Anna used her pen to fill in the date and a long string of zeros on the private checkbook, without lifting her head.

"If you propose, you still have your current girlfriend with you, it's unacceptable to be open."

She also switched to French.

"Just for fun, cousin...... Anna, who isn't like that? All around us, the Puritan rich boy is like a zero-calorie diet chocolate butter cake or a peace-loving extremist, which is a completely false proposition. ”

Ole didn't care at all, looking at the side at all, I don't know how many girlfriends this year is.

"Unless he's a GAY, the person you know, who is so innocent, doesn't have two female lovers, I'm just always very real and don't hide myself in front of you."

"You've called me cousin since I was a child, Cousin Ole."

Anna smiled absently.

"So what's the matter, we are only two months apart in age, and we have grown up together closely, and the direct blood relationship between us will not be closer than the blood relationship between Princess Diana and the Prince......

The more Ole spoke, the more excited he became.

He wanted to stare into Miss Elena's eyes and tell him what he was feeling.

It's a pity that the other party always keeps his head down and unhurriedly processes the information on the large check.

Ole had to turn his head to look out the window at the sea of clouds and the vast fields of flowers.

The sun began to slowly fall in the west,

From the asymmetrical manor garden of the classicist style to the distant lake, the distant sunset dyes the water vapor of the lake into the color of blood and rouge, like a gorgeous crimson light veil that lingers over the old manor.

Even though Ole had seen the same image here countless times, every time he felt that such a scene had a beautiful and unearthly appearance.

Just like every time Ole saw his cousin.

How many of the young people of their generation covet each other's beauty.

From the moment they first understood what beauty was, Anna was undoubtedly the goddess in their hearts.

"I'm going to marry Miss Elena!"

"No, Countess Elena is mine!"

"Die, you are not allowed to rob ......"

When I was a child, the little boys in several circles got into a mess with each other because of this kind of thing, and this kind of brain-dead deeds that are almost idiotic to the point of bubbling up now, have happened more than once in the growth of their generation.

Because of the godmother.

Ole was one of the few people of the opposite sex closest to Anna since he was a child.

As soon as I thought that the other person might become "Mrs. So-and-so", kissing with some hellish guy under the walnut forest.

It was like smoldering coals of fire in his chest.

Unless the title becomes Mrs. Kruger,

In an instant, Ole became refreshed.

“…… These idiot sluts with brains no bigger than a third of their breasts can't even compare to a single hair of yours, Cousin Anna, in my heart. I've really liked you since I was a kid. As soon as you nod your head, I'll kick them all out of the way and become a dedicated husband. ”

With the words that have been brewing in my heart for many years, I poured out in an instant. Ole felt as light as a swallow, and his whole body became relaxed.

He thinks that he and the other party, this is simply a match made in heaven.

Reasonable,

Cousin Anna didn't have any reason to refuse.

Is there any man who can enter Anna's heart better than him?

"Think of what a great celebration it would be in our circles for Kruger and Elena, the union of these two ancient and glorious surnames. Cousin Anna, your previous little mistake is not worth mentioning, and the ancient royal families of the whole world will bless us. ”

"You are not only my cousin, but also my wife, and the Elena family has been passed down from generation to generation, and there is only one heir in this generation, Anna. But the Krugers have always been thriving. I have seven siblings of my own, and I am strong, intelligent, and functional, and we should have many children. I wouldn't even mind giving them the last name Yelena if you insisted. ”

Ole was already immersed in fantasy, he said in a trance.

"Our children will have blue eyes and Caesar's noble black hair, and they will be as beautiful as you are like the elves of the woods. Boys are in finance, girls are in the arts. With such noble bloodlines and excellent upbringing, they are the natural rulers of this world even if the empire is no longer there. Do you know our family's ability in the financial industry, maybe we can build a huge art fund with a scale of more than 10 billion euros. ”

He withdrew his gaze from the window, turned his head, and looked at Anna with emotion.

Ole was a little disappointed.

The cousin didn't seem to be infected by his impassioned speech.

Miss Elena just calmly filled out the name and other information on the checkbook, her thin lips lightly opened, and she gently read the long poem-like text.

"I am not your slave, but your guest...... The barren woman is like a dry river, and the woman has the responsibility to bring the dead wood to fruit, and to make the wasteland vibrant, just as the Nile moistens the earth. My breasts are good at nurturing love and life, and my hips are curved and round. I am the Nile. The goddess Esses told me through the sacrifice that I am good at bearing children, and that our children will rule over all the lands from the Nile to the Mediterranean. ”

Anna leisurely recited this classic line in human film history spoken by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra", which seemed to be a clear spring.

In the movie,

Dressed in a carpet and coated with gold dust, Cleopatra came to the tent of Julius Caesar in Rome and said something in a charming manner.

She is obviously seeking pleasure, but she is so ambitious and charming, like a glass of poisoned wine with gold dust wafting.

