Almighty painter

Chapter 206

Wang!
Wang Wang!

August, who was lying on the floor, seemed to feel the change of his master's emotion, and it jumped over from the floor with a neat wheel.

August stretched his front palms forward, kicked his hind legs straight, his brown back arched upwards like a fully drawn bow, and a fierce barking sound came from his throat.

The big dog is ready to attack like a true knight protecting the princess.

It was always ready to pounce on the boy who made him uncomfortable at the order of Miss Irina.

"Ah! Ole, sister Anna, what's going on!"

The actress subconsciously covered her mouth and exclaimed in a low voice.

She didn't understand why everyone was talking and laughing at Yanyan just now, and why Anna suddenly read a few lines from "Cleopatra", and the atmosphere became tense in an instant.

"It's all right, August, it's all right."

Miss Yi Lianna comforted her pet hunting dog, and then said in a cold voice: "Mr. Ole, I have given you enough respect and patience today, please let go of my hand now, otherwise I will ask you to leave my home, I am also very serious."

"Master Kruger?"

The butler appeared like a ghost and patted Ole on the back lightly.

After Anna ordered him to fetch the check book, she didn't ask him to leave.The butler also knew French. He stood silently in the corner of the living room, taking in everything that had just happened.

"This is a family matter between me and my cousin Anna. I grew up here, even when my godmother was alive, she never drove me away!"

Ole was even more irritable.

He waved his hand, wanting to let the obstructive man leave.

"Master Kruger?"

The butler grabbed his arm, and his white-gloved hand firmly controlled his arm like a pair of iron tongs, and then said again word by word: "Miss, please let go of your hand."

The hands were tightly bound by the opponent.

Ole's mind cleared up a little from the irritability.

He has known the butler for many years.

The butler and the master's personal servants are the souls of the manor's servants.

Especially the former,
They have even been half out of the category of servants. In traditional European-style big families, they belong to positions that will not be cut off if the master can take out a copper coin in his pocket.

This old gentleman-like man has worked in the manor for most of his life.

When Anna's aunt was still alive, the housekeeper's annual salary was more than 50 euros, which was about the same as that of independent directors of some small banks.

Even the daily medical expenses of the other party's family, the cost of the children's going to college abroad, and finding a suitable job were all paid and arranged by the Yi Lianna family.

What you want is a person who knows your roots.

A generous salary brings loyalty, loyalty to the master of the Elena family.

Formerly a guardian loyal to Anna, now Miss Irene herself.

Except for the owner of the manor, Cousin Anna,
In the face of any other guests and family members, the butler's obligation is only to maintain sufficient courtesy and respect, but he does not need to obey any orders from the other party, even if he has often come here since he was a child.

Looking at the serious look of the other party,
Ole didn't doubt that the butler had now finished showing the "polite and respectful" part.

If he doesn't let go, as long as Cousin Anna gives him a wink, maybe next time he won't call him Master Kruger, but will hit him with a knee on his waist.

This is the 21st century,

The times have changed.

The seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door was changed to more than 100 years ago. This kind of personal butler of a noble family is more prestigious than some country knights and barons.

Not to mention asking his servants to drive him out of the manor, even if the master ordered him to shoot, he would pull the trigger without hesitation.

Ole hesitated for two seconds, but finally let go of Anna's wrist, and sat back on his chair angrily.

"Cousin Anna... I'm doing it for your own good."

He raised his hands helplessly, "You are so angry for no reason."

"Very well, then I will pretend that this incident never happened." Anna nodded, "Go back and convey my greetings to Mr. Kruger."

"As for other proposals, don't mention them in the future. I'm not interested, and neither is the Elena family. Ole von Kruger, please listen carefully. I have no intention of marrying you. When I was a child No, not now, and not in the future."

There was once again a long awkward silence in the air.

Anna was silent, Ole was silent, not even the springer spaniel moved.

Only the bewildered actress looked left and right among the few people.

"Is that so?"

Ole slowly lowered his head, staring at his shiny upper.

He seemed to have completely torn off some knots, and said slowly: "This is really your cousin's style, 'I didn't have it when I was a child, I don't have it now, and I won't have it in the future' Powerful and decisive, just like a judge is issuing a verdict , Cut off all my thoughts. Drive me out of here."

Anna had already prepared to leave the living room with an indifferent attitude.

At this time, I heard Ole's low and dejected voice,
She softened a little.

Anna looked at her aunt's godson and shook her head: "Ole, I still welcome you to visit my house as a cousin..."

"Oh... what kind of sympathetic speech."

