"Sir, do you have an appointment?"

The close-fitting black bandage skirt completely outlines the curves of the beautiful figure, and the long golden hair hangs neatly and closely, as if it is a soft waterfall, the pure natural color and the black of the skirt and the red of the lips complement each other, and the hormonal breath between gestures is everywhere, like a proud blooming rose, adding a touch of beautiful spring to the cold and cold air of the law firm. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Lu Li refocused and nodded, "Yes, Mark Foster, I'm Lu, and I have an appointment at two o'clock in the afternoon." ”

The beautiful woman in front of her looked down and checked, and then showed a decent smile, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Foster is waiting for your arrival." Please follow me. Then, she gracefully led the way ahead and led Lu Li into this famous law firm.

Compared with the Sotheby's auction house just now, Lu Li's mood at this time was a little mixed, a gift from a stranger, and it was also a legacy, the taste of honor and confusion, happiness and regret mixed together, it was difficult to find an accurate language. The biggest question in Lu Li's mind now is: Why him?

Not sure if this answer can be found here in Mark.

The ten-centimeter-high red heels under his feet stopped in front of him, turned around, and his long golden hair flung behind him like a waterfall, "This is it." ”

Lu Li took his gaze back, smiled at the tall beauty in front of him and nodded, and then walked into the office in front of him, and the beauty stood at the door and asked, "Mr. Lu, coffee or tea?"

Lu Li didn't have any bottom in his heart, but he didn't show the tension in his heart at all, and replied calmly, "Tea, no need to add sugar." ”

The beautiful assistant nodded politely, then stepped out and closed the office door casually.

"Good afternoon and welcome to the law firm of Will, Goschelle & Mangers. Mark, who was sitting behind the desk, stood up, motioned for Lu Li to sit down, and after a brief greeting, he didn't have any nonsense, he directly rummaged through the documents and sat up straight, "Excuse me, are you ready?"

Lu Li put his other thoughts aside for the time being, his first priority now was to figure out the ins and outs of the matter, and then make follow-up plans. Nodding in agreement, he took the document from Mark's hand and the voice of explanation came from his ear, "This is the ranch owned by Lady Elizabeth Allen......"

Located in Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, the Ritz's ranch is part of a small town called New Bronfels, a small town with a population of less than 50,000, but there are more than 45 large and small ranches nearby, which is the largest concentration of ranches in Texas after the northwest.

This place, called Beech Ranch, is not very large, only 1,500 acres, which translates to 6 square kilometers, about 6 million square meters, and can only be regarded as a small and medium-sized ranch in Texas.

The beech ranch is a family business that has been inherited for three generations, but unfortunately, since the death of Liz's husband five years ago, Liz has been supporting the operation of the entire ranch alone, and gradually unable to do so, and the profitability of the ranch has plummeted, although it has not reached the point of debt, but it is indeed difficult, and to add insult to injury, there is no successor after Liz's death, which also makes the future of the ranch even more uncertain.

After valuation, the beech pasture is now worth $3.3 million, including not only the land, but also some of the remaining property, including cattle and horses. That's a lot of money for a small and medium-sized ranch of 1,500 acres, and it's even far below the market price, and you can imagine how exhausted Liz has been running the ranch for the past few years, but now, the burden is in Lu Li's hands.

Running a ranch has never been a simple matter, although the professional work in the ranch can be found to be responsible for professionals, but as a rancher must also have enough understanding, a layman will only help him; more importantly, the rancher must have a mind about the operation, management and planning of the entire ranch, otherwise the ranch will only gradually enter a dead end and never see the dawn of development.

Even a rancher like Liz who inherited the family business is already so difficult to operate, let alone Lu Li, a layman?

Although the beech ranch is a gift from the Ritz, the current beech ranch is more like a hot potato than a gift. Not only will Lu Li not be able to make a profit from it immediately, but he also needs to continuously increase his investment - only with input can there be output, otherwise there is no way to improve the existing situation of the pasture, and in the end he will end up with nothing.

This reminded Lu Li of the Degas.

Of course, objectively speaking, after the Degas auction, Lu Li has enough funds to reinvest in the construction and operation of the ranch, but can he really turn the ranch into a profit? Is this kind of investment really a wise choice? Now that he has the first start-up capital, he can invest it in other projects, even if he does not make an investment, he can use this money to improve the current situation of his family, relatively speaking, choosing a ranch does not seem to be a wise choice.

However, the spring water and soil in the space ring, can this be an opportunity for the development of the ranch? Lu Li couldn't help but start to feel a headache, it seems that having more choices is also a kind of trouble.

