New York, Manhattan, Upper East Side, Sutton Square neighborhood.

A long-discontinued Lincoln sedan stopped on the side of the road, Zhang Lin held a wooden box in his hand, got out of the car and waved to the driver arranged by the company, and walked to the No. 11 townhouse opposite.

Zhang Lin looked at the surrounding houses along the way, and there was no lack of envy in his eyes. Lin Zhuoyun's former roommate is already the marketing director of the North American branch of Xifeng Canned Food Co., Ltd., but she still does not have the financial resources to buy a house in this neighborhood.

From Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller and other celebrities in the cultural and artistic circles, to many high-ranking political officials and business tycoons in the United States, they all like to buy houses and settle here.

I.M. Pei's Townhouse No. 11 was previously owned by a cousin of Roosevelt Sr.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong!"

A young blonde maid opened the small window of the door, looked out, and saw that the visitor was an Asian woman, and then asked, "Hello, is there anything wrong?"

"Hello," Zhang Lin smiled, "I came to visit Mr. Pei on behalf of Mr. Song, and I made an appointment on the phone before." ”

The young maid immediately opened the door and said, "Mr. Pei has not gone out and has been waiting at home for a long time. Please come in!"

Zhang Lin was led by the maid to the garden, and an old lady was carrying a kettle to water the flowers, and the maid immediately introduced: "Madam, this is the visitor that Mr. Pei has made an appointment. ”

Zhang Lin hurriedly greeted: "Hello Mrs. Bei!"

The old lady's name is Lu Shuhua, and her English name is Erin Lu, and because of the transliteration, she is often written by the Chinese media as Lu Shuhua, Lu Ailing, and Lu Ailin. She was born in a famous family in China, graduated from a prestigious school in the United States, and is almost 90 years old this year, and she looks intellectual and kind.

"Hello," Lu Shuhua put down the watering can and shook hands with Zhang Lin, "Is Miss Chinese?"

Zhang Lin immediately replied: "My name is Zhang Lin, I am Chinese, currently working in the United States, this time I was entrusted by Mr. Song Weiyang to visit Mr. I.M. Pei. ”

Lu Shuhua smiled and switched to Chinese mode, and said in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent: "Miss Zhang, please inside." ”

"Thank you!" Zhang Lin hurriedly held the wooden box with his left hand, and helped the old lady to walk in with his right hand.

When she came to the living room, Lu Shuhua personally made coffee for Zhang Lin, and shouted in Cantonese: "Old man, there are guests at home!"

The four-story townhouse was shortly before Pei walked down the staircase handrail. Although the old gentleman behaved very toughly, after all, the grade was too big, so Zhang Lin hurried over to help.

"You don't need to help me, I'm not old enough to walk. I.M. Pei laughed.

When I.M. Pei finished walking the stairs, Zhang Lin held the wooden box and said, "Mr. Pei, this is the gift that Mr. Song asked me to bring to you." ”

I.M. Pei opened the wooden box on the spot, revealing a bottle of red wine inside. He took out most of the bottle, carefully examined the signature on the bottle, and said with a smile: "86 Lafite, ho, Mr. Song's gift is expensive enough." ”

Zhang Lin said: "Mr. Song knows that you like red wine, so he specially asked me to take a bottle. ”

I.M. Pei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Such a precious gift, Mr. Song must have something to do with me." ”

Lafite '82 is the most famous in China, but the rating given by professional wine connoisseurs is not the highest. The really top Lafite is 1901, 1953, 1959, 1986, 2000, and even Lafite 1996 is rated higher than '82.

I.M. Pei is a veteran wine lover, and when Château Lafite invites him to drink, he directly chooses Lafite '59 to entertain him.

Zhang Lin said in Mandarin: "The sword is given to the hero." ”

I.M. Pei can understand Mandarin, but only Cantonese is fluent. He put the bottle back and asked in English, "Does Mr. Song want to ask me to build a house?"

"Please design a tech building. Zhang Lin said.

