National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1296: Sudden Drop and Sudden Rise

Catherine DeFurner moves quickly.

Ever since she confirmed Ning Weimin's whereabouts through a phone call with Alain Delon, she immediately used her connections to find out the details of Ning Weimin's transaction with the two French film studios.

When she was sure that Ning Weimin did have a huge amount of money, Catherine Deneuve quickly booked a flight ticket, packed her luggage, and flew to Paris to find Ning Weimin for a meeting.

Paris is the capital of France and also the home of Catherine Dephner.

The relationships she has here are unmatched anywhere.

In particular, he was also clear that Ning Weimin was summoned by Pierre Cardon.

Therefore, it was extremely easy for her to find out Ning Weimin's whereabouts and residence.

However, after Ning Weimin arrived in Paris, he stayed with Pierre Cardin almost every day for several days in a row, either at the company headquarters or visiting Pierre Cardin stores.

He didn't even have time to go shopping with his new wife. Every day, the two of them seemed to just take a walk along the Seine and the Champs-Elysees.

It can be said that her daily routine was to go from the company - the store - the Maxim's restaurant - and check into the hotel. This was a life that was connected on a tight schedule, which made it inconvenient for her to just appear in front of Ning Weimin or to make an appointment with him over the phone.

After all, Catherine knows her own business well. She is thinking about the money in Ning Weimin's hands.

Since he planned to let Ning Weimin invest in Yves Saint Laurent to help save his investment.

So whether facing Pierre Cardin or Ning Weimin's wife, it is inevitable that people will think too much and care.

This is not very nice after all.

So she waited patiently until the third day, when the private detective who was helping to follow her told her that Ning Weimin had gone to CLSA with his wife and Pierre Cardin.

This made her suddenly realize that the funds she longed for might very likely be invested by Ning Weimin in the Paris Stock Exchange.

So she could no longer care about anything else. In order to obtain financial assistance, she had to bite the bullet and decided to visit immediately.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when Catherine DeFner decided to leave.

Unlike Henri Lacamier or Pierre Caton, she lived all year round in a medium-sized estate in the suburbs of Paris, and it would probably take an hour to get to the city center.

So there's no need to even use the excuse of having dinner together.

She made a phone call first, and regardless of Ning Weimin's surprise on the other end of the phone, she told him that she was going to the hotel to find him, saying that she had something important to discuss and hoped to meet in the hotel's lobby lounge.

Then he hung up the phone and drove onto the road leading to the center of Paris.

Following the principle of wealth hierarchy, although Catherine's estate is not small in size, its location is certainly not comparable to that of real "old money".

Although her villa is also in the western suburbs, it is on the northern fringe. Not only is it close to Charles de Gaulle Airport, where she is disturbed by some aircraft noise on a daily basis, but she can also feel the presence of civilians along the way into the city.

Like in Sosset Provincial Park, because it is a weekend night, some homeless men and women are gathered together, waiting to enjoy the free dinner distributed by the welfare agency.

In Paris, almost every weekend, social volunteers from social welfare agencies bring food to parks with fresh air and place it on wooden tables and chairs for the vulnerable groups in society to enjoy.

Such scenery is certainly not pleasing to the eye.

It can even be painful to enter another cruel world from an originally romantic world.

But Catherine was not disgusted by the sight of ragamuffins.

It's not because she has a moment of tolerance and kindness in her heart, but because it reminds her that a good life is hard to come by, and it's even harder to keep a happy life.

This scene usually makes people realize that even in France, even in Paris, there are still quite a lot of people living in another world.

These people don't have luxury cars and yachts, swimming pools and ranches.

They cannot shop at the designer stores on the Champs-Elysées, and even the prices at Auchan supermarket are too high. They can only buy their daily necessities at cheap places like Carrefour or Germany's Lidl.

When she was younger, Katherine and her sister used to volunteer for them, but she hasn’t done so since her sister’s death.

Until now, it's just a matter of writing a check to the organization that provides the food.

In her heart, people living like this might as well be dead.

But then again, even if these people were poor and hopeless, at least there were people like her to help them.

However, once she gets into financial trouble, who will be willing to help her?

God knows, between her and these people, whose situation is more pitiful and more dangerous...

Catherine Deneuve, having finally left poverty behind, stopped her car at a traffic light.

From here she will truly enter the urban area.

However, when she thought of the person she was about to meet, Catherine felt a little nervous for no reason.

Although that person is young, he is very opinionated.

Beneath his handsome and gentle appearance, he actually hides a firm heart, which is very inconsistent with his age.

Especially now that he has such a huge wealth inexplicably, it is really puzzling.

In fact, Catherine had sensed his mystery and uniqueness as early as the Republic.

At that time, she was just surprised that such a closed country could produce such a humorous and knowledgeable person.

