The Secretly Rich Man

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1231

Soon after, the very next day came.

Despite facing a financial crisis, Noelle’s family still placed great importance in the preparation process for Noelle’s twentieth birthday. After all, Noelle being able to celebrate her birthday happily was the most important thing to her family.

It explained how what was initially a tiny birthday banquet ended up becoming more of a large family gathering instead.

The venue of the celebration itself was a large private room—that could accommodate up to thirty people—in Longthorne International Hotel that Noelle’s parents had booked for the day.

Among the thirty people invited to the banquet were Noelle’s family members, her classmates, her cousins, and several other relatives including her eldest, and third uncle. They were adamant on making this birthday banquet as festive as possible in order to rid their family of their bad luck.

“Sister-in-law and Second brother! Both of you are truly blessed to have such a beautiful daughter as Noelle! She has such a good temperament too! I’m sure the two of you will definitely be able to continue living and enjoying a good life together with Noelle in the future!” said Noelle’s third aunt with a smile as she looked at Noelle’s parents.

“Enjoy life? What even is there to enjoy? You should be well aware of how messy our family’s current financial state is, Third! We even have to begin thinking about how we’re going to survive the second half of our lives!” replied Zavien as he shook his head bitterly.

Hearing that, Noelle’s eldest and third uncle could only sigh.

“…Still, there’s no need to get too anxious… Quite honestly, our business isn’t doing as terribly as we had initially imagined. As long as we can get someone to invest a sum of money into our business, we’ll surely be able to get through this crisis! You know, I heard that Preston, the Wake family’s young master, has actively been pursuing after Noelle recently. Do any of you know anything about the Wake family’s strength or background?”

The moment Noelle’s third aunt changed the topic, everyone’s attention immediately fell on Noelle.

In truth, Noelle’s eldest and third uncle were people who only did things that benefitted themselves. With that in mind, why were they even bothering to bring their entire families along just to attend the birthday banquet of a young girl like Noelle?

Putting it bluntly, it was because they were well aware of the benefits that Noelle could potentially bring to their family.

Even Zavien and Gracie had heard about Preston’s pursuits of Noelle, so Noelle’s third aunt’s statement wasn’t wrong at all.

From what they knew, the Wake family was extremely formidable. Not only did they own a public listed company of their own, but their family also had the background of the Mayberry Commercial Group! With that in mind, anyone who met or encountered the Wakes would surely give them face.

Regardless, if Noelle truly ended up getting together with Preston—and Preston was willing to have a word with his father about their current situation on their behalf—then the Shadwells would definitely be able to turn things around and resolve their current crisis.

With that said, it was no wonder why Noelle’s aunts and uncles had taken their time to come over today just to celebrate her birthday.

“…Speaking of Preston, I heard that Noelle invited him over to the birthday banquet, right?” added her third aunt with a smile.

Gracie simply laughed subtly before saying, “To think that you’re even more well-informed than I am, sister! How did you even find out that she invited him over?”

Smiling awkwardly, Third aunt simply replied, “I… Just so happened to hear about it!”

“I see! For those who didn’t know any better, I’m sure they’d have assumed that you’ve been paying close attention to Preston. Sadly, though Faye is quite excellent, she hasn’t quite had the luck of bumping into someone like Preston at all. I guess she still needs to work harder to gain the attention and favor of someone like him, aren’t I right, Faye?” said Gracie as she looked at her third aunt’s daughter who was the same age as Noelle.

Gracie couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous since Third aunt was able to know quite a bit about Preston after just hearing his name a few times. It simultaneously also worried her that Noelle’s third aunt could be planning to introduce her own daughter, Faye, to Preston. Was she trying to snatch Gracie’s potential son-in-law from her? If that was the case, Gracie’s only comment was ‘dream on!’

After thinking about it a little while more, Gracie continued by saying, “Speaking of which, sister, you may not have heard about this, but Preston gave Noelle an extremely touching confession before the unfortunate incident took place yesterday! He even knelt before her, you know? I heard that many people were watching the entire thing as well! It’s just such a pity that Noelle, being the stubborn girl she is, simply refused to become his girlfriend!”

“…Is that so? My, how amazing Noelle is!” replied Third aunt as she blushed in embarrassment while praising Noelle in a slightly bitter tone.

