hollywood billionaire

Chapter 268 48 hours with Bettencourt

"She's the one you were talking about...who wrote the story."

"It's her."

"So, if I'm not wrong, it was precisely because of this encounter between you and her that you..." Halfway through, Han Yi consciously kept silent, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't speculate on your career achievements like this."

"Why are you so polite!" What Han Yi didn't expect was that his behavior made Barbara very dissatisfied.The latter glared and bared his teeth at him viciously, "It's as if there is really something shameful... Why haven't I seen you so restrained in Ibiza and London?"

"do not have it?"

Facing Han Yi's question, Barbara did not answer. She just slowly put her hands on her neck and coughed twice without changing her expression.

"I..." Han Yi glanced at Fei Yamu next to him guiltily and was speechless, "I'd better shut up first and listen to your story."

"Wise choice, sir."

Barbara rubbed her chin and said thoughtfully.

"But where to begin?"

"Otherwise... just start with afternoon tea?" Han Yi himself felt that he was very much like Chandler. Everything that came out of his mouth was somewhat sarcastic and ridiculing.

"But the afternoon tea that day... there's actually nothing much to say. Have you had a meal with your elders in your family recently, I mean your grandparents' generation?"

"Three...three or four months ago." Han Yi thought for a moment, nodded slightly and said, "My grandma came to the United States to visit me."

"What do you and grandma usually talk about during dinner?"

"What to talk about...basically she talked about the situation at home, and then...then asked me all kinds of questions, asking me why I lost weight, whether it was hard to study, whether I eat well...well, that's about it .”

Of course Han Yi didn't dare to talk about the two most critical questions grandma asked.

The first one is, which one do you want to choose?
The second is, when to take it home?

"Yes, the afternoon tea between me and Mrs. Bettencourt had a similar atmosphere and content." Barbara spread her hands towards the camera and replied in the affirmative, "Through Alan, Mrs. Bettencourt understood everything in detail. My 17 years of life experience, that feeling, just like I am her lost biological daughter or granddaughter, I don’t want to miss a minute or a second..."

……

"Madam asked you how you... uh, how to ensure adequate nutritional intake when you were alone in Japan. She thinks you... look much thinner than the models she knows, and is worried about your health. Something went wrong.”

After the translation, Alan licked his lips and kept a polite smile, but his speaking speed suddenly accelerated a lot.

"I would like to apologize to you on my own behalf, Miss Parvin. Madam, she may have asked a lot of personal questions that you don't want to answer. Believe me, she doesn't usually do this. Maybe she really likes you."

"I understand, Alan. Don't worry, I will be happy to answer any questions Madam has. Please help me tell her that I think she is a very kind person... If she wants to be my best friend, I will talk to her about everything. The door is always open to her.”

……

"...You're lying to me, Barbie. Did you really say that?" Han Yi's face contained only one word, doubt, "After Marlos clearly told you that the person opposite is the actual controller behind the L'Oreal Group. ?”

"That's really what I said." Barbara nodded matter-of-factly, "To be honest, I was really nervous that day. I was touching up my makeup in the room and choosing outfits suitable for afternoon tea, for fear that any detail would surprise me. Mrs. Gu was displeased."

"But I came here for a vacation, and I didn't bring any decent dresses at all. They were just some casual clothes that I usually just throw on and go out, and a few... bright skirts that are full of youthful atmosphere. No matter where It’s not a style that old money would like.”

"They like casual clothes." Han Yi objected.

"Their casual wear is Nuoyou Panya. My casual wear is not even from Zara, it's just cheap stuff I picked up from a street store. Didn't I tell you, I don't like shopping, especially that kind of I don’t like trying on clothes in shopping malls. Because when I work, I have to change dozens of looks every day, which makes me have a headache when I see the dressing room in my life..." Barbara replied, "If I have to buy clothes, I I would go to clothing stores in residential areas, and when I see a piece that I think looks good, I won’t put it on at all, I just pick a size and buy it.”

"What should I do if I buy it and find it doesn't fit?"

