In Manhattan, at a private residence on 78th Street in the Upper East Side, Lin Su and Chen Qing arrived at a reception at the home of Leon Black, CEO of Apollo Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, at seven o'clock in the evening.
As night falls, the cocktail party has begun.
Girl A led the two of them through the crowd in the living room to find Simon who was talking to Lawrence Fink.
After receiving Alison's reminder, Simon turned to look at the two women and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Chen Qing was wearing a rather smart black OL suit and small high heels. It looked more like she was going to work overtime than attending a cocktail party. Lin Su, on the other hand, was wearing an aqua blue round-neck tank top that showed off her figure and fit her personal temperament. Sleeve dress.
Looking at the man's eyes, Lin Su, who was obviously dressed more appropriately, felt even more unnatural.
I wonder if Chen Qing is setting her up again
Before setting off, they said they wanted to change clothes. Lin Su carefully selected this piece of clothing from some clothes that a man had prepared for them in advance. When she came out of the changing room, she found that something was obviously wrong with Chen Qing's clothes. I want to change back to the same style as Chen Qing, but there is not enough time.
Simon quickly understood the reason for Chen Qing's dress. The girl didn't want to be regarded as a vase, so she deliberately dressed more 'formally'.
Just smiling, Simon said to the curious Lawrence Fink: "Lawrence, this is Chen Qing, and Lin Su, they are all from China. Chen, Lin, this is Lawrence Fink, Black Rock Asset Management The CEO of the company.”
Noticing that Chen Qing next to her paused for a moment, Lin Su stepped forward subconsciously, stretched out her hand and said, "Hello, Mr. Fink, nice to meet you."
Lawrence Fink roughly guessed the other identities of the two beautiful oriental women in front of him. He just shook hands with Lin Su gently and said with a smile: "Hello, Miss Lin."
After Lin Su greeted him, he took the initiative to retreat to Simon.
Chen Qing then stepped forward to shake hands with Lawrence Fink: "Hello, Mr. Fink, nice to meet you."
Lawrence Fink shook hands with Chen Qing in the same way: "Hello, Miss Chen."
After greeting, Chen Qing did not step away like Lin Su did. She still looked directly at Lawrence Fink and said: "Mr. Fink, I happened to read some information about Black Rock Asset Management Company in the past few days. I have to say that in just a short time Managing more than $200 billion in assets in five years is nothing short of a business miracle."
"Oh, thank you." Lawrence Fink glanced at Simon, then turned to Chen Qing, and asked with a smile: "Ms. Chen's English is very good. Are you planning to work on Wall Street this time?"
Chen Qing also glanced at a certain man, but this time her eyes were a little more like a little woman's: "Well, it depends on Simon's arrangement."
Simon allowed Chen Qing to continue chatting with Lawrence Fink for a few words, and then said: "OK, Chen, you will have many opportunities to ask Lawrence for advice in the future. I will take you to get to know Leon first. His people work.”
With that said, Simon nodded to Lawrence Fink, and Simon led the two women to another part of the reception.
The Westeros system has many investment channels for China.
The Westeros Company that James Raybould is responsible for, Cersei Capital, the investment departments of various subsidiaries, the Johnston family team in Australia, etc., there will be many registered in the offshore market in order to hide themselves. shell company or sub-fund.
Simon plans to place Chen Qing within Apollo Management, a company under Cersei Capital that specializes in private equity investments.
Apollo Management Company has been testing the waters to invest in China on a small scale in the past few years. With the opening of China's market economy era, Simon has specifically asked Leon Black to select and form an investment team specifically for China in recent months, and personally approved it. First tranche of $100 million in funding.
This amount is only the amount of investment for next year.
Simon will decide whether to add more in the future based on specific circumstances.
In addition to the teams under Apollo Management Company, the entire Westeros system will significantly increase investment in China starting next year.
In the past few years, Simon has invested a total of US$700 million in China.
Perhaps, in the next one year, the entire Westeros system's funds invested in China will not be lower than this number.