Ole actually interrupted his cousin directly.

He also shook his head, and sneered, as if laughing at his own incompetence.

"Cousin, you are not the only one who despises me."

"It's not that I don't like..."

"Don't comfort me."

Ole waved his hand: "Do you know? When I came on the plane, my father called me, and he thought I couldn't handle you. He said you were the real countess, and I was just a playboy .”

Ole turned his head, imitating the banker's mocking tone: "Without the money and the cloak of the family, Miss Irina is still a noble lady. And you—Ole, my son, you Just a little boy who can cry."

"Miss Yi Lianna's proud and fierce horse, how can a weak and vain man like my son be able to conquer it? Even if he holds the best fruit puree and boiled eggs mixed together Concentrate feed, she would rather chew the grass on the side of the road than look at you."

"A proud and fierce horse... a proud and fierce horse, no matter how you look at it, it is an extremely interesting metaphor." The young man said bitterly, his tone was so forceful, full of anger after being rejected.

As Anna rejected the other party without leaving any room for maneuver,

Ole seemed to have completely fallen into the state of breaking the jar, and he didn't care about provoking Miss Irina beside him at all.

Gritting his teeth, he muttered a few words.

Then he raised his head and looked at Anna who was looking at him expressionlessly, with a sneer or a mocking expression that he couldn't tell from the corner of his mouth.

"Cousin, do you know where the most interesting part of this metaphor is?"

Anna watched silently as the cousin gradually became more and more unfamiliar.

"My father said, there is a Prussian proverb, ask a horse to go where you want. Instead of holding carrots and eggs and hoping for its mercy-"

Ole looked at his cousin.

At this time, the gentleness and elegance of a noble boy could no longer be seen on his face, but a hysterical coldness and cunning.

"—better to be a horse trainer with ropes and spurs."

Anna's cheeks were still smooth and moist, but her expression was as cold as a marble statue.

"Cousin Ole, you look so ugly when you don't get what you want and collapse. You look like a crying little boy. It seems that Mr. Kruger is at least half right. "

Her tone was still calm: "In fact, I really like the metaphor about the horse. But if I am really a horse, you are not a beast trainer, but just a monkey jumping up and down because you can't get bananas."

The girl smiled nonchalantly.

"Spurs?"

"Your spurs don't refer to my Uncle Kara, do you? Come on, my aunt hardly had any contact with this brother during her lifetime. Even if you have huge debts in your hands, you can use him to threaten me. Did you make a mistake? "

What [Irina NFT digital collection exchange], this kind of money-making thing really has a bad reputation.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows what's going on.

Besides,

Anna herself also has a professional team of lawyers to deal with these issues.

With a high probability, even if Uncle Kara really got the money, the possibility that this kind of "Li Gui" exchange can really be opened is extremely small.

"Oh, my God, don't get me wrong, how could it be Uncle Kara?"

Ole shrugged helplessly, and said in a strange tone: "Cousin, we all understand that garbage like Uncle Kara is at most used for disgusting people. He has no reputation at all, and the one hundred thousand euros I gave him is really It’s just a casual gift, and I don’t even need an IOU.”

"If you want to use him to blackmail you, it would be too whimsical."

Anna was a little puzzled, but she didn't speak.

Ole produced a file folder from the dark brown Prada men's briefcase where Mrs. Le Brun's oil paint tubes had been kept on the side.

He pulled out one of the papers and handed it to Anna.

"Cousin, I wanted to talk to you at another time. After a while, we may be colleagues..."

His tone was mocking, with some arrogance, and he said in a strange way: "Well, I hope your suspension will be over by then."

Anna took the folded copy paper,
Unfold.

This is a photocopy page of the letter of intent for equity transfer.

The general content is that the Austrian National Publishing Group agreed to transfer part of the shares held by the "Oil Painting" magazine to the Kruger Brothers Bank.

"You... bought the "Oil Painting" magazine?"

Looking at the text above, Anna was silent for a few seconds and said softly.

"To be precise, we obtained 26% of the shares from the Austrian National Publishing Group, plus the shares held by some miscellaneous small shareholders, the total shareholding should reach about 1%. 7000 million euros."

Ole's tone was full of complacency: "The main thing is to convince these guys that they are willing to sell their shares. In fact, it is not as expensive as the investment department imagined. In 17 years, in order to buy "Vogue" magazine, Meredith Media Group acquired The total amount is about 30 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the "Oil Painting" magazine of the Elena family is really much cheaper."

Anna still had no expression on her face.

But when she saw the letter of intent for the acquisition, her heart immediately became turbulent.

