Chapter 98 Chapter 98 Spending Money Day 98
The morning sun shines on the windowsill, emitting a gentle golden glow.
There was also a golden light on Liu Yue's mobile phone screen - she was looking at gold jewelry on Taobao.
The pure gold Disney castle rekindled Liu Yue's love for gold. As long as it is not the stereotypical big gold chain or the dragon and phoenix gold bracelets that are only worn at wedding banquets, she still has a good impression of gold jewelry.
With only one million, there was no need to go out and buy gold from other sources. After all, according to the current gold price, one kilogram of gold would cost over 800,000 yuan. If you were to buy from someone else and stock up on raw materials, you would need at least ten kilograms, right?
There are many categories of gold jewelry, including modern jewelry and ancient jewelry. Liu Yue saw gold sachets, gold treasure boxes, and even the King of Yue's sword made of gold.
Some items are available online, while others require pre-ordering through in-store sales. She originally wanted to buy a few in bulk, but ended up being sold on the gold butterfly handbag.
This bag is truly beautiful. It is made into the shape of a butterfly, with the bag body being the butterfly's wings, wrapped with hollow gold wire and embellished with a few pearls.
The salesperson sent me detailed pictures and photos of the bag after getting my hands on it. The bag weighs about 700 grams and looks very delicate and compact. It can actually be opened in the middle, so it's probably good for small items like lipstick and ID cards.
This is a display sample. If customers like this style but don’t have enough budget, they can also customize a mini version with a minimum order of 50g.
That's too small. Liu Yue couldn't imagine what a bag that small could be used for. Could it hold miniature toys? Now this size is just right. She could actually carry it out and use it as a bag in real life.
If you want to enlarge it, it should be possible, but Liu Yue imagined the scene... Forget it, a pure gold bag that is too big will easily look tacky, and gold is quite heavy, its own weight is definitely much greater than other bags.
Liu Yue happily placed an order for this butterfly handbag. She wanted to sell the one that was sent to her, and the price was 1.58 million.
After payment, Liu Yue also got a particularly beautiful gold hair crown with lilies on it and tassels hanging down on both sides.
This thing is for a wedding. Liu Yue hasn't considered the wedding yet, but she really wants it. She sent the picture to the Chow Tai Fook salesperson and was told that it needs to be custom-made. The size needs to be designed according to her head circumference and shape, and she can also choose the desired weight.
Since it can be customized, Liu Yue doesn’t want the tassels on the side and just wants to keep the main body of the hair crown.
For her, this is not a wedding item, but a beautiful and stylish headdress that can be used as a headband.
Liu Yue lay in bed for half an hour, spent the money, and then got up.
She was planning to return to China to order this hair crown, but if the system gave her another million tomorrow... she would just measure her head circumference in Europe and send it directly to the jewelry shop.
Given the system's approach of meeting KPIs mid-year, Liu Yue felt that this was very likely.
After breakfast, Liu Yue met Heti.
Hedy was her guide as they explored Brussels today, but in her own words, the city was the most boring capital in Europe and she really couldn't think of anything fun to do there.
"I'm like this at home too." Liu Yue took a sip of her drink. "When people ask me to recommend fun places in Shenzhen, I have no idea."
However, Hedi still made preparations in advance. The most famous and most worth-visiting place in Brussels is probably the "Peeing Group".
This is actually related to a story that Liu Yue read when she was a child - during the war, the enemy wanted to blow up the city with gunpowder. The clever little boy found the burning fuse and urinated on it to put it out.
Heti: "There are many versions of this story. Some say it was actually a little girl, so there are statues of the Manneken Pissing Boy and the Manneken Pissing Girl in Brussels."
She paused and added, "And, of course, there's the peeing dog sculpture."
Liu Yue: ...
Liu Yue didn't understand and was greatly shocked.
She followed Heidi to check in on these sculptures, and they really were all peeing postures: a little boy standing, a little girl squatting, a dog raising one leg...
No, if no one told me, who would have thought that this is the capital of a country?!
Liu Yue felt a cultural shock, and Hedy also told her that the people of Brussels liked these sculptures very much.
During festivals, they also dress the boy and girl sculptures in new clothes. According to incomplete statistics, the Manneken Pis has more than a thousand different themed costumes. Just a few steps away, you can see his clothing museum.
What Liu Yue saw today was a set of sportswear. Heti said that this was probably an advertisement for a certain brand.
In addition to advertisers, celebrities and politicians from various countries also give Brussels clothing when they visit. If Liu Yue wants to give a custom-made dress, it should be possible to arrange it.
Liu Yue quickly waved her hands: "No, no, no, I don't need it..."
Anyway, she can never wear all her clothes, so there is really no need for her to have one more.
After visiting these statues, Hetty took her to another attraction.
