Although the flight of more than ten hours was long, it was not too hard.
The seats of the business jet are very comfortable. Even a person like Li Mu, who is over 1.8 meters tall, can lie down comfortably on them.
As for the independent bedroom in the back, Li Mu wanted to give it to Anne Hathaway, but the latter refused to accept it. Li Mu then gave it to Li Ziwei, who refused to do anything.
If only Li Ziwei was on the plane, Li Mu could rest in the bedroom with peace of mind. But Anne Hathaway was also there, so he still wanted to be more of a gentleman, so he simply accompanied her and chatted outside with the others. It's quite relaxing and enjoyable.
The plane was expected to arrive in London at 4:30 pm local time. Half an hour before the plane landed, Li Mu changed out of his standard coder attire and put on a customized dark blue suit.
The plane landed at Heathrow Airport, and under the guidance of the tower, the plane taxied all the way to the designated hangar.
Steve Johnson, who successfully invited Li Mu and Anne Hathaway, has been waiting in this hangar for a long time.
Waiting in the hangar with him were several middle-aged men wearing full suits.
When the plane slowly slid into the hangar, Li Mu had already seen Steve Johnson, who was dressed as a particularly gentleman outside the cabin. When the plane stopped and the cabin door lowered into an escalator less than one meter high, these people came closer one after another. They lined up left and right under the escalator, waiting for Li Mu who was still on the plane.
Li Mu, who was wearing a formal suit, was the first to step off the plane. Steve Johnson looked up at him with a smile like an old friend. As soon as Li Mu stood on the ground, he immediately took the initiative to shake hands with Li Mu and said with a smile: "Lee, welcome to London!"
Li Mu smiled slightly: "Thank you, I didn't expect you to come here in person."
"It's my honor." Steve Johnson smiled slightly and asked Li Mu: "Is this your first time in London, Mr. Li?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "It's my first time in England."
Steve Johnson said in surprise: "I thought you had been here before. If you have enough time this time, I can accompany you around."
Li Mu said calmly: "Thank you Steve, let's look at the actual situation for details."
Steve Johnson nodded, and then introduced a few people around him to Li Mu. He first introduced a middle-aged man next to him and said: "Mr. Li, this is the CEO of HSBC-HOLDINGS. Mark Blunt.”
Li Mu looked at the middle-aged man opposite him, who was about forty years old, and was slightly surprised. Since Steve Johnson mentioned HSBC last time, Li Mu had researched some information about HSBC. This HSBC-HOLDINGS is HSBC Holdings. The parent company of HSBC is also one of the world's top 500 companies. The latest ranking has also entered the top 100 of the world's top 500 companies.
As the CEO of HSBC Holdings, it goes without saying that Mark Blunt has a high status. He and Steve Johnson went to the airport to greet him. It seemed that he really regarded himself as a distinguished guest.
However, Li Mu also knew very well that the biggest reason why the other party valued him so much was because he wanted to become the lead bank for Makino Technology to be listed on Nasdaq.
Li Mu shook hands with Mark Blount very politely and said with a smile: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Blount."
Mark Blunt took off the top hat on his head with one hand and said very politely: "Mr. Li, it is my honor to meet you. Welcome to London."
Steve Johnson introduced the remaining people to Li Mu. Among these people, one was the head of Sequoia Capital in the UK, one was an executive of HSBC Holdings, and another, according to Steve Johnson, was A member of an old British aristocratic family, this aristocratic member is named Jimmy Goldberg. Goldberg's English name is Goldberg, which feels like a Jewish surname.
Later, Steve Johnson introduced Anne Hathaway, who got off the plane behind Li Mu, and Li Mu also introduced his personal assistant Li Ziwei to the group.
After exchanging pleasantries, Steve Johnson took Li Mu and his entourage in a fleet of all-Rolls-Royces to the VIP building of Heathrow Airport. According to him, there is a special customs building in the VIP building. It will be much more convenient to pass the customs here, and privacy can be guaranteed to a great extent. Basically, it is just a formality, a stamp on the passport, and you can pass the customs.
The fleet consists of eight Rolls-Royce cars. When assigning cars, Steve Johnson asked Li Mu tentatively: "Mr. Li, if you have no objection, can we ride in the same car? I just have something I want to talk to you about face to face." "
Li Mu nodded: "No problem."
Immediately, the two sat in the same car.
It was still a few kilometers away from the hangar to the VIP building, and on the internal roads of the airport, cars traveled at a slower speed. On the way, Steve Johnson said to Li Mu: "Mr. Li, the scale of this party is larger than expected. So we temporarily moved from a manor in north London to another manor in south London. The rooms for you and your accompanying staff have been arranged. In addition, the owners of these two manors are owned by the Goldberg family, and they are also The host of this party.”
Li Mu nodded slightly and asked him, "Can you give us a general introduction to the Goldberg family?"
