In the drawing room,
Oller and his female companion were sitting under a tree-shaped crystal chandelier. The wall on the left was sunken inwards, revealing a peach-brown five-story bookshelf and a dazzling array of hardcover ancient books with gilded covers above.
Old-style Austrian-style houses will use books as part of their architectural furnishings. For example, the famous New Hofburg Palace has more than 2.4 million various ancient books and parchments.
"Oh my god, this must have millions of pages. I don't understand, has anyone really read these books?"
Before entering the house, the housekeeper politely but firmly confiscated the unfinished ladies' cigarettes and lighter in his hand.
The sexy girl who came to Europe from Hollywood to develop her career was a little unhappy.
However, the other person's attention soon fell on the dark blue leather-covered "Encyclopedia Britannica" published in 1875 on the upper shelf.
She was half amazed, half puzzled and asked casually: "Is it just a pretense to bluff people?"
"It's just decoration. It has been there for a century. Unless I am particularly interested in certain entries from the Victorian Industrial Exhibition, I probably can't think of any reason to look through them."
Anna was not impressed by the girl's careless tone and made a slight joke.
"I guess that's it. When I was a guest at so-and-so's house in Beverly Hills, the big bookshelf in that bitch's house was almost never opened. It was just used to pretend to be an intellectual lady in front of reporters."
The girl casually mentioned the name of another star who was also famous for her sexiness and who once stole her chance to be the heroine in an A-level big-budget movie. She nodded and showed that she was indeed like this.
"Uh... don't mind. I'm not talking about you. I don't mean anything else."
The girl also realized that her words were a bit rude.
She turned her head and smiled at Ana, "Miss Elena, your skin is really well taken care of, which makes me envious."
"Americans of their own selves."
Oler quietly mouthed "This is what a Yankee is" to his cousin, put on an expression that said, "Do you still expect Uncle Sam to know what education is?", and shrugged quietly.
His eyes also glanced from the four-meter-high bookshelf for a moment.
Oller knew that his cousin was a very literary and artistic person, and she had maintained a very disciplined reading habit since she was a child.
This old-fashioned bookshelf is tall and more aesthetic than practical.
To get the books from the two shelves, you need to use a special small ladder. Cousin Anna's legs and feet are not convenient, so it is almost purely for decoration.
However, many of the books in the bottom bookshelf were replaced almost every time he came to the manor to teach.
It had obviously been read carefully.
Oler saw a copy of "The Core of Destiny" by Graham Greene and a book called "The Little Prince" with slightly curled and yellowed pages on the center table of the bookshelf.
These two books seemed to have been read by the owner of the manor just yesterday or in the morning and had not been put back yet.
This "Little Prince" is an old face.
Oler quietly raised his eyebrows.
The books on the bookshelf have changed several times since he was a child, but he can almost always see the existence of this fairy tale book in the center of the bookshelf.
He remembered when he entered,
The name "The little prince" is also written on the cover of the brand new white paper that cousin Anna is holding.
It seems that
My cousin still has a mysterious attachment to this fairy tale just like she did when she was a child.
Just when the female companion was about to brag to Anna about her Hollywood past and gossip, Oler interrupted her at the right time and got to the point.
"Happy birthday, cousin Anna. It's a pity that my father was in Philadelphia recently to discuss an important bank acquisition case and was unable to attend your 22nd birthday party."
"He asked me to say hello to our beautiful Countess and wish you good health."
Oler did not give the gift to the butler for filing, but handed it directly to Anna, "Look, my dad specially selected the birthday gift for you."
"August, when will I take you to my house to play? I also recently got a golden retriever named Rachel. She is a big beauty with a gentle personality."
Ole said hello to the big dog on one side at the same time, reaching out his hand to touch the other person's ears.
August rolled his eyes in a very humane manner.
It proudly scratched its chin with its hind legs, rubbed it slightly to the side for more than ten centimeters, and accurately avoided the hand of this prodigal.
"Cousin, your August is still as cool as before. Just like you, he is extremely cold and cold."
Ole shook his head helplessly.
People say pets are like their owners.
In the eyes of outsiders, this big hunting dog is extremely cold and graceful.
Ever since he was a child, he had wanted to seize the opportunity to touch each other, and he almost had his hand bitten by it twice.
Anna ignored the other party's teasing and accepted the other party's gift.
Not long after she turned 20, she completed her credits in college and graduated as an outstanding graduate.
He had been working for more than a year until he was suspended by Sir Brown, the head of Oil Painting magazine.
Today is her 22nd birthday.
The large tea party in the manor was a social banquet held to celebrate Anna's birthday.
She took out a ten-inch sketch oil painting on canvas from the small oil painting tube handed over by Oler.
It was a portrait of a dignified little girl wearing palace clothes with her bare back, and next to it was a similarly rolled-up document.
This is an insurance deposit certificate. According to the content on the document,
This painting was exhibited at the Rococo Court Special Exhibition at the Berlin Kunsthalle in 2007. At that time, the insurance price was one hundred and three thousand euros.
