Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 312 In 1980, Mr. Zheng returned to his hometown

Life is long with books, short without books. Time is like the plumpness of a young girl. In a blink of an eye, thirty years have passed.

At Fuzhou Airport in Fujian, a private plane from Southeast Asia slowly landed and docked.

"Grandpa? Grandpa? Grandpa!!"

"Huh? Ah, ah ah ah, we're here."

Zheng Yi was pushed awake by his granddaughter. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and took a handkerchief from the beautiful flight attendant next to him to wipe his hands.

"Really? Grandpa, you've been sleeping since you got on the plane. Didn't you promise to introduce IBM to me on the plane?"

"Ah~, there's nothing I can do about it. This is what happens when you get older. I always sleep during the day and can't sleep at night."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi glanced out the window at Fuzhou Airport and the primary school students wearing red scarves and holding flowers in their hands who were lining up to welcome him.

"Sir, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Department and local Fujian leaders are waiting for you."

"Wasn't it supposed to be a private visit? Why are you making such a big deal about it? Honestly, I'm not in the mood for a formal visit right now."

"Mr. Zheng, you're joking. If this were an official visit, it wouldn't just be the Fujian leaders who would come to pick you up."

"Hey~"

Zheng Yi stood up with the help of his hands on the armrest. His granddaughter, the flight attendant, quickly reached out to support him, but after he stood up, Zheng Yi paused.

"What's wrong, Grandpa?"

"I need to pee first before I go down."

"........."

Thirty years have passed, and Zheng Yi is almost seventy years old, a real old man. Although his body is relatively healthy with careful maintenance, his prostate is a little rebellious, and he urinates frequently and can't hold it back.

Although it's not too serious, he is such a big shot and often has really important things to discuss. It's not good to always have to go to the toilet in the middle of a conversation.

"Grandpa, let me support you."

"Yeah, okay, okay."

This woman is his granddaughter Zheng Xiao'e, and the eldest daughter of his and Li Jiazhi's eldest daughter. She is 22 years old and just graduated from university. Because her father is an American, she also has American citizenship, and her Chinese name is her mother's surname.

She studied business administration at Harvard. In Zheng Yi's opinion, this kind of school and this kind of major is just for getting by. In Zheng Yi's opinion, she won't learn any real skills. This girl is not a very powerful person, so he just went there to make friends.

Originally, her father, her son-in-law, Steven Rockefeller, wanted her to stay in the United States to work, but her grandmother was becoming increasingly disdainful of the Rockefeller family, so she forcibly took her granddaughter away and asked her to temporarily serve as a secretary to Zheng Yi to hone her skills.

He is usually responsible for taking care of Zheng Yi's daily life and occasionally helps with official and government affairs.

Although in fact Zheng Yi hasn't taken care of any specific business matters seriously for a long time.

He is now basically a mascot, or a spiritual leader, in Southeast Asia, and even in the entire SAARC. He only makes symbolic appearances on important occasions, occasionally conveying some guiding ideas to the top leaders of SAARC and determining some major policies.

All other specific matters were handed over to his children or confidants. He had not even held any actual position for a long time. The current chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is Li Jianqiao.

Even Li Jianqiao is about to retreat to the second line. This kid is almost sixty years old and is actually not much younger than him.

After a while, Zheng Yi came out after draining the water. He washed his hands briefly and couldn't help complaining while wiping his hands: "By the way, didn't David say he wanted to come to China too? When will he come? Actually, we are very suitable to work together."

Zheng Xiao'e: "David? Who, who?"

"That's your...father's fifth uncle. You should call him Fifth Uncle."

"Um...oh, I'm not sure. I haven't seen Fifth Grandpa for many years. His heart doesn't seem to be in good condition."

"Really? Having too many children is really troublesome."

Zheng Xiao'e covered her mouth and laughed when she heard this: "Grandma has been saying this a lot lately."

"Hey~, are your dad and mom okay?"

"It's okay. If nothing unexpected happens, they can get a divorce within this year. Now they are both living their own lives."

"Hey, your mom, I told her not to always listen to your grandma. As for life, your dad is actually a good person. Life is all you have to live. Why make yourself so tired? It makes our family look like nouveau riche."

The couple's marriage was a purely political alliance, intended to strengthen their family's ties with the Rockefeller family. Steven Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller's son, should have entered the political arena. Instead, the child, for some unknown reason, first took up philosophy, then developed an interest in environmental protection, and began to criticize fossil fuels for polluting the environment.

He didn't even think about what his family did, which caused a lot of trouble between him and his family.

Moreover, in Li Jiazhi's view, such people are typical of those who are not enterprising and seem to have no ambition. Although they have made certain achievements, with the surname Rockefeller, even a pig can fly.

Zheng Yi, while washing his hands, chattered on, "I actually think your father is quite good. When I decided to have more children and establish a family foundation, I was learning from the Rockefeller family. Now that our family is finally thriving, I still think the Rockefeller family is quite good."

"As for human life, there's no need to be so grand. Our family isn't some royal family. We don't have to pass it down from generation to generation, or even have each generation be better than the last. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"Your grandfather, I was able to catch the trend of the times and make it to the great era. I am a special case in myself. In our family, it is normal for each generation to be worse than the previous one. Instead of thinking about how to advance, future generations should learn from Rockefeller and think about how to retreat."

