Chen Qing and her daughter left Simon's office and rushed to the headquarters of Cersei Capital, also located in Building 1230 of Rockefeller Center.

The floor where Apollo Management is located is not deserted by Sunday, and the offices are still bustling with people.

Chen Qing knows that Apollo Management is recently pushing for the acquisition of UCAR International, a graphite electrode producer, for more than $1 billion.

UCAR does not produce graphite electrodes in batteries, but a peripheral product of the steel industry, which is used for heating the inside of electric furnace steel, because this graphite electrode needs to be in contact with a steel solution at a high temperature of more than 2,000 degrees Celsius for a long time, so it needs to be replaced frequently, and it is a consumable that is just needed, and there are only two such manufacturers in the world, the other being the German SGL Group.

In the past few years, due to the global economic downturn, the steel industry has entered a trough period, and the demand for graphite electrodes has also decreased significantly.

Apollo Management's acquisition of UCAR at this time was clearly optimistic about the prospects of the world economy.

Chen Qing feels that there is likely to be a Chinese factor in it.

China's rapid economic growth in recent years is obvious to all, and China's demand for steel has continued to increase significantly because of its strong emphasis on infrastructure development.

Returning to China two months ago, Chen Qing discovered that Australia's Billiton Group had invested $500 million in capital, technology and equipment in a large steel company in Jiangsu Province for a 30% stake and would become the sole supplier of iron ore raw materials to the large steel giant in the next 10 years. Not only that, Billiton Group has also invested another 200 million US dollars for the widening and construction of Lianyungang Wharf, a large seaport in Jiangsu Province.

A total investment of 700 million US dollars, equivalent to 6 billion yuan at the current exchange rate, shows that the Westeros system is optimistic about the steel industry.

Apollo Management's acquisition of UCAR is clearly an extension of this optimism.

Chen Qing also found that many companies in the Westeros system seem to be unrelated, but in fact they are inextricably linked, just like Apollo Management Company, many of the projects invested by this company, such as fashion, such as real estate, such as technology, etc., can be regarded as the strength of the Westeros system that is more familiar.

On the other hand, probably because of these large investments in China by the Westeros system, during their return to China, they were deliberately approached, hoping that the two women would try to invite Simon to make a public visit to China, and obviously, as long as their boss agreed, the official invitation from the Chinese government would be sent immediately.

It's a pity that someone shouldn't be interested in that.

Back in her office at Apollo Management, Chen Qing immediately called Leon Black, her immediate supervisor was Jared Buckley, who was in charge of China's business, but Scober was an American company, and it was best to talk directly to Leon Black, CEO of Apollo Management, if she wanted to initiate an acquisition.

Blake's secretary on the other side of the phone said that the boss was meeting customers and would not be available until an hour later.

Chen Qing was not in a hurry, so she made an appointment and sat in the office she shared with Lin Su to start reading the information about the VCD industry and Scooper again.

When she first joined Cersei Capital, Chen Qing was full of awe of the Wall Street giant.

Even though she was very confident on the surface, she was actually only emboldening herself, she was just an English major from China, and her knowledge of Wall Street was limited to books and a small amount of hearsay, so she was still very nervous and worried that she would screw up.

However, after half a year of familiarity, Chen Qing gradually put her mind at ease.

Chen Qing is not wrong at all, Wall Street is indeed a place where competition is very cruel, and a large number of top smart people from all over the world have gathered, and the circle is also full of deceit, so as long as you don't work hard, you may be left far away in the blink of an eye. This can be seen from the fact that the company's headquarters is still overcrowded today, Sunday.

Of course, you can rest according to the rules, but maybe when you come back on a weekday, there is no place for you here.

Secondly, Chen Qing got another point wrong, Wall Street does not have to be a graduate of economics and finance to enter.

The threshold for this circle is actually very low.

Many Wall Street bigwigs who shine in this circle, only a few of them studied economics and finance in college, like Lawrence Fink, CEO of Black Rock Asset Management, who studied political science at USC, Leon Black, CEO of Apollo Management, who received a philosophy degree from Princeton University, and Michael Fink, the author of "Liar's Playing Cards", which exposed the inside story of Wall Street, Chen Qing. Lewis, who majored in art history in college, however, was a thriving Solomon Brothers company in its heyday, and became a best-selling author on financial debt after leaving.

