National Tide 1980

Catherine Deneuve acted quickly.

After she confirmed Ning Weimin's whereabouts on the phone with Alain Delon, she immediately used her connections to find out the details of Ning Weimin's transactions with the two French studios.

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

Paris is the capital of France and Catherine Deneuve's home base.

Her interpersonal relationships here are unmatched anywhere else.

In particular, he also knew that Ning Weimin was summoned by Pierre Cardin.

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

However, after Ning Weimin came to Paris, he stayed with Pierre Cardin for several consecutive days, either at the company headquarters or visiting Pierre Cardin's store.

He didn't even have time to go shopping with his newlywed 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 they spent their days going from company to store to Maxim's restaurant to hotel. This made it inconvenient for her to appear in front of Ning Weimin or to call him to meet.

After all, Catherine knew her own business. She was thinking about Ning Weimin's money.

Since she planned to let Ning Weimin invest in Saint Laurent to help save her investment.

Then, whether facing Pierre Cardin or Ning Weimin's wife, it would inevitably cause people to think too much and make people mind.

It was not very nice after all.

So she had been waiting patiently until the third day, when the private detective who helped to follow her told her that Ning Weimin had taken his wife and Pierre Cardin to Lyon Securities.

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

So she could no longer care about anything else. In order to get 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 Cardin, she lived in a medium-sized manor in the suburbs of Paris all year round. It would take an hour to get to the city center.

So even the excuse of having dinner together was out of the question.

She made a phone call first, ignoring Ning Weimin's surprise on the other side of the phone, and bit the bullet to tell 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 lobby lounge.

Then she hung up the phone and drove on the road to the center of Paris.

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

Although her villa is also in the western suburbs, it is on the edge of the north. Not only is it close to Charles de Gaulle Airport, it will feel some aircraft noise on weekdays, and even along the way into the city, it will feel the presence of civilians.

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

In Paris, almost every weekend, social volunteers from social welfare agencies will bring food to the fresh air park 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 is even painful to enter another cruel world from an originally romantic world.

But Catherine did not dislike seeing the ragged people.

Not because she had a moment of tolerance and kindness, but because it reminded her that a good life is not easy to come by, and it is even more difficult 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 do not have luxury cars and yachts, nor swimming pools and ranches.

They cannot shop in the famous brand stores on the Champs Elysees, and even the prices of Auchan supermarkets are too expensive. They can only go to Carrefour or cheap places like Lidl in Germany to buy daily necessities.

When she was young, Catherine and her sister had volunteered for them, but she had not done so since her sister died.

Until now, she had only signed a check to the organization that provided the food.

In her heart, people who were living like this were better off 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 got into financial trouble, who would be willing to help her?

God knows, compared with these people, whose situation is more pitiful and more dangerous...

Catherine Deneuve finally left poverty behind and stopped the car at a traffic light.

From here she will really enter the city.

However, thinking of the person she was about to meet, Catherine felt a little flustered for no reason.

Although that person was young, he was too opinionated.

Under his handsome and gentle appearance, he actually hid a firm heart, which was very inconsistent with his age.

Especially now he has such a huge wealth for no apparent reason, which is really hard to understand.

In fact, Catherine had felt 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.

She was very glad that she had such a person who understood Western culture to take care of her life in the Republic.

When she returned to France, Catherine really realized that she had been influenced by him unconsciously.

She began to like oriental art, liked to use Chinese porcelain to entertain guests, and occasionally wanted to eat Chinese food, and sometimes even thought of him unconsciously.

Catherine, who was over 40 years old and had experienced too many men, thought that the love between men and women had completely disappeared for her, and she really didn't know how to explain all this reasonably.

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 the spirit guarding King Solomon, who was in charge of all the treasures and could always show her rare treasures in the world, making her want to explore the truth.

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

Because she was not sure that she could really convince him, and she did not know how to convince him.

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

She had been acting all her life and was known as the first lady of the European film industry.

She had endorsed countless advertisements, invested in Saint Laurent, and led the fashion trends in the 1960s and 1970s, but her income in half her life was not as much as this young man.

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

Forget it, it doesn’t matter, it’s all for Yves.

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

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

Her heart was even more nervous and uneasy than when Pierre Cardin spoke to Ning Weimin a few days ago.

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

It can be said that she made this trip purely with the mentality of trying her best.

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

According to her own prediction, the success rate was less than 30%.

Of course, if she were younger, or if Ning Weimin didn't have a newlywed wife around, the probability might be higher.

After all, there is a rule in the film industry that everyone understands and needs to respect, that no matter how short the relationship between the two sexes lasts, there should be material returns.

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

Otherwise, if Ning Weimin had a little interest in her, he should be sitting here alone.

This situation made Catherine Deneuve feel even more uncomfortable.

Although she also knew that it was impossible for her to really have anything with this man who was more than a dozen years younger than her.

