The destination is in a 37-story red-brick building at the intersection of 63rd Street and Second Avenue on the Upper East Side.

Two months ago, the 'Solvay' and 'Troy' plans were finalized, and Sophia was responsible for building a network of private club affiliates, and soon finalized the first one, as someone happened to transfer the failed business club, so she took over.

The name is very low-key.

Since it's on East 63rd Street, it's called Club 63.

Simon wasn't happy with this, as it occupies the top three floors of the building, but it's not private enough, it's a public office building, and many companies are there, and it's a bit old that it's impossible to renovate a dedicated elevator. As such, it will only be used as a peripheral club for executives from Westeros New York subsidiaries to entertain VIPs or hold small business receptions.

The original business club is this kind of function, so it is not even necessary to overhaul it.

Simon could also avoid entertaining guests in his private quarters, which he had always resisted, as Janet had said a long time ago, the lion's territorial instinct.

At six o'clock, Mickey Kanter arrived on time.

This is a black-haired man in his fifties, very short and older, with deep nasolabial folds when he laughs, plus a pair of big ears, which makes him feel like a cartoon character.

The first time he saw a young tycoon, Mickey Kante was very enthusiastic, and he wanted to hug each other familiarly, but as soon as he raised his arm, he was already held by Simon, and he changed to shake hands without a trace, and there was no difference in his expression: "Simon, it's a pleasure to meet you." ”

Simon smiled: "Me too, Mickey, although Ron's departure is regrettable, I still want to congratulate you on your promotion. ”

"Thank you. ”

After a few simple greetings, Simon made a please rating, and the two of them went to the restaurant on the first floor of the club under the guidance of the other two Wei family maids, and in the process of passing through the corridor in parallel, Mickey Kanter also noticed the feminine fragrance of the young man next to him, the stronger one, obviously not a simple touch, and then looked at the two slim young girls in front of him, and couldn't help but feel a strong envy in his heart.

It's just that Mickey Kanter knows very well that the Minister of Commerce is already the pinnacle of his career.

Because of his unsatisfactory performance in the process of U.S.-Japan auto trade negotiations, Clinton gave him this position, which was more of a reward before leaving the company, allowing him to accumulate some resources and contacts in this position, so that he could engage in relevant personal positions after leaving office.

Even with envy and even some jealousy in his heart, Mickey Kanter did not dare to have any dissenting intentions in front of this young man.

The disparity in power is too great.

In Mickey Kanter's view, it is the most correct thing to do to help the other party coordinate this trip to China as much as possible, so that he can gain a favor on the side of the Westeros system, and it will be no problem to easily attach to the directors of several Westeros system companies after leaving office in the future.

The benefits are numerous.

This is a very generous young man.

The two of them entered the restaurant and sat down, which was located in the southwest corner of the building in front of the window with a great view, and in the sunset, they could look up to see the towering Westeros Mansion not far away.

The dinner menu was already arranged in advance, and the waitresses brought appetizers and red wine first, and left quietly.

The dinner lasted for an hour, and without rushing to get to the point, Mickey Kanter picked up the cutlery and gestured to the Westeros Tower in the sunset outside the window: "Simon, this building should be topped out soon, right?"

This is the 35th floor of the current building, which is only about 150 meters, and a few blocks away in the Westeros Building, which is designed to be capped at 622 meters, has begun to install the helipad at a height of about 560 meters in the design drawings.

It is said that the high-altitude apron that imitates the memory of the Avengers Building, originally planned to use a high-strength lightweight aluminum alloy material for cost considerations.

Regardless of the cost, the Westeros Building team selected several times and obtained a new titanium alloy material from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory directly under the U.S. Department of Energy, which is more than 20% stronger than common aviation titanium alloys, and has excellent toughness and ductility, which is completely suitable for the building environment above 500 meters.

The Westeros Tower team invested $20 million just to get a license to produce the material and to renovate a smelting plant in Tennessee that could produce the titanium alloy, and the cost of the complete apron structure was more than $200 million. In order to avoid being accused of Simon's extravagance in the event of a leak, everyone involved in the project signed strict confidentiality agreements, and very few could actually estimate the cost of the tarmac.

Inside the restaurant.

Simon also looked up and said with a smile: "It will be capped at the end of this year, but it will take two to three years to live in it." ”

"I wish I could go up and have a look. ”

"Then I'll send this invitation now, Mikey, and I hope you won't forget it then. ”

"Oh, that's an honor, by the way, how tall is the building?"

"2040 feet. ”

"It's amazing, I don't think there's going to be another building like it in the next 50 years. ”

"The world is always changing, I can't tell," Simon smiled, and appropriately changed the subject: "I heard that there has been a lot of chaos in Washington lately?"

