There is a very quiet place in the North Ring District of Luchaogang. There are no bustling commercial markets, no messy nightclubs, and no drunken lazy people. In addition to the exquisite and elegant garden fountains, there are only dozens of very beautiful small villas here. The North Ring District only accounts for one percent of the total area of Lunchiao Port, but it holds more than two-thirds of the wealth of Lunchiao Port.
The North Ring of Luchao Harbor is a place where only wealthy businessmen with aristocratic status or whose wealth has reached a certain critical level can stay. There are not many villas here, but every villa is beautiful, and they are by no means That kind of obscene luxury like that of the nouveau riche, but an elegant building designed and decorated by someone who truly knows taste. Every piece of furniture, every set of utensils, and even every brick and tile here may not be the most exquisite, or maybe not the most beautiful. It is expensive, but it definitely has history, and in the eyes of the real upper class, only things with a long enough history are things that a tasteful person should use. Everyone who lives in the inner ring will distinguish themselves from the vulgar creatures in the outside world, such as Sir Bello.
Sir Bello, who is over 50 years old, has a very kind and kind appearance. Even at home, he still wears a 200-year-old wavy hairband. Although it cannot be cleaned, it is the honor of the Bello family. A symbol of pride, no one in Ebb Harbor dares to laugh at this dirty hair set.
Old Bello's title is not hereditary. Every generation of the title requires a huge inheritance tax to be paid to the empire. In order to inherit the title from his father, Sir Bello invested the family's decades of savings and several properties into it. . And if his son wants to inherit the title from Sir Bello, he also needs to pay the same price. The price is even higher, which makes Sir Bello's home look anything but glamorous and luxurious. Many tables and chairs are old and peeling. Of course, that is in the eyes of vulgar people, but in the eyes of people with real taste, such as old Sir Bello himself, he can tell the hidden history and story of every piece of furniture in the house.
Sir Bello was entertaining guests at home at this time. Several people were sitting around the corners of the black coconut wood card table, smoking cigarettes and playing bridge.
Smoking, playing cards, and chatting about current affairs and politics. This is exactly what a noble should do. Although Old Bello is not very satisfied with his poker friends, their identities are too different from his own, but this is Lutide Port after all, a city with less than two hundred years of history. Although the seaport town has developed extremely rapidly and its wealth is no longer inferior to those of cities with a long history, in the eyes of the upper class nobles of the empire, it is still a remote countryside. The residents are just a bunch of uncivilized country bumpkins. So what high demands can Old Bello have on his poker friends? They are already the mayor of Low Tide Port, the godfather of the underworld, and the president of the Business Alliance.
"Dear Sir Bello. Even if it is laughed at as a compliment or flattery, I still have to say that it is simply impossible to defeat you at the card table..." Dai Gao said. Mr. Nitro, who was wearing a hat, revealed the cards in his hand and spread them on the table. To show defeat, even though his flattery skills are very bad. But as the mayor of Luochao Port, speaking such words publicly is already the highest form of flattery. The other two people at the poker table also immediately gave up with a wry smile, but they did not show their trump cards. However, in this situation, the real winning or losing of the cards is naturally not important. What is important is how they can coax this poor man. The old nobleman who wanted to save face was happy.
"It's getting late today. Dear Sir Bello, the matter we just mentioned...you, how are you thinking about it?" The president of the General Association of the Luchao Port Chamber of Commerce is a fat man. Old man, in Sir Bello's home, there are no iced drinks, and there are no four maids constantly fanning him. In addition, the chess and card room is small and stuffy. The president is already sweating profusely and miserable. After playing bridge for several hours with this old gentleman who spoke in a deep and unpleasant manner, his physical condition had reached its limit.
Seemingly seeing the embarrassment of these people, the old Sir had an expression that showed neither joy nor anger. He was silent for a while and then said in a calm tone: "I really don't understand why you have to fight with those people. What about the poor little girls? Cassandra is a good girl, and she has aristocratic blood anyway... That girl bought the old street with my permission and started a business for men. , you didn’t say anything at that time. At that time, the old street was just a slum with annoying people, but now, it has been run by the girls in a lively and prosperous way, and the tax revenue contributed to Lunchiao Port seems to have been ranked among the whole town. It’s in the top three, and you guys are so greedy that you just want to take it away. This is a bit unjustifiable..."
The old man's words made Mayor Nitro and the president of the Chamber of Commerce break out in a cold sweat. Although the old man was so poor that he only had one title left, he was actually the person who spoke with the most weight in the Port of Low Tide.
The last person at the table, a very young man with cold and profound eyes, the fourth generation head of the Nobelli family, "Godfather" Piero Nobelli, clapped his hands expressionlessly, and immediately Two women in black came in. They placed a large wooden box on the card table. After opening the wooden box, they found an antique vase inside.
"This is porcelain from the mysterious country in the East." Piero said: "I think that the distinguished Sir Bello's family just lacks such a thing."
The old knight smiled, but did not react at all, because he knew that Piero must have something more to say. Sure enough, the young man continued: "Originally, this vase is not very valuable, and its workmanship is not the best. A vase like this can only be sold for a maximum of 1,500 gold coins in the shops of Lunchiao Port."
Although 1,500 gold coins is no longer a small number, the mayor and the president, who had the same purpose as Piero, were sweating at the same time to fool the old knight with such a mass product that anyone could buy. It was only after Piero made an absolute guarantee that he came here with him and asked the old knight to withdraw his protection from the old street. Unexpectedly, Piero was not as courageous as the legend said. A person who is very scheming and will definitely gain something once he takes action.