At that moment, a waiter opened the door of the private room while saying, “Mr. Wake! Please, come in!”

Following that, a handsome young man wearing a white suit and a necktie walked into the room with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1232

“Hello, Uncle Shadwell and Aunt Wauter!” greeted the charming boy as he quickly headed over to them. Of course, the handsome young man in question was none other than Preston.

Preston had been extremely excited from the moment he received Noelle’s invitation to her birthday banquet.

Due to that, he had made sure to pay extra attention to how he dressed today so that he could give off the aura of a young master from a rich family.

It seemed that his efforts paid off since soon enough, the Shadwell family began praising him endlessly. Because of that, Preston couldn’t help but feel a little smug and arrogant.

Shortly after, they invited him to sit at the main table.

However, it was at that moment when Gracie suddenly realized that her daughter wasn’t even around.

Momentarily pausing her chat with Preston before turning to look at Noelle’s roommates, Gracie then asked, “Speaking of which, where did Noelle and Yulisa go? I haven’t seen both of them in a while!”

“From what we heard, both of them went downstairs to receive someone!” replied one of her roommates as the rest of them continued sipping on their juice.

“They what? Isn’t Preston already here? Who else are they planning to receive? Say Preston, did you run into Noelle on your way up here?” asked Gracie, feelingly slightly puzzled.

After all, Preston was undoubtedly the protagonist today.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t. Since this hotel belongs to one of my uncles, I’ve always used the special VIP passage whenever I move around here. If I had known that she would be waiting for me downstairs, then I’d definitely have used the regular entrance!” replied Preston, hints of excitement and joy on his face.

To be completely honest, Preston had already heard about the Shadwell family’s financial crisis from his father. With that in mind, it wasn’t hard for him to imagine that the Shadewells were only treating him this well because of said issue. After all, they were probably well aware that the Wake family had the support of the Mayberry Commercial Group.

In relation to that, the status of companies such as his family’s—that were under the Mayberry Commercial Group—within Mayberry City didn’t even need to be elaborated on.

Regardless, Preston knew that it was only a matter of time now before Noelle agreed to be his girlfriend. Hell, there was even a possibility that she would accept his confession today!

“Oh? So you came up here using a special VIP passage! That’s probably the reason why Noelle hasn’t come up again yet! Hold on, I’ll call her right this instant!” said Gracie with a smile.

“Oh, there’s no need to call her, Aunt Wauter! I feel pretty bad for having Noelle wait down there for so long so I’ll just go downstairs to look for her then bring her back up!” replied Preston as he shook his head with a smile on his face.

Though Preston had to kneel before Noelle yesterday just to ask her out, now that he had found out about the predicament the Shadwells were in, Preston was feeling pretty confident about himself. With that, he then began walking downstairs without the slightest hesitation.

“Wait for me, Preston! I’m coming along!” shouted Gracie as she immediately followed after him.

Gracie felt like she still wasn’t as close to Preston as she would like to be. After all, she was already treating him as though he was already her son-in-law.

Upon seeing Gracie and Preston leave, Yulisa’s roommates then said, “Let’s go look for Yulisa and Noelle as well!”

As the small group of people began descending the building, two girls could be seen waiting rather anxiously by the street right outside the hotel.

“Can’t we just stop waiting for him, Noelle? He must’ve been scared off the moment he read from your message that Longthorne International Hotel was the venue! I truly believe that from the venue of choice alone, he must’ve finally realized how large the difference between both of you were. From the looks of it, he’s probably never attended an event at such a grand place as Longthorne International Hotel! With that in mind, there’s a high possibility that he may be too pressured to even dare to show up here!” complained Yulisa, her arms crossed.

While Yulisa had a pretty good impression of Gerald in the beginning, after everything that had happened, her impression of him had severely dropped.

Quite frankly, if he hadn’t rescued them the day before, Yulisa wouldn’t ever have looked up to him again!

Then again, could she really be blamed for being realistic? After all, this was Gerald’s own fault for not being outstanding enough. Humph!

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1233

“I refuse! After all, he’s already said that he would come today! As for all that you’ve said, I’ve already taken all that into consideration the night before! That’s the reason why I arranged to meet up with him at the entrance of the hotel!” said Noelle.

