Ch. 706..710: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 706-710

Chapter 706

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 706 “Alright, how about this? I’ll stay here for three more days and though you probably won’t be able to learn any difficult moves within that short amount of time, under my guidance, you can surely learn at least a few for self-defense. That way, your enemies won’t be able to come too close to you that easily! While the moves themselves are practical and generally easier to learn, keep in mind that the moves aren’t designed to hurt people! They’re primarily for self-defense, after all!” said Finnley.

“…Wait, you aren’t kidding, right? I’ll be able to learn basic self-defense in just three days?” replied Gerald with a smile.

“Listen, if I say you can master it by then, you definitely can! Consider yourself lucky that I’m even staying back to teach you, you brat of a grandson! And don’t look at me with those doubtful eyes! If you don’t believe me, try hitting me with all you’ve got!” said Finnley as he waved at Gerald to come at him.

“I’d rather not! Again, Mr. Quick, I was only hurt this much because I didn’t fight back! I don’t hit women anyway! I’m honestly quite strong you know! I’m afraid that if I actually punched you, I’d end up breaking your bones!” replied Gerald rather dismissively as he waved back.

‘Mr. Quick may be knowledgeable, but he’s still old and skinny…’ Gerald thought to himself. He was honestly worried that he would end up hurting the old man from just a simple punch.

“What are you worrying about? Come at me already!” Was Finnley’s response.

Seeing how confident Finnley sounded, Gerald eventually gave in. After positioning himself, Gerald made a dash toward Finnley, aiming a punch at his shoulder!

It was a moment later when a loud thud could be heard. Gerald was now on the ground!

Before Gerald’s punch could even connect, Finnley easily dodged his attack before grabbing him by the wrist! In the next moment, Gerald felt like a broken kite as his entire body was momentarily lifted into the air before he was greeted by the villa’s cold, stone porch!

Gerald’s entire body was hurting as though all the bones in him had simultaneously been fractured. He found it difficult to even get up.

“G-Gerald!” shouted Queta as she rushed toward him with a worried expression plastered on her face as she helped him get up.

“So? How was it, grandson? I still got the moves!” said Finnley as he squatted down beside Gerald while chuckling.

It hadn’t crossed Gerald’s mind that such a frail-looking man would be so good at self-defense.

He hadn’t even realized that he had been lifted into the air till the moment his body hit the ground. Gerald’s head was honestly still spinning from the impact of that fall.

“Come on, grandpa Quick! Why did you have to overdo it?” exclaimed Queta, evidently concerned about Gerald’s safety.

“Hah! He’s a fully grown man! He isn’t as weak as you think, my granddaughter. After all, Gerald’s had to do a lot of rough work from a very young age! His arms are pretty strong you know? The move I just used on him will be perfect for Gerald to learn!” replied Finnley as he gave Gerald a slight kick.

“Get up now, my grandson! As promised, I’ll use these few extra days to help you master a few moves! So long as your opponents aren’t too experienced, those moves will definitely be handy assets to help you escape most normal fights!”

Hearing that, Gerald immediately stood up, still holding on to his hurt arm.

‘He’s right about that. That truly is a pretty good move…’ Gerald thought to himself as he nodded.

Fast forward to three days later, while Gerald had finally managed to master quite a few self-defense techniques, it also meant that Finnley no longer had anything stopping him from leaving.

Since Finnley had been together with them for quite some time now, Gerald realized that he already had a slight emotional connection with him.

While the old man was occasionally muddle-headed and tended to spout nonsense from time to time, he was generally a good man to both Gerald and Queta. In all honesty, Gerald wanted him to stay if he could.

Queta bawled her eyes out as she sent him off. She was well aware that she would miss having him around.

As Mr. Quick left the villa, Gerald wondered why Mr. Quick was so reluctant to talk about certain topics. However, seeing how adamantly the old man had held on to his secrets, Gerald simply kept the question to himself for the time being.

With Finnley gone, it now was time for him to focus all his energy on investigating the Fendersons.

The next day, as Gerald was entering the campus together with Marven, both of them bumped into Warren, Maia, and three other girls.

However, Gerald simply walked on, treating Maia as though she was a complete stranger.

“You… Gerald Crawford! You come back here, right this instant!” yelled Maia in anger.

Chapter 707

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 707 Realizing that Gerald was ignoring her on purpose was the trigger to her anger.

‘Who do you think you are to just ignore me?’ Maia thought to herself.

“What do you want?”

Knowing that he had mixed feelings toward Maia, Gerald found that reason enough for him to ignore her earlier. What more, he understood why she would be frustrated to see him, now that he was clearly wealthier than her.

