Chapter 262 As long as you listen

The dazzling crystal chandelier hangs from the high ceiling, casting a soft and charming light.

The guests, dressed in gorgeous gowns, looked like characters from a fairy tale. Holding crystal clear champagne glasses, they moved among the crowd and chatted.

The men wore sharp suits and the women wore sparkling jewelry.

The long banquet table was filled with exquisite pastries and sumptuous delicacies.

Thanksgiving Day in the United States in 1997 was a great day for the wealthy and famous people in New York and the Northeast Coast.

Definitely worth remembering.

They will definitely remember it even after many years.

Because of this day.

They witnessed the combination of a resurgent ancient family and a current dominant family.

At the same time, it also allows them to participate in this event, which can be said to be this year, or even in several years.

This is the highest-standard and largest social cocktail party in the United States.

For example, Barron Hilton, the chairman of Hilton Group, is now very happy to bring his two granddaughters, the Hilton sisters, and have an intimate conversation with Vincent William Astor and his wife, who are also New York hotel tycoons.

The surname Astor is not very famous in the United States now.

Even in the eyes of the public, he may not be as good as Barron Hilton.

But if we go back a hundred years, the prefix of this surname would be "America's richest man."

Yes, this is a super wealthy family that produced the richest man in the United States and was once the richest in the United States.

When Astor was shining brightly, Rockefeller, Morgan and others were all vying for the Astor family's deposits.

But just like Vanderbilt in the past, it has now declined to the point where there are only a few millionaires left.

The Astor family also declined.

But it's still much better than Vanderbilt.

At least the Waldorf branch is now as wealthy as Hilton.

Although the main branch has declined.

But the wife of the previous owner was still alive, and even David Rockefeller and John Chris Morgan would attend the old lady's birthday parties.

The face is still there.

So Hilton's Barron takes a subordinate attitude when talking to Vincent Astor, even though he is actually older.

"Is the lady here too?" Barron asked Vincent softly.

Vincent Astor nodded with a smile and pointed to the northeast corner, "There."

Paris and Nikki followed their grandfather and turned their heads to look over.

Sure enough, there I saw an old lady who was very old.

This old woman may not be famous in other places.

But in New York, she is called "the last aristocrat in America" ​​and "the aristocrat among the common people."

She is the most prestigious lady in New York's social circle.

She was a woman that even David Rockefeller respected.

As for why Ariana's grandfather respected her so much, respecting a once wealthy family whose main branch had fallen into decline and even had no heirs...

In Milo's words, that is - if you give me all your billions of dollars of assets to manage, I will respect you infinitely.

In 1959, Brooke Astor's husband, the head of the main branch of the Astor family, died.

After his death, Brooke Astor was supported by some people.

Completely took control of the wealth of the main branch of the Astor family.

The leader of that group was none other than David Rockefeller.

At that time, the Astor family was still one of the ten richest families in the United States, ranking among the top five.

Their land in Manhattan alone was enough to make them richer than most American families at the time.

What about now? Brooke Astor's Astor Foundation now has just over $100 million in funds and less than $500 million in assets on its books.

It adds up to more than 600 million, which seems like a lot.

But you have to know that the Astor Foundation had so much money in 1959.

Decades later, inflation has become severe all over the world.

As for the Astor Foundation managed by the Rockefellers, there has never been any inflation...

Old David was very happy to have a son who had no relatives. Of course, he could respect Brooke Astor and let her maintain her high status in the circle of wealthy people in New York.

The emotional value is given sufficiently, so of course Brooke Astor's money should go to old David.

If the so-called trust fund is not effectively supervised, the fate of the Astor Foundation will be the same.

It was noticed that at this moment, Mrs. Brooke Astor was surrounded by a group of distinguished ladies from New York and nearby areas.

Nikki and Paris were very envious, as that was exactly the life they dreamed of when they were old.

"Oh, everyone is here."

At this moment, a cheerful and outgoing voice suddenly came from their left.

Paris could recognize it in a second without even turning her head.

This was the voice of Ivana's father. The tone and timbre of Gimp's voice were too distinct.

Sure enough, it was Gimp and his daughter Ivana Gimp, walking over with a smile.

