"Indeed, it is the Princess of Liechtenstein!" Huang He exclaimed as he saw Vivian on television. It was something he had anticipated, yet seeing Vivian appear on screen in her princess attire still filled him with awe.
To think he had touched a princess's thigh!
In fact, after Vivian was taken away that day, Huang He had understood that her identity was undoubtedly extraordinary.
Furthermore, judging by the skills of those who took her, they were undoubtedly top-tier special forces, capabilities that no ordinary Italian family could afford.
Thus, there was only one answer: Vivian was definitely the daughter of a major figure from some country. Subsequently, Huang He began analyzing intelligence and discovered that the most recent event related to a significant figure in Florence was the Liechtenstein royal family traveling by train near Florence, which was the reason the film crew had been delayed for eight hours.
Coupled with the fact that the first meeting between the film crew and Vivian occurred at the train station, Huang He was almost certain that this Vivian was a princess of the Liechtenstein royal family.
However, Liechtenstein was a country he had heard very little about, so Huang He looked it up and discovered that Liechtenstein was indeed quite extraordinary.
It was the world's sixth-smallest country, with a land area of 160 square kilometers.
What did this mean?
Beijing's area is 16,410 square kilometers; in other words, one Beijing is equivalent to 100 Liechtensteins.
Despite such a small area, it still possessed 11 cantons.
Liechtenstein's total population is around 37,000, yet it has a complete parliament, its own royal family, and various administrative bodies.
It is said that Liechtenstein once had its own army, which participated in both World War I and World War II.
During World War II, an army of 81 soldiers was dispatched to participate in combat. Only 80 returned, as one soldier died from slipping and falling during combat.
In the 1970s, Liechtenstein made a surprising decision to abolish all its armies and entrust the protection of its territory entirely to Switzerland, as Liechtenstein only borders one country, Switzerland.
If Switzerland could not protect it, then Liechtenstein could essentially declare itself conquered.
Furthermore, Liechtenstein's foreign affairs are largely handled by Switzerland. Liechtenstein has only one embassy in Switzerland, with all other diplomatic work being handled by Switzerland's various embassies abroad.
In addition, the country's customs are also entirely managed by Switzerland. Upon hearing this, many might exclaim, "Isn't this a feudal colony?"
Well, one could say it is, and one could also say it isn't.
If you say it's not a colony, Liechtenstein, apart from its internal administrative powers, has its military and diplomatic powers entirely in the hands of Switzerland, much like most colonies.
But if you say it's a colony, have you ever seen a colony richer than its suzerain state?
Switzerland's per capita income is 60,000 euros, while Liechtenstein's per capita income is 86,000 euros, significantly higher than Switzerland's.
At the same time, Liechtenstein is a fully industrialized nation. Apart from some financial institutions, it has over a dozen industrial enterprises, with 39% of its population engaged in industry-related work.
These enterprises are all world-class industrial companies with many unique technologies, which is also one of the important reasons for Liechtenstein's terrifyingly high per capita income.
Finally, the royal family of Liechtenstein is also one of the few real-power monarchies in Europe. Oh, its official title is Grand Duke, as they have always taken pride in the ducal title granted by the Holy Roman Empire.
Because Liechtenstein is very small, and its people have always been very supportive of the royal family, although Liechtenstein is a constitutional monarchy with its own parliament and cabinet, the Grand Duke of Liechtenstein actually enjoys control over the country, and his orders are unimpeded within the state.
It is also rumored that this individual is the second wealthiest in Europe, meaning the second richest royal family in Europe, with assets worth hundreds of billions of euros. After all, with over 100 years of prosperous development, without any turmoil from invasions, accumulating a large ancestral inheritance seems quite reasonable.
The reason for mentioning so much about Liechtenstein is to illustrate the status of Princess Vivian in Europe. Despite the country's extreme insignificance, the princess's demeanor and entourage have always been comparable to those of other royal families, and she is recognized by political dignitaries from various countries.
Therefore, when she appeared at such an important occasion wearing Hanfu with high heels, the impact and shock it brought to all of Europe were imaginable.