With her beauty and how meticulous she was with details, it was hard not to call Noelle a goddess.

Just as Yulisa had said, Noelle had taken into consideration that Gerald had probably never stepped foot into a five-star hotel like this before. With that in mind, she had a feeling that he would definitely be feeling slightly timid and pressured. Due to that, Noel had told him to meet up with her at the hotel’s entrance so that they could enter together!

However, though they had agreed to meet up at nine that morning, it was nearing nine forty now yet Gerald still couldn’t be seen anywhere! In fact, he hadn’t even read any of Noelle’s messages on WhatsApp!

Due to all that, Noel truly couldn’t help but wonder whether Gerald really wasn’t coming.

She also remembered him mentioning that he was going to prepare a special gift for a friend of his. Who was that friend? Could it be a girl who was close to him? Could Gerald already like someone else other than her?

If Gerald had just been some ordinary guy, she wouldn’t have been bothered about that fact at all. However, Gerald was no ordinary person.

He had several positive points, for one, his greatest being how strong and skillful he was. He was also currently a hero in the minds of several people. In other words, he was an outstanding person.

It was because of this that Noelle couldn’t help but feel a little entangled whenever she thought about whether Gerald truly liked her or not.

This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for girls to think about, especially beautiful ones. It was simply something that happened and was completely understandable.

At that moment, Preston, Gracie, and Yulisa’s roommates arrived at the hotel’s entrance.

“Noelle! There you are! I’m terribly sorry for having you wait for such a long time! I entered through the special VIP passage earlier!”

Earlier when he was seconds away from arriving at the hotel’s entrance, Preston had already seen how anxiously Noelle was looking at both sides of a street. Recalling how she had rejected him yesterday and comparing it to how she was today, Preston immediately felt a great sense of satisfaction.

Following that, Gracie then smiled before saying, “Did you know that Preston’s brought along a birthday gift for you, Noelle? Also, while I was just planning to call you up through the phone earlier, Preston kept insisting that he go downstairs to personally look for you!

“Oh. Thanks, Preston! Regardless, you and mom can go back upstairs now,” replied Noelle as she smiled briefly at Preston.

Upon hearing that, Preston’s face immediately went pale! Even Gracie was slightly taken aback. Something wasn’t quite right with her daughter…

Had she not been waiting for Preston this entire time?

As Preston himself began thinking the same thing Gracie was, Gracie asked in a rather impatient tone, “…Noelle? Who exactly are you waiting for?”

“I’m just waiting for my friend… I wonder why he’s not here yet!” replied Noelle without considering her words too much.

“A… friend? …Noelle, is it a he or a she…?” asked Gracie again.

Instead of replying, however, Noelle simply walked further out toward the roadside to see why Gerald still hadn’t arrived.

Seeing that, Gracie then turned to look at Yulisa before asking, “Yulisa, who exactly are both of you waiting for?”

With that, Yulisa then began telling everything to her, starting from when she had asked Gerald for his help to take some pictures for them.

After hearing about all that had happened, Gracie finally understood that the person her daughter was waiting for was just some poor person!

Preston—who had been listening to Yurisa as she explained—found himself taking in a deep breath, his sheer jealousy evident on his face.

Noticing the change of expression on his face, Gracie instantly began gritting her teeth as well. And here she was thinking that her daughter knew better! Shouldn’t she be well aware that Preston was way more important than Gerald in terms of solving their family’s current dilemma?

Fuming in anger, Gracie then instantly walked over to Noelle, reprimanding her viciously.

…

Moving back to Gerald, after receiving Noelle’s invitation last night, he had attached great importance to the event. Due to that, he had been well-prepared to head to the banquet from very early in the morning.