"Our family's situation is different from your father's. It's more like the Morgan family. My own share of the SAARC has shrunk to 4.7%. When Cambridge and I step down, we shouldn't occupy the position of SAARC chairman. Shouldn't we give others a chance?"

Of course, although the proportion is getting lower and lower, this is because more and more people are joining the SAARC group. Today's SAARC is essentially a collection of global multinational companies. Those from Southeast Asia, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, India, and even the Soviet Union have now become part of SAARC.

With more people, Zheng Yi's part will naturally be diluted.

But in fact, the shares indirectly controlled by Zheng Yi, that is, indirect shareholdings, cross-shareholdings, etc., as well as shares controlled through relative controlling rights, are still probably more than 25%. Even Fortune magazine finds it difficult to estimate how much money Zheng Yi has. Anyway, he is definitely the richest man in the world, and he is far ahead of the second place.

As people get older, they become conservative, and Zheng Yi is no exception. In particular, he knows very well that most of his achievements today are due to his identity as a time traveler, so naturally he begins to think that the Rockefeller family has done a good job.

To some extent, this is actually the difference between a nouveau riche and a true aristocrat. Zheng Yi and his wives have different views on this aspect.

After all, he, the first generation, is still alive in their family. The second generation is in charge now, and most of the third generation have not yet begun to show their talents or are even still in school.

The backbone of the Rockefeller family is now the fourth generation. The first generation created the business, the second generation laid the foundation, the third generation reached the peak, and the fourth generation began to decline. This is an objective law that is inevitable for almost any family.

Of course, it was also because there were too many children in their family by this generation, so Rockefeller's strategy was to treat everyone equally and establish multiple Rockefeller Foundations to ensure that every member of the Rockefeller family could receive at least millions of dollars in pocket money every year.

But if you want more, there is no more. Most of the family's assets are now deposited in an "irrevocable trust". This ensures that even if most family members indulge in gambling and prostitution, a few million dollars in pocket money each year is enough for them to live comfortably.

Moreover, most of the fourth and fifth generations of the Rockefeller family do choose a more sedentary life, engaging in art, education, philosophy, film and television, whatever they like, and donating large sums of charitable donations to the world every year to wash away the notoriety when the family wealth was accumulated.

As for who controls those funds and what they have invested in, the outside world has only a vague idea about it and is very secretive. When these third generations are still making high-profile appearances, or to be more precise, after old David's death, no one knows who is in control of this family fund that once dominated the entire United States.

This is actually quite good. Among the four, five, and six generations of the Rockefeller family, it can be said that none of them has achieved more than the three generations and five brothers. However, they are very happy, peaceful, and joyful.

This family, which was once at the center of controversy, can continue to thrive and prosper in such a low-key manner without having to worry about a prodigal son appearing in the family.

If you are really capable and can use the millions of dollars your father gives you every year to achieve something, no one will stop you. But with this amount of money and the reputation of the Rockefeller family, if you cannot start a successful business and make a name for yourself, then no matter how much money you are given, it will be useless.

Of course, everyone has different problems. The third generation of the Zheng family has ambition written all over their faces. Besides, although he has many women, his descendants are not as prosperous as the Rockefeller family.

With fewer people, each person naturally has more money to control.

As he spoke, Zheng Yi wiped his hands and couldn't help but mutter as he stepped off the plane, "I don't know how much longer I can live. After all, I'm almost seventy. Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. I can only tell you, tell you, China, China, China, China is the future of us Nanyang Chinese and our Zheng family. If you want to achieve something, come and invest in China. But look, do they listen?"

"This... hehe, ha."

Zheng Xiao'e could only laugh dryly upon hearing this.

Zheng Yi also imitated Rockefeller in training his descendants, that is, giving each of his sons and grandsons a large sum of money and letting them work on their own. Whoever achieved success would go to work in the Southern Alliance.

Because it is all a test, the money itself is not much, only about 30 to 50 million US dollars a year, and no one is willing to invest this real money.

Although Zheng Yi has been talking about how good the country is and how promising it is, subjectively, young people today think that the older generation is not very trusting of it because of so-called sentimentality.

It is no secret in Southeast Asia that Zheng Yi is a bit patriotic.

But he was a new generation of immigrants after all, and his descendants were all born in Southeast Asia and had never been to China in their lives. Objectively speaking, if Zheng Yi had not required them to learn Chinese, the younger generation would probably only be able to speak Chinese but not write it.

If it weren't for him, I might even have forgotten to mention those little things.

Then naturally I have no feelings for my country.

From a purely rational analysis perspective, China in 1980 could indeed be called a capital desert. Even if they wanted to invest, they lacked the channels, and there was no basic soil for cross-border investment.

In fact, Zheng Yi also knew this, and he was also very clear that the reason these domestic leaders attached so much importance to him was that they hoped he could help improve the investment environment.

Of course, he didn't want to do anything serious now. In name, he came back to his hometown to worship his ancestors.

(End of this chapter)