Chapter 275 Representatives from the Bank of France Arrive

Sergio left, with an unconcealable smile on his face.

But Xiao Peng ignored him and held a celebration banquet at home.

Perhaps because special matters were handled with special care, even the most slow-moving Bank of France became extremely efficient. It quickly calculated the market price of this batch of silver and settled the bill with Xiao Peng.

When Fabian came back happily with the check, he was accompanied by a senior executive of the Bank of France.

This executive piqued Xiao Peng's interest. He was a mixed-race man of obvious Oriental ancestry. After questioning him, he learned he was a fourth-generation Frenchman, his maternal great-grandfather having arrived in France in the 1920s. Although he couldn't speak Chinese, he had a frighteningly large Chinese name: Zhang Qikun.

In his words: This name was given by his grandfather, who hoped that he could soar to the sky. The name means "the top of Mount Kunlun".

But Xiao Peng really wanted to ask his grandfather, have you ever considered what the name "Qi Kun" means when read separately?

It’s not surprising that Zhang Qikun doesn’t know Chinese.

In the 1920s, China experienced a massive wave of immigration, with many people fleeing to Europe. Some, like Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, sought to learn advanced knowledge and skills to save China. However, many others sought to escape the war and make a living.

Because Chinese people are hardworking, many of them do well. Zhang Qikun's great-grandfather was one of them.

It turns out that having life skills is really important when living abroad.

His great-grandfather was a carpenter. The traditional Chinese mortise and tenon craftsmanship was very popular here. His grandfather was also smart. He combined Eastern craftsmanship with Western furniture design. He made a name for himself by making furniture for others. Later, he set up his own furniture factory. At that time, the more sophisticated families in Paris were proud to have his furniture.

Why can't Zhang Qikun speak Chinese? It has something to do with his grandfather.

When France was liquidating after World War II, his great-grandfather was implicated: after all, his great-grandfather's furniture factory was requisitioned by Germany during World War II. During the post-war liquidation, French women and foreign immigrants who had served the Germans were the main targets of liquidation.

But it must be said that Zhang Qikun's great-grandfather was indeed a great man. He brought the hardworking and diligent qualities of the Chinese people to the extreme. After a period of time, he started from scratch again.

However, during this period, their family also experienced a long period of hardship. Zhang Qikun's grandfather was still young at that time, and the incident left a serious shadow on his childhood. For a long time, he was ashamed of his skin color and believed that his childhood suffering was due to his skin color. So he let his children speak French instead of Chinese and have no contact with Chinese people.

We cannot judge whether he is right or wrong from an objective perspective. After all, Xiao Peng has not experienced what he has experienced.

Besides this, Zhang Qikun's grandfather was even more impressive than his great-grandfather. After all, his great-grandfather adhered to traditional Chinese values, emphasizing "contentment with a small fortune." But Zhang Qikun's grandfather, on the other hand, directly combined traditional Chinese mortise and tenon construction with modern manufacturing techniques, expanding production capacity and creating a brand. He instantly became the "furniture king" of France and entered the upper class!

His daughter, Zhang Qikun's mother, married a French aristocratic banker. Now Zhang Qikun also has a noble title, a title that can be certified by the 'ANF', and a true 'royal' noble!

The ANF is an organization dedicated to authenticating noble identities and addressing the misuse of titles. The French, like the Germans, still place great importance on the nobility. Although the French royal family was long overthrown, there are still many nobles in France.

In fact, the overthrow of the royal family in France was similar to the overthrow of the royal family in Germany. In both cases, a group of nobles fought endlessly for who to support as king and finally reluctantly established a republic.

Now that life is better, the former French aristocracy and royal families have resurfaced and are vying for the throne of the King of France. The descendants of the Bourbon family, the Orleans family, the Bonaparte family, the Habsburg-Lorraine family and other families that are eligible to inherit the French throne have been fighting fiercely for the position of King of France in the past few years.

In a republican country, someone inexplicably stood up to compete for the throne and restore the royal family. From an observer's point of view, this matter is actually quite interesting.

So why is Zhang Qikun considered a "royal" title? Because his father is a descendant of the Countess of Paris. As the great-great-granddaughter of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, Countess Isabelle of Paris was a legitimate "Royal Highness." Naturally, the Countess's descendants also hold royal titles.

But while this title sounds intimidating, it's actually quite useless. First, Isabelle, Countess of Paris, died in 2003 at the age of 93, leaving behind nearly 100 descendants who are considered "royal." Furthermore, compared to the descendants of the Bonaparte family, their titles aren't impressive enough.

Although in the eyes of historians the Bonaparte family is like a nouveau riche, it is the only family in the whole of France that can hold the title of "royal family". Now members of the Bonaparte family can be called "Royal Highness", while other families can only be called "Royal Highness".

In addition to these noble families, there are other small noble families. There are about 4,000 noble families in France now, of which more than 3,500 were titles obtained before the French Revolution. Hundreds of years later, the descendants of these nobles have reproduced everywhere, so now France is full of nobles.

Xiao Peng didn't understand this aspect at the beginning. When he attended a cocktail party organized by the mayor of Marseille, Godin, most of the people introduced themselves with "noble" titles. This one was "Count", that one was "Marquis", and there were even several "Dukes". This shocked Xiao Peng. Could Godin's connections be so amazing?

Later he learned that among this group of so-called "nobles", some were imposters; some were self-proclaimed; some were brothers who shared the title; or they were canonized by the Napoleonic Empire or the Orleans Dynasty. In a sense, these were not the old aristocracy in the traditional sense.

Even among the descendants of the royal family of the House of Orleans, such as Zhang Qikun, there are now all kinds of people. Most of the nobles have fallen into decline and become ordinary people. In France, if you come across a cleaner or gardener who calls him a "noble", don't be surprised. This situation is not uncommon across Europe.

However, Zhang Qikun's grandfather is the 'Duke of Paris' and his father is the 'Duke of Vendôme'. He is a descendant of the French royal family with Chinese ancestry who cannot speak Chinese. This identity is quite interesting.