"This has never happened." Barbara was quite sure, "I have never encountered clothes that I can't control...I'm not arrogant, after all, I do this professionally."

"Great." Han Yi was speechless. He couldn't even think of joking and could only give a thumbs up.

Barbara is right. For a supermodel of this level, even wearing a sack when going out can't hide her outstanding charm.

There are only things she doesn't want to wear, and nothing she can't wear.

"So, I struggled in the room for a long time. It wasn't until Madam's bodyguard knocked on the door for the second time that I gritted my teeth and made a decision... Since Madam liked me as soon as we met and invited me to have afternoon tea with her, then It means that what she likes is my true self. Then why should I try so hard to change myself? Show her what kind of person Barbara Pavin is, okay?"

"Perhaps this is what she will do? Moreover, no matter how bad the situation is, what can she do? At best, she will just treat her as a rough girl from the countryside who doesn't understand etiquette. She doesn't want to have any interaction with me anymore, that's all. . It’s impossible for a controller of a tens of billions group to have trouble with a 17-year-old girl over a trivial matter, right?"

"The result...you guessed it right."

"Yes, I guessed it right. What Mrs. Bettencourt wants to see is a natural, unadorned girl who has nothing to do with the world she lives in."

……

After listening to Alan's accurate translation word for word, Mrs. Bettencourt laughed out loud in a rare way, and her voice was not quiet.

"Madam said, you are such a lively little guy that gives you a headache."

"My mother always said that too."

"Madam asked..."

"Alan, actually you don't need to add this sentence before every sentence." Barbara winked at Alan, "I can see who is asking the question."

"Okay, Miss Parvin."

Alan's smile was still restrained and reserved, and the curvature of the paper-thin lip line showed no special mood swings.It is like a precision instrument running at full speed, faithfully executing the user's instructions.It was as if the man who a few minutes earlier had quietly apologized to Barbara and defended Mrs. Bettencourt had nothing to do with him.

"Your mother is in Hungary?"

"Yes." Barbara nodded, "Living in Budapest with my dad."

"what does she do?"

"She is...a homemaker." Barbara tilted her head and thought for a moment. Instead of using the word "housewife," Barbara chose an English word she had just learned not long ago that seemed a bit fashionable.

"Homemaker as in..." Alan did not rush to translate Barbara's words, but carefully verified it first.Of course he knew what the word meant in English, but whether Barbara did, he wasn't sure.The Hungarian girl’s English didn’t sound accented at first, and was quite standard. However, as time went on, Barbara would still reveal some problems with grammar, stress, and word usage.

"It's not the kind that helps others repair their houses, it's the kind that... glues our little home together." Barbara put her two palms together and smiled.

"I understand."

Alan, the conscientious translator, did not miss any details, including the English words spoken by Barbara and her explanation of the words, which were all conveyed to Mrs. Bettencourt intact.As soon as Alan finished speaking, Barbara saw Mrs. Betancourt extending her hand to her and narrowing her eyes kindly with a smile.

"For having such a sensible and obedient child, your mother should love you very much."

"I don't expect that. I just hope that every time I go home, she can give me a few less lectures." Barbara generously covered the back of Mrs. Bettencourt's hand and joked.

"Every... mother." Mrs. Bettencourt first tried to use her thickly accented English to formulate an extremely simple expression, and then Alan helped her complete the rest of the sentence, "We always I worry about many things, worry...worry about whether there is anything we as parents have not done our best at, worry about our own..."

Alan's translation came to an abrupt end when Mrs. Bettencourt stopped speaking without warning.

Then, the lady took a deep breath and asked again in a muddy voice. "How is the relationship between your parents? Is it still harmonious?"

"Quarrels are inevitable, but overall it's pretty good." Even 17-year-old Barbara was aware of Mrs. Betancourt's abnormality.In less than an hour during the afternoon tea alone, she suddenly interrupted the topic several times and then asked again from a strange angle.

"I'm sorry." Alan turned around and deliberately apologized silently to Barbara Pavin through lip language from an angle that Mrs. Bettencourt could not see.

