite a few professionals have returned to Eastfield and there are a few marshals among them. Although they’ve been quiet before this, one of them has finally shown up for this! I don’t care, the match tonight will be entertaining. I want to stay here and watch for some time!”
“Thankfully, the private room I’m assigned to is now empty. Since the customers have left, I can watch too!”
Chapter 243 The female manager thought of something. She turned around and said to the men in black, “Watch him for me. Don’t let him escape, you hear me? It looks like he’s not going in the ring at all tonight. Hmph, if he still can’t pay up by one o’clock, death awaits him!”
“Alright, let’s welcome our challenger, Dennis Howard!” The host said loudly in the ring.
At this moment, a man with prominent features walked out of a door. His expression was incredibly calm. He looked at the crowd nonchalantly before standing aside to wait for his opponent.
“This is great, Daxia’s most powerful is finally in the ring. F*ck, this time, he’ll definitely beat that damn American to death!”
“That’s right, it’s the marshal this time. That guy will definitely die!”
“That might not be the case, the American is tall and huge and he has terrifying strength as well. He looks like a monster just by standing there. The ten people before this, including a few hidden professionals, all died in the American’s hands anyway!”
A few of the rich boys began discussing the match.
jackie scrunched his brows together. He could not believe that the owner of this place had actually set up a boxing ring like this. It seemed like the main goal was to attract rich boys to watch the game. Judging from the way they were talking, some of them had probably never missed a single match within the last ten matches.
However, although it was said that watching the matches was free, one would be required to book the luxurious private room to get that benefit. In other words, one would need to spend a million dollars to watch a match. Since there had been ten matches, that would mean a total expenditure of ten million
dollars. The more rich people knew about the matches, the more money the owner would earn here. This owner was pretty good at doing business to make profits.
“Please welcome our arena champion, O’Neal!” The host loudly continued the introduction, “Our O’Neal has had ten consecutive wins since becoming the defending champion. Will he do the same today, or will his streak be ended by our challenger Dennis Howard? Let’s see!”
True enough, after the host’s introduction, people began cheering and applauding.
“is this another man seeking death?” O’Neal laughed out loud. His voice was incredibly coarse and his body was indeed tall and large. Dennis seemed small before him.
O’Neal was topless and his thick arms were filled with huge muscles, making it seem as if there was a terrifying Kraken clinging onto his body. His entire body emitted a horrifying and powerful aura; it was obvious that he was not one to mess with.
Seeing how his opponent looked like, Dennis’ gaze turned a little serious.
“I heard that you’ve killed ten men in a row. You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” Dennis said coldly to his opponent.
“Young man, so what if I did it on purpose? You’ve all signed the consent form and there are so many witnesses. Since you’re here, you should be ready to die!”
“not bad, not bad at all. If I could kill you, a marshal today, that’d be great. You’ve killed quite a few Americans on the battlefield, haven’t you? I’ll take revenge for them today!” O’Neal laughed out loud. He did not take Dennis seriously at all.
“I don’t remember how many people I’ve killed. I’ve never bothered counting!” Dennis clenched his fist, his joints making noises from the friction. He bowed a little, stepped on the ground, and charged toward his opponent. “But I do know that I’m killing one more today!”
Chapter 244 “Great speed!” Britney and the crowd exclaimed.
Everyone was attracted to what had just happened in the ring. Dennis was quick; he dashed out in the blink of an eye like a leopard. Before anyone realized it, he was already in front of O’Neal.
“Bam!”
Dennis’ fist landed on his opponent’s chest. The punch was firm and strong.
“What, he’s hit!”
“Oh My God, that has never happened!”
“Great hit. This guy O’Neal was looking down on Daxia. Hit him hard!”
The crowd erupted!
After his punch, Dennis was pushed back by the reaction force. He took a few steps back and stared at his opponent with a serious expression. He did not dare to ease up.
O’Neal only took a step back and an evil grin appeared on his face. “not bad. You are a marshal of Daxia after all so you have better strength than the other useless idiots!”
“Everyone who challenged you was a hero!” Dennis glared at his opponent in anger. Although they had all lost, they were worth every bit of respect in his heart.
