"It won't be that bad, Barron. I will help you, but first you need to meet the other party's requirements. Do you understand?"
"Of course, Your Highness, all I need is a chance to compete fairly."
Seeing the smile on Barron's face, the Prince of Wales nodded.
Next, the two chatted casually about other things, including the ecological farm. Barron also had a lot to ask the Crown Prince.
This is the Crown Prince's hobby, and he is very happy to share it.
Basically, this meeting met Barron's expectations. No matter what, he understood that "a good blacksmith must have strong tools".
His current status enables him to enjoy some conveniences that ordinary people do not have, but at the same time, he will also be regarded with suspicion by some people in certain aspects. Ultimately, it is nothing more than a conflict of interests.
The cake is so big. If you eat one more bite, others will eat one less bite. What you get, someone else may lose. Competition is naturally everywhere.
…
"Your Highness the Duke..."
On the way back, Barron, feeling a little tired, leaned back in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce and took a short nap.
When Barron heard his personal assistant in the front seat calling him, he opened his eyes and found that the car had stopped at some point.
"We've arrived at the hotel."
Listening to Wang Wanting's words, Barron nodded. Through the car window, he saw that the lights on the historic door of the Devonshire Hotel were already on.
When he opened the car door, Barron felt a gust of cold wind. At this time, the temperature in London was much cooler at night.
"Are you busy later, Laura?"
Hearing Barron's question, Wang Wanting was slightly stunned:
"No."
"You haven't eaten yet, so why don't you eat with me?"
Wang Wanting was already single in London. Before, she rented a house a little far away. However, as a personal assistant, she always needed to be at Barron's beck and call at any time. Therefore, after Barron moved into the Devonshire Hotel, he consulted her opinion and prepared a guest room for her here. Usually, she lived in the hotel.
Similarly, the Chinese chef that Barron had hired before also came to the hotel and would prepare meals for Barron in the hotel kitchen when he needed it.
Bonnie has been filming a show at Chatsworth House most of the time during this period, so Barron is usually alone when he comes back here. That's why he asked Wang Wanting to stay for dinner today. It was also because he thought that she had been his personal assistant for some time, but they didn't have much time to chat privately.
"Is the food here to your liking, Laura?"
Because it was a private conversation, Barron spoke directly in Chinese.
"Very good. The Chinese food your chef cooks is very authentic, Your Highness."
"I remember you told me that you are from Hangzhou, right?"
"Well, I grew up in Hangzhou, and then I came to London to study after college."
"Hangzhou's West Lake is very famous. I would really like to visit it if I have the chance."
"Do you know West Lake?"
Although Barron spoke fluent Chinese, when Wang Wanting was in front of him, she could see his typical British face when she looked up, so she asked with a little surprise.
"Of course, I also know about White Snake and Xu Xian. Well, you have a company called Alibaba in Hangzhou, which is similar to Amazon in the United States."
"You know a lot about Chinese culture, Your Highness. However, I only learned about Alibaba in Hangzhou when I returned to China. When I was in school, this company had not yet appeared."
Alibaba was founded by Jack Ma in 1999. Although it had gone through two rounds of financing by then, including an initial investment of US$20 million from SoftBank owned by Masayoshi Son, its popularity was still not high in China as a whole, let alone abroad.
Even though Wang Wanting was from Hangzhou, Barron was a little surprised that she had heard of Alibaba at this time.
It can be said that at this time, as a venture capital, the most worthy of investment in China's Internet companies are Alibaba and Tencent, the two future giants.
However, Mr. Ma had already accepted SoftBank's $20 million Series B investment in 2000; and the 20% stake in Penguin held by Hong Kong's Superman Lee's son, Little Superman, was also sold to South Africa's MIH Holdings Group last year...
Even Baidu, after receiving two rounds of financing, has not raised any more funds in the short term.
The Internet will definitely be an important direction in Barron's future investments - after all, at this time, this field is also the industry that creates wealth the fastest.
When investing in the Internet, it is natural that we cannot miss these high-quality companies in China.
However, it is not that there is no opportunity. These companies have not yet grown into giants. Therefore, Baron also went to China to get to know those bosses like Ma who will become regulars on the rich list in the future.
So he smiled and said to Wang Wanting:
"Maybe in the future, I will take some time to visit China, and you can go with me then."
"Are you going to China?"
"Yes, I have always been interested in Chinese culture, but I have never been there. Isn't there a saying in China that 'Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles'? So I hope to have the opportunity to go there in person."
"That's great, you will definitely like it there. When are you going to go?"
"When I'm done with this busy period and don't have too much to do, I plan to go to China as a vacation."
…
"Exclusive interview with Labour MP Granda: We should not wage an illegal war!"
Two days later, the front page of The Independent published an exclusive interview with Glenda Johnson, which clearly pointed the finger at the prime minister who had been advocating to join the United States in taking military action against Iraq, the "axis of evil".
What's interesting is that the person they interviewed this time is also a current Member of Parliament from the Labour Party.
Speaking of Glenda Johnson, she is very extraordinary. Before she entered politics, she was an actress and arguably one of the most famous actresses in Britain.
She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, in 1970 and 1973!
After retiring from the screen, Granda chose to go into politics, joined the Labour Party, and once served as Transport Secretary. He was also a strong contender for Mayor of London. It can be said that his prospects within the Labour Party are very promising.
But from now on, she may only be able to serve as a member of Congress - because ever since the prime minister began to be inclined to accompany the United States to attack Iraq, and such performance became increasingly strong, Granda had differences with the leader of the Labour Party.
She was strongly opposed to the use of force against Iraq and stated on many occasions in public that it was absolutely unwise to directly wage war against a country with a legitimate government.
For this reason, this time The Independent chose to interview her, which became the front-page headline of the day.
This is also a small counterattack by Barron against the government.