1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 752 The Passage to Attack Japan!

In the indoor swimming pool, 17-year-old Sophie, 18-year-old Yeri, and 20-year-old Monica are playing.

When Sophie saw the man walk in, a rare hint of excitement appeared on her face.

Perhaps of the three, only she herself knew what their true purpose was in coming to the United States.

After all, as an old acquaintance of Vic, and even a witness to Adjani and Vic's "relationship", she was assigned a task by Adjani early on: to act as a mediator between the two.

Although Li Changhe was amazed that Adjani had actually found them all, he didn't linger. He simply smiled at them, nodded, and then walked over to Adjani, who was lying to the side.

"Who is he? Sophie?"

Seeing Sophie's posture, Yerry asked curiously in French.

"Victor!"

"Our future boss!"

Sophie said softly.

"Oh, he really is a very handsome Eastern man, he seems like some kind of Eastern prince."

Yeri couldn't help but praise him at this moment.

"So, if I asked you to be her lover, would you be willing?"

Monica's sudden words made both of them look over in surprise.

Although Sophie Marceau and Yerry were communicating in French, Monica actually understood them.

During this time, the three women were studying English in California, but Monica's progress in French was actually faster than her progress in English, since Italian and French share a lot of grammar and vocabulary.

"Monica, why would you think that?"

Sophie asked in surprise, as she hadn't yet revealed this to either of them.

“It’s very simple. Although we were signed by Isabelle Adjani, I’ve never heard of any other new signing getting such good treatment and living in Beverly Hills.”

“When I was in Italy, I also worked as a part-time model. Those model agents wanted to squeeze every penny out of you and then use your body as capital for their advancement.”

"I think you all know this in the French film industry: when casting roles, the producers don't just look at whether you have acting skills. Otherwise, why would you have been rejected so many times, Yerry?"

“Isaac Adjani brought us to Los Angeles, she must have her reasons. I used to wonder what they were, but seeing this man, I suddenly felt that it might be because of him!”

Monica said this with great confidence.

She was a proper college student, and the oldest among them. Her dreamlike life had made her feel somewhat unreal, but when she saw who it was, she immediately guessed the truth.

"Since you knew that, why did you still come?"

Sophie asked in surprise.

"Why wouldn't I come? Isabelle Adjani offered such a high price and promised to take me to Hollywood and sign with Universal Pictures. These are conditions that many people can only dream of."

"Of course, I didn't know any of this at first. I thought it was a delicious pie falling from the sky, but I gradually guessed it later. As for you, Sophie, it seems like you knew all along."

Monica had actually suspected the truth for a long time, but she only asked the question now that she saw the person in person.

"I met him once two years ago, and he's a real big shot!"

Sophie Marceau then said in a low voice.

"Oh? A big shot? How big?"

Monica asked curiously.

Sophie Marceau looked at Monica and said thoughtfully, "The guests of presidents from various countries, the behind-the-scenes controller of MCA, the famous Bosac Group, including famous brands such as Dior and Cartier, are all his businesses."

"And this is only part of it. As far as I know, he has many more assets, but those are beyond my reach. In short, Maria told me that Vic is one of the most powerful beings in all of humanity."

Yeli, standing to the side, was completely dumbfounded. She didn't know who this Victor was, but she knew who this Maria was. And Dior and Cartier, weren't they all famous French brands? So they were all owned by that man?
"Um, Sophie, are you sure you're talking about him, and not his family?"

Monica asked in surprise.

Sophie nodded: "It's confirmed, it's his, not his family's. In fact, I heard that his family are shipping magnates in Asia, owning the largest fleet in the world, but they don't have much of a relationship with Vic."

“Vic himself seems to be a banker, the kind of banker who is very powerful in the United States. The companies I mentioned seem to be his investments.”

Sophie Marceau didn't know much about venture capital, since in the 1980s, venture capital was a newly emerging industry and not widely known to the world.

Therefore, Sophie Marceau can only be described as a banker.

After listening to Sophie Marceau's words, Monica and Yerry understood, since bankers were often portrayed as wealthy figures in European literature.

"So, do we have to become his mistress?"

Yeri asked hesitantly at this moment.

Sophie shook her head.

“No, Adjani said it’s up to you. Neither Adjani nor Vic will force you to do anything. Even if you want to leave now, she won’t stop you.”

"Well, in this respect, Vic is actually quite conservative, or rather, he's reserved like most people from the East. He doesn't have many lovers. I've heard Maria talk about it; even in Europe, it seems that he only has Isabelle, and it was Isabelle who took the initiative."

"I think I've overheard some incredible secret?"

Monica then smiled and said.

Sophie realized she had let something slip and quickly covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I can't say more about this. In short, Easterners value loyalty. If you decide to follow Vic, you must remain loyal emotionally. Of course, Adjani has said that if you ever feel that you have met your true love, you can also ask to leave."

Sophie said softly at this moment.

Monica looked at Sophie, a smile playing on her lips: "The 'we' you're talking about doesn't seem to include you!"

“When I first met him, his image filled my mind. You didn’t see it then, but it was a very high-level banquet in France, and Vic was there.” Just as Sophie Marceau was recounting her encounter with Li Changhe, Li Changhe also came to Adjani’s side.

"I didn't expect you to actually find them all."

“Vic, as long as you have money, there’s nothing you can’t find. Monica may not be famous, but she knows how to use her beauty to work as a model and earn money, so it’s easy to find someone in the modeling industry by spending some money.”

“I have scouted all three of them. They all have a certain talent for acting. Of course, the most talented one is Sophie. Her talent is no less than mine. The other two are also quite good.”