By his estimations back then, he should’ve arrived—in his car—before eight thirty even came.

car, however, Gerald chose to

realized that he didn’t need to use money or any interest to build their relationship up. The only thing he needed to do was attend her birthday banquet and present her with a gift that he had meticulously prepared. Once that

it was rather repulsive to drive a luxury car, just to show off

wasn’t the same

Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter

didn’t really care about money, Noelle still exhibited hints

he were to successfully obtain invigorating blood from her, it

for him to show her his financial resources. Due to that, the car Gerald was driving today was

anticipated for there to be a traffic jam this early in the

car in front of Gerald suddenly hit the brakes! Seeing that, Gerald instantly stopped his car as

sound of something crashing soon followed from

him, they had accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of

see a rather pretty yet coquettish girl who was wearing a hat and driving a Porsche behind him. Not only was he stuck in a traffic jam, but now his

woman—who was also smoking a cigarette—then got out of her car, her handbag in hand, before walking to Gerald and yelling, “You b*stard! Don’t

banging into my car, auntie!” retorted Gerald, truly at a loss for

as ‘auntie’, the woman instantly recoiled in shock. A second later, her entire body

your own car then compare it to

shake his head

moving anymore, several of the people trapped there began rolling down their car windows to watch

woman. Since it seemed like she really cared

wasn’t going to pay a single cent to her, resulting in her calling her husband

he arrived, he immediately dashed across

closely behind him were several big and sturdy-looking men, each of them wearing gold chains around their necks. Upon getting close enough to Gerald, they instantly slid their hands into their pockets, making sure to crack their necks with loud ‘plops’ as they smoked their cigarettes rather

one who stopped his car out of the blue and caused me to bump into

living in Mayberry City already? Tell me, do you know who I am?” asked the middle-aged leader of the group in a frigid tone.

his head as he

as soon as

stepped forward, the middle-aged man shouted in rage, “How dare you! You truly are done for today, young man! I’ll make sure you won’t even be able to stand up once we’re

to do the deed?” asked Gerald as

of course!” roared the middle-aged man

laughed out loud before shaking

him, the middle-aged man felt his anger peak. The same went for his men as

you mother*cker!” roared all of his men as they tossed their cigarettes

Man Novel

to assault him, Gerald could tell that this wasn’t their first rodeo

waiting for the thugs to grab hold of Gerald so that she could give him two tight slaps across

the hundred and twenty kilogram man flying a good twenty

by the turn of events. After all, everyone had simply assumed that Gerald was just a poor young man. Nobody could’ve anticipated him

too. They could all see that the injured man had now curled into a ball from the pain, and even

had passed. Adding that to the

from what Aiden had told him yesterday, women hated it most when men didn’t keep

about it, he couldn’t help but imagine Mila waiting for

didn’t show up in time and he wasn’t even able to see her before

the hotel, then all the good impressions he had made on her the day before would’ve been for naught! The thought of that alone made Gerald feel extremely nervous.

who was still paralyzed in fear, Gerald then fished his cell phone

to where I am, immediately! I need to attend a birthday banquet ASAP and I don’t have a proper mode

in his car with such a terrible traffic jam, and he couldn’t just sit here waiting any

there was the obvious risk of him exposing his true identity. However,

helicopter?” muttered several of the pedestrians who had overheard Gerald’s conversation earlier. Though it sounded extremely absurd, many of them didn’t dare to laugh after seeing how strong

just ask someone to pick him up in

spending all his time only training and developing

fun of Gerald, the middle-aged man finally returned to his

phone, the middle-aged took advantage of the situation by getting his remaining men to surround him

sharp knife! After giving out another order, the other men took out similar knives

them prepared to launch their attack on Gerald, the enraged middle-aged man was just about to order them to attack

were familiar enough with the sound to know that it was coming from a helicopter, and upon realizing this, all of them froze in place in

has truly arrived!” shouted several of the pedestrians as they

got

as though it was preparing to land. Due to how close it was to the ground, the strong winds it produced were so immense that they could cause

enough, those on the helicopter pinpointed where Gerald

Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible

helicopter blatantly landed

a few big characters printed on the side

member of Mayberry Commercial Group, and it seemed

This was

broke

Crawford!” A young man came down from the helicopter

the background of these

assured, Mr. Crawford!” The young man replied

he saw one of the thugs holding a knife, and he was just about to stab the knife directly into Gerald’s waist. Gerald glanced at the man who was already frozen in place as he broke out in cold sweat because

on his face as he said, “Mr… Mr.

flew out directly after Gerald gave him

such a big man, but you are carrying such a small knife. Who are you trying to

was speechless

everything else in his subordinate’s hands now. Gerald then got into the cockpit before flying the helicopter

naturally did not encounter any more

after, he arrived at Longthorne International Hotel. However, Gerald did not park his helicopter downstairs in a conspicuous manner. Instead, he simply parked directly on the top

that, he hurriedly trotted all the

still waiting for him at the entrance of the

come out from inside the hotel?!” Noelle could not help but feel surprised when she saw Gerald running

from the back door!” Gerald

of the hotel, Gerald would naturally feel embarrassed too. Perhaps

“He is the one?”

