Ch. 1246..1250: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1246-1250
Chapter 1246
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1246 Rita bit her lower lip slightly as she concluded her explanation.
“Since grandma already knows that they don’t mean well, why is she still insistent on going?” asked Gerald.
“Well, grandma said that since the Smiths haven’t done anything shameful, our spirits shouldn’t waver. What more, Georgia’s family had invited our family over with great hospitality. With that said, there truly is no reason for us not to be straightforward and just attend,” replied Rita.
“While we’re on the topic, grandma has undoubtedly become more and more stubborn throughout the past two years… It was her birthday yesterday, you know? However, she misses Mila so much that she said that she was unwilling to celebrate it again until the day Mila finally returns!”
“…I see. Regardless, since you’re going to attend the birthday party later anyway, allow me to come with you!” replied Gerald.
Georgia belonged to the Sier family, and in a way, it was quite similar to the Smiths. After all, they were both ordinary companies that weren’t too large or small in Mayberry in the past. Unlike the Smiths, however, the Siers had been developing extremely rapidly in the past two years.
Meanwhile, Lady Smith had just arrived at Georgia’s villa along with the others from the Smith family.
The villa itself was a top-notch structure that had quite recently been built in Cloud City. With its construction price being over twelve million dollars, the building was considered to be quite prestigious, topped only by a few other villas inclusive of Mountain Top Villa.
Regardless, upon entering Georgia’s home, the Smiths found that many of the guests there were unfamiliar faces.
Even so, just as Serenity had told them time and again, despite having lost Mila, the Smiths couldn’t just remain cowardly and simply hide at home. They still had to be daring to head out and meet others!
Anyway, seconds upon their entry, all of the Smiths were greeted by the sight of a sixty-year-old woman—who was being supported by a boy and a girl on either side of her—whose face was beaming as she walked toward Serenity and her family.
Had the guests not known that today was the old woman’s birthday, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to assume that she was the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth the second!
Of course, she was none other than the current head of the Sier family, Lady Georgia Walford.
While Georgia and Serenity were rather good friends from when they were young, their relationship had always been rather hard to describe, especially as the two besties continued growing up with each other.
Putting it simply, both of them enjoyed competing with each other rather unrealistically. As kids, they’d compete with each other to see whose clothes were nicer. When they started studying, they began competing to see who got better grades instead. Even after entering society, they continued competing by seeing whose job was better and who married a better husband. Now that they were old, they were still competing by seeing whose family was stronger. Aside from that, they also enjoyed comparing their children with each other, competing to see who had more capable and outstanding offspring.
Even after doing it for so many years, both of them simply continued being competitive. They were just that kind of people.
Regardless, the second the old woman saw Serenity and her family entering, Georgia could already feel the sky being particularly blue that day.
“You’re late, Serenity! I had just brought some old friends of mine over to have a look at the birthday gifts that had been given to me! Why don’t you head over there later to have a look for yourself? In the meantime, I’ll be moving around to serve all the other guests present! There’s just so many of them, you know? Regardless, since a few of my grandsons-in-law and granddaughters-in-law haven’t presented their gifts to me yet, you aren’t too late to the party! In fact, I’d say that you’re just in time to see them present their gifts to me!” said Georgia in a humble tone and a delighted smile on her face.
Gavin couldn’t help but feel embarrassed upon hearing Georgia’s statement. Were there even that many guests present?
Serenity herself began displaying an even more unpleasant expression than she had before. However, she quickly forced on a smile before replying, “It seems that you’re truly leading a good life now, Georgia! A stark contrast to how poor you and your family were when you were younger! I still remember that it was always your family who had to send gifts to others back then! Good for you now that others are sending gifts to you instead!”
Lady Smith wasn’t about to show any weakness before Georgia anytime soon. Georgia herself instantly felt her expression stiffen upon hearing that.
Even so, both the old ladies were extremely slick, and neither of them were going to reveal their true emotions without a fight.
“Indeed! Now that I’m much older, I get to enjoy all my wealth and happiness together with my family! Speaking of which, my grandson-in-law got me a new car a while back, you know? I’m already over sixty! I wonder what he was thinking when he bought that new car…” said Georgia as she faked a sigh while making sure to pay attention to Serenity’s reaction.
