Chapter 471
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 471 “…Actually scratch that, I guess I can accept you, even if you don’t fulfill all the standard conditions. All you need to do now is sell the car and buy yourself a house. If you can at least do that right, you’ll get a job as a clerk in the public office. You’ll have social insurance and housing funds then. That way, you’ll be able to have a stable life in the future!”
“You know, I used to have a subordinate who had a sister just three years older than you. She’s still unmarried. Once you’ve settled down, I can be your matchmaker and help you get a wife as well!” said Willie.
Gerald was dumbfounded. So, as long as he was willing to donate money to him, Willie was going to give him such good treatment?
Leila, however, was shocked. “Dad… Isn’t that secretary’s sister… You know… Intellectually slow…?”
“So what if she is? It’s not easy for anyone to get a wife these days. Look at Gerald’s qualifications! I can’t even guarantee that the other party would be willing to marry someone like him!”
“Um… Uncle Jung, you don’t have to worry about me!”
Gerald was trying hard not to burst in anger, his face alternating between red and pale.
He could only endure it by thinking about what his father had said.
Unfortunately, Willie wasn’t done yet.
Once dinner was over, Willie immediately contacted a second-hand car dealer without even waiting for Gerald to step in. After all, he wanted Gerald to donate part of that money to him before using the remaining money to buy a house for himself. This was an excellent opportunity to arrange a contractual job for Gerald as well.
At the very least, he would belong partially to the organization then!
Gerald, naturally, was unwilling to do any of this.
He was very, very close to revealing his identity at that moment just so that he could slap all their faces.
However, he clenched his fist behind his back while thinking of his father’s words to keep himself calm. After all, his father had said that he had done things with Aunt Leia to let Uncle Jung down.
Since he didn’t know what his father had done with her yet, he remained silent.
He simply wanted to put an end to this matter quickly. Once that was done, he didn’t want any part of them in his life anymore.
The car didn’t matter to him anyway, so Gerald simply agreed.
“Alright, let Douglas accompany you when you sell your car off later. At least he knows more than you do. That way, you won’t get tricked without even realizing it!” said Willie without filtering his words in the slightest.
If Douglas hadn’t raised the idea of using Gerald to donate and raise some money for him, Willie would never have dreamed of landing Gerald a job. He wouldn’t even have done so even if it was just a contractual job!
Thinking about it now, once he received the donation money, he could just randomly arrange for Gerald to work as a clerk in any department. That way, Gerald would be able to earn at least two thousand dollars a month! Willie felt that he would already have done Gerald a huge favor!
Naturally, Douglas agreed to go with Gerald.
His intentions were obvious. He wanted Willie to take all of Gerald’s money and even his car away. Let’s see Gerald try to show off in front of him again in the future!
Unexpectedly, Gerald was rather willing to agree to all this just for the sake of getting a job! Haha!
Of course, Gerald already knew what was running through the minds of Douglas and Uncle Jung.
He was simply doing this to draw a clear distinction line between them in the future.
That way, he would have a good reason to refuse and turn down any of his father’s future requests if he ever asked him to help this family again.
Leila and a few of her close friends followed Douglas and Gerald to the second-hand car shop.
“Boss! We’re here to sell a car!”
A young man came running out of the shop as soon as he heard people calling for him.
“Coming! Oh wow! A Mercedes Benz G500?!”
When Douglas saw the boss of the place, he quickly walked up to him. He was going to be the one to talk to him in this transaction.
His goal was to get the boss to lower the price of the car as much as he possibly could for Gerald.
When Douglas turned to peek at Gerald’s reaction to this, he was surprised to see that Gerald was instead, smiling.
“Xeno?”
Hearing his name, the boss looked up and he was stunned when he saw Gerald.
He smiled wide and patted his thigh twice. “Well f*ck me! Gerald? Is that really you?”
Xeno walked toward Gerald with a surprised look on his face.
The boss there was actually Gerald’s childhood neighbor whom Gerald also considered to be his best friend. Xeno was only six months older than Gerald and the two had played together a lot as children. Xeno had always been kind to him.
Back when they were younger, both of them were top of the class academically. However, due to some reasons, Xeno stopped studying before he could finish junior high school.
