The Speaker's Favor

After the meeting ended, Wang Ye was about to return to his office when Gryzlov stopped him.

"Misha, come sit in my office. It's been a long time since we had a chat," Gryzlov said with a broad smile.

Wang Ye thought about it. He had nothing urgent to do, so he nodded.

Once they arrived at Gryzlov's office, the two sat down on the sofa. An assistant brought over two steaming cups of coffee, then withdrew.

Taking a sip from his cup, Gryzlov finally said, "I heard your business in Crimea is doing very well, and the place itself is developing nicely too. Ah, I visited Yalta more than ten years ago. It was quite lively back then. In the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed. Things have changed, and people are no longer the same."

Wang Ye responded with a smile, "It's alright. The investment has been substantial, but the returns won't be high in the short term. It's a long-term venture, so we're placing our hopes on the future. Yalta and Simferopol are indeed excellent. They have the best environment and climate in all of Eastern Europe, giving them a strong foundation for developing tourism."

Wang Ye was actually a little puzzled. Why had Gryzlov suddenly brought up Crimea?

He had set up an investment company in Crimea and poured tens of billions of US dollars into it, but he had not publicized the matter widely.

Unless someone paid particular attention to Crimea, they generally would not know about it.

Of course, Gryzlov was the Speaker of the Duma, with considerable authority. Something like this could not possibly be hidden from him.

But he should have known about it long ago. Why bring it up so suddenly today?

After hesitating for a