Mickey Kanter immediately sighed again: "Yes, Bill has just been given a single veto, and everyone is against it, and I don't think it's going to last long." And Starr, who's completely insane right now. The special court only authorized him to investigate the Paula Jones case, but he has now extended the investigation to all those related to Bill, which is completely ****. ”

"Actually, the crux of the matter is Paula Jones, why doesn't the White House try to reconcile?"

"Now even Paula Jones wants to get out, but alas, the Republican side won't allow that to happen. ”

Simon could only shrug his shoulders slightly with regret.

Privately checked that the White House still had an intern named Monica Lewinsky last year, and it was recommended by Ron Perelman, and now it is 1996, and everything that should have happened has happened.

Now Simon is actually capable of interfering in these things a little.

I just didn't.

In the final analysis, this is an internal struggle in Washington circles, with little direct interest in the Westeros system. Simon intervenes in it, and instead of any benefit, he will cause a lot of trouble.

The two chatted about various topics recently, until the waitress appeared again to bring the main meal, Mickey Kanter took a sip of red wine, and finally said: "Simon, I must be honest, even if you are optimistic about the Chinese market, there is no need to lead a large number of high-level executives of the Westeros system to visit China, you should understand the significance of this event and the subsequent impact." Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has been the most important strategic rival of the United States, and I don't think it would be good for us to help China. ”

Simon was not at all angry at Mickey Kanter's outspokenness, still smiling, and said: "Mickey, since the advent of nuclear weapons, it has been difficult for the great powers to have a confrontation like the two world wars half a century ago, think about the Soviet Union, how it collapsed, it was not a war. ”

Mickey Kante couldn't react for a moment.

Simon pointed out directly: "In my opinion, the real confrontation between major powers in the future will be the confrontation at the economic level. ”

In fact, with Simon's pessimistic attitude towards human society, he did not believe his own words. Since nuclear weapons were born, nuclear war was inevitable. Human reason has never been reliable.

Of course, these words are not said casually to people.

Just like right now.

Mickey Kante heard this and said, "Well, Simon, you shouldn't do that." ”

Simon was still patient: "Mickey, do you remember how the United States controlled the political and economic landscape of Western Europe after World War II?"

With such a reminder, Mickey Kante finally reacted.

If it had relied only on the status of a victorious power, the United States would not have had a strong influence in Western Europe at this time, and the key to the matter was called the 'Marshall Plan'.

Simon looked at Mickey Kanter's expression and said, "So, sometimes, when others help you, they are not really helping you, and the helper may get more benefits." On the Chinese side, we are already quite lagging behind, and Japan has been increasing its investment in China for the past two decades, and it has now penetrated into every aspect. It's very simple, Mikey, if a person owes you money and a favor, and his children are still working in your department, do you think he has the confidence to be your enemy?"

Mickey Kanter did not forget that the core of this visit was to have a good relationship with Simon Westeros, so he just casually mentioned it to express his attitude as a high-level US government, and did not mean to dissuade Simon at all. However, after listening to Simon's words on the other side, he also completely thought that he understood the other party's thoughts.

Of course, I still don't agree with it in my heart.

Instead of arguing, he moved on to a more specific question: "In that case, Simon, what are your expectations regarding my consultation with the Chinese government?"

Simon has always understood one thing.

If you give too much, you often don't cherish it, and you even take it for granted.

Therefore, during the upcoming trip to China, the Westeros system team will sing a red face, while the Washington authorities represented by Mickey Kanter will naturally be the white-faced party, and this time they will carry out some consultations with the Chinese government in the three major areas of science and technology, entertainment, and finance, which are closely related to the Westeros system, involving many aspects such as further opening up the film market and protecting intellectual property rights.

In fact, the actual benefits of the Westeros system have been obtained in various cooperation agreements reached before, such as the large commercial center to be built in the Chinese capital, in the finalized agreement, the price of the land approved by the Chinese side is basically half sold and half given, and the Chinese government will give 300 million US dollars of low-interest loans for the investment of 1 billion US dollars, and the remaining 700 million US dollars, and the Levison Group can also be obtained from overseas banks that are quite optimistic about this project.

Before and after, they are all white wolves with empty gloves.

The current Westeros system has a large amount of cash reserves, and it is easy to come up with $1 billion, but Simon understands better that the real estate industry should really be played like this, and spending others to engage in real estate can become bigger and stronger.

These things are not a secret to Mickey Kanter, and Simon did not hide it, saying: "Mickey, you should know that the benefits that can be obtained by the Westeros system have been agreed with the Chinese government in advance. So, you just need to be tough enough to accompany you this time. ”

Mickey Kanter understood and said with a smile: "I understand, I'm the bad cop." ”

Simon smiled at him: "Actually, none of us are good cops. ”

While the two were talking, there was a knock on the door not far away, attracting their attention, and Girl A came over with a tray, and Mickey Kanter looked over and saw ...... in the tray Well, it's probably a glass of milk, and suddenly it's a little unclear.

