While he was still in the carriage, Barnett introduced the details of the house he was going to see this time: "George, the first property we are going to see is the ancestral property of Viscount Ainos. ”

"This property was built by the second Viscount of Ainos and has been around for at least one hundred and fifty years. The house was very quiet, and the most rare thing was that there was a small garden at the back of the house, which is rare in the London city. However, due to the stubbornness of the Ainos family, no remodeling has been done since the construction of this house, and the facilities inside are relatively backward and old, and it will take some time to renovate them if they are bought. ”

Wickham was a little interested, and asked with great interest, "Built by the second Viscount of Enos?" So this family is a noble family with a long history, right? I just don't know why such a prominent family would sell their ancestral property? Under the influence of his ears and eyes, Wickham also understands the temperament of the British aristocracy in this era, and the British aristocracy is arrogant and conservative, and has a better face than the Chinese. Unless it is to the point of exhaustion, it is impossible for these old stubborns to do such a face-damaging thing as selling their ancestral property.

"George, you've guessed right, the Ainos family does have a long history, dating back to the Wars of the Roses. At that time, the ancestor of the Ainos family was only a knight under the York family, and in the case of many nobles who died in battle, the Ainos family seemed to have been blessed by God, not only the family men rarely died in battle, but the title was getting bigger and bigger, and when the War of the Roses ended, the Ainos family had already obtained the title of an earl. ”

However, at the time of the Glorious Revolution, the Ainos family was stripped of the title by Queen Mary because of their strong support for the Catholic King James II. The title of viscount of the Ainos family was only restored by George I when the royal family of Hanover landed in England. As a member of London's aristocratic circles, Barnett was well aware of the family history of these nobles, so he briefly introduced the seller of the property.

You know, the War of the Roses was like a war in which the English aristocracy committed suicide en masse, and many ancient nobles have since disappeared into history. Objectively speaking, the reason why the bourgeois revolution broke out in England first had a lot to do with the collective suicide of the aristocracy. Because the power of the aristocratic clique was greatly weakened in this war, this gave the bourgeoisie room to rise. And the Ainos family was able to survive this aristocratic catastrophe and get the title of an earl, such a family is definitely not simple.

"Oh? So why did the fifth Viscount of Ainos sell their family's ancestral property? Wickham thought to himself, maybe this is another bridge of declining aristocracy, such things have not stopped in Britain after the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the First World War, the British aristocracy had completely lost control of British politics and economics.

Barnett sighed and sighed: "The descendants of the Ainos family are not as good as their ancestors, but they live a good life with the family business saved by their fathers. Unfortunately, the Anos family has been a loser since the time of Queen Mary, and the Anos family's vast estates in Yorkshire have been squandered, and by the time of my friend's fifth Viscount of Anos, the whole family was left with only a few small estates in the south of England. A few days ago, my friend was in big trouble, so he sold his house in London. ”

"Oh, did your friend put his whole net worth up during a horse or greyhound race?" The British are good at gambling, which is recognized by the whole world, so Wickham said half-jokingly.

"No, no, no, in fact my friend never goes to the racetrack to place a bet." Barnett shook his head helplessly, "To be precise, Viscount Ainos was deceived by his good friend. A good friend of Ainos specializes in investing in French government bonds in the Paris bond market, but unfortunately his business failed and he owes a large sum of money. The fellow did not make a statement when he returned to London, and took the trouble to ask Viscount Ainos to be his guarantor, and then committed suicide with a gun. In this way, a huge debt fell on the poor fellow of Ainos, and not on the wife and daughter of his friend. Oh God, that's a debt of 160,000 pounds! ”

Ye Shihan Bingxue in the carriage was smart and quickly understood, and then asked in a low voice: "Mr. Barnett, your friend sold the property to pay off this debt?" ”

Barnett saw that the oriental beauty beside Wickham finally spoke, and hurriedly said politely, "You're right, Miss Ye." In fact, he also sold several estates in the countryside, which should be able to barely pay off these debts. Although from a legal point of view, there is a high probability that the deed of guarantee will be invalid, and he will not have to bear the debts of his friends. But I very much agree with what he did, so that my friend's reputation for trustworthiness spread throughout England, and was worth more than £160,000. Barnett was still so old that he quickly analyzed the pros and cons of the matter.

