Downtown Boston.
On the Harvard Business School campus on the south bank of the Charles River, Maria Rozin was translating an economic policy document from the former Soviet Union with several colleagues in her office. Katarina, the female guard who had followed her to the United States, knocked on the door and came in.
Seeing Catalina, everyone had somewhat strange expressions.
During this period, the specific identity of Maria, who quietly joined the company, has become a matter of great curiosity to colleagues around her. After all, Harvard University has more than 2,000 faculty and staff, but very few have full-time drivers.
Because she had warned her in advance, Maria knew that Catalina would not come over to disturb her unless she had something special to do. She felt inexplicably uneasy, so she stood up and walked over: "Kate, what's wrong?"
The female guard stepped back a little, came to the corridor, and then whispered to Maria who was following her: "Mr. Westeros is here, he is outside."
"ah… "
The vague guess came true, Maria subconsciously exclaimed, and then quickly covered her mouth.
After quickly calming down, Maria put down her hand, turned to gesture to the office behind her, and said to the female guard: "I... I don't get off work until 10 minutes."
Catalina wanted to give her mistress a look.
What kind of excuse is this
Maria blurted out and realized that this was a lame excuse. Could she let him wait outside? What's more, even if it took 10 minutes, what would happen next
Maria came to the United States at the beginning of the month and joined Harvard directly.
However, because the new semester has begun, I have missed the course schedule and can only wait for the next semester to start teaching tasks. The woman did not want to remain idle for the second half of the year, so she chose one of the job openings offered by Harvard to provide translation support for an on-campus academic team studying the political economy of the former Soviet Union.
This is a very flexible job, because there are several graduate students as assistant translators, so even if she doesn't show up on weekdays, it won't be a big problem.
The reason was not valid, so I had to say hello to my colleagues in the office and leave early.
After leaving the teaching building where the office is located, Maria followed Catalina in confusion and walked through a corridor. Soon she saw two identical black cars parked at an intersection. When they saw the two approaching, the driver in one of the cars was The driver came down and opened the door for her.
Maria didn't want too many people around her to notice her, so she obediently got into the car without much hesitation.
Then I realized that there were already two people in the back seat. In addition to him sitting next to him in the middle, there was also Ulyanna Meretskova on the other side.
Before she could say anything else, the car door was closed.
The car started quickly, and Simon, who was squeezed between the two women, looked at the helpless Maria with interest. The woman wore a pair of rimless glasses, her blond hair was pulled up, revealing a fair neck, and she was wearing a khaki suit. A long coat, slim-fitting black trousers exposed at the hem, and a pair of black low heels.
A woman who originally has an intellectual temperament can't help but look much younger when paired like this.
Maria felt the look of the little man next to her, and felt that his eyes seemed to be filled with warmth. Everywhere she looked, she felt a burning sensation. After being silent for more than ten seconds, she finally lost the battle first, and took the initiative to speak, tilting her head slightly. She glanced at him over her head and said, "Hello, Mr. Westeros."
Simon smiled when he heard what the woman said: "Yeah, it seems like it's the first time we've met."
"Uh-huh."
"Let me guess, the outfit you are wearing now is definitely not matched by you."
Maria didn't expect that he would suddenly mention this, so she answered subconsciously and honestly: "It's my daughter..."
I only started, but because of some inexplicable embarrassment, I stopped again.
"Oh, Annette, I know," Simon said, and then added: "I could have brought Anne with me this time. Why did she stay in Ukraine?"
Maria always felt that it was rude to speak without looking at the other person, but she was embarrassed to turn to him no matter what. After all, just the smell of the man next to her made her panic to the point that she wanted to jump out of the car and run away. At this time, when she heard Simon talking about her daughter, The same feeling as before was felt again.
Mainly... her daughter is 21 years old.
However, she had to answer the man's question. She tilted her head slightly to look at him again, then quickly turned back and said, "I hope she can complete her undergraduate studies in Ukraine and come to the United States."
As he said this, he felt a little strange emotion for no reason.
