Eastern Mediterranean.

Palermo, Italy.

The sun is shining on the seaside, and the salty sea breeze is blowing, so that people can smell a trace of literature and art in the air.

At this time, Zhong Shi was walking leisurely on the beach, looking at the wide blue sea and the birds that flew over the sea from time to time, and he felt a burst of comfort, and even the things he had been thinking about recently were diluted a little.

From time to time, there was a crisp laugh on the beach by the sea, and girls in bikinis occasionally passed by Zhongshi's side, most of them threw very provocative eyes, and some of them were bold, and they also kissed Zhongshi in the air.

"The girls here are so welcoming!" Andrew, who was following Zhong Shi, sighed. Ever since he came to the beach, his eyes have never left the carcass of women, and the girls here don't mind the gaze of men at all, on the contrary, they take pride in attracting men's gaze.

It's Italy, a paradise of food, beautiful women, handsome guys, clothes, sports cars, football, yachts, mafia.

Specifically, Italy is a country of enjoyment. There are the most dazzling handsome guys in Shijie, passionate girls, Milan, the fashion capital of Shijie, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pacini and other well-known sports cars in Shijie, and half of Shijie's top ten luxury yacht brands.

Zhong Shi came this time to buy a yacht.

In his previous life, he loved yachts and once drove his yacht around Shijie. Now, he has about two billion dollars of funds in his hands, and how these funds will work, he has been thinking about it recently, after all, it is impossible to put funds in the bank, which is the most stupid way to manage money, because ultra-low interest rates can't even keep up with the speed of inflation, so the funds put in the bank are shrinking in vain.

Andrew is also in high spirits now, two years ago he followed Zhong Shi to make a lot of money on Nikkei index futures, and his net worth instantly increased tenfold, and later, under Zhong Shi's guidance, he took advantage of the opportunity of the Gulf War to make a big profit in the US crude oil market again. Now his net worth, according to Hong Kong dollars, is also more than nine figures.

"Mr. Bassani, I wonder when my yacht will be delivered?" Zhong Shi looked at the small sailing ship floating by the sea in the distance from time to time, and his heart was itchy, and he couldn't help but ask a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes beside him.

"Mr. Zhong, according to our estimates, it is expected to be launched at the end of the year, and you will be able to sail your yacht next summer." Bassani bowed slightly, and said with extraordinary humility.

For the young man in front of him, his heart was full of gratitude. Back at the beginning of the year, the Bassani family decided to set up their own yacht business and would produce luxury yachts called Wally. They decided to combine speed and comfort to create a high-speed luxury yacht that is unique on the Shijie.

The creation of a new brand, it is difficult to open the situation in a short period of time, at this time, an order came from the far east, it turned out to be a 120-foot-long luxury yacht, this level of yacht even Eva, Princess, the already famous luxury yacht factory can not receive a few orders a year, but Wally yacht actually has such an order not long after its establishment.

This is Wally's first order since the brand was founded, and it is also the first order from the Far East, and if it can be done well, it will be very helpful for the brand to open up the rich market in the Far East. As a result, the entire Bassani family treated Zhongshi as a guest, and accepted all of his requests, which were strictly enforced during the construction process.

After all, it's a six-million-dollar business.

The yacht under construction has three decks, eight cabins and a living room with panoramic views, with two engines, a cruising speed of 20 knots and a maximum speed of 25 knots, a lounge area and an alfresco dining room on the aft deck, while a sunbathing and a large Jacuzzi are set up at the top, as well as a bar and coffee table.

The leather inside the hull is handmade from a tannery dedicated to Eva's interior, and all cabins include bathrooms, minibars, sofas, intercom and entertainment. The floors are mahogany, while the bathrooms and hallways are made of marble.

In addition to these, the soon-to-be-named "Reborn" yacht will have a six-metre dinghy and jet ski for visitors' amusement, as well as a small helipad at the top to evacuate everyone if needed.

This yacht is comparable to the one of Zhongshi in the future, although it can't catch up in some technology, but Zhongshi doesn't plan to use this yacht to travel around Shijie, at most, the whole family will take a dip in the sea near Hong Kong in their spare time.

Originally, it would take at least two years for a yacht like this to be customized and delivered, but Wally Yacht had just opened and received not many orders, so most of the manpower and material resources were invested in this yacht, so Bassani said that it would only take about a year and a half.

"We are looking forward to the delivery next summer!" Andrew said excitedly after translating Mr. Bassani's words.