Wickham habitually shrugged his shoulders and said, "What Viscount Enos does has nothing to do with me, what I care about is whether I can buy that mansion or not." ”

By the end of the conversation, the carriage had stopped on the wide gravel street, and on the right side of the street was a quaint house, in front of the main building was a small fountain pool, and in the center of the pool was a statue of the Virgin with Jesus in her arms. The exterior walls of the house have been baptized by rain for many years, showing a mottled appearance of time, and green vines surround the first and second floors of the building, making people feel like they are in a green castle.

Due to the scarcity of land in London, most of the houses in the London city are slightly narrow townhouses, even in the wealthy areas, and independent villas with small gardens such as the Enos Mansion are very valuable. In London, where luxury is rampant, the style of this building is not outstanding or even a little old. But Wickham fell in love with the place at first sight, and it has to be said that it is very lucky to have such a quiet place in the crowded and chaotic London.

The porter, a lame old man, opened the iron door with the coat of arms with some difficulty, then took off his hat and said, "Mr. Barnett, our viscount has been waiting for a long time. "Barnett has a good personal relationship with Viscount Ainos, and most of the servants here know him.

Barnett nodded to the porter, and then walked inside with Wickham and Ye Shihan. After seeing Ye Shihan's appearance clearly, the old door was stunned on the spot, although Ye Shihan changed into a corset before going out and put on a purple veil, but her temperament full of oriental classical charm really couldn't be hidden, plus the jet-black hair that was different from the white man, the old door recognized at a glance that this young lady with a veil was a foreigner!

"Haha, Barnett, you're half an hour late, that's not your style. By the way, these two must be friends who are looking to buy a property, right? The one standing in front of the three of them was a young man in his early twenties in a red hunting suit, and he was the heir to this mansion, the fifth Viscount of Ainos.

Barnett stepped forward and punched Viscount Ainos in the shoulder, and said very intimately, "It's only half an hour, and I'm a lot more punctual than those damned Genoese." This is my colleague in the military, George Wickham, and this is Wickham's female companion, Miss Ye. Although Barnett didn't say it explicitly, Viscount Enos knew that the Wickham in front of him was the owner of the house that was going to buy his house.

Enos politely lifted the brim of his hat and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wickham, and I hope you will make a wonderful memory at the Ainos Mansion." This sentence is very subtle, in fact, it is a hint that Wickham can pay for the house if he is satisfied with it.

When Ainos's gaze turned to Ye Shihan, a trace of surprise and amazement flashed on his face, but it quickly returned to normal: "Beautiful Miss Ye, welcome to Ainos Mansion." ”

"You're welcome, Your Excellency Viscount Ainos." Ye Shihan's not-so-standard accent made Ainos even more convinced that the lady in front of him was an exotic beauty. Thinking that Barnett had mentioned that he and Wickham were serving in the fleet to China together, Ainos looked clear and confirmed Ye Shihan's identity.

Viscount Ainos is polite, and there is no arrogance in his eyes that old nobles often have, so Wickham has a good impression of him, so he replied with a smile: "I think Miss Ye and I will like it here." If you don't mind, can you show us around this magnificent mansion? ”

Enos bowed his waist and made a gesture of please: "Gladly, Mr. Wickham." ”

Under the leadership of Viscount Ainos, Wickham and the other three turned around the mansion. Amazingly, influenced by the medieval heritage of the Ainos family, the mansion's ballroom is huge, with a 22-foot vault made entirely of grey rock, which can accommodate two or three hundred guests.

In addition to the Western-style style that is completely different from the Chinese style, Ye Shihan is not much amazed by the Ainos mansion, and the Ye family's mansion in Guangzhou is seven or eight times larger than here.

And the most amazing thing is the master's study, which is no smaller than Viscount Bernard's study, Wickham casually looked through a few books, and found that there was even an ancient Greek document hand-copied by an Irish monk more than 800 years ago!

Looking at the medieval manuscripts in his hand, Wickham almost flowed out, and these unique copies were definitely worth more than 10 million dollars at auction in later generations!