Back then, her grandson had liked Mila a lot. Due to an extremely powerful and rich heir becoming her boyfriend, however, his chance of being together with Mila was shattered. That caused her grandson to
suffer a broken heart for quite a long time. Naturally, Georgia had been sad to see her grandson in such a state as well.
Chapter 1247
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1247
Regardless, everything was fine now. After all, her granddaughter had gone missing and that rich heir boyfriend of hers had most definitely forgotten about the Smiths by now.
“Still, remember how my grandson had constantly tried to gain Mila’s affection for a time, Serenity? I wonder if you’re regretting allowing Mila to turn him down now… Though I’m sure you didn’t have much say in that… After all, it’s a matter that concerns only the children! Even so, as the head of the family, you should’ve been a bit stricter in deciding for her, don’t you think? If only you had been, then Mila wouldn’t have acted out of spite and continued furthering her studies in Hong Kong! If that didn’t happen, she could have already married my grandson now and opened a company together! Now wouldn’t that have been great!” declared Georgia as several of the guests who heard that began shaking their heads.
“Indeed! What an absolute pity!”
As comments about the situation continued being said aloud, those from the Smith family found themselves blushing deeply. This was especially so for both Gavin and Helen, the parents of the missing girl.
With Georgia mentioning Mila’s name so many times and continuing to poke their sore spots, the parents couldn’t help but get teary and red-eyed.
The two weren’t the only ones saddened either. Mila had been Serenity’s most adored granddaughter, and the old woman had watched Mila grow from when the girl was just a baby.
With Georgia saying all this to her face now, all sorts of emotions were beginning to brew within Serenity, and none of them were good feelings.
To think that those people had continuously tried to fawn on them back when Mila was still together with that rich Gerald… Now that they knew that Gerald was no longer supporting them, however, it seemed like they were taking all their past compliments back. In fact, nothing seemed to please them more now than enjoying the misfortune of the Smiths.
Understanding that, the old lady remained silent and simply sat down at a table, her family doing the same soon after.
For the next hour, the Smiths simply remained seated there, observing the expressions of the other guests. By then, several of them had been sitting so still that they found themselves having pins and needles. Just as they were feeling that they were nearing their limit to how much more shame they could take, a servant suddenly walked into the villa with a man and a woman following behind him.
The duo was, of course, Gerald and Rita.
Since Serenity’s health hadn’t been all that well recently, Rita had been staying close to her at all times to take care of her. However, since Rita had earlier heard that Mountain Top Villa was getting demolished, she wasn’t able to stick by her grandma’s side till now.
When those from the Smith family saw who was standing beside Rita, all of them ended up gaping in bewilderment as they simultaneously muttered, “…Gerald?”
All the smiths felt like they were dreaming. It truly was none other than Gerald! But… Why would Gerald be with Rita? And why was he even here today?
Needless to say, everyone was overcome with extreme shock.
“…Oh? Is that Rita I see? Why have you only arrived now? Regardless, who’s that beside you? Could he be your boyfriend?” asked Georgia as soon as she saw the two who had just entered.
Since Georgia was quite close with Serenity, she knew Serenity’s relatives and friends well. That said, she also knew that Rita was Serenity’s niece, and that she was also a favorite of that old woman aside from Mila. With that in mind, it was natural that she felt the need to inquire about the new face.
Shortly after Georgia’s question, Justin Sier—her grandson—and his recently married wife began walking over. Seeing that, her granddaughter—Quin Sier—and her husband walked over to the group as well.
“Grandma,” said both of them in unison as Justin took a peek at Rita.
Following that, he laughed rather bitterly before saying, “It’s been quite a while since we’ve last met, Rita! Not only have you become prettier, but it also seems like you already have someone now!”
“Who is she, hubby? Are you close to Rita?” asked a gorgeously-dressed woman who was standing beside Justin.
“Hmm? Oh, she’s the person I mentioned to you before! Mila’s cousin! It’s a pity though, she could’ve been my cousin back then as well! Oh well!” sneered Justin.
“Ah, I see!” replied the woman in a cold tone.
From that alone, it was evident that Justin had already told her about the incident of him going to the Smith family’s home to propose to Mila.
