Chapter 371 Speculators Lumian pulled up a chair and sat down, smiling and saying to Count Puif: "It was an honor." After saying this, he made a gesture as if he was going to invite Miss Eloise. Count Puyfer, who was wearing a red shirt, waved his hand: "Wait until she finishes this movement." Lumian turned around and glanced in the direction of the piano, finally seeing clearly what Miss Eloise looked like: She has soft brown eyebrows, bright brown eyes, slightly pouty cheeks, and soft features. She is a girl under twenty years old, and there is no obvious trace of the Sauron family. According to Puif's introduction just now, Eros should belong to the Sauron family on her maternal side. Lumian turned around, picked up a glass of red, white and blue liqueur on the coffee table, and chatted with Count Puyver, novelist Arnoli and others about the latest popular topics and gossip in the circle. During this period, he has been buying newspapers such as "Novel Weekly", "Debate News", "Trier Youth" and "Ghost Face" magazine to improve his "self-cultivation" in order to deal with similar occasions.

The dark-haired lady who had just been squatting next to Count Puyver had stood up and turned to watch several newspaper editors playing billiard. Lumian knew that she was definitely not the wife of Count Puyver, because Aurore once told him that in Trier, at such small salons and limited-scale balls, the host and hostess would not appear at the same time according to custom, otherwise it would give the guests a bad feeling that they were showing off their affection in a low-level way, which would be disgraceful if it were spread. Therefore, when the host or hostess held a salon, his spouse would attend someone else's salon. When Lumian first heard about this, he was not yet fifteen years old. He just thought that the people of Trier had too many rules. Now thinking back, he only had one thought: In order to facilitate extramarital affairs, you people in Trier have developed such absurd and ridiculous unspoken rules, and everyone is happy to abide by them! When a movement ended, Eros left the piano and walked to the sofa area. After being introduced by her cousin, she met Lumian. She pulled over a high stool, sat down with her legs together, and listened quietly to everyone's conversation. As time went by, other people also gathered in this direction. Laurent came behind a middle-aged man with a beautiful beard and wearing casual formal clothes. "This is Cornell, the editor-in-chief of The Little Trier." Count Puyfer introduced Lumian. Lumian had seen the newspaper where the advertisement for the "Interstellar Bridge to the Red Moon" was published. When he thinks about the ad now, he not only thinks it might be a scam or performance art by the people of Trier, but also suspects that it involves believers of some evil gods. "This is Charles Dubois, the general manager of Coast Import and Export Company." Puyfer told Cornell about the forged identity that Gardner Martin gave to Lumian. Cornell stretched out his right hand in astonishment: "Very young." Lumian extended his hand and shook his, smiling and saying: “This is the reward for my hard work and study.” The poet Elaite was about to grumble that most people here study hard and work hard, but no one has become the general manager of a large company at a young age, but Lumian added in a self-deprecating tone: "It was because I performed well in these two areas that my father appointed me as the general manager of the import and export company." After everyone present was stunned for a moment, they understood what Lumian meant and started laughing. They had a more favorable impression of Charles Dubois. In their circle, there are many people who rely on the protection of their parents and sit in very important positions at a very young age. Those people are either very taboo about others mentioning their parents and elders in front of them, and they have to show their so-called abilities, or they are not confident and mature enough, and all they talk about is my father and my uncle. There are very few who can be as generous, frank, humorous and not show off as Lumian. Count Puyfer at that time was barely one of them. After making everyone laugh with the humor he learned from his sister, Lumian deliberately looked at Laurent and said: "Who is this?" Thump, thump, Laurent's heartbeat quickened rapidly. Although the two parties had a tacit agreement not to reveal each other's true identities, he did not have enough understanding of the gang leader Charles Dubois and was afraid that the other party would suddenly change his mind.

