His Excellency the Count of Grandet

For an old man like Guillaume who spoils his son to heaven, he must get what his son wants, and he must get what he thinks his son needs.

These two things have saved Charles countless troubles.Because he just promised Guillaume to go to the exchange, and Guillaume has done much more than this——

Popularize the knowledge of various types of bills such as promissory notes, bonds, and national debts for him, let him start with the most basic and simple transactions under his name, and finally even shamelessly ask the professor at the French College to give him a little advice—— You know, because of Napoleon's policy, the status of teachers is very high. It is not easy to get them to nod, at least the price must be high.

Charles didn't know how much money Guillaume had spent or how many relationships he had established.But he knew that if he hadn't done the first two things well, Guillaume might not have done that.After all, if you hire a teacher and you can't learn anything, if it spreads, you will lose all face.

If there is one thing that ranks higher in Guillaume's heart than Shire, it is face, which is something like reputation that is often said in business transactions.To sum up, Guillaume must have evaluated his son's performance in front of the teacher first, and took action only after he felt that there would be no major problems.

But in any case, Charles accepted the offer.

Because Guillaume is good enough to him, there is nothing to criticize.Also, he worked diligently from the bottom of the company to the position of president, and he did quite well. Of course, he knew about bills and transactions.

To be honest, because he memorizes the knowledge 300 years later, the professors at the Collège de France may not understand better than him, and Guillaume may not be better at business than him.But of course, if there is a famous teacher to teach, others will feel that his changes are more reasonable, and they will not be particularly eye-catching.

One of Shire's life creeds is to make a fortune in silence!Because of Napoleon's expansion and final failure, there are still foreign troops in Paris now!It's making too much noise, do you want to be the first bird to be shot down?

However, it is not yet time for Charles to make a fortune.No matter how big an ambition is, it needs a lot of strength to support it, otherwise it will definitely fail in the end, he knows it very well.Before that, he must be fully prepared.

That's what he planned, but it was going to make Guillaume look at his son with admiration in just one month.It seemed to Guillaume that, after his recovery, Charles was as obedient as ever, but the habits of Parisian youth had disappeared unconsciously.You know, he struggled so hard back then because his background was too low, and Shire grew up in a honey pot!so……

"You don't have to work so hard, Charles." Guillaume finally couldn't help saying it, with a distressed tone. "Although my mother is gone, my father is still here."

At that time, Charles was reconciling accounts in his study at home.There is no computer in this era, and the efficiency of using pen and paper is simply extremely low.He has been doing this day and night for several days, and of course Guillaume will find out.But the account must be settled - knowing that there is a problem, can he be lazy and not check it?

So when Guillaume hinted that someone was supporting him, Charles went in his left ear and out his right ear. "I'm fine, Dad." He was checking the data in the form without raising his head. "The professor said that practice makes perfect. If I do a little more now, I can help you earlier."

Guillaume wanted to say something more, but after hearing this, he could not continue.With the current market conditions, he certainly knew that it was useful for a professor to make a good impression; then Charles said he wanted to help him, so he couldn't be picky. "You haven't slept these days, have you?" He was still a little worried.It's good to work hard, but it's too much now!

"Of course not, I just lie down on the bed obediently every night!" Charles retorted. "You can ask Jean!"

Jean is the butler of the Grandet family. He has been with Guillaume for more than 30 years. He is loyal and responsible for watching Charles go to bed since he was a child.So hearing such a guarantee, Guillaume felt a little relieved. "Oh well."

"Please don't speak so forcefully, Dad." Charles deliberately misled Guillaume, "Say it as if you don't want to see me study."

"Of course not!" Guillaume objected fiercely. "God knows, of course I hope to see you rise to the top! Not only me, but your mother in heaven will also be pleased to see this." He stood up from the carved silk chair, picked up the charr on the table and drank "Since you said that, Dad can only bring you a cup of coffee to show my trust, huh?"

Guillaume pushed the door open, and Charles glanced up from the pile of documents.It is because of such an old man who unconditionally believes in him to do anything, that he can get in touch with the Grandet family's wine wholesale business and the loan situation so quickly, right?So, isn't it necessary to have a thorough grasp of the situation before things become irreversible in order to make the right decisions?That's what he's doing!

The business of Grandet's family is mainly wine.Guillaume only brought a few francs to Paris to break into the world, and never left again; and there is no place to grow grapes in a metropolis like Paris.

