After quickly combing through the thoughts in his mind, Simon looked at Victor Merissis on the sofa across from the reception area and said, "Vic, well, do you mind if I call you that?"

The middle-aged man said, "Of course not, Mr. Westeros. ”

Simon continued: "Vic, I have read your resume, graduated from the University of Lisbon, served in the Portuguese special forces, has been doing import and export trade between Portugal and Angola for the last ten years, and also owns a coffee plantation in the north of Angola, these are secondary. I also know about the Merisis family, who, as first-generation immigrants, used to run coffee plantations in the area of land that I now own in the province of Cuando, in southern Angola. Then, in 1975, as everyone knows, more than 500,000 white people in Angola were forced into exile because of independence and civil war, and you were lucky, at the age of 19, you were studying at the University of Lisbon, and sadly, your parents and a pair of younger siblings were accidentally involved in an armed conflict while fleeing. ”

Victor Merissis listened to Simon, his eyes never looked away from Simon, his expression was resolute, and there was a lingering sadness after many years.

After Simon said this, he still stared at the middle-aged man opposite: "Vic, I hired you because I found that more than one-fifth of Angola's pitiful 500 tons of coffee exports in the past year were produced by your coffee plantation in northern Angola. I know you're a very wonderful person, and I like wonderful people. However, since you mentioned what you just did, I need to know first of all, what do you want from me, revenge?"

Victor Merissis did not answer Simon's question directly, but said: "When I was very young, my father was my idol, he was a cowboy who dared to take risks, and our family used to have 18,000 acres of coffee plantations in Cuando Province, which could produce 5,000 tons of the best Arabica coffee every year, which my father spent 20 years to accumulate from scratch, and my childhood memories are coffee trees all over the mountains. Then, it all disappeared in 1975. Revenge, of course I thought about it, it took me two and a half years to finish college and then choose to join the army, just to get back to Angola and avenge my family. However, when I returned to Angola and spent three years investigating the events of that year, nothing came of it. Mr. Westeros, perhaps you can imagine a group of monkeys gathered in the wilderness jungle, and it looks like no different, who can pick out any enemies among these monkeys. So I chose another path, my father told me when I was very young, if someone takes something from you, then you have to double it back, all these years, I have been doing this, but unfortunately, it is still self-made, for more than ten years, I can only do it to the extent I am now, until someone contacted me and said that you need to take care of your own plantation by yourself, and it just so happens that the coffee growing area also includes our family's plantation. ”

Simon patiently listened to Merisses' recounts and asked, "So, you want to get back the plantation that once belonged to your family?"

Victor Merissis shook his head and said, "No, it is destined to be just a memory of my past, and even if I go back to the same place, everything will be different." What my father told me, Mr. Westeros, is that if someone takes something from you, double down on it. Therefore, I just need you to provide me with a platform. As for how much I can get back, it depends on my own ability. Of course, in the process, I promise that you will not gain less than I gain. ”

"Very well," Simon nodded slightly, and added, "However, you have to understand one thing, Vic, the first thing I need is a coffee plantation manager." ”

"Of course, Mr. Westeros, and, I assure you, there is no more suitable one than me. Because the person in charge of the coffee plantation you asked for is responsible for much more than just growing coffee, 150,000 acres of land, which is much larger than our family's plantation back then, is not at all something that a pure farmer can take care of, and there are many things to juggle, and it just so happens that I have experience in dealing with the relationship with the authorities, or recruiting labor, and selling coffee after it is received, and even the safety and security of the plantation. ”

"Mind telling us about your longer-term plans?"

"Actually, you're already doing it, Mr. Westeros, to infiltrate every aspect of the country through an arms deal with the Angolan government, which is exactly what I have wanted to do all these years, but my strength is too weak to reach the country's top brass at all. If you are willing to hire me, first of all, I can spend three years taking care of that plantation in Cuando province. Because of the war, the coffee-growing area around Cuando has been completely abandoned, and it takes exactly three years from the time the coffee is grown from scratch to the first harvest. In three years' time, if you, Mr. Westeros, are satisfied with the results of my work, I hope to get more support from the Westeros system and to get involved in some other industries in Angola. ”

"Which ones exactly?"