"As for the rest, Vic, that depends on your own charm!"

Adjani said with a smile that although she liked this man very much, she knew very well that this kind of high and mighty man was not someone she could control.

Therefore, instead of passively waiting to be kicked out by Vic, it's better to first find a way to increase your importance in the other person's eyes.

I also want to find some companions to keep me company while I pass the time.

"Let's talk about it later. I need to rest now, and then I'll go to New York!"

Li Changhe is not in a hurry to make a move on Sophie and the others. In fact, at Li Changhe's current level, beauty is no longer a scarce resource for him, but rather an abundant one.

Because nowadays, there are very few women of the opposite sex around him who are not good-looking. Even the waitresses he meets when he goes out to eat are all very beautiful.

In Europe and America, this is even more true. The only attraction that Sophie Marceau and others have for Li Changhe now is nothing more than the rarity of things that he could only dream of in his previous life.

In the past life, you could only look at photos, but in this life, you can sleep next to someone. That's pretty much it.

Apart from that, there are no emotions or anything like that.

Seeing Li Changhe leave on his own, Sophie Marceau and the others were somewhat disappointed. They had thought that since Adjani had gone to great lengths to bring them here, this important figure would at least show some respect. But now it seemed that in Li Changhe's eyes, they were truly dispensable.

The next day, after adjusting to the time difference, Li Changhe arrived early in downtown Los Angeles. There, he found a huge commercial plaza and construction site, which was Li Changhe's investment in Los Angeles three years ago, including the future Lakers arena, the "loong" plaza.

The reason it's called this is because the first building constructed here was a 60-story, 220-meter-tall skyscraper, which will be the future headquarters of [LONNG] Technology Company. This is also one of the headquarters for Li Changhe's future business in the United States.

The reason for not building higher is that Los Angeles is located in an earthquake zone, and I.M. Pei did not recommend building too high. Moreover, the higher the building, the more it would cost and the longer it would take to build, which would not be cost-effective for Li Changhe.

He doesn't need to build any landmark buildings in the United States, and they don't have to be very tall.

This is why the building was able to be completed in just over three years. Of course, this is only the first phase of the project; the remaining plazas and sports stadiums are still under construction.

Meanwhile, the top executives of [Long] Technology Company had gathered in the conference room. Today, they were going to show their chairman the first computer they had developed.

In fact, it had been almost three years since the establishment of [loong] Technology Company, but they had not yet launched their company's decisive product. They had only launched a few simple prototypes on the market before, and after receiving feedback, they began to continue to improve them.

After three years of hard work, it's time for them to showcase their results.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Li Changhe stepped into the conference room and looked at the group of company executives who had arrived long ago.

"let's start!"

Li Changhe gave Anna an order, and soon, the company's president, Galino, began to demonstrate for Li Changhe.

With Li Changhe's visionary for the future of technology, the computers from [Longng] Technology Company possess a multi-layered dominance over this era.

"Boss, we compared our product with Apple's latest Mac computer, and we far surpass theirs in both practicality and entertainment."

"Our Office suite can support more business word processing tasks, and our built-in game driver can also be used with a variety of exclusive games for entertainment. For this reason, we will sell different game floppy disks together!"

What about the initial price?

After listening to Galino's explanation, Li Changhe asked seriously.

"If it's just the computer itself, we're going to price it at $2699, and each game floppy disk will cost $99."

At this point, Gallino announced the price set by the company.

This price is slightly more expensive than Apple's Macintosh computer, but not by much; an Apple Macintosh computer costs $2495.

"My suggestion is to temporarily sell some of the game floppy disks along with the computers. Of course, you can give some away as gifts and then sell the rest later."

"But all in all, games are one of our main selling points. There's no need to add those dollars to that selling point. Think about it, the profit we make from selling just one more computer is more than the profit from selling ten floppy disks."

At this moment, Li Changhe gave instructions to Gallino and the company's senior management.

No one present dared to object to the boss's words; they simply carried them out.

After observing all of this, Li Changhe got up and left. For him, this meeting was just something he attended incidentally; the real meeting was still upstairs.

Li Changhe gave the bottom ten floors and the top five floors of the Long Building to the Mandarin Oriental, allowing them to open the first Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Los Angeles.

The middle five floors were handed over to the computer company, and the three floors above were given to Li Changhe's speculative institution. Of course, this was just a branch; the core was still on Wall Street.

Today, Li Changhe's most important task is to meet with the California consortium.

At 11:00 a.m., the California consortium members arrived at the conference room, greeted Li Changhe, and then took their seats.

“James, you called this gathering, so you go first.”

In the conference room, Li Changhe looked at James of Bank of America and said with a smile.

James nodded, then looked at the crowd.

"Gentlemen, what I'm about to say is that we are about to launch a real attack on Japan."

"Since the President's visit to Japan last October, the President has raised the issue of revising the low value of the yen. The Ministry of Finance has also begun negotiations with the Ministry of Finance of Japan. So far, the two sides have held five rounds of negotiations, and the sixth round is underway."

"What we know so far is that Japan has agreed to open up securities joint ventures. In fact, Morgan Stanley opened a securities company in a joint venture with Nomura Securities, Japan's largest securities company, last year."

"What we need to do now is to also set up our investment institutions in Japan, so that we can truly control our funds freely."

James excitedly addressed the crowd present.

For financial professionals, having their own securities firm means they can fully manage their funds and have free access to the Japanese financial system. For James and his team, doesn't this mean the real attack is about to begin?
(End of this chapter)