Chapter 102: Strength of Allies

Although the Greengrass family keeps a low profile, they actually own many properties. They are the second-largest shareholders in the Ogden Brewery (the largest being the Ogden family), and they also have many business ties with the Wizard Stew Company. But their biggest business is their magical animal breeding farm.

The Ogden Distillery is a supplier of high-end whiskey, and Professor Lockhart’s favorite Ogden Fire Whiskey is their signature product; the Wizard Stew Pot Company’s main business is kitchen utensils for wizard families, and they are also Celestine Waugh’s The largest sponsor of all Baker's concerts.

The Greengrass family's wealth and social influence are among the best among many pure-blood families. Gareth himself is a member of the Wizengamot, and also replaced Lucius as one of the 12 school governors of Hogwarts after he lost power. With the support of the Greengrass family, Schelling has more confidence in his future plans.

[Acquired by the "Allies" Greengrass family! 】

Schelling spent the next five days with the three girls.

Schelling would sometimes teach them about Occlumency, and sometimes he would explain to Astoria what they needed to pay attention to in their studies for the next semester.

In addition, Gareth would sometimes take him out to make some new contacts, such as Oskar Rigibit, the big boss of the Romanian fire dragon breeding area. The Romanian Fire Dragon Breeding Area is the largest fire dragon breeding area in the world. It contains at least eight species of dragons: Chinese Fireball, Welsh Green Dragon, Hungarian Horntail, Norwegian Ridgeback, Peruvian Venomtooth, Romanian Longhorned Dragon, and Swedish Shortnose. Dragon, Ukrainian Iron Belly.

This fire dragon breeding area was founded by Oskar's father, the famous fire dragon expert Harvey Ridgebit, in the early 19th century. In just a few decades, it surpassed the fire dragon breeding area in Sweden and became the most popular fire dragon breeding area in Europe. The largest breeding area. In the next few decades, it became the leader in the world's fire dragon breeding industry; it can be said that the Greengrass family, the leader in the magical animal breeding industry, became famous for a while.

Oscar is not content to stick to the achievements left to him by his father. Recently, he plans to expand the business of the fire dragon breeding area again, so he has raised funds among his small circle. Strictly speaking, Gareth, who is a peer, He was one of the people invited by him. Gareth also gave Xie Lin a hand and asked Xie Lin to join this small circle.

Xie Lin invested 10,000 galleons in exchange for one-fifth of the equity in the breeding area, becoming the second largest shareholder in the breeding area. At the same time, his heroic spirit was recognized by the circle, allowing him to take the opportunity to expand. Got more connections.

No, another big shot in the circle took the initiative to befriend Xie Lin.

Philbert Devrill, manager and backroom boss of Puddlemere United.

Puddlemere United was founded in 1163 and is the oldest team in the British and Irish Quidditch League (referred to as the Anglo-Irish League). This team has won the Anglo-Irish League 22 times and also won the European Champions Cup twice.

However, Puddlemere United's title status and popularity have been severely challenged since the dangerously powerful woman Gwenog Jones became captain of the Holyhead Harpies a few years ago. .

Gwenog Jones was an excellent batsman, but what was more memorable was her personality-filled demeanor. She once publicly stated that witches were better suited to play Quidditch than wizards, and no one dared to object to this view. ; In fact, the Daily Prophet once said that no one dares to oppose any of the views of the "outstanding but dangerous" Gwenog Jones, because those who oppose her are usually turned into earthworms by her.

Her flamboyant and self-centered character actually attracted a large number of fans to her.

It's not that no one has thought about dealing with her, but the Jones family she comes from is not easy to deal with. Her aunt Hestia Jones has a close relationship with Dumbledore, and she herself is the potions master Horace. ·Slughorn's beloved disciple, not only is she an innermost member of the legendary "Slug Club", but she also gives Horace free tickets to ball games every year, and the two maintain close contact.