Therefore, Guillaume's wines are collected from vineyard owners all over the world during the harvest season; then he transports these wines to Paris and resells them, earning the difference in the middle price.

This transaction does not involve various planting costs of grapes, at best it involves the rent price of oak barrels, storage, transportation and care, so it is not too complicated on the books.This made it easy for Charles to figure out the financial situation of the family, and it also allowed him to discover the most likely problem——

Wine is a typical industry that depends on the sky.There is a lot of rain, the grape harvest is small, the wine is not good, and the price is not high; it is sunny, the grape harvest is good, the price is not necessarily high-because there are only so many wines that can be drunk every year, the price of early and late sales will be different. There is a lot of difference, and the selling situation of other people's wine must be considered.As the saying goes, people's hearts are separated from their belly, which is hard to predict.

Since they earn the price of scissors, the price gap between the entry and exit determines everything.

Imagine a worst-case scenario.If someone has a lot of wine and someone sells it before him, the price of his wine will drop or it will not be sold.Either way, it means that the funds that can be withdrawn are greatly reduced.If he still has bonds to repay or promissory notes to be cashed in the current period, the capital chain will be broken; if he cannot pay, it means bankruptcy.

Some people may say that you should have some money in your hand just in case.But the problem is that, to be fully insured, it takes a lot of money.No savvy businessman would put a large pile of gold in a box and nail it up. The usual practice is to release most of it, and only the liquid money can make money.

For the Grandet family, this means buying more wine and selling it.And where does the money for the wine come from?Part of it is your own funds, and part of it is credit loans such as bonds.

If things were going well, it would be like this—Guillaume had borrowed other people's money to buy wine, and signed bonds for it; when he sold the wine, he could repay those bonds, and then he would have a bigger profit.

If things go bad, and things go like this—the wine won’t sell, the bond is due again, Guillaume isn’t on it, then…

Charles pressed his temple.From what he knew, the future development would be bad.

In that case, Guillaume chose to resign and commit suicide instead of trying to find a way to borrow some more money to plug the gap and earn it back later to make up for it, or to state his situation and ask creditors for a grace period.

This may seem decisive, but in a way it is irresponsible for the sake of face.Or more likely, the funding gap is too great, and Guillaume does not want Charles to bear the debt he left for the rest of his life.

For what reason, Charles didn't know.But he knows that there are always big and small risks in doing business.He doesn't mind taking risks, after all, risks and benefits coexist; but he really minds taking a risk that he doesn't know himself, and taking it with someone he can't trust—

Because he discovered that Guillaume had issued many bonds, and Logan and Su Xie were the guarantors.This is normal, and that's what notaries and brokers are for.But the problem is that Logan and Suche have also signed a lot of bonds themselves, and the funds borrowed are still used in the same place to buy wine from the Burgundy region.

This expenditure seems normal.Moreover, if something goes wrong, Logan and Su Xie will go bankrupt before Guillaume.Charles guessed that because of this, Guillaume didn't become suspicious—who dug a hole for others to jump into, but he jumped into it first?

After knowing the inside story, Ciel also made a murmur.Could it be that he was preconceived by the result, but Logan and Su Xie didn't mean it?

But before he could figure it out, the half-hidden door of the study was pushed open again.Xia Er thought it was his father, and it turned out to be his father, but it was a father with a completely different expression from before——

"Great, it turns out I'm not the only one who thinks you've been working too hard recently!" Guillaume said, his tone sounding pleasant.

"What are you talking about?" Charles's mind was full of details that he had overlooked, and he didn't notice the narrowness hidden by Guillaume at all.

Guillaume walked in, put his hands on the table, and looked at his son with a smile from half a meter away. "Don't you think you've been at home too long?"

This distance and content finally caught Shire's attention. "Are you going to kick me out while I'm studying?" he said deliberately in a tone of disbelief.

"Of course not." Guillaume put a hand on his shoulder and pushed it gently. "But this kind of thing is not too late. Mr. Nucingen's ball invitations have been sent to the house, and you don't plan to go to it? He has invited many young and beautiful ladies!"

Charles blinked, then blinked again.Guillaume's original intention was probably to let him get acquainted with a few noble ladies, but he was inspired by another thing——

Too bad, how could he forget that the original body also had a lady lover?

The author has something to say: the French meter at that time was not the current meter, and its defined length was one ten millionth of the length from the equator to the North Pole on the earth meridian passing through Paris.I checked the length of the meridian, and one meter at that time was about two meters now.