In St. Petersburg, Simon finished the call with Amy Pascal, handled some other work, turned off the computer, got up and walked out of the study.

This is a coastal suburb southwest of St. Petersburg.

It is absolutely true how to choose a residence in a city and follow a residence of powerful people or government departments.

In the southwest coastal area of ​​St. Petersburg, close to the Gulf of Finland, there are many Russian powerful residences in the Tsarist period, including the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. Simon began to deploy in Russia a few years ago, so he naturally chose his residence in St. Petersburg here.

Russia is vast and sparsely populated, and the most deficient thing is land.

Therefore, Simon's Linhai Manor has a total of 100 hectares of land, located between Peter the Great's Summer Palace and another Constantine Palace. It took three years to build. The main building in the manor is a baroque castle-style three-story villa similar to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, but the appearance is quaint and heavy, and not the grass green of the Hermitage.

Moreover, in order to avoid being "sanded" during the construction process, the construction materials and construction teams are all from Ukraine.

Simon knew that the U.S. embassy bricks were stuffed with eavesdropping devices.

Since the experience at Plaza Hotel, Simon has always had a shadow on such things.

Simon left the study, and the girl soon came with two maids. The maid was holding two sets of clothes in her hand, and chose one casually, changed it in the bedroom next door, and then went downstairs.

The car is already waiting outside the villa.

When he realized that Simon was about to go out, a little boy broke free from his mother's arms and ran over.

Together.

Simon picked up the little girl and saw Shulhikina coming over to pick up the child. She smiled and shook her head, and said to the little guy in her arms: "It's OK to go together, but you must be good."

The little guy said sweetly: "Of course, dad, Nina is very well-behaved."

Yulia Shulhikina didn't know what Simon was going to do later, but she understood that it was definitely not an ordinary social engagement. She stepped forward and tried to reach out and said, "Sir, give me the child, it's not appropriate for Nina to go."

When the little guy in Simon's arms saw his mother coming forward, he immediately hugged Simon's neck like a koala and urged, "Dad, go quickly."

He shook his head at Shulhikina again, and Simon came to the villa with his child in his arms. The waiting bodyguards were a little surprised to see Simon holding the child, but they didn't say anything, just opened the car door for their boss.

Simon got into the car with the child in his arms, and girl A followed in. When the car door closed, the little girl immediately grimaced at her mother outside the car window.

There was no reminder to the little guy that her mother could not see the inside of the car, and Simon just told the driver to drive.

Two identical black Mercedes-Benz cars walked through the long corridor and left the manor and turned into the road towards the city of St. Petersburg.

It was already past seven o'clock in the afternoon. It was still bright in St. Petersburg, located in a high-latitude area. It was expected that it would be dark around eight o'clock. Simon was coping with the various problems of the little guy in his arms while looking at the city outside the car window.

This ancient city located at the mouth of the Baltic Sea can be regarded as a witness to Russia's move from a backward small country in a remote corner to a European power.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter the Great moved Russia's capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and forced Russia to promote the Europeanization process, accept various advanced science and technology cultures, and finally established Russia's position as a European power nearly three hundred years before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Speaking of which, Peter the Great happened to be in the same period as Emperor Kangxi in China.

However, the two led the two countries to completely different directions.

A mandatory promotion of opening up will eventually become a world-class power.

One insisted on keeping a close eye on the country, but was abandoned by history.

Now, this city, which has experienced nearly three hundred years of vicissitudes, has fallen into the lowest period of its life.

When Simon's driving into the city of St. Petersburg, except for the asphalt road left over from the Soviet era, which was still wide and solid, there was a decay like Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Many buildings on both sides of the road looked mottled and dilapidated due to lack of maintenance. In addition, Russia's relatively sparse population, at first glance, it looked like a ghost town.

However, Simon knew that it was still not the lowest time in Russia.

Although Russia's GDP has fallen from US$517.9 billion when the Soviet Union just collapsed in 1991 to US$395.5 billion in 1995, a drop of 24%, the real abyss is still after 1997.

The turning point happened to be this year.