From that point on, he learned how to fix and repair cars. Unexpectedly, a few years later, Xeno would be doing well. He was even the owner of a second-hand car shop now!
Ever since Gerald had left his hometown to attend university in another city, he hadn’t come home for a long time. As a result, both of them had rarely contacted each other in the past two years.
Chapter 472
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 472 Despite that, they were still close childhood friends. Even if they hadn’t met each other in a decade, the same childlike feelings of joy that they shared would still remain.
“You f*cker! When did you come back? Why didn’t you give me a call, huh?” asked Xeno as he playfully smacked Gerald’s back a few times.
“Ow, ow! I just came back some time ago! It’s been a long time since I’ve returned, so I’m staying in Serene County for the time being!” replied Gerald as he smiled happily.
“Xeno, that’s a customer! Be professional!” shouted a woman as she came out of the shop.
She was dressed fashionably and she looked to be around the same age as Gerald.
Of course, Gerald knew who she was too. She was from his junior high school and back then, she was in a relationship with Xeno.
Her family owned a supermarket in town and they were pretty well to do.
It seemed that both of them were still maintaining their relationship even after so many years!
“Heh, don’t tell me you forgot about Sienna?” said Xeno as he smiled.
“She’s my fiancée now… Both of us got engaged just three months ago!”
“Oh? Oh, it’s Gerald? And here I was wondering who it was. Hurry up and greet the customers!”
When Sienna saw Gerald, she simply looked at him coldly before turning around to leave.
She didn’t really despise or look down on him, but Gerald could still sense a slight resentment through the way she looked at him.
Gerald simply smiled awkwardly after hearing that.
“Boss, are you done? We’ve been standing here for a while! Are both of you done chatting?” asked Douglas as he tapped his foot.
Douglas was feeling slightly irked. To think that the owner of this second-hand car shop was actually Gerald’s close friend! There was no way he was going to be able to make Gerald suffer a loss now!
“Oh? Who’s the seller? Are you the one?” said Xeno as he smiled while looking at Douglas.
“Oh, I’m not the one you’re looking for. I’m just helping Gerald sell his Mercedes Benz G500! He’s been driving it for a while now so… I’d say one hundred and fifty thousand dollars should do the trick!” Douglas replied.
He then immediately looked at Gerald before saying, “Gerald, this is your buddy right? Don’t you feel bad selling your car to him at such a high price? After all, it would already be great if you could make some profit!”
He wasn’t even going to wait for Gerald to reply.
Xeno on the other hand, was taken aback. “Gerald… this is your car?”
“I’ll explain it all to you one day. For now, just know that I’m glad that you’re the one I’m selling the car to,” replied Gerald as he smiled.
Xeno simply nodded before slowly walking around the car as he inspected it. He then opened the hood of the car to have a look at it from the inside. “This car costs three hundred thousand dollars. It doesn’t seem like you’ve driven it for more than a month. Gerald, honestly, why are you even selling this car?
What more, you’re planning on selling it for only a hundred and fifty thousand dollars? And who’s this kid anyway?” asked Xeno as he looked at Douglas.
He knew Douglas was up to no good the moment he mentioned selling the car for just one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
“He’s in a hurry to sell the car because he wants to get himself a house, a wife, and also a job. With that amount, Uncle Jung and I can make all the necessary arrangements for him! He’ll have a stable job that he’ll never lose in his lifetime! Haha!” replied Douglas smugly.
“Oh? Is he telling the truth? This Uncle Jung guy can really secure a stable job for you as well as a wife?”
Xeno looked at Gerald with a pleased expression on his face. If Gerald could get all that just from selling the car, then this transaction would be very much worth it.
He couldn’t help but feel happy for Gerald, his dear buddy.
Gerald could only reply with a wry smile on his face.
He couldn’t just tell him that he was just doing all this to help his father repay a favor!
“I’d love to buy it off you right now, but I don’t have that much money on hand. Also, do you smoke? I’ll have to trouble you to take care of my brother’s affairs!” said Xeno as he took out a cigarette and passed it toward Douglas’s direction.
Douglas however, didn’t take the cigarette. He instead took out his own and lighted it.