I am very fortunate that I have someone who understands Western culture to take care of me in my life in the Republic.

It was not until she returned to France that Catherine truly realized that she had been influenced by him without realizing it.

I began to like oriental art, and to enjoy using Chinese porcelain to entertain guests. I also wanted to eat Chinese food occasionally, and sometimes I would even think of him unconsciously.

Catherine, who is over 40 years old, has experienced too many men, and thinks that love between men and women has completely disappeared for her, really doesn't know how to reasonably explain all this.

She was sure that she was not obsessed with this young man, but she felt that he had a strong charm that deeply attracted her.

It was as if this young man was a spirit guarding King Solomon, holding the keys to all the treasure houses, and always able to show her rare treasures in the world, making her want to find out.

But then again, this kind of inability to see clearly is not a good thing at the moment.

Because she was not sure she could really convince him, and she didn't know how to convince him.

It was shameful enough to even think that I had come to the point of asking this young man for help.

She has been acting all her life and is known as the first lady of European cinema.

The film queen who has endorsed countless advertisements, invested in Yves Saint Laurent, and led the fashion trends in the 1960s and 1970s, actually earned less in half her lifetime than this young man.

I really don’t know why God arranged it this way. It’s so annoying.

Never mind, it's all for Yves.

Even if this doesn't work out in the end, I have to let Yves know that I have tried my best...

It was with such confused thoughts that Catherine Deneuve came to the lobby lounge of the George V Hotel.

She felt even more nervous and uneasy than when Pierre Cardon spoke to Ning Weimin a few days ago.

After all, in terms of friendship with Ning Weimin, she and the master could not be compared at all, not to mention that she asked for hundreds of millions of francs.

It can be said that she made this trip purely with the mentality of trying every possible means.

It was the huge expenses of maintaining the estate, the bills and event invitations that flew into her mailbox like snowflakes every day, and the increasingly deteriorating physical and mental condition of Yves Saint Laurent that forced her to engage in this disguised begging.

According to her own estimates, the success rate is less than 30%.

Of course, if she were younger, or if Ning Weimin didn't have a new wife around, the chances might be higher. After all, there is a rule in the film industry that everyone understands and respects: no matter how short a relationship lasts, there should be material rewards.

However, when she walked into the door of the lobby lounge and saw Ning Weimin and his wife sitting together, she knew that there was no such possibility at all.

Otherwise, if Ning Weimin had any interest in her, he should have been sitting here alone.

This situation made Catherine Deneuve feel even more uncomfortable.

Although she knew clearly that nothing could really happen between her and this man who was a dozen years younger than her.

But she is a harvester of famous directors after all, and she is also the muse of Yves Saint Laurent. She does not allow any man to really ignore her and be completely immune to her.

However, what made her feel a little relieved was that Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko waved to her almost at the same time.

And she noticed the expressions on their faces. They were not being false or acting.

"I'm so sorry to bother you at this time." Catherine sat down next to Keiko Matsumoto. With her acting skills as an actress, she successfully controlled her nervousness.

It was just that a few days of mental anxiety had made her look less than good. She rushed here in a hurry, and her thoughts, words and actions were a little flustered. In the end, she revealed the secret that she was in trouble.

"You're welcome, we're glad to see you. Would you like something to drink?"

"I'll have a drink, Campari."

"Are you sure? You didn't drive here yourself?"

"Oh, yeah, I was driving. Damn it. I'll have Perrier then."

"Okay, relax. What kind of trouble are you in? If you have something to say, just speak slowly. We will all listen carefully."

Catherine tried not to distort her face, but her voice was still a little trembling, "How do you know I'm in trouble? Did Alan call you? What did he say to you?"

"Alain? Do you mean Mr. Alain Delon?" Ning Weimin said, "No, I'm afraid you misunderstood. In fact, we haven't contacted him since we left Cannes. I just saw that you looked like you were busy. Otherwise, why are you in such a hurry to see us?"

Catherine finally regained her composure.

She was not a stupid woman. When Ning Weimin emphasized the word "we" in his tone, she instantly understood what he meant.

So she took the initiative to touch Matsumoto Keiko's hand, as if she had asked to meet both of them together at the beginning.

"I'm so sorry to have you here as well. But since what we're going to discuss is very important, I still hope you can be here."

Next, Catherine stated her demands in a serious and emotional manner.

In short, the Yves Saint Laurent that she invested in has actually been working towards going public, with the biggest goal being to become the first listed fashion company in France.

However, because the founder Yves was deeply troubled by depression and was physically and mentally exhausted, it seemed that his inspiration had dried up in recent years. Basically, no new works had been released, which led to a sharp decline in shareholder confidence, and many of them wanted to withdraw their investment.

Right now, even Saint Laurent's operations have hit a bottleneck, and it's all thanks to General Manager Pierre Bergé who is struggling to support it.

