Ch. 1196..1200: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1196-1200

Chapter 1196

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1196 After saying that, Gerald himself began wondering, ‘People from my family are coming over…? Who could they be?’

As for the others, many were clicking their tongues as they discussed how weird the turn of events was getting.

“Humph! You’d better give it some thought if you aren’t truly Mr. Crawford’s subordinate! I’ll say it right now that I dared to state the possibility that you aren’t working under Mr. Crawford since there was once a case where someone pretended that they were him! After deceiving several people in Northbay, the real Crawfords eventually caught wind of what the impersonator was doing. From that day onward, that person—along with his family—simply vanished off the face of the planet! With that in mind, if you truly are an impersonator, now would be the time to confess! If you do, you’ll at least have a much higher chance of leaving alive!” said the youth from before.

Hearing that, Riley immediately gulped in fear. It seemed that the incident had just gotten a lot messier… How was she going to settle this?

Cundrie herself was brimming with fear after hearing that people who were involved with ‘fake Mr. Crawfords’ would be completely exterminated along with their families. The worst part was that she now knew that those from the actual Crawford family were coming over soon!

“I’m the real deal!” retorted Gerald.

“That’s quite enough!” shouted Cundrie at that moment, sending everyone silent as they took turns exchanging glances with each other again.

Now knowing full well that she had potentially just created an overwhelming disaster, Riley didn’t even dare to say another word.

Mrs. Smith herself seemed to have caught on that something was amiss, and her earlier excitement had now switched to fear. After all, if he truly was an imposter, they were all going to be exterminated! Nobody had the means to deal with the Crawford family.

“T-the truth is… The invitation card is fake…!” declared Cundrie as she bit her lower lip slightly before tossing the card to the floor.

As the invitation card lay flat on the ground, Cundrie looked at the words written on it. ‘Inviting Miss Cundrie Smith to meet Mr. Craword at Mountain Top Villa!’ The more she looked at the words, the more she felt like they were contemptuously mocking her. She simply wasn’t able to bear keeping the façade up.

“…So it really is a fake!” shouted several people from the crowd as another uproar began brewing.

While Noel was stunned by the revelation, Xyon himself nearly tumbled to the floor in his delight. He had earlier been under so much pressure that he even ended up wetting himself! Then again, nobody could blame him since the amount of pressure he was facing surpassed that of what any regular person could deal with.

Feeling like he was just reborn, Xyon then excitedly said, “I… I’m going to get a change first!”

As the man quickly ran off to change his pants, hoping to make a speedy return to watch the rest of the drama, the anxious and teary-eyed Mrs. Smith turned to look at her daughter before asking, “What… What exactly happened, daughter…?”

Heaving a long sigh, Cundrie then replied, “…It was a tactic I thought of so that Yves Snyder would give up on proposing to me today… I had hoped that after presenting him with difficulties, I wouldn’t

have to decline his proposal in the first place! Still, I’m amazed none of you caught on sooner! Humph! Do any of you have any idea of how many beautiful women surround themselves around Mr. Crawford? Why would he ever invite me to Mountain Top Villa!”

Cundrie said all that with only a single breath, and it was evident that she was placing all the blame and responsibility on herself.

“S-sister, I-!” cried out Riley, not even sure what to say anymore at this point.

“If those from the Crawford family come later and wish to investigate the incident, just place the blame on me! I’m the only one who arranged for the impersonating incident to happen and it has nothing to do with my family!” added Cundrie.

Mrs. Smith herself looked like she had gone insane at that moment. After all, throughout the past few minutes, she had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. Finding no better way to vent her immense anger, she turned to look at Gerald before shouting, “You… You son of a b*tch! You’ve ruined the Smith family for good this time!”

Following that, she ran over to a table and grabbed some sweets before throwing them at Gerald!

As Cundrie burst into tears and ran over to stop her desperate mother from continuing to take her anger out on Gerald, the crowd began throwing scornful boos at both Gerald and Cundrie.

Even so, Gerald retained an oddly composed expression.

Walking over to where Cundrie had earlier tossed the card, Gerald picked it up, took a look at it, and then said, “Well, I guess I’ll officiate this invitation card then. If you’re free, Miss Smith, then I invite you over to Mountain Top Villa to have a chat with me!”

Upon hearing that, the crowd momentarily went silent again.