"Madam asked me to convey to you the exact words: The relationship between husband and wife is the cornerstone of a family. My child, your parents have set a good example for you. Remember, a free bird like you should not start a family easily. , which will make you extremely painful. But on the other hand, once you make this decision and take that step, don’t give up easily. My husband and I have lived happily for more than 50 years, which has brought great benefits to our entire family. Here comes the big one...the big one...the big one..."

……

"What's so big?" Han Yi frowned in confusion when Barbara repeated the same word three times.

"I don't know either." Barbara shook her head. "Alan actually only translated it once. The other two times were spoken by Madam herself in French."

"After reading it three times, I burst into tears."

"Cried?"

"Crying like a child who can't find its mother... I have never seen such complete sadness in my life until now." Barbara sighed, "I held Madam in my arms and comforted her for a long time. , she slowly stopped sobbing and became quiet."

"Is this...Alzheimer?"

"Have you not read Mrs. Bettencourt's story in the media?" Barbara's tone was surprised.

"Should I know?" Han Yi was slightly confused.

"Just search it on Google, Lillian Bettencourt. If the first thing that pops up is Wikipedia, then add... No, in fact, Wikipedia can also be used. Just click on it and take a look. Understood."

"Oh."

This sound was Han Yi's sigh after reading the first paragraph of Liliane Bettencourt's Wikipedia homepage and calculating her total net worth.

"God."

This sound was the gasp he took when he read the last paragraph of Bettencourt's biography.

"I see."

This sound was the first sentence Han Yi said after closing the web page and returning to the chat interface with Barbara.

"No wonder she cried like that."

"At that time, she and her daughter were in court."

On November 2007, 11, Lillian Bettencourt’s 19-year-old husband, winner of the Cross of Valor and Knight of the Legion of Honor, a key member of the fascist violent organization Lacagoule, and a major leader of the anti-German resistance movement, Fran An important cabinet member of Presidents Slovenia and Charles de Gaulle, former French Foreign Minister André Betancourt, a contemporary political figure with mixed reputations and extremely complex reputation, passed away suddenly.

A month later, his and Lillian's only daughter, François Betancourt Meyers, filed a criminal complaint against her mother's lifelong friend, the photographer and socialite François-Marie Barnier, accusing her of The latter used the "abus de faiblesse" method to take advantage of his mother's weakness and tricked Liliane Bettencourt into giving him various gifts with a total value of up to 1987 billion euros starting in 13.

其中包括2003年购买的一份价值2.53亿欧元的人寿保险。2006年购买的另一份，价值2.62亿欧元的人寿保险。2001年赠送的十一幅总价值高达2000万欧元的艺术作品，包括毕加索、马蒂斯、蒙德里安、德劳内和莱热的画作。

As well as countless gifts in the form of cash or items over the past 20 years.

After receiving the report from Francois, the Financial Crimes Brigade of the Financial Investigation Department of the French National Police started a two-year investigation and evidence collection process, and decided in September 2009 to submit the case to Nan, the core area of ​​La Défense in Paris. The trial was held at the Magistrate's Court in Tyre.

In December 2009, the court postponed its decision on the case. In April 12, it was further postponed for three months to wait for the release of the examination report on Liliane Bettencourt's mental state.Mrs. Bettencourt, on the other hand, firmly refused to cooperate with the court in conducting a mental evaluation.

As a result, in July 2010, a 7-hour audio tape recorded by Bettencourt's butler Pascal Bonnefoy was made public.

"If I have such a confidant who I have been with day and night for decades and whom I trust without reservation, suddenly stabs me in the back at this time...I am afraid I will start to doubt every decision I make in my life. , every friend I make.”

"Bonnie Foy said that the reason why he secretly recorded the recording was because he felt that the old lady's mental condition was not normal and he was afraid that she would be deceived."

"What do you think?"

"If I have learned any valuable experience while working, it is that no matter whether you are dealing with things or people, only look at actions, not opinions." Barbara paused and continued, "After meeting Mrs. Bettencourt, Out of concern for her - of course, I must admit, part of it was curiosity. After all, the French media at that time, whether it was TV stations or newspapers, were all about the so-called 'Betancourt scandal' - I studied it carefully. The whole story of the inheritance dispute between the madam and her daughter."