“heroes? Only winners are considered heroes, losers are all trash and cowards! To me, none of you are capable of fighting. You’re all weak to me!” O’Neal laughed out loud. It was impossible to describe how arrogant he looked.
“Really? Unfortunately, Daxia won the battle this time so we’re the heroes!” Dennis sneered on purpose. He wanted to piss his opponent off.
True enough, O’Neal heard that and clenched his fists so hard that there were noises from it. “You won? Hmph, if you didn’t kill our War Commander, we might’ve had a chance!”
“You did lose the war eventually, didn’t you? Are you too cowardly to accept the truth?” Dennis began moving after saying that.
This time, his speed was faster than before. He was in front of O’Neal before anyone realized, and he threw a few punches consecutively onto his opponent’s body.
Dennis’ punches were strong as every punch came with a loud bang and his opponent moved backward from the hits.
“Ah!” O’Neal growled in anger like a monster. He clenched his fist and hit Dennis.
This time, their fists met each other.
Dennis was pushed back. It took some effort for him to gain his balance as he shook his hands vigorously and felt that his palms were a little numb.
“How could this guy’s strength be so great? On top of that, he was hit multiple times by my punches but does not look affected at all. If it was an ordinary person, he would be dead by now!”
“Looks like this guy was a soldier who focused on body refining. He’s definitely not normal. What a tough guy to handle!”
Dennis was a little afraid. It was rare for him to meet such a professional fighter. This guy’s fighting capability might be as good as a marshal or even better than some.
“This is great, Dennis hasn’t even been hit. There was only a fist bump. O’Neal has already suffered a few punches. Dennis will definitely win!”
The plump female manager next to jackie jumped excitedly, extra passionate about it.
Chapter 245 “Looks like you really want Dennis to win?” jackie forced a smile while looking at the manager.
“No sh*t, he’s from Daxia. That damn O’Neal has killed so many of us, of course I want him to die sooner. Our boss went overboard with hiring this defending champion and awarding him two million dollars for every match he wins.” The female manager said angrily.
jackie sighed. “Hey, I hope Dennis wins too. If that’s the case, I won’t have to do it myself!”
At this moment, jackie paused before continuing, “But I can tell that Dennis is probably no match for O’Neal!”
“What are you talking about? Dennis is everyone’s idol!”
“That’s right, he’s a marshal. How could you say that he’s no match for O’Neal!”
“Young man, I’ll beat you up!”
A few spectators around jackie began scolding him.
The female manager glared at jackie angrily as well. If looks could kill, jackie would be in pieces by now.
“ jackie, why don’t you give up? If Dennis is no match for him, wouldn’t that make you defenseless?”
Selena was worried after hearing that. As the saying went, laymen watched the show while experts noticed the details.
Although Dennis seemed like he had the upper hand, Selena believed that since jackie was a soldier on the battlefield for five years, he must have known something the ordinary people did not. That was why jackie’s words made her feel uneasy.
“What are you talking about? How could Dennis lose?”
Before jackie could respond, Matt added, “Even idiots could tell that Dennis is definitely winning. He’s a marshal and has hit his opponent multiple times. His opponent did not even get to strike once. I think you’re just saying bullsh*t so shut up!”
Matt paused before saying to Selena, “I think your husband won’t even get a chance to die in the ring, Just wait till you get beaten to death for not being able to pay!”
“That’s right, that’s right…” Britney added, “If your man gets in the ring and dies there, he might have a little dignity left for dying from one punch. It might be considered dying for your country. If he dies from being beaten up by the bar’s men for not being able to pay the bill, tsk tsk, he will have no dignity left.”
Rachel could not help but laugh. “That’s right, When someone asks you, Selena, how did your husband die? How were you widowed? How are you going to answer that? Are you going to tell them, sighs, my husband was pretending to be rich at a bar and could not afford the bill so he was beaten to death for it?” Rachel’s voice was so illuminating that people around them started laughing as well.
“Why don’t you act in a musical?” jackie replied coldly. His voice terrified Rachel so much that she immediately shut up. She forgot that this young man was so cruel that he dared to hit Britney and could do the same to her as well.
