The Versatile Master Artist

He shook his head and chuckled, as if laughing at his own overestimation.

”Cousin, it’s not just you who looks down on me.”

”It’s not that I look down...”

”No need to comfort me.”

Ole waved his hand: ”You know? On the plane here, on the phone, my father thought I couldn’t handle you. He said you’re a true countess, while I’m just a playboy.”

Ole tilted his head, mimicking the mocking tone of the banker: ”Without the cloak of money and family, Miss Elina remains a noble lady. And you—Ole, my son, you’re just a little boy who cries.”

”How can a proud wild horse like Miss Elina be conquered by a weak and superficial man like you? Even with the best blended fruit puree and egg white feed in hand, she would rather chew on roadside grass and not give you a second glance.”

”A proud wild horse... A proud wild horse, truly an interesting metaphor in every sense,” the young man spoke resentfully, his tone forceful, filled with the shame and anger of rejection.

With Anna’s resolute rejection,

Ole seemed to have completely resigned to a reckless state, no longer caring about angering Miss Elina beside him.

Clenching his teeth, he muttered a few words.

Then he lifted his head, looking at Anna, whose face was expressionless, with a smile on his lips that was hard to tell if it was a sneer or a jibe.

”Cousin, do you know what’s so interesting about this metaphor?”

Anna remained silent, watching her cousin grow increasingly unfamiliar.

”My father said there’s a Prussian proverb: if you want a horse to go where you want, rather than holding carrots and eggs, hoping for its favor—”

Ole looked at his cousin.

At this moment, the aristocratic grace on his face had vanished, replaced by a hysterical coldness and cunning.

”—it’s better to be a horse trainer skilled with ropes and spurs.”

Anna’s cheeks remained smooth and glossy, but her expression was as cold as a marble statue.

”Cousin Ole, you look truly pathetic now, like a little boy crying for what he can’t have. It seems Mr. Krueger got at least half of it right.”

Her tone remained calm: ”I actually quite like that metaphor about the horse. But if I am a wild horse, you’re not a beast tamer, just a monkey leaping around for bananas it can’t have.”

The girl gave a nonchalant smile.

”Spurs?”

”By spurs, you’re not referring to my Uncle Ka La, are you? Please, even during my aunt’s lifetime, she hardly interacted with this brother. Even if you hold substantial debts to use as a threat, aren’t you mistaking something here?”

The ’Elina NFT Digital Art Trading Exchange’, indeed such a money-grabbing thing, would have a bad reputation.

However, those with insight understand the gist of it.

Besides,

Anna herself has a professional team of lawyers to handle these issues.

It’s highly probable that even if Uncle Ka La really got the money, the possibility of such a ’Li Gui’ exchange really getting off the ground is very slim.

”Oh, heavens, don’t be mistaken, how could it be Uncle Ka La?”

Ole shrugged helplessly, speaking in a mocking tone: ”Cousin. We all know, someone like Uncle Ka La is just useful for annoying people. He’s hardly presentable, and the one hundred thousand euros I gave him was just a casual handout, without even asking for an IOU.”

”Trying to use him to coerce you would be too far-fetched.”

Anna was slightly puzzled, but she didn’t speak.

Ole took out a file folder from a dark brown Prada men’s briefcase where Madam Lebrun’s painting tube had been placed earlier.

He pulled out a piece of paper from it and handed it to Anna.

”Cousin, I originally planned to tell you this at a different time. In a while, we might be colleagues...”

His tone was taunting, with some arrogance, and an odd twist of words: ”Hmm, hopefully by then your suspension has ended.”

Anna took the folded photocopied paper,

unfolding it.

It was a photocopy of a share transfer intention letter.

The rough content stated that the Austrian National Publishing Group agreed to transfer part of its shares in the ’Oil Painting’ magazine to Krug Brothers Bank.

”You all... bought ’Oil Painting’ magazine?”

Looking at the text above, Anna was silent for a few seconds and said softly.

”To be precise, we acquired 26% of the shares from the Austrian National Publishing Group, plus some shares from miscellaneous minor shareholders, totaling about thirty-five percent ownership. This acquisition is expected to cost about 170 million euros.”

Ole’s voice was full of pride: ”Persuading these people to sell their shares was the real effort; honestly, it wasn’t as expensive as the investment department imagined. In 2017, Melodis Media Group’s total acquisition for the ’Fashion’ magazine amounted to thirty billion dollars. In comparison, the Ilyena family’s ’Oil Painting’ magazine is much cheaper.”

Anna’s face still showed no expression.

But when she saw this acquisition letter, her heart immediately surged with turbulent waves.

Anna’s mind was quickly calculating the other party’s intentions.