Chapter 121: Mr President, you are responsible

At noon, a special convoy drove out of the side gate of the Kremlin, led by a dark green jeep, followed by a black sedan, with an extended Lincoln limousine in the middle, and finally a sedan and a bus. 

The reason why he is considered special is because if the limousine in the middle is replaced with a bulletproof sedan, this convoy is a standard presidential convoy. However, in fact, even if there is a limousine in the middle, this is still a presidential convoy. President Nikolavich of Northern Russia and Maita are both in the car.

The reason is very simple: Maita's car is spacious enough, and as an American financial warfare expert, his car is also bulletproof. Of course, they also need to talk more in the car.

The convoy did not flash any sirens and quietly passed through Gele Street and went straight to the villa in the eastern suburb of Irbedorf. Zhou Ming and Irbedorf greeted them at the door. Nikolajevic and Maita got out of the car just in time to say hello. Zhou Ming warmly said to them, 'Mr. President and Mr. Maita are very welcome. We are preparing a barbecue here. As long as the two of you don't mind our unskilled cooking, you can come over and eat together.'

Faced with Zhou Ming's invitation, Nikolaevic and Mata had no choice but to follow Zhou Ming over first.

In the backyard of the villa, several frames had already been set up on the grass, with a huge parasol erected next to them. Tables and chairs were set up underneath, and Du Peng Suhan and Li Cheng Tonggang as well as the Kolkhodos were all gathered around the barbecue grill, preparing the barbecue themselves.

Seeing Zhou Ming leading Nikolaevich and Mata over, Li Cheng smiled and greeted them, saying, 'Mr. President, Mr. Mata, you're here. I've just grilled some lamb skewers. If you don't mind, please try them first and give me your feedback.'

'In fact, Chairman Li is very good at grilling meat, so I often joke that he must have grilled kebabs on the roadside in the past, and he must be a chef-level cook at home.' Zhou Ming smiled and recommended to them, 'In fact, many rich people are not disabled people who cannot take care of themselves. On the contrary, the richer they are, the higher their scores in various life skills. After all, they come into contact with all kinds of people, and you never know when you might need them.

In the business world, everyone sits face-to-face in a meeting room to negotiate, which is already the final stage. This is also a misconception perpetuated by TV dramas and movies. In reality, in many cases, socialising on the golf course or at a cocktail party is the key. For company executives to meet directly and go into the meeting room to exchange documents and start negotiations is the most basic and least efficient way.

Even the most ordinary salesperson knows to invite the client to a massage, foot bath and sauna, not to mention these wealthy people, who have even more ways to do it.

Even the much-criticised 'sumptuous feast' was attended by many wealthy people. The reason for this was not the number of beautiful women there, but the fact that those with private jets don't care about those green tea girls. Just throw a few million out, won't there be very fresh girls who will pack themselves up and deliver themselves to their beds?

For them, the most important thing about these banquets is socialising with each other and expanding their own social circles, because these are the capital of their wealth.

And on these occasions, whether it's calligraphy and painting at parties, or barbecues and playing sports outdoors, sometimes it's a means of expression. And Li Cheng, as a rising star in the Hong Kong city and also the future richest Chinese in the world, is even more of a leader. In his opinion, these skills of his may not come in handy, but when the time comes, he definitely won't be unable to do them.

It is for this reason that he only barbecues, but he will never show off his barbecue skills in front of the media. Even if he does, it will be interpreted as showmanship and remain unknown.

The maid of the villa walked over with a plate, and Zhou Ming took it and handed it to Nikolic and Maita. They both praised Li Cheng's barbecue skills after trying it.

The praise was a mixture of three parts flattery, three parts perfunctory, and of course three parts genuine deliciousness. After all, it was not difficult for Li Cheng, in his position, to find a barbecue master to learn from.

Zhou Ming sat under an umbrella with Nikolic and Maita, and Du Peng and Su Han followed. Li Cheng also put down the barbecue in his hands and handed it over to the chef next to him, and asked the maid to bring the prepared barbecue over.

They all sat around the table. Zhou Ming said to Nikolaevich, 'I know that people in northern Russia like to drink vodka, but we still have things to discuss later, so we won't drink spirits, just some beer.'

Nikolaevich smiled and said, 'Actually, it doesn't matter what we drink, as long as everyone is happy.'

While they were talking, the maid hired by the villa had already poured the beer and came up to give everyone a glass. Everyone first raised their glasses together.

As the first glass of beer went down, Zhou Ming spoke first: 'Mr. President, it's really good that you could come here today. Previously, I heard that you transported not new rubles but old rubles to the bank, and the oil field in Siberia that was originally planned for me has also been given to another company. I wanted to find out the situation from you, Mr. President, but you have been busy, which has made me and my partners anxious.'

