As the sun sets, a small truck travels along a winding road through the taiga.

Driving over a small stone bridge, a three-story villa comes into view, and from a distance, the crimson roof tiles stand out in the sunlight.

The high foyer and grand entrance, the round arched windows, the stone masonry at the corners, the white walls with crimson roof tiles, the continuous arches and cloisters, all exude grace and luxury, full of 17th-century style.

Outside the white wooden fence, a large gardening slope lawn, manicured like a green carpet, is dotted with artistic saffron in the green grass, which contrasts with the vines clinging to the wooden fence.

When it comes to villas, the vast majority of people may think that only the wealthy can afford to live in them.

But in Russia, villas are not a luxury, but a necessity, especially in the summer, and country houses are an essential part of the Russian people's enjoyment of life, and almost every family has their own country house.

Many Russians may have had experiences of living and playing in a country villa since childhood, whether sweet, painful, uplifting or sad, these experiences are often deeply imprinted in the Russian psyche and become an indelible part of their lives.

In St. Petersburg, in particular, the summer is relatively short, with the growing season of only four months in the coniferous forest, while in the western part of Europe it can grow for eight months or more. This is so precious, so St. Petersburgers take advantage of the short summer season to swim, ride horses, relax and enjoy life in the countryside villas.

The sedan stopped in front of the villa, and the real secretary, Frederick, pushed out the door and asked, "What about the sir?" ”

"Fishing by the river."

Jan Joseph, who was mowing the lawn, put down his tools. While pulling open the carriage, he was ready to help carry things. While adding, "I should be reading a book, to be exact." ”

Frederick pulled out a cardboard box from the co-pilot. And he asked, "Alone?" ”

"How so?"

Jan Joseph glanced back and said with a blank face: "Frank is with him, don't worry, we will never let the boss out of our sight." ”

Xia Yao was making dumplings in the kitchen with the female bodyguard Magdalena, and everything outside could be seen clearly, if it weren't for the noodles on his hands, he would definitely go out to help.

Russian dumplings look more like Chinese wontons and are cooked in broth, a dish known as dumpling soup. It is regarded as the first course before the main meal. In Siberia, hunters even use "Siberian dumplings" as a reserve food when they go out hunting in winter.

For Xia Yao, who grew up from snack pasta, the so-called Russian dumplings are no different from Chinese dumplings, and he pinched dozens of them in a while. Magdalena was extremely clumsy, either big or small, and would pinch it from time to time, helping more and more.

Magdalena said in frustration, "Natsu, I really can't do this. ”

I saw that she even had her nose stained. Xia Yao snorted: "No one wants you to do it, go wash your hands." I'll do it all. ”

With so many people eating, Magdalena was embarrassed to let her wrap it alone, picked up a dumpling wrapper, and said to herself: "It looks very simple, and it tastes delicious, but it is so difficult to make." ”

Xia Yao smiled, gently put the wrapped dumplings aside, and couldn't help asking: "Magdalena, we may not go back until next year, always with us, your husband won't be angry, right?" ”

"I'm not married."

Professor Asholm and the female high-ranking official who had never met were not married, and Xia Yao really couldn't understand them as Germans, so he couldn't help but ask: "Is it because I didn't find a suitable one, or is there some other reason?" ”

Magdalena glanced out the window and whispered, "Natsu, I'm different from you, and many things can't be done by thinking. Due to the peculiarities of work, there is an age limit for marriage before reunification. And after reunification, everything has changed again, those of us who work for the Stasi are like criminals, we don't even have friends, who will marry me? ”

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Magdalena shook and laughed suddenly, "but I have a child, nine years old, named Auguste, who lives with his grandmother. ”

It was actually an unmarried mother, Xia Yao was skeptical: "Really? ”

"Really, so I'm going to work hard."

"Where's his dad?"

"It is said that he went abroad, and before reunification he also worked for the Stasi, and it was difficult to find a job in Germany. But it doesn't matter to me whether I can go abroad or not, because that's all in the past. ”

It's quite open-minded, Xia Yao sighed secretly, and pretended to smile lightly: "Then find another one, there are so many colleagues in NB Industrial Manufacturing and NB Aviation, there must be single." ”

"I love life like this."

Magdalena glanced back at the living room and smiled, "I can travel around, I can live in a villa, I can get a good salary, if possible, I really hope to keep working." ”

"Come on, Magdalena, what's the difference between being a bodyguard and eating a youth meal? Are you really capable of doing it for a lifetime? ”

"You want to fire me?"

"How can it be, anyway, you don't want us to pay your salary, you can work as long as you want, and when my husband is done with this matter, I will give you a few months of paid leave, and go back to accompany your son."

Magdalena was happy, shook her head again and again, and said, "His Royal Highness the prince is not so stupid. ”

After nearly half a month of getting along, the two have become a pair of good sisters who have nothing to say, how could Xia Yao see her unemployed, and immediately blurted out: "Don't worry, dear Magdalena, you work for us, no matter who pays the salary, you are a member of NB Electric, so you will never be unemployed." ”

It's not easy to find a job, and it's even harder to find a good job.