A majestic man like Julius Caesar could not avoid drinking it, laying the groundwork for the collapse and division of Rome in the future.

"Miss, I didn't pronounce this line wrong, did I?"

Anna turned her head to ask the sexy girl who was confused by the brief conversation between her and Ole because she couldn't understand French.

"That's right...... Well, it's just a little too cold to be wavy enough...... Uh, it's not amorous enough, sister, if you want to develop in the entertainment industry, it's actually not suitable to take the route of a charming goblin like Cleopatra. You're not that type. I think you're more like Hepburn than Elizabeth Taylor. ”

The actress looked Anna up and down and made suggestions from her own professional perspective.

"No need, there are already enough people to wave. He couldn't wait to climb into my bed with gold dust on it. ”

Anna chuckled, turned her head and said, "Ole, if we go to a stage play someday." Looks like I'm better suited to play Caesar than you do. ”

Her Excellency the Countess does not seem to have any interest in continuing on this topic.

"Grab your check, I'm going to rest. If you want to stay here tonight, the housekeeper will take you to your room. ”

Anna pressed the small bell to the side, ready to call for the nurse to push her away.

"Cousin Anna, I'm serious!"

Ole is a little angry!

He was obviously so serious, such an affectionate confession, he had never expressed it to anyone other than Anna's cousin.

If Ole had said something like that in the bar, staring into some girl's eyes.

This level of emotional investment is enough for him to sleep with a strengthened girl.

But in the face of her confession, Anna only treated him as a child performing a stage play, which made Ole very dissatisfied and annoyed.

He grabbed Anna's wrist.

"Mr. Ole von Kruger. You're out of shape. ”

Anna slowly raised her head and stared at her cousin beside her.

Miss Elena, if she could stand up, would be a head shorter than Ole, and her wrists would be slender and boneless.

However, when the girl, who was only two months older than him, called his full name. The muscles in Ole's body still shook unconsciously.

At this moment,

Ole seemed to see his godmother's soul revived in his cousin, and he didn't have to shout, and he was self-sufficient.

And he became the little boy who stood in the garden.

"You know what? Actually, when I received that painting today, I was always angry. Why do I have to talk about it and embarrass each other? ”

Anna had a mockery in her eyes: "Is it your own intention to propose to me, or is it your father's intention?" ”

"This ......"

"Am I wrong?" She said softly.

Every year for her birthday or Christmas, the girl receives a gift from Ole's father, Mr. Kruger.

It usually consists of a gold-plated fountain pen, a gown brooch, or a bone china tea set.

It's never been so expensive this year.

Unlike the pompous cousin Ole, a veteran banker like Mr. Kruger is quite frugal and serious, and can even be called stingy.

The gifts that the other party gave to their families were probably all these things.

In Anna's memory,

Mr. Kruger was reluctant to even repair the hole in the velvet curtain in his study.

This kind of bank financier must see a return on every big investment, or at least be meaningful.

This time was no exception.

The moment Anna unscrewed the aluminum painting barrel, she understood what the other party wanted to express.

An eighteenth-century painting of Princess Teresa by Madame Verry Lebrun – a clever metaphor for the rise and fall of aristocracy, the honor of the family and the fate of the artist.

Madame de Le Brun became famous because of the favor of Queen Mary, and went into exile because of the fall of the Bourbon dynasty.

Madame Lebrun, a female painter, lived in exile for the second half of her life.

Misunderstood as a defender of the monarchy during the war-clouds in Europe, Russia honored her because of her close ties to the Bourbon court, becoming the first female "honorary teacher" in the history of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.

Princess Teresa, the owner of the portrait, is another part of this metaphor.

Princess Teresa's mother was Anna's hometown, Queen Mary, who held the title of Duchess of Austria and was known for her glitz, love of art, and ignorance of society.

as everyone knows

She died in the guillotine designed by her husband, and at the age of 11, Princess Teresa was infertile for life due to prolonged rape and torture.

From a historical point of view,

The end of Louis XVI's family was certainly not very innocent. But at least the fate of the little girl's life is like God playing a vicious joke on her.

When she was born, her mother held her in her arms and cried excitedly: "You are not a son, the boy belongs to the country, and you belong only to me, you will have everything, peace and joy." ”

This prophecy is only valid for a short period of ten years.

During the existence of the Bourbons, Teresa was the eldest princess with all the joy and peace she had, and she had the best personal teacher to teach her etiquette and art.

When the Bourbon dynasty fell, all she had was blown away by the rain and wind, and she fell into the abyss of hell with the sinking ship.

"Miss Yelena. You should understand that the family is everything to you, and all that remains is the vines wrapped around this tree. ”

With Anna's intelligence,

The moment she saw the painting, she could hear the mocking voice of the old-fashioned Prussian banker with the mustache through the surface of the painting.

even

Anna didn't think it was a simple coincidence that Ole had mentioned Uncle Kara's affair.

