The noble lady always has a little intuition

After staying up late for two days to study and compare various data, and spent three days discussing hundreds of telegrams with his father, Karl finally persuaded him to accept the conditions of the Campbells and the sisters, and exchanged an order with the White Star Shipping for the Campbells. cooperate.

After getting his consent, Karl, who was relaxed, slept for the whole day, and then wrote a gorgeous letter to Edgar, asking him when it was suitable to sign the contract.

Edgar quickly wrote back to him, and finally they agreed to sign the contract on the last day of the month, at the place of Campbell's lawyer Thornton.

Edgar was the only one present when signing the contract. Even though it was expected, Carl couldn't help being disappointed when he couldn't see Olivia in the law firm.

But soon his disappointment was swept away, because after signing the contract, Edgar gave him another contract, which was from the Duke of Bedford, and the Bedford family had investment in the United States. An automobile factory and holds nearly 40.00% of the shares, and the Duke of Bedford hopes that the Hockley family can provide steel to that automobile factory in the next five years.

In addition, after signing the contract, he chatted with Edgar for a while. From what the latter said, he learned that Olivia had finished her thesis ahead of schedule and graduated, and that Olivia Livia will be at the auction in a week's time.

After leaving the law firm, Carl immediately asked Lai Fujie to order a suit for the auction, while he stayed in the hotel room and prepared to sign a contract with the Duke of Bedford.

In the next few days, he stayed in the room to deal with business matters, and while he was in contact with the company in the United States by telegram, he received a private telegram from his father asking if he had found a suitable company. wife candidates.

Seeing this information, Carl remembered that after signing the contract with the Campbells, he had already fulfilled his first task of coming to the UK. Now he should concentrate on finding a wife. When he saw the pictures and introductions of the down-and-out aristocratic daughter who married far away in the United States, the appearance of Olivia unconsciously appeared in his mind.

He felt very frustrated by such a subconscious reaction, because Olivia was definitely not a good wife candidate.She is too independent, too smart and capable, she will never be willing to stay at home, only focus on new clothes and jewelry, attend various balls for wife diplomacy, and she even has the ability to take her husband's property into her own hands .The most important thing is that her brother, aunt and herself will never let her marry to the United States.

Thinking that the group of partners who traveled from the United States to the United Kingdom with him have found suitable targets one after another and began to pursue them, and some of them have even entered into engagements, Karl couldn't help but sighed. After a while, he Only then did Lai Fujie, who was waiting for a telegram reply, tell his father that he had not yet found a suitable partner, and that he would mail him the information he had found to see if he found a more suitable partner.

The auction came a few days after Carl had tipped the waiter at the restaurant to deliver the thick envelope to the post office.

Before the auction, the organizer held a dinner party in another banquet hall for the guests who came to chat and communicate.

Not long after the dinner started, Karl arrived at the venue with several business partners who were also from the United States.He thought they had arrived very early, but the Campbells arrived earlier than he did.

He originally wanted to go up to say hello, but they were standing next to the Bradford brothers and sisters and chatting intently, so he gave up the plan to go up and talk to the people around him without saying a word. Chatting about the auction items that will appear in the auction later.

After the one-and-a-half-hour dinner party, Karl and other guests went to the hall where the auction was held under the guidance of the staff, and then took their seats with their own number plates, and waited until everyone was seated, the person in charge of the event and the banquet After the host of the venue finished his speech, the host announced the start of the auction.

Since he didn't have any special auction items, Karl watched other people bid at first, and secretly observed Olivia sitting obliquely in front of him from time to time to see what kind of things she would be interested in.

As I heard from Edgar earlier, Olivia marked down all of Renoir's paintings. In addition, she also bought a bracelet with blue diamonds.

After seeing her hand the sign to Edgar directly after taking the bracelet, Carl knew that she had already bought what he wanted, so he also began to prepare for his next bidding, after all, although he did not He wants something in particular, but the auction is an occasion to show and compete for financial resources, and it is also a good opportunity for more people to know him.

He bid on a jewel box with the Medici crest and an Easter egg made by Russian jeweler Faberge, and won the latter for £13.

After standing up and thanking the other bidders, he stopped raising his placard to bid for other things, and just whispered his advice to the partners around him, telling them how to bid.

After three full hours, the auction ended. Because of the late time, only a few people in twos and threes stayed at the venue to chat, while others moved to the door to go home.

Since the host did not take his gaze away from Olivia after the host announced the end of the auction, when he saw that she and Edgar did not go out like the others but stayed in their seats talking, Karl immediately Say goodbye to the partner next to you, and then walk towards the Campbell brothers and sisters while adjusting your tie.

Before he could say hello, he heard Edgar who didn't notice him coming and said to Olivia: "I'll go talk to Joseph and Eleanor, are you going to wait in the car or Wait for me at the door?"

Just when Olivia was about to answer, she saw Carl out of the corner of her eye, so she smiled and nodded to him, "Good night, Mr. Hockley."

"Good night, Duke and Miss Campbell."

