Connecticut, an estate in the western suburbs of Greenwich.
Two Black Hawk helicopters landed on the open lawn of the manor one after another. When the helicopter ramp was lowered, a group of people waiting not far away quickly greeted them.
Simon walked down the ramp of one of the helicopters and saw Lin Lan and others approaching him. He just nodded slightly and asked, "How's it going?"
"Still in the delivery room."
Just as Lin Lan said something, she saw Simon already walking towards the villa, and quickly followed with her husband, brother Lin Dong and others.
Arriving at the door of the delivery room set up in the villa, Lin Su's mother, housekeeper Angre and others were waiting here. When they saw Simon, they briefly greeted her and then looked towards the delivery room together.
The housekeeper introduced the specific situation to Simon in a low voice.
"Ms. Lin's amniotic fluid broke while she was taking a walk after lunch. She was immediately sent to the delivery room. Dr. Bacon and the others are all in there. Everything is normal now."
Simon nodded slightly.
Mother Lin, who originally insisted on staying in front of the delivery room because she was worried about her daughter, saw her son-in-law standing with her, and with the low-key persuasion of her second daughter who came closer, she finally agreed to wait in the living room next to her.
Everyone sat down in the living room. Lin Lan held her mother's arm affectionately, but looked at Simon: "Brother-in-law, let me sit on the helicopter outside. I haven't been on a helicopter yet."
Mother Lin raised her hand and patted her second daughter on the head: "Your sister is still in the delivery room, so she just wants to have fun, so she hurts you in vain."
Lin Lan covered her forehead and said unconvinced: "Mom, you have seen it so many times yourself. The best equipment, the best doctor, and my sister's prenatal check-ups are all healthy. There is nothing to worry about. I am now Everyone wants to come here to have children in the future."
Simon took the coffee handed over by the housekeeper, looked at Lin Lan who deliberately pretended to be a little girl in front of him, smiled and said in Chinese: "Go and sit down if you want, let them take you around, and you can see your nephew when you come back." ”
Lin Lan stood up, was pulled down by her mother, and sat back down with a little reluctance. She was actually only a few months younger than Simon, and she worked in the system. Of course, she would not be so unstable, and deliberately put her sister on the spot. She creates an image of a lively little girl in front of the man, but she is not really ignorant. She takes the initiative to change the subject: "Brother-in-law, where are you from?"
"Toronto," Simon replied after taking a sip of coffee, "Yesterday was the opening of the Toronto Film Festival."
Lin Lan tilted her head: "I don't know, but it seems that the Venice Film Festival is going on recently?"
"Yes, the Venice Film Festival closes tomorrow. The dates of these two film festivals often overlap, but the types of films they face are different."
Lin Lan didn't understand this and changed the subject wisely: "Speaking of movies, brother-in-law, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" produced by your company has been really popular in China recently. We also saw the news this morning that the box office has reached 3900 If you can’t buy tickets in many places, the total box office will definitely exceed 100 million, just like here in the United States.”
Today is September 12th.
Friday.
In China, as of yesterday, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had been released for exactly one week, and it had grossed 39 million yuan at the box office in seven days. The opening results were far higher than before.
In the past, because it was released in China before the United States, and because the film was too literary and artistic and did not meet the public's taste, the film's box office in the mainland was only 15 million.
This time it was different.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" set a record for the Chinese-language martial arts genre in North America and was a super hit, giving the film a similar halo to "Farewell My Concubine" and "Sunny Days." The other two films are also literary films. Because they won awards overseas and gained international fame, they were favored by domestic audiences. One of them earned more than 40 million and the other 50 million at the domestic box office. And "Crouching Tiger" The aura of "Hidden Dragon" is, frankly speaking, even stronger than the other two.
Coupled with the personal promotion of Chinese officials, it will be difficult not to exceed 100 million this time.
Lin Lan's husband, Qin Yusong, finally found an opportunity to interject at this time, and followed up: "Actually, breaking 100 million yuan in China is nothing, but North America is amazing. The total box office may be 1 billion yuan, which is almost worth all the domestic movies in a year. of the total box office.”
Although Mother Lin had also noticed this during this period, she was amazed when her second son-in-law said this: "There are so many."
Lin Lan smiled and said: "Who makes my brother-in-law so powerful?"
Simon just smiled and looked at Qin Yusong: "How is your work lately?"
"Okay."
Qin Yusong can only be humble.
Climbing the towering tree of the Westeros system, of course it is more than okay.
In the past six months, after discussing with Simon, Lin Su invested all the funds that were used to cash out Scoop last year, together with the US$500 million that Simon made up some more, into Zhejiang. The woman was confused about this before, but now she is just giving it to her. The children here are preparing, and by the way, they can also give back to their hometown and help their families.
