January 27, 1938, was a special day for John's family. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

First of all, today is little Ella's fourth birthday. Since early in the morning, the whole family has been busy with this little angel's birthday party. It took Adele a long time to dress up today's little birthday girl as a real princess. Mary and the cook who hired the maid were busy in the kitchen, and the sweet smell of baking cakes filled the house.

Little Ella wore a crown of crystal princesses and held her dog Doboton to warmly entertain the friends who came to the birthday party. This custom-made princess crown was a birthday present from John and Adele, and it was worth almost as much as the Lincoln sedan at home.

There were quite a few guests coming to the party today, in addition to Walter's old friends and their families, as well as some new friends that Adele and Little Ella had recently met. Although Adele and her family have just moved to Detroit, they are very popular in the high society circle here. They often go to church with the University of Michigan professors or the wives of the executives of several major automobile companies, and sometimes hold cultural salons.

In addition, the Harold family and the family of his father-in-law, Mr. De Garno, also made a special trip to attend little Ella's birthday party. Since moving to the United States, Mr. Degano has been running his banking business in New Orleans, and before doing so, he helped John acquire a number of shares in the New York Central Railroad Company in the secondary market. Recently, however, Mr. Degano has plans to retire and plans to return to his hometown after his son succeeds him.

Tonight's birthday party was a great success, and the chef specially invited from a famous French restaurant was very good and everyone was full of praise for the meal. Ella and her friends especially liked the chic chocolate cream cake, which was round and round for all little stomachs. After the banquet, Ella and her friends were busy unpacking the gifts, Adele and the ladies chatted about the latest fashions in the living room, and John took the gentlemen to the cigar room. There, they enjoyed French wines and Cuban cigars while chatting about the latest HSD and European happenings.

At about 10 o'clock in the evening, the children finally got tired of playing, and the guests gradually said goodbye and left. Little Ella yawned and went back to her bedroom. John lay on the bed, listening to Adele's nagging about her father's return to his hometown in France, while thinking about his own thoughts.

Today is not only Ella's birthday, but also John's own "birthday". Just a year ago today, he came to this world in 2016 and started a new life.

Over the past year, John has been busy like a spinning top, never stopping. It's time to calm down and take a good look back.

John's biggest takeaway in the past year was that he finally had his own business. Whether in his past life or in this body, John has lived a somewhat muddy life, without a clear goal in life, and has been passively accepting the arrangement of fate. Now, John finally has a clear goal to strive for, and he is starting to put it into action. Although there were setbacks and ups and downs, it also brought him a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that John had never experienced before.

Over the past year, John has been almost completely obsessed with his dream of a logistics kingdom, and even sold his father's proud Bimore Manor and saddled a huge amount of bank debt. However, the company has initially embarked on the right track, although there is still some distance from profitability, but now the entire American business community is very optimistic about the development prospects of FedEx. In the past, no one or organization other than the United States Postal Service has established such a logistics network connecting major industrial cities across the United States. John has been seen as a pioneer and rule-maker in a whole new market segment.

However, in the first year of "freshness", John's achievements were gratifying, but there were also many hidden dangers. One of the biggest "time bombs" is that FedEx has not yet established a sound and effective management system. The company's frenzied expansion in the second half of last year was something that even John himself had not anticipated. This "brutal growth" has led to extreme confusion in the company's internal management. Melvin's previous unraveling of union chaos is just the tip of the iceberg. Just how to conduct performance reviews for the company's employees in hundreds of cities in dozens of states is about to make Walter go bald.

It turns out that the traditional industrial management model is not suitable for a new logistics company like FedEx, and John is now very much looking forward to McNamara's future "modern management" masters graduating from Harvard Business School as soon as possible. Maybe he should discuss with Dean Dunant and get these people to the company first in the name of internships. Even if it is to help him get the company's quantitative performance appraisal indicators first.

In addition, John's take-off career also had a side effect for him. That is, after he successfully entered the board of directors of the New York Central Railroad, the family bosses had higher and higher expectations for him. Now just 34 years old, he has one foot in the threshold of the family's decision-making level. This may seem to be able to secure him more resources for development, but it also brings more opponents, challenges and responsibilities. FedEx, for example, has been slow to enter the markets of Kansas and Texas, and the reason is inseparable from the decades-long conflict between the family and Pennsylvania Railroad, another railroad giant.

Not only in the business world, but also in the family power, he hopes that he will have some influence in the political arena in the future. Some time ago, John was almost pushed and pulled into Freemasonry by them, and in a little more than a month he would go to the White House to participate in the "spoils sharing conference" on behalf of the family. John has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of entering politics, but none of them believe it. They felt that in another ten years, when William retired, with the influence of FedEx at that time, it would be normal for John to enter politics and become a federal senator. After all, in the United States, politics, business, and academia are a revolving door, and identity transformation can be easily carried out between the three.

In addition to these, the current poor economic situation in the United States and the imminent war in Europe are also problems that John has to face cautiously. Although he had already made some plans, what happened in the past year told John that God would arrange some "surprises" for him at any time. In the tide of history, he wants to be alone, but it is not so easy.

Thinking of the future world war, the memory that John least wanted to touch came back to him. China's War of Resistance is now at its most severe, the Battle of Songhu has ended, and the tragic "Nanjing Massacre" is being staged. Unable to change the tragic fate of his "compatriots", John once chose to escape and deliberately avoid recalling this "history". However, the appearance of Cousin Reilly gave him back the courage to face reality. "Saving one person is like saving the whole world", even the Nazi businessman Schindler had this kind of awareness, and John was really sorry for the decades of cultivation of the "motherland" in later generations.

It seems that the preparatory work of the "White Mountain" brigade should be tightened a little faster. John decided to go to Hughes next week to discuss the purchase of airplanes, and to build the "American Volunteer Air Force for China" one day earlier, so that the lives of a group of more "compatriots" could be saved.

"Are you listening to me?" Finding that her husband had not responded, Adele looked up from his arms and asked with some disgust.

"Of course I'm listening." John lovingly brushed the hair from his wife's face and kissed her smooth forehead, "Although the situation in Europe is very chaotic, my father just wants to go back to France to live for a while, so you don't have to worry too much." ”

At this time, John suddenly remembered that he had promised Frederick to go to Europe to take over the family foundation, so he said to his wife: "If you still don't feel at ease, let's go to France with my father, you haven't been back for a long time." In June of this year, I happened to be going to Europe for business, and we were going to France together and we could go to a World Cup football match. Take Ella with you, we haven't taken her to Europe yet. ”

"Really?" Adele was so excited that she sat up and waved the cushions on the bed like a child, "This is amazing!" I've never dreamed of going back to Vieux Lyon. Johan, we can go together to the Church of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, as well as to the Opéra de Lyon and the Musée de Lyon. Oh, and there's White Apple Square, where the cafés are some of the best in the world! ”

"It's still a few months, my dear." John smiled and snatched the cushion from Adele's hand and patted her back soothingly, "You have time to make travel plans." It's not early today, so go to bed quickly. ”

"Well, good night dear. You're so nice! Adele kissed John, lay back into his arms, and closed her eyes with a smile.

Looking at his wife in his arms, rubbing her silky smooth skin, John suddenly realized that this home was his biggest gain of the year, wasn't it?