Flowers, Swords and France

"Mr. Treville, do you wish to be a fool or a villain? Just say one word and answer me now..."

As Baron Beauvain asked the final question, no one in the room spoke anymore. Two people stared at one person. The atmosphere was frighteningly cold.

"Charles, think about it carefully. After all, the opportunity is rare." Joseph Bonaparte helped again, "The goddess of luck will not favor you every time."

Luck, even if it is luck piled up with countless human corpses, it is still luck, isn't it?

Under the cold gaze of banker Baron Beauvain, Charles's thoughts did not stay on his question, but suddenly drifted away.

He recalled a passage in his mind.

“…If there is a 10% profit, capital will be used everywhere; if there is a % profit, capital will be active; if there is a 50% profit, capital will take desperate risks; for 100% profit, capital will dare to trample All human laws; if there is a profit of more than 300%, capital will dare to commit any crime, and even risk hanging..."

What the philosopher said always made sense.

And now, the same problem is before me——

Are you willing to commit any crime for such unimaginable profits like your colleagues?

Do you dare to commit a boundless sin and bear it with the same smile as the person in front of you, as if nothing is wrong?

In order to achieve your goals, can you become a villain with no sense of morality and watch countless people lose their fortunes and ruin their lives?

The indignation and irritation that had arisen subconsciously at the beginning had gradually subsided. Reason and calmness had replaced the blood for a moment, and took possession of the head again.

In an instant, the ghost called reason lingered in my mind, constantly interrogating and torturing myself.

what do you? Are you a revolutionary? Do you really think you are the savior of the world?

I'm not, I'm a careerist, a speculator among the run-down aristocrats who wants to take advantage of the opportunity to rise to power. I'm a villain.

Are you qualified to be kind now?

I don't have it. Kindness is too luxurious for me.

Can you afford not to say yes?

I cannot, I cannot lose the confidence of Joseph Bonaparte and his cousin, nor offend Baron de Beauvin. And... God knows what the consequences will be if they don't agree after knowing this plan. They may be... unimaginable.

One last question.

Do you still have a way out?

Do you still have a way out? You looked at the captured girl, knowing that she was about to be killed, but instead of stopping you, you were even glad that she didn't know too much and wouldn't let her own interests be harmed; you burned it without any scruples. A house, even though you knew it would cause a fire and cause casualties, you still did it. Do you regret it? Did you regret it for a second?

Since you have not regretted any of these things, now, what qualifications do you have to pretend that you still have morals? Such a person still has the nerve to say "this is a crime"? You are already a criminal!

Now, you can either be a half-assed idiot or a villain. Which one do you want to choose?

Within a few seconds, humans can think of so many thoughts at the same time. But in the end, there was only one thought left:

………………

I have no other choice.

Ciel's lowered head slowly lifted up again, and the sweat on his forehead dried again.

Yes, I have no other choice for a long time.

All the answers that were rushing through my mind were all forgotten in my mind in an instant, leaving only this sentence.

"But... but now... I don't have that much... I don't have that much money." His voice was low, very slow, even hesitant, but it was enough to relax the atmosphere in the room.

Baron Beauvain and Joseph Bonaparte looked at each other secretly, then smiled and nodded.

Sure enough, this young man was the same type of person as himself and Mr. Bonaparte. When he was young and bankrupted his best friend's family, he also hesitated for a few seconds. For a few seconds, really.

"Very well, young man, as long as you have this kind of ambition and courage, what does a mere principal mean?"

"What...mean?" Charles looked at the Baron with inquiring eyes.

"Charles, you don't have to worry about this. I have already discussed this issue with the Baron before." Joseph Bonaparte interrupted, with a look on his face: "I finally persuaded the Baron, please come and thank me." Hahahahahaha" expression.

Charles continued to look at Baron Beauvain.

"Mr. Treville, do you remember that when you came to my house, I told you about your credit rating." The Baron looked at Charles calmly.

"Oh, of course I remember," Charles nodded, "You said you originally had two million, but later because of my negative performance, you lowered my credit rating, and there was only half a million left. "

"You are really easy to remember your name." The Baron nodded approvingly, "However, later I changed my mind after I discovered that your 'negative performance' was not really a negative performance."

"You restored my rating?" Ciel seemed to understand something.