“Justin, you can’t just greet Rita when her boyfriend’s standing right next to her. Go ahead and greet him as well!” said Georgia while scanning the ordinarily-dressed Gerald from head to toe.
Since Rita had always been an arrogant and proud girl, Georgia had no idea why she would get herself a person like that. After all, Gerald looked vastly different from all the other rich heirs there.
Chapter 1248
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1248 Georgia had purposefully raised her voice to ensure that everyone there heard her.
Now that everyone’s attention was on Gerald, Justin smiled subtly before saying, “Ah, so you’re my cousin-in-law! A pleasure to meet you!”
He showed no interest in even wanting to shake hands with Gerald, and his wife simply stared at Rita’s boyfriend, sizing him up from her husband’s side. While Gerald certainly didn’t dress luxuriously, she just had a gut feeling that something was wrong with him.
“Since you’re so exceptional, I believe that your boyfriend must be equally as excellent as well! Do introduce him to us!” said Georgia.
“Apologies, Lady Walford, but he isn’t my boyfriend,” replied Rita as she turned to look at the rest of her family who were still seated at the table.
The Smiths hadn’t even recovered from their shock yet, and their mouths simply remained wide open as they continued staring at the duo in silence. Even Serenity hadn’t been able to regain her wits in time to reply.
“…Oh? So he isn’t your boyfriend? Then what position does he have to own a right to be here today?”
‘What on earth are you trying to pull off here…?’ Georgia found herself thinking.
“This here, is Gerald. And he has every right to be here today since he’s Mila’s fiancé!” explained Rita.
“…What? Mila’s… fiancé? But how could that be? Hasn’t she gone missing for at least two years? Shouldn’t her boyfriend have broken up with her a long time ago?” replied Georgia.
She was well aware that Mila’s boyfriend was extremely powerful. After all, he had completely overshadowed them back when Mila was still around. Now that Rita had said such a thing, all the guests in the villa immediately fell silent as they stared at Gerald.
“…Mila’s Fiancé? Him? Is she for real?”
“What on earth is happening…?”
As the others whispered among themselves while discussing the current situation, Gerald said, “Though Mila isn’t here at the moment, I’d like to assume that I’m already part of the Smith family since both of us have already been in a relationship for such a long time. What more, we’ve already decided to marry each other! With that in mind, I’m sure you won’t blame me for coming over since you invited the rest of the Smith family here today anyway, right Lady Walford?”
While it was true that Gerald was using his engagement with Mila as his excuse to be here, he wasn’t lying about both of them verbally agreeing to marry each other. Though Gerald had planned to get engaged with Mila after her studies ended in Hong Kong, well… All that happened.
Regardless, after hearing what Gerald had to say, Georgia and the rest of the guests instantly became stunned.
“Holy cr*p! Is he really the same boyfriend from before? The extremely wealthy man?!”
“From the looks of it, he truly is! Oh god, he’s here!”
As Georgia felt chills run down her spine after hearing all the exclamations of surprise from the guests, she composed herself before saying, “…But of course I wouldn’t mind! In fact, it’s an honor to our family that you could come!”
Following that, she retracted her hands from the two lovely children who had been supporting her this entire time. There was no need for her to be pretentious before Gerald.
With that, Gerald and Rita then headed over to the table where Serenity and the others were currently seated at.
“Grandma, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Smith! I’ve returned!” said Gerald as he looked at them with a smile.
“M-Mister Crawford! W-we…” stuttered Serenity who felt like she had just awoken from a long dream.
After all, the Smiths had already assumed that Gerald had long forgotten about them in the past two years.
“I promise that regardless of what happens to Mila, I’ll take care of everything in the future,” said Gerald before all the members of the Smith family.
Hearing that, several of the Smiths including Mila’s elder sister, Irene, began crying in excitement.
They truly had suffered way too much injustice in the past two years.
Chapter 1249
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1249 Suddenly hearing all this truly touched every single one of the Smiths, including Serenity. They now finally realized that they had misunderstood Gerald this entire time, and that Mila hadn’t misjudged him.