"On the one hand, Mrs. Betancourt is indeed consulting her asset manager whether Barnier can be changed to be the sole heir after her death. But on the other hand, this part of the inheritance does not include her shares in the L'Oreal Group. Most of her wealth has already been passed on to her daughter and two grandchildren."

"So, what's your conclusion?"

"I came to the conclusion that... no one can see clearly what is going on in other people's homes, nor should they." Barbara smiled, and Han Yi could tell from her answer without any hesitation. , Barbara thought about this matter quite deeply.

"Then...she really has Alzheimer's, right? It's not an excuse for François, her daughter, to fight for property." Han Yi thought for a moment, "Judging from your description, her The symptoms...no, the manifestations are very similar to those of Alzheimer's."

"Again, I only stayed with Mrs. Bettencourt for 48 hours. I can't answer questions that the world can't answer." Barbara stared at Han Yi meaningfully, who at that moment The careful act of correcting the wording left her feeling both warm and appreciative.To have such empathy and moral concern for a public figure with whom we have never interacted before shows that Han Yi is definitely not a bad person in nature.

"But having said that, everyone has their own answers to the world, and I do too. In my opinion... Mrs. Bettencourt should indeed have Alzheimer's disease. It's hard to explain to you why I think so, But...if you have ever seen patients with Alzheimer's disease before, you will know that the...chaos that occasionally flashes in their eyes cannot be imitated by others."

"Moreover, a year after I met Mrs. Bettencourt, her daughter once again applied to the court to become her mother's guardian, stating that because of her mother's continued deterioration of her mental state, she was no longer suitable to manage any property in her name. In order To find out whether Mrs. Bettencourt had really lost her ability to act, the court finally ordered a mental examination of Mrs. Bettencourt and retrieved her previously sealed and encrypted medical reports. Finally, it was discovered that she had been suffering from a mixed syndrome since 2006. Symptoms of dementia. By 2011, her Alzheimer’s disease had progressed to severe levels.”

"So, if I understand correctly..." Han Yi pondered, "October 2010, when Mrs. Bettencourt met you, was her... last sober time before she was completely lost."

"Speaking of 'completely lost', it reminds me of the description of Madam's situation in a report I read a few years ago. That article said that Lillian Bettencourt was lost in the thick fog of aging."

"What a cruel description." Han Yi sighed.

"But it's accurate." Barbara spoke slowly, "October 2010 was the most intense time of the legal dispute between Barnier and Francois. His biological daughter, and... I don't know how to describe it. He, I don’t know if it’s right to use the word confidant. But the dispute between them, I personally feel, was the last straw that broke Mrs. Bettencourt.”

"Had her mental state been stable and sober, Madam would not have shown such great affection or even dependence on me in front of the Negresco Hotel."

"She regards you as her daughter, right?" Han Yi asked softly, "She hopes to stay with you for a while to ease the pain of breaking up with her daughter, and sees you as a way to escape reality."

"Think of me as an escape from reality, that's right."

"But I don't think Madam regards me as her biological daughter."

"In other words, I play the role of more than just a daughter."

"Not only?" Han Yi keenly captured the most critical information in Barbara's words.

"Sometimes, I am the daughter who was unaffected by the so-called cheating scandal before Barnier appeared in 1987, and who was obedient and obedient to her. She took good care of me, loved me, and wanted to give me The best life in the whole world.”

"Sometimes, I am her mother who died when she was five years old. She has almost no memory and can only rely on fantasy to depict the perfect image. In her more than 90 years of life, every time she encounters setbacks, she will hold her in her heart That mother.”

"Of course, more often than not, I can feel that I am her."

"A free, unfettered 'she' she would never have the chance to be."

"During the two days and 48 hours in Nice, my roles kept changing between the three. She told me through Alan almost in a pleading way that she wanted me to spend more time with her to make her feel better. A little, let her..."

"Let her experience for the second time in 90 years a parallel life without the Bettencourt family and L'Oréal."

(End of this chapter)