Chen Qing has asked some people this question, she thinks that her top boss Jared Buckley at an internal party during Christmas last year said very reasonably, this circle, what needs is a smart mind and hard work, professional knowledge is secondary, because as long as you are smart enough and work hard, what knowledge you need, you can learn while doing.

Knowing this, Chen Qing no longer had the apprehension he once had.

Smart and diligent, she is not lacking, for new knowledge, even if it can't be remembered, she can remember it two or three times, and she is confident that she can surpass most people when she is diligent. Even if someone else didn't tell her but she realized the connection, just Simon Westeros, she felt that it was enough to blow everyone in the current building.

At the appointed time, Chen Qing got up on time and left the office with a stack of materials, and Lin Su behind the desk next to her saw that she didn't call herself, paused, and didn't follow.

In any case, she doesn't have the strong ambition of Chen Qing in her bones.

I was a little distracted just now.

Imagine if a guy will continue to abstain from sex tonight.

That's for the best.

When they came to Leon Black's office, neither of them was idlers, and handed over some of the prepared materials to each other, and Chen Qing gave a general account of the project and the results of the meeting with Simon.

In 1994, China shipped less than 20,000 VCDs.

However, only in January this year, with the widespread spread of VCD technology, according to the approximate data obtained by Chen Qing during his time in China, the number has exceeded 30,000 units, and it is expected to reach more than 500,000 units in 1995.

Moreover, through professional market research, both Chen Qing and BBK's team believe that this is just the beginning.

Taking the relatively popular video recorder as an example, as of 1994, the number of video recorders in China is about 7 million, which is the best reference.

The price of video recorders in China is as low as about 3,000 yuan, and the more expensive brands are often tens of thousands. This is not the most important thing, the key is the video tape, the general price of 20 yuan to 40 yuan video tape, and it is also the price of piracy, which is not at all affordable by ordinary families, therefore, many people buy video recorders, more to open a video hall to do business.

Even so, the number of video recorders in China has reached as many as 7 million.

Looking at VCD, although the price of VCD in China is still as high as 4,000 yuan at this stage, as long as the market demand increases, under mass production, the price of various core components will definitely decline rapidly, and it is not impossible to finally achieve the price of VCD to 2,000 yuan.

The cheapest ones are still VCD discs.

Compared with the price of 20 yuan to 40 yuan for video tapes, the retail price of VCD discs is only less than 10 yuan.

Of course, this refers to piracy.

In fact, everyone knows that this is the current situation in China, and at present, ordinary Chinese people cannot afford the high price of genuine audio-visual resources, and the rise of VCD must only rely on the cheap pirated content industry chain.

Chen Qing mentioned this in her information to Simon, and she did not hear any objections from her boss, who has a huge industry in Hollywood.

Apparently by default.

Compared with the absolute advantage of video recorders, coupled with the rapid improvement of national consumption level driven by the growth of China's economy, Chen Qing believes that the popularity of VCD in China is an unstoppable inevitable trend, and the market capacity will definitely be higher than that of video recorders.

It's almost noon.

While listening to Chen Qing's introduction, Leon Black spent about 15 minutes quickly browsing the relevant information, and looked up at Chen Qing: "Chen, I've been very busy lately, but I don't have time to help you take care of this case, what are you going to do?"

Chen Qing directly handed over a page of A4 paper with several names written on it to Leon Black: "I know, Leon, I have done enough preliminary work, you just need to give these people to me and form an acquisition team." ”

Leon Black picked up the A4 page and glanced at it: "Christopher Doré, I still want to promote him to be one of my assistants during this time, and Emmanuel Brandt, the aggressive Frenchman in Thomas's team, tsk, the kick to Chris at the last weekend party, almost made a big splash, and Nick Mendelsohn, Lloyd McEntyre, Carla Hills." ”

Speaking of this, Leon Black already shook his head: "Chen, Simon's arrangement for you is Jared's deputy, and I have already agreed to the entry of the two assistants hired by you and Lin, now, are you planning to do it alone?"