According to the general manager, the autumn fashion show is urgently needed to use a successful performance to attract everyone's attention to the Yves Saint Laurent brand again.

At the same time, a certain amount of funds is also needed to further develop the garment business so that the financial data can meet the listing requirements as soon as possible.

But all this costs money, at least 200 million francs, and ideally 500 million francs.

  So Catherine’s purpose is very simple, which is to find out whether Ning Weimin has extra funds and whether he is willing to become a shareholder of Saint Laurent?

However, Catherine also used some tricks and added some details to her storytelling method.

Not only did she describe Yves Saint Laurent as a rare and talented designer, but more importantly, she played the emotional card, trying her best to beautify her friendship with Yves and the motivation for her trip.

She said that almost all of her costumes in the 1960s and 1970s were provided by Saint Laurent.

The two were not lovers, but their feelings for each other were much deeper than lovers, just like Hepburn and Givenchy.

It seemed as if she came for help purely to help her friend, and as if her personal gains and losses were far less important than this matter.

After saying that, Catherine looked at Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko eagerly, observing their expressions carefully.

But the sign was obviously not ideal, because after listening to her, the two people on the other side looked at each other with expressions of regret and embarrassment.

As expected, Matsumoto Keiko said, "I'm so sorry you're late. To be honest, we have basically used up all the money in our overseas account today and invested it all in the securities company's account. It would have been better if you had come a day earlier."

Having said this, she took the initiative to look at Ning Weimin, as if she needed him to confirm it again.

Ning Weimin was really rude. "Well, there is nothing we can do. The money has already been contracted with CLSA, and we have also reached a consensus with Mr. Pierre Cardon. It would be hard to explain if we withdraw even part of it now. And there will be losses. So if you need funds now, I really don't have any. It's not that I won't help, but I am powerless."

This sad news almost made Catherine cry, if for no other reason than that it was so hard for her.

Hurry up and hurry up, it's still a step too late.

Originally, she was still questioning whether Ning Weimin still had the money.

Now it’s confirmed that people have it, but it’s invested in the stock market.

"Aren't you still cooperating with Alan? I heard that you are going to do business with him? Could it be that the money..." Catherine was forced to make a final effort. She was even willing to betray her friend for the sake of "a friend's death would rather die than me."

However, Ning Weimin said, "No, that's not good. We can't go back on our word. We have to keep our word. Besides, he is our mutual friend, so just pretend I didn't hear what he said."

Great disappointment occupied Catherine Deneuve's entire heart.

Since she had no idea of ​​the price that could be exchanged for benefits, she had never felt so powerless before.

Now she not only had no energy to think anymore, she was also unwilling to say another word.

She didn't even care whether the surprised look from Matsumoto Keiko represented contempt or disdain.

But things in the world are so strange. Just when she thought there was no hope, the situation changed again, and it was far better than she expected.

"I see you're really anxious. How about this? If you can accept payment in installments, maybe I can help you think of a solution?"

"Ah? What did you say? Installment payment?"

"Yes, you said Saint Laurent needs funds, which should be invested in specific operations, right? In business, who would pay the full amount at once? If I raise the money for you in installments, it should be okay, right? For example, 50 million francs in the first month, 100 million in the second month, 200 million in the next month, and within four months, I can provide 500 million francs without any problem. Is this okay?"

"Oh my God, you have 500 million francs? That's great! You are a magician! Yes, it can be paid in installments!"

Catherine Deneuve screamed in surprise as her mood suddenly rose and fell. She finally turned a critical corner.

Only then did I realize that although I was in urgent need of money, it was not necessary for all of it to be in place in the short term.

Then he couldn't help but hugged Keiko Matsumoto beside him and laughed happily.

Keiko Matsumoto was startled, but was soon infected and also happy for her.

As for Ning Weimin, he smiled at her and said, "It seems that you can accept this condition. That's great. However, I still have some conditions that need to be discussed with the person in charge of Yves Saint Laurent in person, and they also need to be implemented in legal documents. For example, the proportion of shares and considerable rights and interests. Do you understand this?"

"I understand." Catherine nodded hurriedly. "I will ask them to prepare the financial and legal documents. You will not be disappointed in Yves Saint Laurent. As long as Yves Saint Laurent survives this, I will repay you well, no matter what you want..."

But Ning Weimin's words refreshed her understanding of friendship.

"You're being too harsh. We are friends, right? Friends should help each other. Besides, you just helped us in Cannes. We are not heartless people. Don't worry. With just one word from you, I will help you fill the funding gap. It doesn't matter even if Yves Saint Laurent is losing money now."

Five hundred million?

It’s just for the sake of friendship!

Who can believe it!

  Catherine suddenly felt dizzy, as if her life value had reached a new level!

But at the same time, it seemed like she didn't understand men very well.