The New Year is approaching in a blink of an eye.
Christmas can be kept private, but New Year's Day is not the time to keep it that way.
In addition to the interest-related benefits of issuing large bonuses at the end of the year, the most important way to maintain a more harmonious interpersonal relationship is to socialize.
After Christmas, Simon and Janet began to reorganize and plan the Westeros system, while Jennifer and Sofia were responsible for preparing for the Westeros family's New Year's Eve party.
The official West Coast parties were handled by Amy Pascal in Los Angeles and Tim Berners-Lee in San Francisco.
On the East Coast, senior executives from Westeros Corporation, Cersei Capital, Verizon Telecom, Daenerys Entertainment East Coast Division, AOL and other companies within the Westeros system have all been invited, along with Many important partners and political and business celebrities, because of a private agreement with a certain woman, and because Simon also wanted to pave the way for Sofia's son Daniel, the invitation to this party also stated that 12-year-olds could be brought. The children of the above families participated together.
The location of the New Year's Eve party was still chosen at a manor in the northern suburbs of Greenwich.
According to the number of invitations issued and the feedback before the party, there will be about 300 people attending. The scale is not too big, and definitely not small. They are basically the core executives and key contacts of the Westeros system on the east coast. .
The only statutory holidays at the end of the year in the United States are Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
It just so happens that Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Sunday this year, so many people can plan their holidays more calmly.
On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, after lunch, the Spulte family began to prepare for the party in the evening. As for why they received the invitation to the New Year's Eve party of the Westeros family, Mr. and Mrs. Spurt knew very well. However, the two children had been excited for several days. Their daughter Rita heard that her boyfriend's family had also received an invitation. appear more active.
In order to avoid being rude, Grace also arranged for her two children to attend several etiquette classes.
In the past, there was no such condition.
It's not necessary either.
It will be different now, or in the future.
However, after entering the upper class, the Spurts' deepest feeling was that they were burning money. Not to mention anything else, just to buy the outfit for tonight's party, the family has spent more than 60,000 US dollars in the past few days. This is because Grace used her connections in the fashion industry to get various luxury brand products at discounted prices. Down.
At the end of the year, the couple's income has increased significantly this year. However, in order to maintain the family's expensive life on the Upper East Side, they have incurred an additional $110,000 in debt.
Onlookers will inevitably find the divisions of life circles in Manhattan's Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown, and Lower Town seem boring. It seems that you can enter them just by stepping into them. Only when you are in them will you understand the various hidden thresholds. Just like the Upper East Side, everyone at social gatherings is wearing Chanel, Gucci and Hermès. If you wear affordable FMCG brands, no one will talk to you.
It's even more of a joke to think that others can't see it.
As for the so-called "paying attention to appearance is too superficial and focusing on the inside", that doesn't exist.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, after sending away the stylist who came to do her makeup, Grace, who was already fully dressed, returned to the house. When she saw her daughter hanging up the phone furtively again, she asked with a smile: "Are you ready over there?"
Rita Spurter was a little embarrassed, but nodded and said expectantly: "Mom, shall we leave now?"
Grace stepped forward to help her daughter adjust her evening dress, and then caressed her head lovingly. She found that if she hadn't been wearing high heels, it would not have been so easy for her to do this action. It seemed that the little girl was crying a lot yesterday. The girl suddenly stood up tall, smiled with emotion, and said, "The car should be arriving soon."
Naturally, the words were referring to the Levison family.
Grace was responsible for delivering the other party's invitation letter. After receiving the invitation letter, the Levison family, who had been quite cold towards this place, immediately became warm to them again and did not mind at all that Grace had previously said that she had an affair with Simon Westeros. The unfamiliar words made us agree to rush there together tonight.
Spurter and his son came down the stairs side by side, and Grace thoughtfully stepped forward to check their clothes in person. When her son Ray asked what to do at the party tonight, she felt inexplicably distressed. On the surface, she calmly encouraged her son to spend more time with them. Communicate with other peers.
Bill Spurter also stepped forward to enlighten his son, but in his heart he was thinking about how to discuss the Ygrit IPO with Simon Westeros tonight.
From becoming a middle-aged man with nothing to do to being unexpectedly promoted to a core executive at First Boston, a subsidiary of UBS, Bill Spurter has been both high-spirited and treading on thin ice for more than half a year. Fortunately, because of the recovery of the U.S. stock market, coupled with the The Westeros system has shown some projects to support, and the stock trading department led by Bill Spulte has performed quite gratifyingly this year.