Anna's mind was calculating the opponent's purpose at high speed.

It's unbelievable that I didn't get any news about such a large shareholding change.

But judging from Ole's complacent facial expression,

She didn't feel that the other party was lying.

Serious art certainly doesn’t have as many people as popular fashion. Buying 1% of the magazine’s shares for 7000 million euros is already an astronomical figure.

No wonder the Austrian National Publishing Group is willing to make a move...

wrong,

"Money shouldn't be the reason, at least it shouldn't be the only reason." Anna thought in her heart.

The sale of shares by such private magazines is more related to future development strategies.

Hundreds of years of development,

"Oil Painting" magazine has also merged several similar magazines. Anna is still the largest private shareholder of the magazine, but the shareholding ratio has been diluted to about 15.97%.

In addition to the three major shareholders of the Austrian National Publishing Group, the European Art Association and the Elena family.

There are also some important members and directors of the association who also hold sporadic shares of "Oil Painting" magazine.

This time, Kruger Bank is like a big fish eating a small fish, buying tens of millions of euros of shares from these directors is definitely not a small move.

But Anna, the largest private major shareholder, didn't hear any advance news.

This even made Miss Irina feel a little uneasy even more than the fact that the Kruger Brothers Bank acquired a large amount of shares.

it's like...

It seemed that everyone was behind her back and was secretly planning something.

"Why didn't I receive the notice from the board."

Anna turned to ask her housekeeper.

"Oh, I can answer this question for you, because it is only an acquisition intention, and it will take a few weeks to complete the legal procedures."

Ole waved his hand indifferently, with the victor's attitude that everything has been settled.

"I don't mind telling my cousin some inside information."

"The financial regulatory department of the Austrian government has approved the sale of the shares held by the National Publishing Group. Sir Brown, as the agent of the European Art Association, will hold a board meeting in the middle of this month."

He snapped his fingers.

"Of course, Cousin Anna, you, the largest private shareholder, can choose to vote against it. Unfortunately, according to the "EU Competitive Mergers and Acquisitions Law", unless you can persuade more than half of the shareholders to object, you have no right to terminate this transaction. "

Ole smiled maliciously.

"Friendly reminder, I don't recommend you to do this, cousin. Perhaps the Elena family is good at art, but financial acquisitions are our old line. If you find that all other shareholders have abandoned you on the board of directors, only you A person stubbornly says you NO. With your pride, this must be a very embarrassing and embarrassing thing. I think otherwise, you should simply abstain from attending."

"Hype Art Foundation? In the name of "Paintings" magazine? Mr. Kruger is the other shareholder and the national publishing house who have been persuaded with this idea."

Anna quickly guessed the whole story of this matter.

She pinched the armrest of the wheelchair with her fingertips in a place that Ole could not see.

Anna had to work very hard to keep her voice calm and not let others hear the fear in her heart.

"Smart! She is indeed the cousin I have admired since I was a child."

Ole snapped his fingers.

"Of course, we would prefer to establish this foundation in the name of Irina. If you are not willing, then the name of "Oil Painting" magazine sounds very loud.

As the most credible art appreciation and evaluation institution in the past 100 years.This golden signboard is like "SCIENCE" or "NATURE" in academia.I'm surprised you haven't tried to build on it and develop its financial value for so many years.It's like raising a chicken that lays golden eggs, but you just want it to crow. "

"Oh, it's too reckless." He pretended to sigh.

"Ole, I feel sad for you and your father's shallowness. Have you ever thought about the reason why "Oil Painting" magazine has such a strong credibility? It is because, from the moment it was established, it was a pure and fair journal of art criticism."

Anna looked up at cousin Ole's eyes: "In the art market, you can choose to be a referee or a contestant. But you can't be a judge and a contestant at the same time. It's like "Oil Painting" magazine can't end at the same time. Profiting from the hype of artworks, while pretending to be objective and fair like a white lotus flower, evaluating the quality of each artist with certainty."

"Every golden egg it lays is covered with the tears of my ancestors." Anna said word by word: "This is the end of the river."

"The doomsday of exhaustion? I prefer to call it the door to a new era. All shareholders other than you should think the same way. Sometimes, cousin, your ideas are old-fashioned. Centuries ago. Look around, it’s a new era now, maybe it’s you, cousin, who needs to change your mind.”

"Don't ever try to make me say yes to this—"

"Then you don't agree, cousin, you are very important in our plan, but the name Irina is not indispensable. Since you are not interested in my marriage proposal, maybe you might be interested in the following things I know, after all you only care about art!"

Ole smiles.

