Chapter 13: Buying Back the Family Castle
After returning to his hotel room, William no longer cared about being monitored and slept soundly.
The next morning, before he was even out of bed, he received a call from Anthony's lawyer.
William answered the phone in a daze. "Hello?"
"Hello, sorry to call you so early, Boss, but I think you should read today's *Sun*. Call me after you've decided what to do."
William hung up and used the hotel landline to call the front desk, asking them to send a copy of today's *Sun* to his room.
*Ding-dong.* William heard the doorbell just as he finished brushing his teeth. He rinsed his mouth, wiped it with a towel, and opened the door to take the newspaper from the hotel attendant.
The hotel waitress glanced from William to the newspaper in his hand, and her eyes immediately grew hot. Flirting, she asked, "Sir, this is today's *Sun*."
He took the newspaper and glanced at the waitress. She was pretty. He offered the beautiful woman a polite smile.
Seeing William smile at her, the waitress threw him a wink. "Sir, is there anything else you need? Our hotel can satisfy *any* needs you might have... *any* needs at all, sir."
William's eyes fell upon his own headshot on the front page of the *Sun*, and he immediately lost all interest in the beautiful waitress. He smiled politely and said, "No, I'll call the front desk if I need anything. Thank you."
He handed her a £10 tip, then turned and closed the door.
Seeing that William had no time for her, the waitress left, somewhat disappointed.
On her way up, she had read the headline of today's *Sun*. The young man in the photo was the very same one who had just closed the door.
This was a millionaire—a young and handsome one at that. If something could happen between them, she would be set for life.
She had hinted, hoping something might happen, but unfortunately, William wasn't interested.
William sat on the sofa, staring at the large, half-length photo of himself on the front page of the *Sun*. A feeling of dread washed over him.
Reading the article filled him with anger. He wanted to find and strangle the paparazzi from yesterday. How did they know what he had said in the conference room? It was as if they had been in there taking notes.
They knew his name, his school, and even his family situation. He didn't know whether to curse the English paparazzi for being the forefathers of the trade or to marvel at the power of the *Sun*.
Seeing a photo of his mother, Lina Devonshire, in the middle of the article, William grew worried and quickly took out his mobile phone to call her.
The call connected after a few rings.
"Hello, William," Lina's voice came through the phone.
"Hello, Mom. Good morning."
"Is something wrong? I'm on my way to work. If you're just calling to chat, I'll call you back at noon."
Then he heard the sound of a car door closing.
Hearing that his mother was already on her way to work, William said with some dissatisfaction, "Mom, didn't we agree that you don't have to work so hard anymore? I can make money now; you don't have to push yourself like before."
"Yes, yes, baby, I haven't broken our promise, haha. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I suppose I'll have to tell you now.
The day before yesterday, I used the one million pounds you gave me to buy a coffee shop on Oxford Street. Oh, baby, I have to thank you. If it weren't for you, I don't know when my dream of owning a coffee shop would have come true.
I want to spend all my time there now, haha," Lina laughed happily.
William was happy for his mother when he heard she had bought a shop on Oxford Street. "Even so, you don't need to go in so early."
Lina's happy smile was evident in her voice. "I just want to see it. I feel unsettled if I'm away from it for too long. It's alright, baby, I'll take good care of myself."
"Alright, Mom. As long as you're happy."
He hadn't had a million pounds at first, but his peripheral merchandise contract with Carrefour stipulated he would get 20% of the sales—gross sales, not net profit.
From the £6.45 million in merchandise sales, he received £1.29 million. After getting the money, William gave his mother £1 million, telling her to buy something she liked and that she could ask for more if it wasn't enough.
He had given Lina the money so she would have some security and could relax a little. He hadn't expected her to go out and buy a café right away.
But William remembered the reason for his call and spoke carefully to Lina.
"Mom, I have something important to tell you. You're not driving right now, are you?"
Lina asked doubtfully, "Tell me. Did you do something wrong? I'm just sitting in the car; I'm not driving."
"No, Mom, I didn't do anything bad. I just... I need you to see today's *Sun*. There's a report about me in it. I don't know how to explain it. You'll understand when you read the paper," William said cautiously.
