aristocratic engagement

The door of the suite was closed, Du Li leaned against the door and listened, until the sound of footsteps got farther and farther away before she unlocked it again.She walked quickly to the window and hid behind the curtain sideways.

From her perspective, she could clearly see Mr. Brown taking the horse led by the hotel servant, turning over and riding on it.Mr. Brown looked all the way back and forth, then raised his head, as if looking for the window of the room he was in just now.Du Li immediately took another step back.

After a while, the sound of horseshoes came from outside the window, and Mr. Brown left towards the other side of the road.

Du Li then withdrew her gaze, turned her head to the door of the study suite, knocked on the door and went in.

Annie is now lighting candles, and the heavy curtains are still drawn.

"Did you believe him, Mademoiselle de Bourgh?"

Annie raised her eyebrows, and Du Li responded immediately: "I'm sorry, Mr. Richter."

"Half and half." Annie still did not forget to lower her voice, "Mr. Brown's words seemed to be seamless at first, but there are too many things to deliberate in it - the most obvious is the 'motivation' of the store manager, which is really lacking." Credibility."

Is Mr Klub a fool?Couldn't he be so shrewd to understand the pros and cons?

Phoenix's distinctive products make it a small name in London's textile industry.Mr. Richter is also an extremely generous employer, who does not interfere much with the operation of the shop and pays generously.

In the position of manager of the cloth store, Mr. Klub has stood at the top of the entire industry.

"Even if Mrs. Klub and the factory owner used to have an employment relationship, Mr. Klub has no reason to betray Phoenix just for this. The risk and reward cannot be compared. Businessmen are the most clever and cunning, and he should be able to settle this account. "

"Just based on this, can you trust Mr. Klub?" Du Li asked suspiciously.

Annie smiled slightly, and while putting on the hood tighter, she said, "Think carefully about what Mr. Brown said just now, do you think it's too natural?"

Du Li pondered for a moment, frowned and shook her head.

"Unless it is a lie, no one is so sure about a thing."

Mr. Brown was vague about the investigation process, but firmly believed in the inference that there were no leakers in the design and production process, and even seemed to lead her to doubt Mr. Klub in his words.

"Ah! I remembered. I just told you that I saw Mr. Brown and Mr. Klub arguing at the entrance of the Phoenix store just now! Could it be that he is deliberately framing the store manager?" Du Li lowly exclaimed.

Annie squinted her eyes halfway, but did not answer.

The matter is by no means that simple. If Mr. Klub did nothing, Mr. Brown would not be able to completely blame him for the betrayal.

Annie shook her head, and left through the dark stairs behind the small door in the corner of the room.

Annie and Du Li didn't linger outside, and walked briskly in the alley for about half an hour, and finally came to a slightly desolate street.Annie raised her head, her eyes looked beyond the eaves of the other shop, and she could still see the roof of the Earl's Mansion in the distance.

The windows of her room were stained glass, glistening in the sunlight.

Annie's figure flashed by a huge abandoned billboard, entered a hidden path, and stopped in front of a small house.This house was not far from the Earl's Mansion, it was dusty and inconspicuous, and its height was the same as other houses.The door is more than half sunken below the ground, requiring a few steps down.Annie took out an old key from her pocket and opened the door.

Behind the door is another "door".

Annie pressed the button on the "door", and with a heavy sound, it moved aside, revealing the dark space inside.

This is the secret space that Annie's room is connected to.

"Ah—" Du Li suddenly screamed shortly, and Annie's heartbeat also stopped for a moment.

There is a person standing in front of the desk.

Annie's mind was spinning quickly, and her hand quietly approached her thigh. Finally, seeing the person who was not moving in front of her, she also chose to stay still.She waved Du Li to light the candle, and then pressed the mechanism behind her.

The moment the candle was lit, there was a "bang" behind him, and the door of the bookcase closed.The secret space was cut off from the world again, and the person in front of him also turned around.

Annie saw the face of the person in front of her clearly, and was dumbfounded.

"Ha." The man gave a short smile, didn't say anything, just looked at her shocked expression as if he was amused.

The door leading to the staircase at the other end was also opened, and a man came in with a candlestick in his hand. He saw the scene in front of him, and his voice did not fluctuate: "Oh! You have met? Have you introduced yourself to each other?"

Anne looked at the count who didn't change his face, and her mind was a little confused.

"Not yet, Miss de Bauer was here just one step ahead of you, and we haven't had time to talk." He shrugged, looked around for a while, and finally sat down casually on a pile of books.

After Earl Fitzwilliam placed the candles on the table, he also randomly picked a pile of books and sat down.Annie's eyebrows jumped, and she held back the words of "reprimand".Under their buttocks, Anne tidied up the account books and letters for a month, and their owner was the deceased Sir Louis.