Chen Qing looked like a well-behaved girl when she asked her parents for pocket money: "Leon, our company has more than 200 employees, and I only need five people. ”

"But these five people you're asking for, well, you should be clear. ”

Of course, Chen Qing knows that this is the result of her quiet observation and examination for several months, all five of them are under the age of 30, and they are all rising stars with huge potential, and it is not surprising that they are all expected to become the core backbone of this company in the future. Chen Qing is very aware of her strengths and weaknesses, she is smart enough and hard-working, but because she has been in this circle for a short time, she lacks enough experience after all.

The five people on the list can just make up for her disadvantages in these aspects.

However, in the face of Leon Black at this time, Chen Qing certainly won't show it: "Leon, I think there are many outstanding people in our company, and they are only five of them, and this is what Simon agrees with." ”

Leon Black immediately debunked: "Simon agrees that you are in charge of this acquisition, but will not agree to you pulling out these five people to form your own team." ”

Chen Qing immediately took out a delicate Nokia mobile phone and shook it at Leon Black across the desk: "Or, I'll call him now?"

Leon Black saw Chen Qing pressing the buttons, and he was really a little uncertain, his boss could really describe the women around him as conniving.

Moreover, he didn't want to stab Simon because of a trivial matter, he joined the Apollo management company for half a year, and the oriental girl opposite was indeed good enough, not the kind of vase who relied on Simon's favor to act recklessly, even he recognized the other party very much, and believed that his boss also weighed it.

This trivial matter is noisy to Simon, and if the big boss thinks that he is deliberately making it difficult for Chen Qing to eliminate dissidents, it will be even more troublesome.

The case of Black Rock's acquisition of the asset management department of State Street Bank, which was finalized a few days ago, is ostensibly a big expansion of Black Rock, and Leon Black knows very well that this is actually a knock on Lawrence Fink.

In the end, he compromised: "In this way, Chen, I'll help you pick a few people, just how Chris's team is, that Frenchman girl will also be among them." ”

Chen Qing saw Leon Black's tone loose, and directly lowered his head and began to press the buttons: "I think I'd better give Simon a call." ”

Leon Black paused, saw that Chen Qing's fingertips didn't stop, and finally said: "Okay, okay, but just give you one day, you can talk to them yourself, if these people are not willing to join your team, you can't force it." ”

Chen Qing immediately put away her phone and looked up with a smile: "Deal." ”

Leon Black was stunned for a moment, and quickly understood that the girl opposite must have had contact with the five people on the list, and may have already negotiated, and the small threshold he set at the end did not work at all. smiled helplessly and said, "Okay, you've got your way, I'll have a meal soon." ”

Chen Qing immediately got up and said, "Don't bother you, Leon, goodbye." ”

It has indeed been negotiated in advance, leaving Leon Black's office, Chen Qing began to summon his own people, the five people on the list have all arrived at the company today, all of them are ambitious young people, they all know who is standing behind Chen Qing's two daughters, and they also know that as long as they cooperate with Chen Qing and their daughters, it is easy to attract the attention of the big boss, so after Chen Qing sent out the invitation, they agreed without much hesitation.

In fact, through this period of communication, Chen Qing has more people in her fancy, but she also knows that only such a mini team will not cause a backlash from her listing and the company's boss.

Otherwise, even if it makes trouble with Simon, Leon Black may not agree, and maybe Simon will not agree.

Moreover, this small team is actually not small.

In addition to Chen Qing and Lin Su's two daughters and the five people who just joined, Chen Qing also hired two high-achieving students as their assistants during this time, one from MIT and the other from Princeton, both of whom have professional degrees related to economics and finance, which can just make up for the lack of professional knowledge of the two women.

In addition, Simon was equipped with two waitresses and two female guards for them, a total of four people, and they have also become assistants to the two women in the past few months, and Chen Qing also specially took the four women back to China during the New Year's trip.

Calculated to be a team of 13 people.

Many Wall Street financial giants did not necessarily have this scale in their early days.

Moreover, Chen Qing actually set up an office of his own in China, employing a total of six people, the office is located in Shanghai, responsible for the communication between China and the United States, and the salaries of the six people are paid by two women privately, it is because of this office that Lin Su did not donate all the advance salaries last time he went back.

Chen Qing also proposed that the office be paid by her personally, and the annual salary of the two would be converted into RMB, which is more than enough to support a team of 60 people in China at the current salary level in China, let alone only six people. Lin Su instinctively didn't want Chen Qing to succeed, so it became the office of the two.