1996 was not only the presidential election year for the United States, but also the presidential election year for Russia.

Yeltsin successfully stole the power of the Russian president, but in recent years, it has made the country a mess, which has led to the beginning of this year that the Russian people's approval rating for the speculator who escaped politicians was only a pitiful 3%, either 30%, or a trivial 3%.

Yeltsin, who knew very well what situation he would encounter once he stepped down, decisively joined forces with major Russian oligarchs to invest huge amounts of money to reverse the situation.

Before the arrival of the information age, because of limited media communication channels, it was still quite easy to manipulate public opinion. Therefore, a few months later, Yeltsin's approval rating has risen to about 50%, leading his competitors. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be re-elected in the general election in July.

Since the major oligarchs have given Yeltsin so much support, of course they have to give them a reward.

As a result, the second feast of dividing Russian state-owned assets was even more unscrupulous during Yeltsin's second term. Coupled with the impact of the Southeast Asian financial crisis, the Russian economy fell into an even more unsufferable abyss. In 1999, Russia's GDP was only more than 190 billion US dollars, a further plummeting 50% from around 400 billion US dollars at this time.

If Yeltsin had not done the only thing right in his last period of his rule and chose a qualified successor, it would not be impossible for Russia to make a living by selling land after the millennium even if it was to reliance on selling land for a living as it was in Alaska.

Simon and his party entered the downtown area of ​​St. Petersburg from the southwest suburbs, crossed the Neva River, and after more than forty minutes, they finally entered another private residence in the eastern suburbs of the city.

This is a private home of Mikhail Friedman, the oligarch who was supported by the Westeros system in Russia.

A small-scale reception in the political and business fields will be held here tonight.

The cocktail party was arranged by Simon at his instruction.

In recent years, as Simon's big butterfly has become more and more powerful, few things have begun to turn back to the history in memory. After all, according to the butterfly effect theory that people often understand, two seemingly completely irrelevant things will eventually influence each other under various implications. What's more, Simon began to participate in it very early.

So some things are inevitable.

In order to avoid history going in a strange direction that it completely cannot understand, Simon decided to gently push the wheel of history at a critical moment.

Just like this time.

In Russia, the highly anticipated presidential election is related to the political trend of the country in the next four years, and another thing is the St. Petersburg mayoral election that happened almost at about the same time, which can almost be said to be related to the political trend of Russia in the next twenty years.

Because it involves a very critical figure.

In fact, the mayoral election for St. Petersburg ended on May 19 before. The current mayor Sobchak lost to his competitors with a tiny 1.5% vote gap. Unlike the US election, he will usually be sworn in the next year after the completion of the US election, the mayor in St. Petersburg will be sworn in on the last day of August and will begin to rule in September.

If there is no other external influence, the original mayor team may scatter and go to various unknowns.

One of the guys who were entrusted with important tasks by the current mayor Sobchak would definitely not be left behind. In my memory, the other party was able to finally get a vacant in Moscow, which was actually full of accidentality.

If Simon doesn't intervene, it's hard to say what will happen next.

Even if Simon wants to change history now, it is actually very easy. Give the other party a high-paying position in a private enterprise that he cannot refuse, then in the future, Russia may no longer be the Russia in Simon's memory, and everything will change.

With too many considerations in my mind, Simon didn't plan to change it.

In this night where the city was slowly shrouded in the city, Simon had just gotten off the bus in this private residence. Mikhail Friedman, who was cautious about the big boss' visit, came over in person, and obviously had something to say.

Simon handed the girl around him curiously looked at the girl around him to the girl behind him. Without too much hint, the bodyguards around him retreated a little. Then Friedman approached Simon's ear and whispered something.

Simon was also a little surprised when he heard what the other party revealed, but said, "Then go up and chat."

Mikhail Friedman immediately made a gesture of invitation: "Simon, here."

The two entered through the side door of the villa. Friedman noticed that Simon's entourage naturally followed, and paused, but did not stop him.

The villa corridor connected to the side doors did not turn on. In the dim light, you can clearly see the cocktail party scene in the hall where people were already crowded.