Lina asked in surprise, "Oh my God, the *Sun*? William, you aren't dating some celebrity, are you? Is that why the paparazzi are writing about you? How is that possible? Tell me what happened!
Good heavens, baby, don't you dare tell me she's pregnant. I'm not ready to be a grandmother yet! You'd better pray I'm not angry after I read this paper, or you'll be in big trouble. I swear I'll beat you black and blue!"
When Lina heard her son tell her to buy the *Sun*, her first thought was that he had a celebrity girlfriend. In her mind, the *Sun* was nothing but a gossip rag.
"Wait, Mom, your imagination is running wild. It's not what you think. Just... after you read the paper, I think it would be best if you went home. Don't go to the coffee shop today."
"Fine. I'll go buy a copy of the *Sun* now. I want to see just what 'great thing' you've done to get yourself in the papers."
Hearing the dial tone, William lowered the phone and slapped his forehead. Now all he could do was wait for her to call back. He knew she would call the second she saw the paper.
Sure enough, she called back within ten minutes. As soon as William answered, he was met with a shrill scream.
"William, baby, tell me it's true! What the newspaper says... tell me it's all true! Are you really going to be a billionaire?" Lina shouted into the phone.
"Yes, Mom. Barring any surprises, what the newspaper said is true," William said, holding the phone back to his ear.
After a moment of silence, he didn't hear her voice, but the sound of her crying.
"Mom? What's wrong, Mom?" William asked anxiously.
"I'm fine, William, I'm just so happy. It makes me think of your grandparents. If they were still alive, they would be overjoyed to know you're going to be a billionaire.
It's such a pity they couldn't see you grow up. They went to heaven with so many regrets," Lina said, sobbing.
"Mom, I'm sure Granddad and Grandma are happy for me in heaven. Please don't cry. Are you home now? I'll come over to see you," William comforted her.
"Yes, I'm home. William, come back. I have something to tell you. I'll be waiting for you, baby," Lina said.
"Okay, Mom, I'm on my way. Wait for me." After hanging up, William called the front desk to arrange for a car.
Sitting in the hotel car, William was worried about his mother's state and kept urging the driver to hurry.
His home wasn't far from Oxford Street. It was a small, two-story stone house left to them by his grandfather. The ground floor was just over 80 square meters, with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The second floor had three bedrooms and a balcony of more than 10 square meters.
He recalled loving that balcony the most. Now that William was living at school, Lina rented out the other two rooms on short-term lets, which brought in £1,200 a month.
When he got home, he saw Lina waiting for him in the living room on the ground floor. William rushed forward and hugged his mother.
Lina held him in an excited embrace for a long time.
Seeing how emotional she was, William tried to distract her. "Mom, didn't you have something to tell me?"
"Yes, yes, William, I do," Lina said, pulling William to sit beside her on the sofa.
"William, I never expected you to become a millionaire, so there are some things I think you need to know. Do you remember the castle near Oxford that your grandparents and I used to take you to see when you were a child?"
William searched his memory and recalled the castle. It was a few kilometres from Oxford University, but he had no real impression of its size.
"I remember, Mom. It wasn't far from Oxford University, right?"
"Yes, child, that's the one. I'm telling you now that it used to be the Devonshire family castle. Unfortunately, after World War II, Henry couldn't pay the inheritance tax and was forced to auction it.
Your grandfather's greatest wish was to buy back that castle and its manor, but unfortunately, he never lived to see the day.
William, I'm asking you to buy it back when the time is right and restore its name to Devonshire Castle. This was your grandparents' greatest wish. Can you promise me you'll do it?"
"Of course, Mom. If that's all it is, I can promise you now. I can probably even buy it for you by the end of the year."
William felt confident making this promise. In a few months, the world would fall into an economic recession. Within a year, housing prices in England were projected to plummet by 50%. Even now, castles in England weren't worth all that much.
To be honest, there were as many abandoned castles in England as there were nobles. Besides, Oxford wasn't a London borough, so castles there weren't prohibitively expensive.
The castle in his memory was quite large, surrounded by woods, grasslands, a small lake, and a river. However, he remembered it feeling gloomy when he was a child, and he had no real desire to return.
But since his mother cared so much, the worst-case scenario was buying it and spending the money to have it renovated.
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