He didn't notice the regret in the hearts of the two fellow travelers. Pierre continued: "But this vase is a little bit special. It was brought back by the first batch of merchant ships carrying out trade in the Eastern countries. That was still forty years ago. As a result, the merchant ship encountered a tsunami midway through the voyage. The entire ship sank in the sea and was only recovered by a famous adventure team not long ago. In other words, this piece of porcelain has been sleeping on the seabed for decades. "
Having said this, noticing that the expression on Sir Bello's face had relaxed slightly, Piero smiled faintly, but continued: "But there are hundreds of pieces of porcelain that were salvaged at the same time. So in order to ensure the safety of this piece of porcelain 'Unique', I have smashed all the other porcelains and thrown them back into the sea. I can now assure the respected Sir Bello that this vase is the only one in the world, and it should be barely qualified to be placed in Bello. Jazz’s home.”
The expression on Sir Bello's face finally relaxed completely, and he showed a slight smile, but he still remained silent and did not mention anything about the old street. The old god was smoking a cigar.
Piero's eyes flashed, he smiled faintly, and said: "Dear Sir Bello, have you heard of a major event that happened in the empire some time ago? The ancient Shandros family accidentally angered the Seven Beasts One of the principalities is the North Bear family. As a result, the Shandros family was forcibly deprived of their noble status. All the men in the family were killed by the brutal North Bears, while the women were sold to slave traders in recent days. The Niankuxiong family was so arrogant that even the royal family of the imperial capital finally acquiesced in this unjust case. Although the Shandros family was finished, the youngest daughter of the family, Louise Shandros, survived. , it is worth mentioning that her mother’s family has a branch of the Cretan Bull family, which also belongs to the Seven Principalities.”
Piero's inexplicable mention of this matter was certainly not a boring chat. Not long after he high-fived, two family maids walked in with a girl who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old at most. The girl is not beautiful. She is pale, a little fat, and has some eye-catching freckles on her face. But these are not important. What is important is her identity.
Sure enough...
"This distinguished young lady is Miss Louise Chandelour. She has the blood of the Chandeloise family and the Cretan Bull family flowing in her body at the same time. This unfortunate lady fell into the hands of a rude and despicable slave trader. At that time, I finally found her in time and rescued her. Since she has not been branded as a slave and has not been to the slave auction house, she cannot be considered a slave now. It is a pity that people like me who are from the underworld are not. He is qualified to provide a place for this distinguished lady. After thinking about it, only the equally distinguished Sir Bello in the entire Ebb Tide Port can provide a 'home' for Miss Louise... This piece Please ask Sir Bello to take care of Miss Louise."
Having said this, the old knight finally couldn't sit still. In the world of aristocrats, blood is above all else. The reason why his family can barely maintain its current title is because there was a baron in the family history. . This is also the fundamental reason why the richest people in the world are unable to enter the aristocratic circle no matter how much wealth they have. Even if they spend their money, at most they can only obtain the status of an "honorary lord" that cannot be hereditary.
However, things like bloodline will gradually become thinner with the number of inheritances and the passage of time. This problem has always troubled Sir Bello. If no other noble bloodline is integrated into the Bello family, then the empire will be passed down for two or three generations at most. His noble status will no longer be recognized, and then the Bello family will truly lose everything and completely decline. However, with Sir Bello's current status, although he can still control the situation in Low Tide Port, in the eyes of other nobles, it is no different from being in decline, and it is impossible to marry him. As for those nobles who were in the same situation as the Bello family, the value of their bloodline was close to zero. Even marriages were of no use, and Old Bello looked down upon them.
In this case, a noble daughter like Shandros who has just fallen into decline and even has a chance of making a comeback becomes the best tool to inherit the bloodline of the Bello family. Even if Shandros completely falls and has no chance of rising again, Bello The knight can also claim that his descendants have a trace of the noble Cretan bull family blood. Of course, this requires Miss Louise to successfully give birth to an heir for the Bello family.
It has to be said that Piero is a real gift-giving master, and his gift Sir Bello simply cannot refuse, "unique" oriental porcelain, a declining aristocrat with precious blood... In comparison, What do those poor women in the old street mean... And now the only hesitation of the old Sir is whether he or his stupid son should accept Miss Louise and complete the important task of the family's rise... . ...
After walking out of the old Sir's house, the mayor, the president, and the underworld godfather all had satisfied smiles on their faces. Sir Bello has officially promised to give up his protection of the old street, which means that the big boss Cassandra has returned to the old street. Become a lowly prostitute.
Although Piero paid a high price this time, as long as he can take over the old street and completely enslave those women who are comparable to money-making machines, then this transaction will definitely make a profit without losing any money. But at this moment, a thug from the Nobelli family suddenly ran over and whispered in Piero's ear: "Mr. Bellamy is back."
Piero frowned. He had already known through a secret code that the assassination operation had failed. However, he had already prepared a backup plan, so he didn't care. On the contrary, Bellamy, a man who he expected to die unexpectedly... He was a little surprised to be able to come back alive. The reason why Piero chose Bellamy to carry out this assassination mission was precisely because of his loyalty to the family and his fearlessness in death.
But people who shouldn't have survived survived. Piero could not help but feel suspicious. His eyes flashed with dangerous light and asked: "Bellamy... Is he conscious? Has he interacted with those people?" Bitch said something you shouldn't have said?"
The little gangster's expression instantly became extremely weird, and his eyes were full of unspeakable fear. This should never appear on the face of a desperate thug who lives in danger all day long.
"I... I really don't know how to tell you... Mr. Patriarch, or... I would like you to go back and see with your own eyes... Mr. Bellamy , he... he... he...
******(To be continued...)