"Mr. Westeros, apart from coffee, my trading company has been exporting timber for many years, and Angola is very rich in forestry resources and produces many of the best timber species, which happen to be scarce in Europe, which is becoming more and more environmentally demanding. However, as you must know, my business is not very big. And, if I have the opportunity, I certainly hope to be able to get involved in the more core mining sector of Angola in the future, which is the only thing African countries can do. ”

Simon waited for Merisis to finish, thought for a moment, and said, "In that case, this job is yours." Moreover, I don't mind if you continue to maintain your current part of the import and export trade business, if this aspect is wasted for three years, it will definitely be difficult to do it again in the future. Of course, if you don't feel like you can do it all, it's okay to concentrate on the coffee plantation. ”

"That's for the best, Mr. Westeros, I just thought you might not like to do it too much. ”

"So, do you mind if I take a stake?"

"I just need to keep 30% of the shares. ”

"Smart decision, I can give you $5 million, 70%, of course, this is not a purchase of your shares, but an injection of capital, which must all be spent on the operation and expansion of the company. By the way, I can also introduce you to some business here about the export of timber, and in Ukraine, one of my companies happens to be trying to get involved in furniture manufacturing. ”

Even counting the plantations in northern Angola, Victor Meriss's net worth is less than $1 million, and Simon gave $5 million to buy 70% of the shares of Merissis's import and export trading company, which is a big advantage for the middle-aged man.

Victor Merissis did not promise Simon anything in words, listened to him talk about Ukraine, and honestly reminded: "Mr. Westeros, I think that Ukraine should not lack forestry resources, and it is not cost-effective to import timber from Africa." ”

Merisis said this, and Simon added another one to the other party in his heart, and if it was someone else, it was likely that he would not have reminded him.

Smiling, Simon said: "Of course, there is no shortage of ordinary wood in Ukraine, but there are no top-quality timbers in the primeval forests of Africa over there, and what they need is exactly these." ”

Simon went to Ukraine at the beginning of the year and suggested that Sergei Komorov could try furniture OEM, because Ukraine happens to be rich in forestry resources and the cost is relatively low. Komorov did a good job of following Simon's advice, not only shutting down an otherwise polluting paper mill and converting it into a furniture factory, but also successfully securing an OEM order from IKEA.

Not only that, in order to get involved in the field of furniture manufacturing, Sergei Komorov personally led a team to Western European countries for more than a month of investigation, inspired by it, to strive for IKEA OEM orders at the same time, but also registered the home furnishing brand of the independent Aldecker company, just mentioned in a phone call, Simon naming the fetish, personally named Katrina (Katrina) company, is still his preferred women's naming strategy.

Simon first thought of Catherine the Russian Catherine, but Catherine's English translation is Catherine, which is a bit long, which does not fit the strategy that the simpler the name is, and finally chose 'Katrina', which is still not short, but it is easier to spell memory than 'Catherine'.

Because it is an Eastern European company, under the traditional prejudice, it is certainly not easy to open the planned Western European market, if it is positioned in the low-end, it is more likely to be limited to a corner of Ukraine, so Simon suggested that Caterina Furniture start with high-end custom furniture, first make a name for yourself and then follow up.

Sergei took Simon's suggestion and specially recruited a furniture designer from England for this purpose.

It is still in the gestation stage, and the first products are planned to be launched by the end of the year.

For high-end custom furniture, excellent design is one thing, and real materials are also more important. Speaking of which, the wood such as pear, batty, and chicken wings that have grown for thousands of years in the primeval forests of Africa are definitely the top raw materials for solid wood furniture, not to mention the various types of sandalwood that are still very large in Africa.

Simon and Victor Merissis talked for an hour and saw each other off, and it was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Leaving work on time has little to do with Simon.