For other capital, this risky investment strategy seems too radical. In the past few years, it is not impossible that overseas capital investments in Latin American countries lost their money due to institutional turmoil. Only Simon knows that the future development potential of China's economy will be How big will it be.
Enter the market early to get more generous profits.
After introducing Leon Black, Simon introduced Chen Qing to Jared Buckley, manager of the Chinese business unit of Apollo Management Company. The 36-year-old Jared Buckley is even taller than his boss who was an athlete. He is tall and tall, more than 1.9 meters tall, and has the unique aggression of Wall Street people.
Simon assigned Chen Qing the position of Jared Buckley's deputy. Buckley was obviously hesitant about this, and asked Chen Qing directly in front of Simon: "Does Ms. Chen have investment experience?"
Chen Qing shook her head calmly: "No."
Jared Buckley said: "So, why does Ms. Chen think she can serve as my deputy?"
Chen Qing raised her head and looked at Barkley without any timidity: "Because I am from China, and of all the guests here tonight, no one knows China better than me."
"This makes no sense. What I need is an investor, not a China expert."
"Mr. Buckley, do you consider yourself an investor?"
"certainly."
"So why do you need a second investor?"
“Because I believe in the power of collaboration, two people are always better than one.”
“What is collaboration for?”
"To do business better."
"This is the purpose. In my opinion, collaboration is for complementarity. Although I don't understand investment, my understanding of China is far better than yours. This is complementarity. China is a country with a very complicated political and business environment. If you understand this If you don’t know anything about the country’s unspoken rules, then, unfortunately, even if you have professional investment skills, you will find it difficult to do business in China.”
When Jared Buckley heard what Chen Qing said, his tone slowed down a bit, but he still didn't stop asking: "Ms. Chen, can you first tell me an unspoken rule that I need to pay attention to?"
"Our department will focus on long-term investment in China, rather than quickly cashing out after realizing profits within three to five years. Therefore, this requires a strong focus on the growth of the company. To achieve this, a Chinese company needs to pay great attention The most important thing is local protectionism. Mr. Buckley, have you paid attention to this issue?"
Jared Buckley nodded: "Protectionism, this is a problem we need to face if we want to enter any overseas market. It is not special at all."
“I’m not talking about broad national protectionism, but local protectionism in China.”
"Does it make any difference?"
"National protectionism usually has very clear terms, and we just need to abide by the rules. Local protectionism is different because there are no clear rules. All parts of China are now very focused on economic growth indicators, so in order to protect local companies , they will try every means to squeeze out foreign companies from doing business locally. If we want to get huge returns on our investment in China, we must continue to expand, which will inevitably conflict with local protectionism."
Jared Buckley thought for a while and said: "I think this kind of thing should be an issue that our professional managers in investment companies need to pay attention to."
"Mr. Buckley, are you evading your responsibility?"
"Okay, then, how can you solve this matter?"
"The root of local protectionism is economic indicators. We can set up branches in areas where we need to expand and keep the economic indicators local."
"Is it just that simple?"
"This is just an immature idea that I came up with while reading some materials in the past few days. The specific implementation will definitely not be that simple. However, I think I am on the right track. Mr. Buckley, I recommend you to read a book, this It is a book written by the leader who founded our country, called "On Contradiction." If you read this book, you will understand that the simplest way to solve the problem is to grasp the main contradiction."
Jared Buckley continued to look at Chen Qing for a moment, and finally nodded slightly and reached out to the girl again: "Chen, I hope we can have a happy cooperation in the future."
"certainly."
Leon Black, who was watching the whole confrontation between the two, also smiled at this time and said: "Ms. Chen, maybe you can give me a copy of "On Contradiction"."
"No problem, Mr. Black."
Lin Su has been standing next to Simon, with a faint envy in his eyes regarding the confrontation between Chen Qing and Jared Buckley. She knew she couldn't do this. It wasn't that she wasn't as knowledgeable as Chen Qing, or that she wasn't as eloquent as Chen Qing, but that she had been raised as a lady since she was a child, so she lacked the courage that Chen Qing had. Character traits that are diametrically opposed to others.
