Anthony and Launt exchanged happy glances, both nodding inwardly. William, this 20-year-old young man in their eyes, was truly different from other English youths. He even understood social etiquette so well, and they couldn't feel any of the arrogance and rudeness inherent in the wealthy. He was approachable, polite, easy to get along with, and especially generous. He had money and knew how to make more, and even a count's title was waiting for William. God truly favored him.
As the two were thinking about William's virtues, there was a knock on the conference room door. Barney's voice came from outside, saying to William, "Boss, Mrs. Lena has brought you coffee. Can we come in?"
Hearing his mother, William quickly stood up and said, "Come in."
As soon as he finished speaking, Barney opened the door. His mother thanked Barney with a smile and then walked in with four maids carrying coffee pots, teapots, and small pastries.
William walked up and hugged his mother, greeting her. Lena smiled and nodded to everyone, indicating, "Hello, gentlemen, I am Lena Cavendish, William's mother. It's afternoon tea time, and I've brought some desserts, coffee, and tea."
Seeing Lena's dignified and elegant demeanor, exuding an aristocratic aura, the group quickly stood up and bowed to Lena. Englishmen both despised and envied aristocrats, but if given the chance to become one, these guys would absolutely not refuse. Precisely because England no longer bestows hereditary titles, most Englishmen dislike, envy, and even resent male aristocrats.
But all this changes when it comes to beautiful aristocratic women. Although the aristocracy has declined, the influence of aristocratic culture is still very strong, and ordinary people are very accepting of beautiful aristocratic women.
So, when these guys saw William's mother, they all became very polite. One even performed a knight's bow, which made William laugh inwardly.
After Lena greeted everyone, she smiled and said to William, "William, you all have some afternoon tea and coffee and pastries first, and rest for a while. By the way, can I ask if everyone would like lamb chops and salmon with mushroom soup for dinner? Tina and I picked the mushrooms in the woods this afternoon, they're very fresh."
William looked at everyone and said, "Is that alright?"
"Of course, thank you, Mrs. Cavendish."
"No problem, thank you, madam."
Everyone nodded and agreed enthusiastically.
Seeing that everyone was a little reserved with her, Lena nodded, "Alright, William, then I'll go prepare. See you at dinner, gentlemen." Lena performed an aristocratic bow to everyone and then went out to prepare dinner.
After afternoon tea, everyone busied themselves helping William prepare his tax declarations for his assets in England and America. After completing the declarations, they sat in the reception room, smoking cigars, drinking black tea and coffee, and chatting.
At 7 o'clock, the servants arrived on time to call everyone to the dining room. Tonight, there were roasted lamb chops, pan-fried salmon, and mushroom soup. William also specifically opened 8 bottles of Lafite and several bottles of '89 whiskey, and called the 6 members of the Suicide Squad. A total of 21 people sat in the dining room. The dinner atmosphere was lively, everyone drank Lafite and whiskey, chatting until 9:30 PM.
William, accompanied by the servants, personally escorted the 12 lawyers to a two-story guesthouse on the side of the castle. The castle's wings had two two-story side buildings, one for the servants and one specifically for guests.
All of them were modern renovations. Each room was over 70 square meters, with a bedroom, living room, toilet, and bathroom, all renovated to a 4-star hotel standard. The 24 guest rooms alone cost William over 1.5 million pounds. The main castle's renovation cost William over 12 million pounds.
Adding the servant quarters, garden, lawn, woods, and the construction of stables, a shooting range, an indoor parking lot for over forty cars, an outdoor parking lot with 60 spaces, and a helipad, the total cost for William was nearly 18 million pounds.
William only spent 4.5 million pounds to buy the old castle. Living in a castle truly costs money. This was still in a rural area like Oxford. If it were near London, you couldn't even think of buying a castle for less than 50 million pounds.
If he were to buy the 3,000 acres of land surrounding the old castle from its former owner, it would cost another 10 million pounds. This is still with land prices having dropped by nearly a third; before, you couldn't buy it without a 15 million pound lump sum payment.
William would definitely buy those 3,000 acres of land, because these lands were also ancestral property of the Cavendish family. However, the landowner lost a large sum of money in the stock market this time and, knowing William was rich, wanted to recoup some losses from him, insisting on 15 million pounds. William wasn't a fool; it was clear he wanted to fleece him, so he decided to drag it out. After a while, land prices would fall even more. He'd see if that guy could hold out when prices dropped to half of what they used to be. Anyway, William currently had no immediate need for the land; if he bought it, he would just rent it to the people of Cavendish Town, and he didn't expect to make money from the land.
After settling the lawyers, William walked around the estate with Barney and Christmas. "It's decided. We're going back to America tomorrow."
Barney smiled and said to William, "Yes, Boss. It's been three months, and everyone misses home. Everyone has earned 1.5 million US dollars with you, so it's a good time to go back and see their families. It's been too long."
William looked at Christmas, and seeing Christmas nod, he knew he couldn't keep these guys. Forget it, the Suicide Squad couldn't be his bodyguards forever. These guys were very wild. They would all be willing to fight, but if they were to be stable bodyguards, they would get restless over time.
Anyway, there was no danger now. With himself in the castle, protecting his mother Lena and Tina was not a problem. Besides, the castle had a dedicated safe room and secret tunnels. The safe room door and security were personally installed by Barney and Christmas, without anyone else involved.
William still trusted Barney and Christmas very much. "Alright, tomorrow I'll arrange a private jet for you to fly directly to New York."
"Thank you, Boss," Barney and Christmas both nodded and thanked William. Having been in contact with William for so long, they all felt that William was a good boss. If it weren't for their lack of interest in bodyguard work, staying at Cavendish Manor might have been a good choice. It wouldn't be bad to settle in Cavendish Town when they got old.
"Boss, let us take you to the shooting range. Most of the equipment you sent last time is stored there. A small portion of equipment for five people is in the castle: one set in your study, one set by the fireplace in the main hall, both using the secret you provided. You can change it later on the computer in the safe room. The computer is on a local area network and cannot connect to the external network, so there are no security issues. There are also two sets in the safe room and one set in the tunnel. This set was placed by Mrs. Lena herself, and no one knows where the tunnel is except for Mrs. Lena."
William nodded; this was very good. As long as he changed the password in the safe room, only he and his mother Lena would have permission to activate the security measures in the castle.