As she walked, she said, "This used to be the place with the highest concentration of Chinese people in Brussels... Can you guess where it was?"
Liu Yue pondered: "A luxury shopping street?"
No, Hetty seemed to have used the word "once" just now.
Hetty smiled mysteriously and shook her head, saying that was not right.
Just as they were there, she pointed to her and said, "Look here, the Swan Cafe."
Liu Yue looked up and saw a building with a strong sense of history. There was also a lifelike swan statue on the door of the cafe.
Hedy: "When Marx lived in Brussels, he loved to go to the Swan Café to chat and meet people. According to legend, it was here that he met Engels and wrote The Communist Manifesto."
So that's why Hetty said that just now.
Unfortunately, the cafe had closed down, so Liu Yue could only take photos and check in outside. Sure enough, she heard several tourists nearby communicating in Chinese.
Marx is a very famous name, and Engels is also well-known. However, when Liu Yue was studying, she always confused Engels and Engel, and called the theory of the proportion of total food expenditure to total personal consumption expenditure the "Engels coefficient."
Hedy laughed and said, "Engel is German. German food is so awful. There they only have sausages and sausages. Does he know what to eat?"
"If it's Engels, he must have had some really delicious waffles in Brussels. Come on, I'll take you there."
On the way, Liu Yue was also informed of a little-known fact: it turns out that waffles were invented by Belgians.
French fries are also a popular dish, though they're more common in American fast food. Despite being called "French fries," Heidi emphasized that they have nothing to do with the French; the only difference is that "french" can also mean "cut into strips" in English.
There is also a Michelin three-star French fry shop in Brussels, which is almost overturning Liu Yue’s perception of this kind of "fast food".
The two bought some packaged waffles and found a place to sit down and chat in the chip shop.
Maison dandoy is a century-old shop in Brussels and the oldest existing pastry shop in Belgium.
There are two kinds of waffles for sale in the store. Liu Yue didn't make a choice and wanted to try them all.
She first tried the Brussels waffle, which has the familiar rectangular shape but an unconventional texture.
Freshly made batter and baked waffles give the waffles a soft filling. The whole waffle is baked slightly fluffy, covered with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Liu Yue thought it would be super sweet, but it turned out to be just the right sweetness!
She tasted it carefully again and found that the chocolate sauce was sweet overall, but a little bitter, which neutralized the sweetness well.
There was also vanilla ice cream on the waffle. Liu Yue scooped a spoonful, mixed it with the warm waffle crust, dipped it in some chocolate sauce and put it in her mouth. The taste of ice and fire instantly became divine.
She moved on to the Liège waffle, which had an irregular shape, somewhere between square and round, and a thinner, crispier crust than the Brussels waffle, with a caramelized crunch around the edges.
For Liu Yue, these waffles are delicious just by eating them, but they are even better when paired with cream and strawberries. The strawberries here are stewed, which is a magical way to treat them. They don’t have the sour taste of regular strawberries, but they are not as sweet as strawberry jam.
"It's so delicious." Liu Yue praised it endlessly. "No wonder the whole street was filled with waffles just now. This is truly your country's representative dessert. You'll regret it forever if you don't try it."
The fries, which Hetty highly recommends, were also very good, and the beef stew and fries were a generous portion.
Liu Yue felt that this dish was cooked to be a staple food. It contained carbohydrates, protein, and a few vegetable leaves that she couldn't name.
Having lunch here is also a good option. Liu Yue ordered two more hamburgers and soda.
“I found this place to be great for pure eating.”
Liu Yue said: "The experience of the tourist attractions was average, but the desserts were amazing. I also had a beer yesterday, which was also quite good."
On the way there, Heidi took her to check in at the Smurfs comic wall, passed by the Grand Place in Brussels, known as "the most beautiful square in Europe", and saw the exteriors of several churches along the way...
There were many people taking photos and checking in at these attractions. Although Liu Yue also found it very novel, in comparison, eating waffles and French fries just now made her feel happier.
Hetty agreed with her very much. She said there would be a chocolate street later and she would take her there to eat as much as she wanted.
Heidi didn't need to say this. When Liu Yue walked in the city of Brussels, even the air was filled with the smell of chocolate.
The topic of their conversation quickly shifted from chocolate to the upcoming Paris Haute Couture Week. Hedy really enjoys buying haute couture, but she doesn't go to the shows every year.
Although she is not the heir to the Belgian throne, she is still very close to the current king. In a broad sense, she also has the title of princess, even if she is not at the show, she can find a brand to order a high-end dress.
"Are you going?" Hetty asked her. "If you go, I'll go too."
"uncertain."
Liu Yue replied: "It depends on where I travel to... If I have enough time, I will go to the show."
This season's Fashion Week will last four days, with 27 haute couture brands holding new product launches. Liu Yue plans to attend whichever shows she can make it to.