Cornell, the editor-in-chief of The Little Trier, pointed to the young man next to him: "Laurent is very talented, knowledgeable, and polite. I have been observing him for almost three months and plan to hire him as my assistant and deputy editor-in-chief. How about this, Laurent? I have suddenly made such an invitation. Are you willing to accept it?" Laurent was startled at first, and then he was hit by great joy, and he felt a little dizzy. He swallowed the pain and anxiety, endured his mother's crying and the neighbors' scorn, wasn't it just for a day like this? He always believed that with his talent, he should not fall to the bottom of society, and he was always looking for opportunities, even if he needed to exploit his mother to maintain his pretended decency. Laurent did not let himself show too much excitement, and responded to editor-in-chief Cornell with a smile: "It's my pleasure." Sure, although speculation has huge risks, the returns are equally considerable. However, if you don’t change your mindset and really start from your current position, and still think about continuing to speculate to improve your social status, you will lose everything sooner or later... Lumian remembered some of the things his sister said when she lost money in stocks, and combined with the current situation, he commented on Laurent's behavior in his heart. Unlike Charlie and the others, he despised this kind of speculative behavior of exploiting the mother. As long as Laurent's mother could accept it and did not ask others to help beat her son or show a strong desire to resist, he thought it was nothing. After Cornell and the others sat down, Lumian asked curiously: "Where did you and Laurent meet?" "In the Vichy Café," Cornell replied with a smile. "He often comes to talk to us about various things in Trier and express his opinions." Vichy Café, the place where you can buy half a bottle of natural water and two boiled eggs for 5 fergins? Laurent's mother, Mrs. Lacazan, can't earn 3 fergins even if she works all day... However, the investment has paid off. Even if she is only the deputy editor-in-chief of a newspaper of the size of "The Little Trier People", even if she has just started working, she can earn nearly fergins a year, and this is still on the surface... Lumian compared the changes before and after, and felt that Laurent's persistence in managing personal connections in a speculative way was also justified. However, if one out of a hundred people who do this succeeds, it would be considered good. Lumian glanced at Laurent who was warily peeking at him, and smiled as he changed the subject: "Cornell, I saw an advertisement for 'Star Bridge' in the Little Trier last month, or even earlier, and I thought it was quite interesting. Do you know anything about it?" Cornell took a puff of his pipe and laughed: "I think they're a bunch of delusional people, but since they've paid, there's no reason for me not to let them put up ads and maybe fool some mechanical science enthusiasts." "How are they doing now?" Lumian laughed, "I want to invest some money in them to see if they are just scammers or can really do something." The poet Ilett picked up his pipe and muttered: "You might as well sponsor me instead of investing in them. At least you can scold me for writing shit and I won't refute you." "No problem, how about five thousand Felgin?" Lumian said as if he didn't take the money seriously. He planned to use the excuse of not having enough cash to give Elaite only 3000 Felkins. Elite put down his smoking gun and opened his arms: "Praise the sun, and let Ciel's malice be more fierce!" "Haha, after the salon is over, we'll go back to the old town together." Lumian hinted that he would definitely sponsor in the future, and he didn't give it directly now in order to appear less money-minded. After this episode, Cornell became more enthusiastic about Lumian: "I don't know what's happening with those people now. They only ran the ad for a month." After chatting for a while, Count Puyver looked at the setting sun, looked around, and suggested with a smile: "Shall we play King Cake? It's a warm-up before dinner." Is this the only game you know? Do you have a childhood? Lumian only complained in his mind, but did not object. Others expressed their agreement, and Count Puyfer immediately asked the butler to bring the huge king cake that the kitchen had prepared long ago. It was like the lid of a stew pot, placed directly on the silver plate, exuding an enticing color and smell. "Who will be responsible for the cutting?" Count Puyver's eyes swept over every participant.

He thought for a moment and said: "Eros, come here, you are the youngest and most beautiful lady here." Eros jumped down lightly from the high stool next to Lumian, picked up the table knife, and began to cut the king's cake. Did she listen to her cousin? Did she rely on the Soran family and Count Puifur for survival? Lumian found that Elos was very skilled and played with table knives a lot. Soon, the huge king cake was roughly divided into twenty-nine portions. Just like last time, Count Puif proposed to offer the extra piece of cake to his ancestor, Fomonda Soren, and no one objected. After completing this part of the ceremony, the entire living room became extremely quiet, and the outside of the castle seemed to have frozen. "Laurent, this is the first time for you and Charles to attend my Saturday salon, so you will be the first to choose." Count Puyver turned his eyes to Lumian and Laurent. Lumian laughed and said: "Of course the master will be the first to choose, don't you think?" Under his instigation, the other participants also thought that the male host should start. Count Puyver no longer refused, took a piece of the king's cake, and said to the crowd: "The one who bites the gold coin is the king." Seeing that the member of the Soran family had completed the selection, Lumian leaned forward with more confidence to look for his target. This was a double insurance policy - he let Count Puifur choose first, and then when there were still a lot of cakes left, he would take advantage of Thermipol's aversion to this matter and choose the cake that did not contain gold coins. This time, Thermipolos did not warn him, and Lumian naturally picked up the king's cake he had chosen. Before he could sit down properly, his mind suddenly became dazed and he seemed to see the narrow glass window again and the dark red-haired man who dug out his own eyeballs. (End of this chapter)