Chapter 884 The Past is Like Smoke
Don't mention the past anymore. Life has been full of ups and downs. Even if the memories cannot be erased, the love and hate are all in the heart...
A deep melancholy welled up in Zhang Yong's heart, and familiar scenes flashed through his mind.
Zhang Yong took a big sip of wine, sighed, and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
Just now, Zhang Yong told Song Yuanchao and others that he had something to do tomorrow and had to leave first. In fact, it was just an excuse.
In fact, Zhang Yong was afraid that he would lose control of his emotions under the influence of alcohol. He was worried that he would not be able to control his thoughts and say something surprising or unpredictable, so he found a seemingly appropriate reason to say goodbye to Song Yuanchao and the others.
On the way back from the bar, Zhang Yong appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was already in turmoil.
The appearance of Song Yuanchao and Qin Zhengguo made him think of a lot of things, and the things suppressed in his heart began to loosen. When he returned home, Zhang Yong was still lingering with these thoughts. He almost wanted to make a phone call and tell his closest person about this, but before he finished dialing the number, Zhang Yong felt it was inappropriate, so he hung up the call.
After taking another sip of wine, Zhang Yong smiled bitterly and shook his head.
In front of Song Yuanchao, Zhang Yong talked about his life, his wife and children. Although he loved his wife and children, Zhang Yong also had concerns for his old friend. After not seeing each other for so many years, Zhang Yong's knot was not completely untied. He wanted to go back countless times to see how the person he once loved was doing now, even if it was just to take a look from a distance.
Perhaps in Zhang Yong's heart, this is an obsession. It does not conflict with his love for his wife and children. It is just an idea that Zhang Yong can never let go.
Apart from this matter, with the birth of Zhang Yong's two children, Zhang Yong has always wanted to take them back home, to burn incense and sweep the graves of his long-deceased parents, grandparents, and grandparents-in- law , to tell them that the Zhang family has descendants, so that they can rest assured in another world.
Fallen leaves return to their roots, this is the common idea of many Chinese who have been overseas for a long time. Although Zhang Yong has not been abroad for a long time, he also has such considerations. Especially for his children, Zhang Yong does not want to forget his roots like his wife Youxiang. As a Chinese, no matter where he goes, his roots are still in that land that he cares about.
That night, Zhang Yong got himself drunk and didn't know how he fell asleep.
Zhang Yong finally woke up at dawn the next day. Looking at the empty bottle of red wine beside him, he shook his head with a self-deprecating smile, then got up and went to the bathroom.
Zhang Yong was busy all day. There was one thing he did not lie to Song Yuanchao and the others. His trip to Italy to watch the World Cup was indeed a coincidence, and the main reason was the business here.
Now, Zhang Yong is the actual head of the Raymondo family. Shortly after marrying Yuxiang, Zhang Yong integrated the mining companies owned by the couple and took control of the industry without much effort.
Then, Zhang Yong's talent and vision in business shocked the Raymondo family. In just less than a year, the assets of the mining company doubled, and obtained a richer return than before. In addition, Zhang Yong had a strong judgment on international financial and mineral fluctuations. He used the fluctuations in international price trends to judge future trends in advance and decisively adopted a series of business operations.
In just three years, Zhang Yong used capital operations, business mergers and acquisitions, industry suppression, mining alliances and other means to enable the mining company to develop rapidly. Its assets increased several times, and it grew from a small mining company into a large-scale company, which attracted the attention of the Raymondo family.
With the support of Yuxiang's uncle, Mr. Raymondo, Zhang Yong officially entered the Raymondo family business. After completing another very successful business operation, the Raymondo family unanimously recognized Zhang Yong's business talents, thus allowing him to ascend to the position of head of the family.
After taking control of the Raymondo family business, Zhang Yong made drastic adjustments to the overall industry, decisively divesting and selling some industries with low returns or long-term losses, and then concentrating his efforts on key industries such as mining and metallurgy.
In addition, Zhang Yong is not limited to Bolivia. He takes the initiative to find suitable partners all over the world to open up new markets. Among them, the Italian partner is one of Zhang Yong’s important overseas industry partners. Due to the influence of Italy and France in North Africa, Zhang Yong’s tentacles have extended to Africa. At the same time, the main industrial structure has also extended from a single mining and metallurgy to the energy direction.
Zhang Yong's business grew bigger and bigger, and he also gave back to the Raymondo family. With his support, Yuxiang's uncle Raymondo received support from his party and successfully entered the Senate and became a member of the upper house.
