Chapter 3500: It's Over

The president on the other end of the phone felt that he himself was no longer well.

He most disliked this kind of heavy blow landing, only to see that he was about to smash the other party's head until it bled, yet the heavy blow suddenly turned into air.

The president also could not understand why Bernard Arnault dared to challenge his authority like this, prompting him to fine Bernard five hundred billion dollars.

This feeling was like threatening the other party: if they did not listen, he would slap them hard, but the other party not only did not beg for mercy, they even said, "Go ahead and shoot me dead."

Annoyed and angry, he still took Bernard Arnault's sincerity as a provocation, so he coldly said: "Fine, I understand, Arnault. You think you've become a hero now, that I dare not do anything to you, so you fear nothing—but rest assured, I will make you pay the price!"

After saying that, he gritted his teeth and hung up the phone, then immediately summoned his aides: "Find a way to increase the intensity against Bernard Arnault's group, see if we can reasonably and effectively raise its tariffs. Once the White Horse Island incident blows over, we'll look for loopholes in his group to fine him a large sum! I want him to suffer!!!"

One chubby fellow with a full beard spoke up: "Mr. President, the whole world is now watching Bernard Arnault. Impulsively imposing tariffs on his industries or investigating his group would easily be seen by outsiders as us deliberately retaliating over the White Horse Island incident and the Blackwater Company affair, so I think we should wait a bit."

"Wait? I can't wait even a moment!" The president smoothed his soft bangs, gritted his teeth, and said: "This old bastard actually gave me no face at all, and brazenly demanded I fine him five hundred billion dollars! I really can't issue a five-hundred-billion-dollar fine, but at least five hundred billion dollars should make him lose something?"

The bearded man pondered for a moment, then said: "How about we propose a bill urging American citizens to reduce unnecessary luxury spending as much as possible? To achieve this, we uniformly raise tariffs on all luxury goods—whether French, Italian, or even British—as long as it falls under luxury goods, we impose a uniform 50% tax."

"If outsiders question our purpose, we'll say European luxury goods are draining the wallets of the American people, and Americans should spend their money on domestically produced industrial goods to make America great again, rather than wasting hard-earned money on European-made luxury goods that are actually worth only one-fiftieth of their selling price—trash luxury goods."

The president's eyes lit up: "This idea is not bad, after all, our supporters are all ordinary working-class people. Those high-income groups not only don't vote for us, they also constantly mock us on social media, so we can take this opportunity to give them some eye drops too."

On the other side, after Bernard Arnault hung up the president's call, his whole body and mind felt extremely refreshed.

He was like a player in an online game who found an experience-farming bug, and moreover, found the highest-level boss to farm experience from—now he only waits for experience points to keep soaring and for top-tier gear to drop.

His wife saw him berate the American president thoroughly, yet still wore a smug expression, and couldn't help but snap: "I advise you not to get too carried away playing the hero. For that laughable sense of justice, you're confronting the American president head-on—if he really sanctions you, you'll lose at least hundreds of millions of dollars a year, maybe more."

"You don't understand." Bernard Arnault snorted and laughed: "Summer insects cannot discuss ice. My wife doesn't know about the Rejuvenation Pill—if she did, she'd surely be even crazier than me, after all, the money she spends yearly on maintenance alone is already an astronomical figure."

So he closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and inwardly gloated: "This trip to the United States, I'll give the president some intensity!"

……

When Bernard was still flying over the ocean, White Horse Island in the Maldives welcomed a new day's sunrise.

Today is the last day for Ye Chen's family on White Horse Island.

According to plan, they will check out at noon, take a seaplane back to the capital Malé, then Ma Lan and Xiao Changkun will go to Dubai, while he and Xiao Churan will transfer to an international flight back to Huaxia.

Ma Lan is naturally reluctant to leave.

The scenery here is beautiful, the climate pleasant—compared to the freezing cold weather domestically, and Dubai's hot, dry climate, it's simply too wonderful.

Fortunately, she now has quite a bit of US cash in hand, and Dubai's various shopping malls still hold great appeal for her.

Seeing they are about to leave, Xiao Churan's mood feels somewhat desolate. In her view, this Maldives trip is her first time, and also the last time she travels with Ye Chen.

After returning, she will have to prepare to leave him.

Ye Chen noticed her low spirits and specially asked with concern: "Wife, are you reluctant to leave? Why don't we two stay here a few more days?"

Xiao Churan forced a smile, shook her head, and said: "No need—no matter how reluctant I am, I still have to leave, after all, this place is just a stop on our journey, not our life."

Ye Chen didn't catch the deeper meaning in her words, merely smiling and saying: "In the future, if you want to come, we can come anytime."