Simon explained to the girl A behind her, asking her to go directly to the lobby. She and Friedman turned to the stairs and came to the second floor of the villa. There was no light on in the corridor. At the door of a room, two burly figures stood on the left and right. Seeing Simon appear, she first looked here vigilantly, and then relaxed after confirming her identity.

However, when they saw the bodyguards following Simon and the others, they wanted to speak again and stopped.

Simon ignored the two of them and went straight to the door. One of them seemed to pause, but took the initiative to help open the door and said something to the inside.

This is a study room.

Only one wall light was turned on, and the light was as dim as the corridor outside.

When Simon entered the door, he saw a woman with short hair in black professional suit sitting on the sofa in the reception area. It was not until Simon walked closer that the woman stood up leisurely. Although she raised her face because of her height, she stretched out her hand to Simon with a sense of pride: "Hello, Mr. Westeros."

Simon smiled and shook hands with the woman: "Hello."

The woman paused and took the initiative to say, "You can call me Tatiyana."

"OK."

Simon nodded and walked to the single sofa opposite and sat down directly.

The woman had just subconsciously grasped it, but she felt that it was completely empty. At this time, she saw the man sitting down on his own, and couldn't help but frown slightly, but she sat down. Seeing a guy opposite leaning on the sofa and looking at her look, she finally spoke again and pointed to a bottle of whiskey on the coffee table in front of her: "Mr. Westeros, do you want a drink?"

"No, you can do it."

The woman nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then she still picked up a glass of wine she had just poured, and then she felt that she was completely at a disadvantage, just like a guilty little girl subconsciously picked up something to protect her. After a pause, the woman put the wine glass back on the coffee table, trying to lean on the sofa as relaxed as the man opposite, and hesitated for a moment, but still sat up straight.

Simon looked at the corner of his mouth with a smile for a moment, and finally said again: "Now is the critical moment of the election. If it is revealed that you meet Simon Westeros at this time, it will definitely bring great potential risks to your father."

When the woman heard this, she couldn't help but say, "We are not Mr. Westeros. People will know wherever we go. This kind of confidentiality can still be achieved."

Simon arrived in St. Petersburg in the morning. It was originally a secret itinerary. There was no news in the public media. Now he was suddenly caught by someone, and it was obviously still noticed by many people.

Just smiled and Simon said, "Tania, then, is there anything you have to do with me?"

When the woman heard Simon's question, her expression was obviously stagnant, and she remembered the important matter of this secret visit.

However, I just couldn't help but squeeze a guy and changed my temper. It seemed... But she was not a woman who was dragging her back. In recent months, she took the initiative to stand in front of the stage to organize the election for her father, which has achieved remarkable results. So she quickly said: "Mr. Westeros, my father has always admired you very much. He said you are definitely the most unexpected miracle of this era."

"Thanks."

The woman was beaten again, a little stingy. Shouldn’t we be polite to each other at this time?

Finally I regretted the initial intentional grasp.

In fact, I read the secret archives about the young man in front of me in advance. Many things are very detailed, but the conclusions given about the other party's personality are unpredictable.

It seems like a kind of mixed personality.

This seems not surprising, after all, a guy's experience of staying in a mental hospital was well known.

Because it is too complicated, it is difficult to set targeted responses.

After thinking for a while, the woman finally said: "Mr. Westeros, what do you think of this Russian presidential election?"

Seeing that the woman squeezed out another problem of nutrition, Simon shook her head and said, "Tania, I think we should be more straightforward. Tell me, what are you looking for me?"

Tanya.

It's Tanya again.

Are we that intimate?

The woman complained a little, and finally said: "Mr. Westeros, we found that the spokesperson of Westeros system in Russia, Mr. Mikhail Friedman, has shown that the development layout of our country in recent years has not been satisfactory. And this election, if nothing unexpected happens, my father can be re-elected. So, if Mr. Westeros wants to develop further in Russia, maybe we can become allies?"

Simon finally showed some interesting expressions: "Who do we mean?"

The woman said: "The Westeros, the Yeltsin family."
Chapter completed!