"The Duke of Cavendish..."
When Barron said goodbye to Miss Ella and was about to leave the Duke of Westminster's residence, he walked to the door of the villa. The bodyguard Frank opened the car door for him. When he was about to get into the Rolls-Royce, the Duchess of Rutland appeared again and stopped him.
Barron glanced at Frank, who was on the defensive, and then smiled and said:
"Mrs. Manners, what else can I ask?"
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I just want to talk to you about the management of the manor. You know, we are just starting out, so we need some experience..."
It seems that Viscount Bute's attitude at the cocktail party still made the Duchess a little uncertain.
Don't be surprised that a duchess is so prominent, because the Rutland family is very interesting. The men in their family are often not good at business, but have their own pursuits. For example, the current Duke of Rutland has put more energy into politics - although in the end, he didn't achieve anything.
When Emma Manners married into the Duke of Rutland's family, he once told her: "In the dukedom, it is a woman's duty to make money, and it is our job to spend it."
Yes, in the Rutland family, the management of the family estate has always been the responsibility of women, which is why the key to the castle estate was handed to Emma by the old Duchess.
"Oh? Now? Duchess, by the way, where is your daughter?"
"I asked someone to send her back home first..."
The Duchess of Rutland smiled at Barron, looking somewhat charming, and said:
"If you have time now, could you give me some time?"
Emma's words made Barron somewhat hesitant. The key point was that Barron felt some other meanings in the other party's performance.
He raised his hand to check the time and said,
"It's a little late today, ma'am. How about this? You have my phone number too. Can we arrange a time to talk tomorrow?"
Although Barron's words made the Duchess of Rutland slightly suspicious that it was an excuse, she could not continue at this time, so she nodded and said:
"Okay, Your Highness, when are you free tomorrow?"
After agreeing on a time with the other party, Barron said goodbye to the Duchess of Rutland.
After he got into the Rolls-Royce, he said to Frank in front of him,
"Investigate the situation of this Duchess of Rutland and hand it over to me tomorrow, Frank."
As Barron's personal bodyguard, Frank is actually more like his security assistant. He can communicate directly with the intelligence team. He is also responsible for collecting some information and conveying it to Barron.
It's not that Barron really couldn't spare the time to talk to the Duchess of Rutland today, but he couldn't rashly contact some people now. He first needed to know the other party's background and make advance preparations.
…
The feedback from Digital UK's staff who went to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange of China was relatively optimistic.
After all, the current bottleneck in the promotion of the Freeview platform is the production capacity of its set-top boxes, which is the most urgent issue that needs to be resolved.
Their staff, with the help of the boss of Penguin Company Xiao Ma, selected three factories specializing in the production of electronic products in and around Shenzhen.
After the technical staff from Digital UK arrived, they signed contracts with the three factories. In the first batch, they placed orders for a total of 150,000 set-top boxes with them, and made detailed provisions for the technical specifications of the products.
If their final product can fully comply with Digital UK regulations, there will be more orders in the future.
You know, the quotes given by these factories surprised the staff of Digital UK. They were half lower than the production of local factories.
The key components of set-top boxes, including chips, storage and other components, can be ordered directly and sent to these factories for assembly. Other components that can be purchased locally will be much cheaper and the quality will meet the standards. This result also surprised Brad Plass, CEO of Digital UK.
Moreover, according to the contract, the three factories' orders for 50,000 set-top boxes each can be completed within one month and started to be shipped to England. This speed also makes them very satisfied.
The only doubt now is that although the other party has made such a promise, whether the quality of the final product can meet their requirements.
"In less than a month, our SDTV will be launched, Brad, so I hope to expand the number of users of our Freeview platform as much as possible during this period. My suggestion is to ship the set-top boxes produced in China to us in a timely manner within a week, and then start distributing them to users."
After hanging up the phone with Brad Prass, CEO of Digital UK, Barron prepared to leave the company and go to the appointment.
Yesterday, Barron made an appointment with the Duchess of Rutland to meet today at the Devonshire Hotel.
"Ma'am, what do you think of the layout here?"
"It is very beautiful, Your Highness. It is even comparable to our Belvoir Castle."
When they met, Barron discovered that the Duchess of Rutland had been carefully dressed today. Not only did she have exquisite makeup, but after entering the room, she took off her coat. The long skirt underneath also highlighted her figure and showed her mature charm.
"You said you wished to know how Chatsworth was run, didn't you?"
"Yes, Duke. I have visited Chatsworth House before. I was impressed by your diversified operations. I also hope that Belvoir Castle can also gain such experience."
After briefly introducing the current business projects of Chatsworth Manor, including farms, tourism, hotels and entertainment, to the Duchess of Rutland, Barron said:
"In fact, the most important thing for the manor is its popularity."
"Our Belvoir Castle has a history of a thousand years. After being renovated over the generations, it is quite well-known."
Hearing her words, Barron smiled and said:
"Madam, there are too many castles and manors in England. Tourists usually don't visit all of them, especially those overseas tourists who come to England. They usually only choose two or three of them. Therefore, there are many factors that influence their choice, including popularity, reviews, and price. Of course, features are also very important."
"Just like you want to let more people know about Chatsworth House through TV shows and novels, is that the same consideration?"
"Yes, ma'am, we are more experienced in this area. We can actually cooperate."
"cooperate?"
"Yes, our Devonshire Tourism Group includes attractions such as Chatsworth House and Carran Castle, and cooperates with the Cavendish Hotel Group. So your Belvoir Castle can also be included in it."