After hearing John Rupert's arrogant remarks, Van Bilzon was not surprised at all.
Van Bilzon himself was a European, and he understood this inexplicable sense of superiority.
For those who consider themselves "aristocratic", as early as 150 years ago, when Maupassant wrote "Ball de Suif" and Flaubert wrote "Madame Bovary", they measured themselves by whether they had a "fiefdom"
The difference between emerging capitalists and nouveau riche.
Perhaps, this also explains why the real estate industry has always had such strong hype vitality. In any era, having a scarce location, a prime-grade manor, or a castle can widen the gap between them and the guys who have just become rich.
People who have money but don’t buy houses or land, in their eyes, are just walking in fine clothes at night.
This can also explain the difficulty of building luxury brands in mainland China - the impression given to the world by mainlanders is that "all of them were poor after 20 years of regression, and even now they are just passers-by who have been renting houses for 70 years." This kind of impression
The impression is completely opposite to the image required by the aristocratic luxury industry.
Fortunately, Lanfang has always retained the permanent property rights of the land, as well as the residual aristocratic system since the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in the future, the luxury industry in Lanfang, even if it is just a controlled luxury industry, will be much better than in the mainland.
If done properly, there is still a chance to attract the admiration of foreigners.
Regarding this point, of course Van Bilson, who was entrusted by others, must try his best to clear his employer's name:
"Sir Rupert, your consultation seems a bit backward and there are some misunderstandings. Why is Gu Kun not considered a noble and does not have a fief? The Lanfang Islands where he is located is a typical monarchy. Gu Kun is in
Not all of Lanfang's land was bought with money, some of it was awarded to him as a royal state-owned land.
What's more, the current Grand Duke of Lan Fang, Zhu Youdong, seems to have great regard for Gu Kun. Zhu Youdong lost his son due to the struggle with the Bretons in his early years, and has only one daughter. There are rumors in various countries in Southeast Asia that Gu Kun was recruited by the Grand Duke of Lan Fang.
It's so easy, even if he is given the title of earl in the future, there will be no problem."
Western tradition generally gives people who did not have a title of nobility in the previous generation. The first knighthood due to meritorious service, the highest is an earl, and that was before the 19th century. After modern times, even in countries with a constitutional monarchy, they generally give a knighthood.
Lord, that is lower than baron. There is no fiefdom, only a title.
As for marquises and dukes, birth status is required. Even in ancient times, kings could not make common people princes if they wanted to. Therefore, in the erotic novels written by Maupassant and Flaubert, those coquettish and dissolute ladies were basically
They were all countesses, not the wives of princes - Maupassant knew very well that if he dared to fabricate erotic stories about those marquises, he would also be harmed.
(After World War II, the Bu State proposed that Fatty Qiu be a duke. However, that was because Fatty Qiu’s ancestors were dukes. However, his lineage was not a direct lineage and could not inherit the title. However, it still met the requirements of "can be canonized as a duke due to meritorious service."
range.)
When Rupert heard that Gu Kun could be regarded as someone who had only half a foot in the aristocratic circle, his attitude had to change slightly.
In fact, it’s also to blame that Gu Kun rose too fast and didn’t give anyone who cared about him enough time to react. In terms of family property, although Gu Kun’s current assets are not as large as those of the Richemont Group, they are already larger than the Rupert family’s US$14 billion.
The assets are much higher. (The Richemont Group has many shareholders and is not solely owned by the Rupert family)
It's a pity that the time when Gu Kun's family wealth surpassed that of the Rupert family was about the end of the Southeast Asian financial crisis and the defeat of Soros. It has only been more than five months, and a lot of money has not been realized yet, and there has been no trouble recently.
What new big news.
That's why I was underestimated because of the time difference.
Rupert thought carefully and asked Van Bilson in a gentle tone: "Then I have a few friends of the old aristocrats in the real estate industry in Xiangjiang. I heard from them that Gu Kun is a nouveau riche. He is very picky and short-sighted. He even bought luxury houses.
If you can't afford it, you can only live in a poor countryside like Lanfang. What's the explanation for this?"
Vern Bilson smiled easily: "How can you believe these words? That's because Gu Kun's attitude has always been to badmouth Xiangjiang real estate. He looks down on the luxury houses in Xiangjiang and doesn't buy them because he doesn't think they are worth it. This is just a matter of investment vision. Because
When he goes up against those real estate developers, the four major real estate families will certainly not speak well of him.
I have two very clear pieces of evidence: First, Gu Kun is in Lanfang and is currently planning an earth-shaking major real estate construction project, which is extremely luxurious.
Secondly, he never hesitates to sell real estate that he likes. Just a few days ago, he took his fiancée to visit the State of Liechtenstein. Because Liechtenstein does not have an airport, he flew to Munich and felt that the surrounding environment of Munich is good.
, on the other side of Lake Constance, in Germany, I bought an old castle and the surrounding manor and pasture for more than a billion marks."
It will take until 1999 for the European Union to uniformly use the euro, so the Germans still use marks to calculate prices. The mark's current exchange rate is about 4.5 cents to the U.S. dollar, so more than one billion marks will cost at least 7.8 billion U.S. dollars.
John Rupert was finally shocked and couldn't help but point far north: "You mean those old German castles on the other side of the lake? I'm very familiar with this place. Tell me whose house he bought it from."