Chapter 1197

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1197 “…What… What on earth are you even talking about…?” asked Cundrie—who was still in tears—as she turned to look at him in disbelief, unsure of what he was even going on about.

“Does he really think that he’s the real Mr. Crawford now? Do you think he’s gone cuckoo from the fear? Hahaha!”

“I know, right? He’s even made an official invitation for Miss Smith to have a chat with him at Mountain Top Villa! What a clown!”

“Hah! Does he even have the slightest of self-awareness?!”

As several of the ladies within that hall continued spitting contemptuous remarks at Gerald, Xyon returned with a new pair of pants on.

The moment he saw everyone mocking Gerald, he became just as excited as his son was. By that point, even Abner’s girlfriend had forgotten the pain she had suffered from the slap earlier.

“That guy’s ruined for certain this time, dad! Not only had he impersonated Mr. Crawford’s servant earlier, but now he’s pretending to be Mr. Crawford himself! I’d like to see how he worms himself out of this one!” growled the woman viciously.

As the situation grew more and more chaotic, the door to the large hall was slowly opened…

Following that, one of the waiters shouted, “The distinguished guest has arrived!”

Knowing that the guest in question was a person from the Crawford family, silence ensued almost instantaneously as everyone—including Gerald and those atop the stage—turned to look at the door.

Once the two large doors were fully opened, around fifty Maybach cars could be seen parked by the red carpet leading out of the room. Seconds later, the doors to all the cars were opened—almost simultaneously—and black-suited bodyguards stepped out with extremely respectful stances.

As everyone remained shocked and in awe of the scene, a middle-aged man was led to the red carpet by one of the guards, and he began calmly walking toward the crowd.

Everyone who was still seated immediately stood up as Noel and the other Snyders quickly ran toward the door to greet the biggest of big shots within the business field.

“We’ve been awaiting your arrival for the longest time, Mr. Lyle! You’re finally here!” greeted Noel as he made a sharp bow, prompting the other juniors of the Snyder family to do the same.

“You’re being way too cordial, Chairman Snyder… I’m only a bit late since I had to deal with a few issues first!” replied the middle-aged man as he and the other guards began walking into the large hall.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lyle!”

“Thank you for taking the time to come over, Mr. Lyle!”

As the others took turns nodding at and greeting the middle-aged man, Cundrie couldn’t help but feel— as she looked at Mr. Lyle and his bodyguards—that the Crawford family’s presence alone was able to immediately change the atmosphere of the area.

Even the Crawford bodyguards themselves felt simultaneously imposing and awe-inspiring. However, she, of all people, knew that this wasn’t the time for her to admire the Crawfords.

In all honesty, Cundrie was beyond terrified now. She was afraid that someone would expose the incident that had happened earlier. Should that happen, then the fate of the Smith family would definitely be changed.

Mrs. Smith was arguably even more afraid than her daughter was, and she kept her head low the entire time, looking very much like a primary school student who had just made a mistake and was now waiting to be scolded by the teacher.

As they say, however, the more afraid one is of something happening, the more likely it will happen.

At that moment, Xyon took a step forward before saying, “Speaking of which, Chairman Lyle, there’s an incident I wish to inform you about. You see, before you arrived, someone impersonated Mr. Crawford in hopes of deceiving all of us!”

There were two reasons why he was doing this. Firstly, he wanted to show where he stood before Chairman Lyle. By making a contribution, the Gross family could potentially earn a chance for massive development.

As for the second reason, he simply wanted to use the opportunity to get rid of that b*stard in order to avenge his son.

“…Hmm? Is that so…?” replied Chairman Lyle as his expression instantly turned grim.

The forty over bodyguards standing behind him—who hadn’t taken their seats yet despite there being special chairs arranged for them—found themselves frowning deeply as well. To them, Mr. Crawford was a man with extraordinary status, and whoever dared to disrespect him had to die!

“…Have you investigated who that person is?” asked Chairman Lyle in a frigid tone.

Filled with delight—and glad that he had changed his pants earlier—Xyon then ran toward Chairman Lyle while shouting in a clear voice…

 

Chapter 1198

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1198 “You don’t have to look far, Mr. Lyle! For that person is among us! He’s the impersonator!” declared Xyon as he pointed at Gerald.