This season, Devrill plans to do something. His first plan is to poach, a lot of poaching, to poach outstanding players from other teams at high salaries. To accomplish this, he needs financial support. The transfer fee for Holyhead Harpies' ace chaser Wilda Griffiths alone is as high as one thousand Galleons.

Therefore, after hearing about Xie Lin's large investment in the fire dragon breeding area, he approached this funder who was well-known in the business world.

Xie Lin was quite surprised. This was the first person to actively seek investment from him. It seemed that his reputation in the business world had been completely opened up. At the same time, he couldn't help but think that he could finally own his own team like the Muggle tycoons in his previous life. (Several major teams in the Premier League have been bought by wealthy people)

Schelling was not carried away by the excitement. After carefully reading the prospectus, he added several conditions to the prospectus to ensure that his interests would not be damaged due to accidents, that is, the team management must Players should buy insurance in case of accidents.

He didn't remember the plot of Quidditch very clearly. After all, this plot was not mentioned in the original book, but appeared in an officially published Daily Prophet. He only vaguely remembered the poaching of Puddlemere United. The behavior seemed to cause public outrage, and then it seemed that something happened to a player in the end.

After several discussions, Schelling finally bought a quarter of the shares of Puddlemere United for three thousand galleons.

[Obtained shares in the Romanian Fire Dragon Breeding Area! 】

[Pudmere United shares acquired! 】

Xie Lin's cash suddenly shrank significantly. However, Schelling's own expenses are not large. Campus life at Hogwarts does not require much expenses, and he obviously does not need to use his own money when living at home. Although he now lives in Green Manor, it is obviously impossible for Gareth to charge him living expenses.

Of course, Schelling's money still continued to come in from the publishing house, Miracle Alchemy, Ellerby and Badmore Broom Company, and even the artificially cultured mushroom trading house. The profit may not be much, but there were still regular transactions. With a small sum of Galleons accounted for, the total annual return on all investments is about eight thousand Galleons.

All in all, even if the investment in the Fire Dragon Breeding Area and Puddlemere United ended up being a loss, it would only take him a few years to recover his financial resources.

At the same time, Schelling thought about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. It seemed that he would also make good use of this World Cup to earn some money.

Under Gareth's instruction, Daphne also took Sherrin to visit the Greengrass family property during this period. In addition to expressing the family's trust in him, it also meant to show the family's strength and value.

Worthy of being a leader in the magical animal breeding industry, the Greengrass family's magical animal breeding farm really opened Xie Lin's eyes.

The stables housed all breeds of Pegasus: gray Glaling Pegasus, gigantic rune horses, chestnut Iseraurus, ultra-rare Thestrals, and mixed hybrids between the various breeds.

"Is it okay for us to breed hybrid species like this? Isn't there the 1965 Prohibition of Animal Breeding Experiments Act?" Although Schelling knew the power of the Greengrass family, he didn't think it was wise to leave any clues on these matters. idea.

Daphne smiled and said, "Of course there is no problem. Our family's breeding farm is one of the few companies in Great Britain that holds a charter. In fact, there is one at Hogwarts... So if it is Hagrid's Magical Creatures class next semester Don’t be surprised if some strange and dangerous new species appears.”

(Note: Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewt can be used openly in the Goblet of Fire project, which is obviously completely legal)

Schelling suddenly remembered that in the original novel, the Weasley twins used Puff velvet to cultivate Pygmy Puff, and then sold it publicly in their joke shop. Apparently, they had obtained a license in advance. Later, the dwarf cattail also became the best-selling product in the "Magical Witch Series" products in the joke shop.

Xie Lin revealed the inspiration for cultivating dwarf cattails, and Daphne tilted her head and thought for a while, "We also have an area dedicated to cultivating cattails, which are mainly provided to major pet stores in Diagon Alley and sold as wizard pets. Let's go! I’ll take you to see it!”

The two walked to the area where cattails were cultivated. It was a cattail nest surrounded by a low fence. It was filled with leftovers. The cattails of various colors happily used their slender sticks to , pink tongue licking.