Regardless, the atmosphere of the setting instantly changed rather drastically now that Gerald was here. Though not many of the guests had even paid the Smiths any attention earlier, more and more of them were now heading over to their table to toast and chat with them in hopes of being able to deepen their relationship with that family. Of course, there were also those who immediately began fawning on the Smiths as well.
Even a few of the presidents were already surrounding Serenity while saying, “Speaking of which, it was your birthday yesterday, wasn’t it, Madam? Why didn’t you send us invitation cards to attend? Such a pity that we weren’t able to celebrate with you… Whatever the case is, we’ll certainly make up for it later!”
With all this happening, the person who was suffering the most was most definitely Georgia.
After all, she had initially invited Serenity and her family over to show off her grandson, granddaughter- in-law, and grandson-in-law. To think that Mila’s powerful boyfriend would make a sudden reappearance out of the blue! She definitely needed to be respectful toward him! However, that wasn’t even the biggest shock for her.
Gulping, Georgia then asked, “…Madam, what did you say his name was…? Mr. Crawford? Which Mr. Crawford are you referring to, exactly…?”
The second the guests heard Georgia’s question, all of them instantly fell silent in shock. After all, everyone present was well aware of who Mr. Crawford was, especially since they were in Mayberry. Hearing his name alone was enough to cause everyone to become momentarily stupefied.
“Which other Mr. Crawford would you assume him to be? Of course he’s the Mr. Crawford from Mayberry! I bumped into him while I was at Mountain Top Villa, you know?” replied Rita as she took a peek at the guests’ reactions.
Mr. Crawford from Mayberry? Mountain Top Villa?!
Who could remain calm after hearing all this? At that moment, multiple screeching of chairs—being pushed against the floor—could be heard as everyone immediately stood up, flabbergasted expressions on their faces.
Georgia was now barely able to breathe herself.
“Could it really be true? Could Mila’s extremely powerful and wealthy boyfriend truly be Mr. Crawford from Mayberry?”
“Thinking about it now, it shouldn’t be fake! After all, Mila and Mr. Crawford both graduated from Mayberry University! We also know that her boyfriend is exceedingly rich! With that in mind, I have reason to believe that he truly is Mr. Crawford!”
“Oh god! We should have figured out earlier that Mila’s boyfriend was actually Mr. Crawford!”
While all of them were feeling bewildered as they discussed this sudden revelation, they were simultaneously filled with regret. Why hadn’t they just continued maintaining a good relationship with the Smiths? If they had, they would’ve definitely become both prosperous and successful by now.
Staggering slightly, the panting Georgia had to be supported by the two children again to avoid falling. She needed to head over to greet Gerald right this instant!
‘Oh god! He truly is the real Mr. Crawford! He even introduced himself as the son-in-law of the Smith family! There is absolutely no way we’ll ever be able to compete with Serenity’s family now!’
Though Georgia had initially seen fluffy white clouds in the blue sky, all the clouds were now dark and thunder was flashing ever so often. Her heart was completely desolate now.
Just as Justin himself was about to head over to Gerald to kneel as a sign of his respect, Yana Shute— his wife—suddenly said in a doubtful tone, “…Something’s off… Why does he look so familiar… The more I look at him, the more I feel like I’ve met him somewhere before…”
“What’s wrong, Yana? What do you mean he looks familiar? Regardless, head over there quickly and help us apologize to Mr. Crawford for neglecting him earlier! He’s clearly the real deal!” said Georgia.
“…Hold on, grandma! There’s no need to be so nervous! I… I think that he isn’t really Mr. Crawford!” said Yana as she held onto her grandmother’s shoulder.
“…What? Why would you make such a bold claim?”
“Call it a gut feeling, but I’m fairly certain that he used to be my classmate when I was much younger… The more I look at him, the more he resembles that old classmate of mine!”
Chapter 1250
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1250 Yana’s voice sounded much more determined now.
“A… A classmate?” replied both Justin and Georgia, both equally shocked by her claim.
It was as though they were hearing some story from The Arabian Nights, and they had their reasons to be doubtful. After all, such a coincidence was pretty much unheard of! What more, though Yana had a powerful family background, there was simply no way she would have been able to afford or even have the status to be Gerald’s classmate!