Before Chairman Lyle could even turn to look, Abner and his girlfriend quickly ran over—clearly intending to show off—as they added, “Indeed, Chairman Lyle! You know he tried to trick everyone into believing that the real Mr. Crawford had invited Cundrie to Mountain Top Villa earlier! I assure you that everyone here can testify to my statement!”

“What a b*stard!” roared Chairman Lyle as he immediately turned to look at where Xyon was pointing.

Holding their breaths, everyone was ready to see Chairman Lyle flip out… However, they were instead greeted by the shocking sight of him trembling in place!

He wasn’t the only one either. All the other Crawford bodyguards were equally as stupefied as Mr. Lyle was.

“I-It’s not his fault! I was the one who had told him to impersonate Mr. Crawford! If there’s anyone that needs to be punished, it’s me! He was only following my orders!” shouted Cundrie as she gritted her teeth.

Hearing that, Mrs. Smith’s anxiety peaked. They were already placing the blame on someone else! Why was her stupid daughter stepping up to take the blame instead?!

“Have you gone mad, Cundrie? Why are you even speaking up for this ugly toad?!” asked Mrs. Smith, her immense unease evident in her tone.

“I haven’t! I only speak the truth! Since I was the one who told him to do all that, then I should bear the responsibility!” replied Cundrie.

Before Mrs. Smith could retort, she suddenly heard Mr. Lyle shouting with great difficulty, “M… Mister Crawford…!”

Turning to look at him, everyone was shocked to see him filled with tears as the middle-aged man trembled vigorously.

Following that, the other bodyguards bowed deeply before shouting in unison, “Mr. Crawford! We stand before you with the utmost respect!”

The shout itself was so loud that it almost felt like the entire structure swayed for a moment there, leaving everyone completely flabbergasted.

While the Snyder father and son found themselves widening their eyes, the father and son from the Gross family—who had been laughing cunningly just seconds ago—on the other hand, found themselves unable to even close their jaws in their utter disbelief. In fact, they were gaping so widely that one could stuff an egg in there without any issue.

‘…Mister… Crawford…? We… We must’ve heard that wrongly… right?’

As the atmosphere grew rigid, Gerald simply replied, “It’s been quite a while since we’ve last met, Zack!”

He truly hadn’t expected Zack to be the special guest they had invited over.

Regardless, Zack was extremely loyal to him, and had it not been for him trying his best to save Gerald back then, Gerald probably wouldn’t have been able to escape the Salford Province in the first place.

With that in mind, not long after Gerald reunited with his family, he had given Zack a lot of power and authority without the slightest hesitation. However, since he was still busy dealing with the Moldells back then and he barely had to deal with business affairs, both Gerald and Zack found little to no reason for them to meet till today.

“Indeed it has, Mr. Crawford! You have no idea how excited I am to finally meet you again!” replied Zack with a broad smile.

Cundrie, Riley, and Mr. Smith were now in a daze, unable to simply accept that the person they had previously labeled as a beggar was actually the infamous Mr. Crawford!

“A-are… Are you truly the real Mr. Crawford…?” asked Cundrie as she gulped.

Turning to look at her, Gerald then smiled before nodding slightly and replying, “I am, which is why my early officiation of that invitation card is a hundred percent real. Again, if you’re free, I hope that you’ll come to Mountain Top Villa in Mayberry to have some fun! The scenery up there isn’t bad, you know?”

Before Cundrie could even reply, Noel immediately fell to his knees and said, “I… I apologize for not being an insightful person, Mr. Crawford! To think I failed to recognize who you were, even after repeatedly asking you about it earlier… I hope you’ll forgive me!”

Being a smart man, Noel naturally knew that apologizing was his best course of action now. While the Gross father and son were naturally thinking the same thing, they didn’t even know how to start apologizing after all they did to him!

‘It… It’s over… The Gross family is truly ruined this time…!’ Xyon thought to himself as he felt a familiar dampness in his pants again.

“Speaking of which, Zack, this family over here is extremely evil! Do get rid of them for me by making them go bankrupt as soon as possible! Let them have a debt of over a hundred and fifty million dollars! With your current influence, I’m sure it shouldn’t be too difficult for you!” said Gerald as he turned to look at Abner and the others with a cold smile.

“Oh? Gladly!” replied Zack as he returned a cold smile.

