The First Heir

Chapter 36

“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. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

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.”

“Impossible, how could this authentic painting be…” Charles frowned hard. He was at a loss for words amidst his confusion.

Just then, David had noticed the painting that was discarded on the ground. He picked it up, opened it, then exclaimed excitedly, “This! This is the one I sold to Mr. Grant.”

The crowd looked toward the sound source to find that David was holding the fake painting that Charles had tossed into a corner earlier. In an instant, everyone’s expression changed! What was going on?

Charles was now trembling in anger. Without caring for appearances, his face was blood-red as he roared, “Aiden, what is going on?! That fake painting is yours?”

Of course, Aiden refused to 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 one I bought from you.”

How could David ever have the courage to lie now? With Master Russell here, he would never dare to twist the facts even if he was given ten folds of courage. David quickly said, “Mr. 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 my compensation for you.”

“Who the hell wants your one million?!” Aiden exploded in anger. He now understood that the fake painting earlier was actually the one he had bought. And this genuine painting…

Everyone shifted their gaze to Philip, who was standing in a corner with an innocent expression. “I… I just bought it randomly from an antique market.”

Holy sh*t! The guy had actually gotten a real painting by randomly choosing one! What a lucky b*stard!

Although Charles was irked, at least one of the paintings was real.

“Hmph! Aiden, you have actually tried to trick me with a counterfeit!” Charles was furious. “Don’t ever come to my house again, and all those gifts that you’ve brought over, take them back with you!”

Aiden was unable to clear his name. He had no idea why David would say this in front of everyone. What would the man get out of it? Clenching his fists in a fury, Aiden glared at Philip before turning to leave. This day was just too embarrassing! More importantly, Uncle Johnston had now completely lost any favor for him.

After Aiden left, Charles asked David as he still felt puzzled, “Mr. White, how did you differentiate that this painting is your counter-…” Charles did not finish his words in fear of upsetting David. The man was still a famous figure within the antique market after all.

David smiled and said, “Mr. Johnston, this authentic painting had actually always belonged to Ru-…”

Ahem! Ahem! Before David could finish, Russell coughed for a bit, interrupting him. The latter then shot a few eye signals at David.

David immediately understood and corrected himself, “How could I not recognize my own forged goods?”

That sounded weird.

After this commotion, everyone now knew that Charles Johnston’s useless son-in-law had randomly bought this authentic Chinese painting from an antique market. Such a lucky b*stard!

When everyone was ready to start fawning over Russell again, the man shuffled his feet and walked to Philip with a big smile. “Mr. Cla-… Young man, you have great luck. Here is my name card.” Russell

handed Philip a small card.

Philip nodded faintly and took it. He knew that Russell was only doing this for the public’s eyes.

“Philip, why are you spacing out? Thank Master Russell immediately!” When Charles saw Philip’s dull reaction, his face darkened.

“Thank you, Master Russell.” Philip quickly smiled.

Russell dared not receive it and could barely stand straight, so he only smiled dryly in return.

Philip’s nonchalant attitude earlier had, of course, annoyed a lot of people. They started mocking him.

“Master Russell has actually given his name card to a wretched piece of trash.”

“What of it? It’s only a name card. Trash will still be trash.”

“Look at that idiotic face. He’s definitely a good-for-nothing.”

Philip paid no mind to these insults and mockery. He continued to stand quietly in a corner.

Just then, his phone rang. It was a call from Lynn. After a glance at the time, he figured that Lynn was probably getting impatient about taking care of Mila and had called to chase him home.

When the call got through, Philip sounded apologetic as he said, “Lynn, I’m sorry, I’ll be back soon.”

“Cou… Cousin brother-in-law…” Lynn was not rude to him like she usually was. Instead, she sounded as if she was crying as she spoke fearfully, “Mi… Mila has gone missing.”