Chapter 504 Consider It Charity
As his eyes were bloodshot and the veins on his face were pulsing due to his anger, Ziggy growled, “You must have colluded with them to play a trick on me! Well? Explain yourself. Why didn’t you look for the red jade?” He looked somewhat savage as he spoke.
“Can you be reasonable? You’re the one who said I could only choose from the inner hall; I didn’t even have the chance to head to the outer hall. How can you blame me now? Besides, I’m not a god. I’ve never seen a blood jade before. How would we be able to find it just because I’m here?” Tina stood up for herself.
“‘Reasonable’? Hah—”
“Why don’t you be more reasonable?”
Slap!
By the time he was done sneering and the audience could react, Tina was slapped so hard that her head had been turned to the side. There was a clear palm print on her cheek and a trail of blood running down from a corner of her mouth.
Never did anyone expect Ziggy to hit a woman. While most people were aware of the Carnegie Family’s bad reputation, they were shocked to personally witness Ziggy slapping a woman and making fun of her.
Meanwhile, as her nose started to itch, Tina cupped the cheek he had slapped and finally let out a sob. Her tears fell drop by drop and blended in with the puddles that the rock grinder left on the ground and disappeared.
Like her sob, her tears lasted only a moment. She couldn’t cry—not at an occasion like this. Crying at a place like this would only serve as entertainment to indifferent onlookers. She was the daughter of the Baker Family; she couldn’t appear weak in front of others. Yet, even as she told herself that, her tears continued to well up.
Of course, careless to propriety and feeling like he hadn’t managed to enjoy that slap to his heart’s content, Ziggy lifted his hand once more and prepared to vent all of his anger on her.
Unexpectedly, Tom rushed over at this moment and stood in front of Tina. The previously timid and weak-willed man was now aggressively waiting for Ziggy.
“Who do you think you are to be worth acting like a knight in shining armor in front of me?” Ziggy prodded Tom so hard on the chest that Tom’s body swayed.
Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Tom answered with insistence, “Don’t blame her for your inferior skills. What right do you have to hit her?”
Glancing at him and seemingly receiving some kind of confirmation, Ziggy glared at Tina. “I see you’ve been working together. No wonder you’re always out by yourself these days. From the looks of it, you’ve been acting as an informant to this son of a b*tch. For that alone, I’ll kill you!”
Elise disdainfully shook her head and walked over to stand in front of him. “If you’re that skilled, why didn’t you choose your own stones? Are all of the Carnegies a bunch of good-for-nothings who can only rely on women?”
An infuriated Ziggy shouted, “Shut your trap, or I’ll kill you!”
“Sure, but before that happens, please keep your promise. Frostine Murray—the designer from your shop. Have someone bring her here.”
Although Ziggy’s fists twitched, he didn’t dare to make any moves. After all, everyone at the venue knew the terms of their bet. However reluctant he might be, he couldn’t go back on his word in front of everyone else.
“Additionally…” Elise looked at Tina. “I want to redeem that woman. I’m paying her debts today. From today onward, the Baker Family will no longer owe the Carnegie Family.”
In Dukethorn, there were certain customs that were not in the lawbook yet. Human trade was one of them. Although the law did not officially recognize the contracts surrounding the sale of humans, the contracts still carried the force of law in their own way.
It was through one such contract that Tina entered the Carnegie Family since she had no other way to pay her parents’ debts. That was how the world worked—after the happy childhood her parents gave her, it seemed right for her to carry their debts.
“F*ck, no. She belongs to the Carnegies. Even when she dies, she’ll die in the Carnegie Family!” Ziggy snapped in an insufferably arrogant manner before eyeing Tina sinisterly. Once they arrived home, he would make her life on Earth even worse than in hell.
As if she could see her own fate, she pushed Tom aside and said in resignation, “You needn’t interfere any longer. I can figure out my own matters.”
“So, you mean to say that you wouldn’t like to work with me.” Elise suddenly chuckled.
“You might want to buy her, but you can’t force me to sell her.” Ziggy spread his hands and challenged her with a look.
A vexed Tom asked, “What are we going to do, Miss Sinclair?”
The moment he asked that, Elise snapped her fingers. In the next second, a man in leather shoes and a suit squeezed out from the crowd to pass a stack of documents to her before quickly leaving.
“At a gem auction event 12 years ago, Tina Baker’s parents managed to locate a piece of top-quality imperial jade. The Carnegie Family attempted to buy it at a low price but sent people after it when the Bakers declined their offer. As a result of the grievous wounds they sustained during the assault, Mr. and Mrs. Baker passed on. Following that, the Carnegie Family fabricated some debts as an excuse to retain the Bakers’ only daughter for personal use. The money she made for the Carnegie Family all these years has been enough to redeem herself, yet when it comes to your account books, the amount of debt owed has only increased on a yearly basis! The Carnegie Family has never intended to let her go!”
As Tina listened to Elise talk, so much emotional pain had overwhelmed her that she swayed on her feet. It was a good thing Tom was there to support her.
“Nonsense! How dare you frame the Carnegie Family! I’ll come for everything your family has!” Ziggy warned arrogantly.
“Oh? And when this evidence reaches court, your family’s assets will be seized. Do you think you’ll be able to afford a lawyer by then?” Elise sneered as she waved the document folder in her hand.
After glaring at each other for less than five seconds, Ziggy was the first to admit defeat. “That won’t happen…”
“Your family knows best whether that will happen.” Elise tossed the document folder onto the nearby table before continuing calmly, “As long as you produce Tina’s contract, you’ll be able to leave with that evidence. Otherwise, I can have someone from the public prosecutor’s office over to come and get it. Your choice.”
For an insurmountable amount of time, he stared at her with his jaw clenched before finally looking at his assistant, receiving the contract the assistant produced, and tossing it onto the ground. “You can have it for free. Consider it charity!” With that, he went to pick up Elise’s document folder himself before fleeing.
The moment he left, the audience’s attention returned to the red jade.
“Are you prepared to sell the red jade, Miss Sinclair?”
“Sell it to me, God’s Chosen Girl. I’m your fan!”
Elise apologized with a grin, “I’m sorry, but I’m keeping it as a gift for someone.”
“Huh? Red jade as a gift? Who is thick-skinned enough to ask for that?”
As soon as they said that, Kenneth made his way from the crowd and walked up to the person who called him ‘thick-skinned,’ asking, “Do you think my skin is thick?”
A look into his sinister dark eyes sent the person fleeing for safety.
Kenneth lifted his head with a teasing smirk to look at Elise and said with confidence, “I knew that you wanted to give me something, which is why I came on my own.”
Glancing at him, she answered mildly, “I did want to give you something.”
With that, she walked up to the platform next to Tom, picked up a fist-sized piece of imperial jade and placed it in Kenneth’s hands.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue these few days. We’re square now.”
“Square?” He stared at the piece of imperial jade before looking back up at her. “Is this all I get?”
“What else?” Elise asked.
In response, Kenneth tilted his head and lifted a finger to point at the red jade in Tom’s hands. “What about that?”
Knowing what Kenneth was referring to without even having to glance over her shoulder, she answered calmly, “That’s for my fiance.”
Instantly, the light in his eyes dimmed and he looked at her with hurt. “So, I can’t be compared with that person even though I sacrificed my life for you?”
Behind him, Melody gawked in disbelief. How could he possibly be jealous of himself?