I.M. Pei shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, I'm already retired." ”

Zhang Lin said: "Isn't the new Soviet Provincial Museum, which is under construction, designed by Mr. Pei?"

I.M. Pei explained: "That's my masterpiece. ”

Zhang Lin said: "I will truthfully convey Mr. Pei's intentions, but Mr. Song may have to visit in person." ”

I.M. Pei smiled: "Is he still relying on me?"

"It's a sincere invitation. Zhang Lin said.

"Mr. Song's famous name, which I have heard in Manhattan, is indeed a masterpiece of contemporary China," I.M. Pei said after a moment's thought, "and since I am retired, I will definitely not be able to take on any more work." But I can participate in the conceptual design, and the specific design plan is in charge of my son Jianzhong or Lizhong, you ask Mr. Song if it is feasible. ”

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Bey. Zhang Lin said.

"If it's convenient, you can call now, and I'll let them go to China when it's settled," Pei said. ”

Although I.M. Pei has retired to close the mountain, sometimes he still can't save face. Take the year before last, for example, he went back to Suzhou Province to design the museum, and as a result, he was invited by Jinmen again and again. In desperation, I.M. Pei could only agree to be responsible for the conceptual design of the Dagu Bridge in Jinmen.

As for I.M. Pei's three sons, two of them are architects, and one of them plans to expand his business in Port City. Just take this opportunity to open up the Chinese mainland market, which can be regarded as an old gentleman paving the way for his son.

Song Weiyang naturally will not refuse, the father's conceptual design, and the son's specific design, can be promoted as I.M. Pei's father and son.

After a few minutes, Zhang Lin put down his phone and said, "Mr. Pei, Mr. Song is very happy to accept your proposal. He said that he would prepare rice wine and braised pork in China, and personally entertain Mr. Pei and his family. ”

"Hahahaha," I.M. Pei couldn't help laughing, "You Mr. Song, you really know everything clearly." Not only does he know that I like to drink red wine, but he also knows that I like rice wine and braised pork, so he can't have made a menu of the last time I returned to China, right?"

Zhang Lin also laughed: "These are all manifestations of Mr. Song's sincerity. ”

I.M. Pei said: "In this way, I will take my son back to China in a few days, and strive to implement the design plan as soon as possible, which can be regarded as living up to Mr. Song's good intentions." ”

In fact, I.M. Pei was originally going to return to China, because of the museum project in Soviet Province, he had to go to China almost every 15 months, and he had tossed it back and forth several times. Now that China's richest man has asked him to build a house, he can take his family back to China early to relax, work with his son to work out the design of the building, and then go to Suzhou Province to attend the opening ceremony of the museum.

The old gentleman is not the kind of lonely character who does not eat the fireworks of the world, he is very realistic, and the friends he has made are all celebrities in politics, business, literature and art, and this time he is just making another friend to the richest man in China.

And what about Song Weiyang?

After getting the exact news of the joint design of I.M. Pei's father and son, he quickly contacted the Zhongguancun Software Park and changed the 30-story plan to build a 38-story commercial building. With I.M. Pei's name as a signboard, even outside the Fifth Ring Road, it can be hyped, and the management of the software park and real estate companies will also help to speculate.

Some of the land around the software park has been bought by developers, but construction has not started for a long time.

Once I.M. Pei's Ark Building is completed, and Song Weiyang is known as China's richest man, it will inevitably attract many tech companies to move over (Zhongguancun is too crowded and expensive). As long as the software park has enough popularity, the residential community will be formed, and then banks, supermarkets, schools, hospitals and other institutions will settle in, and it should be able to develop in five to eight years.

Song Weiyang even called Brother Xiaoma, anyway, Tencent is very rich now, and it is just right to build the Tencent Beijing Headquarters Building in the Software Park, so there is no need to go to Zhongguancun to squeeze the office building.

Well, Song Weiyang also took a piece of residential land for his father's company, which was specially used to build a villa area, presumably the executives of those technology companies were willing to buy this land in return for his efforts to promote the development of the software park.