The Birth of Rumors

George, undoubtedly was quite a character.

Looking at Auntie Two and Auntie Three at home, they must have been quite the beauties in their youth, especially considering he kept a whole harem of canaries on the side.

Jason Hart had seen a photo of Auntie Four online. Blonde, blue-eyed, with an hourglass figure, in her thirties, she still had a charming smile.

It was already known that Dad was quite a womanizer.

Though a flaw, Jason Hart couldn't exploit it. He couldn't just find some seductress to enchant him; that would be too odd, and he might end up with an extra "Auntie Five" accidentally.

If the affair came to light, he'd easily get a thrashing from his dear mother.

When the family's incense ran out, Jason Hart realized, unexpectedly, that his old man was quite superstitious.

The house always smelled of incense, with a Bible by the door and a cross regularly worn around the neck, indicating George's strong belief in these things.

Just a couple of days ago, George had moved out of the master bedroom, seemingly on the advice of a fortune-teller.

So, he immediately changed his room to the guest bedroom, even thinking of buying an old mansion in the far north of the gambling city, just to stay there occasionally.

Lost in thought, Jason Hart, as he walked, found the breakthrough he was looking for.

The question was, how to proceed?

With three million in his backpack, over two million on his wrist, and several luxury cars under his name worth tens of millions, these were enough to satisfy him.

In the short term, saving the properties in the city was undoubtedly the priority over whether he should invest and start a business on his own.

Jason Hart reckoned that even if he started now, he'd hardly earn back a few bucks.

But those properties were different; liquidating now could earn back tens of billions. Once a financial storm hit and property prices plummeted, he could lose tens of billions.

Between earning and losing tens of billions, the terrifying difference made him feel suffocated.

Not to mention, once the money was earned back, he could reinvest and buy low again, the compound interest rolling and rolling... It could be said that whether his dad could be persuaded to turn back this time directly determined if Jason Hart could struggle for a few fewer years.

Money was all that filled his mind.

Coincidentally, he passed by Isabella, the rising starlet.

Isabella had seen Jason Hart before and thought he would be just like before, sticking to her like glue, impossible to shake off.

She had prepared herself to ignore him, but she didn't expect Jason Hart to act as if she were invisible and just walk away like that.

Remembering the hinted arranged marriage from her parents.

Now, Isabella shouted, "Jason Hart! Stop!"

Jason Hart turned to look at her and saw the short-haired Isabella. He greeted her with a smile, "Hello, Miss Isabella. I've got something to attend to, so I'll be on my way."

"...?"

Polite and composed, Isabella found it hard to believe this was Jason Hart.

She continued, "Did your parents talk to mine about a marriage alliance? It's not..."

Another black mark.

Jason Hart hurried to the bank before closing time to deposit a large sum of cash he had on him, interrupting her, "My mom seems to have that idea. She thinks highly of you, but I've already refused. I admit you're beautiful, but forced relationships aren't sweet, and I'm still young. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Sorry!"

"????"

Isabella was stunned, feeling something was off.

She had clearly rejected Jason Hart firmly, but why did it seem like she was being rejected instead?

And why apologize? What's there to apologize for?

As Isabella tried to make sense of it, she saw Jason Hart walking away without a glance back.

There were some students nearby, wearing strange expressions and gossiping.

Rumors spread like wildfire on campus.

Not going home after school, as soon as Isabella arrived at the classroom to organize the debate team rehearsal, her friends came over, asking, "Did you just confess to Young Master Jason Hart and get rejected? He's so arrogant! Didn't he used to like you a lot? What happened?"

Another girl with a ponytail added, "If Jason Hart's family and yours were to marry, wouldn't that mean a chance to form a hundred-billion-dollar empire? You'd be the lady of the billions then. As far as I know, Jason Hart's family only has him as a child, so as long as there are no more siblings, the fortune would be all his!"

"Nonsense! It's not him rejecting me, it's me rejecting him!"

Isabella was thoroughly perplexed.

Usually cool and composed, she suddenly burst out, even her friends felt something was off.

Shortly after,

New rumors spread—Miss Isabella, longing for a marriage alliance, broke down after being rejected by Jason Hart, screaming and shouting...

Pulling out a card casually, he had the driver take him to the bank.

The butler had already returned to the gambling city, and Emma had gone home for the weekend, not accompanying Jason Hart.

Seeing Jason Hart in his school uniform, the lobby manager didn't think much of it at first. But when he noticed the school emblem on his chest, he slightly paused, then smiled, "A student from Dongfeng Rose School, impressive! What business can I assist you with?"

"Just depositing some money."

Jason Hart patted his bag.

The lobby manager glanced at the bag, presuming there wasn't much money inside, and led him to a counter.

When he took Jason Hart's card, he sensed something amiss. It was obviously their bank's card, but in all his years, he had never seen such a metallic card.

Before he could examine it closely, Jason Hart took out a stack of cash and placed it on the counter.

Stacks of bills were laid out, attracting everyone's attention. Before the lobby manager could react, Jason Hart continued to pull out more.

This time, the lobby manager felt like a cat stepped on its tail, hastily advising, "Young Master! Please come to the VIP room to deposit your money. It's not suitable here. Would you like some tea?"

With the disorder in the gambling city over the past two years, various unsavory characters emerged due to the deliberate relaxation of management by those white gentlemen.

Suddenly producing so much money, the manager couldn't help but feel a bit nervous with other customers glancing over.

Dealing with money all day, these bank employees thought they were numb to it. But seeing a student in school uniform casually take out so much cash, they were still flustered.

Taken to the VIP room, they had tea and desserts.

The lobby manager discreetly made a call to his friend at the head office in the city.

Only then did he realize that their bank had specially customized thirty VIP cards using precious metals, given to company CEOs whose accounts had surpassed ten billion in transactions, a rarity.

Jason Hart's card was one his mother had given him.

During the New Year, she had even deposited three hundred thousand as his red packet money, most of which had been spent, leaving only a few thousand.

Even so, these few thousand were still a pleasant surprise for Jason Hart.

What was even more unexpected was that Liam's three million hadn't been counted; after counting, there was an extra nine thousand.

Though not much, Jason Hart was delighted. It felt like he had earned even more. Additionally, he received a set of shaving razors from the bank as a gift and requested an extra double-walled thermos cup.

It had been a while since he had tea, and a cup was just what he needed...

Let me know if you need further refinement or assistance with anything else!