But she is a famous director harvester 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.

However, what made her a little relieved was that Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko almost waved to her together.

And she also noticed the expressions on their faces. Their behavior was not false and just acting.

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

It's just that the mental anxiety of a few days made her look not very good. She rushed here in a hurry, and her thoughts, words and deeds were a little flustered. After all, she still exposed the secret that she was facing trouble.

"Don't be polite, we are glad to see you. Would you like something to drink?"

"I want a glass of wine, Campari."

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

"Oh, yes, I did. Damn it. Then I'll have Perrier."

"Okay, relax, what kind of trouble are you in? You can talk slowly if you have something to say. We will all listen carefully."

Catherine tried her best 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?"

"Alan? 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 obviously had something wrong. Otherwise, why are you in a hurry to see us?"

Catherine finally calmed down again.

She is not a stupid woman. After 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 them both at the beginning.

"I'm so sorry to invite you here. But because the matter is very important, I still hope you can be here."

Then Catherine stated her request seriously and emotionally.

In short, the Saint Laurent she invested in has actually been working hard to go public, and its biggest goal is to become the first listed fashion company in France.

However, because the founder Yves was deeply troubled by depression and exhausted physically and mentally, it seemed as if his inspiration had dried up in recent years. There were basically no new works coming out. As a result, the confidence of shareholders was greatly reduced, and many people have already wanted to withdraw their capital.

At present, even Saint Laurent's operations have encountered bottlenecks, relying entirely on the support of general manager Pierre Bergé.

According to the general manager, there is an urgent need for a successful autumn clothing show to draw everyone's attention to the Yves Saint Laurent brand again.

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

But all this requires money, at least 200 million francs, preferably 500 million francs.

So Catherine's purpose is very simple, she just wants to know if Ning Weimin still has any extra funds in his hand, and is he willing to become a shareholder of Yves Saint Laurent?

However, in the way of narration, Kathleen also used scheming and added spices.

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

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

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

It seemed that she came here purely to help her friends. It seemed that her personal gains and losses were far less important than this matter.

After finishing speaking, Kathleen looked at Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko eagerly, carefully observing their expressions.

But the sign was obviously not ideal, because after hearing what she said, the two people on the other side looked at each other with expressions of regret and embarrassment.

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

Speaking of this, she took the initiative to look at Ning Weimin, as if she needed him to confirm again.

Ning Weimin was also really rude, "Well, there is no other way. The money has already been contracted with CLSA and reached an agreement with Mr. Picardon. Withdrawing now, even part of it, is hard to explain." And there will be losses. So you need funds now, and I really don’t have them. It’s not that I won’t help, but I can’t do anything.”

This bad news almost made Kathleen burst into tears. If nothing else, it was so difficult 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.

Okay now, I’m sure people have it, but they just invested it in the stock market.

"Aren't you still cooperating with Alan? I heard that you want to do business with him? Could it be that the money..." Kathleen was forced to make a last-ditch effort. She even had to "save the death of my Taoist friend" "I am a poor person" and would not hesitate to betray my friends.

However, Ning Weimin said, "No, that's not good. You can't change what you have promised. You have to keep your word. Besides, he is our mutual friend. Just pretend I didn't hear what he said."

Great disappointment occupied Catherine Deneuve's entire heart.

Since she didn't know the price that could be exchanged for benefits, she had never felt so powerless.

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

She didn't even care whether the unexpected look Matsumoto Keiko projected towards her represented contempt or disdain.

But things in the world are still so strange. Just when she thought there was no improvement, the matter happened to change again, and it was far better than she expected.

"I see you are really anxious. Is this okay? If you can accept installment payment, maybe I can help you find a way?"

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

"Yes, you said that Yves Saint Laurent needs funds, which should be invested in specific operations, right? Who would pay the full amount in one go when doing business? If I collect the money for you in installments, it should be Is it okay? For example, if I give you 50 million francs in the first month, then 100 million in the second month, and 200 million in the next month, it’s okay for me to give you 500 million francs in four months. Is that okay? ?”

"Oh my God, you have five hundred million francs? That's great! You're a magician! Yes, it can be spread!"

As her mood plummeted, Catherine Deneuve exclaimed that she had finally rounded a crucial corner.

Only then did I realize that although I was anxious for money, I didn’t have to get it all in a short time.

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

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

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

"I understand." Catherine nodded hurriedly, "I will ask them to prepare financial documents and legal documents. You will not be disappointed with Saint Laurent. As long as Saint Laurent survives this, I will repay you well." Yes, whatever you want..."

Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin's words refreshed her understanding of friendship.

"You are 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. As long as you say a word, I will help you fill the funding gap. It doesn't matter even if Saint Laurent is losing money now."

Five hundred million?

It's just for 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 that she didn't understand men a little bit.