With this capital, Lin Lan and Qin Yusong, who had high hopes from their families, earned enough political capital. Not only did they climb up one level this year, they also transferred to key departments with greater potential for growth.
After chatting about recent developments for more than two hours, good news finally came from the delivery room next door.
The eleventh child of the Westeros family came into this world successfully.
Nine pound fat boy.
Everyone was having a good time, and soon left space for Simon, Lin Su, and of course a certain chubby little one.
Simon sat in front of the big bed in the new bedroom, watching Lin Su, who was still a little pale, trying to breastfeed the little one, and asked with a smile: "How does it feel to have a baby?"
Lin Su didn't look away from the little one in his arms. He just glanced sideways at someone and said softly in a non-lethal manner: "Try it."
"This is difficult."
Lin Su simply ignored it.
Simon remembered something and asked, "Everyone is here, why didn't your father come?"
"I say I'm busy," Lin Su responded, paused, smiled again, and looked over: "Over in China, we have the habit of holding banquets for our children when the moon is full. Dad deliberately ignored it because he wanted me to bring him. When the baby goes back, we will hold a full-moon party in Hangzhou. If everyone comes and sees the baby, I may not go back."
Seeing Lin Su unabashedly revealing his old father's thoughts, Simon also laughed and said, "Since you have this habit, let's do it."
Lin Su squinted over again: "You are pretending to be stupid on purpose. Of course my dad wants to see his grandson, but what's more, he wants you to come with him."
Simon calculated the time and said, "Then let's go there together. It just so happens that the Asian side will be more lively in October. I'll go over and take a look."
"Um?"
"Financial turmoil."
"Oh," Lin Su suddenly lost interest, lowered his head and looked at the ugly little guy in his arms for a while, then raised his eyes again: "By the way, there is also the matter of the name. My mother thinks the baby is called Little Simon. It’s a bit too weird, and besides, having the same name as you, my mother said, I’m afraid he won’t be able to support it, so how about changing it to another one?”
Simon looked at Lin Su with twinkling eyes: "Do you want to change?"
Lin Su felt a little embarrassed when Simon looked at her. She paused before shaking her head: "I don't want to."
"Then don't change it," Simon said: "In fact, I have already registered it. It is not easy to change it."
Lin Su hesitated for a moment and asked: "Jenny's side, is it really okay?"
"Yes," Simon smiled. Seeing Lin Su's worry, he added, "But don't worry, she won't come and eat you."
Feeling the man's tone, Lin Su felt relieved, and then said: "Actually, I want to give the baby another Chinese name."
"what is it call?"
"Your Chinese proficiency is better than that of many Chinese people. Of course you come to pick it up?"
"I have read in a book that there is a saying in China that one can make a living with a cheap name. How about calling him Goudan?"
Even though she understood that the man was joking, Lin Su immediately glared at him: "You are the one called Goudan."
"Or, Zhuanzhu, which means 'to tie', has a very good meaning."
Lin Su hugged the child and turned to the side: "If you continue to talk nonsense, I will ignore you."
Simon put away his joking expression and said, "How about Qianshu?"
Lin Su looked over in confusion.
Simon explained: "'Thousands of trees' is a very common image in Tang poetry and Song Dynasty. There are the rich and prosperous 'Thousands of trees blossoming in the east wind at night', the farewell at the frontier, 'thousands of pear blossoms blooming', and the spring day. 'Thousands of peach blossoms make people's faces red', and 'thousands of peach blossoms look empty' in the winter snow. With this name, we hope that our baby's future life will be as colorful as these artistic conceptions."
After listening to Simon's words, Lin Su felt that the little displeasure she had just felt because of the man's joke had dissipated, and she was actually a little moved. She could think that the few lines of Simon's poem just now were probably not spoken casually, and she had probably checked and considered them in private. Obviously, , before she mentioned it, he was already interested in the child's Chinese name, so he quickly nodded firmly and said: "Okay, let's call it Qianshu, Qianshu Westeros."
"According to Chinese custom, it should be Westeros Thousand Trees, which sounds better."
"Um."
Seeing that Lin Su seemed to be reciting something silently, Simon smiled and said: "In the future, in China, it will be too conspicuous to hang Westeros, so we can call him Lin Qianshu."
Lin Su's thoughts were seen through, his face turned slightly red, and he nodded slightly again: "Okay."
The two of them were chatting when the door behind them was suddenly knocked twice. They both turned around and saw that it was Chen Qing who appeared at the door at some unknown time. She had probably been here for some time, pouting slightly and looking very jealous. appearance.
Seeing that they finally noticed her, Chen Qing walked in, first leaned over to look at the little guy in Lin Su's arms, and then retreated directly into Simon's arms, hugging the man's neck: "Boss, you are so partial, I don't even have a baby. This little guy already has such a great name.”
Simon just smiled and put his arms around the coquettish Chen Qing's slim waist: "When did you come here?"