Political rewards also prompted the continuous growth of the family business. Today, the Raymondo family's business has become one of the giants in Bolivia's mining industry. However, Zhang Yong did not focus all his energy on the Raymondo family's business. After all, although he is a member of the Raymondo family, Zhang Yong knows very well that as a Chinese, even though he has been married to Yuka for many years and has children, he is still an outsider in the Raymondo family.
In the past two years, there have been problems within the Raimondo family, including some members of the Raimondo family being dissatisfied with Zhang Yong, an outsider, controlling the family business and becoming the head. Zhang Yong himself understands this, so he has been expanding outward in the past two years, gradually transferring the assets he directly controls through outward investment, and separating from the Raimondo family.
If nothing unexpected happens, Zhang Yong will resign from his current position as chairman at an appropriate time and return the Raymondo family's assets to the Raymondo family.
Zhang Yong discussed this issue with Youxiang privately. Although Youxiang was not interested in business, she unconditionally supported Zhang Yong's decision. And now Youxiang is very happy, with a capable husband, cute children and a happy family. For a traditional woman who loves art, what could make her more satisfied than these?
After seeing off the visiting guests, Zhang Yong felt a little free. He went to the balcony of his study and looked at the scenery in the distance.
It was unknown how much time had passed before the housekeeper knocked on the door and walked in, telling Zhang Yong that the guest he had made an appointment with had arrived.
"Let him in. By the way, make a pot of black tea and some snacks." Zhang Yong turned and said to the housekeeper.
The butler responded and retreated. A moment later, he brought a guest into the study. Zhang Yong looked at the visitor and stood there with a smile, but did not take the initiative to step forward. He just extended his hand.
"Hello, Mr. Zhang. Nice to meet you." The visitor was a Westerner in his forties. He was mostly bald and spoke not very fluent Spanish with a British accent. You could tell he was British right away.
"Me too. Please take a seat, Mr. Miebach." Zhang Yong shook hands with the other party and pointed to the sofa beside him.
The two men sat down separately, and the servants brought them tea and snacks. It is a tradition for the British to have afternoon tea, and Zhang Yong specially prepared these to cater to this Mibach.
"The tea is really good, and the snacks are delicious too. Thank you very much for your hospitality." After taking a sip of black tea and tasting the snacks, Mibach smiled and expressed his gratitude to Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong said a polite word, and then chatted with Mibach. They talked about the World Cup currently being held in Italy, discussed the situation of each national team, and speculated on the teams that would qualify from the next group stage.
After chatting for a while, Zhang Yong finally got to the point and asked about the current progress of what Mibach had mentioned before.
Mibach told Zhang Yong that the previous matters had almost been dealt with. He had contacted several interested nobles in the UK, three of whom were willing to cooperate with Zhang Yong, and all three had given specific intentions. It was up to Zhang Yong to make his choice.
As he spoke, Mibach took out a document from his briefcase and handed it over. On it was the specific information of the three nobles. Zhang Yong took it and looked at it carefully. After looking at it for a moment, he nodded slightly, then took out a piece of paper and put it aside.
"Forget about this. I don't think it's appropriate."
Mibach glanced at the information and nodded: "Mr. Zhang, you are right. This one is indeed a little worse than the other two. So what are your considerations for the remaining two...?"
Zhang Yong looked at the remaining two carefully, and then asked Miebach about the details. Miebach had already prepared and answered one by one. After listening to Miebach's answer, Zhang Yong thought for a while and said, "I need to think about it. I will give you an answer tomorrow, okay?"
"Of course no problem. I'll wait for your reply." Mibach stood up and said respectfully. Zhang Yong stood up and shook hands with the other party, then personally escorted him out of the study, and then the servant led Mibach away.
After Mibach left, Zhang Yong returned to the study and continued to look at the information in his hand, thinking silently in his mind.
This is the information of two nobles, one of whom is a viscount and the other a baron, and both are members of the British House of Lords.
Viscount Bach and Baron Andrew are both members of the House of Lords, which is the parliament of aristocrats. Although the House of Lords has long lost its power, its status in the UK still exists.
Nowadays, many ordinary British aristocrats are not living a good life. Many aristocratic descendants have almost squandered their family's original rich fortunes due to various reasons such as being prodigals or failed investments. For example, the two people under Zhang Yong's command are down-and-out aristocrats. Nominally, one is a viscount and the other a baron, but in fact, they live a very difficult life because a failed investment some time ago exhausted the last of their family wealth, and now they don't even have enough money to maintain their dignity as aristocrats.