Moreover, jackie was going to die soon and might do something extreme before his death. If he wanted to scapegoat someone, would she not die a wrongful death?
“It’s my turn!” At this moment, O’Neal began charging toward Dennis in the ring at the speed of lightning.
“No way, this guy’s that fast too with his physical stature?”
“I haven’t seen him taking the initiative to attack before this. In the past matches, he did not even move much before beating his opponents to death!”A few ‘veteran’ spectators exclaimed.
Every punch shook Dennis and he moved back!
“No way, is he really losing?”
The female manager looked at jackie before looking back at the ring. Her expression was darker than ever.
Chapter 246 The fight in the arena was too intense. Both parties were going at it at full force.
At that moment, they were sweating profusely. Dennis’ shirt was drenched in sweat.
“Ah!” Dennis suddenly bellowed and flexed, causing his shirt to shoot away in pieces.
There were several horrifying scars on his back and chest.
“That’s from a bullet!”
“It seems that Dennis was shot on the battlefield in the past!”
“It’s not just one shot. These are the soldiers that risked their lives for us on the frontlines!”
The crowd felt touched upon witnessing the scars left on Dennis’ chest and abdominal region.
Some women even teared up and almost cried!
jackie frowned and looked around. That female manager was already in tears, sniveling. “To think my idol has this many scars on him. He’s a hero. This is a real hero!”
“Manager, didn’t you say the man who saved that boy by jumping into the tiger-viewing zone and holding the two Siberian tigers down by their heads was your idol?” asked the female supervisor beside her as a reminder.
“He’s also my idol. I have two idols now! No, it should be three. There was another idol before. He did a public service by killing over 200 people from the Dragon God clan in one night. That kind of person is also my idol!” The female manager explained through her tears.
jackie felt awkward. He did not expect the incident at the zoo that morning to spread so quickly.
‘Could it be that someone took a picture? At that moment, everyone was panicking. I don’t recall anyone taking pictures.’ jackie thought to himself.
He then looked to the female manager and asked, “How did you know about the incident at the zoo?”
“Of course I’d know. My friend went to the zoo this morning. He witnessed it with his own eyes!”
The female manager quickly added, “I heard that the man was very handsome and strong!”
jackie felt shy. To be praised for his looks right in the face felt…quite good!
“really? Please stop those praises. If you keep this up, I’ll feel embarrassed!” jackie laughed. It seemed that two out of three of her idols were him.
The female manager immediately rolled her eyes at jackie. “Why are you feeling embarrassed? I’m not talking about you. Just look at yourself. You can’t even afford a drink. You don’t even have a tenth of his stunning looks!”
jackie was dumbfounded. He then continued to look at the arena.
At that moment, the fight in the arena was as intense as ever. Dennis had obviously landed quite a few hits on the opponent’s body.
However, the opponent’s body was tough. Although he spat out a mouthful of blood, his injuries seemed superficial.
Meanwhile, due to his smaller stature, Dennis was more agile, allowing him to avoid more hits.
However, due to the opponent’s larger fist, it was difficult for Dennis to endure each hit.
O’Neal was not looking too good either. He stood there, bent over, and taking deep breaths.
“Oh no, is Dennis not a match for him? He’s been spitting up quite a bit of blood though!” Looking at the stage, Ken was worried. After some thought, he shouted, “Dennis, you need to give it all you’ve got. You’ve spent three years on the battlefield. You managed to survive that intense battle and can’t just die here.”
“I-I-I can’t hold out any longer.” Dennis feebly made the statement as his legs trembled. It was then that he went down on his knees, unable to hold it together any longer.
jackie let out a sigh. Dennis’ injuries were too serious. One of his legs was fractured and he even had three cracked ribs.
Chapter 247 However, even in such a situation, Dennis maintained his glare on O’Neal, the American enemy.
Dennis stood up once more, gritting his teeth. One of his legs was broken, trembling greatly.
“you’re done for. Your bones should be broken in several places. What now? Still refusing to admit defeat?” O’Neal laughed while looking at Dennis. “You’re quite amazing to be able to stand with such severe injuries. The 10 people before you weren’t at such a level. They had long admitted defeat while lying on the ground!”