If he can get the underwriting rights for a portion of Eagleite's IPO shares next year, Bill Spurter will once again accumulate a wealth of experience and may go further in the future. In fact, this matter has already begun to take shape, and it is obviously another part of the active support of the Westeros system.
However, it is always necessary to confirm it personally from Westeros to feel at ease.
At 4:30, the scheduled courtesy car arrived on time. Because we might have to drink in the evening, it was not suitable for us to drive by ourselves. The Levison family also happened to arrive, and the two families left Manhattan for Greenwich together.
It was less than six o'clock when we arrived in Greenwich, a city in Connecticut in northern New York.
The New Year's Eve party started at seven o'clock in the evening. It was not suitable to rush there too early, so the two families chose a coffee shop for a short break. This is a coffee shop inside a country club in Greenwich. It is not open to the public and is owned by the Levison family. Membership card here. After entering the coffee shop, I discovered that there happened to be other customers with the same purpose "waiting". Everyone came early because they were worried about being late.
They were the same two families, and Grace happened to know them both.
Hilton family heirs Richard and Cathy Hilton, and their two daughters Paris Hilton and Nikki Hilton.
Another family is the Jenner couple, TV celebrities who participate in "Real Housewives of New York", who also brought their three daughters, Courteney, Kim and Khloe. In her spare time, she watched some "Wives of New York", and Grace remembered that these three girls were all Bruce Jenner's stepdaughters, and their surname seemed to be Kardashian.
Compared to her beautiful Rita and the Hilton family's two doll-like daughters, Grace only felt that the three stepdaughters of the Jenna family were still a bit ugly even after being obviously carefully dressed up.
Of course it won't show.
After everyone got to know each other, it was natural for them to get together and chat.
The differences also appear unconsciously.
Hilton and Levison are both typical old money families. Even though the Levison family is based in Florida in the south, the two families quickly got together and seemed more enthusiastic. As very active television celebrities in recent years, the Jenners also have enough confidence in front of these old-money families.
Therefore, it is the Spurte family whose background is the most shallow, and the family has no reputation.
The housewives of Manhattan are usually very pampered, and their ability to scheming is unknowingly perfected.
Although she got the invitation from Grace and was quite warm on the surface, during the conversation between the several women, Grace could easily get the invitation from Mrs. Levison and Cathy Hilton and Kris Jenner. There was a difference in the attitude and tone between the three of them, as if I still don't think highly of you.
Moreover, the beautiful woman who was ten years younger than her husband and who happened to be remembered by a little man made Grace clearly feel that she was doing this deliberately and did not hide it at all.
Occasionally glancing around, Grace became even more depressed when she noticed her husband's subconscious low profile when chatting with several other men.
Fortunately, among a group of children, there seemed to be no sophistication among the adults, because Rita and Michael, the oldest of the Leveson family, still occupied the dominant position for a short time. The daughter looks like herself and is confident enough. The son looks at the little girl from the Hilton family with a strange expression. However, the little girl with the same name as "Paris" is a little indifferent to the son. Instead, they both look at her daughter's boyfriend. There was a small green light in my eyes.
No matter what they are thinking, after some communication, they will eventually become familiar with each other.
This is actually connections.
This continued until 6:40, when the winter sky had darkened. Everyone left the cafe inside the country club and arrived at the manor in the northern suburbs of Greenwich ten minutes later.
After checking the invitation letter when entering, the courtesy car passed through the long corridor and finally stopped in the small square in front of the main villa of the manor. There were dozens of cars parked here, but there was no congestion at all. A group of waiters were directing and dispatching. I just got off the car and felt the lively atmosphere of the brightly lit villa. The coldness around me seemed no longer so cold.
Holding her husband's arm and taking the two children into the villa, it seemed like she suddenly entered another world.
The first feeling is warmth.
It is the coldest season on the East Coast. The outdoor temperature is already below zero, but it is as warm as spring inside the huge villa.
This is still the foundation.
If many rich people want to buy the manor at their feet, they can certainly afford it. However, even for most rich people, being able to afford it does not mean they can afford it. Many established British aristocrats continue to donate their family castles and even Abandoned, that's why. A certain guy has purchased top-notch mansions all over the world. The annual maintenance, tax and other expenses are probably enough to make some billionaires declare bankruptcy directly.