"The portrait of Princess Theresa, the daughter of Louis XVI, is from Madame Le Brun. It has signs of restoration. My father met it in a pawn shop some time ago. It cost about 270,000 euros. It is not expensive, but it is estimated You should like it."
Madame Le Brun was a court painter at the end of the Bourbon dynasty and a close friend of the beheaded Queen Marie.
Her painting skills are not as famous as those great rococo painters such as Boucher and Walter.
But she was one of the only famous female artists in European classical history before the modern Impressionist master Miss Mary.
It has a special commemorative meaning.
"A very valuable gift, thank you."
Anna nodded gently in thanks, "Say hello to Mr. Kruger for me. If it is convenient, I would like to invite him to my home during this Christmas holiday..."
A birthday gift worth three hundred thousand euros is considered a very generous gift for a family like theirs.
"Of course, this means if your father wasn't busy at that time...or wasn't angry with me." Anna said calmly.
"Well……"
Oler's mouth opened.
"It's not hard to guess right. Regarding Mr. Hyperion's video cover, saying angry is probably quite polite. You know, Mr. Kruger is not the only one who did not attend the birthday party this year."
Anna didn't seem to care much.
She smiled and straightened the gauze crown on her head with her hand: "It's much quieter here."
Thomas's video was like a huge stone hitting Anna's life.
Van Doorn's social media swipe and suspension from Oil Painting magazine were just minor ripples. The biggest undercurrent is the part under the lake that ordinary people cannot see.
The dissatisfaction of those old European Chinese people.
This has nothing to do with Detective Cat or Van Dorn, it’s because of Miss Elena’s self-introduction——
"Just call me Anna. I am not a countess. I am not one of those British people who like to be related to the royal family. I am just an ordinary citizen of Austria. If there is anything special, it is only because I was born lame."
After obtaining Anna's permission, Thomas even made this sentence the cover of Mr. Hyperion's channel video to attract network traffic.
actually,
Anna's statement is quite dangerous.
The social atmosphere in North America, Canada, and France where Thomas is not very interested in monarchy and aristocracy may be okay.
However, in more conservative European regions, it is quite taboo for public figures in the upper class to criticize the royal family.
There are still bans abroad, which is the so-called Cancel culture.
In addition to making remarks such as racial discrimination and animal cruelty, attacking the monarch is also a taboo.
Unless the audience of your program is this kind of group, trolling the royal family will easily be blocked.
The most typical example is Clarkson, the famous BBC presenter nicknamed Gorilla, one of the highest-paid TV hosts in the world and the godfather of car culture, who fell into this.
Not long ago, Amazon officially announced that he had canceled the cooperation with the next season of the new show because he criticized Prince Harry and his wife in the newspaper.
Amazon is still an American company.
Considering Anna's identity, her words made the relatives and old friends of the Elena family sound a bit rebellious.
It’s so jarring!
This is no longer the case twenty years ago.
From Spain to the Netherlands, and even the British royal family, which has been as stable as a rock for three hundred years, the royal families of this generation in these remaining monarchy countries are somewhat shaky, and the public support rate continues to decline.
At this point in time,
Anna said in a YouTube video with over 100 million views that it is understandable that such a personalized opening line offended some people.
"Cousin, it's really hard to accept talking like this."
Oler shook his head: "Especially since this year is so special. I heard that your name did not appear on the list of guests invited to watch the new king of Britain when he was crowned in Westminster. There is a reason. "
He crossed his hands on his knees and said: "The last time the Elena family was not invited was a century ago in 1910. That time was because of the war, and this time..."
"This time it's because I told the truth that no one wants to hear. Everyone prefers to live in the old dream, but I have the courage to wake up alone."
Anna asked in a calm tone.
There was a brief moment of silence in the air. Cousin Ole stopped talking and lowered his head to play with the nails on his palms.
Snapped! Snapped! Snapped!
The sexy actress on the other side clapped softly.
There were stars in her eyes: "Wow, sister Anna, you are so cool. Are you interested in developing a career in the film industry? You can become the next Princess of Monaco."
The Princess of Monaco she refers to is Grace Kelly, the most famous actress in Hollywood in the 1950s and Hitchcock's favorite heroine. She was famous for her grace and elegance, and therefore married into the royal family.
Oller's female companion belongs to the kind of very simple and self-centered type, with a bit of naive stupidity, a typical American character.
Just before she entered the door, she casually called Anna a traitor, even with the jealousy of a beautiful woman seeing an even more beautiful woman.
In an instant, he was conquered by the other party's independent and powerful aura, and began to call him sister Anna.
Miss Irina’s beauty is not just about appearance;
She is like an exquisite and plain white ivory ball carving of Oriental art. The surface is beautiful and moist, and the inner soul is also engraved with gorgeous patterns, powerful and profound.
Anna smiled casually at the other party, not wanting to answer such meaningless questions.
She turned her head to look at cousin Ole and took the initiative to change the topic.
"Since Mr. Kruger is so dissatisfied with me, but he is still willing to send such an expensive birthday gift, is there anything you want me to do?"
Anna asked casually.
"Cousin, you think too much. Even if my father is a little dissatisfied, he still cares about you." Ole smiled coquettishly.