Girl A came to the two of them with a little coldness in her expression, picked up the cup in the tray and put it next to Simon: "Boss, this is what you want." ”

With that, he nodded formulaically at Mickey Kante and turned away.

Mickey Kanter listened to Girl A's high heels and went away, and looked at Simon on the other side with a slightly strange expression, but he still took the glass of milk and took a sip, even more confused, but it was inconvenient to ask more.

Simon put down his glass before he said to Mickey Kanter: "I'm sorry, the woman is not sensible, I will teach her a lesson later." ”

The glass of milk on the other side was obviously warm, and a faint fragrance glanced over.

Mickey Kanter couldn't help but sniffle without a trace, feeling that it didn't seem to be milk, and he couldn't tell what it was, but after hearing Simon's words, he shook his head and said, "It's okay." ”

"So, let's go on," Simon said, although he put down the glass, his fingertips still around the glass on the table, rubbing and turning, "Mikey, although your task is to show your attitude, you can't get nothing, I want you to take three things, all about movies." ”

Mickey Kanton nodded and motioned for Simon to continue.

Simon said: "First, China is required to develop restrictions on foreign investment to open cinemas in Chinese mainland. ”

When Mickey Kanter heard this, he was directly a little embarrassed: "Simon, this is not easy to do, you should also know the situation in China, when it comes to the cultural industry, they have always been more conservative than other aspects." ”

"If it was 10 years ago, it would have been like this," Simon said, "and now there is a good chance of talking, because the Chinese government has agreed to build theaters on the mainland with Hong Kong and Macao capital, and we just need the same treatment." ”

Mickey Kanter didn't know much about this.

However, since Westeros said so, it shouldn't be false, and at first someone said that he only needed to show an attitude in the past, and thought that this guild would be easy, but he didn't expect the first request to be so difficult to do.

"Well, Simon, all I can say is to try my best. Mickey Kant nodded and asked, "And then?"

"Second, China is required to carry out the reform of the cinema system. ”

Mickey Kante was confused again.

Cinemas, which have become commonplace in the United States, but, just as ordinary people have heard the names of many government departments but do not know what the functions of these departments are and how they operate, Mickey Kanter only has a vague concept of the cinema chain, which is probably a movie broadcast consortium composed of many theaters.

At this time, in front of Westeros, of course, he couldn't show such ignorance, and thought for a while: "Simon, this kind of film industry reform should have nothing to do with us?"

"Of course it matters, this is the third point, at the same time as the reform of the cinema system, you need to promote the cinema network in China. Speaking of which, Simon took the initiative to explain: "Mickey, in the past year, Hollywood films accounted for 5 of the top 10 box office lists in China, but, according to our investigation, a large part of the box office of our films was underreported because of the backward projection system and serious loopholes. The reform of the cinema system and the transformation of the theater network are all for Hollywood films to be more transparent in the Chinese market. ”

"Simon, if I'm not mistaken, Chinese films are almost negligible in terms of box office volume and share ratio. ”

"Mikey, do you know how many landlines China has now?"

“？”

"50 million, and only five years ago, in 1990, that number was 10 million. That's the potential. China is a large market with a population of 1 billion, as long as the industry can be formalized and the market potential of 10 people explodes, nothing is impossible. ”

Mickey Kanton nodded, remembered one more thing, and said, "In that case, Simon, I think you should be more concerned about the problem of piracy in China." In fact, the day before yesterday, the American Software and Information Industry Association contacted me, hoping that I could raise this issue in this consultation with China, and they are also lobbying the White House and Congress that if China continues to tolerate piracy, it should be sanctioned accordingly. ”

Saying this, Mickey Kanter's somewhat Mr. Bean-like face also showed some less obvious playfulness.

If we talk about piracy, in the past year, the most criticized is the music piracy problem of Westeros's Tinkobar iPlayer, which sold more than 20 million in the first year of release, and in the same year, the iPlayer player catalyzed the flood of pirated music due to the popularity of the Internet, which directly caused global record sales to plummet by 23%, which is also a pioneer.

In addition, there are VCD players that are rapidly gaining popularity in China.

It's a one-of-a-kind way.

When this machine first appeared two years ago, all the giants of the electronics industry in the West were not optimistic, so they did not pay too much attention to it.

I didn't expect it to explode in China.

Then, after some research, everyone quickly understood that the cause was piracy.

Simon also noticed Mickey Kanter's expression, with a smile still on the corner of his mouth, he took another sip from the cup in his hand, and said, "Mickey, I know what you're thinking." Actually, a lot of things, even if I don't do it, it will still happen. In that case, I can only push it in a manageable direction as much as possible. ”