Zhou Ming's words took both Nikolavich and Maita by surprise, because they had entered to see Zhou Ming to invite them to have some barbecue, and they had to be polite and wait for them to speak first. They didn't expect that Zhou Ming would get straight to the point as soon as they had finished their first glass of wine.

Facing Zhou Ming's questioning, Nikolaevich smiled awkwardly and said, 'I just learned about this situation as well. Our Northern Russian government is very trustworthy. Since an agreement has been signed, the transaction will definitely be completed no matter what. I believe there must be some kind of misunderstanding.'

After listening to Nikolic's explanation, Zhou Ming suddenly had a sudden realisation: 'So it was just a misunderstanding? I thought someone in the North Russian government had deliberately made a mistake at work, and the president wanted to investigate thoroughly and severely punish those who dared to meddle!'

Zhou Ming's words made Nikolic feel like vomiting blood. Everyone knew what was going on, and now Zhou Ming was saying this, obviously deliberately asking him to give an explanation.

Very often, words don't need to be said clearly, and this kind of carelessness is actually hard to defend against.

Of course, Nikolic could choose not to give an explanation, but then some of the cards would be revealed, which was not something he wanted to see. Therefore, Nikolic could only swallow his pride and say, 'Mr. Zhou Ming is absolutely right. This is what I originally planned to do. After all, my deal with Mr. Zhou Ming is very important. I will definitely not let go of those corrupt officials who dare to meddle here!'

Zhou Ming let out a long breath and said, 'I'm relieved to have this assurance from the President, because if things are really that bad in the Kremlin, I wouldn't dare to continue with the deal.'

Nikolaevich's facial muscles twitched a little, because what Zhou Ming said didn't sound like a relief to him, but rather like a slap in the face. It was only when he heard Zhou Ming's next words that he would have preferred if Zhou Ming had actually reached out and slapped him a few times.

'But that's not a big deal. After all, where does it say that mistakes can't be made? It's just that now that a mistake has been made, Mr President, we should at least do something about it, don't you think?'

Nikolaevich's heart sank, and he asked with great vigilance, 'What do you mean by that, Mr Zhou Ming?'

'It's like this, Mr President. No matter how the mistake happened, since it has already happened, let's not dwell on it anymore. But with so many old rubles delivered to the bank, we have to find a way to deal with them. After all, it was you, Mr President, who personally signed the abolition order.' Zhou Ming said.

Nikolaevich suddenly heard a sound of flesh being cut, and he understood what Zhou Ming was up to. He just wanted to find a way to get rid of all the old rubles he had collected through the Cherv Market. And what was most infuriating was that he knew exactly what Zhou Ming was up to, and saw the pit Zhou Ming had dug for him, but still, he had no choice but to jump in.

'Please rest assured, Mr. Zhou Ming. Since this is a mistake on our part, naturally we will be responsible for the old rubles. Mr. Zhou Ming can exchange all of these old rubles for new rubles at the exchange rate I originally stipulated,' said Nikolajevic.

Zhou Ming asked again, 'So can I exchange any old rubles?'

'Yes, because this was a mistake on our part, we must bear the responsibility and can exchange all the old rubles we shipped by mistake,' Nikolaevich said with gritted teeth.

'Mr. President is really magnanimous, this is the style of a great power, which makes me and other ordinary people from small countries admire you!'

Zhou Ming said with a smile, but this smile of his looked like the devil's to Nikolaevich, because even if Nikolaevich was stupid, he could understand that the old rubles that Zhou Ming would come to exchange in the future would definitely not be just the small amount that he had transported himself.

What's going on here! Obviously, I planned to take advantage of this Chinese guy, but now in the end, why have I instead become the benefactor who helped him dispose of the old rubles?

This result made Nikolic absolutely crazy, but in the end, he calmed down and asked Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I did make many mistakes on my end, but I heard that Mr. Zhou Ming's funds also did not arrive in our account, what is the explanation for this?'

Zhou Ming was startled by this question. He said in surprise, 'This is not right? I handed the cheque to the key account manager of the Swiss bank in front of Mr. Meta and Director Kasai. It was also inspected on the spot by that manager, Sean. How could it not have arrived yet?'

Meta finally spoke this time: 'But Mr. Zhou Ming, the money really hasn't arrived. Not only has the 100 million US dollars from Mr. Nikolaevich's side not arrived, the 20 million US dollars from my side has also not arrived.'

'I see.' Zhou Ming smiled, and that smile made both Metaxa and Nikolaevich feel uneasy.