In the hall, Grace soon saw Mr. and Mrs. Simon who came to greet the guests in person, walking over with their husband and two children and the Levison family.
When they greeted each other and shook hands with his wife, looking at those eyes that seemed to see everything, Grace could not help but feel a little guilty. Fortunately, Janet Westeros did not show any strangeness at all, and even took the initiative to remind Grace when she was briefly stunned. She introduced her son and daughter.
"Oh, Simon, Jenny, these are my son Ray and daughter Rita. Simon, they are all your admirers. They have watched all your movies."
Simon smiled and shook hands with the boy and girl in front of him, and said with a gentle smile: "Hello, Ray, Rita, have a good time tonight."
After her brother had shaken hands with Westeros, Rita took the initiative to shake hands with him. Faced with this legendary young man, she could not help but feel restrained. She just smiled shyly and said: "Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Westeros. "
Grace stood aside and saw Mrs. Levison who came forward with some humility in her flattering manner when facing a young man, and she felt relieved inexplicably.
Knowing that Simon had to greet other guests, the two families did not stay too long and walked towards the hall after greeting them.
All the rooms on the first floor of the villa are completely open, and hundreds of guests plus a team of waiters can be there without feeling crowded. The guests greeted the host and naturally took the initiative to find their own circle, even the children. A boy who introduced himself as Daniel Facey took the initiative, introduced himself, and then left with Rita and the others.
Grace didn't know Daniel, but when she heard the surname Feixi, she immediately understood the other person's identity.
Son of Sofia Fesi.
I didn't expect that a certain guy would be so kind to his lover's son, and then I remembered what he said before about supporting his daughter. I originally thought he might have bad intentions, but now that I think about it, it's probably true.
With the children away for a while, the Spulters were able to socialize more freely.
Because of the cooperation over the past six months, Bill Spurter quickly became mingled with Cersei Capital and some other senior executives of Wall Street companies in a room on the east side of the villa.
When Grace accompanied her husband to socialize in the crowd, she also saw Sofia Fesi. She also knew that the fashion industry executives around Feisi were her circle. Having more contact with her would not only expand and consolidate her network of contacts, but also help her name. customers for more opportunities. However, Grace did not stay, but stayed with her husband. It would be more beneficial for the entire Spurte family if their men could advance to a higher level.
The Levisons, who followed the Spurts into this small circle, no longer had any underlying arrogance.
A certain little man had previously mentioned that he wanted to investigate the situation of the Levison family. Bill Spurter had also done so before, and Grace learned from her husband.
Levison Group is a non-listed company that mainly operates real estate in Miami, Florida. It owns a number of real estate projects of varying sizes. The company's total assets are approximately US$7 billion, but its accumulated liabilities are as high as US$5.3 billion. In other words, Levison Group's current debt ratio reaches 75%.
High-debt operations in the real estate field are almost the norm in this industry. However, once the industry hits a trough, the results will be catastrophic. Although the series of real estate projects developed by Levison Group are of high quality and it also holds many undeveloped land parcels with great potential, due to the continuous downturn in the real estate industry since the late 1980s, the company's capital chain has been Very nervous, almost on the verge of breaking at any time.
The Levison family holds approximately 15% of the shares of Levison Group, and the nominal total family assets reach US$1 billion, but if liabilities are excluded, there is basically not much left.
According to Bill Spurter's survey, many investment companies on Wall Street remain optimistic about the prospects of Levison Group. Everyone also has a premonition that the downturn in the real estate industry is about to end. However, no one has dared to take the risk of providing help in times of need, because if they are not careful, You may lose all your money.
There are even some companies that are waiting for the Levison Group to go bankrupt so that they can carve up the company's high-quality assets at very low prices.
Francis Levison, chairman and CEO of Levison Group, has lived in New York for most of the past few years. He is looking for funds to save his company. In fact, there is no shortage of people who take action, but most of them are trapped and become Leveson Group's mounting debt.
This time, if it can climb up to the behemoth of the Westeros system, all the problems faced by the Levison Group, which is less than 10 billion in size, can be easily solved.
It is not that the Levison Group has not tried to contact the Westeros system before, but this kind of real estate investment involving high risks is often passed in front of Simon. If you want to solve this problem, you can only meet in person. Meet Simon Westeros. This is why the Levison family took advantage of the situation and used unscrupulous tricks to get their son to interact with Grace's daughter.
Basically it was a desperate move.