"You guys came here when you were discussing which one is better, Goudan or Shuanzhu," Chen Qing said and looked at Lin Su: "I think Goudan is good. Can you leave the name Qianshu to my child?"
Lin Su counterattacked: "Since you think Goudan is good, I'll give you your own child."
When Chen Qing saw that Lin Su didn't agree, she immediately clung to Simon with an aggrieved look: "Boss, she bullied me."
This one can't be persuaded.
Simon waited patiently for Chen Qing to be coquettish for a while, then pushed her and said: "Get up, it won't be good for others to see."
Chen Qing also knew that the Lin family were here, so she got up obediently, sat down by the bed, and tried to tease the little one again, but Lin Su raised her hand to open it, so she had to give up.
After chatting casually for a while, after Lin Su finished feeding the little guy his first milk, Simon and Chen Qing got up and left the room together.
Both mother and son need rest.
It was already evening.
Mother Lin and the maids were busy preparing dinner. Simon, Chen Qing, and Lin Lan gathered together and inevitably talked about some serious matters.
"Brother-in-law, over at Greentown, is it really okay for you to add so much money to let them hoard land this time? Mr. Song has talked to us several times. He is also a very bold person. Now he is a little scared?"
Green City is the Green City in Hangzhou.
The real estate layout of the Westeros system in China in the past two years is of course far more than Evergrande and Country Garden. The domestic real estate developers that Simon remembers are at the forefront and are suitable to intervene. Basically, there are capital injections here, but most of them are Some will borrow a shell, and rarely inject capital directly in the name of companies related to the Westeros system.
Just like Vanke, which has just been negotiated recently.
Although Mr. Wang knew that the big financier this time was the Westeros system, in terms of specific operations, it was a Swiss investment fund that acquired 12% of the shares held by Tefa, Vanke's previous largest shareholder. It is a Hong Kong company that publicly accepted Vanke's private placement of 10% of its shares. It was an investment fund from the United States that privately absorbed about 10% of Vanke's outstanding shares. The fund could only trace the fund back to the Cayman Islands.
Taken together, the Westeros system spent a total of about 1.7 billion yuan in funds to obtain 32% of Vanke's shares.
Simon does intend to be a pure investment shareholder, so apart from necessary supervision, he will not interfere too much. However, if necessary in the future, these shares will fully surface and be enough to seize control of the company.
Let’s talk about potential rewards.
The highest market value of Vanke in my memory once exceeded 300 billion. The 32% shares purchased for 1.7 billion at this stage will be worth 100 billion in ten or twenty years, a return of nearly 60 times.
This is not turning 170,000 into 10 million, but turning 1.7 billion into 100 billion. At such a scale, the return of nearly 60 times is absolutely terrifying.
What's more, this is just Vanke.
Simon did not directly answer Lin Lan's question, but patiently explained in depth: "If you study the modern economic history of some other countries, you will find that the prosperity and even bubbles of the real estate industry are the result of many modern countries' economic development reaching a certain level. The inevitable trend of this stage. Counting from 1978, China's economy has been accumulating for nearly 20 years. It is time to enter another stage. This Asian financial crisis will also become a catalyst for this change. Therefore, we start now The worst result of hoarding land is that land prices will not rise in the future and part of the capital interest will be lost. With China’s current demand, it is impossible for land prices to fall. So, if you really can’t understand, you can think of this as maintenance. A capital-preserving investment in the Stroll system.”
Capital guaranteed investment
Lin Lan and his wife looked at each other, and they quickly understood and at the same time could only sigh.
Over the years, the thirst for funds in all walks of life in China has never been relieved. Take the real estate industry, because it has not yet emerged from the downturn. Real estate companies in some areas want to borrow funds for emergency turnover, and the monthly interest can even be as high as 30 % is terrifying, my brother-in-law is spending billions of yuan here, but he is only pursuing capital-guaranteed investment.
This can only mean that someone has so much cash that they can’t spend it all.
Rich and wealthy.
And indeed it is.
Veronica's half-year-long financial sorting out of the entire Westeros system at Simon's request has ended, and because of many companies or equity investments such as Daenerys, Melisandre, Cersei Capital, Nokia, Cisco, etc. They are all continuing to create profits for the Westeros system. In the first half of the year, the entire Westeros system only had a cash reserve of more than 60 billion US dollars, which has now grown to more than 70 billion US dollars.
Not to mention going further, but next year, when the global economy is bound to decline, the cash reserves of the entire Westeros system will increase by at least 10 billion US dollars.
Coupled with Simon's increasing leverage investment strategy that pursues control rather than exclusivity, the cash reserve of 70 billion US dollars, under relatively conservative conditions, is not a problem to be enlarged to 700 billion through 10 times leverage. Therefore, the Westeros system The cash reserves have indeed reached a level that cannot be spent all.