Chapter 46: The omnipresent Chinese

The gate of the villa was wide open, and a very ordinary Volga car drove in. It was unremarkable, and perhaps some people would be curious about where this newcomer came from, but most people just glanced at it and then forgot about it. After all, at this rare banquet, the most important thing was to socialise, expand one's network, and enlarge one's circle. As for this newcomer, he was here for the banquet anyway, and there would be time to find him later.

This way of thinking is not wrong, but these people would never have imagined that the most important figure at this banquet was sitting in this ordinary Volga.

This car is Zhou Ming's car. According to the rules, the car was parked at a designated location before Zhou Ming and the others got out.

At this time, the banquet had not yet started, but everyone was chatting and laughing over there, gathered in groups of three or five, chatting, drinking, or singing, while others played golf on the lawn. It was a lively scene.

This is a real high society banquet. Of course, when Zhou Ming was in Hong Kong, he had not participated in this kind of banquet. After all, Lin Muqing was also a person of a certain status in Hong Kong, and he knew Li Cheng himself. He also had connections with the two world shipowners. It was very easy to get the qualifications to participate in this kind of banquet. However, those were all national banquets, and a banquet with a group of really blond foreigners felt completely different.

'This is the Kuren Manor, the private villa of Irbedov. Most of the people here today have gained a lot in this privatisation reform process, and those people over there make paper.'

Katerina whispered to Zhou Ming and gave him a few names. Zhou Ming looked at Katerina in surprise. It wasn't that the people she introduced were that impressive, but none of these people had ever heard of Zhou Ming.

You have to know that Zhou Ming has been in Northern Russia for quite some time now. During his time in Northern Russia, Zhou Ming has not been idle, constantly recharging himself. He has heard of various well-known people in Northern Russia, especially those who have emerged during this privatisation reform.

Due to historical reasons, the allocation of resources in Northern Russia is mainly based on heavy industry from the war, and other civilian and light industries are very poor. Therefore, no matter how powerful these so-called paper industry kings are in their fields, they are still quite a few grades worse when placed in the overall environment of the entire country. Otherwise, they would not have been pushed to the very edge at this banquet.

Zhou Ming sometimes thinks that it is already pretty good that he can remember so many people, but he is still quite a bit worse than Katerina. God knows how she remembers these not-so-famous people. Does she have a naturally good memory, or is there some special reason for her?

Katerina is very familiar with everything in Northern Russia and the Soviet Union, and she is also valued by the Dota Project. That Davie even tried several times to provoke a relationship between herself and her in order to get her to go back and help them is what makes Zhou Ming curious.

But curiosity aside, everyone has their secrets. Kareina is a person with a story, and she and I are not that familiar with each other, so Zhou Ming did not ask.

'It seems that he still takes your matter very seriously,' Kareina said, 'but we notified his butler when we were coming over, so why hasn't he come to greet you yet?'

'He's already come over,'

Zhou Ming said, and pointed in a direction for Katerina to look. Katerina looked in the direction Zhou Ming pointed, and it seemed to be the core area of the banquet, as there were a lot of people there, and occasionally she could see a few emerging businessmen who had emerged in the North Russian market.

Originally, everyone there was chatting, but at this time there was some movement there, and everyone was looking inside and talking, as if someone important was about to come out.

Then the crowd parted, and sure enough, Irbedov walked out. He came up to Zhou Ming and took the initiative to shake Zhou Ming's hand and said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, on behalf of myself and all my compatriots here at the banquet, I warmly welcome you to our banquet!'

Zhou Ming also smiled and said to him, 'I am also very grateful to Mr. Irbedov for giving me this opportunity to see your banquet and to meet so many elites from Northern Russia.'

Irbeldov also smiled. Then he turned to all the people at the banquet and introduced Zhou Ming very seriously: 'This is Mr. Zhou Ming, the most important guest I invited!'

Irbeldov's emphatic introduction immediately caused an uproar, because everyone thought that whoever could be treated so seriously by him must be a very important official. However, no one expected it to be such an unfamiliar Chinese person. Was he an agent sent by China or something else? Even if he was the descendant of a high-ranking Chinese official, he wouldn't be treated like this.

Just as everyone was puzzled, a sudden exclamation rang out: 'So you're the Chinese guy who broke into Hotel One!'

This sentence made everyone suddenly understand. Many of them didn't know who Zhou Ming was, but they had a deep impression of the Chinese guy who broke into the conference hall of Hotel One that day.

