dmims Chapter 100 Bianchi Bicycle Company
Chapter 100 Bianchi Bicycle Company
Chapter 100 Bianchi Bicycle Company
After receiving the gifts from the three people, Altair, as the host of the tea party, led everyone to the reception room without hesitation.
After the servants finished setting out the tea and snacks, everyone began to chat, discussing everything from the warmer weather to the flowers in the garden.
From natural environmental issues to aristocratic social gossip such as which nobleman is pursuing whom, which noble lady is engaged, and even fashion and aesthetics—the five of them could talk about anything.
Until Audrey brought up the most controversial Grain Act recently. She asked curiously, "Why is it that many people clearly understand that repealing this act would cause numerous drawbacks, such as: a sharp drop in food prices, a decline in land rents, a sharp decrease in the income of nobles, and farmers losing income due to food price drops, leading them to migrate to cities for factory work, resulting in lower wages for more workers—"
"Why did the House of Representatives pass this proposal to repeal the Grain Act? Is this act really that bad?"
The four people at the table did not respond to the question. Instead, they all fell silent and began to sip their black tea.
During the tea tasting, they kept glancing at each other, neither wanting to break the silence.
Altair was well aware of everyone's thoughts. "Although the Tiffany family is an old noble family, the previous family head, who was her grandfather, was very farsighted and accepted reforms early on. The family business has long since transformed from landowners to factory owners."
"Now, her family owns steel and coal factories all over the country."
"The main reason her family still retains a large amount of land is due to the 'Land Retention Abolition Act' passed by the House of Lords, which stipulates that 'losing land means losing one's title.' Without this act, her family would have abandoned their land assets long ago."
"So even if the Grain Act is repealed, it won't affect her family. They can simply ignore it and not get involved."
"Heather is a vampire. Although she doesn't know how to make large sums of money, to be honest, human money is less attractive to her than blood."
"Besides, there aren't any truly poor vampires. But putting aside their amazing medicine-making abilities, just considering how long they've lived, any items they manage to salvage would be considered antiques. If they were put up for sale, they could probably fetch a lot of money."
"For example, Emlyn White, one of the 'Three Celestial Idiots,' seems like just an ordinary newborn vampire, but that one wall of Emlyn's is worth two houses in Backlund."
"Moreover, Heather married Irving after she came of age, so the two are a perfect match and will not lack money at all."
"Vivian, on the other hand, comes from a fallen noble family in Intis," and is also an extraordinary individual with the Witch Path. From her perspective, the chaos in the Kingdom of Rune has basically nothing to do with her family; she might even consider adding fuel to the fire, letting this upheaval help her complete her role as quickly as possible."
"As for Altair herself, she was well aware that this matter involved the interests of many parties, including the Augustus family of the Loen royal family, the Twilight Hermit Society, the Psychological Alchemy Society, and so on. Those who stood in her way would not have a good outcome."
"Even if you have foresight and intervene, it won't help. If you anger Adam, he might just give you a script, and that would be terrible."
"Moreover, this matter was fundamentally unavoidable. Because it belongs to the inevitable 'tide of the times.'"
"Adam and his contemporaries merely accelerated the pace of the 'flood' by driving change."
Seeing the silence of the crowd, Altair took a sip of tea and, in an attempt to lighten the mood, explained with a smile, "Audrey, it's not surprising that the members of the Lower House of the Kingdom of Rune passed the proposal to abolish the Grain Law in such a short time, because it's their choice based on their own interests."
"Audrey, all you need to know is why this is progressing so quickly; we don't need to worry about anything else."
"Actually, this matter is quite simple. First, you need to understand the difference between the upper and lower houses of parliament and members of parliament."
"All the members of the House of Lords are hereditary nobles, whose status as members is predetermined from birth. For example: your father, your elder brother ———."
""
"This means that commoners never appear in the House of Lords." This alone demonstrates that the House of Lords represents interests that are always those of the old aristocracy, and it doesn't consider the interests of the lower classes.
"The House of Commons, on the other hand, is the opposite of the House of Lords. Most of its members are elected through local elections. These members are mostly newly emerging industrial capitalists, a small number of legal professionals, and some nobles (the second sons of nobles)."
"Therefore, this also means that the House of Commons serves the interests of the middle class and the newly wealthy."
.
"The newly emerging wealthy class consists mostly of factory owners, who generally do not rely on land rent to make money. Therefore, the unanimous passage of the bill to repeal the Grain Act will not affect their interests."
"Of course, none of that matters. The most important thing is that no one in either the House of Representatives has ever represented the common people."
"If no one represents the common people, then of course no one will consider their interests."
With Altair finished explaining, the topic of the Grain Law was quickly brought up by everyone.
Altair then proposed plans to open a new factory. She plans to integrate her bicycle business with others, allowing them to open a factory together and make money together.
The main reason I've never been in the bicycle business before is because bicycles are too easy to replicate.
Even without extraordinary skills, a skilled mechanic can easily replicate it once he has the materials and has studied and understood the principles.
This situation limits Altair's ability to monopolize the business. After all, there's no intellectual property law here, so if they were to do this kind of business, they would need someone to protect and safeguard their intellectual property rights.
Altair initially planned to collaborate with Uncle Rafe, with the two of them sharing the profits.
But after the incident with the witch cult, she decided to open another business to compensate the other families.
She had already thought of a name for the bicycle: Bianchi Bicycle Company, a living fossil in the bicycle industry.
After a brief discussion about the share distribution, the three said they would send a check to Altair as soon as they got home.
After watching Heather Grant and Tiffany O'Neill's carriage leave.
Altair then turned his gaze to Audrey beside him, smiled, and advised, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much about this. Even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. Besides, the country's parliamentarians don't want social unrest or instability."
"Remember to eat something sweet when you get back. Don't worry."
Upon hearing this, Audrey could only nod, then turned and got into the carriage, leaving Sheffield Manor.
After seeing everyone off, Altair sighed, thinking to himself, "A nobleman's birthday is such a hassle."
Looking at Vivian beside her, she asked curiously, "You're not really going to give me this birthday present in the middle of the night, are you?"
"Don't worry, your birthday present is on its way," Vivian replied mysteriously before returning to the villa.