Hearing John Rupert's precarious rhetoric, Van Birsson is not at all surprised.

Van Birsson, who is European himself, understands this inexplicable sense of superiority.

For those who consider themselves "aristocrats", as early as 150 years ago, when Maupassant wrote "Balls of Sheep Fat" and Flaubert wrote "Madame Bovary", they used whether they had a "fiefdom ancestral inheritance" to measure the difference between themselves and the nouveau riche emerging capitalists.

Perhaps, this also explains why the real estate industry has always had such a vigorous speculative vitality. In any era, there is a scarce location, a prime manor, a castle, can open the gap between them and the guy who has just become rich.

People who have money and don't buy houses and land are in their eyes brocade clothes at night.

This can also explain the difficulty of building luxury brands in mainland China - the impression of mainlanders to the world is that "they are all poor people who have gone back 20 years, and even now they are only passers-by who have rented houses for 70 years". This impression is diametrically opposed to the image required by the luxury industry of the aristocracy.

Fortunately, Lan Fang has always retained the freehold property rights of the land after all, as well as the aristocratic remnant system since the end of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in the future, Lanfang will engage in luxury industry, even if it is only a holding luxury industry, which is much better than that of the mainland, and if it is operated properly, it will still have the opportunity to arouse the admiration of foreigners.

On this point, Van Birsson, who was entrusted with it, of course, tried his best to clear his employer's name:

"Your Excellency, it seems that your consultation is a bit backward and a little misunderstood. Why is it that Gu Kun is not a nobleman and has no fief? The Lanfang Islands, where he is located, are typical monarchies, and Gu Kun's land in Lanfang is not all bought with money, and some of it is given to him by giving him the royal family's state-owned land.

What's more, the current Lan Fang Grand Duke Zhu Youdong seems to be extremely important to Gu Kun, Zhu Youdong lost his son in the early years because of the struggle with the Brittany, and there is only one daughter under his knees, and it is rumored in Southeast Asian countries that Gu Kun was recruited by the Grand Duke of Lan Fang, it is simply easy, even if he is canonized as an earl in the future, there is no problem. ”

In the Western tradition, it is generally given to people who did not have a noble title in the previous generation, and the first time they were knighted for merit, the highest is to the earl, and that was before the 19th century. After modern times, even in a constitutional monarchy, a lord is generally given, which is lower than a baron, and there is no fief but only a title.

As for the marquis and duke, they all require birth components, even in ancient times, the king could not be crowned a commoner as a duke. Therefore, in the amorous romances written by Maupassant Flaubert's generation, those coquettish and dissolute nobleladies are basically countesses, and there are no ladies of the duke's family - Maupassant knows very well in his heart that if he dares to fabricate glamorous history on those marquises, he will also be harmonious.

(After World War II, Bu Guo proposed to let Qiu Fatzi be crowned Duke of Lun, but that was because Qiu Fatzi's ancestors were dukes, but he was not a descendant and could not inherit the title, but it still belonged to the scope of 'being canonized as a duke because of merit'.) ）

As soon as Rupert heard that Gu Kun was also a person who had half a foot in the aristocratic circle, his attitude suddenly had to change slightly.

In fact, it is also to blame Gu Kun for rising too fast, and did not give him time to react if he didn't care about him - in terms of family property, although Gu Kun's current assets are not as large as Richemont's family business, they are already much more than the Rupert family's $14 billion assets. (Richemont has many shareholders and is not wholly owned by the Rupert family)

It's a pity that Gu Kun's family fortune surpassed the Rupert family, which was about after the end of the Southeast Asian financial crisis and the repulsion of Soros. It's only been more than five months, a lot of money hasn't been realized yet, and there hasn't been any new big news recently.

That's why I was underestimated by someone for a time difference.

Rupert pondered again and again, and asked Van Bilsson in a gentle tone: "Then I also have a few friends of old aristocrats in the real estate industry in Xiangjiang, and I heard them say that Gu Kun is a nouveau riche, and he can't even afford a mansion, so he can only live in a poor country like Lanfang, how can this be explained?"

Van Bilson smiled lightly: "How can these words be believed? That's because Gu Kun's attitude has always been to sing about Xiangjiang Real Estate, he looks down on those luxury houses in Xiangjiang, and he doesn't buy them because he thinks it's not worth it, it's just a matter of investment vision." Because he is working against those real estate developers, of course the four major real estate families will not say good things about him.

I have two very clear evidences: first, Gu Kun is in Lanfang, and now he is planning an earth-shattering major real estate construction project, which is extremely luxurious.

A few days ago, he took his fiancée to Liechtenstein for a visit, because Liechtenstein has no airport, he flew to Munich, and felt that the surrounding environment of Munich was good. ”

It will not take until 99 years for the EU to use the euro uniformly, so the Germans still use the mark to denominate, and the exchange rate of the mark can now be about 4 cents and 5 cents against the US dollar, so more than a billion marks will be at least seven or eight billion US dollars.

John Rupert was finally shocked, and couldn't help but point to the north: "You say it's those German castles on the other side of the lake? ”

Van Birsson shrugged his shoulders and said indifferently: "It seems that one of the estates of His Excellency Albrecht was disposed of by his entrusted lawyer." ”

John Rupert was completely stunned.