Having said that, O’Neal paused for a moment before continuing, “Unfortunately, their admission of defeat and begging for mercy fell on deaf ears for I have sworn that as long as I stand, I will kill all who come with dissent!”
“Son of a b*tch!”
“Animal!”
Quite a number of people were outraged.
“What’s wrong? You bystanders find this unacceptable? Come sign the consent form and fight me in the arena! I’ll grant your wish!” O’Neal arrogantly opened his arms with his head held high, filled with confidence.
“I-I-I’ll kill you…” Dennis gritted his teeth as he endured the gut-wrenching pain from his leg and rushed at O’Neal in strides.
His leg was already swollen like crazy.
“Dennis!”
The female manager’s tears flowed like a stream. He was truly someone with a soldier’s spirit!
“Since you’re looking for death, I’ll grant your wish!”
Seeing his opponent approaching, O’Neal leaped into the air and sent a kick right at Dennis’ chest.
Even if Dennis’ body was tough, he could not hold it any longer. He was sent flying backward as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He then lay on the floor, unable to move.
The corners of his mouth were covered with blood. His fists were clenched tightly, unwilling to accept the outcome, but there was nothing else that he could do.
“Winnie, I’m sorry that I can’t accompany you any longer. For the country, I must fight!” Dennis muttered softly. It seemed that he was unable to let go of his love, Winnie Clark.
“Let me send you on your final journey! O’Neal cracked his neck and started walking toward Dennis.
“Stop it. He’s already in that condition. Can’t you just spare his life?”
“O’Neal, you should consider your actions. He’s our marshal. Aren’t you afraid of the higher ups coming after you if you kill him?”
“That’s right, he’s not an average Joe. He’s our marshal!”
Quite a few rich kids felt moved. Dennis’ spirit, his determination to kill the enemy, and his resolve to put everything on the line shook them to the core.
“Hahaha, what about it? He’s the one who signed the consent form. Since he’s here, he should be prepared to die!” O’Neal laughed out loud.
“Is that so? Then you should be prepared to die too!” Right then, a clear voice caused the entire scene to quiet down.
“Who’s that?”
“It’s that kid!”
Very soon, someone realized who was talking.
“It’s that guy, jackie!” Ken and Neil exchanged glances with a confused look in their eyes. ‘Is that guy for real?’
“Honey, I’m going in!” jackie looked at Selena beside him before walking straight to the arena.
“W-w-wonderful!” Dennis struggled to turn around and look at jackie. His eyes were filled with tears of joy. He had never expected the strongest person in Daxia, the one and only Supreme Warrior, to appear!
Chapter 248 “I didn’t expect someone to volunteer himself for death just like that!” O’Neal laughed loudly, then stated, “Kid, let me end this sh*t of a marshal before I get to you. Don’t rush. If you want to die, you need to queue up!”
“He can’t die in the hands of trash like you!”
jackie kicked off with the tip of his toes and managed to easily jump onto the arena which was taller than a person. After that, he stood there with hands behind his back. Dennis, who was lying on the floor earlier, was blocked off by jackie.
“This guy is quite capable. He was able to jump all the way up there!” A look of astonishment appeared in the female manager’s gaze.
“Too bad he’s still going to die. That O’Neal is just too powerful. Even Dennis, a marshal, was no match for him!” stated the supervisor.
“Selena Taylor, you’re really letting your husband take part in the match? Even the marshal is at death’s door. Isn’t he just going to die horribly?”
“Sigh, I didn’t think your husband would risk his life for a free meal and three million dollars reward! It’s unfortunate that if he dies, you’ll still have to foot the bill!” said Matt, gleeful over their predicament.
“Even if he died, he’s still better than a boy toy like you! You don’t even have the courage to get into the arena, do you?” Selena’s gaze was cold. She was annoyed at how she used to have a crush on this moron. Compared to jackie, he was less than a speck of dust.
Not only was Matt a useless boy toy, he would even gloat over someone’s tragedy.
“How did he get up there?” Ken rubbed his eyes, watching with his mouth agape.
“F*ck me, I thought he was only acting tough earlier. I didn’t expect him to really go up there!” Neil was similarly dumbfounded. He even thought he was dreaming.
