Heathrow International Airport, London, UK, 2003.

Outside the passenger exit, a tall white man held a sign in his hand, staring intently at the various passengers who came out of the exit, for fear of missing the figure he was not familiar with. The weather was not very hot, but the white man's head was obviously dripping with sweat, but he didn't care, and he didn't dare to take off the thick suit on his body. Passing passengers and pick-up passengers occasionally looked back and saw that the sign was not written in English, but a ...... Or rather, two Chinese characters.

This is a Chinese word that means To...... Horse, do you know what that means?" an Englishman with a slight background in Oriental culture bragged about his erudition to his companions.

"I think this may be a Chinese name?" guessed my companion.

"What a strange name. ”

"yes,...... Look, we're picking up someone!"

The white man holding the sign looked up at the sign in his hand, and then muttered disdainfully at their background: "It's really uneducated, this is clearly a Feng character, okay!"

"Boss, why did you come to pick up this Chinese Mr. Feng in person, is he your friend?" asked a small attendant standing next to the white man in a low voice.

"No, he's ...... Well, you should treat him as the most important partner of our company, and if we lose his support, you and I will be out of work. The white man said.

"So that's ......" The little follower's face showed a solemn expression, and his waist unconsciously straightened up, so as to make his image appear more serious.

The white man, named Hotby, is the CEO of a company called Huo's Information Technology Investment in Birmingham, England. On the registration information of Huo's Investment Company, it is stated that the company is a joint-stock enterprise, and the shareholding structure is very complex, and in addition to the small number of shares owned by Hottby himself, there are five companies holding shares separately. Huo's investment company's main business is to invest in electronic information companies in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, and its investment in each company is not large, and it seems to be content with only a chance to show its face in these companies.

Hotby himself is also a person who likes to show his face, and as a small shareholder at the mini level, he is keen to hang out in the companies he invests in. Of course, he is not the kind of particularly annoying small shareholder, he has experience in the electronics company, and has friends in many companies in the industry, so he can often help the invested companies find some cooperation opportunities, which is a free salesman.

The little attendant who came with him to Heathrow Airport to pick him up was named Dobbins, a young man in his 20s, who was unemployed after graduating from university, and after a few months of gnawing at the old man, he was recruited by Hottby into the company, with the title of investment consultant. After carefully studying the company's investment structure, Dobbins made a formal report to Hottby, believing that the company's investment direction should be adjusted, and funds should be invested in those companies with growth potential, rather than most of them in some dying companies as they are now.

Hotby patiently listened to Dobbins, nodded in satisfaction, gave him a 100 euro salary increase, and then there was no more. Huo's investment direction should be selected in some companies that are about to go bankrupt, and there is a deep suspicion that Hottby is not an investment company, but a garbage recycling company.

The boss didn't listen to him, and Dobbins was a little frustrated, but relieved. The company belongs to the boss, he can do whatever he wants, and he cares about his own? This boss treats his subordinates very kindly, and the salary he pays is good, so what reason does Dobbins have to stay uncomfortable? In recent years, the economy of the whole of Europe has been sluggish, and the unemployment rate has been rising, so it would be good to be able to find a job, and why should he be picky about these things?

Last night, Hotby called Dobbins out of the blue and told him to come to work today to dress formally, saying that he had important partners to meet. Dobbins changed into formal clothes, and when he came to the office, he saw that the boss, Hotby, was dressed like a dog than him, wearing a valuable suit, and looked like he was going to church to take the oath of marriage. Without waiting for Dobbins to ask anything, Hotby pulled him out of the office and headed straight for the airport in a rented van. When he arrived at the airport, Hotby didn't know where to conjure up a sign with Chinese characters written on it and held it high to the pick-up gate.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Feng, what's here!"

While Dobbins was guessing the identity of the guests, another group of passengers walked out of the airport. Hotby's keen eyes spotted his target in the crowd, so he raised his sign higher and shouted loudly in defiance of public etiquette, causing the pick-ups around him to roll their eyes at him.

"It's Mr. Hotby, right?" A middle-aged man with an eastern face walked over to this side when he heard the voice, he walked straight up to Hotby, greeted him in English with a smile, "I'm Feng Xiaochen, we should have met eight years ago, right?"