The member of the Bassani family did not speak English, so what he said was translated by Andrew and then sent to Jongshi. Andrew is a linguistic genius, fluent in several European languages, but that's fine, most of the languages in Europe are derived from Latin, and to some extent they are very similar.

Zhong Shi and Andrew were invited to visit the construction progress of this yacht, and a few days ago they visited the yacht that had been preliminarily built with the keel, and the general appearance was already visible, Zhong Shi was very satisfied.

It was also this trip to Europe that reminded him of a very important financial event that was about to take place, that is, the European currency crisis of '92.

This reminded him of the goal of his next operation.

Speaking of which, since moving to Hong Kong, Zhong Shi's family has gradually become accustomed to life in Hong Kong. Old man Zhong Fangzhuo took turns living between Zhong Shi and Zhong Yi, anyway, the two families were not far away, and they were both thousands of feet of mansions, so there was no need to worry about the size of the place.

Zhong Yi finished his master's program at HKU last year, and after consulting Zhong Shi's advice and the strong recommendation of his supervisor, he went to Princeton University in the United States to study for a doctorate in economics.

Liao Xiaohua followed Liao Chengde's side wholeheartedly, concentrating on taking care of the affairs of the trading company, after all, the trading company still has a lot of legitimate business to do.

After making a big profit on the Singapore Exchange in September '90, Andrew also resigned from his brokerage position at Avery, and wholeheartedly helped Zhongshi manage his assets, to say that Andrew is really a financial talent, when the Gulf War broke out in early '91, he was keenly aware that the crude oil market in the United States would fluctuate sharply, and he entered it at the right time to make a profit, and then withdrew in time before the end of the war.

The proportion of this can be grasped so well, and it is naturally inseparable from Zhongshi's mention. At the end of the nineties, when the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell due to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait without warning, Andrew opened a position in a timely manner, and managed to make a profit of more than 300% in January and leave the market in February with a large profit, avoiding the subsequent loss of higher oil prices due to the rapid end of the war.

With such an operation alone, Zhong Shi's net worth once again increased by hundreds of millions of dollars out of thin air, and Andrew also made a profit of more than 10 million dollars.

Today's Andrew, who is already well-known in Hong Kong's financial circles, is known as a "genius trader", and naturally scorns these Zhong Shi, but he does not object to Andrew often being interviewed by those financial magazines, in fact, Zhong Shi reads those financial magazines, and then makes fun of Andrew with the above jokes.

"There is another question, that is, about the payment of funds, I wonder if I can pay in lira?" After listening to Andrew's emotion, Zhong Shi's mind suddenly moved and he remembered an important question.

Six million dollars, at the current exchange rate, is converted into nearly four billion lira. This was not a problem, but Zhong Shi knew that the lira would soon depreciate, and if it was delivered, I am afraid that the money would not be four billion lira, but five billion lira or more.

In this way, there is a difference of one billion lira in the middle, which is as much as millions of dollars at the current exchange rate, and with this money, it is natural to buy more things.

"No problem, sir!" Without hesitation, Bassani agreed. For the issue of foreign exchange, he has some basic concepts, knowing that there is a risk in foreign exchange for such a long time, but they can avoid this risk through foreign exchange futures, and he also believes that after joining the European monetary system, the value of the Italian lira will be protected by several other currencies at the same time, so there will not be much volatility.

Coupled with the fact that Mr. Chung was the first Wally's client, this minor problem was no longer a problem, so they made an exception and agreed.

Seeing that Bassani agreed, Zhong Shi smiled slightly, and began to enjoy the scenery by the sea again.

Two days later, Zhong Shi signed a revised contract that stipulated that the two parties would pay in Italian lira at the time of delivery of the yacht in the amount of 3.8 billion lira, with a small helicopter. (The official exchange rate at the time was around 625)

After a few more days in southern Italy, Bell Stone and Andrew set off for Bologna, the next stop of their trip to Italy. Bologna is the transportation hub of northern Italy and a historic city, and Bell Stone's trip is not to Bologna, but to the city of Modena, which is very close to them.

Modena is one of the safest tourist destinations and one of the most important cultural cities in Italy, and it is also one of the cities with the best ecological environment, the highest per capita income and the highest per capita education level in Italy. However, what makes Shijie know about this place is that the city is the headquarters of many famous sports cars, such as "Ferrari", "Lamborghini" and "Maserati", so this place is also known as the "Shijie Engine Capital".