Ye Chen felt that White Horse Island and JD Island would soon become industries under his actual control. Although he couldn't tell Xiao Churan, he could find various excuses to frequently bring her here.

So he deliberately lowered his voice, speaking mysteriously: "Wife, I heard the boss of this group also believes quite a bit in feng shui. I'll have Miss Svetlana help recommend me later—maybe I can even become the feng shui supervisor here in the future."

Xiao Churan hearing this, smiled even more forcedly and helplessly.

She thought of Tawana, then curiously asked: "Is Miss Svetlana also on the island? Earlier you had me serve as feng shui supervisor for her for so long—when she comes to the island, haven't we two met yet? Since we're leaving today, we should at least say hello to her."

Ye Chen had always tried to avoid meeting Tawana together with his wife, but Xiao Churan's comment now was perfectly understandable. According to the character relationships he had previously set up, he and Tawana could be considered to have worked together. It's a coincidence they both ended up on the same island—if they didn't meet and say hello, it would really be hard to explain.

So he asked Xiao Churan: "Wife, why don't we go together to see Miss Svetlana, exchange a few words, and then we'll head back?"

Xiao Churan shook her head: "I won't go along and add trouble—you go say hello to her yourself."

Ye Chen said: "If you don't go, then me going alone would be pointless—better to just leave directly, so she doesn't know we came over, right?"

"Forget it." Xiao Churan said seriously: "For two people to meet by chance on a small island thousands of miles apart—what a great affinity. Not saying hello really isn't appropriate. If she finds out later, she'll surely resent you for being cold-hearted. Go ahead—I happen to be tidying up things in the room."

Ye Chen seeing her say that, could only nod: "Alright, then I'll ask her on WeChat later."

Actually, Tawana also knew Ye Chen was leaving the island today.

In her heart, she especially missed Ye Chen, but hindered by Xiao Churan also being on the island, she could only suppress her urge to see Ye Chen.

Precisely because she had something on her mind, her whole person was dazed and unfocused, quite out of sorts.

Meanwhile, her parents, due to the impact of that night's terrorist attack two days prior, were also similarly not in good spirits, often sitting together in a daze. Even her mother several times suggested leaving the Maldives and returning to America, but Tawana never followed up.

Two days passed, and her parents finally emerged from the shadow of the terrorist attack. Then her mother discovered a problem and said to Tawana: "Dear, I feel something is not quite right."

Tawana gazed at the outside sea, as clear and green as glass, her mind elsewhere, and asked: "What's not quite right?"

Her mother said: "Look, everything that happened here is known worldwide, and the impact is so great—Trevor couldn't possibly not know. You two used to be as close as glue, yet this time you didn't bring him along on vacation. You say he's training for a competition, I can understand that, but after such a big incident, he didn't even come to check on you— isn't that a bit strange?"

Previously, Trevor and Tawana were indeed as close as glue— the two were like conjoined twins, sticking together all day, and were publicly recognized as a hot couple in the entertainment industry.

But recently, not only have their chances of appearing together in the same frame become fewer and fewer, even their daily communication has similarly decreased.

Your girlfriend went through such a major incident, yet he didn't rush over to comfort you— not even a phone call— and this really made Tawana's mother feel strange.

Tawana for a moment didn't know how to respond.

Just before Trevor left Huaxia, the two had once vaguely reached a consensus on marriage. At that time, she had already realized she couldn't be with Ye Chen, even feeling a sense of urgency to settle things quickly, to cut off other thoughts.

But as her contact with Ye Chen increased, and Ye Chen repeatedly rescued her from fire and water, Tawana suddenly realized a reality: that in this lifetime, she probably could not free herself emotionally from Ye Chen.

For the current Tawana, even if she couldn't get Ye Chen, it wouldn't matter—but she also didn't want to settle.

Trevor is precisely that settling object.

If she still wanted to settle, she'd have to suppress her true inner feelings and maintain an emotional relationship with him.

But since she doesn't want to settle, continuing to drag things on with him would be meaningless.

Originally, she had also considered directly telling Trevor they should break up.

But after thinking it over, Trevor after all is her longest-term boyfriend, and she doesn't want to seem too cold-hearted. If she could get him to let go voluntarily, perhaps that would be the best outcome.

So, Tawana kissed Ye Chen passionately at the concert, and even on the island wanted to perform that song "The Assassin" which she had kissed Ye Chen to— all to signal to Trevor, to let him know her heart still couldn't let go of Ye Chen!

Trevor never contacted her, and even when she encountered such a major incident, he still didn't ask a word— yet one could see he had already grasped her thoughts, and likewise decided to let go.

Now, her mother suddenly brought up Trevor, and Tawana hesitated a moment, then murmured: "Mom, Dad, I and Trevor, have already ended..."