Both of them had been looking forward to jackie’s passing and the reason they gathered here was to discuss how to have jackie killed, or to have Selena leave him on her own accord. Never did they think that after an entire day’s discussion, they would be without a solution. In the end, it was jackie himself that had decided to send himself to his own death in the arena!
“That’s wonderful. He’s in the arena, he’s really there. Bloody h*ll, if O’Neal gives him a punch, his head will split apart!” Neil almost jumped in his excited state. “Seeking for him high and low, delivered free to our hold!”
“A wonderful poem! It rhymes well!” Ken burst into laughter. He almost wanted to run around shirtless due to his excitement.
“Who is this guy?”
“Who knows?!”
A number of people started their own discussions. jackie was a fresh face they had not seen before.
“Even the marshal has fallen, yet he dares to challenge him?”
“Wasn’t it only going to be one match tonight? I thought it was one match every night. Is it possible that there are two matches tonight?”
More and more people felt confused.
Chapter 249 “It seems that you’re quite capable!” O’Neal was surprised. He then grinned, showing his pearly white
teeth. “Interesting. Your marshal is almost dead, yet you dare come? It seems that you’re one of those righteous patriots that the legends speak of, eh? You must’ve had your head filled with patriotism to the point of stupidity and plan to die for the country?”
“you can come to your own conclusions!” jackie chuckled before calmly saying, “You’ve only managed 10, no, 11 consecutive wins because you never met me. Today, I’ll end your streak and your life!”
“Tsk tsk tsk, who doesn’t know how to boast?! Don’t pee your pants later when you see my fist! Hahaha!” O’Neal continued laughing.
Having said that, he looked to the emcee. “Emcee, what’s going on? Didn’t you only arrange for one match tonight? Why are there two now?”
The emcee smiled with a wince before running over. “I’ve just clarified with them. This gentleman did register and sign the consent form. The identity written was ‘nameless soldier with five years of service killing… Killing American dogs!’”
“Son of a b*tch!” Hearing that, O’Neal clenched his fist, making popping sounds from his joints. “You’re just a nameless soldier and you want to kill me? You’re mocking me. I’ll kill you today itself. Just give me three seconds to end this fight!”
“Wait, I haven’t finished reading his reason to fight!” Unexpectedly, the emcee waved for them to stop at that moment. He then continued the announcement. “The second reason is to win the match for the free meal and also obtain the three million dollars reward!”
“Damn, so he’s doing it for the money!” Some from the crowd were speechless. They speculated that the main reason this nameless soldier dared to fight was just to get the free meal.
“Your bill was only around one to two million dollars. Together with the three million dollars reward, how much would that be? Around four to five million dollars at most. Are you throwing your life away for that?
Have you gone mad thinking about money?” sneered a fat guy.
“For money?” Ken and Neil exchanged looks, feeling speechless. Why did they not consider that jackie would fight in the arena for that little bit of money?
“Kid, you should get out of here now. Don’t be suicidal! What’s the point for a nameless soldier like you to be throwing your life away?” said a rich lady as she started laughing.
The atmosphere around them lightened up as some of the audience thought they were doing a skit.
Dennis, who was lying on the floor, felt awkward. jackie, the Supreme Warrior, was going to this extent to stay hidden. That was just too much. To think that he would even call himself a nameless soldier. If he was a nameless soldier, then generals like them would not even be qualified to lift this nameless soldier’s boots. However, since jackie was in the arena, he was being given another chance at life.
“Manager Wayne, why are you guys here too? How much did this kid spend that made him take part in the match for a free meal?” the emcee asked curiously as he quickly noticed the chubby female manager.
Manager Wayne smiled bitterly. “This guy ordered the two treasured collections from our store. It was originally over 14 million dollars in expenses, but the general manager said that we can give him a 20 percent discount. They broke our store’s record for the highest expenses in a single receipt!”
Having said that, Manager Wayne felt helpless. “In total, it was around 12 million dollars. Unfortunately, this kid could not afford to pay up and tried to leave without paying. He was held back by our people. After he learned that he could have the meal waived and a 3 million dollars reward by winning the arena match, he came here to register!”