Gracie saw Gerald, she had a sullen expression on her face. She was not done reprimanding her daughter

What was the big deal anyway? At most, she could wait until she resolved their family crisis before giving

Noelle should not owe him this kind of affection. What did she mean by inviting

but feel even more jealous. It

celebration today, but she had also invited this kid.

help but feel even more uncomfortable when he thought about how Noelle had been looking forward to Gerald’s

was so rich and outstanding, but Noelle did not seem to

now that you are here! It is almost ten o’clock now! We should hurry up and go

go in?! You are asking him to come in too?! Noelle, are you really using your

very angry because of this incident and decided to leave Noelle? In that case, the Shadwell family would

this time, Noelle had already

chased

was left behind with a look of anger and resentment on

year now, and she has never given me

felt a sense of humiliation sweeping

before he took out his cell phone to make a

Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible

as Gerald arrived. This was especially so for Gracie’s emotions. It would not be an

with this young man. As a person who had already gone through all of these experiences before, Gracie could tell that her daughter seemed to be interested in this young

develop any further, it would certainly be very troublesome if

up with a solution. She could not simply continue watching as her daughter took one step after the other

steak is

the dishes were finally

the main dish, which was the highlight

today, into the

manager also followed the waiter into

had decided to come here personally to serve the meal

actually giving the Shadwell family a lot of

that she really

steak at the Longthorne International Hotel was very famous, but Gerald had never tried it because he hadn’t been here before.

you know anything about

to taste the dish, the manager exchanged glances with Preston

it!” Gerald replied

your first time coming to the Longthorne International Hotel?” The manager said with a hint of sarcasm in his

help but put their chopsticks down at this time. It was obvious that the manager was saying these words because

that? Even if this is my first time here, did I do anything wrong?” Gerald could also sense the hint of sarcasm in his

guests at this hotel. It would be a complete waste for someone like you, who obviously has not seen much of the world, to eat this wagyu steak!

the rights

and resentment flashed through Noelle’s face at this time. This manager did not only look down on people, but he had no respect for others

that

family, Preston had

this place.

go smoothly in the future if he favored Preston. Also, he would be able to build up a good relationship with Preston if he were to humiliate this young lad here today. Therefore,

coldly as he

“Wait a minute!”

put down his

as he sneered and said, “You are opening an establishment to run a business, so you cannot go overboard. This is the foundation of the business industry. It is your duty to treat each and every customer equally and with respect. This is also the virtue and duty of

a lesson? You look so poor! Everyone here is definitely worthy enough to eat the food in our hotel. You are the only person who is not worthy at all! In truth, the only reason why

said everything that he wanted to with those few words, and this was exactly what

with me? How are you ever going to fight

come! Where are the security guards? Drive this person, who does not know his own place, out of our hotel now! I also want you guys to put a sign in front of the hotel stating that this kind

long after that, about four to five security guards rushed into the private room, almost as though they had already been

Man Novel (Invisible or

was obvious that everything had

was initially planning on giving you some leeway, but it seems as though

all!” Gerald said coldly as he

don’t attack him!” Noelle was a

must have secretly planned for the manager to deliberately humiliate and make things difficult for Gerald. If Gerald were to beat the manager up, Preston would certainly have a way to deal with Gerald for his actions, then. Thus, Noelle wanted to dissuade Gerald from

do not need to personally take any actions against a worthless person like him! In fact, at the very beginning, he was still worthy enough to

think you must really be tired of living! Men, come! Throw

that I am being rude and disrespectful. However, I truly cannot accept the fact that such a

as she smiled and said, “Oh, don’t worry! Are you kidding me? You can simply act according to your own discretion. As for some irrelevant people, we do not want to be bothered with them either!” Gracie

his cell phone and sent

guards had already gathered around as they prepared to