Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Joanna was Oliver’s treasure. He had protected and loved her since childhood. Of course, he would not let others beat her. To him, Marshall Clark was a good-for-nothing.
Oliver wished more than anything to simply grab a knife and fight Marshall. However, he suddenly remembered that Jason was still waiting for him in the hospital to pay the medical fees. His heart sank again.
Joanna also sensed that something was wrong with Oliver. She took the key to open the door and asked him with tears in her eyes. “Oliver, you… Is there anything wrong?”
After entering the house, Oliver sat down on a chair and sighed gloomily. Then, he looked up at Joanna and said, “Joanna, please divorce Marshall. He’s just a weasel. You should leave him. But I don’t have time to help you now. Dad… is sick and hospitalized!”
As he spoke, Oliver remembered something else and got up, heading toward his bedroom. He kept a passbook on the top
of his mother’s wooden wardrobe, which was part of her dowry back then. That account had 4,000 dollars, and a small vase was placed on top of the passbook.
Oliver thought, “I’ll use the 4,000 dollars first and then think of the next step slowly. The operation must be done to save Dad’s life!”
The vase was a little old. It was picked up by Oliver’s deceased grandfather from the junkyard. Oliver had even planted golden pothos in it during junior high school but stopped after the plant died.
The wardrobe was a little tall. Oliver, who was five feet seven inches, could not reach the top even if he stood on tiptoes. He stretched out his fingertips as far as he could to touch the vase.
Bang! This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
As Oliver used pulled the passbook outward with his fingertips, the vase fell and hit right on his forehead.
“Ouch!”
Not knowing whether it was blood or some other liquid flowing into his eyes, Oliver was instantly unable to see and squatted on the ground, covering his eyes.
Joanna heard the noise and ran in. Seeing Oliver’s hands and face covered in blood, she panicked and called 911 immediately.
Two hours later, Oliver sat in the doctor’s office with gauze wrapped around his eyes. The doctor said to him and Joanna, “The fragments of the vase have cut the skin on your forehead. The blood mixed with the residual liquid in the vase infected your eyes, resulting in temporary blindness. I have cleaned it up. You can remove the gauze at home tomorrow morning. There should be no big problem. If you experience any discomfort, please come to the hospital to check again.”
Joanna felt relieved when she heard that it was nothing serious. She helped Oliver go downstairs and then took a taxi home. Oliver wanted to cry but had no tears. He had no choice but to suffer in silence. He did not dare to share much with Joanna because he was afraid she would be more worried, and she would have an even harder time.
“Misfortunes never come alone! What should I do now?” Oliver cried internally.
Upon reaching home, Oliver was so tired that he went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.
Joanna made some oatmeal and wanted to ask Oliver to eat it. However, seeing that he did not respond after several attempts to wake him up, she could not bear to continue trying.
Oliver slept until the next morning.
When Oliver opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness.
Oliver reached out, touching blindly before feeling the gauze and remembering what had happened yesterday.
Oliver recalled the doctor allowed him to remove the gauze himself that morning. So, he reached out to untie the knot behind his head and then unwind the gauze around his head.
After the gauze was undone, Oliver slowly opened his eyes.
What came into sight was a ray of soft morning sunlight. Day had just broken, and the sun had just risen. The sunlight was gentle and warm.
Outside the window was the birch tree with dense branches and leaves.
As Oliver stared at the branches and leaves of the birch tree, his gaze paused for a few seconds. Suddenly, a sentence appeared in his mind: [A 26-year-old birch tree.]
“What was that? Am I having hallucinations?” Oliver wondered.
Oliver withdrew his gaze and looked at the wardrobe right in front of the bed.
That wardrobe was his mother, Calista Eastwood’s dowry. It could be considered an antique, and the red paint had come off a lot. People nowadays no longer fancy that kind of old furniture made of wood. It was unaesthetic and not fashionable. However, when Oliver’s gaze fixed on the wardrobe, the words suddenly appeared like an illusion in his mind again: (14 years old and made of fir wood. Manufactured in 1993. Craftsmanship: Low-grade. Value assessment: Not valuable.]