"As for Uncle Kara's matter, I may need to mention it to my cousin. Anna, have you met him before?"
"Uncle Carla? The butler conveyed his invitation to me to watch the horse racing before, but I refused. We met briefly at the birthday party, and I left on the pretext of feeling unwell."
Ana frowned slightly and thought for a while.
There are banquets for birthdays, or there are so many balls and salons as there were in the old days in Europe.
The main purpose is to invite people in the upper class circles to enhance their connections, connect with each other, and discuss business with each other.
It is part of traditional social etiquette,
It is very similar to how modern wealthy people like to play golf. They are public activities whose potential social attributes are greater than their actual celebration and fitness attributes.
Anna is the kind of rent-collecting landlady.
It's just that compared to ordinary landowners, she owns more land.
In terms of property, the main assets are various real estates, but not much is involved in modern finance. They are also managed by professional financial managers such as the Schonbrunn Office.
She had never been interested in such social gatherings.
Today I showed up casually and said a few words, then I slipped away to hide in the walnut forest and paint quietly.
"Now that you think about it... he did seem to be hesitant to speak at that time." Anna pondered for a moment, "He didn't want to ask Mr. Kruger to borrow money."
Uncle Carla is Aunt Anna's brother,
But her personality is completely different from Anna's elegant aunt. She likes racing cars, horse racing, beautiful yachts, and playing Texas Hold'em poker.
Then again,
This is actually quite old school European libertine style.
In the 19th century, such aristocratic children were everywhere from St. Petersburg to Berlin, whether it was Tsarist Russia or Prussia.
Even the hobbies and interests they like are not fundamentally different from those of their predecessors two centuries ago, and they can't come up with anything new.
At most, the tool of gambling has changed from playing classical whist bridge to playing Texas Hold'em poker.
It's just that the prodigal sons all have similar endings.
Especially after the collapse of the empire and the decline of the aristocracy.
Basically, if a family has one, the grandson will tie his grandfather's mugshot to a wooden board and use it as a dart target. He will grit his teeth and throw darts at night, and ride his bicycle to deliver food during the day.
It's not uncommon for someone to fail to this day.
During her lifetime, her aunt had not had much contact with this brother who had a bad style, and she only occasionally helped him out a few times.
Anna didn't even want to meet him in private like she did with cousin Ole, and just said hello hastily at noon.
"Absolutely. A while ago, he found a bank in which our family has a stake and wanted to get an interest-free loan of 4.5 million euros."
"It is said that……"
Cousin Oller looked at Anna's face and said cautiously: "I heard that he wanted to build something [Jelena NFT digital artwork blockchain exchange]. The venture capital department read his plan and said, um, uh , not too feasible.”
"Not too feasible?" Anna asked slowly.
"The original words of the risk control manager are rubbish that can be used to wipe your butt. For someone who wants to obtain an interest-free loan of millions of euros, even a liar should not be so unprofessional. Not calling the police is already a sign of failure. It’s in your favor.”
Of course Oler knew that the other party just wanted to extract some money from the reputation that the name Elena had accumulated in artworks over hundreds of years.
"Okay. Thanks for telling me about it. I'll take care of it."
Ana slightly turned her gaze away, stared at the sky outside the window, and said slowly.
"Of course, we definitely didn't grant him any money, but Uncle Carla seems to be in a bad financial situation recently. I gave him a hundred thousand euros privately."
"well done."
Anna nodded and told the housekeeper: "Get my checkbook for me."
The butler bowed and accepted the order.
"I will help him return this money to you. I will write you a check for 100,000 euros and remember to take it when you leave."
"That's not necessary. Uncle Kara is also my uncle!" Ole smiled.
He and Anna are not closely related by blood.
The reason why they are called brother and sister is that Ole's mother and Aunt Anna are close friends.
The other party is not only Anna's guardian, but also his godmother.
In addition, Oler's mother died early.
He often came to live with Elena's family when he was a child, so he always called Anna cousin.
"No, I insist."
Anna said, "Please keep me informed about this kind of thing in the future. If I don't answer the phone, please contact my housekeeper."
Oler quietly observed his cousin's face.
He knew Anna very well;
Know what is off limits in the other person's mind.
Anna is an idealist with an almost sacred attitude towards art and a very mysophobic attitude.
Oler is not surprised that the opponent would choose the internet artist as the champion because of his persistence and offend Van Dorn in the internet celebrity video.
From small to large.
Cousin Anna is the kind of person who would do such a thing.
She may not care about the identity of the countess at all, but she is very important to the Irina family's reputation in the art field for hundreds of years.
Someone had invaded this territory in her heart.
Ole could imagine the anger in Anna's heart at this time. He thought that the other party would lose her temper and saw the burning flame of rage in her eyes.
But the other party just lowered his head and quietly signed his name on a check book worth 100,000 euros.
Looking at Miss Elena who was forced to be shocked.
Oler suddenly felt a pity in his heart. He didn't care about the female star next to him, switched to French, and said suddenly.
"Anna, how about you marry me?"
The climax begins tomorrow.
(End of chapter)