Just as he was thinking this, he heard the man next to him say: "It seems that your future cooperation will be very pleasant. Jerry, you will be responsible for introducing some other guests to Chen, and by the way, let's talk about your future cooperation."
The two nodded, and before leaving, Chen Qing naturally came over and kissed Simon on the cheek, saying softly: "Simon, don't forget me here when you leave."
Simon smiled and patted the girl's waist: "Of course not."
When people around saw this scene, they all showed some knowing smiles.
Leon Black was the closest. Looking at Chen Qing's little moves, he couldn't help but think, this girl really knows how to grasp the 'main contradiction'. Revealing his relationship with Simon Westeros in public may be met with some skepticism, but having Westeros as his backer will definitely bring more advantages than disadvantages.
In fact, because the women who have come out of Simon's side in recent years are more outstanding than the last, Leon Black has never had any contempt for Chen Qing from the beginning. The confrontation with Jared Buckley just now made Black completely put down. I worried that my boss might recommend a vase.
Vase can't survive on Wall Street.
After Chen Qing and Buckley left, Simon continued to chat with Leon Black about Apollo Management Company.
So until nine o'clock.
Simon said goodbye to everyone and left the mansion on East 78th Street.
Lin Su and Chen Qing followed Simon and left the room. Both women wrapped themselves in windbreakers, but they still couldn't hide their beautiful figures. However, Simon did not take the two girls back to his apartment on Fifth Avenue, but separated directly outside the Black family's mansion.
It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that Girl A had a temporary temper. She had been holding the man's arm since Simon and Blake said goodbye, looking jealous as if she was worried that he would run out and hang out with other women.
Simon is used to Girl A's intermittent temper, which happens once or twice a month.
Of course, punishment cannot be avoided.
While in the car returning to the apartment on Fifth Avenue, Girl A reached out with some strange excitement to pull out the belt from the man's waist.
Early the next morning, Simon woke up at six o'clock on time.
This is November 8th.
Tuesday.
Voting day for the midterm elections.
Simon's registered district is in California, and as usual he has no plans to participate in the vote.
After the routine morning exercise, at seven o'clock, we sat in the restaurant on time. Zoe and Isabel, who were accompanying us this time, served breakfast and left. Girl A handed Simon a marked copy of the New York Times and sat down next to the man. .
The headline in the New York Times today is not the mid-term elections, but the news that Yigrit will open the Yigrit outsourcing platform next week.
Bragging without having to pay taxes.
Therefore, the article stated that the soon-to-be-opened Yigrit outsourcing platform will provide tens of millions of job opportunities to Internet users around the world every year.
Not only that, with the continuous promotion of online office work, this new working model in the information age will bring great convenience to the entire society, because there will no longer be the need for frequent commuting, a large amount of transportation resources will be released, and the operating costs of enterprises will also decrease. It will be significantly reduced due to the reduction of office space. This will not only alleviate the traffic pressure in major cities, but also save energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and so on.
All in all, success in the present time will benefit the future.
Not only the New York Times, but also many mainstream print media in North America on Tuesday were discussing news related to the Yigrit outsourcing platform.
Naturally, the Igret portal also gave more detailed instructions.
As the talent gap in Silicon Valley continues to expand, the Yigrit outsourcing platform is not only an outsourcing platform for Yigrit itself to issue paid tasks to the entire Internet user group, but also any new technology company around the world that can connect to the Internet. Publish tasks through the Yigrit platform.
At the same time, as long as they have a computer at home and know a little bit about the basic operations of a personal computer, anyone can find a job that suits them on the Igret outsourcing platform.
Compared with the turbulent midterm elections in recent months, this kind of news that seems to be closely related to everyone has quickly become a hot topic when people chat with each other after work today.
This is naturally the result Simon wants to see.
After breakfast, Simon rushed to the Lexington Avenue Armory in midtown Manhattan, not far from Gramercy Park. This place was once used as a weapons factory during the war, and is now a favorite indoor space for large-scale events such as exhibitions and concerts. place.
The third Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will be held here.
As the show date approaches, today is a complete rehearsal before the official show.