"Not only has it recovered, but it's even higher than that," the banker replied leisurely. "The rating I gave you later was..." He looked at Charles with a smile, "five million."

To his satisfaction, after hearing this amount, Charles was really moved, and his eyebrows couldn't help but jump slightly - there was no way, there were very few people in this world who could not blink when they heard five million gold francs. .

"So many?" Charles asked in surprise.

"No, it won't be so much the first time." Sure enough, the banker shook his head slightly, "For someone who borrows money for the first time, I usually can only give him a 20% discount on his credit rating."

Four million is a lot!

When Charles was about to say something, the banker added, "But, unfortunately, your ridiculous roar and a few seconds of hesitation have once again lowered my rating for you, so now you can only borrow Up to 60% off…”

Then, he looked at Ciel quietly again, waiting for his decision.

this…………

What else do you have to choose? Three million is a lot!

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

The brilliance of money filled the void in his heart, and also faded away the last trace of intolerance remaining in Charles's heart. For a bourgeois figure, what else can he think of at this moment?

Anyway, Ciel could only think of one answer at the moment.

…………

"How much is the interest?"

"If you want to borrow such a large sum of money in the market, the annual interest rate is usually 5%, and some charge 6%." The banker seemed to have regained his professional tone, and the vulgar and cunning soul took over this fat man again. His body no longer showed any of the philosophical temperament he had when he gave a speech just now. "But you, considering the income, I ask you to charge you eight percent interest, which means that after one year, you have to pay me back a full 3.24 million francs. Can you accept it?"

The interest rate of 8% seemed very high, but Charles understood that this was actually the banker selling it to him. In such a great opportunity, as long as you prepare early and operate well, it is not a problem to double or triple the principal. What does it mean to pay back the interest of 240,000?

Looking at Ciel's expression, Baron Bowen nodded seemingly with pleasure before he could even wait for Ciel to answer.

"Mr. Treville, I'm glad it's so easy to talk to intelligent people."

Then he held out his hand.

Should I hold this hand? This hand has strangled countless people to death, and will certainly continue to strangle countless people to death in the future, even if it is not done by its own hands.

Ciel quickly reached out and held the slightly cold hand.

"Then it's a deal." The banker smiled kindly, "When the time comes, I will prepare this amount of money for you. Just pay it back to me with interest when it matures in one year. How much money can you make from it? It's up to you, but I'm sure you, Mr. Treville, will make a fortune out of it."

"Then how much do you plan to earn?" Charles asked seemingly casually.

"When the money reaches an extremely large amount, it will be extremely difficult to make it grow rapidly. It is easy to earn three million with one million principal, and it is easy to earn thirty million with ten million principal. It’s difficult, what if it’s more? It’s as difficult as going to heaven. I don’t expect to make a few times the profit this time, as long as I can double the assets of the Bowang family, I will be satisfied.” Answer gently.

The Beauvin family can now control a total of several hundred million gold francs in assets. He humbly said that he only needs to earn the same amount of money this time. A few hundred million francs, that's it!

What a financier who is easily satisfied! It's so compassionate!

The wild laughter that popped up in Charles's heart under the pressure was only the formulaic smile on his face - the kind of smile he had seen in the paintings of the ancestors of the Treville family, the kind that the Marquis of Treville almost had on his face when he was a child. A forced smile.

"My ambitions may be a little bigger than yours."

"Oh? Then I'm looking forward to it." The baron also smiled the same way, "It's a good thing for young people to be ambitious, but don't let me down."

"I knew that Charles would not disappoint." Joseph Bonaparte, who had been silent next to him, suddenly smiled.

Under the moonlight, three different faces showed the same smile.

The same gentleness, the same calmness, the same implicitness, but the same lack of real feelings. Or is this why they are successful?

Baron Bowen needs manpower and future protection.

The Bonaparte family needed to return to power and needed to rely on their own henchmen to rule.

Ciel needed to get rich and get to the top.

The "needs" of the three people have been combined at this moment, and that is enough.

After a moment, Ciel took a deep breath.

Either don’t do it or never do it. Capitalists will pull the noose that strangles themselves, but I will not.

"Mr. Bowang, please tell me more about your plan, and I'll see what else needs to be improved." (To be continued.)