On December 23, John Rupert, the big boss behind the Richemont Group, finally made preparations and put down his arrogance and came to Lindau in Bavaria to visit Gu Kun in person.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and Rupert has other obligations. He has to host a very high-end private exhibition, but he has no time to discuss business with Gu Kun.
Gu Kun received Rupert grandly in this former Bavarian royal country castle that had just been renamed "Lanfang Garden".
Well, the name sounds a bit like a milk tea seller, but there's nothing we can do about it. As Lanfang's new royal garden, it's normal to add a place name suffix with the word "Garden".
Didn’t the ancients also have the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace? This was a very face-giving act and an affirmation of the ancestral status of the Bavarian royal family.
"Gu, it's nice to meet you. I often see you on TV." Rupert brought a translator with him. While shaking hands with Gu Kun and greetings, an translator was beside him to help translate.
Rupert speaks French, because although his family lived in South Africa before, they have now completely moved to Switzerland. French is also one of the official languages of Switzerland. Although it is not spoken by the largest number of people, it is widely used in the luxury industry and European culture.
The most stylish in the world.
(The language "Swiss" does not exist in the world. Swiss officials have designated German, French, and Italian as official languages. The number of speakers is also arranged in the above order, with German accounting for 70% and French 20% Italian.
(Yi Cheng)
In the late 1980s, Nelson Mandela and his group were causing trouble in South Africa, and the local white rich were very worried. The mining tycoons and wine plantation tycoons represented by the Rupert family were all involved in their industries in those few years.
Those who were transferred back to Europe were afraid that the black people would be destroyed and their family property divided in the future.
Gu Kun also did his homework here. Since he knew that people in Rupert's field all spoke French, he brought his own legal adviser, Miss Sophia, to also act as a translator.
Rupert had met Van Bilson before, and naturally he had also met Sophia, but the frequency was much lower and the impression was not very deep.
But at this moment, Rupert was a little surprised to see that Sophia had abandoned her original business and focused on joining Gu Kun.
This beautiful, capable French-American lawyer in her early thirties has never been heard in the industry before of selling herself out to make money and completely relying on someone. Although Rupert himself has not recruited, but the executives under him who are responsible for specific business
, when looking for legal service talents for the company's cultural relics collection transactions and exhibitions, the ones we tried to recruit were unsuccessful.
"Run is rich. When Gu Kun recruited her, he should not be as rich as Richemont, right? Then why did Sophia give up other clients of the firm to focus on serving him? Well, it must be because of him
You must be young, handsome, and powerful. Bah! French women just like to look at their faces and physiques, so when they meet a world record-level hunk, they fall for it. It’s not in good taste!”
John Rupert felt contempt in his heart.
As someone who considers himself an "aristocratic", he has always been disgusted with French women's values of "valuing muscular men and sexual function" and believes that women should pursue civilization and elegance.
Where in the world is there a vulgar aristocrat with muscles as large as the caliber of a battlecruiser's main gun?
After spending dozens of seconds to adjust his mood, Rupert took the initiative to bring the topic down to business: "Mr. Gu, I have roughly read the list of brands for which you want to exchange shares with me, but I don't think I should wait.
price."
Gu Kun was not anxious at all: "We haven't talked about it yet. It's normal to have differences. We can seek common ground while reserving differences. Come on, let's talk while playing. I wonder if Mr. Rupert is more interested in golf or skiing? Or sailing too.
"
John Rupert is already very old, and skiing is certainly not an activity for someone in his late fifties. However, his son is just about to reach the age of adulthood, and John also wants to observe Gu Kun more and see what he is like.
Whether you have aristocratic temperament or not, just follow the trend:
"I also loved skiing when I was young, but now I just have to watch it. Dog is really keen on it. You can play with him for a while."
Gu Kun doesn't care. He's not a good golfer. This year he practiced some postures unexpectedly. As for several other sports, he is already proficient in them. To say that there is no one who can play sailing better than Gu Kun in this world, it is estimated that there is no one in the world.
He couldn't find a few. As for skiing, he took Zhu Youran to contact him for a few nights, and he understood it thoroughly.
Everyone spent the morning playing in a leisurely atmosphere, first skiing and then golf. Gu Kun's performance soon surprised people.
Especially during the skiing part, Gu Kun played with Anthony Rupert, who was about the same age. At first Anthony was pretentious, but after skiing for a while, he was surprised to find that Gu Kun actually dared not take the usual path when skiing.
, turned sideways from the gentle standard snow road, and descended directly on the steep slope of the cedar forest, almost a 60-degree slope.
Anthony was so frightened by the slope that he broke into a cold sweat. He didn't dare to challenge Gu Kun anymore. He could only believe that athletic talent was a one-size-fits-all thing.
After playing ski golf, the group went to have lunch on a small sailing yacht and talked about some serious business during the meal.
It is necessary to do as the Romans do, so lunch is a French meal with 23 dishes in total, which lasts for three and a half hours, that is, from about 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. when it gets dark, and you don’t have to eat dinner afterward.
kind.
