At around nine o'clock in the evening, Du Lin met Sandra, who insisted on an interview. The two opened a business suite at the Holiday Inn in Valleir and asked the hotel waiter to bring some food and drink. Du Lin was a little hungry. Du Lin originally planned to go to bed early at night, so he didn't eat much. He heard from Angela that eating too much for dinner would affect his sleep for the night, so Du Lin usually only ate six cents full on nights when there were no social activities. There are still things to do at night, and it seems that I may not be able to sleep before ten o'clock, so I might as well eat something.
"Sorry, I wasted some time." At nine-twenty, Du Lin picked up the napkin and touched the grease on his lips. He threw the napkin on the dining car and walked out of the restaurant and sat on the sofa in the living room.
Because Vanlier is close to the center of the empire and borders the south, it is also a city with more tourists. It usually receives tourists of high and low status, and the types of guest rooms are relatively complete. From penthouse royal suites to ordinary standard rooms, everything you can find elsewhere is available here. In order to discuss things better, Du Lin asked for a business suite. This kind of room has a total of three bedrooms, a dining room, and two living rooms similar to a study room and a living room. It is mainly aimed at business elites.
If you want a more ordinary standard guest room... there is always something wrong with sitting in the bedroom and talking about things.
Sandra smiled indifferently. She had nothing to do at night anyway. Nights in the West were actually very boring. There was only about one-fifth of the red wine left in the red wine glass on the coffee table, and her face became increasingly rosy. She ran her fingers through her hair and lifted her hair between her neck, leaned back, crossed her legs and pressed on the sofa, "It's nothing, I just need to think about other things."
"It is not what a gentleman should do to keep a lady waiting for a long time, but gentlemen will also be hungry sometimes." Dulin replied with a smile, and then started the next topic, "Ms. Sandra, no Do you know what you have to say tonight? To be honest, I just came back from the steam locomotive from the Imperial Capital. If possible, let’s make it simpler.”
Sandra tilted her head slightly and made an action that was inconsistent with her age. She actually stuck out her tongue. Although only the tip of her tongue was exposed, Dulin thought she had drunk too much.
"Well, it's not really a big deal. Memnon invited Carlos, Cleranve and me to the West Mining Association venue in the afternoon. He plans to run the remaining things of the West Mining Association by himself, and at the same time develop the surrounding areas. We plan to build a high-end commercial center with that piece of land as the center." After Sandra said this, she kept observing Du Lin's expression, but unfortunately, Du Lin's face never sat down. From the beginning to now, nothing has changed.
"He wanted us to invest and offered each of us a low-interest loan of 1.5 million, which I refused."
"But Carlos and Cleranve agreed and they are willing to continue working with Memnon to develop this project."
Dulin always had a serious expression on his face. He nodded, "Memnon's idea is very good. I have been to that place. The location is very good, and the whole land is also very large. Build it in Vanlier. It was actually a rural area before, and people from the West Mining Association took a lot of advantage, but now it’s all cheaper for Memnon. This is a good investment project, Ms. Sandra, why do you refuse?”
"This is a good opportunity!"
Dulin didn't pay much attention to the choices of Carlos and Cleveland. Capitalists always pursue profits. From the day Memnon was "pardoned", he knew that there would definitely be problems in the small group of Country Club. To put it simply, these people have spent a lot of money and used a lot of connections and favors on Memnon. Of course, they are not supporters of Memnon. They are using this method to exchange for Memnon’s support for them. Business support.
Look, almost all the chemical plants in Bondika have been moved to the west. Why? Because other places do not allow them to build chemical plants, or require them to build more complex and expensive waste treatment plants. It seems that three or four years ago, a chemical factory discharged industrial sewage directly into the groundwater system, causing the poisoning of many people in nearby towns. This triggered a large-scale demonstration and controversy, and the Imperial Environment Agency also began to take action. Legislate ecological and environmental standards.
But in the west, none of this is a problem. Memnon has solved all their worries. It is said that they have developed a "dry throwing" waste disposal method, which allows chemical fertilizers and sewage to evaporate at high temperature in the pool, and finally leaves behind Solid powder particles are then packed and buried in the wilderness of the West. If they are not specifically looking for trouble, these things may not be exposed until decades or even centuries later, when the west is also experiencing full development. As for those potentially poisonous gases, they are dispersed by the wind on the west coast. As long as there are no dead people... even if there are dead people, Memnon can suppress them.