Yes, her schedule is so casual. Liu Yue never cares about the seats, that is the organizer's concern.
Hedy is not as relaxed as her. If she wants to appear, she still needs to communicate the details with the brand in advance.
This not only concerns her own face, but also the face of the European aristocracy - Liu Yue knows how fierce these people are in internal fighting, and how much they like to stick together against the outside world.
Hedy had a lot of gossip to share, including the famous "Paris Debutante Ball."
This year's ball is in November, but the organizers have already invited her.
Liu Yue had vaguely heard of this. The marketing of this ball in China has become increasingly aggressive in recent years, but judging from Hetty's tone, she didn't seem to buy it.
The ball invites European princesses every year - not the daughters or sisters of the current king, as they cannot invite guests of this level, but women with more distant blood relations in a broad sense, or direct descendants of aristocrats with legitimate titles.
Well, Liu Yue automatically replaced the words she could understand, which was equivalent to the royal family women in ancient times.
For a ball like this that relies entirely on marketing, inviting a few nobles to grace the occasion naturally requires the most lavish treatment. This should be an unspoken understanding between the two parties.
But in recent years, the focus of balls has shifted to Hollywood, and the proportion of second-generation and third-generation stars has become increasingly higher. Old-fashioned aristocrats like Hedy are less willing to go.
If it were just an ordinary gathering, it wouldn't be so particular; but the marketing of this ball is so aggressive, it's like using their names to promote the children of celebrities and directors online, and they might even be overshadowed. Who would want to do this charity?
After hearing her say this, Liu Yue suddenly remembered.
It seemed she had been invited to this ball as well… The invitation had been mailed to Hong Kong, and it seemed to be a very formal letter. She couldn't quite remember the envelope, as she had received many similar letters before, and if she could sort them out, she could sell them directly to a paper recycler.
Looking at these invitations, Liu Yue felt like an emperor in ancient times facing memorials, and all he received were a bunch of useless greetings.
In order to win over his subordinates, the emperor needed to approve it personally. Liu Yue opened and read more than a dozen of them, then handed the rest to Sang Yu and asked her to handle it.
This is really a difficult job. Sang Yu can only pick out the boring activities based on her experience and understanding of Liu Yue, keep the interesting ones for now, and report the particularly interesting ones to Liu Yue, asking her if she wants to go.
Among them, the Paris Debutante Ball was the first one that Sang Yu picked out. Since it required socializing, and there was nothing interesting to do, it was not even considered pending.
Hedy: "By the way, I felt so sorry that you didn't invite us to your birthday party before."
"Because you're too far away." Liu Yue explained, "If it were held in the United States, I would invite you to come."
Hetty blinked. "Where in the United States? If it's in the western United States, the flight time is longer than to Hong Kong."
Oh—that’s right.
In Liu Yue's mind, Europe was on the west side of the map, and America was on the east side. She had assumed that when they were connected to form a circle, they would be next to each other. In reality, the Atlantic Ocean separated the two continents...
She fluently corrected herself, "My father and I agreed to hold it in the US next year, and in Europe the year after! The distances from Hong Kong to Europe and from the US to Europe are about the same."
This way, mom and dad won't argue with each other anymore.
Oh my god, she is such a genius to come up with such a great idea!
Hetty thought that everyone would be scrambling for the invitation to this party.
Although she was unable to attend Liu Yue's birthday party, she warmly invited her to go to Northern Europe to see the aurora in winter, and to Rovaniemi in Finland, which is the hometown of Santa Claus and has many activities and attractions.
Liu Yue became interested: "Can we go to the Christmas Village on Christmas Day?"
"Uh, this doesn't work."
Heidi said regretfully, "Christmas is a very important holiday here. Many shops are closed for the holiday. Also, the weather was bad during that time, so we couldn't see the aurora."
Well…it turns out that the Christmas Village is closed on Christmas Day.
But if Santa Claus has to take a break, who will be responsible for delivering gifts to the children? I don’t think Finland has a holiday break.
Although Liu Yue knew that Santa Claus did not really exist, she still felt a little regretful and disillusioned when she really thought about it.
“If you want to experience the Christmas atmosphere, it’s best to go a few days in advance so you can see the Christmas market.”
Heidi: "It snows very early in Northern Europe. If you choose the right day to go, it will be more lively than the real Christmas."
Liu Yue was very excited when she heard that. A few days earlier should be mid-December.
It was just right that she could buy gifts in the Christmas village and send them out. By the time she returned home, the gifts would have arrived.
After they had almost finished their meal at the chip shop, they walked and chatted while looking for a chocolate shop.
There are so many handmade chocolates in Brussels that Liu Yue was dazzled and had no idea how to choose. From the outside, it seemed that every one of them was delicious.
Hetty led her through the streets with familiarity and pushed open the door of a shop.