“Oh? So you don’t have the money to buy the car from us? Why even bother opening a second-hand car shop then? Forget it then, let’s just have a look at the second-hand car shop just opposite the
street! You can see it for yourself right, Gerald? Your buddy just doesn’t have the cash to buy this car!” said Douglas with a grimace as he looked at both Xeno and Gerald.
“You don’t need to give me a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You know what, I’m just giving the car to you. I don’t need to drive this car anymore anyway!” said Gerald calmly with a faint smile on his face.
“F*ck! Gerald, are you crazy?”
It was Leila, of all people, who shouted at Gerald’s proposal. She had an astonished expression on her face as she looked at Gerald.
Chapter 473
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 473 The car was his greatest asset and he was just going to give it to his friend for free?
‘Gerald, this isn’t the time to be showing off!’ Leila thought in her mind, frantically.
Though Leila had recently started to change her opinion of Gerald, she couldn’t help but feel angry at his words.
Before this turn of events, Leila had even secretly considered Gerald to be her boyfriend. Now, she didn’t even want to think about it!
From an outsider’s point of view, it was almost as though she considered the car to be hers in the first place.
“I can’t accept that! This is a relatively new car, brother! I can’t just take it off you for free! How about this, I have about a hundred thousand dollars on hand right now. I’ll buy the car at the market rate of two hundred and seventy thousand dollars. I’ll pay you the rest of the money once I sell this car off! Deal?”
“If that’s the case, you can just buy it from me for a hundred thousand dollars then!” replied Gerald with a wry smile on his face. He knew that Xeno wasn’t going to accept the car for free no matter what he did.
However, how could Gerald’s Mercedes Benz G500 make up for the incident that happened back then? Gerald shook the thought off his mind for the moment.
“Seriously, don’t worry about it, Xeno. I’ll explain it to you later. Just buy it for a hundred thousand dollars! Now bring us the contract, buddy!” said Gerald as he patted Xeno’s shoulder.
Xeno went silent and simply complied. He had made up his mind that he would just return the money to Gerald once the car was sold.
The contract didn’t really matter to him.
As Gerald signed the contract, Leila looked baffled while Douglas was secretly overjoyed.
The car was now officially sold and Gerald would give Willie seventy thousand dollars for his fundraiser.
After doing so, Gerald would only have thirty thousand dollars left.
“Douglas, Leila! My cousin sister sells houses! She’s just opened for business recently and she hasn’t gotten off work yet at this hour! Since Gerald’s buying a house, why don’t I give her a call? He can buy it from her! Do know, however, that thirty thousand dollars is barely enough for the down payment!” said one of Leila’s friends who had followed them.
“Go for it!” replied Leila as she nodded slightly.
Once the down payment was made, Gerald would officially become a pauper again. Aside from his house and the mortgage he would have to pay, he would have nothing else.
To Leila, that was the equivalent of Gerald losing all his initial charisma. Any feelings she had for him, were now six feet under.
Moving back to Gerald, the only reason why he had promised to give his car up and donate to Willie in the first place, was simply because he wanted to repay the debt on behalf of his father.
If it wasn’t because of his father, Gerald would be crazy to actually be bothered about someone as minuscule as Willie.
It turned out that the houses Leila’s friend’s cousin sister had to offer were in pretty good locations.
Gerald himself had been planning to buy some houses in Serene County so that he could arrange for housing and accommodation for some of his executives.
Though his original plan was to buy an entire building so that he could use it as a staff hostel, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to check out a house and book one of the units first.
After saying goodbye to Xeno, Gerald left with the group of people.
It was relatively easy to buy a house.
All Gerald had to do was choose from a selection of houses, pay the down payment, and sign a contract. Once that was done, he only needed to wait for the bank to approve his loan.
“Oh, cousin and handsome Douglas! Thank you so much for your support! Since it’s already so late, please stay! I’ll treat the four of you to supper! Your cousin sister’s treating all of you today!” said the girl’s cousin, happy to have made a sale.
As for Gerald, he simply stood at the side as he held onto the house purchase deed and contract. He was the one paying for the house yet the salesgirl simply left him out of the count.
Of course she would.