Following that, Zack then turned to look at his subordinates before ordering, “Head out and investigate any business partners that the Gross family has. Your task will be to cut off their relationships with the Gross’s! Should any of the business partners be unwilling to do so, then just make them bankrupt as well!”

“Right away, Mr. Lyle!” shouted the bodyguards as they hurriedly ran off to carry out their new task.

So this was how powerful the Crawford family was!

After looking at how respectfully Zack treated Gerald, nobody dared to doubt the authenticity of Gerald’s true identity anymore.

Everyone found themselves holding their breaths, as Gerald turned to look at the Gross family before saying, “You enjoy building your happiness over others’ misfortunes, do you not? Well, I’m glad to tell you that the same goes for me as well! I’m honestly overjoyed to see how much suffering you’re currently going through!”

 

Chapter 1199

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1199 Gerald truly hadn’t expected such a major interlude to take place just from him heading over to Lugaw City.

Regardless, Gerald wasn’t really that interested in Zack’s relationship with the Snyders. After all, as long as it was related to business affairs, Gerald had no doubts about leaving Zack in charge.

Once the party was over, Gerald headed out together with Cundrie and a few others.

As they were walking on, Gerald looked at Cundrie before saying, “I truly apologize for my imprudence back then, Miss Smith, and I hope you aren’t still angry about that incident… You see, at the time, I had mistaken you as Mila, my girlfriend, which was what caused me to behave the way I did… I had wanted to explain this for a while now, but I never got a proper chance to do so!”

After Cundrie had stepped forward to bear the responsibility of her actions earlier—even though she knew how dangerous that would be for her—Gerald could already tell that she was a very nice person.

“How could she remain angry? I’ll have you know, Mr. Crawford, that as long as you wish for it, I’ll not only allow you to hug her, but I’m even willing to give her to you-”

Though Mrs. Smith had said so excitedly, she was cut short when Cundrie—who could tell what her mother’s intentions were—shot a bitter glare at her. Realizing that she had gone a bit too, Mrs. Smith immediately stopped talking.

Seeing that, Riley immediately began dragging her mother away as she said, “Mr. Crawford wishes to talk to sister, mom! Don’t disturb them!”

Once they were out of sight, Cundrie then smiled faintly before replying, “…It’s fine. To be quite honest, while I was angry at the time, I simultaneously felt the urge to thank you after you made me realize something!”

Cundrie could’ve never imagined that the imprudent man she had imagined Gerald to be this entire time was actually such a refined man who was quite stubborn when it came to love.

“…Hmm? Was it something I said?” asked Gerald as he returned the smile.

“Well, you see, I had previously thought that true love no longer existed on this planet… After all, the world today is fuelled mostly by sexual desires… Regardless, for the longest time, I simply considered all love to be fake and hypocritical… It got to the point where I assumed that whenever a man fell in love with a woman, he was only doing so to gain access to her body! Due to that mentality, I had been disappointed with the concept of love for as long as I’ve lived!”

“…However, the moment you embraced me, I could feel how tightly you were hugging onto me… I didn’t even know who you were yet at the time, but I could sense how much you loved the woman you mistook me for… It was almost as though you were terrified of the thought that she’d leave you again if you didn’t hug her tight enough… It was also at that moment when I realized that true love still existed in the world… I have to admit that I’m quite envious of that woman… She’s called Mila, right?” asked Cundrie as she turned to look at Gerald.

After watching Gerald nod slightly, Cundrie then added, “Could I request something from you, Mr. Crawford…?”

“Go on. I’ll try to fulfill your request as long as I’m able to!”

“…If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear the story about you and Mila…”

After a brief pause, Gerald then agreed and began telling Cundrie about his tale with her. It wasn’t long before Gerald summarized most of his relationship with Mila to her.

Once he was done, Cundrie found herself nodding in satisfaction before saying with a smile, “…I see. As it turns out, true love doesn’t really ask for much! Speaking of which, you said you needed a drop of my blood, correct? While I’m not quite sure how my blood will be useful to you, I don’t mind donating some since you sound like you really need it!”

With that, Cundrie then bit into her index finger, causing a small amount of blood to start puddling there.

Once Gerald got what he needed, he looked at Cundrie gratefully as he said, “If there’s anything you need help with in the future, know that you can always come to me. Thank you very much, Miss Smith!”

