"——That's two cartloads of treasures. Can you think of anything else?" As he was preparing to start work after two days in Marseille, Liang En called Marie, hoping to get more information, but the result was not promising.
"Please, my subordinates handle these tasks. I only give orders. How could I know the specifics?"
A slightly muffled voice came from the other end of the phone. Although it was already 9 AM, it was clear Marie had not yet gotten up.
This was characteristic of nobles, especially those of high status but not in power: they would stay up late at night and sleep in the next day.
Although Marie's lifestyle had become more restrained compared to the past due to Joan of Arc's influence, she still retained the habit of staying up late.
Recently, she had been obsessed with various computer games, playing late into the night and waking up late the next day as a result.
"Alright, you rest. I'll handle the rest." Liang En felt a bit helpless. After confirming that he couldn't get any valuable information, he sighed and hung up the phone with a resigned expression.
"No precise information from Marie?" Joan of Arc asked curiously after Liang En hung up. "These things were hidden by her."
"You're right; she did hide them. But the problem is, she didn't hide them personally," Liang En replied with a wry smile.
"If things had gone according to plan, Marie would have smoothly escaped from France, and the treasures would have been recovered by her pre-arranged subordinates."
"But the situation changed back then. Marie didn't escape successfully, and her direct subordinate who handled this was killed in a royalist rebellion, so the exact location of the treasures was lost."
"That's indeed troublesome," Joan of Arc frowned. "We're not going to search a whole building, are we? Considering those rooms are occupied, such a search would be extremely difficult."
"No, the situation is better than we thought," Liang En said after glancing at some newly received information. "There's only one target, a monastery, so it's simpler than we imagined."
"But how do we get the monastery's residents to support our operation?" Joan of Arc frowned. "As far as I know, church people are the hardest to persuade."
"You don't need to worry about that because the monastery is no longer a monastery," Liang En said with a smile. "It's now a hotel designed in a monastery style."
"However, due to the recent economic downturn, the monastery went bankrupt two years ago and was just bought by Elizabeth a few days ago," Liang En added with a laugh.
This shows how important money is. A few years ago, Liang En would have had to do this secretly, and buying such an expensive building wouldn't have been possible.
As for why Elizabeth chose to buy the building, it was simple. She thought Marseille was a great place for tourism, so having a hotel there could be profitable.
The previous hotel owner went bankrupt because some Middle Eastern tycoons were swindled into opening a luxury hotel there.
Although located in Marseille's old town with decent security, the surrounding scenery was mediocre, and it was far from major attractions, making it unsuitable for a high-end hotel.
As a result, the hotel kept losing money due to mismatched expectations, and the Middle Eastern tycoons, despite their wealth, didn't want to waste money like this.
So, when Elizabeth expressed interest in buying the hotel, the original owner even offered her a good discount.
Of course, this discount was also related to Prince Aziz, whom Liang En knew. The Middle Eastern tycoon who invested in the hotel happened to be a cousin of Prince Aziz, making the negotiations easier.
Thanks to these connections, all procedures and transfers were completed quickly, and by the time Liang En and his team arrived, everything was ready.
After receiving the keys from the staff stationed there, Liang En and his team opened the dusty locks and entered the former monastery.
The hotel's entrance was a gatehouse, likely the monastery's original gate. Since the monastery was outside the city walls, the gate and tower had clear military fortifications.
Passing through the deep gatehouse, Liang En and his team entered the monastery's courtyard. The monastery looked somewhat like a traditional Chinese walled village, with the main difference being a bell tower in one corner.
Possibly due to long neglect, the central lawn of the courtyard was overgrown, but the ivy in one corner was still lush.
As a breeze blew through the courtyard, the ivy leaves rustled like waves, making the entire wall seem alive.
"It doesn't seem like much has changed here," Joan of Arc observed as she looked around after reaching the courtyard's center. "Apart from the windows being replaced with plastic steel, not much is different."
"Indeed, there haven't been major changes. I think they wanted to preserve the style," Liang En replied after looking around.
"After all, the hotel promotes a classical style, so keeping the original classical facade clearly aligns with the hotel's theme."
Honestly, Liang En thought if it weren't for concerns about lighting and views in the guest rooms, they might not have even altered the originally narrow windows.
If there was a significant change, it was the gate. The old, rough wooden gate had been replaced with a bronze one adorned with beautiful reliefs.
"This gate is well-designed and matches the monastery's style," Joan of Arc said, gripping the bronze griffon's mouth ring and pushing the gate open.
The gate opened silently, clearly having been maintained after receiving notice. Hinges and other moving parts had been serviced.
"This is really luxurious," Joan of Arc whispered, marveling at the luxurious interior. "It looks quite similar to the luxury hotel we built in the UAE."
"Of course, this was designed by Saudi tycoons, so it's normal for the styles to be similar," Liang En said, nodding in satisfaction.
Honestly, the design was excellent. The contrast between the ancient exterior and the luxurious interior created a strong visual impact, which was the hotel's biggest selling point.
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