Anne, not wanting to tarnish the ledgers, nor to wrong herself, sat down in the armchair in front of the desk.

For a while the room fell silent.

Du Li looked at the situation in front of her, and after asking Annie for instructions, she walked towards the door and climbed up the stairs——staying here and standing stupidly, it's better to go back to the room and "look out".

And the instant she closed the door, the Count spoke.

"This is Mr. Rommel, Jung Rommel, Louis's most loyal friend and his most trusted partner." Earl Fitzwilliam introduced, "I didn't expect him to appear in the club as a new member. Come on! Ah, Jung, this is..."

"Miss de Bauer, meeting for the first time." Rommel nodded to her, "although he looks like a little gentleman now."

Annie nodded to him, her face was expressionless, but her heart was already overwhelmed.

Before Christmas, Rommel left without saying goodbye in Hansford Village. At that time, she didn't think too much about it. Thinking about it now, didn't it happen before the Earl's family came to Rosings!

What is his secret?He was an old friend of Sir Louis, so why did he hide his whereabouts from the Earl?Are you going to pretend to be a stranger now?

"Are you dressed up for business? About your textile factory? Is there anything I can do for you?" The count looked at her attire without any surprise on his face.

Annie nodded. She originally planned to tell them the whole thing, but after thinking about it, she felt that it was unnecessary.It's not that she can't solve this matter, she just needs to pay more attention.But this is her challenge. If the problem of this small textile factory can't be solved, then what about other more serious things?

"I went to see Mr. Brown, the superintendent of the mill." No more words were said.

The two gentlemen looked at each other and stopped asking.

The count talked about his reunion with Rommel.When he went to the club's welcome party, he discovered that the new member was Sir Louis' closest friend back then.

"At that time, he was not only as close as brother to Louis, but also brother and sister to Catherine. And I brought him here because of...an entrustment left by Louis."

Anne felt more and more strange, since she and Lady Catherine were brothers and sisters, why didn't Hunsford go to see her when she lived in seclusion?It's no wonder Annie thought too much, this matter revealed weirdness everywhere.

"I came here for that entrustment."

While talking, Rommel took out a small leather-colored envelope from his pocket, got up and put it in front of Anne.Annie took it, squeezed it, and inside was a thin piece of paper and a key.

"This is the profit of your father and my partnership business over the years. I have deposited it in the bank. Inside the envelope is a treasury transfer letter. You must keep the key. Its value is beyond your imagination."

Anne raised her eyes and asked sharply: "Forgive me, Mr. Rommel, have you never thought of taking the money all these years? As far as I know, you have no contact with the earl, nor have you ever had any contact with my mother." I have contacted, I have never heard of the existence of a number one person like you. Even if you want to monopolize it, I will not know."

Rommel laughed out loud, and he and Earl Fitzwilliam exchanged such a glance, and then withdrew his expression: "Miss de Bauer doesn't need more dowry to put her in a more embarrassing situation, and Richie But Mr. Te needs start-up capital. If you, like your mother, are determined to marry a good family, the money will be donated to the orphanage in accordance with Sir Louis' will; and if you show more of his qualities, Sir Louis Please me, us — look after you and put that legacy in your hands. These two very different approaches have one purpose: We want you to be well."

"You haven't answered my question yet, why should I believe in your loyalty? Even if you gave me this key, how do I know, that's all?" Annie said coldly, picking up the envelope .

"Annie! Don't talk to him in that tone!"

Lord Fitzwilliam interrupted her questioning, he even looked a little angry.

Annie dropped the envelope, and the key inside fell on the table with a loud bang.The doubts in Anne's heart were getting bigger and bigger, and even Rommel was not angry. Why did the earl suddenly take off the mask of a kind elder?

"...So, uncle, do you believe what he said, and he is also his accomplice?" Anne bit her lip and looked at the count.

Earl Fitzwilliam did not deny: "That's why I was able to discover your movements, Anne, I'm sorry, I have sent people to watch you and the movements of Rosings Manor all these years."

Annie's throat rolled, she didn't expect that she would jump under the eyes of others from the very beginning.It's not that she revealed her secrets somewhere, but that from the beginning to the end, the movement of Rosings Manor was under the control of others—or in other words, Sir Louis.

Annie took a deep breath, and the smell of dust and wood mold slowly penetrated into her lung cavity along the nostrils.

Anne was speechless for a long time, she was very angry, but this anger had nowhere to vent.

TBC.

The author has something to say: *This chapter can be regarded as a small decipherment. Of course, there are still more doubts that have not been solved. Can anyone guess the relationship between Rommel and the Earl~

*The result of the lottery has been released. The id of the lucky partner is: 18528xxx (coded). If you received the short message from the website, do you want to show yourself in the comment area~