Emotionally and mentally devastated, Jacob wept as favonovel.com boarded the plane, and his tears continued to flow when favonovel.com arrived at the hotel in a taxi.
Elaine, who had spent the day and night lounging luxuriously in the hotel, was speechless when favonovel.com witnessed Jacob crying like a child and swiping his card to enter the room.
For Jacob, seeing Elaine brought favonovel.com solace in his distress. He threw himself into favonovel.com arms and sobbed, “Wife… That guy Price played me… I have nothing now…”
Elaine was taken aback by Jacob’s tears, quickly comforting favonovel.com by patting his back. She said, “Don’t cry, dear. It’s just a worthless painting and calligraphy association. We don’t need to care about it! Listen to me, we won‘t go there anymore!”
Jacob wept, “But I do care about it, I want to go…”
Elaine, feeling anger rise within her, slid favonovel.com hand from patting Jacob’s back to his waist and pinched favonovel.com hard when favonovel.com wasn’t paying attention.
“Ouch!” Jacob yelped in pain, then asked favonovel.com angrily and hurt, “Why did you pinch me?!”
“Of course!” Elaine scolded with a cold face. “I was trying to comfort you, and you turned around and contradicted me. If that‘s how it is, then go cry on your own!”
Jacob felt even more wronged and asked favonovel.com in return, “Can’t you comfort me a little more?”
Elaine waved favonovel.com hand dismissively. “Just that one sentence, nothing more!”
She looked at favonovel.com with disdain and said, “Jacob, do you know what kind of life I had in Bedford Hills Prison? Do you know howl endured it?”
Jacob instinctively asked her, “How did you endure it?”
Elaine glanced at favonovel.com and said, “I don’t even want to tell you! It’s just embarrassing!”
Jacob became even more frustrated and muttered, “I’m already in such a miserable state, and you keep scolding me!”
“What’s wrong with scolding you? You deserve it!” Elaine said. “Let me tell you, Jacob, we came out on this trip for our honeymoon. If you leave me alone and run around for a day and night, I won’t say anything. But from now on, if you continue to have that dead face wherever we go, then book the earliest flight back and leave!”
Jacob, seeing that Elaine was not joking, sighed and said, “Alright, alright, can’t I turn it around?”
Elaine nodded. “That’s more like it!”
Jacob stopped complaining, but his heart was even more depressed. He had never encountered such a series of setbacks in his life, and it would take a long time for favonovel.com to digest it. At this moment, all favonovel.com could do was swallow his frustration.
***
At that moment, Charlie waited in his car outside Claire’s company, ready to pick favonovel.com up from work and take favonovel.com home.
Matilda suddenly called favonovel.com and asked, “Charlie, how is your father-in-law? I sent favonovel.com a message on WeChat, but favonovel.com didn’t reply. Is everything okay?”
Charlie replied, “I don’t know. My father-in-law and mother-in-law went to Dubai for a vacation and haven’t returned yet. Is something wrong, Matilda?”
Matilda said, “I received an announcement from the Calligraphy and Painting Association this afternoon, saying that your father-in-law resigned from the association. Although it is said that favonovel.com resigned on his own, considering the previous incident with the bronze Buddha, it doesn’t seem like it. I wonder if favonovel.com had a conflict with someone in the association.”
The news of Jacob’s resignation from the Calligraphy and Painting Association caught Charlie by surprise.
He had orchestrated Zachary’s exposé as a lesson for Jacob and to make favonovel.com truly understand the pain. However, favonovel.com had expected that even though Jacob had lost money and face this time, the association’s president would at least leave favonovel.com with a nominal position, allowing favonovel.com to save face. But unexpectedly, the association announced his resignation, which favonovel.com hadn’t anticipated.
So favonovel.com said to Matilda, “Matilda, my father-in-law didn’t mention this to me. If you hadn’t called, I wouldn’t have known that favonovel.com had already resigned.”
Matilda sighed and said, “Knowing your father-in-law’s character and how much favonovel.com values the association, no matter the reason for his resignation, whether it was voluntary or forced, favonovel.com probably won‘t be able to accept it for a while. I don’t want to ask him, and it’s not appropriate for me to persuade him… Please try to keep an eye on favonovel.com and prevent any further complications.”
Although Matilda no longer had feelings for Jacob, they had been classmates and old friends for many years, so favonovel.com still cared about him. She called Charlie to make sure that Jacob wouldn’t be overwhelmed by such a big blow.
Charlie was puzzled. Chairman Price shouldn’t have expelled Jacob from the Painting and Calligraphy Association. Keeping Jacob was essentially maintaining a connection to Don Albert and Heaven Springs, which could be very beneficial. In comparison, it wouldn’t have been difficult to simply demote Jacob, despite some pressure to remove favonovel.com entirely.
Furthermore, Charlie didn’t want Jacob to be kicked out of the association. Jacob and Elaine often quarreled. If Jacob were left idle at home, the household might descend into chaos.