"Next month, the European Art International Annual Conference in April will be held at the local art gallery in Glitz. Are you interested in giving a joint speech with Sir Brown as a distinguished guest?"

European International Art Annual Conference.

It is the most official large-scale art conference of the official nature of the European government every year. Naturally, "Oil Painting" magazine is also on the invitation list every year.

This year, the annual meeting was held again in the new art center of the city.

"Oil Painting" magazine was allocated the most golden speech slot, followed by Mr. Cao Xuan, a representative of Asian art, and Gerhard Richter, a living fossil artist.

The combined age of those two old men is not much younger than the history of the founding of the United States.

Want to give a speech yourself?
Anna remembered that this link was not included in the original schedule.

Chairman Brown should be the only one speaking on the stage.

"A few adjustments have been made. After all, this year is a big day for "Oil Painting" magazine. The organizer is even willing to give you more, oh, sorry, it should be said now, give us "Oil Painting" magazine a few more minutes." Ole shot Patting himself on the forehead, he handed the entire folder directly to Anna.

"This is Sir Brown's speech, cousin, you can prepare it in advance."

Anna took the outline of the speech and opened the folder.

"From private branding to public perspective, from one family's opinion to the beauty of a hundred schools of thought——Retrospecting the century journey of "Oil Painting" magazine"

This is a rather short speech.

It is not known whether Sir Brown or his private secretary drafted the content.

The manuscript also professionally added action notes between different paragraphs to remind the speaker how to combine it with his body language when delivering a speech.

【…The Oil Painting Magazine was founded by the Elena family in the 70s, and has a history of more than 150 years.In the past 20 years, under the leadership of the European Fine Arts Association, the number of publications of the "Oil Painting" magazine.In an age of shrinking print publications, steady growth. (Action: Make a fist to show strength!) And launched an electronic journal and website...]

[…This year, with the acquisition of Kruger Brothers Bank, we have had new blood in our management. (Pause to indicate to the audience that the stage lights will now illuminate the VIP seats, and the Kruger Bank representative will stand up and wave to everyone).In the future, "Oil Painting" magazine will analyze the trend and fashion of world art from a more diverse, neutral and objective perspective...]

【...Looking back on the past, the management of "Oil Painting" magazine will never lack the surname Irina. Even if the family's words are not always correct, who told their ancestors to establish this magazine? (with a helpless smile on his face).It's nothing, if I have the power, I would also like to pass on the position of chairman to my son, unfortunately, he seems to be obsessed with wanting to become a sailing athlete...]

[...In any case, we are still grateful for the contributions made by the Irina family in the establishment of "Oil Painting"... Now please let me introduce the beautiful Miss Anna Irina, I think many of you are already in the sea I saw this young lady in Mr. Berlian's video. I personally don't agree with participating in this kind of unserious art selection that may mislead the public, but I also admit that she is really quite charming...but you may not You know, how respectable she is (pause)...]

[...Ms. Elena's right leg muscles when she was born... Accompanied by a team of nurses and a family doctor, she insists on self-exercise every day, and sometimes needs to do a whole day of exercise in the specially built recovery room of her manor Physical training... In terms of learning art, she has been very talented since she was a child. The surname Elena seems to have endowed her with infinite magic power. In less than two years, she successfully graduated from the Vienna Academy of Arts, where her great-grandfather used to be the school manager. Graduating as an outstanding graduate...]

As Anna read, she bit her lips tightly.

Anna knew that Sir Brown had always wanted to de-"Irene" the "Paintings" magazine.

On the surface, this speech seems to be decent, but there is a kind of yin and yang grotesque mockery of the Elena family and Anna herself all the time.

In the content of the speech, the contribution of the Elena family elders to the "Oil Painting" magazine was only briefly mentioned, and almost all the credit for the success of the magazine was taken by myself.

And described the Yi Lianna family as a arrogant and powerful powerful.

For Anna,

Sir Brown seemed to be "kindly" praising her, but he always intentionally or unintentionally described her as a charming young lady who would eat minced meat in a big manor.

Reading the whole article, there are yin and yang irony everywhere, as if all her success is based on taking shortcuts by relying on the surname "Irina", not her own efforts.

She is too young.

Sir Brown was clearly going to bully Anna, and he had no time or opportunity to prove her vision to the public.

In his article, he also secretly expressed his dissatisfaction with Anna's participation in Thomas's video as an editor of an oil painting magazine.

People didn't say it clearly.

Just a high-sounding tone, referring to Anna's praise of Detective Cat as - "may be misleading to the public."

(End of this chapter)