"Ha, a gathering of hotel tycoons!"

Gimp exclaimed happily, "Vincent, Barron, and me. If we add Ian and Leona, then all the high-end hotel operators in New York will be gathered here."

When the adults heard Jinpu say this, they didn't say anything.

Paris curled her lips in her heart, thinking that Ivana's father would never be able to make sense.

How can he be called a hotel tycoon if he only owns one second-rate Jinpu Hotel?

And all the people he just named are truly top hotel tycoons in New York.

For example, their Hilton, Vincent's Waldorf, Ian's Edition, and Leona's Ritz-Carlton.

Among them, her Hilton is the lowest-end.

Not to mention that the Jinpu Hotel is only a so-called luxury hotel that was only recently rated as five-star.

In Paris's eyes.

Gimp is just a lucky guy who just caught Blackburn's big ship.

Otherwise, it wouldn't even be possible to be here!

Thinking of this, Paris couldn't help but look at Ivana beside Kim Pu.

She wore a custom-made lace gown that trailed gently on the ground, revealing her slender ankles.

On her fair ears, she wore a sparkling diamond necklace and earrings.

The hair was delicately tied up, revealing the elegant neckline.

Her makeup is light yet noble, her red lips are gorgeous and tempting, and her whole body exudes a beautiful and noble temperament.

Paris felt that Ivana seemed to have changed, and became very different from before.

Especially that kind of temperament.

But Paris couldn't really tell what had changed.

But she had a good relationship with Ivana, so she immediately walked over, held Ivana's hand and started chatting and laughing.

"I've been looking for you. Ivana, I knew you would come tonight."

"By the way, why haven't I seen you out recently? Every time I asked you to go shopping together, you said you had something to do, and you didn't go to school in Boston. Oh, I finally got to see you today!"

Ivana smiled at Paris, thinking of course.

Because I'm pregnant.

She is young and the month is also young.

But the doctor asked me not to go out carelessly and to stay at home and take good care of the baby.

But of course, it is not easy to say these words to Paris.

"I've been feeling a little under the weather lately. Good evening, Paris, Nikki."

"Good evening." Nikki, who had a slightly more distant relationship with Ivana, smiled and responded to Ivana's greeting first.

Paris's focus was elsewhere.

"Are you feeling unwell? Have you seen a doctor?" Paris asked with concern.

"Well, I went to the hospital for a checkup." Ivana smiled, "The doctor told me to rest at home and not go out often. That's why I couldn't go shopping with you."

"Okay." Paris nodded.

At this time, when the adults were having a heated conversation.

Nicky Hilton suddenly pointed to the direction of the main hall entrance: "Everyone, Mr. Blackburn and Miss Rockefeller are coming out!"

Everyone turned their heads to look, and sure enough, it was the same face that showed up at the beginning of the cocktail party.

Later they went downstairs to rest, and then the two core figures of this party just came out.

Milo Blackburn and Ariana Rockefeller made another appearance at tonight's engagement reception.

"What a perfect couple."

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Vincent William Astor lamented: "I feel that the engagements of princes and princesses in the past were just like that."

"Who says it isn't?" Barron Hilton agreed.

Gimp exclaimed, "Ah, here comes the most perfect engaged couple in the world. Look at them--how dazzling they are!"

The sound is a bit loud and the content is exaggerated.

His daughter Ivana couldn't help but glare at him, thinking, Dad, your daughter is still here.

Your daughter is pregnant with the child of the husband from that perfect couple you mentioned!

But Gimp doesn't care about that.

Everyone knows him as Blackburn, the first vassal in New York.

This is also the character that Jin Pu has always created for himself.

This gradually consolidated his position in New York's upper class society.

Many people associate with him because of Milo Blackburn's reputation.

Having tasted the benefits in this regard, Gimpel will of course spare no effort to maintain and ensure his image as "Blackburn's first vassal of New York."

Lest the title be snatched away by Dolan, Kelly and others.

It was seen at the junction of the banquet hall and the banquet lawn at Rockefeller Castle.

The entrance to the main hall.

Milo, wearing a black tuxedo, was holding the hand of Ariana, who was wearing a white wedding-style evening gown.