Not to mention that former Stasi personnel like her are not welcomed, even if the Berlin Wall does not fall, she is still doing the work of serving people.

Those former members of the Politburo of the United Socialist Party never regarded them as "comrades", let alone "colleagues", and in their eyes bodyguards were no different from servants.

There is no status, no dignity, and even a salary is barely enough to make ends meet.

The young boss who was reading by the river and the Oriental lady in front of him were not. Never treated her as a servant. Enough respect was given.

I even helped myself think about the way back. Magdalena was full of emotion, and was silent for a while before whispering, "Thank you." ”

As he spoke, Charter and Frank walked far away with their fishing gear.

Frederick, who had just finished moving his things, hurried up to greet him, and reported as he walked: "Mr. Zhang, at 10:20 a.m. Moscow time, the special plane of Prince Ahmed, President of the Saudi National Bank, arrived safely in Crimea. Received by officials of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and VTB, they should have arrived at the Foros Villa. ”

The vast majority of Soviets have villas, but there is a difference between villas and villas.

The leaders of the CPSU were fond of building their dacha in the Crimea. There was a huge complex of villas for recuperation and work, where the leaders of the CPSU often received high-ranking party and state leaders, as well as visiting foreign heads of state.

However, Gorbachev, especially his wife Raisa, did not like to recuperate at that villa, so the Central Committee of the CPSU decided six years ago to build a new villa for him, the new leader. The address was chosen near the village of Foros, which was built by the Ninth Directorate of the KGB and designed by the famous architect Academician Polyansky.

No matter how hard it is, the construction of new villas is progressing very fast.

More than 2,000 construction engineers worked on the vast construction site, including the construction team within the KGB. A lot of building materials are transported from abroad by transport planes. For example, Italian marble, German sanitary ware.

Gorbachev closely followed the progress of the project. But he only looked at the photographs and models, and his wife, Raisa, often visited the construction site of the Foros villa. He was even forced to tear down and rebuild part of the "palace" that had already been built many times, regardless of the costs incurred.

New and expensive projects are constantly being added to the architectural scheme: a summer cinema, an artificial grotto, a winter garden, a lift from the main building to the sea, and much more.

It can be said that in the five years of the Chinese New Year, there were two major construction sites in the Soviet Union: one was to build a sarcophagus covering the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, and the other was to build a Foros villa for Gorbachev near the Cape Salych in Crimea.

Neither the leaders of the Soviet Union nor the leaders of Western countries had ever had villas of this grade before, only the villas built by Ceausescu and his wife were more luxurious than this.

It will be a "prison" for him under house arrest, and BNB News, which is broadcasting a coup d'état for the direction, obviously needs first-hand information.

Therefore, according to the "information" provided by the charter, Prince Mateb, at the instigation of Daniel, who was full of ambition and ready to do a big job, took great pains to fool Prince Hamed, chairman of the Saudi Aid Committee and president of the National Bank, into Crimea instead of Moscow.

Being able to frame and shoot a few shots there will undoubtedly make the rest of the story more shocking.

The beginning of the good is half the success, the charter nodded slightly, and said meaningfully: "It seems that Mr. President really needs the $1.5 billion in aid, otherwise he will never lend his villa to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive His Royal Highness." ”

"It's a pity that His Royal Highness is not so interested in assistance."

Frederick smiled, and while walking with him into the house, he continued: "Mr. Zhang, President Daniel and His Royal Highness the Prince agree that it is not appropriate to open too many channels at this stage, but should focus on the German-speaking region and the Gulf region, after all, there are not so many satellite TV users, and peer broadcasting is unlikely to bring too much revenue.

Therefore, it was decided to set up four channels for BNB international news, German news, Spanish news and Arabic news. News station, 24-hour uninterrupted broadcasting, the pursuit of timely, realistic and on-the-spot. When you have enough influence and recruit more experienced media people, you can open channels for movies, sports, entertainment, etc. ”

Professional things are done by professional people, and the charter doesn't want the layman to command the insider, so he agreed: "No problem, they can do whatever they think is suitable." ”

"In fact, President Daniel has already done that."

Fredley pointed to the TV in the living room and said with a smile: "The satellite dish is connected, and tomorrow afternoon it will be piloted, and you can see the international news station and the German news station here." ”

The charter was a little surprised: "So fast? ”

"In the case of international news broadcasting, part of the German news broadcast is part of the news broadcast, and part of it is produced by itself. Although there was a large amount of money to pay for the broadcast, it was very necessary for the newly formed BNB News Network. ”

The audience needs to be accumulated. There is no buffer period. At that time, no matter how timely and comprehensive your news is, no one will necessarily read it.

That's when the charter reacted. I couldn't help but shake my head and smile bitterly: "Interlacing is like a mountain, if I am allowed to do it, BNB News will definitely lose all my money." ”

"It's not that you can't think of it, it's that you don't have time to think about it."