Van Bilson shrugged and said nonchalantly: "It seems that one of His Excellency Albrecht's estates was handled by his attorney."
Now John Rupert was completely stunned.
Of course he knew about the castle on the other side. It was one of the country palaces of the Bavarian royal family. Although it was not as impressive as Neuschwanstein Castle, it was definitely the highest level among the castles and estates on the shores of Lake Constance.
As for the Lord Albrecht mentioned by Van Bilson, he was the second son of Duke/Marshal Rupprecht, the last crown prince of Bavaria, and he was also the heir (but he could not inherit the title of "Duke" because the kingdom was in
ceased to exist after the war)
His Excellency Albrecht passed away at the age of 92 at the end of 1996. Of course, his family had many palaces in Bavaria, South Germany. When dealing with the inheritance, his descendants had insufficient cash flow and uneven distribution, so some of them had to be sold.
The ancestral business became a matter of course. The lawyers of the Ferdinand family have been helping to find buyers for the past two years and sell it one after another.
Unexpectedly, this time I met Gu Kun and wanted to buy it. In addition, he came to buy it in the name of Grand Duke Lanfang instead of his own name. This somewhat gave the Germans some face, so they sold it readily - after all, other buyers
Even if my family can afford the same money as Gu Kun, I don't have a "noble title".
Gu Kun gave them a favor and asked a foreign prince to buy their extra castle, which also showed that they were not in decline.
Even though Lanfang is a small country and was originally poor, its reputation in the world is still very good. It has a long history and was inherited from the Ming Dynasty, which makes people feel a courtesy to the ancient oriental civilization.
"This Gu Kun has actually colluded so deeply with the Lanfang royal family, and suddenly assumed such a posture, it is not something to be underestimated... It seems that those declining nobles who we usually have to curry favor with are quite similar to that Gu Kun.
What’s a common language…”
John Rupert had many thoughts and had to secretly adjust his attitude towards Gu Kun.
He suppressed his anger for a while, reorganized his expression, and told Van Bilson in a pleasant manner: "Then I would like to be a guest and discuss with him the issue of the equity swap of his sub-brands on an equal footing. I'd like you to mediate."
"Easy to say, easy to say, this is what I should do." Van Bilson was also happy to see the success of the matchmaking, and thought to himself at the same time: Gu Kun has been spending so much money these days, spending so much money to buy a castle, this money is really well spent.
It's worth it.
Defayori, the declining aristocrats and luxury tycoons of the five countries surrounding the Alps all attach great importance to buying properties in the Alpine scenic spots. Being able to get a lakeside manor with a hot spring meadow is almost a common top-end standard for these people.
Not only the Rupert family values this, but also Arnott, the boss of LVMH, and François Pinault, the boss of Kering Group. (Later, after Notre Dame de Paris burned down, Arnott and François
Sauvage Pinault was the first to announce a donation of 100 million euros for restoration, but later it seems that he has not donated yet. The boss of a luxury goods group seems to have to act when encountering the destruction of historical monuments)
Spend a small amount of money and you will be able to integrate into this circle very quickly. It is a great deal.
…
At the same time, on the north shore of Lake Constance,
In a castle with a cedar forest on the Alpine slopes and facing a lake, Zhu Youran, who had gone abroad for the first time in many years, followed her fiancé Gu Kun, greedily looking at the beautiful scenery in front of her, leisurely and fascinated.
Of course, this fiancé is just in name, and she doesn’t even know it yet, but her father, Zhu Youdong, has already made a promise to Gu Kun in private. The order Zhu Youran received this time was just to follow Gu Kun on a visit abroad.
.
The day before yesterday, they had just gone to Liechtenstein and chatted and laughed with the Prince of Liechtenstein, his wife and daughter. Then, during this period, Gu Kun made an appointment in advance and quietly bought a castle worth more than one billion marks in the name of Zhu Youran.
.
"I always thought that I was tired of looking at water in my life. Lanfang is right on the beach. From the time I can remember, I could see the sea every day when I got up and opened the curtains. Unexpectedly, this kind of mountain snow lake has a different charm.
, and the Sailimu Lake in Xinjiang is as pure as those in Tibet that I saw online."
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 the melting snow of the Himalayas and Tianshan Mountains, and this is formed by the melting snow of the Alps, so it is definitely not the same.
Just as pure. And one advantage here compared to Tianshan is that there are hot springs here - the price of a castle of similar size with natural hot springs and without hot springs can differ by several hundred million marks."
Gu Kun is still very humane. Zhu Youran will not turn 16 until the Chinese New Year. Of course he will not have any inappropriate thoughts about Zhu Youran. Anyway, he usually enjoys playing and singing every night, and occasionally he is indifferent for a month or two.
There is no peace either.
Zhu Youran pointed to the pier by the lake and asked: "Tomorrow you are going to negotiate with that Swiss luxury goods tycoon? Do you think it is better for us to play golf or go yachting? I really didn't expect that.
Next to this kind of plateau snow lake, there is actually a shipyard that builds luxury yachts. If you buy a yacht here, you will probably only be able to use it in this lake for the rest of your life, right? It's quite a waste of money."
Gu Kun smiled slightly: "Isn't it enough? This lake covers an area of more than 500 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 20% of Taihu Lake."
The castle that Gu Kun bought has all the facilities, of course, and his extravagance has just begun.