Today, Ariana rarely wore any jewelry, only a plain white wedding dress - maybe it wasn't a wedding dress, it wasn't as grand as a wedding dress, it was a simplified version of a wedding dress, after all, nowadays children are part of an engagement ceremony rather than a wedding.

However, in this attire, she is as beautiful as usual, or even more beautiful.

The white wedding dress fluttered slightly in the breeze, the golden hair was faintly visible under the white tulle, and the blue eyes seemed to be rippling with endless ripples.

Her face was fair and translucent after careful dressing up, and perhaps because of shyness, it had a slight blush on it.

Is this the color of happiness? Will I be with her forever? Tathagata, I didn't expect that I would get married too.

Milo couldn't help but look at her and was speechless for a moment.

Seeing Milo's stunned expression, Ariana couldn't help but laugh.

This smile is full of shyness and tenderness.

This smile woke Milo up and made him sober up.

Know what the occasion is.

So he took Ariana's hand, and together they walked towards the many guests with smiles on their faces.

Different focus than others.

Ivana stared at the hands of the two people closely, and she found a sparkling diamond ring on each of the couple's hands.

Both are worn on the ring finger of the left hand, which means the reality of engagement.

Ivana felt a little pain in her heart.

His face still showed the same warm smile as everyone around him.

But at the same time, her hands couldn't help but touch her flat belly.

She felt a little regretful.

But it was no use regretting, and about half an hour passed.

I don’t know how many people I talked and communicated with.

Ariana, wearing a white tulle evening gown that looked like a wedding dress yet not a wedding dress, but was extremely beautiful, came to Ivana surrounded by many female guests.

No Milo.

He was surrounded by men from Mellon, First Citigroup and other financial groups, chatting about men's topics.

These are all ladies, madams or misses.

"Good evening, Ivana. I'm so glad you can come to my engagement party."

As soon as Ariana came over here, she held Ivana's hand enthusiastically.

This scene made most of the women nearby or who followed her show jealous expressions on their faces.

It's just that it's the kind of situation that's hard to spot if you don't look carefully.

"Congratulations, Ariana, I wish you and Milo happiness forever." Ivana responded with a smile.

She has a very good relationship with Ariana, and everyone in the New York socialite circle knows that she is one of Ariana's good friends.

She, Ariana and Eric from Mellon are known as the "iron triangle" of New York ladies in Boston.

But only Ivana and Ariana knew.

In addition to this best friend relationship, they have another layer of relationship.

That is, as a best friend, Ivana is pregnant with Ariana's fiance's child! "Thank you for your blessing. Ivana, I believe you will be happy forever in the future."

Ariana smiled and took Ivana's hand and never let it go.

He even took her with him throughout the whole process, and joined the high-end circle at tonight's cocktail party.

Talk to those ladies one by one.

This is the dream scene that Ivana in the past and Paris now envied and longed for.

Because of Ariana's presence, even Brooke Astor, the top celebrity in New York's socialite circle, is kind to Ivana.

It can be said that Ivana’s former best friends were extremely envious.

With Ariana's performance tonight.

It can be said that Ivana was directly "promoted" in their circle.

Or just lift it up and it will go directly to the top link of the ecological chain.

Didn’t you see that even Mrs. Brooke Astor warmly invited Ivana to attend the party hosted by Mrs. Astor in a few days?

Mrs. Astor's cocktail party... the ladies who can get the tickets will be regarded as real ladies by the wealthy circles in New York! Everyone is envious, and some are even jealous.

Only Ivana herself was uneasy—

The original Ariana was not so kind to her.

Although they are so-called best friends, that kind of friendship is usually only maintained within the school in Boston.

After leaving school, Ariana didn't even call her most of the time! Her relationship wasn't even as good as Ivana and Eric's.

But not long after that...

"Don't worry. Ivana."

When the people around her were a little further away, Ariana suddenly whispered to Ivana: "Our relationship is different now. I will be the godmother of the baby in your belly."

"So do you understand? Ivana, you are mine now. From now on, you are not allowed to refuse what I give you. You can't take what I don't give you. Just be obedient, understand?"

Ivana's face turned pale.

"clear."

She answered in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)