As soon as she saw Gerald, she could immediately tell that he was just some ignorant person who hadn’t seen much of the world yet. She didn’t even bother to flatter him at all. Once the transaction was done, she had even less reason to want to even be near him.
“There’s no way we can do that! No matter what you say, I can’t allow you to treat us to supper tonight! Rather, since Gerald bought a house today, he should be the one treating us!” said Douglas as he laughed happily.
“Yes! We’ve been running around with you from seven in the evening! It’s almost eleven now! What more, we helped you secure a house for yourself. You know, if you weren’t someone familiar, you wouldn’t even be able to buy this house at this price! You should be thankful!”
Chapter 474
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 474 The reply had come from one of Leila’s friends.
“Alright, alright, girls. Tell you what, I’ll pay for whatever we’re eating tonight! We can spend up to a thousand and five hundred dollars tonight!” said Douglas with a smile.
“But Douglas, why are you the one paying? Gerald’s clearly the one who should be treating us!”
“Well, you may not know this, but I owe Gerald that exact sum of money! If I pay that amount for supper, the IOU will be fully paid off!”
Douglas was thinking to himself then, that Gerald shouldn’t even consider reclaiming his one thousand and five hundred dollars from him!
He would rather use the money to entertain everyone rather than return the money to him.
“Alright! Let’s go! It’s time I got off work today anyway!” said the salesgirl happily.
At that moment, Leila’s cell phone began to ring.
It was Willie.
“What’s this? Hadn’t we agreed that he would donate at least a hundred and twenty thousand dollars so that I could find him a job? Why is there only seventy thousand dollars?”
“Dad, he sold the car for only a hundred thousand dollars since the buyer was his friend!”
“That idiot. I’ll just give him an award for the seventy thousand dollars then. As for the job opportunity, I’ll simply arrange it for him in the future! Pfft!” replied Willie coldly before hanging up.
“Gerald, my dad said…”
Leila felt a little embarrassed as she looked at Gerald. She didn’t know how to tell him that he wouldn’t be granted a job immediately.
Gerald simply smiled faintly. He had anticipated this to happen. “It’s fine, you don’t need to worry about getting a job for me. As for supper, all of you go on ahead. I’m not coming along. Goodbye!”
As he spoke, he took Douglas’s IOU out of his pocket before ripping it in half in front of them and tossing it into a trash can.
As he walked away, he didn’t feel any rage for some reason, even though they had constantly been ridiculing him.
It took him a while, but Gerald soon realized then that it was because they weren’t from the same world as he was. He didn’t need to hold any grudges against ants like them.
As for the Jung family, he had already contributed enough funds to help them make a comeback. What more, he had even donated to Willie to help him raise funds. Regardless of how much his father owed Uncle Jung, this amount of money would definitely settle whatever favors Gerald’s father still owed the Jung family.
There was no longer going to be any debts on his father’s side. This was something Gerald was sure of.
Because of that, he wouldn’t need to worry or even care about them anymore. A supper with them would be meaningless.
That night, Gerald went back to the hotel to sleep.
At seven the next day, his phone started ringing.
It was Xeno.
“Good morning, Gerald! You awake? If you’re free, why not come over to my shop? I have a mighty delicious breakfast waiting for you here! Oh, and by the way, I’ve already sold your car! Come on over and let’s celebrate that!” said Xeno over the phone.
After finding out that Gerald could be in urgent need of money, Xeno had spent most of the night contacting several of his friends and peers to find a buyer for Gerald’s car.
Gerald himself missed Xeno too. Even if he hadn’t called Gerald, Gerald would have gone over to pay him a visit either way.
After all, he had already thought of visiting Xeno long before returning to Serene County.
Once he was done washing up and putting on a fresh set of clothes, Gerald headed straight for Xeno’s second-hand car shop.
Upon arriving at the familiar shop, Xeno immediately dragged Gerald into a room and locked the door behind him.
“Morning Gerald! You’re one lucky b*stard! A buddy of mine helped us contact a buyer last night! Haha! I managed to sell your car for exactly two hundred and eighty thousand dollars! And before you say anything else, you’re taking a hundred and seven thousand dollars back with you, whether you like it or not. I’ll still have made ten thousand dollars’ worth of profit, all thanks to you!”