However, there are a lot of innovations in the specific dishes. Gu Kun did not let the chef he brought only make cooking, but added many cooking elements of Chinese food.
To put it bluntly, I just borrowed the French etiquette of sharing meals and the process of eating one dish and then another.
Many mainland readers who don’t know much about French and Japanese food always complain about the French and Japanese food that has three Michelin stars. The portions of each dish are too small, which can only be regarded as feeding chickens or even pigeons, and they are not full at all.
But in fact, this is because the top-notch French and Japanese dishes have more than 20 dishes, so the portions of each dish can only be kept to the minimum, otherwise you will not be able to eat the latter ones.
The reason why I wasn't full was because the person who ordered the food didn't order enough fancy dishes.
The appetizers include sliced charcoal-grilled matsutake mushrooms with asparagus and foie gras. Rupert is used to seeing pretentious delicacies from all over the world. At a glance, he can tell that matsutake mushrooms are grilled in Japanese cuisine, but the quality is still high enough. Asparagus and foie gras are
It is a typical French ingredient, and the initial appetizer is a combination of French and Japanese.
The pre-meal soup that followed gradually began to blend with Chinese cooking. It was an extremely clear soup.
Gu Kun borrowed the template of the matsutake mountain delicacy soup for later state banquets, and asked the chef to replace the matsutake mushrooms with Alpine white truffles, or white truffles produced in the southern foothills of the Alps, close to the South Tyrol region of Italy. It can be said that he is poor and sophisticated enough.
.
As we all know, white truffles are found all over the Alps, including on the borders of Germany, Switzerland, France and other countries around Lake Constance. But the best ones are from the south slope. Because this is the place of origin, if you use local materials and refuse to strive for excellence,
How unsatisfactory is that? It must have been specially made from Italy.
As for other ingredients such as bamboo fungus, black-bone chicken, etc., there are almost no changes, but at the end, a pinch of saffron, commonly used in French chicken soup, is added to flavor it, and the original Chinese spice purple sprout and young ginger in this dish is reduced and replaced.
When it was first served, Rupert's vision did not even see the mystery of this dish. He just recognized the white truffle at a glance and smelled the fragrance of saffron. After the clear soup was in his mouth, he realized that it was extraordinary.
"I didn't expect that Chinese food could become so high-end just by changing the etiquette. I admit that as long as Chinese food is cooked exquisitely and elegantly, it still tastes very good." Rupert wiped his mouth and admitted after finishing a few appetizers.
Gu Kun immediately corrected him: "No, no, no, this is not a change of etiquette. Our place has always had a similar meal sharing system and etiquette of taking turns. We have eaten this way since the Song Dynasty. However, after the invasion of foreign tribes, the etiquette changed.
As it becomes more secularized, fewer people use it.
Although we in Lan Fang are remote in southern Xinjiang, we still wear the Ming Dynasty clothes and have traditional etiquette that has lasted for more than 400 years. We still follow the "Tang Dynasty system of clothes and clothes, and the rituals and music of the emperor and his ministers". It's just that the country is small and weak, and the Brittany dogs suppressed it in the middle. 120
It’s been many years and you just don’t understand.”
Gu Kun's words really troubled Miss Sophia, the translator.
It was easy to say what he said before he spoke in Chinese. The key is that this paragraph contains ancient poems written by Japanese people. How the hell are you going to let someone translate it into French?
Fortunately, Sofia was considered a high-level intellectual. She racked her brains and suddenly had an idea, and she improvised an impromptu translation of Gu Kun's words into a French sonnet style, which at least rhymed.
Gu Kun's French skills were so poor that he could barely understand a few words, but he was really satisfied and thought to himself: "I'll give this female lawyer a big raise later."
After listening to this, Rupert finally felt in awe and completely corrected his attitude towards cooperation with Lan Fang.
Lanfang people also have aristocratic background.
Gu Kun observed the words, realized that the other party was impressed, and brought up the topic appropriately: "Mr. Rupert, I once again sincerely propose that I use the shares of Lanzi, Fendi and other companies I have on hand to exchange the shares held by your company for the same value.
Some have shares in Giorgio Armani and Gucci.
If there is any difference, I can provide you with cash, or if you are interested in Girard-Perregaux and Tiffany shares, I can use hard currency to make up for the difference."
This time Rupert did not directly show resistance. He just picked up the corner of his napkin and wiped his mouth: "I would like to know your overall layout strategy. Money and shares are not the core issues, but your entry into the luxury goods field is too sudden.
, and it is not friendly enough and does not indicate who you want to compete with and which product areas you want to focus on."
Gu Kun said a borderline lie without changing his face: "I think you are too worried. The reason why I was the first to seek cooperation with you, instead of considering lvmh and Kering, is because I know very well that in this world,
Men, if they need to buy watches in the future, they will only believe in 'Swiss watches', so my cooperation with you will have the least conflict on the core business."
Rupert's guard relaxed a little more.
If we don’t sell watches, there will be no competition for more than half of the men’s market.
Who makes men behave like this? The only way to show off with luxury goods is a watch.