Jasper stared at Terence in shock.
To be honest, he did not achieve much in his past life. He did not meet up much with his relatives either and had never interacted much with Darrel and Terence Laine. Therefore, he had no idea what their personalities were like.
In his current life, Jasper would like to think that he had met quite a number of people; He had also dealt with all sorts of people.
However, he had never expected Terence Laine to go beyond his expectations of what it meant to be shameless.
The last time that Jasper had felt this way was when he was dealing with Penelope Hunt and her family.
Even when compared to them, Terence Laine was still the gold-standard.
“Why should I give you my money if I’m wealthy? Furthermore, it’s 200000 dollars that you’re asking for. Don’t you know that the average salary for a job out there is only a few hundred dollars? It’s considered a huge benefit if you have a salary of a thousand dollars,” Jasper told him.
Terence sneered coldly and waved his hand. “Stop spewing such nonsense. Aren’t you filthy rich? We’re all relatives. Shouldn’t you help us out if you’re rich? Do you want to see us suffer due to poverty? You’ve helped my brother as well. In that case, it isn’t too much to ask you to give me 200000 dollars, right?” He questioned.
“I funded your brother simply because I thought that his business would he profitable. Besides, I did not lend your brother the money. It was an investment. In other words, I’d invest this sum of money all the same even if he was a mere stranger instead of Darrel Laine,” Jasper said calmly.
“I’m doing this because it’s business, not because he’s my relative.
“I can support you if you have the capabilities, business idea, and are willing to put in the effort. However, look at you. You’re incapable and you don’t have any plans. You’re only asking me for money. Do you think that my wallet is an ATM? Do you think that you can take my money whenever you want?
“Everyone here is our relative. They all know my family’s situation. We were the poorest among everyone in the past. All of you were more well off in comparison to my family.
“Why didn’t you help out my family back then, Terence Laine?”
Jasper’s words rendered Terence speechless. There was no way for him to argue against that.
Jasper turned away from Terence, whose expression was tainted with anger. He looked around the room and gazed at each of his relatives’ faces intently. He then continued speaking in a loud, clear voice.
“Half of the people here are my elders, whereas one-third of them are around the same age as I am. The remaining third of them are my nephews and nieces. We all share the same origin. We’re all from the same family.
“I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve managed to achieve some recognition and success for our family. However, I’ll say a few words without shame today.
“Be it relatives or friends, my words to you are the same. I’ll offer my support to anyone with the capabilities, ideas, and is willing to put in great amounts of effort. However, anyone who thinks that I’m an easy target or believes that I’m obligated to give out money to everyone now that I’m wealthy should just save their efforts.
“That’s all I want to say. Don’t mind me. You guys can start eating and drinking. Anyways, I’ll take care of everything here. If the hospitality is inadequate, it’ll be my fault. You guys can scold me all you want. However, if you’re deliberately here to cause trouble, I won’t welcome or serve you.”
Back at the main table, Sally Lard tapped Charlie Laine. “Won’t it reflect badly on Jasp if he says something like this?” She asked him worriedly.
Charlie had an even and controlled expression on his face. “It won’t reflect badly on him. He’s simply stating facts. I don’t think that Jasp said anything wrong. He has my support,” he said.
After that, Charlie fixed a gratified gaze upon Jasper. “I’m old now. Our son has really grown up,” he remarked.
The other relatives looked at each other in silence.
Jasper’s uncle glared at Terence and growled impatiently, “Why are you still standing there? Scram!”
Terence’s face flushed red in anger as he cast a vicious glare at Jasper. He then turned around and walked away.