“F*ck me, he drank those two treasured collections? This guy really knows how to enjoy life!” someone chuckled bitterly.
“Enjoying life is one thing, but now, he’s about to lose his life. Trying to act tough and treating someone to a meal despite being poor. Didn’t he realize what kind of place this is? Is this somewhere he can afford to dine and dash?” Some young master of a third-class aristocratic family added in a helpless tone, “This kid must’ve underestimated the arena match. Does he think he can win just because he knows some moves after being in the army for a few years?”
“it turns out he’s just too poor to pay!”
Neil burst out laughing. “ jackie, you’re quite amazing. You have no money and you still dare to treat others to a meal. Moreover, you dared to spend that much! Before your death, I need to give you a big thumbs up. This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen someone so brave. It’s also the first time I’ve seen someone lose his life from acting tough.”
Chapter 250 “Hah, what a joke. So that’s the reason you’re trying to challenge me!” O’Neal laughed once more. “Kid, is this your last-ditch effort? Trapped between a rock and a hard place, you chose to challenge me because you would at least die a glorious death and save some face?”
“That’s right! He must be thinking that he’ll die for sure, why not die fighting for Daxia? Who knows if he might even be idolized by some!” Ken burst out laughing once more. “We’ve finally figured him out! So that’s his real intention!”
This time, some of the audience started to look at him with scorn and joined in.
“Kid, since you’re on the stage and signed the consent form, I’ll send you on your journey!” O’Neal’s had a playful expression on his face. After making his statement with his throaty voice, he moved his lumbering figure toward jackie.
“Wait a moment!”
Right at that moment, the general manager of Lotus Bar and Lounge came running over, gasping for air breathlessly. “I-I-I’ve made it in time!”
“General manager, why are you here?”
“You’re here just on time. This kid is trying to dine and dash. We caught him and he has no means to pay so he’s here to challenge the arena hoping for a free meal!” Manager Wayne quickly explained.
The general manager nodded. “I know. You can’t let the fight happen!”
“Can’t let the fight happen? Why?” O’Neal looked at the general manager, confused. “This kid already signed the consent form and provoked me. Why can’t we fight?”
“What’s the matter? Could it be that this kid’s background is special? Is he the young master of some aristocratic family?”
“Could it be that he’s untouchable because of his background?”
Some of the audience started their wild speculations.
The general manager smiled bitterly, finally declaring, “If this kid had only spent around a million dollars, then it wouldn’t matter if he died from the challenge. However, he spent around 14 million dollars. Even with the discount, it’s still around 12 million dollars. If he died, this bill can’t be settled easily.”
The crowd was speechless. It turns out that this kid had spent such a large amount that the general manager was worried he would die and there would be no one to settle the bill. By then, he would suffer a huge loss if he could not collect the 10 million dollars.
Having said that, the general manager then looked at the rich kids and explained, “Moreover, he’s just an ant. If he really fought, he wouldn’t even last three seconds. Such a match would not be worth watching now, would it?”
“General manager, it’s fine if he dies. His wife is still here. When the time comes, you can just have his wife foot the bill!” Britney immediately exclaimed after hearing that.
The general manager was surprised, then turned around to look at Selena and said, “What can a woman be capable of? You want her to foot the bill? I don’t think she can be trusted!”
“General manager, the rule you set was that the meal will be free if we win the match. What’s this? You can’t afford to lose? Reluctant to part with that 10 million dollars? if that’s the case, your Lotus Bar and Lounge is a bit too stingy!?” jackie gave the general manager a firm stare, refusing to treat him respectfully.
The general manager’s mouth twitched violently before he said, “What nonsense are you spouting? We’re a subsidiary business of a first-class aristocratic family. Why would we be concerned over a mere 10 million dollars? The problem is, can a small fry like you win?”
“Why should you care if I can win? I think you just can’t afford to lose!” jackie shrugged.
The general manager was at a loss for words. Although they did have the backing of a first-class aristocratic family, it was over 10 million, not just one or two million. What if the boss got angry when they failed to collect the money? Although he was the general manager, he was just an employee and had no authority to make such decisions. If not for the fear of his boss coming after them, he would not have rushed there urgently.
“F*ck, could it be?”
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