This banquet was so important that Irbedov had invited very respectable businessmen from Northern Russia, most of whom had attended the meeting at Hotel No. 1. They all knew that the meeting had been called by a very powerful person, with the aim of coercing and enticing them to support the Dota Project.

And it was at that meeting that a Chinese man suddenly barged in and, in just a few words, made the person in charge of the Dota Project leave in a huff.

Zhou Ming only appeared at that meeting for a short while before hastily leaving, and did not stay for long, but the impression he left on these Northern Russian businessmen was astonishing.

Just as Chinese people see Westerners' faces as similar, Westerners also see yellow-skinned faces as similar, so they did not recognise Zhou Ming at first. It was not until someone shouted out that everyone suddenly reacted: this person is that Zhou Ming from the other day, it was he who defeated Mr. David of the Tower Project and made Mr. David leave in disgrace.

But while everyone was thinking this, another surprised shout rang out: 'You're that Chinese guy? I saw you at the White House! You're the one who invited President Mr. Nikolic for vodka and caviar! You're the one who made Mr. Nikolic create that miracle of a tank speech that day.'

This time it was a Northern Russian trade official who spoke. Reforms in this area were similar to the situation at home, and many officials used their connections and power to go into business for themselves. He was one of them, which is why he was at this banquet today, and everyone believed what he said.

But if the exclamation of surprise that broke into Hotel No. 1 earlier had only made everyone suddenly realize something, then the exclamation of the red-capped businessman left everyone dumbfounded.

Because if they were to vote for the event that had the greatest impact on Northern Russia this century, they would definitely choose the speech that Northern Russian President Nikolavich gave from the tank. Perhaps that speech was just one of many Nikolavich gave, but it started a new era in Northern Russia, especially the beginning of privatisation reforms. If it weren't for privatisation reforms, they would never have had the opportunity to make as much money as they have now.

It was for this reason that they held this event and even Nikolayevich himself in high esteem. They had thought that this event was the pride of the people of Northern Russia, but now that they heard this, they suddenly realised, how was this event also involved with this Chinese person?

These people had also heard something about the background to Nikolayevich's tank speech. It seemed that President Nikolayevich had drunk too much that day, and coupled with being egged on, that was why he climbed onto the tank to give that speech.

Now that he said so, was it this Chinese man who brought in the wine and caviar and got Mr Nikolic drunk, so that he gave that tank speech?

This answer sounded fine, but it was unacceptable to everyone, because it was just too ridiculous. How could such a major event, which affected the entire alliance, be treated so lightly?

But what made them feel even more disarrayed than the ridiculousness of the matter was that they could not imagine who this Chinese man named Zhou Ming really was. What was his identity? How did it feel like he was everywhere in Northern Russia? How was it that he was involved in everything?

Looking at the surprise and confusion on everyone's faces, Katerina said proudly, 'Yes, all of this was done by Mr. Zhou Ming, whether it was Mr. Nikolayevich's tank speech or later at Hotel Number One when he drove away the invaders from the Western countries. It is because he was sent by God to change our country, otherwise Mr. Il'yev would not have attached such importance to his arrival.'

After Kalelina finished speaking, Irbedov immediately said over there, 'That's right, whether it's those Western countries maliciously buying up privatised securities that originally belonged to us, or talking with President Mr. Nikolaevich, what's more important is that today, Mr. Zhou Ming honoured us by attending our banquet, because he still has to help us with a grand plan for the future. Let's welcome his arrival with the warmest applause!'

Listening to the praise from Kalina and Irbedov, Zhou Ming actually blushed quite a bit for himself, because he is not as great as they say. To put it bluntly, he is just like those Western countries they mentioned, coming to plunder their wealth.

But although Zhou Ming blushed, these Northern Russians in front of him all believed it. Under Irbedov's call, they all applauded for Zhou Ming desperately.

These people applauded and cheered for Zhou Ming at the same time: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, you are really amazing! I never expected that without knowing it, you have done so much for us. You are our saviour in Northern Russia! We all welcome you very much!'

Zhou Ming waved to them in greeting, with a reserved smile on his face. After all, this was someone else's place. Besides, Zhou Ming knew very well that these people were cheering for him more out of respect for Irbedov. As for the things about himself, it wasn't that they didn't believe him, it was just that compared to Irbedov, the future financial oligarch, those things didn't have such a deep and intuitive feeling.