Uncle Kara's attempt to cheat money from the surname Elena is not necessarily a trap on the part of Mr. Kruger.

That idiot is simply a brainless one.

There are flaws all over his body, and doing such stupid things is completely in Uncle Kara's usual style.

Mr. Krueger only gave a timely boost, and then lightly eliminated the reputational crisis of the Elena family like a savior.

People are telling you clearly.

Miss Elena - you're just a brainless kid who can't afford to take care of your big family business.

Why don't you marry my son?

Marrying my son has solved all the problems.

"Cousin...... To be honest, my father gave me hints on the way I came, but my feelings for you are genuine. ”

Ole curtled as he explained.

He was indeed on his way to the manor when he received a call from his father, suggesting that he could release the charm of a man to the other party.

otherwise

He wouldn't have been stupid enough to come with his female companion.

Perhaps in Mr. Kruger's eyes, it doesn't matter whether his son is single-minded or abusive.

The main purpose of marrying a family like theirs is to show the benefits that each other can bring.

Centuries ago,

The same is true centuries later.

At most, after getting married, they will play their own games.

This does not appear to be hypocritical or pretentious.

"And, if you think about it, art and money have always been two sides of the same coin, and how much of a benefit can be achieved by combining the two. Soon, the name Elena would become as famous as Barnes and Rockefeller. ”

"No, in the field of art, she has long been as famous as Barnes and Rockefeller, and in less than twenty years—"

Ole looked yearning and proud: "—in less than twenty years, she will become the next Medici...... The Medici family in the 21st century. ”

Telephones on airplanes,

Daddy Mr. Kruger only briefly mentioned his financial ideas to him, and Ole felt irrepressible.

Art funds are not as well-known as Bitcoin and the metaverse.

However, it may be one of the hottest investment concepts for financial investment banks like Wall Street in the past decade.

Because art trading is inherently tax-avoiding, anonymous trading range.

It is often used as the subject of speculation by various large trust funds.

Add to that the fact that prices in the art market have become more and more frantic in recent years.

Before 2010, any artwork that broke $50 million at auction was a big news worthy of follow-up and coverage by major mainstream media around the world.

In recent years, I can't wait to have a sky-high auction of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

He refers to the Barnes Art Foundation, the Rockefeller Family Art Fund, and the Guggenheim Family Art Foundation.

They are all art investment funds founded by the richest families on the planet.

Not only is this century-old art fund growing.

Even the open-ended sovereign funds of European countries such as the French National Pension Fund, which are truly super-giants, are beginning to consider investing in the art market.

Mr. Kruger realized the business opportunity,

It's not just a business opportunity, it's a gold mine.

Frying art and frying precious metals are almost the same in nature.

In depth, the principle is enough to ask a few Nobel laureates in economics to analyze it for three days and three nights. To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than the simple truth of the four words "hoarding".

When you are short or long silver or gold, you must hold a large enough amount of physical precious metal in your hand.

If you want to be a banker in the art industry, you must also hold a famous painting with the same weight in your hand, so that you can pull it up if you want to, and smash it if you want to.

On the number of collections.

Where in the world could there be a richer collector than Miss Elena?

Even the Rockefeller Art Foundation's collection may not be much larger than the Elena family's.

"Unfortunately, I don't want to."

Anna's voice was cold.

"Art fund? A financial empire of tens of billions of euros? ”

The corner of her mouth sneered.

"What is the essential difference between you and Uncle Kara? It's just that you're more ambitious and professional. Uncle Carla wants nothing more than a few million euros in interest-free loans, but you want everything that the Elena family has inherited for hundreds of years, like Queen Cleopatra who wants Rome to be annexed to Egypt. ”

Anna shook her head.

Except for the aunt, everyone's eyes are interests.

No one has ever really cared about what she thinks and what she really needs.

"I don't need anyone to teach me how to do things, neither you nor Mr. Kruger. Honor and money decay faster, this is the family motto I have been taught since I was a child. The elders of the family also made irreparable mistakes in many things because of the limitations of the times. The only thing is that we never profit from hyping up art. Art shines only for its enduring artistic value. ”

"I am a servant of the muse, not a profit-seeking merchant. We are the patrons of artists, and when our ancestors bought these paintings, it never occurred to them to profit from the whip they wielded, and neither do I. ”

"We're not trying to teach you how to do things, it's just that your perspective is too old." Ole was a little angry: "What's the use of a work of art in a warehouse? The National Gallery also has a government-funded maintenance and repair allowance, and you don't get anything. ”

"It's not like this now, cousin." Ole said half-helplessly, half-mockingly, "Do you still want to discover the next Van Gogh?" This is really naïve. ”

"It doesn't matter."

Anna said coldly: "Although I am not Caesar, I can also control my own destiny. ”

"If this set is destined to be eliminated by the world, then I am ready to sink with it."

(End of chapter)