Steve Johnson smiled: "Goldberg is a typical Old-Money. He was already very rich during World War I. Before World War II, they moved the entire family from Germany to England, and they have been taking root in England ever since. During World War II, the Goldberg family In order to support the British resistance to terrorism, they donated a large amount of money to Britain. In order to thank them, the royal family at that time gave the Goldberg family a hereditary earl title. However, at the end of the last century, the British royal family announced the abolition of hereditary dukes, so their family was the last generation of earls. "
After that, Steve Johnson introduced: "Goldberg is engaged in many fields. In the early years, it was banking, finance, petroleum and industrial manufacturing. In recent years, it has gradually shifted its focus to finance. The boards of directors of many well-known financial companies have They have seats, including HSBC Holdings, and they also hold shares through multiple shell companies and individuals, and even Black Rock, the largest shareholder behind HSBC, also holds a certain share."
Li Mu nodded thoughtfully and said, "A Jewish family like the Rothschilds?"
Steve Johnson smiled and said: "Their family assets are much stronger than the Rothschild family, but they are still far behind you."
Li Mu has always been involved in the Internet circle, and has rarely even been involved in the capital circle, so he lacks an in-depth understanding of the international capital market. Moreover, he focuses on the domestic and American markets and lacks understanding of Europe as a whole. Therefore, in his perception, Europe is the most The awesome family seems to be the same Rothschild family that was rumored to be superb in the previous life. But listening to Steve Johnson say this, it seems that the Rothschild family is not as awesome as he thought. He even vaguely heard that it was a little bit... The smell of waste wood.
At this time, Steve Johnson saw the incomprehension on Li Mu's expression and said with a smile: "The world has many misunderstandings about the Rothschild family. This family does have a long history and was once very powerful. However, since the 20th century, , this former big family has been in decline. Many mistakes in judgment at key nodes have made this family unable to recover. The only thing they can do now is a little banking business. To be honest, the entire family is now torn apart. , but even so, the total combined assets are not even 10 billion US dollars, but the total assets of the Goldberg family are about 50 billion US dollars, several times that of the Rothschild family."
As he spoke, Steve Johnson added: "Oh, by the way, Mr. Li, the Rothschilds are not even in the invitation list for this party."
Li Mu was surprised. It seemed that many of the so-called rumors and anecdotes were not credible. Chinese people said that the Rothschild family controlled trillions of dollars, but according to the British-born capitalists, the Rothschild family had already declined and withdrawn from the ranks of first-tier players. .
However, what Steve Johnson said is obviously more credible and much more reliable than the so-called experts in China who write blind financial books.
Steve Johnson continued: "This time not only representatives from many top families from various countries came, but also many members of the royal family. Basically all the important royal families in Europe sent representatives, and even the Dubai royal family came with several princes."
Li Mu asked curiously: "Prince of Dubai? Then their pomp must be very grand, right?"
"It's more than just big." Steve Johnson rubbed his temples helplessly and said: "There are over a hundred people in their group, most of them are security personnel, servants, and staff. There is not one special plane, but a group of five. Among them, three transport planes are specially used to transport the personal belongings of several princes, including more than a dozen luxury cars of various types, as well as a lot of strange animals. Recently, the British media has reported a lot, and most of them are in a sarcastic tone, which has made the public concerned. I am also very dissatisfied and believe that their extravagant style will have a great impact on the UK and will also seize huge public resources in the UK."
Li Mu suddenly thought of some news he had seen in his previous life. The prince of Dubai’s travel array was really amazing, especially the luxury cars. Every time he went out, he wished he could bring them with him in his garage, including all kinds of Rolls-Royce. , as well as various supercars, including top supercars such as Bugatti, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. It seems that this is also a routine standard for the Dubai royal family.
At this point, Steve Johnson sighed and said: "I don't know why these oil princes have a soft spot for Britain. The food in Britain is not delicious, and the environment and natural scenery are not as good as several other European countries, but They come to the UK for holiday every year."
Li Mu smiled and said: "Even if the environment and natural scenery in the UK are not as good as those in Northern Europe, they are always much better than the deserts in the Middle East. I heard that the temperature in the Middle East is above 38 degrees Celsius for 300 days a year, and it can reach temperatures as high as five degrees at every turn. Shidu, after living in a place like this for a long time, you will feel that nowhere else is better than your own home.”
Steve Johnson said with great agreement: "Mr. Li, you are right. In the Middle East, riding a horse is a luxury. The horses of these royal members are usually kept in Dubai and run in the UK."
Li Mu smiled slightly and asked him: "By the way, are there other people from the Internet industry attending this party?"
"Yes, of course." Steve Johnson said with a smile: "Bill Gates."
Li Mu asked curiously: "Is he the only one?"
Steve Johnson nodded and said, "He's the only one."
(End of chapter)