Chapter 5: A castle can always be opened from the inside

As Archduke Ferdinand walked towards the door step by step, Caitlin could no longer hold back her emotions, and ran over to hug Archduke Ferdinand and burst into tears.

Zhou Ming can understand that Caitlyn is crying because of the grievances she suffered in the United States. In particular, she, a princess from a wealthy family, had to live in the and had to use her extraordinary intelligence to please a bunch of idiots, and was even finally placed under house arrest. The other reason Caitlin cried was for her father, Archduke Ferdinand.

According to what Caitlin had said before, although Archduke Ferdinand was the last prince of Austria, he was only in his fifties and in the prime of manhood. However, at a glance, Zhou Ming could see that this Archduke Archduke Ferdinand looked like a man in his seventies or eighties. Not only was his hair white, his face was full of wrinkles, and he was so weak that he could hardly walk steadily, which was why he needed a walking stick.

It is not difficult to imagine that he has become like this because he has exhausted all his energy and thoughts for the continuation of the Harburg family. As his daughter, how can Caitlin not feel distressed?

However, despite the appearance of Ferdinand at the moment, which looked like an old man with a frail constitution, and the fact that the castle he now lived in did not belong to him, the security guards at the bank still treated him with respect . This could not be the result of Zhou Ming's intimidation, but only the authority that Archduke Ferdinand himself possessed. After all, he was also a nobleman, the last prince of Austria.

Ferdinand was also very excited and found Catherina's arrival incredible: 'Catherina, my proud daughter, why are you here? The House of Harburg should soon lose its status here.'

Catherina struggled to shake her head and choked back her tears: 'No, Harburg will not lose its status!'

Ferdinand then calmed down. He looked down at Cate-lin, stroked her long blonde hair gently, and said with a smile, 'Every day I also pray to heaven, hoping that Harburg will continue the family's luck this time, just as it has for the past thousand years.'

Cate couldn't stop nodding her head, telling Ferdinand that it would. Ferdinand said, 'I believe it will too, but right now, what you should do is introduce me to your friends, shouldn't you? Even though we've lost Harburg, we shouldn't neglect our guests.'

After Cathleen responded to Ferdinand's reminder, and then dried her tears with a handkerchief before introducing Zhou Ming to Ferdinand.

When he heard that Catherina had said that Zhou Ming was the person she was closest to, Ferdinand was obviously surprised, but the experienced archduke did not say anything, but smiled and invited Zhou Ming to enter the castle.

'I I'm very sorry, but since the castle now belongs to the Bankmann Bank, I'm only allowed to use the rooms near the entrance, as agreed. I have no right to touch any other rooms or their contents, otherwise I could show you Harburg Castle.

Zhou Ming followed Archduke Ferdinand into the castle. In response to his apology, Zhou Ming said, 'I believe Harburg Castle must be unique in the world!'

In response to Zhou Zhou Ming's praise, Ferdinand sincerely thanked him, but Zhou Ming's praise was not a compliment. In fact, Zhou Ming is now considered a wealthy man, and dealt with so many rich people, those who were not eligible to be part of the 'outside world'. Their homes were full of famous paintings and antiques, and some of the so-called rich people could even set up so-called private museums.

So now Harburg is the castle of a thousand-year-old family, how could it not be breathtaking?

Then arrived in the lobby on the first floor, they sat down together on the sofa. Grand Duke Ferdinand asked, 'I'm sure you're very special to Caitlin, but as her father, I have to ask: what kind of family are you from, and what kind of status or wealth do you have in China?'

Caitlin Caitlin was a little unhappy with her father's direct question, but Ferdinand still insisted, saying, 'Young man, please believe me, if you and Caitlin are not on the same level, then you have no future. This is a responsible attitude towards both you and Caitlin.'

Zhou Ming nodded nodding: 'I understand. To put it in a Chinese proverb, you need to be from the same family. After all, if you're not from the same family, it's hard to share the same values and moral orientation. To put it more simply say, someone who only cares about which supermarket has the cheapest vegetables by 20 cents or who only cares about what bag looks good is not going to understand the thoughts of someone who has to deal with billions of dollars, right?'

Zhou Ming's words made Ferdinand feel enlightened: 'A perfect match? That's a very good description, and your understanding is also very unique. I'm surprised.'

'In fact, I think the words that will surprise you are still to come,' Zhou Ming said, 'I admit that marrying someone from the same social class is generally the best choice. After all, the relationship between a couple who share the same goals will always be much stronger than that between a couple who don't see eye to eye.'