"What about the part of the inheritance tax?" Lu Li knew that things were not so simple, even if a pie fell from the sky, the person standing on the ground must have enough ability, and then pay a certain price, so that the pie can be caught and digested, otherwise it is very likely that he will be stoned to death before he can die.

Mark searched for it on the table, then pulled out a document and handed it to Lu Li, and explained, "At present, the starting point for inheritance tax in the United States is 1 million, and the proportion of tax levied varies according to the amount of excess. Mark paused and looked up, "Are you taking long-term residency or ...... now?"

"Student visas. Lu Li replied.

Mark nodded in understanding, "Then the procedure is relatively simple, the amount of tax you need to pay is twenty percent, and you can see the number in the list right below." ”

Lu Li looked down, scanned it, and couldn't help but gasp: Four hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

"However, because you have a foreign passport, the tax exemption is very low, only 60,000. The final tax amount is the result of deducting 60,000 yuan from that number. After Mark finished explaining, he paused slightly, leaving free time for Lu Li to think.

This also means that Lu Li needs to pay 400,000 taxes and fees, and only after paying this fee can the beech ranch be regarded as officially changing hands.

In the morning, Lu Li was still glad that the appraisal fee of 4,800 yuan could be waived, and now there is an inheritance tax of 400,000 yuan in front of him, which is equivalent to more than 2.6 million yuan...... Less than twenty-four hours ago, he was still a decent international student with an ordinary family background, and now he began to enter and exit millions of yuan, and this gap made Lu Li's heart beat a little out of control.

Wait, Sotheby's also has a 13 percent commission...... If the transaction value is $5 million, what is 13 percent, and if the inheritance is inherited, the daily expenses and follow-up investment required for the ranch itself......

A large number of numbers were churning in his mind, and Lu Li couldn't help but smile dumbly - he still hadn't adapted to the current situation, and it was indeed a little difficult to digest so much information in just one day, and he could only think according to the thinking of a poor student now, which would definitely not solve the problem. So, he needs to calm down for a while.

"What if I can't pay this inheritance tax?" Lu Li directly asked a realistic question - this was another way for him to deal with the inheritance, at least, if he hadn't found the ring space last night, he could only deal with it now.

Mark was not surprised, in his opinion, Lu Li was an ordinary college student, and a lot of content could be seen from the detail of riding a bicycle to work yesterday, so his expression did not change, "You have two choices." First, go to the bank for a loan, use the ranch as collateral, the bank will be willing to lend to you, by the way, you don't have a student loan, right?" Lu Li nodded in affirmation, "Very good! Then the bank will pay this fee for you first, and then you can repay the bank loan every month." Second, you can auction the ranch directly, and part of the proceeds from the auction will be used to pay inheritance tax, and the rest will go to you. ”

Lu Li adjusted his sitting posture and fell into deep thought for a while.

Things were immediately much simpler, and the legacy was a gift.

If Lu Li dislikes it as a burden, he can auction it off and exchange it for cash, plus Degas's painting, he does have the opportunity to choose his life again, but ...... What should he choose? It was a question that had never really entered his mind for the previous three years, and it always seemed that working as an office worker was always his only choice, and the difference was whether he wanted to stay in the United States or go back to work in the big cities of China.

If Lu Li wants to keep this ranch, he needs to face the serious problem of turning losses into profits.

This seems like a very simple multiple-choice question. But it was not only a gift from Liz, a gift worth a thousand gold, but also an opportunity to rethink himself and look at the future, and Lu Li couldn't help but think of Fred's question last night.

Lu Li took a deep breath, temporarily suppressed his thoughts, and raised his head to look at Mark in front of him, "Is there a time limit?"

"What do you mean?" Mark didn't understand the question.

Lu Li explained, "I wondered if I could go to the ranch first to have a look, understand the specific situation, and then make a decision." ”

"Absolutely. Mark nodded, "All the heritage counts of the ranch have been completed, and I will inform my colleague in Austin and ask him to lead you on a tour of the ranch." Then he rummaged through the materials on the table, and soon found three business cards, one of which he handed to Lu Li, "After you arrive in Austin, just contact him." We'll talk when you get back to New York. ”

A walk around the ranch may be able to find some clues to why Liz left the ranch to him, perhaps help him decide what to do with the gift, and maybe clear his mind and replan for the future. In this way, even if the ranch is auctioned off in the end, at least he will give Liz an explanation, which is the most basic etiquette as a friend.

He decided to head to the beech pasture!

Suddenly, Lu Li remembered Alice's invitation. Originally, he refused to travel to Miami because he wanted to stay in New York to work and not have other plans, but now that his plans have really changed, he needs to make a trip to Texas, and it seems that his life will be very fulfilling during the following spring break.

Is this just a coincidence, or is it a joke of fate?