Hotby had already handed the sign to Dobbins, he stretched out two hands to Feng Xiaochen, warmly shook Feng Xiaochen's hand, and replied: "Yes, yes, Mr. Feng has a good memory, the last time we met was in 1995, and it has been exactly 8 years now." ”

Feng Xiaochen smiled: "My memory is not as good as that of Mr. Hotby. I saw that side back then, after 8 years, if it wasn't for you to greet me, I really wouldn't have recognized you. ”

Hotby said modestly: "Actually, my memory is very poor, but I have always cared about Chinese news, and I often see photos of Mr. Feng in Chinese news, so I remember Mr. Feng's appearance." However, Mr. Feng looks much younger than in those news photos, and I was a little afraid to recognize it just now. ”

Dobbins smirked beside him, but he was shocked. Hotby is a very easy-going person, and when he usually goes to various companies to socialize with others, he seems quite enthusiastic, but that enthusiasm is completely equal. At this time, Hotby's face was full of flattery, and Dobbins firmly believed that he would not look so flattering in front of Hotby, isn't this Mr. Feng not only the most important partner of the company, but also Hotby's reborn parents?

Dobbins really guessed right, for Hotby, Feng Xiaochen is indeed comparable to a biological parent. When the company he worked for went bankrupt, Hotby became an unemployed man, old and young, and his life was extremely poor. At this time, a Chinese businessman named Bao Chengming hired him to help gather some technical information in Europe, and gave him a decent salary to save him from his misery.

The bigger opportunities come from there. During the 1995 International Construction Machinery Exhibition in Munich, Bao Chengming told Hottby to go to Munich to meet the Chinese official named Feng Xiaochen. Feng Xiaochen gave Hotby an assignment to register an investment company with the participation of several overseas companies controlled by Feng Xiaochen. The main task of the company registered by Hotby is to invest in the European market, mainly to European companies with some technology but at the same time operating difficulties. Feng Xiaochen claims that he doesn't care how much benefit these investments can achieve, as long as Hotby can have a certain say in these companies.

Hotby still hadn't figured out what Feng Xiaochen had asked him to do this, but he still complied with it. Running a company is of course more high-end than collecting intelligence, and the income has also increased significantly. With a small stake in many companies, Hotby's network in the industry has been strengthened, and he has been invited to dinner from time to time, and he has more opportunities to go to various high-end venues, which makes Hotby feel like he has been given a new lease of life.

After realizing that Feng Xiaochen was his real boss, Hotby began to seriously study the new owner. He searched for Feng Xiaochen's name in the newspaper information database, and unexpectedly found that this name appeared very frequently. He collected the news reports involving Feng Xiaochen, and after reading through them, he had a new understanding of Feng Xiaochen, and he also vaguely guessed a few points about the mission he undertook.

The Chinese are implementing a policy known as "taoguang yanghui", which is public and somewhat strange. Because from common sense, if a person or a country wants to be low-key, it can only do so secretly, and cannot publicly declare to others that it is low-key, but what the Chinese are doing is precisely claiming to the world that they are low-key, forbearing, and trying to make big plans.

But people all over the world have ignored this statement of the Chinese, and they firmly believe that China is not deliberately pursuing a low profile, but that China has nothing to be high-profile, and the so-called Taoguang Yanghui is just a shame for his own incompetence.

Hottby was one of the few Westerners to realize the ambitions of the Chinese, and from the earliest time he served Bao Chengming, he knew that the Chinese had big intentions. Many large European companies that seem invincible, the Chinese are already secretly targeting. They are collecting information about these companies, looking for their weaknesses, and then quietly digging into the corners of these companies, eating away at the market share and competitiveness of these companies little by little. Indeed, the Chinese are now weak and incapable of toppling these European monopolies. But they are far-sighted and determined, they are silently learning the advanced technology of the West, cultivating their own technical team, improving their strength, and preparing for the moment of accumulation.

In the process of contact with Bao Chengming and others, Hotby can feel that competing with big European companies is not all the ideals of these Chinese, they want much more, and their goal is the sea of stars.