Oliver was stunned and thought, “How strange! This illusion is a little weird.”
Oliver was born in 1994. That dowry was made before Calista got married, so it should have been made in 1993.
Besides, he had looked at the birch tree outside the window every day since he was very young, but it was not that tall back
then.
The hallucination in his mind was so strange, but it felt real. Oliver wondered what was going on.
Oliver sat in a daze for a while. Spotting the phone next to the pillow, he picked it up and saw that the time was 7:11 a.m.
However, when Oliver looked at the phone, that strange message appeared in his mind again: [Enigma Mix 2. 5.99-inch screen, 2560 x 1440 pixels. Battery capacity: 3400mA. Android 7.1 System. 6GB RAM, 64GB body capacity. The back camera is of 12 million pixels 5-piece mirror camera. 5-million- pixel front camera. Year of manufacture: May 22, 2017. Craftsmanship: Average. Value assessment: Extremely low value.]
Oliver was stunned.
The information in Oliver’s mind was very accurate. He bought the phone in 2017. It had been four years since then, and no one would want it even if he threw it out. It was indeed a product of extremely low value.
“Why are all these accurate details appearing in my mind? Could it be…” Oliver wondered.
Oliver suddenly had an idea. He took out his wallet under the pillow and stared at it.
Three seconds later, a message appeared in his mind: [A four-year-old leather wallet. Produced by Juxshire Horizon Leather Factory on April 11, 2016. Craftsmanship: Average. Value assessment: Not
valuable.]
“Shoot!”
Oliver jumped up in shock.
He was beginning to understand that the information that appeared in his mind was not an illusion. Instead, whenever he stared at something, the details of the object he was staring at would appear in his mind, including the object’s craftsmanship and value assessment.
“Why do I suddenly have such an impressive ability? Is it because of the old vase that hurt my forehead yesterday?” he wondered.
Joanna, who was getting out of bed, hurried in when she heard the noise. Seeing that Oliver had removed the bandage, she immediately asked him, “Oliver, how are your eyes? Are you okay?”
Oliver nodded in both surprise and joy. “I’m fine. Y-Yes, I’m fine!”
Joanna was immediately relieved and replied, “Oliver, rest more. I’ll make some oatmeal for breakfast.”
Breakfast was oatmeal with mixed berries. It was Oliver’s favorite.
Joanna also packed some food in lunch boxes and planned to send them to the hospital for her parents later.
Oliver thought hard as he ate breakfast. After having two bowls of oatmeal, he went into the room and handed the passbook to Joanna. “Joanna, you can take these 4,000 dollars later to pay Dad’s medical fees. Please also tell Mom and Dad not to worry. I’ll get the rest of the money soon.”
He changed his shoes while speaking and was about to go out.
Joanna asked Oliver worriedly, “Oliver… don’t worry about the money. We’ll find a way together. You must not… do anything stupid!”
Oliver grinned. “Don’t worry, silly girl! I know what to do!”
Looking at Oliver’s genuine smile, Joanna breathed a sigh of relief. However, she still felt a little uneasy and wondered what he would do to get the money.
Joanna did not know that Oliver was not the same as before and that the latter was full of confidence now.
Oliver went out and took a taxi to his workplace.
Oliver worked at True Treasure second-hand store and was just a lowly staff member who earned a monthly salary of only 900 dollars.
The store manager was Samuel Hunt, who was 30 years old and earned a monthly base salary of 7,000 dollars and a commission bonus. His monthly earnings were above 20,000 dollars.
Samuel was Oliver’s role model that he envied and looked up to. The former earned a lot of money due to his impressive discerning eye when it came to antiques.
Second-hand luxury items stores not only collected clothing, bags, watches, jewelry, and other luxury products but also Second-hand luxury items stores not only collected clothing, ba high-value items. For example, antique calligraphy and paintings. As long as the item had a high value, it would be purchased.
Of course, the appraiser’s judgment was crucial in identifying the items’ values. If the appraiser overlooked the item’s real value, it would be a huge loss for the store.