After finishing his sentence, he handed a cheque over to Gerald.
Naturally, Gerald was unwilling to accept it. After all, Gerald wasn’t even sure if Xeno had really earned any money from the transaction.
As the two of them continued pushing the cheque back and forth, frantic knocks suddenly began banging against the locked door.
“Xeno? Xeno! Open the door now! Have you seen my fifteen thousand dollar bank savings book?!”
The voice belonged to Sienna who had just run out from the kitchen.
Chapter 475
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 475 “What fifteen thousand dollar bank savings book?” asked Gerald, slightly taken aback.
Before Xeno could stop him, Gerald had opened the door to see a very anxious Sienna.
“Oh, don’t worry about it! I need to use the money!” said Xeno as he smiled.
“What are you using it for? And what are you holding in your hand? Oh god, what are you doing with such a big cheque?!”
The anxiety in Sienna’s voice only seemed to grow even worse.
“The money’s for Gerald! How could we possibly purchase an almost brand new car for just a hundred thousand dollars? What more, it’s a Mercedes Benz G500!” replied Xeno.
“And why would it be impossible? What’s wrong with earning some of his money? Xeno, you can’t cheat anyone else of their cash but you can definitely cheat him! Give me the cheque!” yelled Sienna as she snatched the cheque from his hand.
“Pfft, we’ve sold the car for a grand total of two hundred and seventy thousand dollars. We already gave Gerald one hundred thousand dollars and we also have to give your friend fifteen thousand dollars for introducing a buyer to us!”
Hearing this, Sienna looked at the cheque and gasped in horror at the amount written on it.
“One hundred and seventy thousand dollars…? Xeno, what’s the meaning of this? Are you telling me you used our own fifteen thousand dollars for Gerald? We would be losing fifteen thousand dollars in
this huge transaction then! Have you gone mad?!”
Quivering, Sienna immediately picked up a wine bottle before tossing it toward Xeno. Though it didn’t hit anyone, it fell right in front of Gerald.
Xeno had grown anxious himself, looking at her actions. Both of them looked like they were getting ready to fight.
The truth was, the car had not been sold for two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Xeno had spent his own money to look for a buyer. In the end, the transaction landed him zero profit. He did all this because he could sense that Gerald was very upset the night before. Xeno had assumed that it was due to monetary issues.
Because of that, he wanted to help Gerald get some money as soon as possible. Xeno, for one, was more than willing to do so for his best friend.
Unfortunately, Sienna wasn’t having any of that.
“Hand over the cheque, Sienna! I’m making sure that Gerald gets his full two hundred and seventy thousand dollars!”
“Over my dead body! Gerald owes us this much! Remember Xeno, you wouldn’t have been expelled if you hadn’t stabbed someone because of Gerald! I wouldn’t have had to live this kind of life with you then if it wasn’t because of him! You were at the top of your class back then!” replied Sienna as she started crying.
“What was that Sienna? What the f*ck are you talking about?” cursed Xeno as his face turned red in anger.
Gerald was caught between the fight and he could only try to de-escalate it.
To be honest, Gerald had felt a pang in his heart the moment Sienna brought back the memory of that incident.
Both Gerald and Xeno had come from poor families. They had grown with the same lifestyle and minuscule fortune, leading both of them to become extremely close confidants.
While both of them used to study together, Xeno, unlike Gerald, not only excelled in academic performances, but he also liked to fight.
It wasn’t uncommon for Xeno to be caught fighting others, even from a young age.
He even fought for Gerald as well. Gerald had suffered much more bullying in high school compared to his time in junior high, since Xeno was still fighting off bullies for him then. That all changed when that incident occurred.
Back during their junior high school days, Gerald had a close female friend. They weren’t exactly in a relationship back then. The most they did was write letters to one another.
However, another student—who was a well-known gangster—took interest in the same girl. Since he knew that Gerald shared a close relationship with her, he brought along some of his gang members to beat up Gerald after school one day.
Xeno was with Gerald that time and when he saw his best friend about to get beaten up, he helped Gerald fight back.
In his state of panic, Xeno had stabbed the gangster kid with a knife.
While it was fortunate that no one was killed that day, Xeno had to be expelled from school because of that incident.