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.

a luxury or sports car, however, Gerald chose to drive an ordinary

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

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

simply wasn’t the same

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

he found, though Cundrie didn’t really care about money, Noelle still exhibited hints that she had a

actually rich, her feelings wouldn’t be sincere anymore. Should that happen, even if he were to successfully obtain invigorating blood from her, it would be completely useless to him. That was the reason why he had refrained from driving a luxury car

his financial resources. Due to that, the car Gerald was driving today was only an ordinary one that

hadn’t anticipated for there to be a traffic jam this early

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

car in front of him, the sound of something crashing soon followed from behind him as Gerald’s car

was behind him, they had accidentally stepped on the

yet coquettish girl who was wearing a hat and driving a Porsche

car, her handbag in hand, before walking to Gerald and yelling, “You b*stard! Don’t you keep your eyes

your fault for banging into my car, auntie!” retorted Gerald, truly at a loss for words before this

second she heard him referring to her as ‘auntie’, the woman instantly recoiled in shock. A second later, her entire body began shuddering as her expression turned

like you! Just have a good look at your own car then compare it to mine! I’m warning you now, you’d

could only shake

moving anymore, several of the people

seemed like she really cared about her face, Gerald could tell that she

going to pay a single cent to her, resulting in her calling her husband

wasn’t long before her husband drove over in a big Hummer. The second he arrived, he immediately dashed across the sidewalk

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

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

know who I am?” asked the middle-aged leader of the group in a

as he took his cell phone out to

guards as soon as

truly are done for today, young man! I’ll make sure you won’t even be able to stand up once we’re done with

deed?” asked Gerald as he casually

course!” roared the middle-aged

that, Gerald simply laughed out loud before shaking his head and glaring straight into

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

roared all of his men as they tossed their cigarettes to the ground and made a

Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest)

burly men immediately surrounded Gerald, ready to assault him, Gerald could tell that this wasn’t their first rodeo

she

flying a good twenty meters away! Everyone could only stare wide-eyed as the thug collided with the middle-aged man’s Hummer, causing all

in shock. Even her husband was flabbergasted by the turn of events. After all, everyone had simply assumed

what happened to their ally, the remaining thugs didn’t dare to move a muscle anymore, and for good reason too. They could all see that the injured man had now curled into a ball from the pain, and even his mouth was foaming! To think

passed. Adding that to the

Aiden had told him yesterday, women hated

thought about it, he couldn’t help but imagine Mila

up in time and he wasn’t even able to

wait for him too long at 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

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

need to attend a birthday banquet ASAP and I don’t

Gerald then hung up his phone. He definitely wasn’t going anywhere in his car with such a terrible traffic jam, and

the hotel relatively quickly. Even so, there was the obvious risk of him exposing his true identity. However, running over there would simply take

had overheard Gerald’s conversation earlier. Though it sounded extremely absurd, many of them didn’t dare to laugh

pick him up

too simple-minded after spending all

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

the middle-aged took advantage of

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

man was just about to order them

from a helicopter, and upon realizing this, all of them froze in place in

of the pedestrians as

that, many of the stuck car drivers instantly got off their vehicles

resembled a huge falcon hovering in the sky—was now slowly descending, almost 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

those on the helicopter pinpointed

Novel (Invisible

landed on Gerald’s parked

middle-aged man and woman were both dumbfounded. This was because there were a few big characters printed on the side of the helicopter that read

Commercial Group, and it seemed as

it! This was too

man instantly broke out

A young man came down from the helicopter

drive the car back on my behalf. Also, I want you to look into the background of these few thugs beside me before punishing them accordingly!”

can rest assured, Mr. Crawford!” The

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

appeared on his face as he said, “Mr…

directly after Gerald gave him a slap across

man, but you are carrying such

speechless yet

then got into the cockpit before flying the helicopter away. The passersby were all wailing and trembling in

he naturally did not encounter any more interference

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

that, he hurriedly trotted all

was still waiting for him at the entrance of

hotel?!” Noelle could not help

the back door!” Gerald reluctantly

since there would be many magnates coming in and out of the entrance of the hotel, Gerald would naturally feel embarrassed too. Perhaps that was

“He is the one?”

she had a sullen expression on her face. She was not done reprimanding her

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

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

he could not help but feel even more jealous. It turned out that the person that Noelle had been waiting

him to attend her birthday celebration today, but she had also invited this kid. In any case, Preston instantly regarded Gerald as

when he thought about how Noelle had

was so rich and outstanding, but Noelle did

fine now that you are here! It is almost ten o’clock now! We should hurry up and go in!” Noelle said and smiled slightly as

You are asking him to come in too?! Noelle, are you really using your brain?” Gracie could

Preston by doing this?! What if Preston became very angry because of this incident and decided to leave Noelle? In that case, the Shadwell family would have missed out on a great opportunity to turn things

this time, Noelle had

hurriedly chased

Preston was left behind with a look of

over half a year now, and she has

sense of humiliation sweeping

his teeth angrily before he took out

Man Novel

Noelle’s birthday banquet changed as soon as Gerald arrived. This was especially so for Gracie’s emotions. It would not be an exaggeration

that her daughter, Noelle, had a very unusual relationship with this young man. As a person who had already gone through all of these

very indifferent toward Preston. If Gracie allowed this to develop any further, it would certainly be

solution. She could not simply continue watching as her daughter

steak is

this time, the dishes were finally

dish, which was

into the

followed the waiter

order to show his respect for Preston, he had decided

that he was actually giving the Shadwell family

really

already eaten in many restaurants in Mayberry City before. In fact, he had already long heard that the wagyu steak at the Longthorne International Hotel was very famous, but Gerald had never tried it because he hadn’t been here before. This was

do you know anything about this

about to taste the dish, the manager exchanged glances with Preston before he suddenly interrupted Gerald with a cold expression

know much about it!” Gerald replied as he

come from the countryside, right? Is this your first time coming to the Longthorne International Hotel?”

including a few of the girls, could not help but put their chopsticks down at this time. It was obvious that the manager was

here, did I do anything wrong?” Gerald could also sense the hint of sarcasm in his words,

precious 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! Men, come and take this dish away from him!” The manager said lightly, with his hands behind his

gave you the rights

Noelle’s face at this time. This manager did not only

she possibly know that

of the Wake family,

this place.

would certainly 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

time, Preston merely smiled coldly as he stared at the scene

“Wait a minute!”

down

“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

only reason why I did not

with those few words, and

want to play with me? How are you ever

you guys to put a sign in front of

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

Rich Man Novel (Invisible or

was obvious that everything had been

giving you some leeway, but it seems as though you

want it at all!” Gerald said coldly as he smiled

Noelle was a little frightened

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,

him! In fact, at the very beginning, he was still worthy enough to receive a few slaps from me. However, now, he is

must really be tired of living! Men, come! Throw him out of this place!” The

he looked at Gracie and the others as he said, “Ms. Shadwell and Mrs. Shadwell, I know that I am being rude and disrespectful. However, I truly cannot accept the fact that such a vulgar person is actually sitting at the same table as you. Please

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

his cell phone

had already gathered around as they