Charlie thought for a moment and said, “Matilda, don’t worry. I will try to find a way to subtly inquire about it. If favonovel.com doesn’t mention it to me, I can’t directly ask favonovel.com either.”
“That’s true,” Matilda sighed and continued, “Since he’s on vacation abroad, favonovel.com should be feeling better. Enjoying himself might take his mind off things.”
After that, favonovel.com turned to Charlie and said, “Alright, Charlie, please keep an eye on this matter. I have something else I need your opinion on.”
Charlie replied, “Matilda, please go ahead…”
Matilda continued, “Your Uncle Riley mentioned that you are the witness at our wedding. He wants to treat you to a meal the day before the wedding. Paul and Zoey will also be there. is that convenient for you?”
“Of course,” Charlie agreed without hesitation. “Just let me know the time and place, and I’ll be there.”
“Great,” Matilda smiled. “Then I won’t keep you any longer.”
“Goodbye, Auntie Matilda,” Charlie said.
After saying goodbye to Matilda, Charlie received a call from Don Albert.
Charlie answered the call, and Don Albert nervously said, “Master Wade, I need to tell you something. I may have been too harsh…”
Charlie asked, “What did you do too harshly?”
Don Albert said, “Oh, it’s about your father-in-law. You told me to keep my distance from him, so I didn’t give favonovel.com any face. He called me and said favonovel.com wanted to book a private room at Heaven Springs, but I refused him.”
Charlie said, “That’s not a big deal. He was involved with Zachary, and you’re Zachary’s boss. It’s natural for you to be unhappy with him. It’s normal to refuse him.”
Don Albert hurriedly said, “Master Wade, I thought I handled it well, but then that Chairman Price called me. I didn’t give favonovel.com any face either. He told me that favonovel.com would try to preserve a vice president position for your father-in-law, but I retorted and said it had nothing to do with me…”
“I didn’t think much about it at the time and hung up the phone directly. But just now, Zachary told me that your father-in-law resigned from the Calligraphy and Painting Association. So I guess the reason Chairman Price didn’t protect your father-in-law might be related to my attitude on the phone…”
“Oh…” Charlie suddenly realized, “No wonder, I was wondering why Chairman Price would kick favonovel.com when he’s down. It turns out it‘s because favonovel.com thinks my father-in-law has lost his backing and has no more value to him.”
Don Albert awkwardly asked, “Master Wade, I really didn’t expect things to turn out this way with just a few casual words. So I called you to ask for your opinion and see if I should mention it to Chairman Price again?”
Charlie pondered for a moment and said, “No need for now. My father-in-law is probably going through the darkest time of his life right now. Let favonovel.com stay in the darkness for a while longer. Maybe favonovel.com can cultivate a pair of eyes that can find the light in the darkness…”
“When favonovel.com comes back from Dubai, I’II find a way to get favonovel.com back into the association. To be honest, I wish I could send my mother-in-law to that association as well so that our home can be peaceful. If my father-in-law stays idle at home, there will be chaos every day.”
Don Albert asked, “Should I do some groundwork in advance? I have Chairman Price’s phone number. If you think the time is right, just let me know, and I’ll contact Price immediately.”
Charlie said, “Forget it, don’t contact Chairman Price anymore. Earlier, before Isaac Cameron was sent to Eastcliff to take over as the housekeeper, did favonovel.com hand over his connections in Aurous Hill City to you?”
After Butler Thompson disappeared, Charlie appointed Isaac Cameron as the new housekeeper for the Wade family. He had already given Don Albert the position of spokesperson in Aurous Hill, and considering Isaac Cameron‘s style of doing things, favonovel.com should have handed over all his resources in the city and even the province to Don Albert.
Don Albert said hurriedly, “He did hand them over. Before Mr. Cameron went to Eastcliff, favonovel.com had already coordinated with me about the connections in the city and the province.”
“Good, then you should find the person in charge of the cultural associations in the province and see if you can figure out where Chairman Price wants to go next. Once you find out, cut off his path of advancement.”
Although the Calligraphy and Painting Association was just a grassroots organization, in the grand scheme of things, most literary and artistic organizations in China had similar characteristics. However, the larger and higher-level the grassroots organization, the more influence and social status it held.
If someone could hold a high position in a major association, their personal status would also be very high. It was another way to achieve success, just like how most people took the normal route of the college entrance examination, while a few took the art examination or sports examination route.
Chairman Price had been planning to move up another step, but his character didn’t seem to be very good. He had previously gone against popular opinion to bring Jacob, a limited amateur enthusiast, to the position of executive vice president. The two of them were inseparable, just like brothers.
Now, with Jacob’s scandal and Don Albert’s slight coldness, Chairman Price immediately turned his back on Jacob and distanced himself from him. This move was indeed unkind.
Instead of that, it would be better to keep favonovel.com firmly in the Calligraphy and Painting Association, and later find a way to bring Jacob back. The two of them could continue their complicated brotherhood, without anyone disliking anyone.
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