Getting slightly teary-eyed, Cundrie then replied, “We shouldn’t be thanking each other anymore, you know…? After all, we’re friends now, so you better not thank me again in the future…! Jokes aside, I sincerely hope that you’ll be able to reunite with Mila again soon, Mr. Crawford… Do invite me over to your wedding when that time comes…!”

 

Chapter 1200

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1200 “With your blessings, I’ll make sure that that day comes! Thank you!” replied Gerald as he immediately turned to leave.

Taking in a deep breath, Cundrie couldn’t help but feel slightly desolate as she watched him walk off into the distance.

After Gerald was quite a distance away, Riley and her mother quickly returned to Cundrie’s side.

“How did the conversation go, sister?”

“Yes, why did Mr. Crawford leave just like that…? It wasn’t easy for both of you to even meet, you know? Aren’t there any feelings between both of you at all?” asked Cundrie’s mother, her voice filled with concern.

“…Despite the fact that we’ve touched, it’s impossible for us to be together, mom. After all, I can tell that he truly loves his girlfriend… An extremely strong love…”

While Gerald did have slight physical contact with her and Cundrie herself couldn’t deny that she had been touched by how gentle he was, in the end, she knew that she didn’t stand a chance against that Mila girl.

With that in mind, all she could do was give him her sincerest of blessings…

It was a little while later when Gerald, Zack, and a few others were sitting in a helicopter bound for Mayberry.

“Has everything been going alright after I left Mayberry?” asked Gerald as he looked at Zack with a smile.

“Everything’s been running smoothly! After you killed off those from the Moldell family, I had some people renovate Mountain Top Villa to how it used to look like. I’ll have you know that everything looks exactly like how you remember it now! Speaking of which, we’ve also reclaimed Mayberry Commercial Street and Wayfair Mountain Entertainment! After a year of fixing Mayberry up, everything’s as good as it was before!”

After pausing to catch his breath, Zack then continued, “Also, after taking the medicine that you prescribed, Felicity successfully made a full recovery! However, she’s no longer an internet celebrity! She’s become an actress instead! Due to her initial popularity and our support, she’s now a top celebrity!”

“I’m glad to hear that! What about Naomi? How’s she doing?” asked Gerald, a hint of concern in his voice.

Back when he had last parted with her, he had told her that they wouldn’t ever meet again in the future. It was a fair claim since he was being pursued by others back then and his fate truly was unpredictable.

However, now that he was returning to Mayberry, he knew that he would eventually bump into her.

Regardless, now that he had acquired the blood he needed, Gerald knew Queena wasn’t going to have an easy time finding him. As long as he didn’t do anything too high profile, there was little chance of her finding him, or at least he hoped.

“Ah, about Miss Milton… Truth be told, I had initially planned to help her establish a company. I even gave her a large sum of money! Even so, not only did she refuse to go with that idea, but she also didn’t take the money I offered, stating that you already gave her more than enough, Mr. Crawford! Miss Milton is simply too straightforward a person! ”

“It was a little while later when I found out that she had passed the necessary exams to gain a teacher qualification certificate. Realizing that her ambition was to be a teacher, I asked her whether she would like a luxurious school to be built for her. Alas, she rejected that suggestion as well! She’s currently working as a regular teacher in a high school!” replied Zack as he shook his head with a bitter smile.

“Naomi’s just like that… She isn’t one to care too much about money, and she doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal to be rich either. It’s how she treats me as well. Whether I’m rich or poor, she always treats me as a very close friend,” said Gerald as he smiled rather gratuitously.

At that moment, Zack looked like he wanted to say something. When Gerald saw him simply lowering his head instead of saying what was on his mind, however, Gerald turned to look at Zack before saying, “If there’s something on your mind, say it!”

“Well… I just wanted to say that Miss Milton truly is a nice person… You know, back when she and Miss Nelson found out that you had disappeared, both of them had rushed all the way to Northbay just to inquire more about you. Since the Crawford family was still being suppressed by the Moldells back then, the two girls had to go through quite a bit of their own suffering…”

Hearing that, Gerald simply nodded.

“What I’m trying to say is that even till this very day, Miss Milton still contacts me weekly, asking whether there’s any news on you! She’s been doing this for a year and a half now!” added Zack.

Hearing that, Gerald felt moved. How couldn’t he understand Naomi’s feelings for him…