They have invested a lot of resources in Memnon, and now that Memnon has been lifted, they will naturally not "re-build" and invest again in Dulin or the next successor. Their own desire to pursue interests does not allow it, nor do the boards of directors and chairmanships above them. Besides, Memnon is very stable. Even Powell called him personally, so why should he be worried
The only thing that made Dulin feel strange was that Sandra didn't continue to cooperate with Memnon. This was a strange thing.
Sandra smiled and shook her head. She did not answer Dulin's question. Instead, she talked about things that had nothing to do with it. "I have many brothers and sisters!" Sandra picked up the wine glass and shook it. The red liquid was in the wine glass. The liquid inside kept shaking, round and round. The liquid that had just fallen along the wall of the cup had not yet fallen to the bottom, and was submerged by the new wave. She took a small sip and looked at Du Lin and said with a half-smile, "I'm not exaggerating the concept of 'many', it's really a lot."
"As far as I know, there are about fifty brothers and sisters who are qualified to enter the manor restaurant and sit down to dine on New Year's Eve. There are still many people who are not qualified to sit at the table, or who are not even allowed to sit at the table. You are not qualified to go back to the manor to celebrate the New Year.”
"When I was a child, I never understood why, why I had so many brothers and sisters, why there were so many brothers and sisters standing by the wall of the restaurant, looking at me with envy, jealousy, hatred, ridicule, sarcasm and even vicious eyes. I feel sorry for those of us sitting there, but I don't know how to change that."
"One year, I was about nine years old?" Sandra put the wine glass back on the coffee table, picked up the bottle and poured some more. She blinked and recalled for a while, "I was about nineteen to ten years old. There were three days left before the Chinese New Year. My grandfather, who was also the grandfather of most of the children, asked us to gather together, probably more than a hundred children, and he gave us a question. "
"The question is very simple. What would you do if there were ten dollars on the ground?"
"After that night, many brothers and sisters never appeared again. They returned to their families and became ordinary people. Like most ordinary people in this society, they need to work hard for promotion and salary increase. They have to worry about a small amount of money, have to ask for help for some small things, they are deprived of the right to use the family name, they are not allowed to tell anyone about their origins, and they are not even allowed to appear in front of family members. "
"What was my answer then..." Sandra raised the corners of her mouth slightly, "I won't tell you."
“But every year since then, I’ve sat in that cold room with a bunch of uncaring brothers and sisters and had an unsatisfying dinner.”
"My grandfather told me at that time that as an outstanding family member, you must not only be able to see farther away, but also be able to see through all illusions, see through ruthless practice, and find the most correct direction for yourself."
"Only those with this rigorous foundation can be family members of..."
"I've seen your past..." Sandra didn't hide anything about this behavior that was so impolite that it could be considered offensive. "I was surprised. It was only then that I realized that maybe you were the one." The kind of person my grandfather talked about is the person who can truly see the end point from the starting point. Starting from Turner, every bet you made was in the right place, and you almost never missed it in a few years. "
At this point, Sandra suddenly closed her mouth. She paused for a while and added, "You may have missed it, but you made up for everything very well and hid it. Only people saw every step you made that was absolutely correct." "
"Luck can be accumulated. I firmly believe in this. You ask me why I don't choose to continue to cooperate with Memnon?" Sandra laughed, her voice was pleasant, "Because it's always good to leave you like this. If people don’t choose, they will choose Memnon, the person who has failed many times. This will make it impossible for me to go back to the manor and have that unpalatable dinner during the Chinese New Year this year!”
Du Lin was silent for a moment after listening, "Thank you very much for your favor to me. This makes me very scared. What if I am wrong too, or even the next step is wrong?"
"You are not wrong, this is a woman's intuition!" Sandra smiled happily, like a flower branch trembling. She laughed for a while before she stopped laughing and asked Dulin a question, "What if You saw ten dollars on the ground, what would you do?”
(End of chapter)