"Barron, it really is you. I haven't seen you for a long time..."
"Aurora? Nice to meet you, what brings you here?"
"I went to a celebration with my friends today and went shopping. I just came back. By the way, I live nearby now..."
When Barron returned to the apartment in the afternoon, he wanted to walk at the intersection to feel the festive atmosphere in London at that time, but he ran into Aurora.
With long golden hair, delicate facial features and a tall figure, there is no doubt that Aurora is an eye-catching presence wherever she goes.
More importantly, she was one of Barron's college lovers.
When Aurora was in college, she was a popular figure in the school. She and Barron were once called the "golden boy and jade girl". However, she eventually broke up with him because she could not stand Barron's philandering.
That is why, when Barron saw Aurora greet him, he immediately recognized her from the memory of his "previous incarnation".
"I have to say, Aurora, you are becoming more and more charming."
"You're still so good at talking, Barron."
My impression of the girl in front of me is still based on my previous life's memories, but seeing her reaction and expression now, it is obvious that she is quite interested in me...
Aurora was wearing a gun-gray coat and white shirt today, black pencil pants and nude high heels, looking very neat.
"Do you have time later, Barron? Let's go to the bar together. Maybe we can talk more about each other's recent situation."
"I'm sorry, Aurora, I'm looking forward to it, but I can't go to a bar right now because..."
"By the way, I read about your family's situation in the newspaper. It was really sad. I'm sorry I shouldn't have mentioned that."
Like many aristocratic families, Barron did not make his aristocratic identity public when he was still a student, and Aurora did not know this when he fell in love with her.
However, with the recent reports about the Duke of Devonshire's family, Barron, as the only remaining heir to this ancient ducal family, has had his photo appear in various reports many times. It is not surprising that Aurora was able to learn of Barron's identity.
"But if you don't mind, Aurora, I'd like to invite you to my house for a few drinks..."
"Is this convenient? Your girlfriend..."
"Of course it's convenient. I'm alone now."
…
"The gas tank near King's Cross Station? Yes, it is the property of the Cavendish family. The Viscount Bute you mentioned has talked to us about jointly renovating and developing the place..."
Yesterday, Barron met Viscount and Viscount Bute at Buckingham Palace and heard them talking about the land of the Victoria Gas Tank in King's Cross. He vaguely remembered that he had seen that land in the asset catalogue of the family trust fund, so he asked the manager of the family trust fund, Julia Moore, and got a reply from her.
Yulia told Barron that this storage tank is located near King's Cross Station and consists of three huge gas tanks connected to each other. These gas tanks can be traced back to the Victorian era!
These gas tanks and part of the land near them originally belonged to a gas company in London. A female member of the Cavendish family married another marquis and obtained part of the shares of the gas company. In the end, she got this piece of land with three huge gas tanks - these gas tanks had been abandoned at that time.
Because she had no children, she gave this asset to the then Duke of Devonshire in her will, and it became one of the assets of the Devonshire family.
In the following decades, the Cavendish family had thought about developing this land, but the removal of the three huge abandoned storage tanks was very expensive, and the Cavendish family did not have sufficient funds at the time, and was not very enthusiastic about real estate development, so the land was shelved.
In fact, the location of these gas tanks is very good, as they are located in a relatively central location in London.
Therefore, not long after, several real estate companies, including the company owned by Viscount Butt, negotiated with them to jointly develop the area. The most active among them was Viscount Butt.
But we know what happened later. Because of a sudden accident, the old duke and his eldest son died, and the matter was shelved.
"In the beginning, the old Duke was very confident in his investment in the 'Star of London'. Indeed, the performance of that investment was indeed good at the time - so he wanted to invest in developing it together with Viscount Bute and others..."
In the study room of the apartment, Yulia sat on the sofa in front of Barron and said to him seriously:
"Indeed, although the area is not particularly large, the entire land is about 6 hectares, but the location is indeed good, very close to King's Cross Station. If it can be successfully developed, it still has great prospects."
Since the beginning of the century, real estate in London has begun to rise. Correspondingly, families that have accumulated huge wealth from real estate development have continued to emerge. Therefore, Barron's father, who is very confident in his investment in "London Star", has sufficient reason to plan to use the profits to develop his own land in the center of London.
However, with the collapse of the "London Star" investment project, the entire family's finances fell into trouble, and the development of the "gas tank site" was shelved indefinitely.
"That Viscount Bute told me that he was going to change the way of cooperation and directly purchase our land and develop it himself. Ms. Moore, what do you think of this proposal?"
"The location there is still very good and has development potential. But given our current financial situation, we cannot continue to invest money in it. It depends on your opinion, Your Excellency. If we sell the land and use the funds to make up for the investment deficit, it is also one of the options that can be chosen."
After all, Yulia is inclined to agree to this plan, but the premise still depends on Barron's own opinion. She will not give a clear conclusion.
At the same time, her implication was that even if the land was sold, it would be used to make up for the shortfall from previous investments, rather than for other things... She was really keeping a close eye on Barron.
"In that case, let's wait and see what conditions Viscount Bute gives us."
…
"It's almost ten o'clock. Do you want to get up and eat something?"
After seeing Yulia off, Barron returned to his bedroom again and spoke to Aurora, who seemed to be still asleep, with one of her white jade arms stretched out of the quilt and her long hair covering her face.
"I'm so sleepy, I want to sleep for a while..."
Aurora still murmured sleepily,
"It's all your fault. You made me suffer last night... I felt like I was falling apart."