Chapter 6 News Report

In earlier times, in aristocratic manors, masters and servants lived in two areas, upstairs and downstairs, respectively. They were divided into master's living area and servant's living area. These two areas were distinct.

Generally speaking, kitchen servants are not allowed to appear in the living room without being called by the master.

And family members often would not go to the place where the servants lived. It would be considered a very rude behavior.

If the master needs to summon a servant for something, he will do it by ringing a bell...

Just like watching many movies and TV shows about old aristocrats, you can often see the master pressing the wake-up bell after getting up, and the servant's rattle will ring, which represents the master's call.

Until now, many noble families still retain this tradition.

The only slight difference is that in the old days, the transmission of rattles was through mechanical structures; in modern society, they have all become electric bells.

Through Ramos, Barron also generally understood the slightly anxious mood of the servants in his house, but he didn't care about it at this time.

In fact, except for a few people such as the family's butler Sean and housekeeper Riley, who have been serving the Cavendish family for two or three generations, most of the servants in the manor have a simple employment relationship.

At this time, Barron's idea was very simple. Taking advantage of the current situation to let some less determined servants leave would not be a bad thing.

And more than thirty servants are really too many...

"Master Barron, this is the catalog of assets we hold directly, most of which are not mortgaged..."

Butler Sean moved very quickly. After Barron had breakfast in the morning, he had already handed over his calculated asset list to him.

Barron took the catalog, read it, sighed, and said:

"It seems that the situation at home is indeed not good..."

Yes, most of the assets of the estate, as well as the funds needed for daily operations, are transferred through the family trust fund.

In this way, the real assets directly held by the family at this time, apart from a small amount of cash, are only some jewelry and clothing items that are not easy to sell.

Of course, after hundreds of years of accumulation, especially in the Devonshire family, there once appeared a "single nobleman" who was obsessed with art, and their collection can be said to be huge.

Just like the 11th Duke, the paintings by Rembrandt and Raphael that he sold to pay inheritance taxes were only a small part of his family's collection. There are still many paintings by Rembrandt in his family. There are also more than a dozen paintings by Raphael - this can also show the heritage of the Devonshire family.

Even talking about it makes me feel like my family is facing bankruptcy, but the value of these works of art alone is enough for the family to survive!

But Barron also knows that it is very unwise to sell these works of art now, because the price of these collections is really different compared to later. It is more than ten times or even dozens of times, and it is less than nothing. No way, he won't sell these collections.

But now, Barron needs to "save the family" and at least return it to good operation, which will require at least 35 million pounds of funds. It can be said that the ordinary jewelry and other items in the catalog now, even if they are all sold, will not exceed 500,000 pounds can be said to be a drop in the bucket.

What's more, given the current situation, if you want to sell off your jewelry, I'm afraid it won't fetch a very good price. Not to mention, if word spreads, more people will realize that the Cavendish family is now in the most embarrassing situation. .

But Barron's worries soon seemed less important, because when his valet Ramos brought today's newspaper with a solemn expression, Barron frowned when he saw the report. !

Because reports about the Duke of Devonshire family appeared in many newspapers today!

Of course, because his father and eldest brother died in a car accident, there were a lot of reports about the Duke of Devonshire family, one of the few remaining ducal families in the UK, during the funeral and the period before.

But the difference is that today's reports are all focused on the financial situation of the Duke of Devonshire family!

Almost all reports pointed out that the Duke of Devonshire family invested huge sums of money in the "London Star" fraud case that just broke out.

Some newspapers even revealed that many of the assets of their family trust funds have been mortgaged to banks. Once they are unable to return them due to huge losses, most of the family assets will be forcibly recovered!

It can be said that these reports may soon make their family a hot topic in the near future, making their situation even more difficult.

Just when Barron was wondering why these reports suddenly appeared, his cell phone rang. It was Julia Moore, the administrator of the family trust fund.

"Lord Barron, did you see the newspaper report?"

"I just saw that, Ms. Moore."

"The situation is not good, and this sudden report has a great impact on us."

Hearing Yulia's words, Barron frowned again:

"what's going on?"

"It's the bank. The bank where we took out the mortgage loan contacted me and wanted to know whether it has the ability to repay."

At this time, Barron glanced at the butlers Sean and Ramos in the room, lowered his voice and asked:

"It shouldn't be like this. When the loan was given, there was a certain time limit. Why are they in a hurry now?"

"That's why they're just calling to ask, but I have to say it's a way of applying pressure."

"Do you have any news about the reports? Why did such reports suddenly appear?"

There is indeed something wrong, because although the title of the Duke of Devonshire is already the highest level outside the royal family, their family is actually low-key. Except for the recent car accident, this kind of thing has been widely reported before. time, it goes back to nearly half a century ago when my grandfather was faced with high inheritance taxes and almost couldn't inherit the family business.

But now after the funeral, their investment losses are suddenly reported on such a large scale. There may be some unknown reasons behind it.

"I also asked someone to investigate. It was a tabloid in London that first broke the news. They reported it yesterday. Later, it attracted the attention of other newspapers, so today's reports appeared..."

"If you have time, could you come over today, Ms. Moore? I hope to have a good talk with you about the family trust fund."

"Okay, Mr. Lord, I will visit in the afternoon. In addition, you need to pay attention. It is very likely that many reporters will appear at the manor recently, or even go directly to interview."

After hanging up the phone, Barron put the newspaper reports aside for the time being. Although these reports had an impact on him, he now had higher priorities to deal with.

In the final analysis, as long as the funding problem is solved, no matter what kind of conspiracy or conspiracy, we will eventually defeat it all!

And in the final analysis, the Devonshire family's heritage is not at the end of its rope as described in the reports.

In his previous life, Barron had worked in the financial industry for many years and had conducted in-depth research on overseas markets.

As one of the world's financial centers, London is also something he can take advantage of at this time.

Yes, even if "rebirth" happened and he didn't come to the Duke's family, he was still confident that he could make a breakthrough based on his experience in his previous life.

And in fact, the family's real assets at this time are far greater than the so-called "liabilities"!

It's just that the global economy has not yet begun to recover, so the selling prices of many assets are far lower than their actual values.

Thinking of this, Barron's heart moved - could someone be spying on these assets of the Cavendish family?