"That's an Appaloosa Puffskein," Daphne pointed to a relatively large silver-white-haired Puffskein. "It has the ability to expand and shrink, ever since the breeder in New York introduced it in 1925. After being banned by the Magical Congress of the United States of America, our family is the only one in the world who still masters this variety of cattails."

"I think there is still a lot of room for cattails as pets. If we can breed more pink and lilac cattails that are popular with women, and then reduce their size, they will definitely be very popular." Xie Lin He put forward his opinion, "I can also help in this regard. I also have some experience in the modification of species."

Daphne stared at Xie Lin with sparkling eyes, "What is there that you don't know how to do?" After that, she showed a sweet smile, "Let me tell my father about this, and it can be used as a cooperation between you and our family. If the project is ultimately successful, you will also receive a share.”

Then the two visited the horse-shaped water monster that was kept in a large pool. Equestrians are shape-shifting creatures that do not necessarily appear in the form of horses. The most famous Equestrian monster, the Loch Ness Monster, appears in the form of a plesiosaur from the Jurassic period (similar to Lapp in Pokémon Russ).

There are also a large group of civet cats and swallow-tailed dogs in the garden. They are running around and making various dexterous movements under the instructions of the breeder.

There are hundreds of employees in this breeding farm, and they are all professional magical biologists. Each breeder only needs to care for and train a magical animal specified in the employment contract. They have a deep understanding of the magical animals in their respective fields of expertise, and can often tell Schelling many little things that cannot be learned in books.

Walking to the area where unicorns are kept, Xie Lin saw a group of snow-white horse-shaped creatures with spiral horns on their foreheads, walking with graceful steps.

There are also two little unicorns in the unicorn group. Their bodies are golden, as if they were made of gold, and their signature horns have not yet grown on their heads. Baby unicorns generally don't start to turn silvery white until they are two years old. They start to grow horns around four years old, and become adults around seven years old. By then, their fur will turn into beautiful pure white, even the purest white snow. All around them will look gloomy.

Not far from the unicorn herd, there stood a unicorn creature with its head held high, looking a little unsociable. It was covered with jet-black hair, with bright eyes and extremely majestic. Even with Xielin's knowledge, he couldn't recognize it.

"What is this?" Xielin asked.

Daphne was very satisfied with the effect created by this creature, "This is the legendary oriental unicorn, known as Xiezhi in China. European unicorns can easily distinguish between good and evil in people's hearts, so only women with the purest hearts approach them; Xiezhi has another completely different ability. It is born with the instinct to distinguish right from wrong and be fair and impartial, so it is very popular in the Ministry of Magic in China. Those who can keep it as a pet are generally honest and fair public officials."

The two spent most of the day in the farm and finally came to the last corner that they had not visited yet.

This is a towering redwood tree, which can only be reached by taking a special magic elevator. In a branch, Xielin actually saw a phoenix nest!

"Don't think too much. Even with the strength of our family, we have not been able to obtain a phoenix. As far as I know, in the whole of Great Britain, only our headmaster Dumbledore can own a phoenix." Daphne paused and continued to explain: "This is actually a subspecies of the phoenix. It is a hybrid of a phoenix and a peacock. It cannot be reborn from the ashes, but its feathers and tears are still precious raw materials."

Even if it is only a subspecies of the phoenix, it is quite remarkable. Sherin's evaluation of the strength of the Greengrass family has been raised to a higher level.

Time passed in such a rare leisure, and August 18th came soon.

Gareth took the butler Mogarton, Sherin and his three daughters to use the door keys prepared by the magic department to go to the venue of the Quidditch World Cup - Devon, Dartmoor Wilderness.

Hestia Jones is a member of the Order of the Phoenix and one of the 9 advance guards (the advance guards are selected based on their air combat capabilities and must be able to cast spells while flying).

The Appaloosa is a rare breed of cat. In 1926, Newt tried to enter the United States on the pretext of buying it in New York, but was told by Tina that the breeder had been forced to close by the Magical Congress of the United States a year ago.