At this point Zhou Ming suddenly changed the subject and emphasised, 'But please note that I am talking about the general situation here.'

'So are you trying to say that your situation is special?' Ferdinand asked.

Zhou Ming laughed 'Actually, I don't want to say that I'm special, but Your Highness Archduke Ferdinand, have you heard of someone who never even met a county magistrate before, and has never seen a banknote worth more than a thousand dollars? who has tens of billions of dollars in wealth, even helped a consortium of families defeat another consortium of families, and sniped at the Bank of England?'

'This is indeed crazy. In fact, even princes from wealthy families may not be able to do it.' Ferdinand continued, 'But there is still one thing, and that is the underlying meaning.'

'I have seen many seen many business geniuses just like you. They may not have made as much money as you, but their business acumen is truly impressive. In the end, only the wealthy remain, and some of these geniuses don't even leave a name behind.' Ferdinand looked at Zhou Ming, 'Do you understand what I mean? An opportunity and a natural mind can make a person quickly earn millions, tens of millions or even billions of wealth, but how to make this wealth settle down and continue to grow in a sustainable cycle is the most important thing.'

'Thank you very much, Grand Duke Ferdinand Archduke Ferdinand's reminder is most welcome. In fact, this is the goal I will work towards,' said Ming Zhou.

Ferdinand was very surprised by Ming Zhou's answer, as his words were very tactful. However, before Ferdinand could say anything else, Caitlyn said, 'Father, I think we are more concerned about what is happening at Harburg than about our situation. Why is the castle not ours, but the property of that Bankmann bank?'

Ferdinand sighed heavily and shook his head in response to Catherin's question. question, Ferdinand let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. Caitlyn immediately asked anxiously, 'Is it still related to that Jefferson, isn't it?'

'Maybe he has something to do with it have something to do with it, but he is our enemy, and I don't care what he does. What hurts me even more this time is the problem within the Harburg family,' said Ferdinand. 'As the old saying goes, any strong castle is easiest to open from the inside.'

Hearing this, Caitlin suddenly realised something, and immediately asked, 'Father, it was Andreas, wasn't it?'

Ferdinand sadly nodded and nodded sadly: 'I can't believe it, that he could do such a thing!'

Then Ferdinand told Catherina the whole story of how the Harburg family had come to its present sorry state. It was actually quite a shocking story. This Andre was Ferdinand's nephew and second heir to Harburg. He had always resented Caitlin's first-in-line status, insisting that he was the true and only heir to Harburg, but was not recognised as such.

Nevertheless, Andre retains control of the Harburg family fortune and decision-making power, especially after Caitlin went to the United States.

So Andre used his decision-making power over the Harburg family's wealth, and joined forces with other families and consortia to set Harburg up. He created many companies and used his own left hand guaranteeing the right hand, he defrauded the Harburg family's insurance company of a large number of insurance policies, causing the Harburg family's wealth to be lost.

Due to the loss of funds, the Harburg family had to initiate a financing plan. At this time, Andre obtained more financial power over the Harburg family through financing, and through business operations, he placed all the debts on Harburg, or to be precise, on Ferdinand.

In the end, all these debts were concentrated on the Bank of Bankman. In order to recover the debt, Bankman had to liquidate the Harburg family's wealth, given Ferdinand's inability to repay.

'This asset liquidation was not only carried out in Bermuda at Harburg, but also in our real Harburg, in our Alsace fiefdom in Europe.

Archduke Ferdinand felt unable to understand: 'I don't know what Andre was thinking. He sold the entire Harburg for a pittance, not even more than he had previously at his disposal. Was it really worth it to become someone else's lackey?'

Cathleen reassured him: 'Father, you know that guy Andre, he's a total psychopath. If he could think about this, I don't think he would do something like this.'

Compared to Caitlyn and Ferdinand Nan, Zhou Ming is more concerned about the whereabouts of Harrods wealth: 'So now all your property has become Bankman Bank? Then please forgive my ignorance, I have never heard of this bank, is it that good?'

Ferdinand told Zhou Ming: 'If it's just this bank, then it can only be considered a relatively good large bank. It is the bank with the largest asset scale in Mexico, but behind him is the Maronite Church, one of the 13 sects of the Catholic Church, which is holding the controlling interest.'

So that's it. Zhou Ming's heart understood, and said that after all is said and done, it is probably still related to that Jefferson, and I am afraid that Andre's daring to do this is also very much related to him.