"This is a favorite haunt of the Belgian royal family and aristocracy. They can customize chocolates to your taste. You mentioned earlier that you wanted to experience the handmade chocolate making process, and I've already communicated with them in advance."
Compared to the former, Liu Yue is currently more interested in the latter.
She was first introduced to the cocoa berry, the raw material of chocolate, by the workshop master. In the most sophisticated chocolate workshops, the type of cocoa berry will also affect the taste.
Liu Yue tried to peel open a cocoa fruit, revealing some white pulp encased in tiny cocoa beans. She also drank the juice squeezed from the pulp, which resembled coconut milk but was actually a bit sour.
The master explained to her the theoretical knowledge from cocoa beans to chocolate. It was the first time that Liu Yue ate real 100% dark chocolate without any added sugar or milk powder. It tasted very bitter.
White chocolate is at the other extreme, containing only sugar and milk powder, with no cocoa beans at all.
Liu Yue thought that making handmade chocolate also required molds, similar to making cookies, but the master gave her a piping bag and told her that she could freely create any shape she wanted on the tray.
Oh, is this fun? Then she will be even more excited!
It is actually more suitable for beginners to start with chocolate boards. All you have to do is squeeze all the chocolate paste in, add your favorite ingredients and compact it. But Liu Yue, who is a big fan of cooking, of course wants to get creative!
She was going to draw a cat on a tray—even though Lucas couldn't come into the store with her, she'd drawn it so that he could be considered a visitor.
However, Liu Yue really overestimated her painting skills.
Even with a pencil, she couldn't draw a cat properly, let alone a chocolate piping bag...
The kitten in her imagination was lively and lifelike, but the actual kitten was ugly, with its head and body in abnormal proportions. Lucas's agile and strong limbs turned into strange short legs, making it look not like a cat but a monster that would make people lose their sanity.
Liu Yue: ...
Liu Yue pretended nothing happened and squeezed chocolate syrup into the tray until the contents became a large mass with no discernible shape.
Well, it doesn’t matter, it tastes the same anyway.
Liu Yue comforted herself in this way and added cookies, sugar beans, coconut powder and hazelnut crumbs into it.
After it solidifies, you can just break it apart and eat it. It will not affect the taste at all.
After seeing the three-dimensional Smurf chocolates displayed in the store, Liu Yue had a new idea.
Yes, a two-dimensional kitten is not fun, so if you want to make one, make a three-dimensional one. And she wants to make an identical one, so she has the workshop master restore the chocolate shape 1:1 based on Lucas's body shape. That's what's interesting.
She put forward her request to the chef, and the person in charge of the chocolate shop responded immediately. Apparently, they often complete custom orders, and no matter what ideas the client puts forward, they will seriously implement them.
Although Liu Yue made this chocolate for fun, the master still asked her seriously what kind of chocolate she liked.
If she is not sure about her taste or cannot accurately describe the type of chocolate she likes, they can provide many samples and ask her to taste them slowly before making a decision.
This kind of service is very professional, because human language descriptions may have misunderstandings, and adding references will make it much more accurate.
Liu Yue asked, "When you customize chocolate, do you also savor it for a long time?"
“Yes, that’s why I buy them ready-made.”
Heti said: "They will let you taste many kinds of chocolate, label them with numbers, and you have to choose the sample that is closest to your ideal sweetness. Later you have to keep adjusting it so that in the end they all taste the same."
Liu Yue also felt that it was too troublesome, and people's tastes would definitely change. Maybe what they liked to eat this month might not be their favorite next month.
So, she just tasted a few samples and chose a chocolate with moderate sweetness and a smooth taste to make the main part of the leopard cat chocolate.
When this chocolate is shipped back to China, Lucas will definitely be shocked when he sees it! However, cats can't eat chocolate, so Liu Yue will definitely not give it to him.
And she will pluck off its ears, remove its tail, and eat its paws right in front of it... It's so funny just to think about it! The delicious little kitten is about to be swallowed by her!
Thinking of that scene, Liu Yue couldn't help laughing.
The customization cost of Belgian chocolate is very high. This kind of three-dimensional chocolate is solid, the materials are very solid, and the labor cost is not cheap.
But Liu Yue drew another one million, which was not surprising to her at all, and she had a place to spend it today.
"I'm also going to order another chocolate cat bed." Liu Yue gestured, "Just imitate the LV cat bed, or restore it in proportion. This is my Lucas's favorite bed lately."
Not only will Liu Yue eat the kitten, she won't let go of its nest either!
Hehehe, she is such an evil human being~
The workshop master tactfully stated that replicating LV products might involve copyright issues.
"It's okay." Liu Yue waved her hand, "I'll just ask someone to talk to him."
As long as she wants to, what in the world can't she do? Being happy is the most important thing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