Of course, he knew that the castle on the other side, which was one of the country palaces of the Bavarian royal family, although it was far less powerful than Neuschwanstein Castle, but it was definitely the highest grade in the castle manor on the shore of Lake Constance.

As for the Lord Albrecht mentioned by Van Birsson, he was the second son and heir of the last Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke/Marshal Ruprecht (but not the title of "duke", because the kingdom ceased to exist after World War I)

His Excellency Albrecht died at the age of 92 at the end of 1996, and the family's palace in Bavaria, South Germany, of course, was overwhelming, and it was only natural that their children and grandchildren would have to sell part of their ancestral property due to insufficient cash flow and uneven distribution when dealing with the inheritance. The lawyers of the Ferdinand family have been helping to find buyers for the past two years.

Who knew that this time he caught up with Gu Kun to buy it, and he bought it in the name of Grand Duke Lan Fang, without using his own name, which was more or less a face-saving thing for the Germans, and the other party sold it happily - after all, even if other buyers could afford the same money as Gu Kun, they didn't have a "knighthood".

Gu Kun gave them a face, and let a foreign grand duke buy their extra castle, which also showed that they were not in decline.

Don't look at the small country and poor people, but their international reputation is still very positive. As soon as it is said that it has a long history and is a continuation of the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, it makes people have a kind of courtesy to the ancient civilization of the East.

"This Gu Kun is actually so deeply involved in the Lan Fang royal family, and it is not easy to underestimate it when he suddenly puts on such a posture...... It seems that those declining aristocrats who we usually have to be courteous to each other have a common language with that Gu Kun......

John Rupert had to secretly adjust his attitude towards Gu Kun.

He held back his anger for a while, rearranged his expression, and instructed Van Birsson with a pleasant face: "Then I am willing to be a guest and discuss the issue of equity replacement of its sub-brands with him on an equal footing, and you can reconcile it in the middle." ”

"Well, it's all about what I'm supposed to do. Van Birsson was also happy to see the success of the matchmaking, and at the same time secretly thought in his heart: Gu Kun has been like electricity these days, and he has spent so much money to buy a castle, and the money is really worth it.

Defa Yi Ori, the declining aristocracy and luxury tycoon of the five countries around the Alps, all attach great importance to buying real estate in the Alpine scenic area. Being able to get a lakeside manor with a hot spring meadow is almost the top standard shared by these people.

Not only the Rupert family values this, but also LVMH boss Arnault and Kering boss François Pinault. (Later, after the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, Arnault and François Pinault immediately announced that they would donate 100 million euros for restoration, but neither seems to have donated yet.) When the boss of a luxury group encounters the destruction of monuments, it seems that he has to act)

Throwing a sum of money and being able to integrate into this circle quickly is really cost-effective.

......

At the same moment, on the north shore of Lake Constance,

In a castle backed by a cedar forest on the slopes of the Alps and facing the lake, Zhu Youran, who went abroad for the first time in many years, followed behind her fiancé Gu Kun, greedily looking at the beautiful scenery in front of him, leisurely fascinated.

Of course, this fiancé is just a name, and she doesn't know it yet, but her father Zhu Youdong has already promised Gu Kun in private. Zhu Youran herself was instructed this time only to let her follow Gu Kun to visit abroad.

The day before yesterday, they had just gone to Liechtenstein and had a lively conversation with the Prince of Liechtenstein and his wife and daughter. Then, during this period, Gu Kun made an appointment in advance and quietly bought a castle worth more than a billion marks in the name of Zhu Youran.

"I always thought that I was tired of watching water in my life. Lan Fang is right by the sea, and for as long as I can remember, every day when I get up and open the curtains, I can see the sea. Unexpectedly, this kind of alpine snow lake has a unique charm, and it is as pure as the Sailim Lake in Xinjiang and the Tibetan land I saw on the Internet. ”

Zhu Youran looked at it for a long time and sighed sincerely.

Gu Kun was behind her, stroking her shoulders, very gentlemanly: "Of course, the lakes you mentioned are all formed by snowmelt in the Himalayas and Tianshan Mountains, and this is formed by snowmelt in the Alps, which is definitely not equal, as pure." And one of the advantages of this place over the Tianshan Mountains is that there are hot springs here - castles of similar size, in order to have natural hot springs and no hot springs, the price difference can be several hundred million marks. ”

Gu Kun is still very human, Zhu Youran will only turn 16 years old after the New Year, of course he will not have any inappropriate thoughts about Zhu Youran. Anyway, he usually enjoys enough singing every night, and occasionally he is indifferent for a month or two.

Zhu Youran pointed to the dock by the lake and asked, "Tomorrow you will negotiate with that Swiss luxury tycoon, right? Do you say that it is better for us to play golf or yachts? I really didn't expect that next to this kind of plateau snow lake, there is actually a shipyard for building luxury yachts, and if you buy a yacht here, it is estimated that you can only use it in this lake for the rest of your life? It's quite a waste of money, right? ”

Gu Kun smiled slightly: "Isn't it enough? This lake is also more than 500 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 20% of Taihu Lake." ”

Of course, the castle that Gu Kun bought has all the facilities, and his extreme desire for luxury has just begun.