“…What kind of classmate could you be referring to? Do note that we can’t afford to make jokes about such things, Yana. I’ll have you know that I have some prior knowledge about Mila’s boyfriend, and I can confirm that he truly is extremely powerful. It’s the reason why so many of us are willing to believe that Mr. Crawford really is her boyfriend after he revealed his identity! If we end up offending him now, we may not be able to survive in Mayberry any longer!” said Georgia as she began smacking her thighs in her anxiety.
“That’s right, Georgia! You’d best think about it carefully first! Are you really sure he’s your classmate? Please don’t end up mistaking him for someone else!” added Justin.
“I’m fairly certain that he’s my primary school classmate. After all, I clearly remember that during my primary school days, my dad had been focused on expanding his underground forces and had chosen to begin development in Serene County. Due to that, I naturally had to follow him and that’s how I ended up studying in a primary school there. Regardless, there was a person called Gerald in my class, and after hearing that name again after so long, I couldn’t help but start doubting him. After all, the more I look at him, the more familiar he seems. I hadn’t said this earlier since I admit that I couldn’t really remember what he looked like. However, after observing him for a while now, I truly believe that he’s the same Gerald I used to know!” replied Yana as she squinted her eyes in confirmation.
“The Gerald I knew back then… I remember him being in a particularly difficult position since he was so poor… If I’m recalling correctly, both of us even had small talk back then! Regardless, what do you think, grandma? Is it not possible that the Smiths hired someone to impersonate Mr. Crawford?” whispered Yana.
Upon hearing that, Georgia felt her heart skip a beat as she thought, ‘…Honestly, what she’s suggesting isn’t completely out of the question!’
“…Quite frankly, even though I was the one who had invited them over, I hadn’t expected Serenity and her family to actually attend this birthday party. After all, they’d definitely expect me to show off a lot. Despite being aware of that, she actually came! I found it odd that she had been able to remain so confident up till this point. It’s also strange that Rita only showed up now, and with Mila’s boyfriend of all people!” muttered Georgia as she further analyzed the situation.
‘You know, after hearing what Yana had to say, I’m starting to think that Serenity had planned for all this to happen all along! If my guess is correct, then Serenity is definitely trying to embarrass me on purpose! What a vicious old witch!’ Georgia thought to herself, seemingly seeing the bigger picture.
From what Justin and Yana had heard their grandmother say, even they were starting to arrive at the same conclusion she was. After all, all of it simply made sense.
“…Regardless, we still can’t act blindly, Yana. We should at least make sure if he’s absolutely your classmate first!” added Georgia who was clearly still slightly frightened. After all, if they truly had made a mistake, then a major mishap would undoubtedly befall them.
“Haha! Not to worry, grandma! I’m now more than certain that he’s the Gerald I used to know! However, since you’re still worried about it, I’ll double-check just to make sure it’s him! Still, to think that small fry of a pauper would actually dare impersonate Mr. Crawford!” said Yana, with disdain in her tone.
While Yana was already a hundred percent sure that he was her old primary school classmate, she was just taking these extra steps to prove to the old lady that he was no threat to them. With that, she immediately waltzed over toward Gerald without even the slightest hesitation.
Since the table the Smith family was currently sitting at was now surrounded by people attempting to toast and talk to the Smiths—in hopes of deepening their relationships—Yana casually shouted, “Step aside, please!”
Hearing that, the guests simply nodded with smiles on their faces as they replied, “Miss Shute!”
Yana’s family background wasn’t as simple as one would think. After all, her uncle was a famous head of the underground forces in Mayberry. With that in mind, anyone who knew of her background wouldn’t ever dare to offend her, including these businessmen.
Gerald himself hadn’t been paying attention to any of their fawns this entire time. Instead, he had been focused on chatting with Mila’s parents and grandparents, roughly describing his search efforts throughout the past two years. It was his way of saying that he had never given up looking for Mila, not even for a second.
However, as he was talking, he suddenly felt the back of his head being hit by someone!
Knowing that there weren’t any warrior-like people in the vicinity, Gerald had long let his guard down. The fact that he hadn’t sensed any approaching murderous intent made him all the more stupefied to realize that someone actually dared to attack him!
Turning around to see who had hit him, he realized that it was none other than Justin’s newly married wife! For some reason, she now had her arms crossed as she looked smugly at Gerald.