The First Heir

“Master Russell, please let me explain.” David was anxious as large drops of sweat rolled down his forehead.

Aiden was confused as he asked, “Mr. White, what’s wrong with you?”

David was troubled. He now knew why Russell had called him over, so he quickly said to Aiden, “Mr. Grant, I’m sorry. The painting that I sold you last time was a fake. I’ll refund you the money as soon as I get back.”

“A fake?” Aiden shrieked. The crowd of people standing behind him all gasped, looking incredulous. Charles looked especially shocked and was utterly stunned.

“Mr. White, what do you mean? What do you mean by ‘a fake’? I’ve spent two million to buy it!” Aiden was getting flustered, feeling his body alternate between hot and cold. “And Master Russell had said earlier that that painting is an authentic piece. Are you drunk?”

David was now like a cat on a hot tin roof. Upon hearing the words ‘authentic piece’, he rushed over to the glass display and looked carefully at it before exclaiming, “This… this isn’t the one I sold you!”

Of course, it was not. The others did not notice it, but David did. On the bottom right most corner of the painting, a few tiny words were stamped there, reading, ‘Received by Russell Field’. Everyone had been too focused on the painting that they did not notice this detail because there were just too many stamps at the bottom.

“What? This isn’t the one you sold me?” Aiden was dumbstruck, feeling shocked. He had a bad feeling about this.

Charles exclaimed in surprise, “Master Russell, Mr. White, just what is going on?”

Russell snorted. He got up and strode over to David. After glaring at the shorter man, Russell announced, “This painting is genuine, but it’s not the one Mr. Grant bought.”

Charles frowned hard. He was at a loss for

ground. He picked it up,

painting that Charles had tossed into a corner earlier. In

for appearances, his face was blood-red as he roared, “Aiden, what is going on?! That fake

admit it. He groaned, “How is that possible? I’ve spent two million to buy that painting, so how can it be a fake?” He then turned to glare at David. “Mr. White, you can’t lie through your teeth. Take a proper look again, that real painting is the

Grant, I’m really sorry. You didn’t know anything about paintings back then, so I gave you a counterfeit instead. But don’t worry, I refund you three million later. That extra one million will be

your one million?!” Aiden exploded in anger. He now understood that the fake painting earlier was actually the one

to Philip, who was standing in a corner with an innocent expression.

had actually gotten a real painting by randomly

Charles was irked, at least one of the

was furious. “Don’t ever come to my

it? Clenching his fists in a fury, Aiden glared at Philip before turning to leave. This day

“Mr. White, how did you differentiate that this painting is your counter-…” Charles did

said, “Mr. Johnston, this authentic painting had actually always belonged to

finish, Russell coughed for a bit, interrupting him. The latter then shot a few eye signals at

himself, “How could I not recognize my own forged

That sounded weird.

everyone now knew that Charles Johnston’s useless son-in-law had randomly bought this authentic Chinese painting from

to start fawning over Russell again, the man shuffled his feet and walked to Philip with a big smile. “Mr. Cla-…

knew that Russell was only doing this for