With Merissis leaving, Amy Pascal returns to Simon's office to discuss preparations for Universal Studios Europe.

Daenerys Entertainment has come to the end of negotiations with the Italian government to build Universal Studios near Rome, and the group's agency team has already begun to buy land around Rome.

At this stage of the matter, it is difficult to keep the information absolutely secret.

Recently, land prices in areas around Rome that may be used for the construction of Universal Studios have risen, and some speculative capital has begun to quietly join in the rush to buy land, intending to make a big profit when the news is confirmed. In order to keep the cost of land acquisition as low as possible, Daenerys' team developed two plans, one in the west and one in the south of Rome.

Unlike Universal Studios in Los Angeles and other places, Rome is located in the Great Plains in the middle of the Italian peninsula, and large land resources are not so tight, and the west and south of the city are suitable for the construction of Universal Studios. Although heavy bleeding is inevitable, under the choice of one of the two, some people can only take the initiative to make concessions if they want to cash out their land at a high level.

Of course, on the surface, it is two lines and one is one, and there will definitely be some tendencies.

Daenerys executives and the theme park team wanted the theme park to be built west of Rome, between Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and the main city of Rome, so as to get the most convenient transportation environment and maximum passenger flow. If the western plot is really not negotiated, the southern plan will be initiated.

Leaving Daenerys Studios, the time was already past six o'clock.

Back at Cape Dumei Manor, there was a guest at home, Celia Miller, Simon's personal military assistant, she didn't go to New York during this time, Celia could only fly to Los Angeles to report to Simon in person, and the time during the day was not arranged, so she simply chose the evening, and the military affairs were generally considered a private matter of the Westeros family, and there was nothing wrong with discussing it at home.

As for Celia's determination to stay overnight at the Dumes Manor, it wasn't anything special.

The last thing that is lacking in Cape Dumee Manor is the guest rooms.

With the exception of the Shell Villas, most of the cliff villas on both sides of the Cape Dume Manor, which overlook the shape of a B2 bomber, are reserved to entertain hundreds of guests at a time. Of course, Simon has never been the kind of person who is too hospitable, and he rarely throws parties at home, let alone invites too many guests.

Dinner was still being prepared, but it wasn't immediately down to business.

Janet and Celia are sitting on the sofa by the seaside glass curtain wall of the Shell Villa drinking coffee and chatting together, which seems to be more familiar than Simon, in fact, it is also the case, many things about the Wei family's private army, Janet is also staring, especially after the Westeros family's private intelligence team and the Wei family's private army began to merge, women need to take care of more things.

As soon as he came to the curtain wall and sat down, the baby son ran over with two black-backed ducks.

Some time ago, the little guy wanted to raise ducks, Simon found two wild duck eggs for the child, which was about to hatch and hatch, and it was successfully hatched a week ago, when the little guy has been staying next to the incubator, because of the habits of birds and birds, he successfully recognized his mother, well, it should be Dad.

These days, his son and two little ones are inseparable, and they have taken names, one Jack, the other is called Emma, and I can't tell which Simon is specific, and I don't know if the gender is right or not, anyway, it's my son's pet.

In spite of.

When he came closer, he called out to his father, and did not forget to greet Celia politely, before he picked up a duckling and said to Simon: "Dad, Emma has grown up a little more today." ”

Simon smiled and took the little duck, and took his son to his lap, and the father and son had just said a few words, and there was the chirping of another little duck next to them, and Janet, who was sitting next to Simon, had already grabbed 'Jack' and was playing with interest, and the woman had no resistance to the fluffy little things.

Of course, it's impatient to let Janet raise her, and she's only responsible for masturbating.

Melbourne saw that his mother began to ravage his pet again, but he didn't dare to snatch it, and looked at his father pitifully, Simon had to reach out and save the little thing in Janet's hand, and at the signal of his son, he held him and took the two ducklings away from the distance.

Mom is horrible.