He just couldn’t be bothered by her.

“So what if you’re a little rich now? Like that’s a good reason for you to ignore me! Anyway, I just want to know where you got all that money from,” enquired Maia as she stared straight into Gerald’s eyes.

“Sorry, private information,” replied Gerald coldly.

“Private? Hah! You just earned a bit more cash, big deal! That still doesn’t change the fact that you were a pauper in the past! I’ll be frank with you, Gerald! You’re at most an upstart, you got that? And upstarts are infamously known for being arrogant pricks like you! Unlike Jamier and the others, you definitely lack maturity and stability!” huffed Maia, clearly not wanting to be outdone.

“Whatever you say. Speaking of which, Marven and I are planning on scouting for a nice place to start our new company. If there isn’t anything else, we’ll be off now!” said Gerald, shaking his head with a somber smile.

It wasn’t his first rodeo being insulted like this anyway.

‘Like her insults mean anything to me. It’s useless trying to explain anything to someone like her,’ Gerald thought to himself.

“…Company? You’re starting a new company?” asked Maia.

It was extremely upsetting for her to see Gerald getting ahead in life. Even she wasn’t sure why she felt this way, she simply did.

“Yeah! Gerald’s funding so that we can start a travel agency together!” added Marven rather excitedly as he followed Gerald into the campus.

This wasn’t a lie either. Gerald had called Marven yesterday around noon just to discuss it.

Since Marven’s grandmother’s health had been deteriorating of late and his relationship with Raquel was also in shambles, Marven had honestly been incredibly stressed. However, when Gerald stepped in to help him, Marven knew that he would soon be able to get through his tough times.

He had been extremely grateful to Gerald after receiving the offer to start a company together. While he had seen Gerald as a close friend before, he now treated Gerald as though he was his real brother.

As the two walked further away, Warren looked extremely pissed. “What kind of luck does he even have?”

“Who knows? Still, even if he’s opening a company, he’ll be the only one funding it!” said Maia.

“You got that right. Humph! Just you wait and see. He’ll definitely use up all that money eventually. What else will he have then?” replied Warren, his tone sour.

“…Anyway, let’s stop talking about Gerald and get moving for now. The school’s organizing a Taekwondo competition, remember? Out of all the events in the school, this one caught my eye the most!” added Warren.

“Oh yeah, before you went to the police academy, you used to represent the seniors, right? Since you were Sunnydale’s Taekwondo champion, you can definitely give your juniors some pointers after watching the competition!”

The group of five then entered the campus as well, casually chatting among themselves.

Meanwhile, Gerald and Marven had just signed their attendance in class. Seeing that they only had ideology class that morning, they decided to leave.

As they descended the stairs, Gerald thought about why he was so willing to help Marven out. It probably had something to do with how much he saw himself in Marven. What more, both of them had grown closer in the past few days, and Gerald now saw him as a brother as well.

Marven was an extremely filial person too, and Gerald was pleased by how much Marven loved both his parents and grandparents. Knowing how good a person Marven was, Gerald was more than happy to support him which led to his idea of forming a partnership for Marven’s new travel agency.

Besides, since it was mostly monetary issues, it wasn’t even that big of a deal for Gerald. He had the means to help, so it was only right to do so for his brother.

Regardless, the first big step they had to do was to settle where the company would be located.

Chapter 708

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 708 Both of them had decided to start their company in a building quite near to the university. The building itself was grand and looked like the perfect place to start a firm. What more, it was also surrounded by lush greenery, almost as though Mother Nature had personally blessed the location.

Many other companies were already using the building as well. The popularity of the place really exceeded their expectations.

By starting their travel agency there, the other companies would definitely begin organizing their annual trips with their agency! They had avoided locations that were in the middle of nowhere for a reason. The revenue difference said it all.

It didn’t take long for the two to arrive at the investment center within the building.

“Didn’t we settle this over the phone? Where’s the guy we’re supposed to meet up with?” asked Gerald as both of them walked through the main entrance.

“I’m not sure either, brother. I called him earlier but the line was busy!”

“I see. Well, the center is crowded anyway. Let’s just wait for a bit!” said Gerald as he checked the time while shaking his head with a helpless smile.

As he turned to look at Marven, Gerald noticed that he was staring at the entrance, looking visibly shocked. Raising an eyebrow, he followed Marven’s gaze and was surprised to see a group of young people—who had just gotten out of a car—entering the investment center as well.

One of the girls was clinging on to a guy’s arm as he shut the driver’s seat behind him. The two looked awfully close, and they continued smiling brightly as they continued talking while entering the building. Two other girls followed closely behind them.