After the three of them were seated, Viscount Ainos said frankly, "Mr. Wickham, I believe you have learned from elsewhere about our family's current predicament. To tell you the truth, the Ainos family now has nothing but a title of nobility, and I urgently need a sum of money, a lot of money. If you like the house, for £30,000, we can hire a lawyer to draft the transfer documents today. ”

The predicament of the Ainos family is now well known in the upper class of London, so Viscount Ainos simply and honestly stated his family's predicament, so that the buyer can feel that he is sincere enough.

Wickham knew Viscount Ainos's thoughts, but he didn't care, and said bluntly: "Don't hide it from Your Excellency, I am very satisfied with this mansion, but is the price a little too high?" "King George III bought Buckingham Mansion (later Buckingham Palace) for only £21,000, and the price of Ainos was already a bit of a sheep slaughter.

Viscount Ainos shook his head and retorted, "Mr. Wickham, I won't take anything with me except for the family's collection, and this price is not too high. There is also an Andalusian horse and a carriage in the stables, how about my gift to Mr. Wickham? "Viscount Ainos plans to leave the UK, and he can't take these things with him, so it's better to use them as a bargaining chip to sell the house, and he can also be a favor.

Glancing at the books in the study, Wickham suddenly noticed in his heart: "If His Excellency Viscount Ainos can give me the books in the study, I can raise the price to thirty-five thousand pounds!" ”

Wickham was not a scholar and had little interest in those books. He did this, just like the rich people who broke out in China in later generations, he needed some props to decorate his taste, and these rich collections of books were undoubtedly a good prop.

Ainos was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "This is impossible, Mr. Wickham, these books are the work of the Ainos family for generations, and it is impossible for me to sell these books!" ”

Wickham frowned and pretended to be pity: "If that's the case, I have to say I'm sorry." "Wickham is playing the old trick of trying to get away with it, and while it's nothing new, it's one of the most effective tactics in the market.

Unexpectedly, Viscount Ainos did not show the slightest sign of taking the bait, but said with a straight face: "Mr. Wickham, since this is the case, we have nothing to talk about." Wickham chuckled in his heart, he didn't expect this Viscount of Enos to be so resolute, which put him in a dilemma, neither to leave nor to stay.

Seeing that the two were talking stiffly, Barnett hurriedly interjected: "Ainos, aren't you going to the United States, are you sure you can take these things across the ocean?" There are many books in it that have been preserved for hundreds of years, and if they get damp at sea, wouldn't it be a great loss to human civilization? Truth be told, George is the author of a collection of poems, Ode to Freedom, and he recently translated a book from China that is about to be published. There is absolutely no problem with handing over these books of your family to George for safekeeping, so that you can also go to the United States to develop with peace of mind, right? ”

"It turns out that Mr. is the author of the poetry collection Ode to Freedom! Great, sir, I like your Ode to the West Wind the most, these poems of yours completely open up a new genre of profit! With some excitement, Viscount Ainos took a beautifully bound book of poems from the shelf,

"Sir, I can write down the poems in this book word for word." There are not 1,000 but 800 people called Wickham in Britain, and at first Enos really didn't associate Wickham with the popular poet Wickham in the last two years, after all, Wickham now appears as an officer, and has nothing to do with the image of the poet.

Wickham was confused by this dramatic scene, he didn't expect that this Viscount Enos turned out to be a young man, but the praise in his mouth made him blush a little, and the poems in it were all plagiarized by him in order to earn manuscript fees, which was really deserved.

"I didn't expect my poems to be read by His Excellency the Viscount, what an honor."

Barnett wanted such an effect, striking the railroad while it was hot: "Ainos, what about these books......"

Listening to Barnett's words, Enos looked a little gloomy, and was silent for a while before looking up at Wickham: "A person who can write such beautiful and sensual poetry must also be a lover of books." Mr. Wickham, I would like to entrust you with these books, and I hope you will preserve the efforts of the Enos family for generations! ”

Seeing that Viscount Ainos was so pious, Wickham was ashamed of the idea of buying books to decorate his taste just now, and then said solemnly: "Viscount Ainos, don't worry, I will definitely keep these books well!" And I promise you that the collection of books of the Wickham family will always be open to the people of the Ainos family. ”

Then, as quickly as possible, Ainos called a lawyer and a notary public to come and draw up a transfer agreement. Wickham also happily paid for the purchase of the house with a cashier's check from the Bank of England.

Since then, the Ainos Mansion has been officially renamed the Wickham House.