After a lunch and introductions, the team began to make final preparations for the acquisition of Scober in the afternoon.

In this way, until the evening, the man's advice was not forgotten, and the two women were about to leave work on time at five o'clock to return to their residence on the Upper West Side to get ready, when they suddenly received a call from Girl A, and the dinner was temporarily canceled.

For unknown reasons, I was a little disappointed, so I decided to work overtime.

On the other hand, Simon received a call from Grace when he was about to get off work, and the woman asked him if he had time to have dinner together, and said that he could stay outside until nine o'clock in the evening.

Dinner at the apartment on Fifth Avenue was booked.

Simon came home from work, but Grace didn't come alone, and brought Bryce Levison with her. Roughly aware of the woman's condition, after the last incident, the Levissons were basically separated, Francis Levison stayed in Miami to take care of the company, and Bryce Levison lived in New York for a long time in the name of taking care of her son's studies.

Bryce followed Grace into the door, looking justified, and said that her excuse was not in vain.

Probably understand what's going on.

The three of them prepared dinner by themselves, only Simon and Grace to be exact, and the other one was only served by people since he was a child, and he couldn't tell the difference between salt and sugar. When dinner was about to be ready, he volunteered to light a candle and say that he wanted to have a candlelit dinner, and Simon had to send Grace with him, worried that Bryce would burn down the house.

Quirky candlelit dinner for three.

Overall it's pretty warm.

chatting casually about various things, before I knew it, it was already more than seven o'clock.

Simon's private cell phone rang suddenly.

After answering, it was an unexpected voice, Erin Lauder, the woman's tone on the phone was very formal, asking Simon if he wanted to attend a costume ball in a circle at a bar in Midtown.

Simon could only refuse.

At the dinner table, seeing the man hang up the phone, Bryce had an inquiring and curious expression, but Simon didn't have any explanation.

Grace heard the name 'Irene' during Simon's conversation, and keenly remembered the Lauder family's drinking party last night, and couldn't hold back her curiosity, looking at the man with some strange inquiry: "I've been thinking, what can a man and a woman do in ten minutes?"

Bryce was confused.

Simon immediately understood, remembering last night's little absurdity, of course he wouldn't tell Grace, but just smiled and said, "Actually, five minutes is enough, I'll show you in person later." ”

Bryce looked left and right, saw that Grace's face was a little more delicate under the candlelight, seemed to understand something, and asked, "What are you talking about yellow jokes that I don't understand?"

Simon nodded: "Yes, it's yellow, it's violent." ”

Grace's face turned redder.

Bryce continued to ask, but Simon didn't explain until after dinner.

Nine o'clock sharp.

Grace refuses Simon's offer and leaves on time, while the other woman has no intention of getting up from the bed and accuses a guy of murder.

I thought that would be the case tonight.

It was close to ten o'clock, and I had just come out of the bathroom with a certain woman in my arms, and my phone rang again.

It was still Erin Lauder calling.

The girl's voice drifted away, indicating that she was drunk, and if Simon didn't pick her up herself, she would let anyone pick her up, and warned her not to inform her family, or she would run away from home, very seriously.

Simon had no choice but to rush to the bar in Midtown himself.

The masquerade is still going on.

It was easy to find a certain woman in a corner, sure enough, she had drunk a lot, but she was not drunk, she looked very clear, Simon remembered that the woman said that because of her family background, she had to attend more than two hundred various parties a year, and of course the amount of alcohol would not be bad.

But he didn't want to go by himself, and he was willing to leave only when Simon hugged him.

Can only be held.

Shrinking into the man's arms, he began to babble, accusing a certain guy of being a devil and turning her, a Jewish girl who had been a devout woman for more than twenty years, into a bad woman in ten minutes, and demanded compensation.

Don't pick any other time, just tonight, meat.

Reluctant Simon to send her home.

Simon didn't dare to take her back to the Fifth Avenue apartment again, Bryce's arrogant nature, Grace was fine, and another woman appeared and might fight.

There are quite a few properties in Manhattan, but they are rarely inhabited, and it is a hassle to temporarily clean them up late at night. In the end, they could only call a helicopter and rush to the manor in the northern suburbs of Greenwich.