Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 835 - 818 A Big Gift_2

Chapter 835: Chapter 818 A Big Gift_2

He clarified his engagement with Rossiyana and the background of the Rossiyana family face to face.

Even Khodorkovsky was a bit astonished to hear about it.

He indeed had not anticipated that Rossiyana was actually a descendent of the Tsar, and that she was going to marry Wang Ye...

He looked over Wang Ye with keen interest, which made Wang Ye a little nervous.

Only then did Khodorkovsky speak, "Who would have thought, young man, that you could actually become connected to a real royal family? Although the Romanov Monarchy has long perished, the bloodline is still quite pure. Moreover, they share relatives with the British Royal Family, Spain, and the Danish Royal Family. This bloodline and title are not useless!"

Being a smart man, he instantly grasped the key issue.

That was, what advantages could the status of a grand duchess from the Romanov family bring to Wang Ye...

Wang Ye wore a shy smile on his face and said, "Uncle, Rossiyana and I genuinely love each other. Whether she’s a grand duchess or a commoner, to me it’s all the same; I don’t value these things."

Khodorkovsky scoffed at his words. Having spent several years with Wang Ye, he had come to understand him well.

His character was indeed excellent, grateful, valuing loyalty, generous, broad-minded, with a wide perspective...

In short, he had many strengths.

This was also why Khodorkovsky was willing to hand over Yukos to him—it was a key factor, as he believed Wang Ye would not truly betray him.

But Wang Ye also had many faults, such as being fickle in love and having rather strong motivations in his actions; one might say he was utilitarian!

However, these faults might not seem like faults at all in the eyes of many people.

If Rossiyana was not a grand duchess of the Romanov family, Khodorkovsky reckoned that Wang Ye wouldn’t even consider the matter of marrying Rossiyana.

Based on his knowledge of Wang Ye, the lad was more likely to marry his "first love" Angelina!

But that would be a matter of many years down the line, certainly not within the next few years.

So, if Wang Ye agreed to marry Rossiyana at this time, it must have been due to some irresistible condition offered by her family background!

Thus, Khodorkovsky earnestly asked, "Is there some condition from their side that you couldn’t refuse? If it’s okay to disclose, why not share it and let me give you some advice."

Wang Ye’s heart tightened—his "uncle" wasn’t foolish after all...

Since Khodorkovsky had brought it up, whether it was permissible to say or not, Wang Ye had to say it...

Sighing, Wang Ye said with a troubled face:

"There are indeed some matters that I really shouldn’t explain in detail to you, uncle. However, this engagement could also be seen as a part of a deal with the Kremlin and the first faction.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, uncle, but a senior congressman from the second faction began to criticize me on a TV interview a couple of days ago.

From what I know, this is just the beginning. The second faction is going to make a series of moves targeting me and my faction.

This might even include issues regarding my skin color and ethnicity!

As for the secret of my identity, I still don’t know if they have gotten hold of it.

But I can’t take that risk; I must make the first move!

That’s why I went to talk to the Kremlin, to join forces with the first faction against the second faction.

Apparently, Mr. Puding thinks he can be more at ease only if I truly become one of his own, which led to the engagement between Rossiyana and me.

How should I put it, several matters just converged at once.

My union with Rossiyana ended up being the only choice and the only one that could take care of interests on all sides..."

As Wang Ye explained, Khodorkovsky nodded his head frequently.

Indeed, Wang Ye’s explanation was sensible and impeccable.

Wang Ye had not lied in the first place...

After Wang Ye finished speaking, Khodorkovsky shook his head:

"Ah, your identity is indeed a very big risk.

When we sorted out this identity for you, we didn’t consider that you would go into the political arena, much less that you would climb to this position in such a short time.

That’s good, this engagement will also completely resolve your identity issue.

After this, no matter which power faction it is, they’ll find it very difficult to question your identity, and even if they did, no one would believe them."

As he said this, he patted Wang Ye’s shoulder firmly and said, contentedly, "You’ve done very well, far beyond my expectations. In the blink of an eye, we’ve known each other for three years.

In these three years, every single day, you’ve made tremendous progress.

Be it in business or politics, you’ve got much more talent than I do.

Now that you’re about to start a family, you’ll surely become even more mature. I feel like I’m getting old.

But I won’t admit defeat to age just yet, I still have many ambitions to fulfill. Let’s work hard together!

Next year, you should aim to win in the Duma, and I..."

What about him, was left unsaid, but Wang Ye could only respond with a wry smile again and again.

If it hadn’t been for this "uncle", he would have been free of worries a long time ago!

But at the same time, without this uncle, he wouldn’t have been able to get where he was today, probably still fussing over his study abroad agency, phone card company, and market shops.

Net worth? Probably a few tens of millions of US dollars already, maybe even a hundred million if he was lucky, but that would be difficult.

As for political career progression, that was out of the question; it wasn’t in Wang Ye’s original plan at all...

So, meeting Khodorkovsky, whether it was a blessing or a curse for him, was still something unclear...

...

"Oh right Misha, to celebrate your engagement, I have a gift for you," Khodorkovsky suddenly said.

Wang Ye was startled and quickly thanked him, "Thank you, Uncle..."

He originally wanted to be polite and suggest that Khodorkovsky shouldn’t give anything too expensive but then he thought about how much Khodorkovsky had given him over the past two years.

Now to say such things would not only be insincere but would also seem hypocritical!

So might as well just be straightforward, whatever Khodorkovsky was going to give, he’d accept it generously.

After all, in the future he wouldn’t treat Khodorkovsky and his family poorly. In fact, he might give back even more than what Khodorkovsky had given him!

"To accelerate the growth of your faction, what do you need besides financial strength and manpower?" Khodorkovsky asked teasingly.

Wang Ye thought for a moment and guessed, "A base of public support?"

Khodorkovsky first nodded then shook his head, saying, "You’re half right. How would you establish a base of public support?"

"Media!" blurted out Wang Ye.

"Correct! So, controlling the media is very important. However, I’m curious why you didn’t start buying TV stations and other media in the past two years. To be honest, if you had used the funds for acquiring automobile brands and investing in Crimea to buy media instead, your faction wouldn’t just be the second faction next year but would be aiming for the first!" Khodorkovsky asked with some puzzlement.

On this topic, Wang Ye found it a bit hard to explain.

He could only shake his head and wryly smile, "I’m new to the political arena after all. Besides, in the beginning, as a minor congressman, I really didn’t need any media channels."

Khodorkovsky thought about it and agreed, then said with a smile:

"But you need them now!

My gift to you is twenty percent of the shares in Channel One!"

Wang Ye opened his mouth in astonishment; the gift was a bit beyond his expectation.

If Khodorkovsky had given him shares of another TV station or newspapers and magazines, he wouldn’t have been so surprised.

Because Channel One is the biggest TV station in all of Russia, with the widest coverage, without equal!

By comparison, it’s like what Looking Up is domestically..."

"This... Isn’t this TV station state-owned?" he asked, puzzled.

Khodorkovsky shook his head and said, "How to put it, initially this TV station was indeed state-owned, but it became privately owned after the Former Soviet Breakdown. Of course, now it can be considered semi-state-owned, with the government holding a 51% share and I control forty percent. Now, I’m giving you half..."