Frey wasted no time in complimenting him and continued to report: "In addition, President Wu and Chief Legal Counsel of the Group, Mr. Rong, let me remind you that the Soviet Union is a country where legal clericalism prevails. We should keep track of and study the dynamics of the legal work in the Soviet Union, Russia, and St. Petersburg, as well as the new spirit and content of a newly promulgated law. In order to comply with it in future business activities and avoid unnecessary losses. ”

Thinking that he was also a legal expert, the charter asked casually, "Then what do you think?" ”

Fredeli pondered for a moment and analyzed: "The Soviet Union is a union, and Russia is a federal system, which leads to the division of the entire legal system into three levels: union law, federal law, and local law. This division of the hierarchy of legal management is based on the principle of separation of powers between the Union, the Federation, and the Federal Subjects in administrative, economic, fiscal and taxation management.

Despite the fact that the Constitution of the Union stipulates that federal and local federal laws are to be based on the Constitution and subject to the laws of the Central Union of the Union, the Union exists in name only. Still, federal law should be the main basis. In fact, the laws of many federal subjects, especially the oblasts of the border regions, the territories of Krai, as well as the autonomous oblasts, autonomous republics and republics formed on the basis of the subject nationalities. It often contradicts federal law. So from my personal point of view, it is not timely to invest in St. Petersburg right now. ”

In a legal sense, half of Xiaopu and Xiaomei's promises are illegal and even unconstitutional. However, the newly promulgated Foreign Investment Law has no substantive protection provisions. As Fredeli feared, investing is risky right now.

But the charter makes it clearer that this is equivalent to China's special zone, and even if NB Electric is not the first person to eat crabs, the "St. Petersburg Gang" headed by Xiaopu and Xiaomei will try by all means to create a more relaxed and suitable business environment and create Russia's first joint venture.

And in the next five years, more than 6,000 joint ventures will be established in St. Petersburg, more than half of all joint ventures in Russia.

For example, Russia's first joint venture to produce elevators - "St. Petersburg Otis", relying on Swedish loans to establish the famous "Baltic Beer Company", and Finnish enterprises to establish a joint venture "Neva Cable Plant", Coca-Cola branch, Procter & Gamble and so on.

The first foreign banks in Russia will also be established here – not representative offices or branches, but independent subsidiaries with 100% foreign capital.

In contrast to the domestic propaganda of later generations, foreign banks not only did not take away decades of accumulation of the Soviet people with very little money, but also consolidated the banking system of St. Petersburg to a considerable extent. Especially during the financial crisis of '98, the banks in Moscow collapsed, but the banks in St. Petersburg were able to stand still.

Lorrell, who is about to become the president of NB Electric (Russia) Co., Ltd., is burning the "hot stove" of Lao Ye in Moscow, and he does not want to miss this opportunity to burn the "cold stove", and more importantly, it is not so risky, after thinking about it, he shook his head and said: "Mr. Fredeli, you have served the Socialist Unity government for so many years, and you should know very well that the laws here can only be used as a reference. We must not only invest, but also increase our investment! ”

Freddeli was the liaison, and he wanted to convey the boss's consciousness to François's vice president, the European company and the group headquarters. ”

"NB Technology invested in St. Petersburg NB Software Development Company, NB Electric invested in St. Petersburg NB Wire & Cable Company, NB Industrial Manufacturing invested in St. Petersburg NB Elevator Co., Ltd."

After some deliberation, the charter continued: "Please ask Chairman Biermann and President Lu Yuanqing to coordinate with the Soviet side to extend the previous Leipzig-Moscow route to St. Petersburg." Including Euronext International Travel Agency, we have 5 companies and branches in St. Petersburg. ”

"What about the budget?"

"Including future investments in Moscow, with a total budget of $300 million."

Frank, the fake secretary who had been silent, was stunned, and said in a ghostly manner: "Can the group squeeze out so much money?" ”

The charter glanced back and said lightly: "With so much money, the group will definitely not be able to squeeze out this year, but the investment is in installments." Sign the letter of intent for investment first, and then squeeze 20 million to set up a software development company, and wait for NB Electronics and NB Medical to produce benefits, and then implement the remaining investment. ”

Frank didn't know that there was a speculative opportunity next year, so he asked worriedly: "Mr. Zhang, what if NB Electronics and NB Medical don't have so much income?" ”

"When BNB News is a hit, we can completely give up some of our shares, so funding is not a problem."

The investment of hundreds of millions of dollars was decided in this way, and it was only in charge of the general direction, but when asked about specific matters, Frank was secretly speechless, and was stunned for a while before he stopped talking and asked: "Mr. Zhang, do you really plan to do research at St. Petersburg University all the time?" ”

Thinking that he was both civil and military, it was impossible to always let him be his bodyguard, so he patiently explained: "Mr. Franck, to put it mildly, I think I am very capable, so the group's strategy basically does not go wrong, and even if there is a problem, it is in the parts and details.

But when a person in charge of the group is too capable and far-sighted, the first task of the people around him is likely to follow his footsteps and not fall behind, rather than open learning. And once this culture becomes a universal culture, the group's ability to learn and self-correct will inevitably be greatly reduced.

So I can't just ignore it, let alone do everything. You must know that the development of NB Electric is no longer my own group, but the group of all of us, including you and Mr. Frederick. (To be continued......)