From the very beginning, Maria accepted a certain situation with the idea of sacrificing herself. She only hoped that her four children could have a bright future. Just like the eldest daughter, she wanted most to at least let him To help my daughter study abroad, it must be the best school.
Unexpectedly, she didn't need to mention these matters at all, and she took the initiative to help with them.
And they are all the best.
This also made Maria temporarily change her mind and decided that her daughter would continue to stay in Ukraine to complete her undergraduate degree. After getting her degree, she would go out to study abroad. After all, it was only for one year.
As for the three younger sons, they were brought here together this time.
Simon nodded when he heard this. In fact, he had just seen some information about the children of the two women around him. At this time, he did not say more, but explained to Maria, who was still unclear about the reason: "There is a cocktail party later. Many people will come over and take you to get to know them."
Maria paused, then reacted, and her face suddenly turned rosy.
This is…
Why... isn't he worried that others will know
Moreover, once attending this cocktail party, the identities of her and Ulyanna on the other side could not be explained in any case. Even after repeated psychological construction, Maria had silently accepted certain things. After all, I still don’t want this matter to be known to too many outsiders.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally plucked up the courage and glanced at the little man next to her again. Maria tentatively said, "Well, can I... not go?"
Simon shook his head directly: "No."
“…”
How could this man do this? !
Simon decisively refused, and then added: "The main reason is that there are still some things that you need to do next, so I need to give you and Uliya an identity first."
Maria grasped the corners of her clothes with both hands, thinking that she really didn’t want this identity.
Simon looked at the woman's pitiful and anxious look, unmoved, and continued: "Actually, Uliya is pregnant."
"ah?"
Maria thought she heard wrongly, and subconsciously raised her head again, but this time she looked at Ulyanna Meretskova who had been silent on the other side.
Ulyanna saw her looking over and just nodded slightly.
Then, Maria withdrew her gaze slightly and turned to him: "Then... what does this have to do with me?"
In fact, I wanted to know more about how he planned to deal with this matter, but he still changed his words.
Simon shook his head slightly: "We will talk about this after we have a cocktail party."
While chatting like this, the two luxury cars crossed the Charles River and soon arrived at a Marriott Hotel on the North Shore. Girl A, who had arrived in advance, greeted her in the parking lot. She waited for Simon to get out of the car with the two women and personally led them to the hotel. A banquet hall.
The reception has already begun.
According to Girl A’s introduction along the way, most of the guests who were in Boston at the same time as the invitations were sent out would come over. There were also some who took the initiative to contact us hoping to attend. According to the specific situation, the female assistant also selected some of them.
Backed by two top universities, Harvard and MIT, Boston has gathered a large number of world-class companies, the most famous of which is GE, as well as globally renowned companies such as Gillette, Fidelity Fund, and Boston Consulting Group.
Now that Simon is here, it will definitely only be beneficial to deal with the core figures of these schools, companies and even local governments.
In the banquet hall, when Simon appeared, all the guests who had arrived immediately focused their attention. Then, he couldn't help but notice two beautiful women beside Simon who were so dazzling that no one could tell their age.
Fortunately, everyone is accustomed to this kind of thing, so no one makes a fuss.
As an assistant, Girl A followed the man and competently introduced Simon to the president of MIT, the Nobel Prize winner, the mayor of Boston, the CEO of Gillette, etc. It took more than half an hour to complete the circle.
Walking towards the two guests who had just arrived again, I heard Girl A's low and quick introduction: "President of Harvard University, Neil Ludstein, Neil is also a Ukrainian immigrant. The other one, a descendant of the Mellon family, Chad Mellon Scaife, a far-right newspaper business owner and one of the main driving forces behind the Paula Jones case."
As he spoke, he came closer.
Simon first took the initiative to extend his hand to Neil Ludstein, the current president of Harvard University, who was about 60 years old, and said hello, then turned to Richard Mellon Scaife and shook his hand: "Hello, Mr. Scaife, nice to meet you."
"Hello, Simon, my friends call me Charlie," Richard Mellon Scaife, who is also in his 60s and already has silver hair, smiled and shook hands with Simon, and then looked at Simon with little concealment of interest. Two ladies beside me: "Who are these two?"
