When Xiao Peng went home, everyone was at home, Dai Bolong and Feng Zhi helped Xiao Peng move his things down, and when Yali and Yumei saw their gifts, they were excited not to want it!

Ally looked at the piano and wanted to play it, but it had to be repaired, so she had to put it in the warehouse first, but even so, she was still very happy.

Needless to say, Yumei even rode directly on a motorcycle to play around the town, her driving skills are really good, no matter when, the appearance of a beautiful woman riding on a heavy machine is always so eye-catching, I don't know how many tourist photos have been murdered.

However, when Yumei returned, a person who was traveling with her aroused Xiao Peng's interest.

The head of the Swiss Federal Police, Nicoletta Drava, what is she here for?

"Madame de la Valle?" Xiao Peng looked at Nicoletta de la Valle outside the door, a little puzzled.

"Just call me Nicoletta. De La Valle and Xiao shook hands.

"What's the matter with you?" Xiao Peng was puzzled, did she come to tell herself the outcome of the matter? That's not right, she's the head of the federal police department, and this is not her jurisdiction.

Nicoletta smiled, "Won't you invite me in and sit?"

"Oh, please come in!" Xiao Peng hurriedly invited Nicoletta into the living room, and An Xiaoya helped them make coffee.

"Thank you. Nicoletta thanked Ann Xiaoya.

When An Xiaoya walked out, Nicoletta went straight to the point: "Mr. Xiao, in fact, I came here this time to ask for advice." ”

Xiao Peng was stunned, what did Nicoletta have to do with herself? Is it for horse racing?

"Nicoletta, you can say something. Are you here for Elizabeth?" he thought Nicoletta had come for Elizabeth's business, but Nicoletta was stunned: "Elizabeth?

Xiao Peng looked at it, okay, in the final analysis, it was a chicken and a duck, and Xiao Peng didn't guess anymore: "Nicoletta, you still have something to say." I'm not good at guessing. ”

Nicoletta nodded and asked rhetorically, "Xiao, are you here for this year's Ice Lake Horse Racing Festival?"

Xiao Peng paused for a moment and shook his head: "No, I didn't bring a horse with me, I just came to see the excitement." ”

Nicoletta smiled: "It's a good life like yours, I think we Swiss are the most travelling people in the world, I didn't expect you Chinese people to do the same." Our favorite thing to do when we Swiss get old is to travel. ”

Xiao Peng shook his head: "No, no, no, it's really not like this, we Huaxia people are not as rich as you Swiss, and only a few people can play around." If you have money, who wouldn't want to walk around and see? ”

Nicoletta smiled slyly, "Can I understand that you are saying that you are rich?"

Xiao Peng shrugged: "I have some wealth that can support my life, in fact, in my eyes, many people's choices are wrong." For example, I don't like you Swiss people traveling when they are old, when they are old and have a lot of energy to do outside. When I was younger, if I only wanted to travel, the financial resources were not suitable, so I thought the best choice was to work 9 to 5 and wander the world at the same time. Work when it's time to work, and play on vacation after work. ”

Nicoletta looked at Xiao Peng, "Did you do the same thing?"

Xiao Peng nodded: "Of course, everyone only saw me playing around, and didn't see my efforts to participate in horse races." ”

If others hear Xiao Peng's words, they must collectively roll their eyes, what do you do, just say that you work hard? It seems that you haven't done anything but play.

Nicoletta nodded, "That's a really good point of view. ”

Xiao Peng asked, "Nicoletta, with all due respect, I still don't know what you're looking for me for?"

Nicoletta was puzzled: "Actually, there is a matter that I don't know very well now, do you know about our European nobles?"

Xiao Peng was stunned for a moment, but still nodded: "Of course I know something, you also know that the Alexandra who walked with me should be the royal family and nobles who belong to your Europe." "He didn't hide it from Nicoletta, and with Nicoletta's identity, it was impossible not to know the identities of these people. Besides, there are still two bear children here, both of whom are from the nobility! Especially Sophia, a descendant of the former 'Lord of Europe.'

Nicoletta nodded: "Of course, Ernst has a lot of connections with us in Switzerland. "Ernst is the name of Lie's father, and his first wife before marrying Ally's mother, Princess Caroline of Monaco, was the Swiss woman Chantal Hochuly.

"Shaw, what do you think of the European aristocracy?" asked Nicoletta.