"Good night……"

Seeing that her brother hesitated to speak after finishing his greeting, Olivia knew right away that he was debating whether to chat with Carl, after all, if he didn't chat, it might appear that he was not interested in their new cooperation. The partner was a little rude, but the conversation would not be in time to say goodbye to the Bradford brothers and sisters, so Olivia quickly said: "Edgar, you go to Eleanor and the others first, I can wait for you Speak to Mr Hockley."

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Hockley, then I'll excuse you first." Because there was a servant brought from home not far behind them, and it was not the first time Olivia and Carl had met, so they hesitated. After a few seconds, Edgar nodded apologetically to Carl, then turned and walked towards the door.

After Edgar left, Olivia looked at Carl again, "Congratulations, Mr. Hockley, Fabergé's Easter eggs are a valuable collection."

"Miss Campbell too, congratulations on capturing all of Renoir's masterpieces this time."

After he finished speaking, Olivia indicated with his eyes that the two should move towards the door. He quickly extended his arm to her, but she smiled at him and did not raise her hand to put his arm on it. Therefore, he could only make a gesture of please instead in a panic, and then walked out of the auction venue with her.

"I heard that Ms. Campbell has finished her graduation thesis ahead of schedule," Carl tried to calm down and asked in a nonchalant tone in order to resolve the embarrassment just now, "Do you plan to continue your studies afterward?"

"No, a university degree is enough. Although there is still a lot of knowledge that I want to learn, I can also study it on my own. But it may take a while, because I have to re-enter the social circle and learn from my aunt. Housework will probably be busy for a while."

Although Olivia didn't say it clearly, Karl soon realized that she was planning to find a marriage partner for him. This realization made him feel a little annoyed, but he tried his best not to let such emotions show.

During the conversation, the two of them had already walked outside the building where the auction was held, and there were many guests who also came to participate in the auction around them, and they were standing on the steps waiting for their car to drive to the steps to take them back Home.

Even though it is approaching summer, the wind in London is still a bit cool at night, so many men took off their coats and put them on the shoulders of their female partners.

Even if it wasn't a male-female relationship, Karl immediately took off his suit jacket after seeing Olivia shrank a little after a gust of cool wind, just because he had the experience of being rejected just now, so he First he raised his coat tentatively, and after making sure that her eyes did not express objection, he gently put the coat on her shoulders.

"thanks."

Hearing her thank you, Carl was encouraged, and he quickly gestured to Lai Fujie who had parked the car at the corner of the street and was waiting outside the car.Not long after, Lai Fujie came up with a gift box and a wrapped rose, and returned to the car after handing over the things in his hand.

"This," under Olivia's suspicious gaze, Carl handed her the flowers and the gift box in his hand, "This is a graduation gift for Miss Campbell, it's not something expensive, please Miss Campbell Take it."

There is a teddy bear in the gift box, which he specially asked Lai Fujie to contact the Steiff company in Germany more than half a month ago, and entrusted them to rush to order. The teddy bear is wearing a fake Oxford University Saint Hugh College’s bachelor’s robes from the Department of Literature, and the graduation cap with the letters “OC” embroidered with gold thread, the custom fee, expedited fee, and express shipping cost him nearly a thousand pounds for the teddy bear.

Olivia didn't take the gift box right away, she just looked at Carl and fell into thinking, until he couldn't hold back the smile on his face and put the box down, she stretched out her hand to put the box away Next, and said in a calm tone: "Thank you, but... may I ask a question?"

"Yeah?" Carl frowned suspiciously at her reaction.

"Although it's a bit impertinent to ask such a question," Olivia, who is usually straightforward, seldom struggled with her words, "But Mr. Hockley's behavior made me a little... well, curious, wondering if Mr. Hockley still Didn't give up on the proposal you mentioned when we first met and chatted..."

Facing her dark blue eyes, Carl couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and then said enthusiastically, "If I say I haven't given up yet, can Miss Campbell agree to accept my pursuit?"

Before Olivia could answer, Edgar, who had finished saying goodbye to his fiancée and future brother-in-law, had already come to them and called out, "Olivia, are you still chatting with Mr. Hockley? "

"No, we're almost done talking." Regardless of the slightly embarrassing look on Carl's face, Olivia, who had just been confessed in disguise, shook her head quickly, and pointed to the small box in Edgar's hand with her eyes. To change the subject, "What is that?"

"This is what Eleanor and Joseph took a picture of just now, saying it's a gift for you." Edgar said as he opened the box, revealing a butterfly-shaped pink diamond hair ornament inside.

Seeing that hair accessory, Olivia smiled, "I guess Joseph bought this as a gift in return for the famous paintings you gave Eleanor. I'm really sorry for you."

Edgar didn't answer, just closed the box in her hand again, then looked at the not-so-small gift box in her hand and the rose above it and asked: "Li Wei, what is it in your hand? "

"My graduation present from Mr. Hockley."

"Is that so, Mr. Hockley wasted money." After nodding to Carl with a smile, Edgar said in an apologetic tone, "Sorry, it's a bit late now, we should go back, next time Treat you well again."

Although Carl didn't want to say goodbye without Olivia's answer, but since Edgar was by his side, he could only reply dryly: "Okay, see you next time."

"goodbye."

After returning the coat on Olivia's shoulders to him, Edgar put his arms around Olivia's shoulders and led her towards the direction where Campbell's car was parked.