The Rise of the Useless Son-in-Law

Chapter 2: The Counterfeit Antique

Jason chuckled, and then the whole hall fell into silence with a faint sentence.

Counterfeit? How is that possible?

No one would offend the Browns on such an important occasion!

"Jason Gray, you idiot! What do you mean ‘counterfeit’? You must be talking nonsense because of jealousy about Chris!"

At Jason's words, Margaret's eyes flared in an immediate fit of rage, glaring at him venomously.

"Margaret, You should improve your cultural literacy more, instead of being fooled by your boyfriend with a fake here and losing the face of the Browns." Jason replied.

Upon hearing Jason’s words, Christopher seemed to be a little nervous, but he still firmly looked at Margaret, as if to say.

“Sweetie, trust me! That bastard was framing me out of jealousy!”

"Enough, Jason! Don't speak anymore."

Susan's face turned even darker. What had gotten into his husband today? How dare he speak so audaciously in this gathering?

Admist the accusations and disapproval of the guests, even she felt that Jason was being completely unreasonable.

"I don’t think a useless son-in-law could recognize an antique sword clearly. He didn’t even have any proof!"

"Exactly, he must be jealous about Christopher, such an excellent young man!"

Apparently, no one trust Jason’s words!

"You owe Christopher an apology now! We wouldn't want others thinking the Brown family bullies the guests."

"Apologize at once..."

Almost all the Browns required Jason to apologize to Christopher, worried about losing family reputation.

Christopher and Margaret, the center of everyone's attention, looked at Jason Gray with disdain.

"Trash, dare to question my boyfriend, do you want to be thrown out of the Brown family?"

Facing the crowd's insults and skepticism, Jason had no desire to argue further with this herd of ignorant, prejudiced individuals. He turned his gaze to the seated old Brown.

"Grandpa, what do you think? Is this antique real or fake?"

Keith Brown, now eighty-five, should have been long retired, but he still held the reins of the Brown family. His two passions were jewelry and antiques.

Regarding the so-called "Tai’a Sword", he had recognized it as a fake at a glance.

It was clearly not a masterpiece for thousands of years, but a craftwork made five years ago at best, just a technicality that makes it look like an antique.

Confronted by Jason Gray's direct gaze, old Brown didn't hesitate. As the head of the family, he maintained an impartial demeanor and calmly declared.

"This sword is indeed a counterfeit as Jason said. Christopher must be deceived!"

"What? It's actually fake?"

Shock was written all over the faces of the crowd. Even those who had been mocking Jason moments ago felt a touch of embarrassment, although they tried to maintain their composure.

"This worthless son-in-law just happened to guess it right!"

Hearing old Brown's words, Margaret, who had been holding Christopher's hand tightly, froze.

In the next instant, Margaret recoiled, flinging Christopher's hand away and furiously questioned.

"Christopher, you dared to deceive me with a fake antique?"

Just moments ago, Margaret had been singing praises about Christopher's excellence, considering this suitor as her boyfriend.

However, within a few minutes, she had been made a fool of. All eyes with ridicules turned to her, especially Susan, whose silent mockery made Margaret unable to stay in that place any longer.

"You bastard, liar! We're done!"

With tears welling up in her eyes, Margaret turned and fled the venue.

"Margaret, I truly love you! No..."

Everyone on the field watched the farce in silence, and couldn't help but look at Jason squarely.

Even Susan's gaze towards Jason changed, she felt Jason seemed different today, not only because he identified the fake antique, but also because of his calm demeanor and appeal.

Seeing her sister Margaret being angered away, Robert Brown's eyes darkened, his hands clenched into fists, itching to punch this useless guy.

"Hmph!"

Robert snorted without saying much, but he was already plotting in his mind.

If everything went smoothly tonight, he would become the heir to the family. Then he would teach Susan Brown a lesson and kick them out of the Brown family.

Thinking of it, he looked forward to the following announcement with eager eyes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we now proceed to the most significant part of tonight's banquet!"

With the host’s voice, old Brown lifted the red cloth in front of him, revealing the display case underneath.

It held a pendant, with a ruby embedded at its heart, surrounded by diamonds.

Old Brown looked at the pendant, with a look of reminiscence in his eyes.

"When I started my business from scratch, I had no capital but only a pair of ancestral pendants. I sold the two to raise the start-up capital, which laid the foundation for today's Brown family."

"But when I had the money to redeem them, I couldn't find them. For decades, I have not given up, but there is no news from them. Till the last few days, my eldest grandson, Robert brought it back home!"

At old Mr. Brown's glance, Robert knew his highlight moment had come.

He walked on the stage excitedly.

"Grandpa, everything I did was for the Browns! It’s what I should do!"

Robert played the humble part in front of old Brown. Yet his smug smirk made Susan a chill down her heart.

"Robert is my grandson. In recognition of his contributions to the Brown family, I have an announcement to make today!"

Old Brown's eyes swept across the guests, then returned to Robert, full of indulgence.

"I declare that Robert is the heir to the Brown family from now on!"

Upon hearing Grandpa Brown's declaration, Robert couldn't hide his joy any longer. A triumphant smile spread across his face.

Susan, however, turned deathly pale. With Robert as the family successor, she would undoubtedly be targeted.

"Robert truly is the pride of our Brown family!"

"Robert will surely lead the Brown Group to greater prosperity!"

"I've always believed that Robert would grow up to do great things!"

Listening to the constant praise and compliments, Robert ascended the banquet's main stage, gratefully accepting the microphone handed over by old Mr. Brown.

"Thank you, Grandpa, for your trust..."

"Wait!"

Robert hadn't finished his speech when Jason Gray rose from his seat, a half-eaten chicken leg still in his hand.

The moment the curtain was lifted, Jason Gray noticed something wrong.

No one in the world understood gemstones better than he did. The item in the display case was merely a mediocre Ruby, worth no more than 10,000 dollars.

It couldn't possibly be one of the lost pendants of the Brown family that he had ever seen on photos!

"Grandpa, do you make sure that this ruby pendant...was the real one?"

The banquet hall, which had been quiet, erupted into chaos. It was a scene eerily similar to what had happened just half an hour ago.

However, this time, the target of Jason's accusation was Brown family's patriarch, old Mr. Brown, and the family's most outstanding descendant, Robert Brown.

Before anyone else could speak, old Brown stood up, but he didn’t stay fair this time.

He Angrily shouted at Jason instead.

"You wretch, you are doubting my judgment?!"