Chapter 64 of 100

Chapter 64

17 min read4,344 words

(Thank you to the book friends "Xie MZ" for the 200 reward, and "Lin 073", "Lan—Kuang Xiang Huo Yue", and "Bu Neng Tai Jian" for the 100 rewards. This chapter is a face-slapping one. Someone complained about me writing about 82 Lafite. The prototype of Huaxia Grand Hotel is the China Grand Hotel, where the best red wine is the 82 Lafite. I take writing books very seriously, so don't just slap my face, or I might accidentally slap you back.)

The next morning, around nine o'clock, Wang Zixuan left home and headed to the Huaxia Grand Hotel.

As soon as he got out of the car, he saw several car doors open nearby, and reporters with cameras rushed over.

The bodyguards standing around quickly blocked the reporters.

"I have an appointment. See you at the press conference this afternoon."

Wang Zixuan waved to the reporters with a smile, then left under the protection of the bodyguards.

At the hotel, guided by a company employee, Wang Zixuan arrived at a private room.

Lin Wenwu was chatting with the four vice presidents of Wangzi Technology. Seeing Wang Zixuan arrive, he quickly stood up and said, "President Wang."

Wang Zixuan is the CEO of Evolution Media and also manages some company affairs. However, in Wangzi Technology, he serves as the chairman and does not interfere with the company's operations.

"Hello everyone, this is my first time meeting all of you in person except for President Lin. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Wang Zixuan smiled and shook hands with everyone.

Apart from Lin Wenwu, whom he personally recruited, the vice presidents were all found by Lin Wenwu and headhunting companies.

Wang Zixuan only looked at their resumes online and trusted Lin Wenwu's judgment, which made Lin Wenwu feel like "a man would die for a true friend."

Huang Jiang, Vice President of Wangzi Technology, is a returnee from the United States who once worked at Microsoft. He became the chief engineer of Microsoft's Engineering Institute before the age of thirty and was responsible for developing projects such as browsers and instant messaging. Lin Wenwu lured him back from the U.S. and, after deciding to follow Wang Zixuan, also convinced Huang Jiang to join in building a Chinese company, responsible for the development of WeChat.

Huang Jiang's team of over a hundred engineers also joined him.

Wang Zixuan originally planned to recruit the founder of WeChat, Zhang Xiaolong, but Lin Wenwu said Huang Jiang was also very capable. He vaguely remembered that Huang Jiang was the vice president of Xiaomi, so he agreed to let Huang Jiang be responsible for the development of WeChat.

This software doesn't seem to have a high technical difficulty. After Kik came out abroad, Xiaomi quickly copied MiChat, and there were many more imitations afterward.

In Wang Zixuan's view, this is more of a creative issue, and the technical difficulty doesn't seem high.

Hong Feng has worked on many projects at Oracle and Google, including the development of Google's Chinese input method and Google Video.

His capabilities were also recognized by Lin Wenwu, and he was assigned to develop the mobile operating system.

Huang Jiang and Hong Feng are people Lin Wenwu is very familiar with, while the other two were recommended by headhunting companies and hired after interviews by Lin Wenwu.

Zhou Guang was the chief engineer of Motorola's Beijing R&D center and later joined Dell to be responsible for the comprehensive development of mobile phones, focusing on hardware.

Liu De is the head of the Industrial Design Department at Beijing University of Science and Technology, responsible for hardware industrial design.

Wang Zixuan chatted with the four for a while. When it was time for lunch, he smiled and said, "I brought two bottles of Romanée-Conti for everyone to taste. Last time, when I drank 82 Lafite here, I posted a few photos online and almost got trolled to death by some 'experts.'"

Lin Wenwu smiled and said, "Although I don't know much about wine, I know that President Wang would only choose the best wine here."

Hong Feng took a deep breath and said, "Those are just people who read a bit about wine online and pretend to know. If the Huaxia Grand Hotel sells Romanée-Conti, it wouldn't be the king of wines. This is the wine that the world's most influential wine critic, Robert Parker, called 'a millionaire's wine, but only a billionaire can afford it.' However, I prefer the description by Aubert de Villaine, the manager of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who said it has 'the delicate fragrance of a rose about to wither, making one linger and forget to return, a pearl left behind by the gods when they return to heaven.' Thank those who pretend to know, for they have given me the chance to taste the king of wines."

Lin Wenwu looked at Hong Feng's entranced face and asked, "Is it really that exaggerated?"

Hong Feng said, "When it comes to wine, you commoners only know about the five great châteaux of Bordeaux."

Seeing Lin Wenwu's puzzled look, he continued, "Or you might not even know the five great châteaux of Bordeaux. Let me educate you. The five great châteaux are Lafite, Latour, Mouton, Margaux, and Haut-Brion. But they are not important compared to Romanée-Conti. The old nobleman, Count Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, who led one of Bordeaux's top châteaux, Château d'Yquem, for over 30 years, once mentioned that in his home, Romanée-Conti could only be discussed in a hushed and respectful tone."

Lin Wenwu looked at the boasting Hong Feng with some skepticism.

Seeing that Lin Wenwu wasn't interested, Hong Feng shook his head and said, "You can't explain the beauty of wine to a summer insect. I can only talk numbers with you. The most familiar Lafite produces 20,000 to 30,000 cases a year, while Romanée-Conti produces only 5,000 to 6,000 bottles a year. One is in cases, the other in bottles."

Lin Wenwu smiled and said, "Less production doesn't necessarily mean it's more valuable, right?"

Hong Feng looked at the stubborn Lin Wenwu and said, "Let me explain further. To buy a bottle of Romanée-Conti, you need to buy a case of 12 bottles from other vineyards of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Even then, it's hard to buy from the estate; you usually only see it at auctions."

Lin Wenwu nodded and said, "If it's bundled, it does seem attractive."

Hong Feng rolled his eyes and said, "I guess I can only talk about the price. President Wang, tell him the price."

Wang Zixuan smiled and said, "The price at auctions varies, depending on the competition. I paid $170,000 for a case of 1990 Romanée-Conti, so a bottle is about $10,000. Other auctions might have cheaper deals."

Lin Wenwu whistled and said, "So a glass of wine costs over $1,000?"

Wang Zixuan smiled and said, "About that."

Hong Feng put his arm around Lin Wenwu and said, "You don't know much about wine. Why don't you let me have your glass? I'll treat you to a big meal, anything you want."

Lin Wenwu looked at Hong Feng and smiled, "You've hyped Romanée-Conti so much. Do you think I'll let you off cheaply?"

"Ha ha ha."

The others couldn't help but laugh at Hong Feng's self-digging.

A glass of wine costing over $1,000 sounds expensive, but they could all afford it.

But could they really afford it?

Obviously not, otherwise it wouldn't be called a millionaire's wine, but only a billionaire can afford it.

Because Romanée-Conti doesn't sell by the glass or even by the bottle; it's sold with a case of other wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, starting at several hundred thousand.

They are all accomplished people, but except for Lin Wenwu, the others' annual income is only two to three million, and they have to pay taxes and various expenses. How could they come up with several hundred thousand to buy wine?

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