Xiao Peng didn't know why, but he still answered Nicoletta's question: "According to my imagination, the nobles are all weird little old men, living in the ancient castle left by the family, and the houses are often poorly lit, with poor heating, and leaking rain in the house. You can't blame me for thinking so, almost all the nobles depicted in literature, film and television works are like this now, and the first impression when it comes to aristocrats is that they are in decline. ”

Nicoletta shook her head slightly: "Well, it's not surprising that you have this impression, but you also know that I am Swiss, and we Swiss like to use data to speak, to be precise, the ranking of the richest families in Europe has hardly changed in the past six hundred years." The famous aristocratic families of Europe survived all the social upheavals, and their wealth was not only not swallowed up by wars and revolutions, but also managed to increase in value. ”

"Nowadays, almost all of the most expensive assets in Europe, namely land and real estate, are in the hands of aristocratic families. For example, in the Eagle Country, one-third of the land in this country is held by the nobility. For example, the Duke of Westminster, even the Belgravia district, where Buckingham Palace is located, is his property, while London's famous Cardoch Square, Sloane Street, King's Road and other places are the property of the Earl of Cadogan, and Harry Street and Marylebone Mansion are the property of Lord Walden. Today, if you want to get a house in those places, you can only get a lease right for 35 years at most, and you have to pay land rent every year. ”

Nicoletta ignored Xiao Peng's confused eyes and continued: "It is said that the richest man in the world is Bezos and Bill Gates. Zuckerberg, in fact, these people's companies need to issue shares, and their property is almost at a glance, however, the wealth of those nobles is not easy to calculate, such as the property of the family of the Duke of Alva in Spain, and take out a few authentic paintings of the great painters Velaskay and Goya, and take out a few letters from Columbus. Looking for a few palaces in Madrid and Seville, how much is it worth? Now when it comes to the wealth of the Duke of Alva, some people say that it is hundreds of millions, but some people give an estimate of tens of billions, and the difference is very large, and this is because of this. ”

Although Xiao Peng still didn't understand why Nicoletta was telling him this, he still expressed his puzzlement: "As far as I know, almost all European countries have high tax rates, if you want to sell houses, famous paintings or antiques, you have to pay a lot of value-added tax of more than 35%, and the inheritance tax rate is almost even higher!

Nicoletta shook his head and said: "If ordinary people inherit real estate, in order to pay a high inheritance tax, they often choose to sell the house, but the nobles do not need to do this, directly transfer all the ownership, management and beneficiary rights of assets to the foundation, and then the operation of the foundation is a member of the family, so that future generations can continue to enjoy huge wealth without paying a penny." ”

Xiao Peng nodded, he knew this, after all, he also had his own fund.

Nicoletta continued: "If it is to sell antiques, for example, the Howard family once sold a work by the famous eighteenth-century portrait painter Joshua Reynolds for 9.4 million pounds seventeen years ago, and in order to avoid taxes, the seller gave the reason that the painting was not a work of art, but part of the interior of his castle building, and then the Court of Appeal accepted this statement, because the judge was also from a noble background, and helping the Howard family was equivalent to helping all the nobles. Although Europe has been talking about reducing the number of nobles all day long, it is useless, and now Theresa May's team includes a duke, a viscount, and three barons. ”

"Why are many nobles in the Eagle Kingdom opposed to Brexit? The reason is very simple, they have a lot of land in Europe, so they all consider themselves farmers, and they can apply for subsidies for agriculture in Brussels, and the amount of subsidies is directly linked to the land area, that is, the so-called aristocratic farmers, like your friend Alexandra and his father, can get about one million euros in agricultural subsidies every year without doing anything. And aristocrats like the Spanish Duchess of Alva, who occupy half of Spain's land, receive millions of euros in subsidies every year! As for the Eagle Nation after Brexit, those nobles will not get this money, so naturally there are opinions. ”

"But now almost all European aristocrats are very low-key, and they walk at night in brocade clothes everywhere. Now that the gap between the rich and the poor in Europe is intensifying, it is still very important to protect their lives, that is, to avoid arousing the society's high attention to their huge inheritances, gray enrichment, and tax avoidance, because the only thing that can prevent them from enjoying their huge family property is probably only public opinion and public exposure. They also understand this, so they almost always choose to live in seclusion. ”

Xiao Peng couldn't help it: "Nicoletta, what do you mean by telling me all this." ”

"I just want you to know that the real masters of its realization in Europe are still the nobles. Nicoletta had the answer.

Xiao Peng scratched his head: "Uh, Nicoletta, even if you say this, it makes sense, but it has nothing to do with me, it's too far away from my life." Although I have a few friends from aristocratic backgrounds, I really have nothing to do with their families, and I have never met them. You're talking to me about this with no brains, and I'm completely out of my head. ”