The next day, Jiangnan Group received several inquiries, all from Europe, expressing a desire to purchase a Hanfu similar to Princess Vivian's, with exceptionally generous offers.
Huang He then directly transferred the calls to Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei, letting Qu Wei negotiate with them herself. Huang He was unaware of the final outcome of the discussions, but when Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei's financial report for 2003 was presented to Huang He, the major shareholder, overseas income was a staggering 1.6 million euros. Approximately 200 sets of Hanfu were sold in total, which, when calculated, meant the actual selling price of each Hanfu was around 100,000 RMB per set, an astronomical price.
Upon seeing this income, Huang He couldn't help but express concern, asking Qu Wei if such a high price would scare off wealthy Europeans.
In response, Qu Wei disdainfully stated that she had experience in the European fashion scene and knew very well that for wealthy Europeans, there was a benchmark for purchasing luxury goods: 50,000 euros.
This meant that luxury goods below 50,000 euros were never purchased, as it would be too embarrassing.
This time, with Princess Vivian's unsolicited promotion and the fact that only Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei had the capability to produce Hanfu of this caliber nationwide, it was a unique luxury item. Selling it at 80,000 euros was actually still a bit low. She was already designing several more elaborate Hanfu sets that were more in line with traditional Chinese imperial etiquette, or one could directly say of the emperor's robe level, which would be sold at a minimum price of 200,000 euros per set.
Hearing this, Huang He couldn't help but sigh, remarking that the money of the rich was indeed the easiest to earn in this world, and also the most difficult to earn.
In fact, the impact abroad was relatively low; what truly caused a significant impact was the domestic influence.
Following the 315 report, apart from Jiangnan Group's fabrication, the audience's most focused attention was on a young girl named Vivian.
To create the effect of Vivian possibly being harmed and thus inciting audience anger, that leader had deliberately retained many shots related to Vivian in the video, crafting an image of a beautiful, cute, free, and energetic young girl, and then using the tragedy of destroying this image to evoke immense anger from the audience.
Therefore, a significant portion of the criticism directed at Jiangnan Group was due to Vivian. Even after Jiangnan Group sued and it was proven that everything was fabricated by Yingke, many viewers still worried about Vivian's situation.
The most obvious evidence was the overnight creation of hundreds of Vivian fan groups on platforms like QQ, where people referred to themselves as Vivian's fans and demanded that people be sent to investigate the situation of the young girl Vivian, even suggesting flying to Italy to rescue her. In any case, Vivian's situation had garnered considerable attention domestically.
Therefore, when they saw the radiant and captivating Princess Vivian at the opening ceremony in Italy, the resulting surge of contrast brought considerable shock to all of China.
Even more excitingly, CCTV soon officially announced that they had contacted Princess Vivian and were preparing for an exclusive interview, with the content to be broadcast later.
Thus, on March 28th, the relevant exclusive interview appeared on CCTV's new program "Face to Face." During its premiere, over 3 million viewers were eagerly watching.
After a series of opening sequences introducing Princess Vivian and Liechtenstein, the beautiful young girl once again appeared before all Chinese viewers, wearing the same "Dragon and Phoenix Presenting Auspiciousness" Hanfu she had worn at the ceremony.
Unlike the somewhat blurry television footage from the ceremony, because "Face to Face" was an interview, extensive filming equipment could be prepared in advance. Therefore, Vivian, who appeared on screen, was in high-definition 1080p resolution, with exquisite makeup. Combined with the already stunning Hanfu, viewers described her as "heavenly beautiful."
At the beginning of the program, Vivian first greeted the Chinese people, garnering goodwill.
She then introduced her country, Liechtenstein, welcomed Chinese people to visit, and exchanged pleasantries between nations.
Finally, the program moved to the main topic, inquiring about the story behind the Hanfu and how it unexpectedly appeared in the CCTV crew's footage, which was of most interest to Chinese viewers.
Vivian began by briefly explaining why she was with the CCTV film crew.
It turned out that the train Vivian was traveling on passed through an Italian station. As she wanted to see the sights of Florence but her parents wouldn't allow it, Vivian secretly slipped away and boarded the train the film crew was on.
So, she was indeed a runaway princess, just like the plot in the movie Roman Holiday.