"Oh, this is Maria, and Uliana."
After such a big circle, I met a lot of big names at the top of the American pyramid. Even though Maria came here reluctantly, she gradually became familiar with it. After listening to Simon's introduction, she politely extended her hand to Scaife in front of her: "Hello, Scaife." Mr. Cave.”
Richard Mellon Scaife agreed with a smile, but he grabbed Maria's little hand and leaned over slightly, obviously wanting to kiss her hand.
Maria felt uncomfortable with Scaife's squinty smile, but when she saw him acting like this, she subconsciously withdrew her hand.
Suddenly, Scaife, who was already half-bowing, felt a little unable to get off the stage.
Seeing this situation, Maria, who realized that she had offended the other party, glanced at the young man next to her with a guilty conscience, worried that he would blame her for messing up the entertainment.
After all... maybe... this is just normal etiquette.
Simon gave the woman a comforting look, and then said calmly to Scaife, who straightened up in embarrassment: "Maria is not used to the hand kiss, Mr. Scaife, and Uriah are not used to it either. I'm so sorry."
Ulyanna on the other side felt the harshness in the man's tone and immediately gave up her intention of reaching out to say hello.
"Oh, it's nothing," Richard Mellon Scaife saw that Simon was still using the title of 'Mr. Scaife' after he had just gotten close to him, and understood that his move to take advantage of him made the young man very happy. accurate. However, as a descendant of the Mellon family, which has maintained a strong influence in the United States for hundreds of years, Scaife did not feel that there was anything wrong with what he had just done. Instead, he also felt displeased and couldn't help but said: "Speaking of which, Simon, I used to live in Pittsburgh, but I was shocked by the bombing two years ago and had to move to Boston. Hey, it's a blasphemy for this kind of thing to happen in the United States."
Simon didn't seem to understand the meaning of Scaife's words at all, and shrugged slightly: "I have understood that the world is not so beautiful since I was 3 years old. Mr. Scaife, you should be lucky that you only need to hide in Boston. , if I remember correctly, Hearst III is still hiding in Morocco, he is much more unlucky than you, and he probably will never be able to return to the United States in this life."
The potential verbal confrontation between the two was actually the series of disturbances two years ago.
When Simon mentioned Hearst III, the corner of Richard Mellon Scaife's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
In terms of strength, the Hearst family, whose media empire spans the United States, is several levels higher than the owner of a media company whose influence is limited to the New England region in the northeastern United States. A few years ago, unless the entire Mellon family was involved, , in order to reach the level where the Hearst family is evenly matched. And just like that, an old American wealthy family with a century-old legacy and huge influence quickly fell into decline in just two years.
It's all because of Simon Westeros.
Looking at the young man in front of him, not to mention anything else, just his terrifying net worth of 1.5 trillion US dollars is enough to make him completely lose his temper.
Thinking of this, Richard Mellon Scaife, who was arrogant in his bones because he was born in the Mellon family, could not help but reluctantly admit that his behavior just now was very inappropriate. However, because of the century-old Qian family, Being proud and asking him to apologize for it would definitely not work.
In this atmosphere, even Neil Ludstein, the president of Harvard University, felt unable to step down. Fortunately, someone quickly came to their rescue.
"Hey Simon, what made you think of coming to Boston?"
The speaker was Jack Welch, the head of General Electric who had just arrived.
Simon heard Welch's greeting and ignored Richard Mellon Scaife. However, he nodded slightly to Neil Ludstein and turned to the head of General Electric with the two women around him. He hugged the other person warmly and said, "I happen to have something to do. Since I'm here, I'd like to say hello to everyone. Jack, I'm glad you can take the time to come."
"As the host, of course I have to come," Welch said with a smile, and looked at the two people next to Simon: "This is it?"
Simon introduced again: "Maria, and Uriah, they have just recently joined Harvard."
There are some things that don’t need to be pointed out. Everyone knows it well at a glance. Jack Welch is not as abrupt as Scaife. He gently shook hands with the two women and said a simple hello, then turned to Simon again: "Speaking of , I happened to have something else I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn’t expect you to take the initiative to deliver it to me today.”