“There are a few group matches against other classes this morning, Raquel! Are you sure you don’t want to participate in them?” asked one of the two girls.

“Haha… Group matches are simply too easy for her! Our Raquel’s a professional! Of course she doesn’t need to participate in group matches! With her capabilities, she can straight up enter the finals that are going to be held this evening! Am I not right?” replied the guy while chuckling.

“That’s true… Raquel truly is the luckiest girl ever! With Jefferson by her side, she’s now even able to hold her own training classes!” replied the other girl in envy.

“It’s nothing much! It’s just a training center… After all, I’m just doing what I love, right Jeff?” said Raquel with a sweet smile on her face.

“Indeed! However, I’ll have to warn you to prepare yourself, Raquel. Training centers are pretty saturated in the market since there are a lot of other martial arts. While I’m not too familiar with Taekwondo, my sister used to train with you. She mentioned that competition among Taekwondo training centers is pretty strong as well. I had to pull quite a few strings to make this work, so once class is in session, you have to make sure to work hard with my sister!” replied Jefferson.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I know how competitive the market can be… That’s the reason why I wanted the training center to be near Edificio! The crowd’s always massive here!”

“Well, this place is… Well, let’s not talk about that first. I’ll just have to find my friend’s brother first. He’s the sales manager here!”

“Alright!”

“Raquel…?” said Marven as he walked right in front of her. His shock seeing her together with her group here was clear as day.

Seeing him here, Raquel immediately let go of Jefferson’s arm awkwardly.

Before this, she had told Marven that she needed some space away from him for some time. Her excuse had been that Marven could use that period of time to better himself while she herself focused on her training.

It was the only reason why Marven had agreed to give her more time alone.

However, her sudden immense change in attitude toward him was simply too obvious. Seeing how intimate she had been with Jefferson, Marven now knew the truth behind why Raquel kept giving him the cold shoulder.

Raquel was aware that she had been caught red-handed as well. It made her feel embarrassed to even look Marven in the face now.

“So… You were lying to me all this time!” said Marven, his hands trembling. His hands were shaking so much that all the documents for the investments he was holding fell to the floor.

Chapter 709

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 709 “L-lying? I have no idea what you’re going on about!” replied Raquel as she crossed her arms.

With quite a number of people in the center looking at them now, Raquel really wished she could simply hide from all this embarrassment.

“…Why… Why are you behaving this way…?” asked Marven as he took in a deep breath.

In response, Raquel only looked to the side in silence.

“Huh, so you’re Marven, right? Raquel’s childhood friend or something? I’ve heard quite a bit about you! Just look at yourself! Get out of my sight already!” yelled Jefferson as he dangled his Audi A6 car keys right in front of Marven’s face.

“Hello, hello! Your name was Jeff, right? I’ve been waiting for you to arrive!” said a suited employee out of the blue as he rushed over to shake hands with Jefferson, a friendly smile on his face.

“Hey there, Aaron! It’s been a while since we’ve last met! Sorry for the wait!” replied Jefferson as he returned the handshake.

“No problem! Alright, so let’s get straight to business. I’ve picked out a few pretty decent places for you already! Come have a look at them! And don’t worry about the prices just yet, I’ll definitely be giving you discounts!” said Aaron.

“Sounds great, let’s go choose one right now!”

After saying that, Jefferson began dragging Raquel by the arm along with him. Since Raquel didn’t really want to talk to Marven anymore, she simply followed him, standing close to his side.

As she left, Marven slowly collected his thoughts again. Recalling Gerald’s advice definitely helped him keep his cool. Too many things had happened too quickly earlier, which was why he couldn’t hold his anger for a brief moment.

Seeing that Marven had successfully calmed himself down, Gerald simply patted him on the shoulder and led him back to their initial seats.

“Holy cr*p, Aaron! How could office areas be so expensive now? This isn’t like what I saw online at all!”

It hadn’t even been that long before Jefferson’s exclamations could be heard from a distance.

“Really, Jefferson? Do you honestly think this is too expensive? I’ll have you know that these are the cheapest ones here! Their placements are pretty decent as well!”

“Cheapest? The rent is around a million dollars per year! You may as well just rob us clean!” replied Jefferson, the shock on his face fully visible for all to see.

All this was really too much for Jefferson. Though it was true that his family was quite rich, if he really was going to spend a million dollars just to pay for the rent alone, his bank account would be empty in no time!

Raquel was equally as shocked. From the research she had done online, office area rent usually cost around three hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year.

With that cost range in mind, she had calculated that together with Edificio’s popularity and the fact that it was close to her school, she was going to get one hell of a sweet deal.

Little had she expected for things to not have gone her way in the slightest.

Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars had simply been the base rent price. As it turned out, the areas around the building had rents that could easily go over a million dollars!

It was at that moment when Raquel finally realized that luck alone wouldn’t get her through life. Life simply wasn’t that easy.

A million dollars just for the rent? In her dreams!

“There’s really no way I can afford that, Aaron!” added Jefferson, still visibly appalled.

He then turned to face Raquel before saying, “Let’s just find some other place, Raquel. This really is too much!”

Hearing that, Raquel felt disappointed.

Edificio was a popular place, famous for having a high consumption rate. In other words, only those who had a high status could afford to work in it.

Knowing that she couldn’t match up to that status hurt Raquel’s pride slightly.

She really liked the area too since it was very close to her campus. Imagine being able to set up her training center here! That would definitely help boost both her center’s publicity alongside her great ego!

Oh well…

“Well, alright then…” replied Raquel with a nod, looking quite disappointed.

Hearing that, Aaron’s enthusiastic attitude changed drastically as well. After a bit more small talk, he immediately rushed off with his documents.

“Let’s go Raquel. It’s still pretty early after all! We can still go look at other places. I’m sure there are plenty others with more manageable yearly rents!” said Jefferson.

Chapter 710

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 710 “I know… Still, I’d like to look around the area first!” replied Raquel. While she couldn’t afford to pay the rent for a unit in this place, she still wanted to have a look around the building. After all, a girl could dream.

As the group continued hanging out around the area, a loud commotion could suddenly be heard coming from the end of the hallway.

A suited middle-aged man could be seen walking into the building, and many of the customers present greeted him respectfully when he passed by them. This wasn’t just any regular person. He was the manager of Edificio!

“That’s Edificio’s famous manager, Alexander Brookes!” explained Jefferson to the three girls.

‘So what if you know about him? He doesn’t even know that you exist!’ Raquel thought to herself, clearly still upset.

While a lot of people seemed to want to talk to Mr. Brooks, all he did was wave them off. He seemed to be in quite a hurry. The fact that he was also looking around hinted that he was trying to find something or someone.

All of a sudden, he noticed the four teenagers staring at him and he immediately ran over to Raquel’s group.

Seeing him hurriedly approaching them, both Raquel and Jefferson found themselves growing excited.

“Mr. Wadley, I presume? Did Mr. Crawford not come along?” asked Alexander with a respectful smile as he looked at Jefferson.

Everyone in the building immediately fell silent, all of them looking at the group’s direction.

“Mr. Wadley? Mr. Brookes, you must be mistaken! My name is Jefferson Brown…” replied Jefferson, his face flushed with excitement.

Even Raquel was biting her lower lip, trying her best to contain her excitement.

“Huh? Oh, I do apologize! I mistook you for someone else!” apologized Alexander rather awkwardly.

Earlier when Alexander had received a call, he had been notified that Marven Wadley was a student from Salford University who was also a friend of Mr. Crawford’s! Since Gerald was involved, Alexander had been given direct orders from their company’s director to approach Marven with the utmost respect!

“You kids looked like students from Salford University! Since my client’s from that university as well, you’ll have to forgive me for mistaking you for someone else!” added Alexander with an apologetic smile on his face.

“Oh? What a coincidence! Why don’t you tell me who your client is, Mr. Brookes? Maybe I could be of help!” said Jefferson.

He still couldn’t believe that he was currently speaking to the manager of Edificio. Jefferson was definitely going to prolong their conversation as much as he could!

Raquel nodded in agreement. After all, she knew quite a lot of people in their university as well.

“I’d appreciate that! The person I’m looking for is Mr. Marven Wadley. Have you seen him around anywhere?” asked Alexander.

Upon hearing his words, Raquel’s mind went completely blank.

“I… I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

Mr. Brookes’ question was so shocking to her that she even wondered if she had hallucinated the name.

‘Marven Wadley? He’s looking for Marven? No way in hell! There’s got to be a mistake! With Mr. Brookes’ status, why would he ever want to meet up with Marven?’

“Of course. I’m looking for Mr. Marven Wadley. Are you familiar with him?” repeated Alexander, feeling as though none of them actually knew who his client was.

‘I guess I was too excited back there. I should’ve just given Mr. Wadley a call! Why did I assume that these kids even knew who he was?’ Alexander thought to himself.

Just as he took his phone out, Marven’s distinct voice could be heard calling out for him.

“There’s no need to call me, Mr. Brookes! I’m right here!”